When asked about the minimalist style of "Chewed Up" (in the commentary track I talked about earlier), Louis CK mentions his favorite two examples of comedians caught on film: Bill Cosby "Himself" and Richard Pryor "Live in Concert" (different than Pryor's "Live on the Sunset Strip").
He points out that in both, they keep it bare bones. They never show the audience and there's a simple set. That's why he decided to go in the same direction. The idea: Glitz doesn't make people funnier. It just makes the whole thing seem like more of a production.
Cosby in "Himself":
Pryor in "Live in Concert":
CK in "Chewed Up":
CK also mentions this Bruce Springsteen video of "The River" as "one of his favorite things to watch" because it feels like "a live event captured," not an overproduced, glammed up thing.
Compare that with the cheesefest that is Bruce's "Dancing in the Dark" video and you get a pretty good idea what CK is talking about.
Sandpaper Suit is NYC standup comic Matt Ruby's (now defunct) comedy blog. Keep in touch: Sign up for Matt's weekly Rubesletter. Email mattruby@hey.com.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Moving on/Subscribe to my newsletter
I only post on rare occasions here now. Subscribe to my Rubesletter (it's at mattruby.substack.com ) to get jokes, videos, essays, etc...
-
Even the best standups seem to just scrape by. Then you hear about a guy who got a late night writing gig. Pay's nice. Long hours but he...
-
Never been to a Letterman taping. But I've heard the studio is chilly due to Dave's orders. Was talking about it the other day with ...
-
Patton Oswalt preaches love instead of hate in standup. “Actually, I think when you’re younger, anger and comedy mesh together very, very w...
1 comment:
Bill Burr also has commentary on this in his new cd. Ever since I watched it I can't stand watching sets where they keep flashing to the audience and fucking up the whole groove of the show.
Post a Comment