Anthony Jeselnik: "John Mulaney is proof that women can be funny."
Somebody called Jared Logan Jiminy Glick.
Pete Holmes: "You may have seen Julian McCollough at the Comedy Cellar or Bang Bus."
David Angelo: "My favorite thing about Mulaney is...Nick Kroll."
John Mulaney: "Kumail is rising fast. The only thing that can stop him now is Allah! You fucking traitor!"
Anthony Jeselnik: "I don't care if Herzog makes it. I just want his mom to die."
A few weeks back comedian Matt Ruby had a great post on his blog Sandpaper Suit about all the things necessary to put on a quality comedy show. We loved it and invited him on to talk about the do’s and don’t of producing a comedy show. We discuss the importance of sound, lights, hosting and much much more. If you are thinking of producing your own show or have ever wondered what goes into it you’ll want to take a listen.
Stand-up comedian and producer of the indy comedy show “Too Cool For School” Nick Turner joins us as well.
Well there's the usual stuff like get onstage as much as possible, learn how to be funny not just how to write jokes, and other things you can hear people say on the "On Comedy" CDs (Seinfeld and Woody ones are great) or listening to CK interviews (the one on his new DVD is super).
Here's one I don't hear a lot: Learn how to listen. The audience is having a conversation with you. They're talking back to you. They're just not using words. So you have to gauge that energy and how they're feeling and if they're with you or not and steer the ship accordingly. I think a lot of new comics just spit stuff out at the crowd and they're surprised when they don't get something back. Slow down and have a conversation. Comedy, especially in small rooms, is more like harmonizing with the crowd. You have to hear what note they're singing back to you and then use your words and timing and inflection to get on their wavelength and vice versa. If shit ain't flying, turn conversational. Just tell the truth about that moment. Being in the moment and unfunny is way better than reciting a script and being unfunny.
That's kinda namby pamby. How about something more concrete? Try different stuff. When you're starting out, I think it can be healthy to try one liners, longer bits, characters, and other things. Exercise those different muscles. See what hits. What feels comfortable (and not). Sometimes stretching yourself will lead you to places that other people wouldn't go. That will make you more interesting than other comics. Most comics are boring. Don't be boring.
Oh, and go see good comics perform. I see a lot of new comics who only go to open mics and that's it. That's like trying to learn physics from a bunch of lab rats. Go see a master and you'll learn a ton you'd never learn on your own.
One final thing: I think comics are like magicians, but with words. There are too many out there just doing card tricks. Try to saw a woman in half.
SMACK-DOWN 2008: THE WINNERS
This is a special issue of ComedySmack to announce the winners of ComedySmack's Smack-Down '08: The Best Comedy of 2008. The contestants and winners were determined by our panel of comedy insiders and by public voting. The winning comedy is a representation of the best and funniest items featured on ComedySmack last year. Congratulations to the winners of Smack-Down '08!
SXSW was great and my sets went really well. Shot some cool video footage while there, coming soon. Meanwhile, you can check out my SXSW updates at Twitter. Some links to pics there too. Start from the bottom and read up if ya want it in chronological order. Stay tuned for the video, you'll dig it.
RG: I suppose that's why people like yourself don't compromise in your art. That's where no one can get hurt. [In] art you're allowed to be a complete fascist. I don't care about you. There should be no compromise in art.
LD: If you're any good, you kinda have to have a compulsion to tell the truth.
RG: Absolutely. And without guilt. This is guilt-free truth, comedy.
Terror is as much a part of the concept of truth as runniness is of the concept of jam. We wouldn’t like jam if it didn’t, by its very nature, ooze. We wouldn’t like truth if it wasn’t sticky, if, from time to time, it didn’t ooze blood.
LD: I want to do things that nobody else can think of. That's what you wanna do.
RG: I want the right laugh. I want to look around and go, "Right, they're not laughing. That's a good sign. I didn't want them to laugh. I don't want you liking my comedy.
We both sell snake oil. But, here [on The Daily Show], we at least admit it's snake oil.
This week, Lee Camp and Matt Ruby join us to talk about Cramer Vs. Stewart, media poisoning, and the importance of the letter K in comedy.
Keep it family friendly. This is a free event which means anyone and everyone off of the street is welcome to wander in and take advantage of this night (and they will.) If you are a comedian or singer or any other performer, no cursing and no sexual content. This is NOT a night of vulgarity.
I'm not sure this is the kind of show that benefits from such mainstream exposure from the NYT...This year's show was tighter, to be sure, but also probably not the best experience for the kind of unsuspecting Times reader who doesn't normally go to a stand-up comedy show. After all, you're witnessing mostly unknown or unheralded comedians attempting brand-new jokes. That's it. That's the show. For the comedy community, it's a great chance, and perfect timing after the holidays, to reconnect and reboot for a new year. For an audience, well, I'm not sold on what they're doing there. At least on this particular show. Am I wrong on this one?
While driving through France a few years ago, my family and I were enchanted by the hundreds of storybook cows grazing in lovely pastures right next to the road. For dozens of kilometers, we all gazed out the window, marveling at the beauty. Then, within a few minutes, we started ignoring the cows. The new cows were just like the old cows, and what was once amazing was now common. Worse than common: It was boring.
Cows, after you've seen them for a while, are boring. They may be well-bred cows, Six Sigma cows, cows lit by a beautiful light, but they are still boring. A Purple Cow, though: Now, that would really stand out. The essence of the Purple Cow -- the reason it would shine among a crowd of perfectly competent, even undeniably excellent cows -- is that it would be remarkable. Something remarkable is worth talking about, worth paying attention to. Boring stuff quickly becomes invisible.
"Would you like a dish of ice cream?"
"Why, yes I would l like some ice cream. That would be very nice!"
"Well here's a big sack of rock salt!"
"What? You said I'd be getting ice cream?"
"Well, when you add the cream and sugar and ice and do a little mixing and then presto, you have ice cream!"
"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHERE THE STUFF I LOVE COMES FROM! I JUST LOVE THE STUFF I LOVE! Hey, do you love Angelina Jolie? Does she give you a big boner? Well then here's Jon Voight's ballsack! That's right! The sweaty, pink ballsack she swam out of. Now jerk off to that, you lucky so and so!"
But I NEVER thought of [hack] subjects as bad to talk about. If you think any subject is hack, go to youtube and watch Jay leno's appearances on the old Letterman show. There are a ton of them and they're amazing. He was SO Fucking good and everything he talked about was "hack". he did airplane humor in at least five different segments on the same show. he never let it go. Just kept hammering and hammering at it, but with such beautiful percision, such energy, gorgeously worded bits. To frown on them because of the subject matter is to be a self-serving idiot.
Newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele plans an “off the hook” public relations offensive to attract younger voters, especially blacks and Hispanics, by applying the party's principles to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings.”
