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June 23, 2009
Inside With: New Young Comedians
By: Andrew Singer
TAKE OUT THE BACK SEATS The New Young Comedians are Aalap Patel, Chelsea White and Matteson Perry | Photo via The New Young Comedians
The long-term success of a standup-variety showcase usually depends more on its producers than its performers. Although the members of New Young Comedians (Aalap Patel, Matteson Perry and Chelsea White) haven't known each other very long, they've landed squarely in the New York comedy scene with their monthly showcase at Karma Lounge. After meeting separately at various open mics around town, the trio created their own show and split the responsibilities evenly, if not appropriately, to match each person's skills. The Apiary recently caught up with the eponymous new young comedians to discuss their craft, the creative momentum they've built and the benefits of removing the back row of seats before opening the house. On Wednesday, The New Young Comedians will celebrate their one-year anniversary. Their answers were edited for space and clarity.
How has your show evolved and improved over this past year?
CW: For one, we have a banner now that we hang up on stage.
MP: The show itself hasn't changed a ton. What has changed is how we promote it and how we organize. It's much quicker to put a show together now. One thing that's great is that it's gotten a fairly good reputation, so we have a lot of very good comics who would like to be on the show. But it's not like every show gets 5% better. It's up and down, which is really frustrating. You just never know what will affect people coming out.
AP: We've been putting more pressure on ourselves to come up with new material. The emails we send to our performers are set up nicely with the Facebook invite, show times, link trading and other pertinent details. Each month, we put new things into place to reach out to more potential fans. We have these wonderful videos that Chelsea cuts.
Continue reading "Inside With: New Young Comedians
By: Andrew Singer"
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June 5, 2009
Inside With: Josh Gad, Daily Show Correspondent
By: Keith Huang
Josh Gad in the movie "The Rocker" | Photo: George Kraychyk
Actor Josh Gad is on a roll. The 28-year-old Los Angeles resident turned up last month as the newest member of the Jon Stewart TV family, booking that most coveted spot in the fake-news firmament: Daily Show correspondent. A member of the comedy troupe The Lost Nomads, Gad has starred in the sitcom Back to You with Patricia Heaton and Kelsey Grammer and also played William Barfee in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on Broadway. The Apiary recently contacted Gad to discuss his first two Daily Show pieces, his acting career and what it's like to be on set with Kelsey Grammer.
We really liked your first Daily Show piece about the purpose of financial-system Stress Tests. Did you have to learn all that financial stuff before writing it?
The interesting thing about that first piece was it came at me very suddenly. I was supposed to do a piece about the Supreme Court nominees and the next thing I knew, I was told that the piece was being scrapped for one about Stress Tests, in which I was to play a couple of crazy characters going through said tests.
To be honest, I was incredibly confused by the story and by the topic itself, which provided an extra level of stress for my first show. But I had some great writers assigned to the piece who managed to find a great angle and while I still could not explain to you the details of how stress tests work...I am fairly confident that neither could your federal government.
Continue reading "Inside With: Josh Gad, Daily Show Correspondent
By: Keith Huang"
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June 2, 2009
Inside With: Nathan Phillips + Joe Schiappa, Comedy From the Future
By: Keith Huang
Nathan + Joe | Photo: C. Fougere
Comedians-about-town Nathan Phillips and Joe Schiappa want to bottle the internet so they can release it onstage. The writing duo, who also improvise under the moniker project:projekt, have been performing together since '96 when they met at Emerson College. Never ones to settle on conventional comedy, Phillips and Schiappa lean toward the interactive: They wrote a comedy album that begins when you call (877)-JPBUNZZ, they have performed a show set to found texts and re-edited recordings of classic cartoons, and they are currently in the middle of a show that takes place entirely via text messages. The Apiary recently caught up with the comedy jacks-of-all-trades to talk about their upcoming show at Comix, the nature of viral videos, Van Halen Asteroids and whether a computer could send a virus on its own.
What was your first exposure to the Internet?
Well, we both had e-mail in college. Nathan's address was MadCheddah@yahoo.com. And Joe's uncle had Prodigy. You remember Prodigy.
The title "Internet Comedy Show" obviously means a lot of the program will rely on Web content. How did you pick your stuff?
As any of our sweaty-faced groupies can tell you, our improv shows are not "long form" or "short form." They are highly interactive experiences, packed with weird little comic bits that require no attention span. Which is a lot like the internet. So, we wanted to make a comedy show that used all of the stuff we love about the internet, user-generated content, dorks, porn and celebrities as starting points for Nathan + Joe-style interactive comedy bits.
Continue reading "Inside With: Nathan Phillips + Joe Schiappa, Comedy From the Future
By: Keith Huang"
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May 28, 2009
Inside With: Chris Booth, Sketch Comedian
By: Andrew Singer
THE BOYS OF CITY HALL Top row: Josh Wolinsky, Dan Kramer; Bottom row: Luis Nunez, Chris Booth and Patrick Frankfort | Photo: Liberty Edwards
Sketch comedian Chris Booth has been slugging it out in the New York sketch comedy trenches for several years. His team, City Hall, recently performed at the Montreal Comedy Festival. Booth, a native of Beaufort, S.C., was also recently named comedy curator for The Tank. The Apiary sat down with Booth recently to discuss sketch comedy, how he helped form City Hall and the Tank gig. His responses were edited for space and clarity.
What got you into comedy?
Around five to six years ago, I found a show at The Theater Under Saint Marks called Giant Tuesday Night of Amazing Inventions and Also There Is a Game, hosted by Andres du Bouchet. I was absolutely blown away by the show due to the stark originality of it. Everything about it really spoke to me as an artist, and that was the first time that I said to myself, "I can do this in New York." Before then, my view of comedy was very standup-centric, but also very classic setup-punchline. [At Night of Amazing Inventions] they really took ideas that everyone knows and they took them to an absurdist level. My sense of humor really jibed with that, and after seeing the show several times, I started to make the connection from a writing standpoint of the creation and end-mapping of each joke. Once I saw how it worked, I realized I could begin to work it myself.
Tell us a little about your sketch group City Hall.
City Hall is very much a collaboration of the five members of the group. Not to sound pretentious or anything, but we all support and push each other to different artistic and comedic heights. We sat down with City Hall and basically started discussing what we found funny, the things we found funny -- not necessarily other comedians we found funny, but the situations in life that we found humorous. The group really sort of grew organically from there, which is probably the biggest difference from any other project I've worked on.
How did City Hall form?
Josh Wolinsky and I were in a Fringe show together called Fringe a la Carte, which meant we did street performances. It was very bizarre. We were in City Hall Park in fact, doing a performance. We were sitting there, just making each other laugh, back and forth. We had a great time, and we were actually working together with another improv group. That relationship carried over into Punching the Midget [another sketch group], which carried into City Hall. He and I knew several people that we wanted to work with. And we both wanted to keep things light and breezy, focusing on what we found funny. We figured that odds were against us making it, so we might as well have as much fun as we can.
You've had a few members come and go throughout the years. Has that ever radically affected the dynamics?
We've had four core people in the group, and a rotating fifth cast member, sort-of. It's never happened by design. The first person dropped out of comedy and started a band, and the next person ended up getting married and moving away. The people we bring into the group are just people we want to work with or people we were interested in.
You've recently been named comedy curator for The Tank.
This is brand new. The current one is leaving in a few months, so I'm transitioning in. The Tank is a non-profit theater dedicated to showcasing new talent. It's not driven by a drink minimum, bringer shows or the need to get people to enroll in a class. It's purely non-profit theater to give people the experience of performing. Possibly even for those who have never stepped out in front of an audience before. As comedy curator, it's my job to book acts for the space. We have two theaters, one black box space upstairs with 50 seats and one on the first floor with 100 seats.
How do you pick shows?
Groups must have the drive and desire to put up a complete show. And I'm specifically looking for groups that may not have the ability to perform elsewhere. Maybe they have been formed from one of the three big improv schools but don't necessarily have a place to call home. I also look for groups that have a distinct comedic voice. I'll have many conversations to help find a way to pair them up with more established groups, so that the two can build on each other, both creatively and in terms of mixing together fanbases.
--Andrew Singer is a contributing editor for The Apiary. He performs regularly as "Soce the Elemental Wizard" and blogs for OutHipHop.com. He recently wrote about Dave Holmes.
RELATED
• City Hall Facebook page
• Official Web site for The Tank
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May 15, 2009
Update - Penelope: Princess of Pets Pilot
By: Keith Huang
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What an amazing few weeks it's been for Kurt & Kristen. The Apiary faves and never-not-hot-for-each-other comedy duo rocked a killer set opening for Flight of the Conchords at Radio City Music Hall before flying to England to start raising their surrogate comedy baby -- the Penelope: Princess of Pets pilot episode. The Apiary helped break the news a little while ago, so we thought it prudent to check back in with the ginger-haired taller of the two, Kurt, to see what was up. We also asked him what he thought of The Square Mile, which apparently is a nickname for London Town -- fun fact!
Cheerio, Old Boy. Throwin' another shrimp on the barbie?
We tried, but it fucking rained.
Blimey, too bad, innit? How's the pilot going?
The pilot is going really well. We just had our final production meeting, where every little detail is gone over, including if we can get away with Kyle robbing a KFC in broad daylight. We start shooting in five days. Everyone on the crew is super amazing and talented. So it just feels like we're doing things the right way.
Last time we checked, you didn't know whether you'd get much say in casting the pilot.
We did auditions and everything. It was pretty awesome. One thing we learned is that the comedic talent in the U.K. is HUGE. It was overwhelming. We also got to meet a bunch of comedians whose work we respect, so that was worth it in and of itself.
And your producer is Spencer Millman, who is quite famous in the British comedy scene. How has it been working with him?
Spencer has been amazing. He was the producer for The Mighty Boosh for the second and third series, as well as a bunch of other really great comedy series that are not as well-known in the states. He seems to know everybody, and everybody seems to like him. He's not only funny, but also a really good producer. We lucked out that he wanted to work with us. But Kristen wants him to quit smoking. Because she wants him to live forever.
You've also cast Daniel Kitson and Isy Suttie to do some of the animal voices. Can you tell us which animals?
Daniel is an Alley Rat and Isy Suttie is a dog. Both of them are amazingly hilarious.
And we're stoked Brett Gelman is reprising the role of Ruby. Is he in London with you?
Actually Brett is in LA. He just did all his voiceover work from there. He added so many amazing lines, as he always does. We should just give Ruby's part to him and have him write it.
Have you and Kristen been able to hang out British-style in London?
Kristen and I have taken to having after-work pints, which feels very British. But mostly we've been staying in and writing. Two weekends ago we had a little picnic in Regent's Park and then hung out on a friend's house barge on the Thames. I went swimming.
That sounds pretty awesome. Name three more awesome things about London, but also three shitty things.
Three awesome things: Seeing Banksy's pieces all over the place, the parks are amazingly beautiful and seemingly everywhere and riding your bike along the canals.
Three shitty things: Nobody eats turkey sandwiches here, everything closes at 11 pm, so if you don't have your drinks in the early evening, you get kicked out of everywhere you go and the weather. But we've been pretty lucky since we got here. It's been pretty sunny.
Speaking of food, what's the most recent British food or food-type product you've eaten? Anything you've become particularly fond of?
We just tried Marmite today. That's a weird concept. Its like the British didn't get enough yeast in their beer at night, they needed to find out how to get some in the morning. The chocolate and chips (crisps) are particularly good.
But you will be back because Kurt & Kristen are in SketchFestNYC. Do you worry you'll come back with English accents?
Kristen keeps giving me shit for ending my questions with an upwards inflection. But I've recently caught her doing it, too. It's hard not to do it. But there is NO way we're coming back with that. That's fucking annoying.
RELATED
• Gimme a Buzz: Kurt Braunohler Talks Penelope Pilot
• Kurt & Kristen are an official selection of SketchFestNYC 2009.
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May 5, 2009
Inside With: Dave Holmes, Mixing News and Comedy
By: Andrew Singer
GET OUT THERE AND DO IT The Friday Forty co-hosts Dave Holmes (foreground) and Scott Gimple | Photo: Kevin McShane
Ten years ago, Dave Holmes won 2nd place in MTV's Wanna Be a VJ contest, edged out by a tall and lanky "street kid" named Jesse Camp. But 10 years later, it's Holmes, a native of St. Louis, Mo., who's still on the TV box, having become an all-purpose television host and something of a Generation-X icon. While his particular brand of TV hosting is hard to pin down, one thing is for certain: For the past decade, Holmes has relied on old-fashioned perseverance and hard work to further his career, taking advantage of every opportunity to push things forward. To list just a few credits, Holmes is a host for Court TV's Saturday Night Solution programming block, FX's DVD on TV, CBS's summer series Fire Me...Please, and has appeared on Best Week Ever, Super Secret Movie Rules and 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the '80s. He's also a genuinely friendly guy, which can take you a long way in Los Angeles when coupled with real lasting power. In addition to showing up most recently on Reno 911!, Holmes has kept busy with a live-stage show, The Friday Forty, a sketch-comedy show about current events, which he and co-host Scott Gimple bring to New York's UCB Theater this week. The Apiary recently sat down with Holmes to talk comedy, his career and the secret to being a good host.
What makes The Friday Forty a comedy show and not just a game show?
It's a sketch-comedy show first and foremost, but it has the through-line of a game show: It's 40 questions about the events of the last seven days, while we all drink 40s of beer. The winner gets $40. I co-write and co-host it with my friend Scott Gimple, who created the Saturday morning cartoon "Fillmore" for ABC and writes for NBC's "Life." Scott and I really wanted to write something together, and we were both in a time in our lives when we felt we needed some deadlines to kick us in the ass. We decided to do a weekly, topical sketch-comedy show, but we wanted something to set it apart and keep people's attention throughout, so we added the game show element.
Continue reading "Inside With: Dave Holmes, Mixing News and Comedy
By: Andrew Singer"
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April 24, 2009
Inside With: Greg Walloch, Teller of Funny Stories
By: Andrew Singer
GOT A STORY FOR YOU "Everything is fair game and you can bring integrity to anything" --Greg Walloch | Photo: Anya Garrett
Standup comic Greg Walloch has tread a well-worn path through the New York comedy scene. As one of the world's few performers with cerebral palsy, who also happens to be gay and live in Harlem (because "I like keepin' it real"), Walloch is a storyteller whose skill comes from stage acting and performing monologues, while his timing, candor and honesty have all been sharpened over the course of nearly 20 years. The Apiary recently caught up with Walloch to talk about Howard Stern, cake and comedy.
How did you start out?
I began my career as a solo artist at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, Calif., in the late '80s. I continued developing storytelling and performance pieces at Dixon Place when I first moved to New York in '92. It wasn't until Howard Stern dubbed me a comedian -- when I appeared on his TV show for E! a few times -- that people really started regarding me as more of a comedic performer. I'm still basically telling stories, but the venues are more varied now and can include a comedy club like Comix and places like The Cutting Room and Joe's Pub. Comedy was not my aim at the start, it's just that some of the stories I was telling happened to be funny.
Continue reading "Inside With: Greg Walloch, Teller of Funny Stories
By: Andrew Singer"
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April 16, 2009
Inside With: Jerm Pollet of Raspberry Brothers
By: Andrew Singer
SPREADS EASILY & SUCKS MOISTURE FROM THE GROUND Raspberry Brothers are (l to r) Aaron Glaser, Johnny McNulty, Scott Rogowsky and Jerm Pollet | Photo: Kelcey Edwards
Part of the New York movie-watching experience is suffering the occasional heckler. Comedically speaking, the signal-to-noise ratio of your average heckler is low. But now imagine a show in which he has put considerable time and energy into the material, and the focus of the entertainment suddenly shifts to the heckler's cynical remarks and away from the film itself. That's the idea behind Raspberry Brothers, a comedy-in-a-movie-theater show transplanted all the way from Austin, Texas, by Jerm Pollet. The local comic and musician has conscripted some top-shelf comedy guys to join him in the front-row sniping of some of America's worst (and most loved) movies. The Apiary recently sat down with Pollet to discuss the show's beginnings, how he forged his new superteam and whether he'll pick up his guitar again.
How did Raspberry Brothers begin?
The show was born in Austin, Texas, about nine years ago when I founded the Sinus Show. The first movies I mocked were sexploitation and gore films like Nude on the Moon and The Gruesome Twosome. The Sinus Show grew to be very popular with nerdy guys, and over time I realized that if I did my routine over more mainstream movies and '80s flicks the ladies might come too. Sure enough, Dirty Dancing, Pretty in Pink, and Footloose properly feminized our audience. For seven years, I performed in downtown Austin at the Alamo Drafthouse, doing four shows every weekend. I've since relocated to Brooklyn, and Raspberry Brothers is my name for the New York chapter.
Continue reading "Inside With: Jerm Pollet of Raspberry Brothers
By: Andrew Singer"
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April 2, 2009
Inside With: Harrison Greenbaum, Comedy Addict
By: Andrew Singer
"Like any drug, the more you do it, the more you need to do it, so I tend to do as many shows as I possibly can" --Harrison Greenbaum | Photo: Steven Vaschon
Comedian Harrison Greenbaum is driven. He lives and breathes comedy, either performing, preparing, improving or booking gigs. His hard work is paying off, as he's always in demand at small, low-key alterna-comedy venues, as well as large clubs and festivals. His material is mostly personal, largely about family and life at Harvard (he only graduated college a few years ago). The Apiary recently caught up with Harrison to talk about his work ethic, his comedy and his fondness for magic.
How soon after graduating college did you get into comedy? Or was comedy something you did back then, too?
I was gigging regularly in college. In fact, my junior year at Harvard, I co-founded the Harvard College Stand-Up Comic Society (we came up with that name so the acronym would be "Harvard College SUCS"). We produced more than 25 stand-up shows a year my last two years at the school. Between HCSUCS, the Comedy Studio (which is located right in Harvard Square and was definitely major in terms of my development as a comic -- I'm definitely indebted to Rick Jenkins, the owner, and the club for helping me develop as a comic and artist), and the other Boston clubs, I was kept relatively busy doing stand-up.
By the last week of school, I was already up to six or seven shows a week. Of course, school was also a priority (I graduated summa cum laude), so that was a bit of a limiting factor. But now the combination of having graduated from college (and being able to focus solely on the comedy) and moving to New York City has really been incredible in terms of increasing my ability to get stage time and being able to work on the craft.
Continue reading "Inside With: Harrison Greenbaum, Comedy Addict
By: Andrew Singer"
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March 24, 2009
Inside With: Leah Dubie, Both Sides of the Scene
By: Andrew Singer
"I would just try and stand really close to Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert and hope their genius rubbed off on me." --Leah Dubie | Photo: Anya Garrett
Mix in some girl-next-door charm with the focused determination of an athlete, the glamour of a model, down-home warmth and honesty of a New Englander and the awkwardness of someone who shares too much (I Just Peed a Little), and you come up with Leah Dubie. This talented, hard-working comedian has done time on both sides of the comedy scene: behind the mic cracking jokes and in the boardroom making production decisions for promotional spots and TV commercials. The Apiary recently sat down with Dubie to discuss touring, on-camera interview tips and her show Dykes on Mics.
What does your job as a television producer entail?
I'm an on-air promos writer-producer. I write and produce in-show commercials essentially. I do a lot of COPS promos for Tru TV which makes me feel like I made all the right decisions in choosing a career. Because I get to watch COPS for money and it keeps me from being on COPS because I'm out of money. I work on shows from time to time as well. One of my very first jobs in television was on Season 3 of Strangers with Candy. I hadn't even started doing standup yet but I had big plans to. I would just try and stand really close to Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert and hope their genius rubbed off on me.
Continue reading "Inside With: Leah Dubie, Both Sides of the Scene
By: Andrew Singer"
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March 17, 2009
Inside With: Booth & Pat
By: Andrew Singer
"We kind of like that our category gives us flexibility" --Booth & Pat | Photo: Jason Specland
When comedic musical duo Booth Daniels (above, left) and Patrick Frankfort, better known as Booth & Pat hit the stage, they hit you with infectious energy. Their shows mix music of all genres with a theatrical flair, engaging the audience not just with catchy tunes but also endearing banter. Their act has been successful in New York, earning them regular spots in major comedy clubs and festivals. The Apiary sat down with the comedians to discuss their dramatic training, some of their favorite shows and the joys of winging it.
How did it all begin?
Kind of by accident. Patrick had a gig one evening and asked Booth to lend a hand with vocals that night. The act that was supposed to show up after us never did, the booker kept signaling us to stretch -- our original half hour gig spread to nearly an hour and a half, all the while we filled with more songs that we didn't know we knew and bizarre banter that surprisingly cracked up both of us and the audience -- it sort of fed itself. We didn't go into this with an 'act' in mind, however after doing it on its feet without a net, we knew we had a great onstage chemistry and vocal blending that we wanted to do more with.
Continue reading "Inside With: Booth & Pat
By: Andrew Singer"
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March 12, 2009
Inside With: Mike Drucker, SNL Contributor
By: Chelsea White
"I'm in the center of the nerd / sad / fat Venn Diagram for Update photos. Which is actually sort of neat" --Mike Drucker | Photo: Mike Drucker
A frequent contributor to online-comedic staples The Huffington Post, McSweeney's, and The Onion, comedian and writer Mike Drucker saw one of his jokes make the nearly impossible leap from notebook to the Weekend Update news desk on the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live (Ep. #1548, Season 34). A former SNL intern, Drucker has worked as the show's Graphics Coordinator since 2008. He was also the winner of Disney's 2007 "So You Think You're Funny" stand-up competition and was nominated for Time Out New York's 2008 Joke of the Year. The Apiary got Drucker to put his pen down for a hot minute to let us in on what it's like to see his writing on an SNL cue card.
So, Funny Man, give us the joke that made the cut!
The joke was: "An investment bank is auctioning off more than 15,000 videotaped episodes of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's iconic talk show 'The PTL Club.' Here's how the auction went: 'Do I hear nothing? Nothing? Nothing! Going once! Going twice! Sold! To nobody because no one would want that." Seth delivered it really well.
Continue reading "Inside With: Mike Drucker, SNL Contributor
By: Chelsea White"
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March 9, 2009
Inside With: Wali Collins, Famous From Springfield, Mass.
By: Andrew Singer
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Wali Collins is a standup comic and a generally positive, upbeat guy. He started out in the Boston area and has earned work in commercials, comedy shows, as well as TV and corporate gigs all over the U.S. When Collins talks about the path that has traveled these many years, one cannot help but feel captivated by his overwhelming passion for everything he does and has done. The Apiary recently sat down with Collins in a sandwich shop in midtown to discuss his beginnings, the usefulness of having a clean set, connecting with his audience and his inspirational clothing line.
Did you need to tone down your material at all for your appearance on The View?
No, my material is clean anyway. It was a matter of choosing what they wanted to hear, what jokes would work on the show and the flow of the set, but I didn't need to tone it down at all. A lot of comics will have curses in their sets, and they figure they can edit them out later, but sometimes the curses are the jokes and then the jokes die. So I try to stay in the habit of keeping jokes ready for TV.
How was your experience on Chappelle's Show? At the time, did you realize it was going to become such a cultural phenomenon?
No, I didn't know. Dave's a good friend of mine, and I got called once in a while to work on the show if I wasn't traveling or anything like that. But I had no idea it was going to be this cult kind of thing. Dave's a great writer, and so is Neal [Brennan] who was his co-producer. They understood their audience. And people just gravitated toward that; or levitated.
Continue reading "Inside With: Wali Collins, Famous From Springfield, Mass.
By: Andrew Singer"
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February 26, 2009
Inside With: Larry Wilmore, Senior Black Correspondent for The Daily Show
By: Keith Huang
"I just got better out of survival." --Larry Wilmore | Photo: liezl was here
Comedian Larry Wilmore started out as an actor and standup comic. In the early '80s, along with the torrent of young, funny men and women hoping to get called over to Carson's couch, Wilmore hustled through the west coast comedy scene. But he ultimately found a career at a desk, penning jokes as a television-comedy writer. Wilmore's TV-writing career spans nearly two decades, working on some of TV's seminal comedies like "In Living Color," "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and "The Office." But perhaps Wilmore's most notable TV work happened nearly a decade ago when he teamed up with late-comedy legend Bernie Mac to create "The Bernie Mac Show." His writing would earn him many accolades, including a solo Emmy, making him the first African-American to do so. Today, Wilmore is back to the standup format, providing commentary and reporting as The Daily Show's "Senior Black Correspondent." The Apiary recently spoke to Wilmore from his L.A. home to discuss the early days, his new book, "I'd Rather We Got Casinos: And Other Black Thoughts," and his affinity for the word "Chocolate." Wilmore's answers were edited for space and clarity.
What was your first introduction to comedy?
I guess when I was a kid watching television. My earliest influence was probably The Flip Wilson Show. I remember laughing and trying to imitate him.
In the acknowledgements to your book, you thank your entire family for being funny without knowing it. What does that mean?
I mention my parents because they're such characters. My parents were just complete opposites. My mom was so emotional about everything. You could just change lanes and she'd yell, "You didn't use your blinker!" It never mattered. On the other hand, with my father, a plane could crash into the house next door and he would just go: "Oh." You could say, "A plane crashed! And all those people died!" And he'd say, "It was just their time to go." He'd be philosophical about it. They were just these two extremes that made us laugh all the time.
Continue reading "Inside With: Larry Wilmore, Senior Black Correspondent for The Daily Show
By: Keith Huang"
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February 23, 2009
Inside With: Ophira Eisenberg, Storyteller
By: Andrew Singer
"I can't express enough how many other comics, random people, and odd connections have really given me everything in my career." --Ophira Eisenberg | Photo: Anya Garrett
Give her a minute and Ophira Eisenberg will win you over to her side, even if she's discussing all the terrible things she has done to people, both real and imaginary. Ophira's discourse will take you on a wild journey, combining seemingly unrelated topics such as e-vites and funerals. She has toured the world, has been featured on a variety of TV shows and indie flicks and even hosts some shows throughout New York City. The Apiary recently sat down with her to discuss the history of storytelling, fitting into the scene and her upcoming show "Live On Tape" at Comix. (Tickets)
As a Canadian, do you think there are any differences in comedic sensibilities between here and there?
It's hard to tell how much of the difference I felt was a cultural thing. I had a pretty respectable career in Canada but as soon as I moved here I was back to zero, at the bottom, trying to get spots, get noticed. Rightfully so, frankly. I think I was a little hacky when I got to New York. Suddenly I was surrounded by so many great writers and people who really knew how to perform and sell a bit. It took me a long time to work up my confidence on stage here and feel like I belonged. Everyone warned me that the New York comedy scene would be cut-throat and nasty. I have to say that I never found it to be like that at all. Comics here have helped me with stage time, writing, all kinds of career opportunities. I think it's more supportive here than in Toronto. Maybe it's because everything's so hard here so there's more of a "we're all in this together" feel.
Continue reading "Inside With: Ophira Eisenberg, Storyteller
By: Andrew Singer"
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February 13, 2009
Inside With: Jon Glaser
When you look back on the output of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the turn of the new millennium was an era that gushed with creativity and the juvenile yet intelligent ridiculousness that made Conan an idol amongst the high-school and college set. Jon Glaser was on the writing staff then, churning out one brilliant premise or character after another. Much like Jon Benjamin, who also tends to gravitate towards behind the scenes or supporting roles, Glaser has now matriculated to an echelon of comedy-dom where he can pretty much do whatever projects he feels like doing. Lend a hand at WonderShowzen? Sure. Consult on Human Giant? Why not. Pitch a fake reality series about a family in the Witness Protection Program and the Russian Mafia who's out to kill them? Let's do this! In his new live-action Adult Swim series, Delocated, Glaser steps into the foreground with a project that's all his own.
Tell us about Delocated. I saw a couple episodes and I love all the cameos by NYC people. Is this your first series where you run the show?
I did a witness protection character on Conan awhile ago. It had more of a joke attached, he was an impressionist, and all his impressions sounded the same, like his low, garbled, affected voice. It was pretty dumb and fun. After I left Conan, I always wanted to do something with that witness protection character in general, not with the joke attached to it, and thought of the idea for the show. This is indeed the first series that's mine, where I got to run the show. It's my idea, I'm starring in it, got to assemble the staff and crew and everything, and hire some very funny friends. It was a great experience.
How did Jason Woliner get involved?
I met Woliner before Human Giant, for something those guys were shooting before they got the show. He shot and edited the pilot and I directed it. Jeff Buchanan directed the series and worked one of the cameras and was one of the editors.
It seems like a lot of series on Adult Swim go for just one or two seasons--like instead of a series being its own self-sustaining show with its own audience, it's an interchangeable part of the bigger 'show' that is Adult Swim. When you're making Delocated, did you make it with the intention that it'll be finite? Or will ratings and
audience reaction and all that stuff actually factor into a series' continuation?
I've never gotten that sense from Adult Swim shows. Each show seems like its own entity to me with its own audience. Regardless, I just focused on making the first season of Delocated really funny and tried very hard to make the show I wanted, in case it ended up only going for one season. I think we accomplished that, which is due to the very funny people who worked on it, the very hard working staff and crew, and Adult Swim, who were a creative dream to work for. A creative cream dream in my brain jeans.
What are your favorite sketches you wrote for Late Night? A-Hole Ronald is one of my favorites of all time.
Ha ha. A-hole Ronald is certainly one. "Kim," the witness protection program impressionist, of course. Segue Sam was fun, as were Jeremy and Ira, the black hooded sweatshirt guys who popped up in the lower corners of the screen. I did that with Brian Stack, one of the funniest people I know, as well as one of the most raging assholes you'll ever meet. Camp Michael McDonald was fun. Awareness Del. Fuck, this list of great characters I did on Conan could go on FOREVER. The absolute most favorite thing I ever did on the show was a maraca player who sat in with the band for the entire first half of the show. I truly hope you can find video of that.
Are you doing anything for the final days of Late Night?
Nothing planned as of right now, but I hope to go to the last show, that should be a great time. But also bittersweet. It's odd that the show won't be in New York anymore. And I'm crying.
Do you have any plans on joining the staff in LA or working at all with Jimmy's crew?
No plans on either of those.
You have kids, right? Do your kids find you funny?
I have a son who is almost three. He thinks I am hi-LARRY-ous.
I'm pretty sure I've spotted you milling around the Connecticut Muffin in Park Slope before. Why is Park Slope so dense with comedy writers? You, Mike Sweeney, Eugene Mirman, Hodgman, Schaal, Todd Hanson, etc...
Ha ha. Don't forget PFFR's John Lee. Park Slope is where all the cool, cozy comedy dads end up. Well, except for Schaal, Hanson, and Mirman. They're not dads. But they are cozy. Whatever the fuck that means.
Got any plugs or anything else?
I'll give a quick plug for Xavier, which is a genius animated show that is also on Adult Swim, which I'm sure your audience is well aware of and probably doesn't even need the plug. It was made by PFFR, who was the production company on my show, they are amazing, and the show will make your brain mad, even though it is hilarious. Also want to give a quick plug for an internet series I did called Mayne Street. Very fun and funny show made by some very nice guys, it was a great time.
Glaser and Bobby Tisdale at Invite Them Up in 2007
Delocated premiered last night on Adult Swim, pick up a TV Guide and tune in. For a long interview with Glaser, check out this in-depth one done by Ben Kharakh a couple years ago for Gothamist.
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February 12, 2009
Inside With: Dave T. Koenig, Commercial Guy
By: Andrew Singer
WHERE HAVE I SEEN YOU? "I'm not exactly in Olympic shape, yet I continue to be cast in commercials where I need to be doing calisthenics for hours" --Dave Koenig | Photo: Brian Ach
For many comedic actors, booking a national TV commercial is often the lifeblood that can keep them going for an entire year. And for some, like comedian Dave Koenig, a fruitful career can be forged in commercials, even when playing the unfortunate sap who picks the wrong product. By his own account, Koenig is just an actor who's still figuring it out, turning up in independent films, segments on the Onion News Network and standup gigs around the city. The Apiary recently caught up with the comic and new father to discuss leaving behind office jobs, booking commercials and pro-wrestling.
In many commercials, you portray person who uses "the other brand." How do you get into the proper mindset for that role?
I learned early on that it's okay to just be myself as an actor. I reached a point in my life where I knew I wasn't Brad Pitt, and was totally okay with it. So I have no real illusions about my image. I don't feel compelled to avoid looking like a dork the way I did when I was younger, which is important because being goofy honestly may be my biggest strength. I try to be committed to what I am given, whether it's as the guy using the brand paying for the spot or the competitor's product. I actually think it's more fun to be the guy who has it wrong, because there's so much more room to be funny. To me it's really funny seeing someone who thinks they have it all figured out fall completely on their face, so I just try to do what makes me laugh about that.
Continue reading "Inside With: Dave T. Koenig, Commercial Guy
By: Andrew Singer"
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February 5, 2009
Inside With: Sue Funke, Comedian & TV Fan
By: Andrew Singer
STORYTELLER "There is nothing as fulfilling as telling a good story that makes you laugh really hard." --Sue Funke| Photo: Lauren Leonardi
Some comedic performers seek safety in hiding their flaws, but Sue Funke stands out by embracing imperfection. With her act, she draws you in by declaring that it's okay to make mistakes and that there's a certain strength in being able to roll with the punches. After performing in New York for several years, Sue has warmed her way into numerous popular shows throughout the city with not just her cheerfulness but also her intimacy, putting the audience right there when an originally terrible but now humorous incident has occurred. We sat down with Sue to discuss the joys of storytelling, television and how knowledge is power.
What are the best questions people have asked you about your name after seeing you perform?
Someone once asked if my father was George Clinton, which was wonderfully absurd. Like he'd have a white daughter and then have her last name changed to Funke. I mean, Clinton's obviously the father of funk, but not with an "e." I also love it when people ask if I'm related to Tobias Funke from Arrested Development (it's happened more than once). The real Funke family is slightly more functional, less rich, and don't pronounce the "e" at the end of our name.
Did you move from Long Island to NYC strictly to pursue comedy? Or was there another more sinister purpose?
I'm the youngest of four so the path was pretty set -- you go to college, then you get a good job in the closest city to your college. I went to Hofstra in Hempstead, New York, and then interned at About.com my senior year and subsequently got a job at About.com in Chelsea (where I still work). It was pretty much a natural transition. I had done improv and stand up comedy in Long Island and New York before I moved. When I moved, I took advantage of living alone and wrote a screenplay. Once I realized that was shit, I went back to stand up.
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What is some important knowledge we can learn from your group The Ultimate Experts?
That dick and fart jokes can come in sophisticated looking packages. We (Raquel D'Apice, Arthur Carlson, Dan Upham and Joe Powers) are all ridiculous dorks that love learning. Our sketches reflect not only our senses of humor, but also our love of intellectual matters. We've had sketches about literary figures, the laws of physics, and chess, but we also had sketches where characters are talking about titty time. It is smart humor that doesn't take itself seriously and that's what makes it so fun.
Where do you fall on the scale of abrasiveness to relatability with your audience?
I try to be as relatable as possible. When I'm on stage it's like hosting a big party and you're telling your guests something. You want them to all be interested and have a good time. Most of my act is about how I'm awkward, say the wrong things, or do stupid stuff. I want people to laugh along and realize they should laugh at all their imperfections as well, because having a sense of humor about yourself makes life so much easier.
I love TV a lot. Are you absolutely sure that you love it more than me?
Um, did you eat nothing but Saltines and Tuna for a month so you could have two DVR boxes that were fully programmed? It's not just the money spent on TV, or the sleep I lose making sure I get every program in. It's how I obsessively think about it. Since I can remember, I've always watched TV with an analytical mind and looked at the story structure, characters, and how it can improve. When I was about 11, I started taking notes on shows that I like. Somewhere, in my mom's basement, there's a spiral notebook full of analysis of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Family Ties.
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Do you prefer to tell jokes or stories?
Stories! There is nothing as fulfilling as telling a good story that makes you laugh really hard. To get someone to listen to a story and at the end they're glad they heard you out is just a great feeling. What usually happens is I tell a friend a story and most of the time I'm not even thinking it's funny and when it's met with laughs I set about turning it into a story with punch lines for the stage.
What was the very worst show you did that ended up being funniest in retrospect?
Easy -- it was at the Brokerage in Long Island, where I had taken comedy classes with Al Isaacs. I was asked to do a Thursday night guest spot and I was super excited because it was the first non-bringer show I'd been asked to do as a stand-up. I left my college roommate's apartment and was like, "I'm gonna go be a comedian, maybe I'll see you later." I get to the Brokerage and there are six people in the audience: An awkward couple on their first date, and a family of four celebrating their daughter's 22nd birthday.
Well, the mother of the birthday girl had celebrated a little too hard. As I'm on stage she falls out of her chair onto the stage and embarrasses the entire family. I couldn't even make a joke about it, it was so sad at the moment. I tried turning attention to the couple on the date and asked, "How are you two doing tonight?" The girl looks up at me and says, "Awful." I then tried to do material for what felt like a week as the family continued to try to get the mother into the chair and somewhat sober. I left the club and called my college roommate immediately and said, "Roll a blunt, pour me a shot and put some roofies in it. I never want to remember this night."
--Andrew Singer is a contributing editor for The Apiary. He performs regularly as "Soce the Elemental Wizard." He recently wrote about Rob O'Reilly.
RELATED
• See a list of Sue's upcoming shows.
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February 3, 2009
Inside With: Tony Carnevale, Channel 101NY Founder, Musical Performer
Just in time for his solo debut at Ars Nova, filmmaker and musician Tony Carnevale opens up to us about his days with Channel 101NY and his relationship with Viagra.
How'd you get involved with Channel 101NY?
My friend Terry Jinn pointed out Channel 101 (the original, in LA) to me a few years ago. I became immediately addicted to their shows Timebelt and Laser Fart, and I wanted to be involved in that kind of supportive video-making community. So I called the guys who run 101 and said, "Hi, I'm just some VH1 writer you've never met, and I want to run the official NYC version of Channel 101." Bizarrely, they were totally on board. Thus was born Channel 101NY (called Channel 102 at the time).
Does Channel 101NY hold any sort of rights to the shows you premiere? Like, when Gemberling made the jump to Adult Swim, did you guys benefit at all?
We don't benefit financially in any way. Our shows remain the property of their creators. At least, that's how it was when I ran it. The very smart and capable Stephen Levinson is running 101NY these days, and I assume he's doing the same thing.
Obviously we receive a very large benefit in the form of public awareness and interest in 101 whenever a show takes off, and we're always very happy about it.
Are there any Channel 101NY shows that were robbed of syndication? How do you know you don't have a Family Guy situation on your hands, where a show is cancelled because the audience reaction isn't immediately apparent.
The way 101 works, the audience reaction is everything. They frequently kill shows that I love, but the great thing is, the decisions to cancel or renew shows are made by the audience, not a bunch of suits in a conference room. I really do believe in the 101 system. Still, it hurts to see a funny show with a unique and fascinating point of view, like Welcome To My Study, fail. Fortunately, 101 cancellation hasn't prevented Mitch and Dyna from churning out new episodes every so often.
Tell me about your show tonight at Ars Nova.
I played a few songs in a show with Becky Yamamoto at Ars Nova last year, and based on that, Ars Nova asked me to come back and do a whole evening of music. That's what's happening tonight, and it's a one-shot deal. I've never done anything like this, and I may never do anything like it again, but I'm glad to get this chance to sing some really weird and disturbing songs to an audience.
In your show's description it says you're an ad writer for Viagra by day. Did you have anything to do with the Viva Viagra jingle?
I do indeed work as a copywriter for an ad agency that is responsible for a lot of Viagra advertising. The "Viva Viagra" campaign was the creation of another agency. I think that's all I can really say about that.
Well, if anything else comes to mind or pops up on that matter, let us know. Got any plugs or shout-outs?
I saw Ann Carr's show at UCB a couple weeks ago and she blew me away. Such a funny, touching, human experience. And the Shells show at Joe's Pub is a crazy, brilliant, Andy-Kaufman-meets-Sex-And-The-City good time. Oh, and everybody should come to Terry Jinn's Enormous Television, Feb. 26 at Kenny's Castaways. A bunch of comedians who are also pretty good singers will be tearing through your favorite rock hits, accompanied by Terry Jinn, the best guitarist I'm personally friends with, and his super-solid band.
Tony Carnevale's Greatest Hits runs TONIGHT for one evening only. Tickets are $15. Channel 101NY's monthly show returns tomorrow with an all new slate of programming.
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January 30, 2009
Look Who Stopped By: It's Michaela Watkins!
By: Keith Huang
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*
Whooooooo is it?
LUCKY LADY "I knew it would either work out or not, but I had to detach from the outcome" --Michaela Watkins | Photo: NBC
Hey, it's Michaela Watkins -- one of the new featured players on Saturday Night Live! We were instant fans of Michaela, especially when she debuted her Arianna Huffington impersonation ... you know ... but, really, we've been cheering the native New Yorker pretty much the moment she was hired. She's a hard-working actor who spent years playing scenes on black-box stages, striking her own sets and just pursuing one, solitary goal: getting her comedy seen by others. The work paid off, perhaps most notably in a recurring spot on The New Adventures of Old Christine, but for many aspiring comedy-types, Michaela now represents that hoary, and often forgotten, chestnut: Never give up on a dream. Because after running the SNL-audition gauntlet for nearly two years, Michaela would get a call from Lorne Michaels at 9 p.m. California time -- we want you at a table read at 3 p.m. tomorrow ... in New York.
In the same week she has been working on sketches for this week's host and one of her personal comedy heroes, Steve Martin, The Apiary received some thoughtful A's to some burning Q's.
When SNL first announced that you and Abby Elliott would be cast members, it made really big news. Do you think such heightened scrutiny is a good or a bad thing?
Good or bad for me? I think it's a good thing, because it means that I'm joining a show when people are interested and watching opposed to a sleepy time when no one cares. SNL made such an amazing mark this past election and I was proud to be a sketch comedienne (without even being on SNL) because of the fine work that was being done on the show. Finally comedy was doing what it does so well -- makes fun of the status quo and I think people really paid attention. So, I really gave you two answers. A: I think the heightened scrutiny was good thing because it meant it was not only a good time for SNL but B: a good time for comedy in general.
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What was your first one-on-one meeting with Lorne Michaels like?
I might be one of the few cast members who never had a one-on-one meeting with Lorne, but I'm also one of the few cast members who auditioned for the show twice -- once during the fall of '07 and again in the late summer of '08. However Lorne did call me to tell me I was hired in a rather round about way.
He didn't come out and tell me I had the job. He very casually said "we'd like to get you on a plane to New York in time for the table read tomorrow at 3pm." (I was in Los Angeles and it was 9pm.) This might give you an idea of how long I had to pack and get to the airport. Let me help you. 4 hours. That's counting 2 hours of staring at my boyfriend in total shock.
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But when did you first get a sense that joining the cast could become a real possibility, and when did you allow yourself to think it could really happen?
Good question ... You know? I'm not really sure. I had a great time auditioning in 2007 and when I heard Casey Wilson was hired I said "Oh WOW! That's so great! Good for her!" I met her while shooting a pilot the year before and I always thought she was not only talented but incredibly nice. It was only a few days later when I realized this probably meant I would not be getting hired and I made peace with that. Because of that experience, I think I never really thought it would come around again.
When I auditioned the second time, I didn't tell anyone really. I didn't hear until almost 3 months later, so I was glad I didn't tell many people. It was easier to just put it out of my mind. I was really busy with the Groundlings and I knew it would either work out or not, but I had to detach from the outcome. Does that make sense?
Needless to say, you've been an SNL fan for years. What are some of your most memorable and influential moments from the show?
Well, anything with Gilda Radner in it. I would imitate her all the time as a very little girl. I was obsessed. I read anything that had to do with her like Bunny Bunny and her memoir "It's Always Something" about her battle with cancer and cry and cry. I auditioned to play her in a TV movie about her life four years ago. I dressed up like Lisa Loopner and everything. I think I scared the casting director. Of course I was a huge fan of Martin Short, Jan Hooks, Nora Dunn, Phil Hartman, Cheri Oteri, Will Ferrell (coincidentally, the last 3 people were Groundlings).
When and where did your Arianna Huffington impersonation first come about?
I've never really been one for impressions. Mostly original characters that are based on random people I imitate in my daily life. (the owner of the restaurant where I worked, my mother, the insipid woman in line in front of me at Costco. ) SNL has given me an opportunity to explore more impressions and I never know who I'll play until the script is written.
I love the challenge, but the Huffington impression came about because I was talking about a piece I heard on NPR that day and I was trying to make my customers laugh where I bartended. I just kind of "did" it. Then I thought -- hey I should remember that in case anyone besides of the 4 of us know who Arianna Huffington is and want to hear an impression.
We've always figured that once you join the cast, you have to start figuring out how you're gonna get your closest friends and family in to see the show. How's that been going for you
Agh. It's hard. You can't please everyone ... and all I want to do is please everyone.
Please finish this sentence: I got on SNL because I ______.
...AM LUCKY.
RELATED
• SNL Backstage: Michaela Watkins
• Photos: Groundlings Sunday Company | Full set
• Michaela Watkins as Ann Coulter
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January 29, 2009
Inside With: Bart Coleman, Talent Coordinator
Last November, the 92YTribeca invited me out to see Rhys Darby and get a tour of their beautiful space. It was pretty obvious then that whoever was doing the booking there was unusually hip to the comedy scene. Since its opening, the venue was putting together weekly bills with headliners like David Cross and Janeane Garofalo. And now Rhys Darby? Seth Herzog and Chelsea Peretti both opened for Rhys that night, so whoever was responsible for all this was clearly an awesome person. It was there I met Bart Coleman, the 92YTribeca's comedy curator and talent coordinator. We chatted briefly for a couple minutes and I was relieved to hear he's heard of this website (it makes talking to comedy people a bit easier). I'm bad with details, but it somehow came up that he'd been to EVERY Mr. Show taping in the 90's. Say what?! How is that even possible? It turns out my Awesome Radar was working correctly--Bart graciously provided some wildly insightful A's to the probing Q's on my mind.
When I met you, the fact that you had been to all the Mr. Show tapings really stuck in my mind. How did you get involved with all this?
In the early-mid 90's I was working in LA as a writers' assistant and producer's assistant on sitcoms, where I met a lot of comedy writers and performers. Every Sunday I would attend the Un-Cabaret show in West Hollywood where I used to see Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, Janeane Garofalo, Patton Oswalt, Andy Dick... the list goes on. It was the golden age of alternative comedy in LA and I was truly a super-fan. When Mr. Show started, Bob & David passed out flyers at Un-Cabaret with a hotline number to call for free taping tickets. The recorded instructions said to show up early for seating, so I did--so early I was usually the first or second nerd in line. That's where I met Lisa Leingang, the audience coordinator, who became my friend and mentor in the comedy biz.
Continue reading "Inside With: Bart Coleman, Talent Coordinator"
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Inside With: Rob O'Reilly
By: Andrew Singer
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Standup comic Rob O'Reilly has steadily been winning the hearts and minds of comedy fans around the world. A regular performer on the college circuit, O'Reilly has also been featured on Jay Leno and Comedy Central's Live at Gotham. We recently chatted with Rob about life on the road, becoming a man and baring all.
How are you making the transition from a youthful comic to a grown-up comic?
I've only recently started to realize that my hook or gimmick is no longer there. I used to be the young kid who could get away with anything because I was adorable. But now I'm just old enough to not get away with it, yet still too young to tell a dirty joke without making an old person uncomfortable. They look at me and they see their son, and they don't want to hear their son talking about vaginas. Nowadays there are some much younger comics, such as Billy the Kid, who is like 15. Billy makes me seem like John McCain.
Continue reading "Inside With: Rob O'Reilly
By: Andrew Singer"
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January 20, 2009
Inside With: Ann Carr, Character Actress
By: Andrew Singer
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Ann Carr is a versatile character actress who has appeared in numerous live shows, films, commercials, and web series. Although she has had success with her current set of identities, she is always redefining herself and pushing against any limits. We recently chatted with Anne about her new direction and about her upcoming show Use It, at the UCB Theater.
I hear you have a funny story about the first feature film you were in?
I do. There was this screenplay. It was written by a friend of mine and he invited me to participate in a reading for it. Usually with these kinds of things, they go a few steps and then result in a dead-end. I've been in New York long enough that I'm a bit jaded, so I wasn't expecting much. About a month went by and then one night, while I was out getting mojitos with my friend Adira, I got a call. It was this woman who said she was the costume designer for the screenplay I had read for and was wondering what my schedule was because she would like me to come in for a fitting. I was skeptical, so I said, "Well, this is the first I'm hearing of this. I haven't even spoken to the director, so I didn't even know about this." There was a long pause and then, "Sure, okay."
I mean, I don't even know what I'm committing to, you know? I asked her what role they wanted me to play and she said they weren't sure. By this point I was thoroughly confused. I was thinking: "You don't even know what ROLE you want me to play and you want me to come in for a fitting? Probably not a project I want to get involved with." So she said, "Tell you what, I'll send you an email with the roles we were thinking of."
The next morning, going through my emails, I found the one addressed to me from the costume designer with three sides attached. Except she signed off casting director, not costume designer. Confused, I googled her and found she was the principal casting director on several feature films. And she was calling me in to audition! I felt like such an asshole. I was so, so nervous for the audition and I was sure she would remember what a total freak I was on the phone. She was really sweet though. It's a funny story, but I'm lucky she was cool and the writer/director was a friend.
Continue reading "Inside With: Ann Carr, Character Actress
By: Andrew Singer"
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January 19, 2009
Vin Diesel Joins Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari
Well, at least according to Aziz's Facebook. In regards to Amy Poehler's new sitcom - which also stars Rashida Jones and Aubrey Plaza - Aziz writes:
Sounds like a natural step following The Pacifier. Funny is funny, right, you guys?
[NBC]
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January 15, 2009
Gimme a Buzz: Kurt Braunohler Talks Penelope Pilot
By: Keith Huang
COWS and GOATS and DOGS and CHICKENS Kurt & Kristen of Penelope: Princess of Pets will invade the U.K. this week | Photo: BillieJoNJ
Ever since Reggie Watts warbled "talk to me" in the opening credits to "Penelope: Princess of Pets", we've been hooked on this puckish Web series by Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler. Penelope had it all: Dr. Doolittle in ponytails, an orphan on Heelys, an unctuous politician and a foul-mouthed bird. When the series first appeared online, it was a perfect companion piece to the idiosyncratic but earnest live, two-person comedy show being honed by Kurt & Kristen.
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And as more episodes of Penelope became available, the series began earning praise from around the Web. And following a brief hiatus last year, Penelope's "lost episodes" arrived just as Kurt & Kristen were racking up awards and nominations on the other side of the world (2008 Barry Award | if.comedy).
So it's fitting that nearly two years later, one of the premiere British TV stations with a strong penchant for comedy would snatch up the pilot. In a series we're calling "Gimme a Buzz," The Apiary sat down with Braunohler, had him call our cellphone, and then handed his iPhone back and forth to record the interview.
So we wanted to hear it from the talking horse's mouth: What's the story with Penelope?
We sold a pilot of the show to Channel 4 in London, and we'll be going over there in May or June to shoot it. It will be a 30-minute pilot that essentially features me (as Kyle), Kristen Schaal (as Penelope) and Bret Gelman (as Ruby the Bird).
Continue reading "Gimme a Buzz: Kurt Braunohler Talks Penelope Pilot
By: Keith Huang"
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December 16, 2008
Inside With: DJ Hazard, 'You Should See the Other Guy'
By: Andrew Singer
"I'm constantly trying to be as honest as possible, with myself and my audience" --DJ Hazard | Photo: Adam Woodworth
DJ Hazard is a veteran of the comedy, acting, writing and music world. His warped sensibilities offer a platform from which he often teaches his audience how to wreak playful havoc on their neighbors, while his gleefully perverse folk-song parodies ultimately sound more immediate and truthful than the classics they skew. Nearly 30 years ago, DJ Hazard was a founding member of the Ding Ho Club in Cambridge, Mass., one of the earliest capitals of standup comedy and historically celebrated in the documentary "When Stand Up Stood Out." The Ding Ho Club -- today the Ole Mexican Grill -- was a playground for some of the most notable Beantown talent, including Steven Wright, Bobcat Goldthwait, Paula Poundstone, Jimmy Tingle and Denis Leary. The Apiary recently caught up with DJ Hazard to discuss the "other" DJ Hazard, the importance of honesty, the history of The Ding Ho and his dream of starting his own school.
Who is DJ Hazard, the New York comedian (not to be confused with the U.K. drum & bass musician)?
Too late not to be confused. The hilarity ensues with the two of us being on the same planet. I'm also a musician, so that TOTALLY lobotomizes the search engines, I imagine. I get some of his e-mail from time to time. Apparently he is highly revered, and I have no reason to doubt that. He's also very prolific. It looks like he puts out a new CD every week. I don't ignore the emails. They're from all over the world, and they're VERY respectful:
"DJ Hazard, Sir, I know that you're very busy and I'm very sorry to disturb you. If you have any advice for this up-and coming-DJ in (insert country), I would be very grateful."
I have to write them back. They think they just e-mailed their hero. I explain the mistake, that they reached DJ Hazard the comedian, actor, writer and musician guy. I tell them it's cool, it happens. Then I direct them to the other DJ Hazard's MySpace. Some people say I should fuck with them -- man, that would be such a douchey thing to do. Not to mention bad karma. I think this also answers the "Who is DJ Hazard?" part of this question.
Continue reading "Inside With: DJ Hazard, 'You Should See the Other Guy'
By: Andrew Singer"
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December 15, 2008
Inside With: Kevin Frank, Graphic Artist @ Late Night With Conan O'Brien
By: Keith Huang
"I'm a happy behind-the-scenes guy who is grateful for his lot in life" --Kevin Frank | By: Kevin Frank
Kevin Frank is a veteran graphic artist at NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He has worked as a graphic artist for three television networks, and has spent more than 15 years at Late Night With Conan O'Brien, where he is largely responsible for creating "bumper art," the onscreen placards that are placed between a pause in the show and a commercial break (and vice versa). Originally from Edgemont, N.Y., Frank holds a fine arts degree from Carnegie-Mellon University and has lived and worked in New York City since 1983. The Apiary recently discussed Frank's work and how he got into the business.
You've been at Late Night since the begining. But when the show started in '93, many changes were introduced to the show's look to differentiate it from Letterman. Were you designing bumpers immediately, or was there a lag time before you started making them?
No, it was right off the bat. The first bumpers were basically cut-and-paste jobs. I would get a folder containing photos of movies stills, cast photos from old tv shows, etc., and a Post-It would be placed over someone's face to be replaced by Conan's. I think it was Robert Smigel, the first head writer, who came up with the idea and who chose the heads to be replaced. (See an example)
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By: Keith Huang"
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December 11, 2008
Inside With: Matt Little, Persistent Joke Writer
By: Andrew Singer
THERE'S ALWAYS THE NEXT DAY "The only frustrating part of my career evolution is my own impatience" --Matt Little | Photo via Matt Little
New York comedian and comedy writer Matt Little has his hands in many pans. Well-known in the improv community, Little has been working to earn a spot in the latenight comedy pantheon, recently earning airtime for a joke in David Letterman's monologue. In addition, he has produced a comedy show for New York Comic Con, which he hopes to branch out further. The Apiary recently discussed with Little the pursuit of a job in comedy and the importance of being persistent.
How did you get involved with The Late Show with David Letterman?
I had a friend that was a page at Letterman, and passed along my resume at a time when I had no job. I wound up splitting time between paging part-time and desk jockeying part-time for about a year. While I was there, I approached the head monologue writer, Steve Young, and pitched myself. He was polite, but said they had too many writers on staff at the time. I e-mailed him every few weeks until there was some room that opened up. I got my first joke on the show last August, and happened to be working in the balcony when Dave said it.
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By: Andrew Singer"
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December 4, 2008
Inside With: Odd Todd, Animator, Online Personality
By: Andrew Singer
YOOOU SUCK ASS FUNY FUK~! "Mainly, I sit around and wait for stuff to happen or lightning to strike" --Todd Rosenberg (at Flash Forward 2008 in San Francisco) | Photo: Brian Reynolds
Todd "Odd Todd" Rosenberg has been entertaining web surfers for years with his winsome adventures in unemployment. His quirky tales and pronunciations ("Fudge-striped coo-KAYS") resonate quite well not only with the unemployed, but also with anyone who's ever plopped down in front of their TV set for hours simply because it was on. The Apiary recently spoke to Rosenberg about the genesis of Odd Todd, the many projects it has spawned and what else the online animator likes to do -- besides wear a bathrobe.
Tell us how "Odd Todd" began. With so many people creating websites about themselves, what was your spin to make it different?
Oddtodd.com started in 1996. After years of trying to be the next Gary Larson -- and not -- I started a line of greeting cards called Odd Todd Greetings. They were goofy Hallmarky cards. I printed up thousands and tried to make a go of it, but it was too hard to maintain while working full time. It went out of business. But that's when I bought the domain name oddtodd.com.
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By: Andrew Singer"
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November 26, 2008
Inside With: Adam Bozarth, Improviser
'INDIE' IMPROV WEEK The Stamp & Coin Club's Jill Morris gets the improv going as her teammates look on | Photo: Andrew Lynch
In addition to being one half of the UCBW's lecherous Deliverance-like tag-team of hilljacks, The Mountain Men, Adam Bozarth has been improvising with The Stamp & Coin Club for a little over a year. If you keep reading for like five more minutes, you can find out all about the improv-class stew from which TS&CC emerged and you can perhaps learn some insightful tips about the indie team world. For example: make yourself useful and draw a crowd.
How did The Stamp and Coin Club get started?
Early members of The Stamp and Coin Club initially met in a Rob Riggle workshop during the 2007 Del Close Marathon. I had met Shane Ryan, one of the members at the time, in my 301 class at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. He asked me to fill in a few weekends when membership was down. I joined officially on Labor Day 2007, just in time for a show at the Laila Lounge in Williamsburg. The current lineup of 6 (Alex Charak, Dustin Drury, Jill Morris, Simon Philion, Andrew Yurman-Glaser and myself) has been together for about a year and a half now.
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November 25, 2008
Inside With: Ben Ragheb & Alan Starzinski, Improvisers
'INDIE' IMPROV WEEK "What makes improv fun is that it doesn't take much practice, unless you want to be good" --Ben Ragheb, member of Fat Penguin (at UCB's Cagematch) | Photo: Keith Huang
Fat Penguin has been performing as an independent improv team for more than a year. Following a tidy win streak several months ago at the UCB's Cagematch, Fat Penguin has steadily established itself as a dedicated group of improv nerds. For months, they've cut their teeth at the PIT's open-improv jams, and they've consistently set up their own shows. The Apiary discussed the "indie" improv experience with Fat Penguin's Ben Ragheb and Alan Starzinski. Their responses have been edited for space and clarity.
How did Fat Penguin get started? And what is it that keeps you together?
BEN: We all started taking improv classes around the same time and frequently performed at Improdome, the open jam at The PIT. I think most indie teams are formed from a preexisting groups of friends or classmates, but in the beginning we didn't know each other very well. We got together simply because we admired each other as performers. The result has been a very diverse group, which I believe is our primary strength.
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November 24, 2008
Inside With: Lou Fernandez, Improviser
'INDIE' IMPROV WEEK "The reality is improv isn't really something you can do to make money" --Lou Fernandez (with Ashley Ward) | Photo: Keith Huang
Lou Fernandez is an old school New York improviser and founder of indie group "Team Fernandez." Lou has been playing make-believe on black-box stages around town for nearly a decade. The Apiary recently asked him how independent teams are usually formed and what it means to "make it" in improv. His responses are steeped in the practical wisdom of a man who has seen and participated in a great many improv scenes. For many neophytes, improv is done "for fun." But when it's not fun -- and quite often improv can really not be fun -- it's the diehards that keep coming back for more. Lou is one of those diehards.
Is it hard out there for an indie improv team? What challenges has Team Fernandez encountered?
I was in two indie improv teams: Gunshow and Team Fernandez. I would say when I first started doing improv about eight years ago there was a big surge in independent teams as the Upright Citizens Brigade (in its old space) had too many students and not enough classes. So people who couldn't stand in the crazy lines for classes were jettisoned out and left to fend for themselves. At that time there was also a lot of small theaters that had nights that were friendly to improv but there was a glut of teams.
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November 21, 2008
Inside With: Maria Shehata, Comic
By: Andrew Singer
COMIC 1ST, EGYPTIAN 2ND "I see the cheese" --Maria Shehata | Photo: Otto Focus
In addition to touring colleges and performing all around the city, Maria Shehata is one of the hosts of the live hit show Little Ethnic Girls and also involved with both the NY Underground and the NY Arab-American Comedy Festivals. The Apiary recently sat down to ask her about life on the road and where her cheese went.
Do you feel a duty to teach your audience about the Middle Eastern experience? What message would you like to spread?
No. In fact, when I started doing comedy, I wanted my act to have nothing to do with being Egyptian. At least not to the point of "Does she talk about anything else?" I used to hate watching comics who did half hours on nothing but being gay or fat or ethnic or a woman. Like if the fat one lost all their weight, would they still have an act? I hated it. But then I started getting spots because I was arab. So I took them. But I have no message.
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By: Andrew Singer"
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November 18, 2008
Inside With: Aaron Bleyaert, Late Night Blogger/Web Guy Extraordinaire
By: Andrew Singer
THE BEST THING "Learning how to compromise without compromising is one of the best things I've learned and continue to learn." --Aaron Bleyaert | Photo: Lisa Bleyaert
Aaron Bleyaert is the comprehensive blogger behind The Late Night Insider and Late Night Underground, the repositories for all things Internet-postable for Late Night With Conan O'Brien. But Bleyaert is much, much more than that. In fact, between blogging, filming behind-the-scenes action videos and a weekly podcast, it's a wonder he finds time to do his main job. The Apiary recently sat down with the man of a thousand pies to the face to discuss Late Night office life, as well as his love for people who love what they do.
How would you best describe your day job?
I work at Late Night with Conan O'Brien as the Late Night Blogger/Web Guy Extraordinaire. I also help out with Guest Research; I read about famous people and put any interesting stories into a file that is then used by our Segment Producers to make the awesome and hilarious guest segments you see on our show.
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By: Andrew Singer"
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November 10, 2008
Inside With: Kevin Allison
By: Andrew Singer
MAMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT "In real life, I'm someone who always returned to chasing his dream, even after making a jaw-droppingly catastrophic mess of life on occasions" | Photo: Keith Huang
Kevin Allison has been an influential actor of stage and screen for many years, most notably for his writing and performances on The State, and more recently in Reno 911!: Miami, The Ten, Flight of the Conchords and the sketch group Big Flux. In fact, Allison has never strayed too far from sketch comedy having joined The Peoples Improv Theater in New York in 2007 as an administrator and teacher, largely to "re-learn everything and then start learning new stuff," he says. The Apiary recently sat down with Kevin to discuss his newest one-man show, "F*** Up," and how else been passing his time these days.
Please update us as to what you've been up to.
Let's just say it's involved a remarkable amount of glue sniffing. When The State broke up, I went through a period where I was thinking, "Hmm ... should I focus on writing instead?" I had this idea that that might be my stronger suit, so I should go full force that way. I started getting magazine jobs, writing articles, that sort of thing. I soon found myself saying, "I miss the crap out of performing!" It was totally irreplaceable. I felt it was a "confused-and-drunken-young-man" mistake to have veered from performing AND writing. Or, more specifically, performing my own writing.
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By: Andrew Singer"
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October 15, 2008
Inside With: Maria Bamford
By: Andrew Singer
"I haven't yet become the solid form that I'm meant to be" | Maria Bamford headlines the Hysterical Festival at Comix this Saturday
Comedian Maria Bamford has a unique, sophisticated style that's not easily deciphered. But after more than 20 years performing and touring the U.S., and starring in TV shows, cartoons and movies, plenty of people have found something to love about Maria. Whether it's her variety of personal and nuanced characters or the sharp divide between her own shrill voice and the professional voice she adopts when stepping outside herself, Maria draws you right into her world. Andrew Singer recently rang up The Bammer to discuss some of her favorite roles and this week's Hysterical Festival.
How long had you been performing before you found your particular style?
Around seven or eight years, but I'm still evolving. I haven't yet become the solid form that I'm meant to be. Maybe I'm still starting to pick up ideas or figuring out my style. Maybe I'm meant to be a professional jogger, but I haven't gotten to the running part.
What drew you to the Hysterical Festival?
Well, I'm a lady, and ladies are involved in organizing (although probably some men), and they said "You're a lady. Would you like to be a lady, as well as perform comedy," and I said "Yes," and that's how it happened. If that hadn't happened, I never would've done it.
Which other act(s) would you like to see while you're in the city?
I'm excited about Kristen Schaal.
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By: Andrew Singer"
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October 7, 2008
Inside With: Schaffer The Darklord
By: Andrew Singer
"I didn't want to be one of those rappers who gets on stage and just paces around, punctuating the spaces between songs with inane banter and shout-outs." | Photo courtesy Schaffer the Darklord
Mark Schaffer, a.k.a. Schaffer the Darklord, or STD, is a New York City-based rapper and comedian. A transplant from the west coast, Schaffer spent a few years pounding drums for a San Francisco rock band before honing his MC skills to drop nerdcore-style rhymes in The Big Apple. These days, STD blends his love for heavy metal with quirky beats. And his lyrical content, according to the "rappist," is inspired by the subversive and the absurd. Andrew Singer recently caught up with STD to discuss Nerdapalooza, a love for hosting shows and the advantages of working with the city's burlesque scene.
First of all, what exactly are you? A comedic rapper? A rapping comedian? Or something else?
I consider myself both a rapper and a comedian, but not a hyphenated combination of the two because I don't tell rhyming jokes, nor do I make jokes about the fact that I'm a rapper. Also, throwing the word "comedian" into my artist description when promoting myself on bills tends to turn off music fans, and using the word "rapper" to describe my act tends to irritate hip-hop purists. So, I've actually created my own unique term to describe what I do. I prefer to be called a "rappist."
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By: Andrew Singer"
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September 15, 2008
Inside With: Ray DeVito
By: Andrew Singer
Ray DeVito performs at The Living Room in Brooklyn | Photo: Living Room Comedy
Comedian Ray Devito has toured all over the country for many years now, bringing his brand of warm, friendly humor to towns both large and small before finally settling down in The Big Apple to start anew. He has quickly become a mainstay in the scene, performing at showcases throughout the city and creating videos as well. The Apiary met up with DeVito to discuss his influences, favorite hot spots and his own monthly show Sacapuntas!
Where did you start out doing comedy? How did you end up in NYC? Was that always the plan?
I started doing standup in 2000. I was the house emcee at Hilarities in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. As far as moving to New York, that's a little fuzzy. My friend Jesse Joyce was moving from Pittsburgh to New York and he encouraged me to do the same. He came in 2001 and I arrived in 2003 but I went back to Ohio a few months later but then came back a few years later. So I would say officially 2006.
How much touring have you done? What are your favorite types of out-of-town gigs and how has touring impacted your career?
For the better part of the last five years, I've toured all over the country. I definitely prefer college shows, as opposed to the clubs. Artistically, I can explore more original thoughts. I do like the clubs, too, but their crowds definitely prefer more generic topics. However, there are a few clubs in towns out there that I really enjoy and are always fun: Omaha, Lexington, Denver, Tucson, Dayton, Detroit, Sioux Falls, San Antonio, Madison and Louisville.
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By: Andrew Singer"
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September 2, 2008
Inside With: Susan Alexander, Comic & Comedy Producer
By: Andrew Singer
Photo: Heidi Kikel
Stand-up comedian Susan Alexander is the host and creator of "5 Funny Females," a national touring show that features some of the nation's best female stand-up comedy talent. Alexander also created and hosts "5 Funny Fags," which debuted last May in San Francisco and is now starting to tour the U.S., as well. Since 2002, Alexander has been performing, hosting and producing popular live events. Before embarking on a career in comedy, she worked as an online-advertising and marketing director and is now based in New York. She has been working on a Web series in addition to television projects. The Apiary recently caught up with Alexander to ask about promoting shows, women in comedy and her hypnotizing cleavage.
How did you come up with "5 Funny Females"?
When I started stand-up in San Francisco about five years ago, I auditioned at San Francisco Comedy Club, now a jazz club or something else, and was selected to be the Friday and Saturday night host. By hosting weekly shows, I received lots of stage time, realized I loved hosting and started to build a San Francisco fan base. I noticed there were not any regular shows that just featured female stand-up comics. So, I created a monthly show at the club called "5 Funny Females" that featured a variety of female comedians from all different backgrounds.
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By: Andrew Singer"
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August 21, 2008
Inside With: Shawn Hollenbach, Showman & Control Freak
By: Andrew Singer
"The unicorn is the only fabulous beast that does not seem to have been conceived out of human fears" --Marianna Mayer | Photo via Shawn Hollenbach
Comedian, improviser and musician Shawn Hollenbach is a nonstop-action machine. Like most New York-comedy hustlers, he can be seen nightly, either performing or co-producing shows like The Back Room, The Kevin Murphy Show and Meat and Potatoes. An all-around nice guy with a radiating smile, Hollenbach is the host of "Busted" on here! TV. Our resident evil master Andrew "Soce the Elemental Wizard" Singer recently caught up with Hollenbach to discuss reaching out to an audience, the differences between performing for a gay and a straight crowd and his plans to take over the world.
How many different live shows are you involved in right now? How do you find manage to keep abreast of everything?
I have my hands in five shows right now. My baby, Closet Cases, is a monthly show where gay performers share their coming-out stories on stage. I also am co-producing Meat and Potatoes, a show where folks who grew up poor share their experiences with Carolyn Castiglia, The Back Room, a gay-themed comedy show at Ochi's Lounge in Comix, The Skip and Sparkle Variety Show, and finally The Kevin Murphy Show, a Straight Bostonian/Japanese/Gay variety show where I play Jodi Murphy at Hugs in Brooklyn. I love to produce because I'm a control freak. I feel really spread thin a lot of the times, but I work with great teams.
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By: Andrew Singer"
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August 5, 2008
Inside With: Megan Ganz, Assistant Editor at The Onion
By: Andrew Singer
A view from the writer's seat (from l to r): Seth Reiss, Joe Garden, John Harris and John Krewson show a piece of wire bent into a dick shape that also spells Seth's name in cursive | Photo: Megan Ganz
Megan Ganz is a comedy writer. As an assistant editor for satirical newspaper The Onion, Ganz belongs to an elite group of joke writers who provide one of the most important voices in comedy every week. In their writing sessions, Onion staffers reduce several hundred jokes to the select few that make it into the paper. This time-tested process has produced faux headlines such as: "National Organization for Women Turns 39 Again," "Supreme Court Overturns Car" and "Ebert Victorious!" (immediately following Siskel's death) -- all classics that live on indefinitely as readers repeat them to each other over beers at the bar, or while passing around a bong in a living room. Ganz is a longstanding contributor to The Onion, and she not only knows what makes a joke funny, but also understands the importance of asking herself what a joke is trying to say, or where it's trying to go. The Apiary recently caught up with Ganz to discuss her writing technique, joke dissection and the art of standup.
Who are your heroes? Who inspired you to reach where you are now?
My heroes? Well, I suppose I'd have to say my mother and father. But only because they actually fight crime. If you're talking more figurative, inspirational heroes, then probably a lot of the stuff I grew up reading. Someone mentioned to me recently how it's weird that comedians always list their "influences" as people they're into now (like, for me, Patton Oswalt, David Sedaris, Rowan Atkinson, Steve Coogan and Daniel Kitson), and I totally agree. So, to be honest, my true influences were Dave Barry, Louis Sachar, Bill Cosby, Mad magazine, Charles Shultz, and Bill Watterson, because that's what I was into before I formed my sense of comedy or even knew what comedy was.
What was your first real job in comedy?
I had an internship at Mad after my junior year in college. I'm not sure I would have come back to the city if that office hadn't been such a wonderful, fostering environment. The editor-in-chief actually pulled me into his office on my last day, and straight up told me to move to New York and do comedy. I'd never had anyone with any level of credibility tell me I was funny before that. It's one of the big reasons I had the courage to apply to the Onion's writing fellowship.
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By: Andrew Singer"
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July 31, 2008
Inside With: Chris Sullivan, of Freestyle Love Supreme, Cast Member of 'The Electric Company'
By: Keith Huang
Guest star Jack McBrayer stands among cast members Jenni Barber, Chris Sullivan and featured actor William Jackson Harper. Other Electric Company guest stars will include Wyclef Jean, Mark Ecko, Sean Kingston and Mark Linn-Baker (from Perfect Strangers) | Photo courtesy of 2008 Sesame Workshop
When The Electric Company went off the air in 1977, beat-box ace Chris Sullivan wasn't even born yet. But like most American twentysomethings today, Sullivan has known about the children's television show his entire life. And now, decades later, he's been hired as a cast member for the updated version of The Electric Company, which is slated to air in January 2009.
Given everything we know about Sullivan's talents as a musician, improviser and performer -- he's best known as "Shockwave" of hip-hop, improvised-comedy mash-up Freestyle Love Supreme -- we expect great things from him and the show's revival. The Apiary recently caught up with our old pal to ask about the cool gig.
How did you get cast on the show?
About two years ago, Sesame Workshop was in the works of reviving the show and the executive producer, Karen Fowler, saw a Freestyle Love Supreme show. We shot a short 3- or 4-song demo with them and a solo segment with me beatboxing various prefixes to words that contain the letter combination "ain." A year later they filmed a "proof of concept" pilot, of which most of us were a part, and I was able to explore different segment ideas. Now today, we're in production and most of the FLS boys are still involved to some extent and I have three segments a show, as well as a part in the narrative.
So what was your reaction to getting cast? It's almost too good to be true.
It is almost too good to be true! I've always dreamed about performing solo in an animated world. That's how I imagine it while performing live ... it all starts with a blank stage and I create a character with sound effects and mime, come to the end of the story and wash out my imaginary cartoon images with a rhythmic routine of beatboxing and vocal sounds. I've always wondered what it would be like to have an animator fill in the cracks later ... and now it's happening. So, actually, yes, it is too good to be true ... but it is ... too good ... and it's also true ...
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By: Keith Huang"
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July 22, 2008
Inside With: Jen Dziura, 'Pop Intellectual'
By: Andrew Singer
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New York comedian Jennifer Dziura's affiliation with competitive spelling began four years ago when she was asked to co-host the Williamsburg Spelling Bee, the bimonthly-dictionary throwdown at Pete's Candy Store. Since then, Dziura has presided over some of the most grueling spelling battles Billyburg has ever seen.
But more recently, Dziura (pronounced "Di-ZUR-ah"), who is a Dartmouth alumnus and former teen columnist for The Virginian-Pilot, has taken the reins of another adult spelling bee at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in Manhattan, and also a weekly-quiz show called Chelsea Mind Games, which features competitive math and geography. A longtime blogger, Dziura is also working on a book about live game shows. The Apiary recently stopped the "Pop Intellectual" between buzzers and the looking up of $10 words to ask and learn about nerd comedy and why a quiz show is a great place to meet singles.
What value do you see in making your audience compete instead of simply watching passively?
Well, I never really planned on it, but my live game shows have become a meeting place for smart singles. Think about it -- rather than merely sitting in the audience at a show and hoping to attract someone with your looks (and perhaps allegiance to the same band or performer), you get to come up to the mic, be introduced, and show your intelligence and personality! One recent Chelsea Mind Games show generated a Missed Connection on Craigslist.
I found the Missed Connection while Googling the name of my own show, and when I saw it, I realized I actually had the email address of the person it was for, since he had signed up on the Mind Games email list. I forwarded him the post, and they actually went on a date! Mind Games generated possibly the only Missed Connection to ever result in a date within 48 hours.
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By: Andrew Singer"
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June 13, 2008
Inside With: A Week of Kindness
Our week of SketchFest profiles comes to a conclusion. Area favorites, A Week of Kindness, sing us out.
What's your story, A Week of Kindness?
We met as students at Penn State. We were involved in a student theatre company called No Refund Theatre which performed weekly in a classroom. Over the course of our college degrees, we had all written for/directed/acted with each other in all sorts of shows, dramatic, comedy and otherwise. We're all pretty big comedy nerds, so when we found ourselves living in the same city a year or two after college, it seemed like the right thing to do to develop a sketch comedy act together.
How would you describe your group?
What separates us is first our determination to make every show more than just the sum of its sketches. You'll see jokes, videos, and sketches folding back into themselves in all kinds of bizarre ways, and most shows have some kind of through-line whose plot is illuminated by the events of the constituent sketches, and some stuff that we hope might become even funnier to you on a second viewing. We're proud of our ability to mix some of the most retarded material you've ever seen with stuff that's more high-brow, and to make them live harmoniously together in the world of our show. As for influences, right now we're on a big Tim and Eric kick.
How do your sketches go from an idea to the stage?
We typically rehearse and write at Dans' apartments in Brooklyn. The writing is very collaborative. We typically write even the first drafts together, arguing and agonizing over every line from the beginning of the sketch until it's complete, and then arguing and agonizing again a few days later when we've slept on it and realized what has to be punched up. We're fairly sure that this would be impossible for us if there were more than 3 people on our team. We are actually answering these questions collaboratively, arguing and agonizing about every line including this one.
Who are you most excited to see this year at SketchFest?
We're really jazzed to be playing a show with Trophy Dad, who are friends of ours, and who did one of the really stand-out shows of the fest last year. A brand new Fearsome show is also always an event. We first met them in 2004 when Mike was the emcee of a sketch comedy tournament that they ended up winning, and they were the first sketch group to really open introduce us to the scene.
Any other projects you're working on?
Dan writes for bestweekever.tv which just won a Webby award, and also does sketch videos with a group called Old Rich People, who host a monthly video night at Hugs in Williamsburg. Nate does his own stand-up and music-based act. And Mike is a member of the UCBT Harold team Bangs and the Maude team The Skuntz. This past weekend, he hosted the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party and sat in with UCBT's oldest team, Mother. AWOK's big project this year has been a monthly show at Pianos.
A Week of Kindness performs tonight at The UCBT at midnight.
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Inside With: The Dance Party of Newfoundland
SketchFest NYC wouldn't be an international festival without The Dance Party of Newfoundland, a troupe consisting of Canadians. One of said Canadians actually drove a motorcycle all the way from Toronto--in a heat wave, mind you--in order to get here. Though their SketchFest set happened already last night, it's still nice to learn about the people around us.
What's your story, Dance Party of Newfoundland?
Phil: I met Dave Sullivan and Jonny Harris in college. We all went to a theatre school together. They knew Steve from their hometown, whereas I knew Steve from a margarine commercial that I had seen on tv. It was amazing.
There was a meeting called to get a sketch group together. After a couple of meetings, there were only 5 of us who kept showing up. We wrote our first show called On the Nog. That was about 4 years ago. Since then we've performed in Dawson City, Yukon, Chicago SketchFest, SketchFestNYC 2007, toured our own province, played Second City at the Toronto SketchFest and won Best of the Fest.
How would you describe your group? What separates you from everyone else?
Jonny: Well, we always thought Kids in the Hall were really funny, being Canucks. We were also fans of the Vancouver Canucks--they're REALLY funny. We are all theatrically trained and bring that to our sketch troupe. Lots of sketch troupes go for the minimalist thing but we try to do as much with lighting, sound, and costumes as time (and our pea-sized brains) will allow.
How do your sketches go from an idea to the stage?
Phil: Usually, one guy has the idea and writes it. Then it gets sent around and we each weigh in on it. It gets "suggestions" and then re-writes. Our group is split across St. John's, Newfoundland and Toronto, Ontario, which are about 2,000 miles apart--so everything happens by email until we get together around 48 hours before we open a show. We get some beer, get together at one of our houses and put the show together. We always take the audience response into account. If they hate it, we hate each other and we change. Our material and our lives.
Who are you most excited to see this year at SketchFest?
Jonny: Everybody.
Any other projects you're working on?
Steve: I'm directing an interactive documentary about a country singer who was a contestant on Canadian Idol who is now breaking into Nashville.
Jonny: I'm going into a second season of a tv show called The Murdoch Mysteries.
Phil: I'm becoming better friends with Steve and Jonny.
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June 12, 2008
Kiss It Goodbye: Brandy and Sara Talk About the Beginning and the End of Their Long Running Show, The Kissing Booth
By: Eliot Glazer
Since 2006, BFFs Brandy Barber and Sara Jo Allocco have produced and performed in The Kissing Booth, a variety show that played at D Lounge before moving to The Tank. The monthly show has provided an undeniably inclusive and welcoming atmosphere that has nurtured the tastes of all different comedic tastes, providing equal support to all comics, whether they walk dogs for a living or have already landed a couple of Premium Blend gigs. Since day one, The Kissing Booth has attracted some talented people, but more importantly, it has furthered sentiments of loyalty and comraderie among New York's funniest performers. Tonight, Brandy and Sara will host the show's final installment at The Tank (starting at 8:00pm), with guests Jamie Kilstein, Eliot and Ilana, Jay Bois, Matt and Katina, and surprise guests.
Why did you start The Kissing Booth?
Brandy: We had met and begun collaborating together in 2004, and had just finished the run of our first sketch show at The P.I.T.
Sara: Directed by our mentor and great pal, Kevin Allison
Brandy: Giulia Rozzi recommended us to the Mintyfresh Collective, who hosted predominately stand-up based shows around town, but they were willing to let us do some of our character sketches there sight unseen.
Sara: It made me think about what else we could do. I mentioned the idea of us doing a monthly show, not particularly a sketch show and not particularly a stand-up show.
Brandy: Neither of us were, or are, stand-ups. We're more like performance comedy. We started to meet some really funny, really subversive comics who made me rethink my preconceived dislike of stand-up. I started pseudo-dating someone who was in that world so as a result, Sara & I started to go to some fun downtown shows--Variety Underground, Sweet, Giant Tuesday, those Tuesday NBC comedy showcases, The Shark Show, Comedy Clubhouse @ Telephone Bar--and saw that a comedy show didn't just have to be all sketch-based or all stand up. Sweet was a particularly big influence, especially Seth's having Craig Baldo DJ after the show.
Sara: I knew it didn't have to be just a stand-up show. We could host as ourselves and show that side of ourselves, the fact that we are in real life best friends. This way, we could do what we thought was funny, have monthly themes, featured sketch groups, stand up guests, videos, and of course, singing.
Brandy: Lots and lots of loud, off-key singing.
Sara: Someone once lamented that we re-branded drunken karaoke as comedy. Well, that someone was correct.
Describe the first Kissing Booth.
Sara: A real shit storm. It was like someone gave two chimpanzees keys to a space and let them loose.
Brandy: We had been lucky enough to perform at venues like Mo Pitkin's and Rififi, where a tech person was provided, so we figured "tech" meant one of our nice friends showed up and switched on lights and played iPod tracks. So we get there for the first show and, no mics worked, our performer needed her keyboard amped, the DVD player hooked up to the projector wouldn't work so we had to run things off a laptop that kept freezing...
Sara: The space was so hot, we didn't know how to turn the AC on. The tech booth was a total mess because the show prior was kind enough to leave it torn apart, and we didn't have the slightest idea how to put anything back together. In our defense, I'm not sure how many people would have known, either.
Brandy: We learned that not only were we not stand ups, we were not technically inclined.
Sara: But thank god for Law Tarello and Jon Friedman, who both helped us run our tech as smoothly as possible. The highlight of the entire evening was when we went to play this fake karoke-background video we had put so much work into, that Anya Garrett was kind enough to shoot & edit, starring our friends Party Central USA. It was supposed to be the spectacular finale to our show, and it wouldn't play.
Brandy: Oh, AND the first show started about and hour and half late as a result. But everyone was wasted by then, so that made it a bit better.
Sara: I just remembered getting rip roaring drunk off of warm, expired Bud Light cans.
Brandy: I was sure we'd be called out for being imposters after the show. I thought we'd never pull it off. But even with all the problems, it was packed and people seemed to like it.
Continue reading "Kiss It Goodbye: Brandy and Sara Talk About the Beginning and the End of Their Long Running Show, The Kissing Booth
By: Eliot Glazer"
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June 11, 2008
Inside With: Hey You Millionaires
Far away in a town called Chicago, Hey You Millionaires rehearses one last time before boarding a mode of transit that will bring them to SketchFest NYC. Time Out Chicago says HYM is famous for their "comedy experiments" and The Bastion informed us via email that we have to check them out. Read on to discover crucial facts about HYM and to learn about the sporting craze that's sweeping vast tiny pockets of Middle America, Whirlyball.
What's your story, Hey You Millionaires?
We (James Asmus, John Bohan, and Jim Fath) met in Cleveland in 2003. In 2004, after each moving to Chicago, we formed a group called The Leading Brand. Our first effort, The Unbearable Lightness of Death, was a sketch show molded into a narrative following the story of a terminally ill man named Charlie Peeler and the seemingly oblivious characters around him. After a brief hiatus, we resurfaced under the new name Hey You Millionaires (HYM). We've performed at the Annoyance, Playground theatre, i.O. Chicago, Chicago Underground Comedy and various other Chicago comedy venues.
How would you describe your group?
We aim to create comedy that entertains and surprises both our audiences and our comedy peers. One of our biggest influences was where our name was taken from--the first sketch of the first episode of The Kids in the Hall. Speaking of, we recently played Whirlyball with The Kids in the Hall when they came through Chicago in April. No, we're not kidding, and if you must know, we fought them to a tie. And yes, we will use any excuse to mention our chance meeting with the Kids in the Hall.
How do your sketches go from an idea to the stage?
There is no "one process" for creating out material. Much of what we've done is a direct result of collaboration on stage and as we write. Some of our best content has come from an idea or a concept where we each added something at various points. Many times it erupts from conversations during pitch sessions or even conversations elsewhere. In some cases whole scenes were written entirely by one person but even those end up being change or polished by the group.
Who are you stoked to see at SketchFest?
Each of us has seen many of the groups separately so we all have groups that we are interested in seeing. James and I are looking forward to seeing Summer of Tears and the Apple Sisters. John wants to see Rue Brutalia. We are incredibly excited to be a part of this year's festival.
Any other news?
James Asmus' Love is Dead: A Necromantic Musical Comedy will play at the New York Fringe Festival in August. The show had a critically acclaimed run at the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago this past year. Also, HYM will be performing at the DC Comedy Festival and the Austin Out of Bounds sketch comedy festival later this summer.
Hey You Millionaires performs at SketchFest NYC at The UCBT this Saturday at 6PM.
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June 10, 2008
Inside With: Dirty Jeans and Thunderchief
Our weeklong interview series with the stars of SketchFest NYC plods ahead with Dirty Jeans and Thunderchief, Biz Ellis and Livia Scott's brand new MEAT splinter group which features a small legion of bubbly performers on backup. SketchFest marks the world premiere of their first full-length show, chronicling a week in the lives of two 1970's housewives and their fantasy alter egos.
What's your story, Dirty Jeans and Thunderchief?
We met 8 years ago at the auditions for what would eventually become MEAT... along with Becky Poole and Reggan Holland, fellow MEAT members. As Becky prepared for a move to Seattle, we started talking about a duo project. The two of us had always worked well together handling the production aspects of MEAT and over the years we became best friends. We had no idea what the hell it would be or what we would do.
One day we were hanging out in a diner with our friend Mike Balzer (the Associate Artistic Director of Improv Olympic in Chicago) and the AC/DC song "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" came up on the jukebox. He said that as a kid he always thought the words to the song were "Dirty Jeans, Thunder Chief!" and we looked at each other and instantly knew we wanted that to be the name for our show, about two characters named Dirty Jeans & Thunderchief.
How would you describe your group?
For right now and with this show, I'd say it's "Thelma & Louise meets Easy Rider meets the song 'Mother's Little Helper.'"
Even though we are a duo, we really wanted to bring in other people to this show who we respect and could bring something cool to what we were trying to create. (Alex Pearl (director), Anya Garrett (film goddess), Chris O'Connor, Arthur Meyer, Barron Vaughn, Stefan Lawrence, Reggie Watts, Todd Hanson, Alex Goldberg, Jon Friedman, Aaron Kheifets and Greg Walloch. Everyone was someone who we'd worked with in the past or were really excited about working with. For example, Todd Hanson played a huge contributing role to the voiceover that introduces the characters, and the part of "Taco" was written specifically for Reggie Watts.
How do your sketches go from an idea to the stage?)
We write separately and tweak the scripts together. Sometimes we will brainstorm the concept together but then whoever feels the strongest about it will go and get it fleshed out. In this show, Biz really connected with the Dirty Jeans and Thunderchief characters and had a real vision of what that should be, while Livia felt incredibly strong about the Joyce and Jocelyn characters (the two 70's, unhappy, housewives, who seek inspiration from their favorite TV characters, Dirty Jeans and Thunderchief. We then took a step back and saw how they were all connected.
Who are you most excited to see this year at SketchFest?
We always want to see Troop! and Third Floor. It's like seeing old friends who have a new record to share with you and you know its going to be amazing. We're both excited about the Birthday Boys, who we've never seen, but have heard good stuff about. To be honest, the whole fest is such an amazing experience that you want to see every group, because they each bring something so different and cool. We are sketch junkies.
Any other projects you're working on?
We were just on the new CNN comedy talking head show, Not Just Another Cable News Show. Biz has always wanted to be a talking head at least once, so it was very exciting to check that off of her dream to-do list. MEAT is having their big reunion show out in Portland at the Best of The Best Festival in August. Livia does stand up all the time now and has been given some nice recognition for that this year, an ECNY nomination for Best Emerging Comic. Biz and Stefan (of Elephant Larry fame) are getting married in September.
Dirty Jeans and Thunderchief take the stage this Thursday, 10PM @ The UCBT
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May 29, 2008
Inside With: Bob Powers
Bob Powers | Photo: Lisa Whiteman
Bob Powers is many things to many people, but for the purposes of this Q&A, he is an example of blogging success, a writer for the Huffington Post's 23/6.com, and now, a two-time author. He follows up Happy Cruelty Day, a collection of invented holidays culled from the Web pages of Girls Are Pretty, with his new work, You Are a Miserable Excuse for a Hero--a book marketed to the robust "Failing 33-year olds" demographic. Though his writing tends to swim backstrokes through an Overcast Gray color of the comedy palette, Bob claims he has no problems accepting that people can be happy and content. Things are just much more amusing when we're not.
In a 5-star review for your new book, You Are a Miserable Excuse for a Hero, Rachel Kramer Bussel raves, "Bob Powers has written a hilarious and very adult version of the classic Choose Your Own Adventure type of book... He somehow manages to cram in all kinds of current events with a general sense of generational angst and relationship drama, all while you flip around madly trying to find the best ending. Except all the endings here are kind of messed up." We have questions. One: Is it impossible to beat this book? And two: What do you have against humanity?
RKB is pretty awesome isn't she? That was an Amazon review but I wish I could get it on the book jacket somehow. To answer your two-parter: If by "beat the book," you mean get a positive ending, yes it's possible. There are a few endings where you save the girl, find love, get rich, all that crap. But there are many more where you get murdered, or worse, give up your dreams and end up working at an Ecuadorian nick-nack shop or something. In one ending your life doesn't change one bit except you stop waiting tables and switch to temping. But yes, there are a few endings where everything works out, but just a few.
For the second part, I have nothing against humanity. I just think humans who fail are very entertaining.
Did you learn anything while writing your first book that was helpful the second time around?
The first book was very different from this one, since the first was just a pile of individual stories and this one has a whole bunch of plotlines to keep up in the air. The big thing I learned, maybe, was to just keep spewing words on the paper no matter how crappy they might seem. You write fifty pages you're going to have at least a few that are okay.
I guess I like book writing enough. It can be scary to spend a lot of time on something without that immediate feedback letting you know if it's any good. But when it looks like it's taking shape it's nice.
By our calculations, you have over 1700 entries logged on your site Girls Are Pretty since 2002. What got you into blogging? Why didn't you quit? And what entry has garnered the most hits?
I got into blogging because I had the idea for the Girls Are Pretty format of daily holidays for a while, but I had no knowledge of how to make a website. Blogging was the easiest way to do it without learning anything. I kind of did quit more recently, at least I don't do it every day like I used to. For the first three years I never missed a day, now I just do it a couple times a week. I think the thing that kept me going was when I started getting an audience.
No clue what got the most hits, on its own. My biggest hits came on days when more popular blogs linked to me, but they'd usually link to the whole blog rather than a particular post. I do remember that "19 Ways To Tell A Cajun Chef To Go Fuck Himself" seemed to get a lot of links over time.
We heard you work at 23/6.com. What do you do there?
I write for the news section at 23/6. Started back in March. It's a good place to work. Each day, we basically just go through the headlines in the morning and then pitch our ideas for how we want to cover which stories. I usually put up a couple pieces a day.
Do you still talk to Todd Levin? How's he doing? And are there any collaborations in the works?
Todd is doing very well. He's getting married soon, as am I. We're not getting married to each other. We're marrying girls. No collaborations in the works presently.
See Bob read from You Are a Miserable Excuse for a Hero at the official release party on June 3rd, 6:30 @ Lolita Bar.
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May 20, 2008
Character Sketches: Jamie Lee
By: Neil Padover
When Jamie Lee moved to New York after landing a job in public relations, she had no inclination toward doing stand up. It was 2005 and the twenty-two year old Texas native was busy spending her nights and weekends DJ-ing at clubs and dabbling in digital animation. But after being booked on Rob O'Reilly's "True True Train" show at Mo Pitkin's, essentially riffing on stage about an awkward romantic encounter in high school, Jamie Lee had caught the bug. She signed up for Comedy 101 through Caroline's on Broadway and started on her pilgrimage of open mics throughout New York City. Her beginning material was more sexual, more crass than her act is now, a fact she chalks up to being a newer comic who hadn't tested the waters yet. "I used a lot of shock humor and I felt like I wasn't getting a really honest response. I thought, 'Is this only funny because these audiences are guys?'"
The move for Jamie from the tough, small rooms around the city to the more promising and burgeoning scene of independent shows produced by comics came soon after. Lee remembers being new to the scene when her friend Sean Patton decided to let her perform on his show at Kabin. She cites Patton as having been somewhat of a comedy mentor for her over the past year and a half. Although the two don't write together or workshop bits, Lee says that Patton's encouragement has been indispensable. "He told me never to doubt myself or my 'funny,' almost like a comedy big brother... He'd never seen me perform before [when] he agreed to put me up," she says. The gamble paid off big as Jamie Lee has become a fixture of the downtown comedy scene, performing on booked shows almost every night of the week, a noteworthy feat in a city where stage time is scarce and the would-be performers seem innumerable.
Still, there are undoubtedly challenges for a young female comic trying to break into an industry that is often characterized as one big boys' club. On her recent trip to the New Orleans Comedy Festival, Lee was one of three female performers (out of the thirty plus comics on the bill). Her ability to break through, winning over audiences and fellow-comics alike has much to do with ignoring labels altogether. Talk with Jamie about comedy for just a few minutes and it becomes clear that she does not view herself as a distinctly female comic. "I try not to dwell on the gender differences because it's something that's always going to be there. There's no reason to focus on a bias that existed before you even started. You need to focus on being funny, because if you're funny, you're funny."
Continue reading "Character Sketches: Jamie Lee
By: Neil Padover"
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May 8, 2008
Character Sketches: Ruhbin Mehta
By: Neil Padover
There's no shortage of talented performers putting on great comedy shows every night of the week in New York City. The trouble it seems comes in filling all those seats in the house. Ruhbin Mehta has played plenty of small rooms. He knows what it's like to do his act for a sparse audience, to keep morale high among crowds of four, five, six people. For Ruhbin, a show is a show and it's just another reason to get up in front of someone who is willing to listen. For the native Canadian, there's a special aura that comes with doing a New York room even if it's barely populated. It certainly helps with crowdwork. "When you're playing to a crowd of five you get to talk to every person individually," he says.
When Ruhbin, who's been doing stand up for four years now, takes the stage, he seems ready to have a conversation with the audience, like old friends teasing each other over dinner. When I went to see him perform at The Laugh Factory back in March he immediately launched into a playful rant about every segment of the audience (the group from Texas, Mexican tourists, the drunk girl, two kids named Matt). And they ate it up, mostly because it seemed so natural. The ability to relate jokes and stories without so much as breaking a sweat is something Mehta has aspired to ever since watching Bill Cosby at a young age. "So much work goes into just a ten second bit and Cosby could just make it seem effortless," he tells me.
Continue reading "Character Sketches: Ruhbin Mehta
By: Neil Padover"
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May 1, 2008
Inside With: Lonny Ross
By: Keith Huang
By his own admission, actor Lonny Ross says his alter ego, Josh Girard of NBC's 30 Rock, is not so different from himself: "We are both dudes who do weird voices, make funny faces and enjoy wearing hoodies." But stripped to their cores, Lonny and Josh are simply two young actors-slash-writers who appear on a popular weekly-televised comedy.
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Perhaps more coincidental is that roughly seven years ago, Ross worked behind-the-scenes for Sex and the City at the Silvercup Studios, the same soundstage in Queens where much of 30 Rock is shot. A native of Wantagh, N.Y. ("The Gateway to Jones Beach"), Ross also spent a number of years as a production assistant for Late Night With Conan O'Brien, followed by a few roles in comedy flicks "College Road Trip" and "Good Luck Chuck."
The Apiary recently snagged Ross for a hot minute to ask him about getting booked for the show, his celebrity-impersonation skills and what it's like to make Tina Fey laugh.
The Wikipedia entry for Josh Girard is twice as long as the entry for Lonny Ross. What do you make of that?
Tina and I were talking during one of the first episodes we ever shot about who would be more popular in the real world, Josh Girard from TGS with Tracy Jordan, or Lonny Ross from 30 Rock. Because essentially, we are both actors on comedy shows. But being that 30 Rock is on in primetime, and TGS would be on Friday night, we assumed it would be Lonny Ross ... but perhaps that is not the case. And Wikipedia would know, too. After all, they are the most trusted and well respected faux encyclopedia on the net.
Maybe it's because Josh is an easy character to relate with -- most of us want nothing more than to avoid our boss's glare. Are there elements to Josh's character that are your own creations?
Well, I was the one who decided that he be devilishly handsome. So I take credit for that. I think when Tina was casting for the show, I just really fit the profile of what she was looking for in the character -- energetic, young actor who could be believed as being a cast member on a sketch comedy show. But I really did go into the audition just being myself. So in that case, I guess there aren't many differences -- we are both dudes who do weird voices, make funny faces, and enjoy wearing hoodies. I do, however, like to be believe I'm not as dimwitted as Josh. I guess I'm not because Josh might not know what the word "dimwitted" means.
Continue reading "Inside With: Lonny Ross
By: Keith Huang"
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April 24, 2008
Inside With: Greg Johnson
Greg Johnson is a pretty chill dude. His jokes run around inside your head long after he's left the stage because in addition to being funny, he sprinkles his set ups and punchlines with vocal treatments that vary cartoonishly between the brotastic and the screecheriffic. Originally from Massachusetts, Greg settled in NYC after school and started the aptly titled Greg Johnson Show at Rififi in 2005. Now, on the eve of his 3 year anniversary of anchoring Friday nights at Rififi, Greg promises to delight fans and friends alike with a bopping blowout tomorrow. We asked Greg the most pertinent FAQs of the hour, but we failed to inquire about "security in the basement." You'll have to learn the answer to that one for yourself.
What's your story? How did everything come to be?
I grew up in Wellesley, MA. I first did stand-up when I was 16. My mother enrolled me in an adult education class in stand-up comedy. It was mostly women in their 50's trying to get over their fear of public speaking. However, we got to do a performance at The Comedy Studio in Boston at the end of the course. I started doing comedy regularly in Boston when I was 19 while I was going to college. I moved to New York at the end of 2003, where I met The Whitest Kids U Know on the first night I was in the city. They were starting a show at Pianos and we started hanging out together. Eventually, in 2005, by chance, I began splitting a 2 bedroom apt with two friends next door to Rififi. I really looked up to my friend Eugene Mirman at the time (still do) and thought there would be nothing better than to have a comedy show at Rififi. So, with Eugene's help--and help from Trevor Moore--Antonio [Rififi's booker] gave me a gig hosting Friday nights there. That's been my main comedy focus since.
We feel like we don't see you on TV enough. Do you have an agent?
I have a team of agents. Jeremy Piven, Lou Reed, Bob Sugar, Andy Kaufman (he's still alive). And others. But none of them have ever gotten me any work. That is kind of you to say. I am hoping to get my stand-up act and some other projects on TV sometime. Maybe you could text blast The Industry for me?
Done. Hey, is it true you take down your site whenever you have job interviews?
Ha! No. I had an interview at a highly respectable establishment back in January and I thought I might as well take down my site while the hiring process was going on. Although I was chastised by some of my peers for not staying true to myself for taking down the site, at the time the job seemed more important than keeping my blog about "chillness" and hot babes up that given week. But it's up there. You can check it out. I'm adding a podcast!
In Rififi's post-Invite Them Up era, The Greg Johnson and Larry Murphy Show has positioned itself as the venue's must-see weekly show and party. Tell us about your 3 years at Rififi. What's different about your show now than when it started?
Um, well, it's much more well attended now. When I started we would barely get anyone to come to the shows and now the crowds are really great. Everyone seems to have a really great time. When I started doing the show, Eugene Mirman assured me that it took him almost 2 years until people he didn't recognize were coming to the show. I couldn't believe him, but the same turned out to be true with my show. I was lucky enough to have the backing of Rififi and, also, Invite Them Up at the same venue while Rififi began to build a sort of built in crowd and a rep as a great spot for comedy. Which it certainly is. All things considered, it might be one of the best ones. And Eugene and Bobby Tisdale are responsible for that. I remember hanging out there one week in 2005 and David Cross, Janeane Garofalo and Patton Oswalt were all there. And I was like, "Where am I?"
There's also willingness to do the show now pretty much across the board from any comedian I may be lucky enough to meet. I recently met a popular guy I'm a big fan of from The Howard Stern Show and we were talking about Rififi and he said he'd love to come by. I was almost like, "Really? Why? For a drink ticket?" But it's really cool to have comedians with all different styles interested in the show because it debunks the myth of "alternative comedy" vs. say "mainstream comedy". Our show at Rififi is not really an "alternative" comedy venue. It's just at a bar with the show in the back and great crowds.
What do you look for in a comedian before you'll book them on the show?
Well, I like to have seen their act. Which is fair, right? I have a lot of comedians asking me to be on the show everyday and a lot of them, I've never seen their act. Some of them are friends of mine. Plus, I am less likely to book someone who's not understanding of my position trying to manage everyone. I have comedians who, like, seemingly hate me (literally) because I have trouble getting back to everyone or they haven't done my show in, like, a year. It's astonishing. PLUS, I have very little to do with who gets booked for the shows anyway. It's a myth! There is a young comedienne named Kate Berlant who books the shows. I think--I could be wrong--it's best to be casual about it and when it comes your turn, you'll get booked. Nick Kroll used to tell me the reason he booked me on shows was because I never asked. Whodathought? Nick's so chill. He totally gets it.
He does seem chill. Speaking of, help us out here--what can readers do to be more chill?
Great question! Tons of things! Blaze. Play lax. Toss the Fris. Do Yoga. Run a 5K, then blaze. DJ. Volunteer. Constantly wear flip-flops. Talk about your girlfriend (a lot). Carry a Nalgene. Wake up to NPR. Call movies films. Rip butts. Drink Miller Chill. Prefer vinyl. Dig sports (but ironically). Rock the Vote. "Never Forget." Read gregjohnsononline.blogspot.com. Pretend to not care about celebrities...
Anything Else? Summer plans? Plugs?
BIG plans this Summer. Please read my website and check out some of our shows EVERY Friday this Summer. The guests are gonna be awesome. Big ups to Larry Murphy, Neil Padover, Darren Trumeter, Vince Averill and Jesse Popp.
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April 3, 2008
Character Sketches: Larry Murphy
By: Neil Padover
Larry Murphy would like to tell you about his new business venture, a children's entertainment company called Puppets & Such; Larry's primed and ready to puppeteer at kids' birthday parties across all five boroughs. The problem with birthday parties though, is that there's not much repeat business; turns out they only come around once a year.
The failing entrepreneurial puppeteer is just a character--one who made his debut in May of 2007 when Larry performed for the first time on Invite Them Up, the downtown show which put Rififi on the map as a hub for contemporary comedy. Murphy's bit pits an outwardly very nervous Larry against a foul-mouthed, arrogant Boston police officer named Dennis Gazza, who also happens to be a puppet. When Gazza tires of bantering with Larry he offers up his own repertoire of "cop stories" which hilariously end up going nowhere. It is the way in which Larry shifts effortlessly between the voice of the shaky puppetmaster and his dead-on caricature of a Boston cop which reminds us, "Oh yeah, this is an act." This man on stage is not a nervous failure at all, but a smart performer, adept at creating a familiar, yet absurd, world around him onstage.
Born and raised in Abington, Massachusetts, Larry Murphy was "always a clown," but a rejection letter from the Massachusetts College of the Arts turned him towards a more serious path. He joined the Navy at age nineteen and upon discharge, took a job in sales with Bose, a Framingham based audio equipment manufacturer. It was a few degrees of separation which finally brought Larry to the stage: a girl he was dating in 1997 had a cousin who lived in Somerville, Massachusetts, who just so happened to be roommates with Patrick Borelli, who at the time, was just starting out in comedy himself.
Through Borelli, he connected with Eugene Mirman and Brendon Small (who later became Larry's sketch partner). He started going to Mirman's shows at the Green Street Grill for a couple of weeks before finally getting up on stage to perform. When I ask him about early characters Larry is hard pressed to remember any specific premises.
"Those first outings were really just extremely uncomfortable," Larry admits. He never did a traditional stand up act but neither, it seems, did anyone else at the Cambridge restaurant. "Everyone at that point was doing whatever they wanted really... it had as much to do with people having no idea what comedy was supposed to be, so it was really, really outlandish." Borelli and Mirman's bits were always the most outrageous, Larry recalls.
When the trio of Borelli, Mirman, and Small formed P.S. Absurdo, a Friday night show at The Comedy Studio in Harvard Square, Larry became a frequent performer collaborating on sketches with Small. Larry spent the next few years working for Bose by day and honing his sketch chops at The Studio every Friday night. Every now and again he would record character tracks for the animated shows Home Movies and O'Grady, both produced by Soup2Nuts (the people behind Dr. Katz).
Continue reading "Character Sketches: Larry Murphy
By: Neil Padover"
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March 27, 2008
Inside With: Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld
We've interviewed a lot of folks here, but none as ace as Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld, the CollegeHumor officemates responsible for the site's hit series Hardly Working as well as their creative outpost, which is immensely popular amongst the Tumblr community, JakeandAmir.com. If you don't know much about them yet, prepare yourself for a couple days of mindlessly clicking through their video archive. Their tight and quirky vids are packed with real laughs and the sketches are never 10 seconds longer than they need to be. Today, Jake and Amir face the toughest QQs of their lives, including questions such as, but not limited to: "Who are you people??" and "Do you really have an MTV deal?"
How did all of this happen? What are your backgrounds and how did you get started at Connected Ventures?
Amir: I started writing for CollegeHumor in 2003 when I was a sophomore at UC Berkeley -- sending them articles every couple weeks. As I was getting ready to graduate in June of 2005, CH had signed a book deal and used some of the money to hire me, so I moved to New York to work there as a full time writer right away.
Jake: I started writing articles for CollegeHumor in 2005, a year later I moved to New York and started as an intern. Eventually I started working all the time and getting paid. We moved offices last April and Amir and I got seated across from each other.
Do you actually still do actual work there? Or has work become writing and shooting Jake and Amir videos all day?
Jake: We do other work for CH, some people might not call it that, though. For instance, I am in charge of keeping up the Cute College Girl section.
Amir: My actual job is to help with the videos on the site. Finding popular internet videos, uploading them, captioning them etc. We also help come up the original videos that we shoot around the office that aren't "Jake and Amir based. The one's we call Hardly Working. We usually save the actual shooting/editing of Jake and Amirs for after work.
It's truly awesome how in recent years, CollegeHumor has birthed its own stable of talent. If the Internet's not buzzing about the CH founders, it's talking about you guys or the Prank War or Moberg or the latest video on CHTV. CH/CV is creating and defining our collective web experience as well as our culture in a number of different ways. Has that been the business plan all along? And are you all a part of The 250?
Amir: Wow, thanks. I don't think the business plan all along has been to hire people to get the internet buzzing. I think that's just a byproduct of 50 creative/talented/funny people who work together and encourage each other. Eventually somebody will create something or do something that a greater audience becomes interested in.
Jake: What's the 250 thing?
Amir: Don't worry about it...
Continue reading "Inside With: Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld"
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February 14, 2008
Inside With: Kurt Braunohler
By: Eliot Glazer
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Are you actually a carpenter? If not, how do you make a living?
I am about the furthest thing from a carpenter you can imagine. I am VERY, VERY bad with my hands. But I've always wanted to be good with my hands and have befriended many people who are good at making real physical things, simply because I could never do that and it fascinates me. So, if you were to ask me what I would be in a different life I'd say "carpenter" much the same way a bird might say "a fish" when asked the same question. It would just be a totally new experience.
Right now, I'm about 80% making a living through comedy which is mind blowing to me. Kristen and I just got a development deal with the BBC, which is thrilling, and hopefully that will lead to me being able to not have to work 2 days a week fixing computers. Or Animal Planet could just pick up Penelope as a TV show already. (Hint! Hint!) Did I say Animal Planet? I meant Adult Swim. (Bigger Hint!)
With projects like Chengwin, Neutrino, Kurtbot and 24 Hour Road Trip, you have carved a niche in a mix of guerilla comedy and performance art. However, you also perform stand-up, sketch, improv and you teach. Where do you see the lines blurred between the different genres, and do you prefer one to the others?
Here's what I like about performative street experiences--it's about fucking with the mental landscape of a city. [Chengwin co-creator] Matt Murphy and I were always motivated by this idea that we wanted to take urban spaces that might only be defined in someone's minds as "place in between my apartment and starbucks" and drop a half-chicken, half-penguin battling a half-chicken, half-skunk right in front of them. Then all of a sudden, for that one person, this ordinary, routine space is forever changed. It now has a new title in their mind, something like, "Animal Battle Arena" or something. Nothing about the physical city changes--in fact, we prided ourselves on disappearing immediately after performances. (We had this giant cube truck just waiting out of site and it would zoom in and we'd hop in the back and we'd take off. That also helped us not get arrested.) I really like that idea of reinforcing the mutability of New York City. Because when I moved here I was kinda bored. I wanted to feel like ANYTHING was possible all the time. And I didn't. And Matt felt the same way. And that is what kind of motivated Chengwin and Chunk (and Chabio and Chixon and Chove) to make New York City fucking EXCITING. I think now is a very different time in NYC, and now I do think it is exciting again. Which is very cool.
And that's where it ties in with the comedy stuff I like. I like comedy that makes me feel like anything is possible. I want it to surprise me and take turns I would not have expected, but in hindsight seem to make sense. And at the heart of all the street stuff I was doing was its spontaneity and ephemeralness. This thing just popped up, changed you in some way, and disappeared, almost as if it had never existed. And that's why I love improv so fucking much. I have had experiences improvising that felt like we changed the world. And then you walk off stage, you realize it is nothing. There's no record. Only about a handful of people experienced it. No one's writing about it. It's just a pure aesthetic experience. And that's so beautiful to me.
But all of this brings me to Psychogeography, and kind of ties in with all of these "guerilla theatre" things I've done in the past. I've been doing Psychogeography experiments with my two good friends, Calvin Johnson and Scott Knowles since 2000, under the name "Psychogeography Project" which is purposefully vague. Our big events that have been the most popular are the "24 Hour Road Trip"--in which we have the all-American road trip, but without a car, in a single city. We explore the city for 24 hours straight without stopping, using all public transportation. We try and get ourselves in all the nooks and crannies of a city that you never have time to explore. We've done 3 here in New York, 1 in Philadelphia (in conjunction with The Next American City) and we're doing 1 in New Orleans on March 8-9 (which I will not be able to go to unfortunately.) We've also done something we call the "Urban Disorientation Game" in which we blindfold three groups of people, take their cell phones and wallets, throw them in a van, drive them to a part of the city they have never been in and leave them there [Interviewer's Note: I was invited to participate, but chickened out.]. They are not allowed to talk to anyone outside their group, or take public transportation, and it is a race back to where they started. We did one in New York City as part of the Glowlab Conflux and one in Rome as part of another arts festival. Those are really fun. We'll be doing one again this summer here in New York.
And I guess that's how I want my comedy to feel--like I blindfolded the audience and threw them in a van and dropped them off somewhere they'd never been before, but it's ok because they're gonna have a party. I want it to feel like that, or like eating ice cream and taking a shit at the same time. Either or would make me happy.
You've acquired a reputation for being an especially desirable improv teacher and you recently won an ECNY for Best Director, illustrated in your somewhat avant-garde methodology that results in a show like Big Black Ballet. What is your approach to teaching and directing?
First off, to give credit where credit is due, I didn't have that much to do with the creation of Big Black Ballet--that was all Big Black Car. I just directed them a few times and tried to help them out. I did help create "the Soundtrack" form with Mother back in the day when I was directing/coaching them though--so I already had a LOT of thoughts about music based improv. I kind of feel like Big Black Ballet is an extension of "The Soundtrack" into the non-verbal realm which is where I always thought the power of the form existed. I love the Ballet though and am thankful to Big Black Car for letting me perform in it with them when I could. It was a cool show.
I think teaching really helps me direct. I'd recommend it to any director. When you're teaching you’re being paid to watch performances and then give them very specific and easily understandable notes to make that performance better. So after hundreds of hours of watching improv and giving notes, you just start to be able to articulate what everyone else can feel. And once you can articulate what IS happening, it's relatively easy to change it.
As for my avant-garde approach, I usually start a Directing Session by letting everyone get real familiar with each other, just touching and looking into each other's eyes. Then I encourage them to take their tops off and just kinda rub around on each other. That usually is awkward until I bring out some beer and then we REALLY get to work, just rubbing all up on everyone and really making some creative juices flow. Then I shut off the lights and berate them, just really verbally abusing them. Then I demand my money and I leave. The success rate of this technique is shocking.
Continue reading "Inside With: Kurt Braunohler
By: Eliot Glazer"
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January 31, 2008
Inside With: Pete Holmes
By: Eliot Glazer
Pete Holmes is a special brand of comedian: he's boisterous, sharp, and he fills a room with his energy and physical presence (he's like 7 feet tall!). Trained in improv, Pete's erratic self-deprecating observational humor carries with it a specific charisma that makes him one of The Apiary's favorites around town. In between namedropping, Pete found some time to gab about his Chicago background, the artifice of stand up, and some other things.
How long have you been doing stand-up? Did you start at home in Massachusetts?
Whenever I read an interview on here--and I think I'm not alone in this--I tend to scan it for my name to see if the person mentions me. So I'm going to pepper this with some names so other comics read it. Roger Hailes.
Anyway, it's been about six years. I did start in Boston, but only briefly before I moved to Chicago, so I feel like I was a product of the Chicago scene more than my hometown. John Mulaney.
How did you find the comedy scene there as compared to here?
The scene was wonderful. It was a terrific place to start. No industry, which was good because none of us were really ready to been seen by industry, so we just got to try out standup in a low-pressure environment. Well, starting comedy is high-pressure, but without the added pressure, let's say, of having some execs in the crowd. I started the same exact week as Kumail and Rob Buscemi, two wonderful comics (and Kumail just moved to NYC). It was like we were a class, and we all graduated from the scene at the same time and continue to keep in touch. It's real cool.
The crux of the Chicago scene was the Lyon's Den, an open mic that hosted somewhere between 25 and 50 comics a night. For serious. Everyone who signed up got on, and a lot of people signed up. This was our Monday night. We'd put our names in the bucket, hope to God that we were picked to go before 2:00am, and hang out after our sets. There was a real sense of community and a lot of great friends were made during that time. We were less focused on making it, because, well, there's no TV there, so it was just about the ha-has.
That sense of community exists here, too. When I went to Fifty First Jokes, I think all the comics would agree, we all felt like a nice little clown commune. That was a fun night. John F O'Donnell.
I love watching you on stage because you self-edit, but unlike so many comedians whose self-editing feels undeniably prepared in an effort to make them look "quirky" or "off the cuff," yours rings true because you actually get mad--sometimes furious--at yourself. Is that something you've always done or was adopted into your stand-up?
It's somewhat new. I feel like the crowds I perform for in NY respond well to honesty. All crowds do, mostly, but especially here where the rooms are smaller and more intimate. So I stopped censoring my thoughts on stage (for the most part). Sometimes I offend myself, or catch myself saying something stupid, or trip-up a word, or realize some secret bad thought was coming through me subconsciously, and instead of marking that as an accident and trying to hide it, those moments become the most important parts of the show for me. It's weird, and hopefully funny, to watch someone at odds with themselves, kind of a "how can this be what my brain gave me to say right now?" thing. We all feel that way sometimes, but a lot of folks are trying to look smart and put-together, and I've found a lot of joy in letting go of that idea and just saying, "Hey, we're all dumb some of the time." I know I am.
Your self-deprecation is at its funniest when, in the middle of a bit, you'll stop and say how much comedy "sucks." Explain what is it about comedy that you find so frustrating (when this happens).
Sometimes it bothers me, the convention in standup of talking about something you've talked about before and acting like it's the first time. So I like to let the audience in on that feeling. I often say "Don't you hate comedy?" while I'm trying to change topics and be smooth about it. I'm not smooth, and it's an awkward thing to do, change topics. It's just about being honest. I feel like I'm trying to get away with something and it's funnier to me to point that out.
The video below is an infamous account of having bombed at a mainstream comedy club in suburban Illinois. What are the strongest differences between playing mainstream clubs, colleges and alternative venues?
Continue reading "Inside With: Pete Holmes
By: Eliot Glazer"
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January 22, 2008
Cloverfield Superstar TJ Miller Talks To Us
**This article sort of contains SPOILERS about Cloverfield**
While a creature destroys Manhattan for the lulz, Hud (TJ Miller) takes time out of his day to tend to a friend's boo-boo.
Cloverfield took in over 41 MILLION DOLLARS at the box office this weekend, due in no small part to the brave camera work of TJ Miller's character Hud who a) "couldn't [ ] frame a shot if his life depended on it" and b) "ranks among the greatest war photographers in history." In review after review, we've found that Hud has truly resonated with critics. The NY Times called him a "nitwit." The NY Daily News says he's "an obnoxious guy." Salon's obstreperous film critic Stephanie Zacharek, called him "a rather annoying spud," but that's okay, she measures a film's greatness by the level of diarrhea squirting out of her at any given time. We thought Cloverfield was awesome--delete the comments from your brain of anyone who says differently. FourFour does a great job of describing what's so good about the movie.
Anyways, this breakout role for TJ Miller has sent the young comedian bouncing like a pinball from one press junket to the next. We lobbed a couple of questions at him before he scooted off.
Continue reading "Cloverfield Superstar TJ Miller Talks To Us"
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January 16, 2008
Inside With: Sam Means, Writer for The Daily Show, Author
Though Daily Show writer Sam Means has been striking and out of a job for a few months, no labor dispute can put a stop to his enthusiasm for producing written words. His first book, A Practical Guide to Racism, just came out. Don't be confused that Professor C.H. Dalton got the author byline. Dalton, like Richard Bachman or Jennifer Blowdryer, is the product of a Colbertian device called a "literary double" which allows Sam to cheerfully freewheel racist thoughts and ideology in a way that doesn't confine him to the character that is himself. We talked to Sam--or was it really Dalton?--about the book and about some other stuff that's on our mind.
You seem like an unusually intelligent person. You have degrees I didn't know exist, you've written headlines for The Onion, cartoons for the New Yorker, won an Emmy for writing on The Daily Show, and written a book all before the age of 30. You can retire and sit around the rest of your life collecting lifetime achievement awards if you wanted. Is there something you're not doing that you'd like to do still career-wise?
Um.. thank you? I've been very lucky so far--working at TDS has been an amazing experience with an amazing group of people, especially our boss. Eventually, I'd love to pitch an original show, but for now I'm enjoying myself too much working there. That is to say, I was enjoying myself, and I will again whenever this awful strike is over. I'm also kicking around ideas for a screenplay, and possibly another book. I go a little stir-crazy if I don't have a lot of different projects to work on.
And when you meet smarmy new people who ask, "So what do YOU do?" what do you actually say to them?
Actually, right now it's pretty easy; I'm an "unemployed writer." Which might be the single largest demographic in this city.
Why write A Practical Guide to Racism? And how'd you get the Maakies and Perry Bible Fellowship illustrators on board?
It was mostly in response to this trend of dumb, offensive racist jokes passing for "edgy" humor--people like Carlos Mencia trading on cheap stereotypes to get a laugh. I wanted to do something a little smarter that dealt with racism, as opposed to just being racist. And I got pretty excited about the character, C.H. Dalton, this blowhard of a professor. He's a lot of fun to write for, kind of like a sad, racist John Hodgman.
As for the illustrations, I was really lucky to get so many fantastic artists involved. I was in touch with Tony Millionaire because he had done the poster art for the "Ten F@$king Years" show that my colleague Scott Jacobson and I organized last year, but the rest were all just illustrators that I admired, and that I was able to get in touch with through mutual friends or colleagues. Michael Kupperman is one of the great underrated comic artists of our generation, and we'd been talking about working together on a project together for a while.
Do you feel that all racists will love this book? Doesn't it take one to know one? Is Professor C.H. Dalton your alter-ego or is he like a metaphorical mirror?
I think Dalton would be a really creepy Fight Club-style alter ego. I'd wake up wearing a white hood, surrounded by lawn jockeys, with no idea how I got there. But this book was more about pointing out the absurdity in a racist world view, and drawing those sorts of stereotypes out to their logical conclusion. There's a chapter on Merpeople, because I feel like hating Mermen and Mermaids makes just as much sense as hating all black people, or all Jews. Also, because Merpeople are filthy, fish-fucking freaks.
What have you been doing during the writers strike to occupy your time?
I've mostly been trying to do publicity for the book, including writing weekly content for the website, apracticalguidetoracism.com. I'm also spending a lot of time worrying about money and health insurance. Yesterday, I had to wake up at 6:30am to picket The View, so that was fun.
Sam's TDS office-mate, Rachel Axler, is organizing a benefit show on January 22nd at Ars Nova called There Will Be Comedy. It features writers and staff from The Daily Show. Videos of Dan Bakkedahl lecturing as C.H. Dalton are scheduled to be shown. All profits go to non-writing staffers affected by the strike.
Posted by The Apiary in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary at 5:24 PM | Comments (0)
January 4, 2008
2007: A Year Just Happened
The following are the best articles and items over the past year that appeared on this site. A couple of FAVORITES appear at the end too for those of you with strong scrolling fingers. Thanks for reading The Apiary.
THE MOST COMPELLING HEADLINES OF 2007
Jordan Carlos on Being Steven Colbert's Black Friend
Dane Cook, In What Appears to Be a Bad PR Move, Rips Powerful Blogger 2nd Butthole
Post 9/11 World Furious At This Guy, Rightly So
New Artistic Director at The PIT Named
Smoking Gun Discovered in Budweiser Superbowl Commercial Ripoff Scandal
What the Heck Happened to You, Ned Holness?
From Behind the Bar of the UCBT - The Finale
The Aspen Report: Comedians Tell All as They Shred Their Way Down From the Slopes
Susie Felber Rattled By Poor Food Quality at McDonald's
Whitest Kids U' Know Debuts Tomorrow On FUSE
The Onion News Network Arrives; An ONN Reacts
Popular Comedy Nightspot For Sale
The MySpace Friend Overnights Are In For Human Giant
Invite Them Up: Looking Back on 5 Years, Part 5
MTV Wows Audiences | Human Giant Marathon a Bold Success
In Which We Finally Learn How To Kick People
Lovebirds: Michelle Collins & YouTube Billionaire?
Charge of the Andrew Wright Brigade: International Blog Feud Turns Ugly
The New York City Open Mike Guide
Find He-Man.com Urges Area Pedestrians to Be on Lookout
Andres Du Bouchet to Write for Spike Feresten
Julie and Jackie: LOLing With the LGBTS
Totally IN | Creepy Southerner T-Shirts
Rob Corddry SPOTTED Inside The Corddry Triangle
Stephen Colbert Announces Bid For Presidency
What the World is Searching For
Plot Against Rififi Confirmed, Venue Soldiers On With Liquor License In Tow
The Writers Guild of America Strike of 2007: A Special Report - Week 1
The Truth About Hecklers | By: Michael Showalter
The Gag Reel | The Top 10 TV and Film Moments of 2007
The Year In Old Media: the State of Live Comedy Coverage in the MSM
INTERVIEWS & PROFILES OF 2007
Inside With: Super Deluxe's John Buzzell, VP of Product Development and Jim DiStefano, Community Director
Inside With: Andrew W.K.
Inside With: Rachel Tipograph, Judah Friedlander's Personal Assistant
Inside With: Judah Friedlander
Inside With: Michael Winslow, Man of 10,000 Sound Effects
Inside With: Paul Mecurio, Audience Warmer at the Daily Show
Inside With: Chris Hardwick & Mike Phirman, Hard N' Phirm
Inside With: Joe Garden, Candidate for Host of Late Night
Inside With: Reggie Watts
Inside With: Steven Wright
Inside With: Dusty Warren
Inside With: Brian Regan, Comedian
Inside With: Leo Allen
Punching In to Punch Lines: John F. O'Donnell
Character Sketches: Stuckey & Murray
Inside With: Mandy Stadtmiller, Reporter, Comedian
Punching In to Punch Lines: Mike Burns
Punching In to Punch Lines: Emily Epstein
Inside With: Rhys Darby, Flight of The Conchords
Character Sketches | Mindy Raf
Inside With: Seth Herzog
Inside With: Neil Hamburger
Inside With: Will Forte
Inside With: Loren Bouchard, Writer, Lucy Daughter of the Devil
Inside With: John Mulaney
Punching In To Punch Lines | Joselyn Hughes
Inside With: Andrea Rosen
Inside With: The Sklar Brothers
Character Sketches | Sean Patton
Jason Sudeikis: The Ultimate Interview | Part 1 - On Strike
Jason Sudeikis: The Ultimate Interview | Part 2 - The Beginning Before The Beginning
Jason Sudeikis: The Ultimate Interview | Part 3 - Out In Vegas They're Killing Time (aka Improv, In Love, En Route)
Jason Sudeikis: The Ultimate Interview | Part 4 - Jason Takes Manhattan
Jason Sudeikis: The Ultimate Interview | Part 5 - What Lies Behind Us and What Lies Before Us
THE SHOW RECAPS OF 2007
Talk Show with Bob Wiltfong @ The PIT - 1.4.7
2007 San Francisco SketchFest Opening Night Show @ Mezzanine, San Francisco - 1.11.7
4 Shades of Black @ The PIT - 2.1.6
The Standby Line at Guru Pitka - 2.2.7
Laugh Don't Destroy @ Union Hall - 2.6.7
Comic Book Club @ The PIT - 2.6.7
Alan Zweibel's "The History of Me" @ The PIT - 2.15.7
Richard Lewis @ Comix - 2.23.6
Eddie Pepitone @ The Motel - 3.13.7
Ernest & Julio Gallo's Black Habanero Sketch Revue @ UCBT - 3.13.7
Tube Time Video Gameshow @ The New York Underground Film Festival - 3.31.7
WrestleSlamMania 2 @ UCBT - 3.31.7
Simply Absurd: The Comedy of Late Night with Conan O'Brien @ The Museum of Television and Radio - 4.5.7
Invite Them Up, 5th Anniversary Show @ Rififi - 4.25.7
In Conversation with Don Rickles @ The 92nd St. Y - 5.17.7
Mark & Ari in LOFT @ UCBT - 5.16.7
Inside Joke w/ Steve Guttenberg @ The UCBT - 5.24.7
Michael Ian Black: I Am a Wonderful Man @ The PIT - 6.14.7
UCB in the Park @ Central Park SummerStage - 7.19.7
Matt Besser's Magical Sack of Dump @ The UCBT - 7.25.7
The Del Close Marathon 9 @ The UCBT - 7.27.7 - 7.29.7
Inside Joke w/ Ian Roberts, Matt Besser, & Matt Walsh @ The UCBT - 7.26.7
Hard 'N Phirm @ The Hudson Theatre - 8.26.7
CBS/NYC Presents: TV Book Club @ Mo Pitkin's - 9.17.7
The Benson Interruption @ The UCBT - 10.19.7
Jim Jeffries @ The UCBT - 11.5.7
The Upright Citizens Brigade @ The Paley Center for Media - 11.8.7
Kasper Hauser's SkyMaul @ Ars Nova - 11.8.7
Tim Minchin @ Ars Nova - 11.12.7
Comic Book Club: 1-Year Anniversary @ The PIT - 12.18.7
The Mervin Douglas Show @ The UCBT - 12.20.7
FAVORITE VIDEOS APPEARING ON NVW IN 2007
5. John Mulaney on Late Night - Made its NVW debut on 2.21.7
4. Kaplowee - Made its NVW debut on 1.24.7
3. Andrea Rosen Auditioned For Flight of the Conchords - Made its NVW debut on 10.31.7
2. Stinky Marmalade - Made its NVW debut on 8.22.7
1. Penelope Princess of Pets - Made its NVW debut on 4.4.7
FAVORITE WEB SERIES OF 2007
5. Welcome To Our House
4. All My Exes
3. ["Layers"]
2. Wainy Days
1. Penelope Princess of Pets
FAVORITE LIVE PERFORMANCES OF 2007
5. Richard Lewis @ Comix
4. Sketchfest NYC 2007: All American Push-Up Party; Kurt & Kristen @ East 13th St. Theater
3. Neil Hamburger @ Knitting Factory
2. Tim Minchin @ Ars Nova
1. Totally JK: Brett Gelman's 1000 Cats @ Rififi
PREVIOUSLY
2006: A Reflection on Stuff That May Have Rocked You
Best of 2005: The Year in Pictures
LOOKING AHEAD
The Apiary would be pushing cyber-daisies if not for the articles and the output of its fantastic contributors. Anyone interested in being a contributor or an editor for the site should contact theapiary@gmail.com.
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November 27, 2007
Character Sketches | Sean Patton
By: Neil Padover
Sean Patton doesn't do characters. He doesn't jump around on stage or deliver deadpan one-liners, although he admits to having tried all of these things at one time. What you see is what you get, and what you see is someone who looks like John Belushi's body double (sometimes Ron Jeremy, depending on if the moustache is in bloom). Despite all of the personal baggage you're likely to hear about in Patton's act, perhaps the comic's greatest challenge has been in finding his comedic voice. "One of the guys I admire the most is Eddie Izzard. This guy can just kind of weave through being really animated and pantomiming a lot, to just kind of standing there--and either way it works for him,'" Patton says. "I would watch other guys like Sam Kinison who's always full force. And I was like, 'what am I?'"
At "The Creek and the Cave" recently, his twenty minute set covered a variety of topics like his struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder, being broke in New York, and living with his aunt, a recovering "crackhead." Patton's jokes don't just sublimate his personal experiences into some form of therapy as so many comics often do. He is able to look beyond himself and articulate how his own experiences are representative of those things which affect us all on a grander scale.
When Patton tells a joke, you never end up back where you started. Each premise is a building block for the absurd world he creates on stage. One of the funniest moments of the show involved a story about Patton's drug addled aunt getting arrested for stealing from a supermarket and then selling the goods out in the store's parking lot. Patton jokes, "Clearly she was arrested because that's just brilliant, that's too good of an idea. We've got to put the kibosh on that before everyone finds out and they're all millionaires. And the thing is, the security cameras caught it: people were buying shit from her." In three lines the bit has grown from a tragically funny anecdote about a family member's troubles with addiction into a satirical take on law enforcement and run-of-the-mill consumerism.
Continue reading "Character Sketches | Sean Patton
By: Neil Padover"
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November 13, 2007
The Truth About Hecklers
By: Michael Showalter
The truth about hecklers is... that they're awesome. Hecklers are to comedy what garlic powder is to a slice of pizza. That is to say: not essential but it makes it taste a little better. In some cases, garlic powder actually transforms the slice of pizza into something more than "just a slice of pizza." If you haven't seen Bill Burr eviscerating an audience of hecklers in Philly, you'll know what I'm talking about. It is bar-none, the funniest thing I have ever seen. He unleashes a torrent of rage that goes on for ten minutes. It goes from being funny, to brilliant, to "I actually shit in my pants and cried."
Hecklers permit us to uncork our inner-demon and, to use a dance term, "work it out." Everytime I perform on the road I am heckled. It's rarely negative heckling. It's usually your typical, "Play Freebird!" type of heckler. Or to put it another way, it's your typical, "Hey look at me instead of the person we've all paid money to see" type of heckle. After the show people always come up to me and apologize on the heckler's behalf. They'll say, "We're not all like that here in (insert city name.)" And I say, "Don't worry about it. It's fine." And I say that not to be polite, I say it because it's true. Nothing makes me happier than to have the opportunity to uncork my anger and direct it at someone I've never met. It's rare in life that you get to tell someone to "suck your dick" and get applause for it. On my record, Sandwiches and Cats, I was heckled by two cats in the front row. Yes, cats. A woman decided that it would be a good idea to bring her cats with her to a live taping. It's hard to perform when there's cats meowing the whole time. So, instead of doing my material, I talked about the cats. It was a total garlic powder moment. In conclusion, heckle to your hearts content. We don't mind.
Michael is on a world blog tour all day today in support of his new album Sandwiches and Cats AVAILABLE NOW on JDub Records. A world blog tour is like a live tour except instead of greeting his fans at places like Camden, New Jersey and Gary, Indiana, he'll use virtual reality to receive them at sites like Brooklyn Vegan, Culture Bully, Jewschool, My Old KY Blog, Stereogum, Popwatch, and Deadspin.
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November 8, 2007
Inside With: The Sklar Brothers
By: Matt Sklar
After their successful ESPN show Cheap Seats wrapped last year, L.A. based actor-comedians Randy and Jason Sklar have been balancing their stand-up careers with profile-raising turns on Grey's Anatomy, Entourage, and the movie Wild Hogs. They also star in the web series ["(Layers)"] with Nick Kroll on Super Deluxe and have a new cd, Sklar Maps, available on AST Records. We caught up with Randy just as the brothers begin gearing up for four headlning shows at Comix this Friday and Saturday.
I should start by saying that I think I was asked to interview you because I also happen to be a twin named Sklar. So let me get the questions out of the way that I'm sure, like me, you've been asked many times throughout your lives: can you read each other's minds?; if one of you gets hurt, does the other feel the pain?; and did you ever try to trick your parents by dressing the same growing up?
We cannot read each other's minds. However, recently we've been able to access the inner thoughts of Jeremy and Jason London, and those are dark, dark dudes. We have never experienced transitive pain moments and we both have the use of all of our limbs, but in high school we both claimed to experience the sensation of a phantom foot. As a result we were not allowed to watch the made for TV movie, The Terry Fox Story. As for tricking parents and friends by pulling the old switcheroo we have always felt, from an early age, that's as hack a move as you'll ever find in the twin arsenal, and that's saying a lot. Twins in general freak us out. They're weird and as a rule unoriginal. (Sklar twins excluded of course). There's a basic set of twin shtick that's pre-determined and most twins just plug into that paradigm and that becomes part of their public identity. Or they'll go in the other direction and completely individuate from an early age, and try to create such divergent personalities that they eliminate the possibility that they could ever be considered twins. Either way it's been done to death.
There's always an element of sketch to your stand-up performance just by the fact that there's two of you on stage playing off each other, but your new CD, Sklar Maps, seems to rely more on personal storytelling and real-life anecdotes. Is that something you were specifically going for with this cd, or do you feel that's the direction your stand-up is moving towards in general?
We've always walked the line between stand up and sketch in our comedy. We have tended to introduce to the audience a stand up premise with quick jokes that directly address the crowd, and then that premise gets blown out into a longer sketch-like bit. And there still are a number of bits on Sklar Maps that adhere to that comedic style. But because this was recorded at a theater (UCB Theater L.A.), in front of more of an alternative crowd, it allowed us to delve deeper into personal anecdotes without having to worry about pummeling the crowd with oneliners. We knew they were willing to come with us on the journey, they trusted us that pay offs were right around the corner, and that allowed us to open up the material a bit and to perform some longer stories that we've been dying to record.
We also wanted this CD to feel more personal. It's a CD that explores the world we currently find ourselves entrenched in, Los Angeles, 2007--Hollywood to be exact. We are from St. Louis and even though we've managed to build a modest career in this industry, we still feel like outsiders, and we still find ourselves laughing at the absurdities of this city and this industry we've chosen to live our lives within.
You both live in L.A. now, but you lived in New York during a very exciting time in the alternative comedy scene, when shows like Eating It at Luna Lounge and Stella at Fez were taking off. Are there any particular shows or venues in the city that you enjoy performing at when you're in New York?
Alternative comedy in New York in the mid 90's was amazing. In 1994 we had just moved to New York and we were hating our act. We went to see a brand new comedy show called Eating it--at the time it was at Rebar, and Andy Kindler was on the show, and Lizz Winstead, Jeff Ross, Marc Maron, Marc Cohen, John Benjamin, Sam Seder and Sarah Silverman. Lizz Winstead told a story that made her cry, Jon Benjamin came out of the crowd and fought Sam Seder, Kindler commented on his own jokes and Maron was so willing to peel back and reveal his true self, and it was one of the best comedy shows we'd ever seen. 30 people showed up. After the show, we walk out onto 8th avenue and 15th street and said to each other, "You're allowed to do that?!" It was so funny and so unpredictable, and so exciting. It was like this revolution in our minds. Worlds of comedic possibilities opened up, and that was just the beginning of that era in New York. Eating It moved from Re-bar down to Luna Lounge, UCB moved to town and started performing there. The room couldn't fit all of the people who wanted to see the show. Agents and network executives were suddenly coming downtown to shows instead of going to comedy clubs. Stella and Moonworks and shows at Surf Reality started to pop up and draw lots of diehard fans. Stella, of course, was one of our favorite shows. Those guys were hilarious, their videos were legendary, the crowds were four deep sometimes at the bar, and you never knew who would come down and be on the show. We saw John Stewart and Janeane and Liev Schreiber on shows. And Mr. Blue and the band was incredible. And every few minutes you felt the subway underneath the floor. It was the apex of comedy in New York at that time. It was an amazing time for comedy, and we felt so lucky to find ourselves in the middle of it all.
Then from 2002-2005 we were fortunate enough to get to shoot our ESPN Classic Show Cheap Seats in New York while living in L.A. So we would come out every five weeks to New York for the week and we'd get to once again become a part of the comedy scene in New York, albeit in a more tangential way. Eugene Mirman and Bobby Tisdale were amazing in that whenever we would call them and tell them we were coming to town, they'd have us on their show Invite Them Up. We love that show. It's got such a solid mix of talented folks trying new material and good crowds that want to see something different. We also got to do shows at the UCB Theater, which really grew after we left New York, into a comedy mainstay. We got to do Seth Herzog's show Sweet a bunch of times and we loved that space. We would do the Hump show with Sean Conroy and at the end of our run we got to do Aziz's Crash Test. After living in LA where everything shuts down at midnight, we couldn't believe how many people would be out at comedy shows at 1am on a Monday night.
And we've never performed at Comix before, but we've only heard good things. They book great comics and treat them really well. We're excited to headline there November 9th and 10th with John Mulaney as our feature.
Continue reading "Inside With: The Sklar Brothers
By: Matt Sklar"
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October 5, 2007
Punching In to Punch Lines | Joselyn Hughes
By: Sara Benincasa
Resident dayjob inspector Sara Benincasa finds out what comedians do to pay the bills while their comedy careers take shape. In this edition of Punching in to Punch Lines, she chats with comedian Joselyn Hughes.
Tell me about the job or jobs you do when not performing onstage.
Well I do a couple different things. First, I baby-sit, which I also call my "realizing-procreation-isn't-right-for-me-job." I also wait tables. Pretty ridiculous, but common jobs I guess.
Do you ever glean material from your non-comedy job(s) for your standup?
Absolutely, but most of it's so specific it's hard to relate to people. I would kill with a nanny and waiter crowd. Babies are mini humans that are pretty basic and sweet. But the madness people create around them is so unbelievable. Did you know, according to some new aged nonsense you're not supposed to tell a kid "good job" anymore because it turns them into "praise junkies" and they won't be able to live a normal life without people constantly encouraging them? Most of my possible nanny-extracted material is very "kids say the darndest things!" And since that whole market has been cornered, I'm out of luck. But it is really fun to be around kids. Waiting tables is a little more understandable. We all eat. I do a couple bits about it. But you don't really know the seething hatred you acquire for the public unless you've done some kind of service work. It's kind of fun to just wait on all of these weirdoes and watch their behavior but I think all people should have to wait tables at some point in their lives and get a perspective on the correct way to treat other humans.
Does your family support your desire to do comedy, or do they think you should be working at Goldman Sachs or something?
Yeah. My whole family thinks we're funny. We hang out and just laugh. My mother gives me hilarious pointers about how I can improve my stand up. I get bits emailed to me from various family members. A lot of forwards with hack jokes that they think I'll love. My mom's number one joke is to see someone wearing camouflage and talk about how she can't see them. She thinks it's hilarious. I always was a weird kid. I think they knew I'd do something unusual. When I started taking improv classes in Chicago, I think they thought it would pass. But then I started stand up and got really into it, then a bit of worry probably set in. But they never let it show. I don't think they always understand it, especially when they visit and I'm doing a show with nine audience members, but they support me. Besides, my two brothers have completely normal lives, healthy relationships, and nice cars. Takes the heat off me.
What about wasting time during jobs?
Well, the kid naps for three hours a day. That's writing time for me. Or nap time. I talk on the phone while we stroll around the hood. We eat snacks in the park. It's not a hard job if kids don't stress you out. Kids are so easy and entertaining; I just have fun with them. To a grown person, the whole day would kind of be a waste because it doesn't make any sense, but if the little person wants to watch ferry boats for an hour, I'm okay with it. More time for text messaging. Waiting tables? Waiters all have the same sense of humor at work after being treated like garbage by the same stereotypes on a continuous basis. We all just sit around and chitchat. Sometimes about our personal life, sometimes about how much we hate the dude at table 73. So it's a lot of unifying hate. But not in a scary, waiter-supremacy kind of way. We have fun there and get along well. My favorite thing to do is judge people I wait on and guess their subsequent mannerisms. People are a lot more predictable than you'd like to think.
Let's say you were barred from being a famous stand-up comic by some declaration of the gods--BUT you could be extremely successful at whatever other job you chose. What would you do?
Well, other than not believing in God(s), I would say if something real happened and I couldn't do it, I'd pursue music business. I got a degree in Music Business and know some really great people within it. My only other favorite thing to do outside of comedy is going to see concerts. I would love to be a road manager for a band and get to feel that insane energy the crowds put out every night. And I'm really into large tour buses and groupies so that's a big reason too. Have you seen what they can do with those things these days?! (Not the buses, the groupies). Buy me a couple Jacks on the rocks and I'll tell ya all about it.
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September 14, 2007
Inside With: John Mulaney
By: Eliot Glazer
Just in time for the new season of Best Week Ever tonight on VH1, we chatted with John Mulaney, one of the show's breakout quippers, about performing on Conan, his comedic roots, and life in fast lane.
Ok, John, so you're young and already found success. You've been on Conan twice and are on the writing staff for Michael Ian Black's upcoming pilot. How and when did you get into comedy?
I started doing comedy when I was 7 years old in a sketch group called The Rugrats (we had the name before that knock-off Nickelodeon show came along). I'm not sure how I got into it. I think my mom heard that some theater company in Chicago was putting together a children's comedy workshop and signed me up for it. It's foggy. We would basically spend a few weeks doing improv games and scene exercises and then gradually develop four or five loose sketches which we would perform for [our parents]. I know one of the sketches was about male secretaries with female bosses. In another I did my rip-off of Dana Carvey's George Bush impression. I think we even did a Godfather sketch.
In my first week of college my friend dragged me to the auditions for the Georgetown Players Improv Group because he wanted someone to audition with. I got cast and he didn't. The director who cast me was this wise-acre named Nick Kroll. I did improv all through college and started doing stand-up when I lived in New York for a summer internship in 2003. I moved here as soon as I graduated from college and kept at it.
You've made no secret of the fact that were once an alcoholic, and I've always found it to be a slightly jarring yet effectively personal part of your act. How did facing addiction at such a young age impact your comedy?
Yeah, a lot of audiences find it jarring or confusing and some of them flat out don't buy it. I am not sure what to do about it. I really like the jokes I have about drinking, my black-out episodes, drug shenanigans etc. I normally set them up with the fact that I quit all that jazz a couple years ago, but it depends on the set I am doing. Sometimes I leave it out. I don't know if that is good or bad, but sometimes I don't want to deal with an audience getting over that hurdle if I only have five minutes on-stage.
As far as how it impacted my comedy... well... it affected my life a lot so obviously it changed how I worked and how I pursued doing stand-up. More to the point though, the first jokes I wrote that I really liked, that is the first jokes I wrote that I thought were funny and real were about being a drunkard.
Tell me about the origins of The Oh, Hello Show.
A couple of years ago Nick Kroll and I were in the STRAND Bookstore when we saw two sort mid-fifties guys wearing turtle-necks and blazers walking around and speaking what became Oh Hello speak (Hotel=Huh-tel, etc.) We followed them around the store and noticed that they were both buying copies of Alan Alda's memoir "Never Have Your Dog Stuffed." We started talking like them, pretty much all the time, and when Nick and I started hosting the Thursday night show at Rififi we decided we should just host as those two dynamos. The back-story came to use in about two seconds: that they weren't gay, but divorcees, that they never leave the Upper West Side, that they love Alan Alda and Dianne Weist, that they think the best way to start the day is an early doctor's appointment and on and on and on. I remember just before we left to do the first show I asked Nick, "Wait, what is your character called?" and immediately, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Nick said, "Gil Faizon." I miss doing the show now that Nick is in LA, but I have to admit people were getting a little tired of how I was incapable of talking without doing that voice.
Continue reading "Inside With: John Mulaney
By: Eliot Glazer"
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September 11, 2007
Inside With: Loren Bouchard, Writer of Lucy, Daughter of the Devil
By: Billy Nord
Loren Bouchard has had a creative hand in two of the most true to life, dialogue-driven sitcoms in the past fifteen years, acting as executive producer on the mid-90's, straight man vs. sane man program, Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist, and co-creating one of Adult Swim's very first shows, Home Movies. With these feats, he's helped spark a refreshing movement in modern day animated television, one that champions conversation as the main character. On his new project, Lucy Daughter of the Devil, Mr. Bouchard tackles religion seemingly the only way that truly works, sans agenda. Combing bible-inspired situations with organic, every day exchanges, Loren takes his brand of comedy to the next level.
With Lucy, Daughter of the Devil, you've done an amazing job in bringing enormous biblical entities into today's mundane, compulsive America. What about these characters attracted you, triggering the idea to create this show?
I was watching Damien: The Omen II and I thought it would be funny to make a show called Damien: The Omen II, The Cartoon. So i pitched that, with Jon Benjamin as the devil. Later, we changed it to the daughter of devil. It was Adult Swim who suggested putting in a Jesus character. Biblical and religious stuff is great. It gets your attention, which, I'm finding out, gives you more room to play around with the mundane, slice of life stuff.
The pilot originally aired on Adult Swim in October '05. What occurred during the past two years?
After we finished the pilot, AS wanted to tweak the show a little bit. First, I wrote some scripts. Then we made one of them as a "radio play"--an audio-only track as kind of a second pilot. On the strength of that episode, they ordered nine more. So, all that took a while; then there were some delays after the order--stupid stuff. Taking two years to develop a show is a very bad a way to manage your career or make a living. But creatively, it's very luxurious and I recommend it. The show is better for it.
How did your very first pitch meeting with the network go?
I like to pitch via email. I have one from about 3 emails in to the conversation--I lost the very first one--sorry. This is when it switched from Damien to Lucy. I wrote:
I got it. [that was the subject heading]It's a girl.
There's a girl at the center. A young woman. The devil's daughter. With some
really funny guys around her.Some boys of whom daddy does not approve.
And of course monks who are trying to kill her.
If you add up Damien, Rosemary's Baby and the Exorcist they equal a show about the daughter of Satan, who's a little dirty and funny and right on the fence in regards to her evil destiny and family RESPONSIBILITIES.
Can you describe the production process behind an episode, from the initial story idea to the very last cut?
I work closely with a writer named Holly Schlesinger. She lives in New York and in addition to being a good writer and a funny person, she's also one of my favorite people to talk to on the phone. One of us will have the initial episode idea and we just talk and talk and talk about it on the phone. Then we pass an outline back and forth, and then a script. and we do the same with Nick Weidenfeld at the network, who will suggest changes and new direction, etc. This takes a couple weeks. Then we record the actors in New York. which we do in one afternoon, in script order, if possible, and always with the actors working off each other. I can't understand recording actors one at a time, alone. You wouldn't do that in live action - record two parts of a conversation on two different days? But i think it's fairly common in animation.
Anyway, then we edit the audio from that session. if you have a good script, and good actors improvising and trying things, and you have a good audio editor playing around with timing, etc, you should end up with an audio track that stands up all by itself. For me, audio is the beating heart of animation.
This audio gets placeholder effects and music and gets run past the network and finessed over about 3 weeks and when it's done it is that track that gets handed over to the storyboard artist. in our case we work with a digital camera and fisher price people on a table top. This sounds goofy, but it's a great way to try things and to play with different angles, etc. our board artist, Rusty Bekmuradov, is incredibly good at composing shots.
Then that board gets handed to Fluid--the animation studio--and they take it from layout to rough animation to final in a very very few weeks, shooting photo backgrounds and manipulating them and marrying them with the CG characters in Maya.
The last step is "post," which means special effects, the title sequence, end credits, new music, sound design, and sometimes new ideas on how to make a story point clearer or make a joke work better. Our post is overseen by a woman named Nora Smith who possesses a rare mix of talents. When you see the title sequences--that's all Nora. She's like a one-woman animation shop.
Continue reading "Inside With: Loren Bouchard, Writer of Lucy, Daughter of the Devil
By: Billy Nord"
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September 7, 2007
Inside With: Will Forte
By: Keith Huang
Will Forte's new movie The Brothers Solomon comes out this weekend. It stars Forte, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Jenna Fischer, Chi McBride, LEE MAJORS and was directed by Bob Odenkirk. A few months ago, Forte, with the help of his grandmother, taped some commercials for the movie. But just three weeks after capturing the footage, she passed away. Heeding his family's encouragement, Forte decided to release the videos, which have begun journeying about YouTube and MySpace. Amid the weekend-press blitz, The Apiary finagled Forte for a few minutes to ask about the grandma commercials.
Will Forte's Grandma on Respect
What's your grandmother's name and how old was she?
Her name is Helen Louise Stivers. And she was 92 years old. She lived in Modesto [California] most of her life. I wasn't gonna continue on with the Grandma trailers, but my family convinced me to. My Mom told me about how excited Grandma was about doing them so I went ahead with it. Yeah, as you can tell from the footage, she was a very special woman.
What's an early, funny memory you have of her?
My favorite memory of her was her taking her dentures out and then using her hands to bite me with them.
Was she a comedic influence in your life? And do you come from a funny family?
She was funny whether she was trying to be or not. And the rest of my family is pretty funny too in different ways. In fact, now that I think about it, I'm probably the least funny person in my family.
What made you decide to get her to help promote your movie?
She's just a magic woman so I was thinking that maybe some of her magic would rub off on the movie.
How much did you coach her in the videos?
I would yell out lines for her and she would repeat them. But it took a long time because her hearing was not very good. So most of the times she's repeating things I said, but then she would freestyle for a while, too.
It must have been cool to record your conversations with her on tape.
We shot a bunch of footage of her that day, but a lot of it was her telling stories about the family and stuff like that--and I'm so glad we have that footage now!
Does she have a role in The Brothers Solomon?
Nope, she's just our unofficial spokesgrandma.
Tell us something else cool about the movie.
The entire movie is a palindrome. So if you play it backwards, the dialogue sounds exactly the same as if you play it forwards.
Do you like living in LA or New York?
I'm in LA for the summers, but I'm still at SNL so I go back and forth during the season. I love New York, but I'm a native Californian--most of my family and friends are out here--so I try to come out as much as possible.
Anything you're missing about New York right now?
The main thing I miss about it is hanging out with Rachel Dratch. We live on the same street and I'm kind of addicted to my friendship with her. So when I'm away from her for too long, I get a bad case of Dratch fever!
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September 6, 2007
Inside With: Neil Hamburger
By: Ben Kharakh
On the surface, things are going great for Neil Hamburger, who's stopping by the Knitting Factory this Saturday. This year alone Neil has gotten his own show on the Internet, Pool Side Chats with Neil Hamburger, opened for Tenacious D on their arena sized tour, and he's appearing on the Comedy Death Ray compilation from Comedy Central Records. But just a little investigating reveals that while Neil's career is on the rise, his personal life is in shambles--he's in debt, he's lonely, and his socks are all worn out. In this probing interview, we found out just what it would take to get Neil's life on the right track and what you, The Apiary readers, can do to help.
You've been divorced for quite some time. Have you made any attempts to get back into the dating world?
We made an attempt, but that was pretty ill fated. This was 15 years ago, but it feels like a lifetime ago. I'm afraid that things aren't looking too good in that whole scene for me right now. I've definitely passed on a few signed copies of my DVD to different truck stop waitresses and given out a few hotel keys with them, but all that happens then is that you get back to your room and find that it's been ransacked.
What happened 15 years ago?
It was an attempt to go on a date where I placed a classified ad looking for love and found nothing.
Did you get any responses?
We had a couple of people who called, but strictly the weirdies. Sickies.
Did they leave obscene messages?
Yeah, they were loaded on God knows what. You don't want to answer the phone when the druggies start calling.
What sort of things did they say to you?
Well, this is a family newspaper that you write for, but, basically, they were people who were pleasuring themselves, making weird calls to any name they could find in the newspaper, being abusive, and threatening.
What would be the ideal woman for a Neil Hamburger?
Someone who has some sort of lifeline for this nightmare of a career that I have. Perhaps a booking agent, a lawyer, someone who owns a Vegas nightclub.
So, if there are any female readers who are interested in approaching you, what criteria should they meet?
It's basically a dowry, where you pay off a family to marry someone's daughter. Except by family I mean bloodthirsty creditors. There's no way I can get off the road and stop doing shows unless I can pay off these sons of bitches who are "connected" and until the money's paid off aren't going to settle for no as an answer. There are interest fees, consultant fees, management fees, and you wouldn't believe the hidden charges. So if a woman wants to get into a relationship with me, she's going to have to be able to pay this stuff off because I'm going to be working the road doing these shows upwards of 500 times per year and there isn't going to be any time to have a relationship.
Continue reading "Inside With: Neil Hamburger
By: Ben Kharakh"
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September 4, 2007
The New York City Open Mike Guide
By: Mo Diggs
You've waited long enough. Here's The Apiary's Guide To Open Mikes That Don't Suck All That Much. This is by no means a complete list of them, there are many that have opened up that I have not been to. Moreover, these are not only my opinions, but the opinions of other open mikers I've spoken to as well. Most of the listings themselves came from Gigglechick; I wrote the reviews.
Sunday
FACEBOYZ WORLD FAMOUS OPEN MIC
Mo Pitkin's
Start: 9:00pm
Sign-up: 8:45pm
Cover: $4.00
Stagetime: 8 minutes
Host: Face-Boy
Details: Open, Lottery
Why Go?: Very open to experimentation; 8 minutes for each person; great stage
Is It Good For Beginners?: It may be a tough room if you do set-up/punch material strictly; lottery-style sign-up means you might be called up as late as 12:30 a.m., which is OK if you are committed to comedy but not so good if you're still serious about your day job; it can be very difficult to win over the Art Star clique, which is full of performance artists -- a lot of the Art Stars were doing alt-comedy in the '90s at Surf Reality and Collective Unconscious, so you may have a lot to prove
Monday
SHOW & TELL
Bowery Poetry Club
Start: 10PM sharp
Cover: $3
Stagetime: 7 minutes
Hosts: The O'Debra Twins
Why Go?: Great crowd; many people go to Show and Tell just to see the performers; great stage; if you get called last, you automatically get slot #11
Is It Good For Beginners?: Like Faceboyz, set-up/punch rarely works, winning over Art Stars can be tough; lottery system means you might get called up as late as 2 AM
Tuesday
SHAMPOO
Mug Lounge
Start: 8pm
Sign-up: 7:45pm
Cover: $3 + 1 drink
Stagetime: 6-8 minutes
Host: Joe Fury
Details: Everyone is welcome--comedians, storytellers, musicians, poets, etc.
Why Go?: Real audience occasionally; warm friendly environment; 8 minutes of stage time
Is It Good For Beginners?: Yes; very welcoming environment, but it may be a little pricey if you're not sure whether you want to do comedy or not
3 MINUTE DRILL
People's Improv Theater
Start: 11 pm
Stagetime: 3 minutes
Host: Charlie Kasov
Why Go?: Perfect practice for auditions (auditions give you two minutes to be funny)
Is It Good For Beginners?: Depends; if you feel you don't have enough material for the standard five-minute set, then yes. But writing a good three-minute joke is a challenge.
Continue reading "The New York City Open Mike Guide
By: Mo Diggs"
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August 27, 2007
Inside With: Seth Herzog
By: Eliot Glazer
A veteran of the city's comedy scene and host of Sweet every Tuesday night at The Slipper Room, Seth Herzog can always be counted on to keep a crowd in stitches. We gabbed it up with 'Zog about how his mom became a part of his act, his immortalized apartment, growing up with Michael Showalter, and where he got all his dance moves from. Nobody on "So You Think You Can Dance" can do the Wonder Woman better than Seth, you'll see.
Seth, you're well known in the comedy scene for your long-running show Sweet. How did that show come to fruition?
Well, I had been performing downtown and at in the clubs since moving here in '94. I was doing a lot of theater (real acting), and generally just partying, and then in 2000 I started to take stand up really seriously. And right at that time, comedian Josh Weinstein asked me to join the weekly alt comedy show he was starting called the "Industry Room", where in I would write and perform a new set each week. My friends really loved coming down and watching me do new stuff each week and it became a real hangout for us. In Sept of '02, Josh and John Viener who were the guys behind the industry room, left for LA. I spent 2 years just doing other people's shows, and was constantly getting asked when I was going to start my own show again. I was hosting the burlesque shows at the Slipper Room (which I still do occasionally) and they had nothing on Thursdays, so in the summer of '04 I started Sweet as a place for me get the creative juices working to generate new material every week and showcase my favorite comedians, who I love to my fans and friends. I try to create a real fun vibe, almost like it's a party (but everyone is listening). Its very spontaneous, and silly and people tend to hook up.
Your amazing mom, Kera, is now part of the weekly line-up. How did you incorporate your Mom into the show? Was she at all reluctant?
She's become the hook of the show. It began back on the third Industry Room show, wherein I did a whole set just of stories about my mom. She happened to be in the audience that night and I got her up on stage at the end of the set, after everyone had heard the stories. We bantered for a while about the veracity of the set and then did a spontaneous dance together to the Wonder Woman theme. It was surely something special, the audience really responded to the warmth and impromptu feel of it. Since then we've done bits together every once in a while and I started Sweet. It was monthly and then it just became a weekly bit because people loved it so much. And now the "What's on my mom's mind?" bit has become a destination of people. We used to rehearse stuff, but I find it's always better when we just have real spontaneous moments on stage rather than come up with bits to do. Cause once its written, mom will forget the line or deliver it like it was written. I feel like everyone's mom is sort of nutty and everyone has similar relationships with their parents so when we have those moments on stage, everyone can relate.
You were an early fixture in the so-called "alternative comedy" world. Take us back.
It was really fortuitous. I moved to NY in 1994 the same year the alt comedy scene in NY--as a separate world from the clubs--was born. The show that became "Eating It" began on Monday nights in the back of Rebar, a space on the NW corner of 16th St. and 8th Ave. The rule was that you could do anything but 'your act.' And no one knew what that meant or what that could be. It was sometimes fascinating in terms of what that could be. Michael Ian Black once laid down a sheet, put a bunch of belongings down and just sold them one by one. Interesting? Definitely. Funny? Who cares? I remember one time Toby Huss (of King of the Hill) told the most incredible story about his prom night in rural Indiana. He's an amazing storyteller and it was profoundly funny, scary and sad at different times. The whole room was so blown away. After that everyone tried to tell stories about their youth for the next month.
It was always 'a scene' from day one. A Comedy Central exec named Scott Schneider started that show, so there was always industry around it. Every comic who was looking for something else outside of the clubs, or who thought they were cool would flock to this show each week. However it created a very exclusive, schmoozy atmosphere. ...Not very welcoming at all. However, I really feel like as the community has grown and expanded exponentially over the years, and there are now 4 to 5 shows outside of the clubs each night. It's become more supportive and friendly and inclusive vibe. Which is what it should be. It should be about fostering creativity and taking risks, not pandering to the audience, where the club system is set up for the opposite.
As a comedian, your comedic sensibilities fall within a wide range from - correct me if I'm wrong--the more mainstream (anecdotes, stories, observations) to the awesome perverse, weird, and eccentric (costumes, dancing). Is that something you've set out to do or is it just what you've always naturally found funny?
I grew up loving the old Steve Martin records. In fact, for the 5th grade talent show I just recited a lot of side two of "Let's Get Small." I didn't even get half the jokes. So I really appreciate the absurd. The dance and movement stuff comes from my dance and background. But as anyone knows, it's all about commitment. Absurdity is a harder nut to crack but if you have total commitment you get anyway with anything. Also, I love good stand up. There's nothing cooler than a guys with a mic just telling you what's in his head. I've always been enamored with people who can tell one story for 5 or even 12 minutes and keep you invested and laughing the whole time. I feel like the laughs are so much more earned that way. You always leave remembering that story. I used to be much more of comedy snob than I am now. Anything that anyone did that smacked of hackiness I'd dismiss. So in a way, I have tried to always do things that people don't normally see in a way that's totally personal. It's also important for me to do comedy that's straight forward but very much my voice and personal.
Speaking of dancing, it's no secret that you are a pretty talented dancer. Did you ever consider the idea of dancing professionally? Or did you always want to be an actor/comedian?
If you ask my mom, I think she would say I've squandered my dance gift. I say, I've just used it for good instead of evil. I have always loved to dance and been attracted to dance scenes in movies and in theater etc. I have a real knack for picking up moves and memorizing choreography. I went home after seeing the movie Grease and did the whole 'greased lighting' dance on our back porch using picnic table as the car. I believe its on Super 8 somewhere. That would great if you could put the music to it. For five summers, I studied theater at Stagedoor Manor. I also took 2 years of Jazz class growing up. ("Nah, I'm too cool for ballet, sign me up for JAZZ!") Yes, I considered a career in dance, but it's a short career with little or no options, so I went for comedy instead: an obvious choice.
Continue reading "Inside With: Seth Herzog
By: Eliot Glazer"
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August 17, 2007
Character Sketches | Mindy Raf
By: Neil Padover
It wasn't hard to pick Mindy Raf out of the crowd at Mo Pitkin's the other night at the Stripped Stories show as she sauntered in with a guitar on her arm. She is tall and slim and enters the room with a noticeably focused expression on her face. When she passed by my table, I briefly introduced myself as the guy who would be interviewing her after her set. She squinted as if to make sure it was me, comparing my visage with her memory of my little picture on the Internet, as she put it. The introduction was a little awkward, but mostly an honest admission that we had both already searched through the catalogues of one another's online identities before reaching this moment.
The interview went something like that. As I prodded about her background Mindy would often take two steps forward and one step back. I think she told me three times during the interview that she "tends to ramble." Of course, I couldn't blame the performer for being self-conscious during what she told me was her first real interview. After being kicked out of the Mo Pitkin's show room we were forced to move to a vacant staircase--maybe not the ideal locale for a comedian to discuss her career as a performer.
Mindy graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in theatre and while there found time to perform sketch comedy and music at open mics in the area. After a number of "off-Broadway times a hundred" stints as an actress in New York, Mindy made a return to comedy. It seemed like the natural progression for her as she was perpetually being placed in the comic relief role during her high school and college years. "Even if I auditioned for serious roles I was always being cast as the kooky neighbor type."
If her time in Michigan served as any inspiration for the performer she would become it most directly manifests in her character Leibya Rogers. Leibya (pronounced like labia), a vegan/musical poet/activist, is a composite of the girls Mindy used to run into at open mics "who took themselves way too seriously." It is clear, however, that Leibya's purpose is not to satirize the likes of Ani DiFranco or Jewel as much as it is to make fun of "how ridiculous their fans are." Don't misunderstand, though. It isn't any major indictment against faux feminism either. "It's just fun," Mindy says.
Leibya's lyrics are a study in fast paced, chick-rock hyperbole so much so that they border on the absurd. Keyword border. The anthem "Leibya Spells Freedom" reads like the poetry of a anguished teenage girl who just picked up "The Feminine Mystique": My long armpit hair says 'Fuck you all you pretties'/And my body odor's like my fingerprint I.D./And my heart and mind won't go soft like an erection/And my my my... my tampon smells like freedom.
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By: Neil Padover"
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August 13, 2007
Inside With: Rhys Darby
By: Keith Huang
For the past five years, Rhys Darby has been living abroad in pursuit of a comedy career. A native of New Zealand, Darby has been performing standup and sketch comedy for well over a decade, just putting his material, like any other comedian, out into the ether.
Along his path, though, it was probably inevitable that Darby would team up with like-minded Kiwi comedians Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, better known as the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords. Over the past five years, the Conchords have accrued ample, worldwide buzz, especially after being nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2003, followed by "Best Alternative Comedy Act" at the 2005 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen.
But in 2005, the Conchords landed a BBC radio show, a touchstone event for any comedian in the U.K., and asked Darby to play Brian Nesbitt, their well-meaning but inept band manager. And later, when HBO approached the Conchords to create a pilot episode, they asked Darby to reprise that role as Murray Hewitt. Perhaps most satisfying about Darby and the Conchords is their off-brand sense of humor that has ultimately lead them to leave their homeland for greener pastures.
Describe your first-ever meeting with Bret and/or Jemaine.
I remember first getting to really meet Jemaine back in New Zealand at our annual comedy festival. It was a big festival that year with more than five acts showcasing their talent. I was one of those acts. There was always a lot of competition back in those days for stagetime and I remember seeing the shady but dominant figure of Jemaine standing at the back of the crowd of people who had come to see my show. He laughed a lot during my show. Afterwards, I approached him and said, "I know you. You're here to see if I'm any good aren't you?"
"I'm just checking out the other acts," he said softly and deeply.
"So how was I?" I said confidently and quietly.
"Pretty good. Pretty good," he replied.
From that moment on I knew we had a special connection.
Where did the character of "Murray/Brian" come from?
After the Conchords were approached by the BBC to make a radio show pilot, Bret and Jemaine came to me with the idea to play the part of their manager. I jumped at the opportunity and gave them five separate character voices that could be used for the role. They chose voice #4, which was my normal voice. From there, I molded the character out of thin air. I came up with the name Brian Nesbitt and then formed a picture in my head as to how he acted. Purely based on the name, I saw him as a little high-strung, overly keen, utterly clueless, but most importantly, well-meaning with a big heart.
Is he from real life?
He's not based on any particular person. He's just a man who's really keen to do things by the book--but can't for the life of him find the book he needs. Murray is essentially the same character, although I say he is Brian's cousin. To Murray, managing the Conchords is his life. The pure passion for it is like a man who's obsessed with greyhound racing.
You've lived in Auckland, London and New York. Are these three cities really all that different?
They are not different at all. They are all wonderful examples of Western Starbucks commercialism. Auckland does recycling better.
Do you worry about having to move away from New Zealand for work?
I"ve been living away from NZ for the last five years because of work, but the more success I have internationally means the sooner I can come home. We have a problem with nurturing homegrown talent. In our country, you have to succeed overseas before they'll take you seriously back home. After my success in the U.K. and now the U.S., my own country should finally open its doors to me. This seems like a step back but really it's a step home and that's what counts.

Do you recommend getting a show on HBO?
Getting a show on HBO has been amazing. I can really recommend it. They have been awesome to work with, and they are at the forefront of taking risks and their visions seem to be limitless. HBO is the best. There's nothing that comes close.
Do you tell your friends back home that you know Tony Soprano?
Most people back home ask me if there's an HBO Christmas party, and if so, will I meet the Sopranos and the Entourages and the Larry Davids then. I usually say, yes, it's all about the Christmas parties. Man, we have the best Christmas parties.
What was the first day of shooting like on the Conchords set?
The first day was the pilot. And I knew from working previously with the guys exactly the sort of dry, laconic but slightly madcap humor that we'd be using would come out on set. I was just really happy with the group of people that were there with us to share the vision. We all got along and you could tell from everyone's faces that we were excited to be working on something so original. I was nervous as this was my first TV show, but the sense of fun took over pretty quickly and soon enough we forgot the cameras were there. At night in my hotel room I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for a week as I lay on the bed and tried to take in the magnitude of what we were doing.
Continue reading "Inside With: Rhys Darby
By: Keith Huang"
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August 10, 2007
Punching In to Punch Lines: Emily Epstein
By: Sara Benincasa
Sara B. continues her quest to find out exactly what comedians are up to all day long. We've already learned that some of them are chocolatiers and others design clothing for kids. Sara spoke with stand up Emily Epstein and asked the most important question ever, "So, what do you do?"
Where do you work during the day?
I work at HarperCollins Publishers as a copyeditor.
What kind of stuff do you copyedit?
I work in children's books--everything from picture books to teen novels. I shape young minds, son! Scary, huh? I work on the Berenstain Bears books (yes, they are still writing new books), lots of books tied-in to movies (Spiderman, Bee Movie--the upcoming Seinfeld animated flick, Robots, Fantastic Four), and a whole slew of other stuff. I read and copyedit so much during the day that it's hard to turn it off.
So do you freak out when a fellow comic uses bad grammar onstage?
Freak out would be a strong term. I definitely notice though--when someone uses 'good' as opposed to 'well' or adds an 's' to something for no reason. I like my dick jokes to be eloquent. Is that so wrong?
How did you get in on the copyediting racket?
I'm still not sure, to be honest. I graduated from college with that fantastically useless liberal arts degree. I started out writing for a newspaper outside of Philly and realized there was no way I could do this job and expect to eat, too. I've always loved to read so I figured I could use my limited skills there. Ended up doing some editing and then took a class to learn all the marks and rules for copyediting. And while publishing is not known for paying particularly well, you get to do a lot of freelance work and some of it's quite weird. I've worked on science fiction erotic (one of the aliens had a forked tongue and a forked, you know), romance novels, and even a few of the street lit books that 50 Cent is now putting out. And that's where I've gotten some good material.
Describe a typical weekday in the life of Emily Epstein.
7:15 AM--alarm goes off. I hit snooze.This happens several more times.
7:50 AM--alarm goes off. I cry a little and get out of bed.
8:20 to 9ish AM--commute to work, all the while cursing the G train, sleep standing up.
9ish to1ish PM--copy edit manuscripts, covers, and all sorts of other fun stuff, email, IM, web surfage, more work
1ish to 2ish PM--lunch, nap face down on desk (the lights are motion sensitive and turn off after 15 minutes which wakes me up), try and get somewhat caught up on news (fail), work on some written pieces and on jokes
2ish to 6ish PM--more work, maybe a meeting, sneak in more joke writing, think about finding a sugar daddy and/or mommy.
6ish to 8ish PM--go to gym. work out aggression. Put machine on incline and pretend it's my comedy career.
8ish to 12ish PM--do a show, go watch a comedy show, or get together with some other comics to write jokes or work on idea for another show
12ish to 1ish--curse the G train. sweat in the subway.
1ish or ?--prepare to rinse, lather, and repeat; go to bed
What's your ultimate non-comedic dream job?
Woman of leisure. Not to be confused, of course, with a woman of the night. In this dream sequence I could afford this lifestyle because I'd also be a best-selling writer/essayist. Like a Bill Bryson or a David Rakoff or, frankly, like an Emily Epstein, because I'd be a literary household name. Well, that or a hip-hop dancer.
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July 27, 2007
Punching In to Punch Lines: Mike Burns
By: Sara Benincasa
Continuing our interview series on the day jobs of comedians, Sara B. checks in with stand up Mike Burns to see how he spends his mornings.
Mike Burns, you're a children's clothing designer. What does one need to study in college in order to obtain such a job?
I have a degree in advertising from Michigan State University. It's now a worthless piece of paper that cost $40,000. I actually tossed it in the garbage, frame and all, when I moved from Chicago to New York. If you know about color balance, clothing, and can work Adobe Illustrator, just lie and make up a degree. No one checks that shit anyway. It costs them like 50 bucks and is a huge hassle for them. Just pick up a copy of Women's Wear Daily, answer a classified ad, and do a little research.
What's your current gig like?
I work for a company that we'll call, 'Sugar Cake Darlings'. It's family owned, which is better than working for big corporate like the Gap or something. But, it also means that the 'personal feelings' of higher ups can affect your employment as opposed to them just viewing your rate of production on a piece of paper.
Tell me about some previous jobs in kids' fashion.
The first design job I got was in Chicago in 1999. A placement agency got me an interview to work for a company's production department. This was the same day that an artist had resigned so the head boys' designer decided to interview me also because he peeked at my resume and saw that I had an art portfolio. Both departments offered me jobs, but my decision came down to what the boys' designer told me, "Mike, the job in production will pay you 45k a year, but it's in a regular office setting. You see what they wear over there? slacks, dress shoes, and if you sneeze, the VP will actually yell at you. Plus you'll type numbers into excel all day. This design job will pay you 8 bucks an hour to start, then we'll see after a month. But, you see what I wear to work? Shorts, flip flops, we blare classic rock all on the stereo all day, and you'll basically draw teddy bears. You won't be rich, but you'll be happy."
I took the design job.
We had licenses for Disney, Osh Kosh, Weather Tamer and a few others. After 4 years we got bought by a New York company and they dissolved us. The head girls' designer then took me on for a few years as the art director for what are called "trend books." Basically inspirational design publications that stem from the colors that are being established by textile manufacturers and European leanings. It was pure creative freedom and a lot of fun. Europeans dress their children like little adults. Cool stuff. Most of the kids stuff here I wouldn't let my dog chew let alone wear.
Do you make enough money to support your comedy habit?
I absolutely make enough to support my comedy habit. It's the sneaker habit, the booze habit, the cigarette habit, the pot habit, and the impulse habit of buying things like, 'OH MY GOD IT'S A NEW FLAVOR OF ORBITS GUM OR DORITOS OR VITAMIN WATER OR THE WENDY'S DOUBLE CHICKEN BACON RAPIST BUGER WRAP!!!' that I haven't tried that kill me. I'm a sucker for anything "new."
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By: Sara Benincasa"
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July 20, 2007
Inside With: Mandy Stadtmiller, Reporter, Comedian
For journalist and comedian Mandy Stadtmiller, flirting with and being groped by a myriad of dudes is now just part of a week's honest pay. Her new dating column in the NY Post, About Last Night, chronicles the lovelife of a working girl on the lookout for a decent man, or rather, sex and the city, if you must. We talked to Mandy about what kind of crazy a guy has to be to subject himself to her public scrutiny, how to make multiple career paths converge, and her take on Andy Dick's latest shenanigans. Mandy chatted with The Apiary right before hopping on a plane to cover The Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav this weekend. For Mandy's sake, let's hope Flav can keep his teeth where they belong--attached to his gold teeth.
Are people afraid to date you because they know they'll wind up becoming material for the stage AND print? Every little idiosyncrasy is fair game, you know? Or do you find that guys enjoy the potential notoriety?
Ha. Yeah, definitely about some people being afraid and some people (especially comics, actors) being interested in publicity. But it's also been a cool way to ensure I date people who have a really good sense of confidence. Re: some people wanting to be written about--that's disconcerting in its own way. Like today, I got an email from a guy who I went out with who's a tv/film dude. The email he sent was kind of a "pitch" letter, saying like, "I've been thinking about it and I think this would be a great hook for you to write about our date." That was pretty awesomely hysterical, actually.
So further to that, do people interpret you being a writer of a dating column as an open invite to solicit you for a night out? I imagine you're getting a lot of MySpace friend requests these days...
Yeah, the weirdest by far was when I was linked on Gawker when the first column came out and I go downstairs to get a spinach salad with raisins. I return to my desk and I get an email that says, "spinach salad with raisins"? It's from some dude who had been reading about me on Gawker and then recognized me downstairs and was like "our eyes locked briefly." I met with him for a tea downstairs because his email was funny but in person it was not so much. He was a sweet kid. I call everyone kid. He was like 30something.
What, if anything, have you learned from Carrie Bradshaw about writing? Also, have the comments on Gawker had any impact on the way you approach it?
Yeah the comments on Gawker have taught me to try to look less like I'm Renee Zellweger with Down's Syndrome. That's been super helpful. See, I always thought I looked like Jenna Elfman with epilepsy. Naw, those comments don't really influence me. That's one thing I am pretty arrogant about. I can be uneven when it comes to comedy, that's something I'm still really on the trajectory up with in terms of hitting my stride -- but I know I'm a fantastic writer. So when people give me a hard time about my ability to write, I know that's just their thing. That's the function of Gawker and Gawker commenters. To give a hard time. And that's a good function. As for Carrie Bradshaw, I enjoyed Sex & The City. I mean, a lot of comics wrote the show. It had wit. I never wear heels though. I'm a bit tall.
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July 13, 2007
Punching In to Punch Lines: John F. O'Donnell
By: Sara Benincasa
The Apiary presents a new interview series on the day jobs of comedic artists, brought to you by Sara Benincasa. Up first, is stand up John F. O'Donnell.
John F. O'Donnell, you have been on the stages of the clubs and on the TV, but does comedy pay all your bills?
Oh heavens NO! I have two real jobs just to keep afloat while I pursue the art of comedy.
So, what do you do to make ends meet?
I work in sales for a test prep company in midtown, Manhattan. We sell prep courses for like the LSAT, MCAT, SAT etc... It can be incredibly boring and soul-sucking, but I do get to kind of mess with people on the phone, which is fun. I tell them that basically if they don't take a course from us, they're not going to get the score they need on the test, which means that they're not going to get into the school they want to, which means that they won't get the job they want, which means that they will never find happiness in their life, which means that they will die alone in the forest. I don't like to call myself a "salesman." I like to call myself a "facilitator or people's hopes and dreams."
But by far my more interesting job is that of CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN OPERATOR. Yes, it's true. I work for a company that rents out chocolate fountains to bar-mitzvahs, weddings, sweet sixteens, private parties, etc... I show up in my chef's coat. I set up the fountain, I melt the chocolate and I make sure the fat bastards don't put their hands in it. I'm a chocolate fountain man. It's good, because it's fast cash and kind of fun. Everybody generally loves me at these events, because I'm the dude with 15lbs of chocolate. I got the job off of Craig's List. The subject line said, "Do you like chocolate and tight spaces?" ...And I was like, "Do I ever!" Then it said to email my resume, which is hilarious. It also said finish this sentence... "I'd be perfect for this job, because..."
And wrote, "I'd be perfect for this job, because I live to make people smile and laugh." Cheesy I know, but I got the job.
What's the best non-comedy job you've ever had? Why?
I had this great job when I was in college in Ann Arbor. I was a video store clerk. It was rad, because the place was independently owned. I used to get free food in exchange for free rentals from this really good restaurant next store. Plus, I got to be the cool, uber-pretentious, college town video guy. I had really long hair at the time, and I hated the government even more than I do now. I was an angry person in those days, and it was really nifty to get to judge another human being's entire self-worth based solely on their movie selection.
Creatively speaking, have you gleaned any material from your day jobs?
Here and there, yes. But most of my stuff is more abstract or borne out of my frustration with the state of the world and the human condition.
And where might we find you working these days?
I'm in NYC for comedy. Everything else is bullshit. I have a FREE Wednesday 8pm show called THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN that I co-host with Timmy Williams from the WKUK. It's at a bar called THE CREEK AND THE CAVE. It's probably the coolest place and show that most people haven't been to yet, because it's so new. Everybody gets a free beer after the headliner goes up. The next show is July 25th.
Do you have any spiritual/practical advice for young seekers on the comedic path?
The best thing is to figure it out by doing it. Books, classes and shit like that have the potential to make you a hack. A hacky comedian to me is like Al Qaeda. Also, there is no God. And that's okay. Life is still beautiful.
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June 14, 2007
Inside With: Leo Allen
By: Eliot Glazer
Leo Allen, a somewhat private writer and comedian, has been a fixture in the New York comedy scene for years, both as a solo performer and with his partner, Eric Slovin. After appearing in Comedy Central specials and having spent several years as a writer at Saturday Night Live (where he and Eric so kindly took me under their wing, so to speak, when I was the ultimate comedy nerd intern), Leo has returned to his roots onstage, performing stand-up both locally and on national tours with Eugene Mirman, Michael Showalter, and Demetri Martin. I recently met up him at Rififi, where he had just performed in At Night With Gabe & Jenny.
Leo, how did you get into comedy?
After school [at Temple University], I lived in Israel for about nine months before moving to New York (well, Hoboken) with some friends. They were going to acting school and I just had shitty jobs. And after about a year, I started to go to open mics. And I just kept going over and over again. I did anywhere between 3 and 15 gigs a week.
Tell me how you met Eric [Slovin of "Slovin and Allen"] and how you hooked up as writing partners.
We met at an open mic. When you start doing stand-up, you realize there's a core group of people who you see all the time, and then we just did a lot of improv. [In stand-up], you're waiting around so much and we had all these ideas. So we did things here and there, and then finally decided to do a full-length show. We would do these hour-long shows, and we made a pilot for FX [called The Slovin and Allen Television Program]. We had a bunch of writing jobs, and a little stuff here and there. We did Edinburgh and then we had a Comedy Central special in 2001.
How did you become writers at SNL?
We were in a midnight showcase at the old UCBT. A lot of people did it, and I think it was [a search] for new cast members. Everybody got to do about 10 or 15 minutes, so we did 3 quick bits. And we found out six months later.
So you did three seasons at SNL (from '01 to '05). What was the experience like?
Well, there are deadlines and you have to produce stuff and crank stuff out at a certain time at a certain level, which was very much a valuable education. We were really disciplined. Why would you write a sketch if you didn't have to hand it in or perform it? But, eventually, you know, we missed performing live.
Was it a challenge to go from writing for yourselves--which I would dare to call "vaudevillian"--to writing for others in a different format?
I think that, after a while, we wanted to do bits that were more presentational and fun rather than sketches. We evolved everything into a sort of heightened version of ourselves through wacky characters. Working at SNL is different for different people, but it was still fun and we learned a lot.
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By: Eliot Glazer"
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June 8, 2007
Inside With: Brian Regan, Stand Up
By: Becky Ciletti
This weekend Brian Regan kicks off his latest tour, and on Sunday his hour-long special, "Brian Regan: Standing Up" premieres on Comedy Central. It's all part of a multi-faceted deal with the network that puts Regan more in the spotlight than ever since starting comedy in the 80s. The Apiary chatted over the phone with him from his home in Las Vegas.
Tell us about your new deal with Comedy Central.
Well, my manager told me about a year ago that they were interested in getting behind me and doing this full-on deal, which obviously is quite thrilling. They're giving me two one-hour specials, one this year and one next year, which is nice. They're also backing the live stand-up tour, and one of my favorite parts of the deal is I'm going to be able to go in and pitch an idea for a show, and hopefully they'll go "Hey, at least give it a shot." It would be nice to make a pilot and see what happens.
So you'll be creating a TV show?
I've created one in my tiny little brain; I just need somebody else to go, "Yeah, that's the kind of show we'd be willing to try." I know in my brain I'd like to try it.
You started comedy in the early 80s...
Yeah, down in Fort Lauderdale at the Comic Strip, which is affiliated with the one in New York City, but it isn't there anymore. That's where I started. Doing a little bit of everything. Being a stand-up comedian is all I was interested in, and to put money in my pocket I also cooked in the kitchen and sat people and took reservations. I started performing there right off the bat. They considered me a local comedian and what they did down there, which I've never seen anywhere else, at the end of the show they would put all the local comics on. The MC was supposed to make a very clear delineation. He would say, "Well that's it for our show. We hope you had a good time. Thank you for coming. Listen, we have some local comedians who are just getting started if some of you want to hang around and give them an audience you're welcome to do so, but if you need to go we understand." That was the vibe under which we would go onstage, and I would say 80 percent of the audience got up and left.
Sounds challenging...
Yeah, it was very hard. Not only were you going on in a bad time slot, you were following three of the best comedians in the country and performing in front of the crowd that they had. It was a real uphill battle, but it forced you to either quit or you sucked it up and tried to get as good as you could. One time I went onstage and there were literally only four people at a table in the audience. I got on stage and was doing my thing, and they got up in the middle of my set. And I'm like, "Am I supposed to pretend like this show just keeps going as they walk out the door?" I didn't know what to do. So I kind of said, "Folks, I've been waiting all day to do this. This is all I care about. I only have five minutes, and I'm already done with three of those minutes. If you would be kind enough to just wait until I'm finished, I would really appreciate it. I've got two minutes left." So they said, "Sure, no problem." And they sat back down, and at the end I thanked them. That's not an ideal show.
You're considered a clean comic and were featured in a recent Wall Street Journal piece about the trend toward clean acts.
I never really promo that myself. My manager was thrilled when that article came out. I was a little uncomfortable. I didn't want to come off like I feel that what I do is any loftier than anybody else. I don't feel that way. In fact, I always say that there are many comedians out there who work blue or dirty or raunchy who I think are brilliant. And that part of the quote didn't get included in the article. I think every topic is fair game in terms of somebody touching on it. I just happen to like to work clean. That's how I think comedic-ly. I think about everyday things. And I just choose not to throw the 4-letter words in there, but I still like to think it's interesting comedy. I don't sit down to write clean jokes, I just write jokes and then when I'm done they happen to be clean.
Continue reading "Inside With: Brian Regan, Stand Up
By: Becky Ciletti"
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June 7, 2007
Inside With: Dusty Warren
By: Keith Huang
When Dusty Warren of All-American Push-Up Party takes the SketchFest stage tonight, expect goofy. The Seattle native will be in town for one night only as he will fly out Friday morning to kick off a nationwide tour with his brother's rock band, Big Business.
"It'll be a month of going around the country, primarily to cities I wouldn't have any other reason to go to," he says. "My brother basically told me to pack socks and underwear and I figure we'll just buy socks at truckstops -- the little ankle socks with the balls on the back so they don't slip into your shoes."
A former member of SketchFest 2005 darlings, Flaming Box of Stuff, Warren spoke with The Apiary briefly about his new material, his old crew and plans for the future.
You're leaving early. Maybe somebody can give you a shoutout at the Closing Night Craptacular.
Yeah, and you could lie because I won't know if I don't get one. Just tell me it happened and I'll sleep better.
What's your new material like?
It's pretty much me talking by myself. And getting into crazy situations.
I remember last year's show was great because it was so simple. Like the juggler sketch, which we posted the video for.
Without my permission, Keith.
I think the statute of limitations has passed on that, Dusty.
But not the statute of my anger, Keith. There is no limit to that.
What's up with the old Flaming Box of Stuff crew?
Val (Bush) is pretty much running the Seattle SketchFest. Troy (Fischnaller) is doing very well as a legitimate actor in Seattle. And Cory (Nealy) is the grandpa of the group. He's engaged and has a yard and crap like that. I've done some other stuff with Cory. There's a series of readings of screenplays that are fully staged and costumed. And we completely butcher the text.
What are the odds for a Flaming Box of Stuff reunion?
It's been kicked around. We left on good terms. We actually met to talk about whether to fly to New York for last year's SketchFest. But a lot of scheduling conflicts came up and interest was waning, and we realized that we're all getting older, and we're not on TV yet, and we're not getting more attractive. We were by far the baldest sketch comedy group on the circuit, and therefore, the least likely to get a show. But we talked about it--I don't think we'd do a new show, and I don't think we'd travel. If we did do something it'd have to be in Seattle for our tens and tens of fans. We probably will do something eventually--I just don't know what. The night we did call it quits, we all went back to Cory's house and watched "Dancing With the Stars."
How do you feel about your solo material?
I would not be completely surprised if this were my last festival. Just 'cause I never really had the intention of doing solo shows. The first time the thought of a doing solo material crossed my mind was when I was asked to put a showcase together for an audition for the HBO festival. Without a deadline, I don't accomplish stuff very often. I jokingly talked to Cory about leaving a comedy wig on the stage at the end of my show, you know right before I walk off. Kinda like how wrestlers do that for their last match -- when they leave their shoes on the mat. But that'd be a really, really horribly stupid thing: "And with that, I leave you my comedy wig ... and my legacy." But I won't because a) it's retarded and b) no one else will know what I'm parodying.
That's not definite, though, right? I mean, you're not giving up sketch comedy.
No, no. It's not for sure. I'm just saying this is how I feel before I leave on a cross-country tour with a rock band for a month.
What's your plan of attack for this year's SketchFest?
I'm not really worried about industry stuff at all. If someone sees my show and has some clout somewhere and approaches me, that's great. But it won't be like last year when I had was this "Let's see how this show that I would like to get into the Aspen Comedy Festival" goes. This year, I'm just kinda like, "Fuck it. I'm going because I like hanging out with my friends in New York."
Any advice for first-time SketchFest performers?
I would assume they're all in the festival because they're doing good stuff. I'd also assume they've got chops and know what they're doing. Maybe be prepared to hustle as far as the changeover between shows goes--both setting and striking your show. It's the greatest audience you're going to have because a big chunk of it is your peers. And get drunk by 6 p.m. If you can get wasted by 6 p.m. on the day of your show, you're probably going to have the best show you've ever had.
Dusty performs TONIGHT @ 9 as All American Push-Up Party at SketchFest NYC. Tickets available here.
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June 4, 2007
We Will Find You, Next Elayne Boosler
Eliot Glazer continues his search for the next Elayne Boosler--a follysome quest through the New York comedy world that is proving to be not unlike Aguirre's search for the lost city of gold. (In this case, it's gold sequins.) Will Eliot ever locate The One? We reckon some day he'll find the next Boos, but you have to wonder, is it possible that the road to discovery is cruelly shaped like a figure 8? Only the future knows. In the meantime, his journey takes him to the doorstep of Gabe Liedman and Jenny Slate, the hosts of the bi-weekly Monday evening show at Rififi, At Night With Gabe & Jenny.
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May 31, 2007
In Conversation with Don Rickles @ The 92nd St. Y - 5.17.7
By: Billy Nord
Don Rickles was in town recently promoting his new autobiography, Rickles Book hitting most of New York City's network talk shows. Solidifying his reputation for being quite the hard worker, Mr. Rickles found time during his hectic promo tour for an intimate appearance at The 92nd Street Y, as part of their always entertaining "In Conversation With" series. An absolutely appropriate pairing, Don shared the stage with New York's own class act, Regis Philbin, who acted as moderator.
NOTES
--Rickles began his life as a shy child. Fortunately, his mother had a very upfront, aggressive personality which helped mold his character (although, she never got his sense of humor, once asking him "Why can't you be like Alan King?")
--He'd originally planned on becoming a dramatic actor before he fell in to stand-up. He'd even went as far as attending The Academy of Dramatic Arts (on one of his classmates, Grace Kelly: "I Never got near her but I would smell her cologne in the locker!")
--You think you have it bad? For years Rickles had to endure the late shift in Las Vegas, opening up for lounge acts at 2am, 4am and 5am. The prime crowd those shows would draw was basically creeps who enjoy lingering, the perfect audience for polishing a stand-up shtick.
--To this day he hasn't performed what most comedians would consider a "written" act.
--He was discovered after performers (i.e. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin) would catch his act by pure chance. They'd then show up more often, bringing their industry friends. Rickles became a "performers comedian."
--The title "Mr. Warmth" came from Johnny Carson.
--TRIVIA QUESTION: Which of the current, late night talk show hosts does Rickles feel is the most comparable to Carson? TRIVIA ANSWER: Without a doubt, it's David Letterman--"He just has that little niche."
--When asked for his views on the state of stand-up comedy, he simply stated "Funny is funny"
--Around 20 years ago, he and his wife were considering a move to Manhattan. They checked out various potential apartment buildings, one being The Trump Towers. Donald Trump himself showed the couple around and offered them a deal. According to Rickles, Trump said, "For you? Two Billion Seven!"
--Rickles revealed he always avoids incorporating politics into his comedy, but when asked how he felt about the current administration, he admitted, "No matter who the president is, the office should be respected."
--After the event, we had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Rickles, the recent upload of outtakes from the Rickles/Richard Lewis sitcom Daddy Dearest was brought up. After asking if he'd ever be interested in doing a sitcom again, he said, "Absolutely." To anyone out there with network power, MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
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May 29, 2007
In Which We Finally Learn How to Kick People
Wednesday night, the curtain comes down after nearly three and a half years on How To Kick People, the monthly reading series produced by Bob Powers and Todd Levin. Why does it have to be so hard to make the good things last? We asked Todd the most burning questions on the matter. And then he answered them.
Why are you ending How To Kick People? How long have you had the idea to finish the series?
We love hosting, reading, and listening to some of our friends and favorite comedy writers perform at How to Kick People, but I think neither of us was ever really crazy about producing and promoting the show.
Bob and I originally conceived this show as a platform for our own writing, and a way to make us more disciplined comedy writers. It's been really personally satisfying in that way but, ironically, now that we've both become more busy than ever with our own writing projects, we've just had less free time to produce our own reading series.
The last thing either of would want to do is put something half-assed together where we would expect the audience to believe part of the show's "charm" is how shitty it is, and how woefully ill-prepared we are as hosts/performers. There are already plenty of those kinds of shows in NYC. (did you hear that, "The View"?) So, instead of risking becoming something we're not proud of, we thought it made more sense to just stop doing the show for now and go out strong, with fireballs, lasers, dry ice, and a live beheading and resurrection onstage--the kind of show we can be proud of.
We've already discussed producing the show again in the future, on special occasions, when we have the luxury of time and a kick-ass lineup of guests whose wit will literally melt your face off. Kind of like this month's show.
In the world of corporations and dayjobs, it is generally accepted that one shouldn't quit a steady job without having an equal or better steady job lined up. Do you find this applies to comedy shows? Are you going to be working on new projects together?
Not sure if it's necessary to host your own show these days in order to get stage time in New York. In fact, I think there are close to 16 other shows happening at the same, same day of the week--and that's just in Mo Pitkin's.
And if by "new projects," you're talking about the Malaysian baby Bob and I are in the process of adopting, then yes. There's your scoop, Apiary!
Will there be an after-party? What should we bring?
After the show, we will be getting drunk off our collective ass (Bob and I share everything) at a bar called 2A. (I believe it's on the corner of 2 and A, but don't quote me on that!) That's been our after-show ritual for a while now, and it's been our before-lunch ritual, and during-work ritual for even longer. You're welcome to stop by, unless you've already received our email specifically telling you not to.
The series finale of How To Kick People is Wednesday, May 30th at Mo Pitkins. The theme is "Parting Advice." Featured guests include Amelie Gillette, Christian Finnegan, Brian Stack, Steve Burns, and OTHERS! The show begins at 7:30. Photo by: Lisa Whiteman
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May 8, 2007
Inside With: Steven Wright
By: Becky Ciletti
Fans have long awaited Steven Wright's new DVD When the Leaves Blow Away, a taping of his first comedy special in 15 years. The DVD, which recently came out, also includes his 1999 short film One Soldier, which he wrote and directed, and a 1988 clip from a Boston comedy club show early in his career. The Apiary chatted over the phone with Steven, speaking from his home outside Boston, Massachusetts.
You've been credited with starting a style of comedy. Do you think that someone's comedic style is just what comes naturally to a comic?
I know that what I do is what comes naturally to me. In my early sets I would have a straight face because I was scared of being onstage and I was trying to remember my act so I was just concentrating seriously on saying the material the right way. And when you do something serious, that's just how you look. I was lucky that it ended up blending good with the type of material and then it became a style. I don't walk out and have to remind myself "Oh, don't laugh." I just try and do my act.
Did you ever try to be high energy?
No. There wasn't that much thinking. It's been analyzed over the years with so many interviewers and everything. But in the first couple of years, none of this was even in my head. We just tried to write something funny and go out and say it. That's how I think and this is how I talk and I had a straight face because I was nervous. There was no breaking it down. There wasn't a plan, it just happened, and I think that's how people should go out and do it. Your basic presence or character should be real. It sounds silly, but it's just natural to be natural. I think there's enough thinking involved in the material and saying it the right way and all that, never mind thinking about "What is my character looking like or sounding like?"
In your short film on the DVD, One Soldier, there's a line: "He may have looked very relaxed, but he was really a nervous wreck." Does that apply to you?
Yes. I'm not a nervous wreck all the time. That's not what I mean. How my face appears can be totally and completely off to how I'm feeling inside. That's just how I am. Like I was on vacation last year on Block Island. I was riding a bicycle and something happened to the chain so I stopped the bike, and I was trying to fix the chain. And a guy, an agent I know, was walking by with his wife and kids. And I looked at him. I never even knew he went to the island, I didn't know he even knew of the island. I hadn't seen him in probably over a year. And I said "Hey Joe, how's it going?" It was as if I had seen him the day before. And they laughed their asses off over that so much, which I think is funny too, but what happened in my head, inside my head in half a second, I thought "My god what is Joe doing here? I can't believe it, this is so weird." But then I just said, "Hey Joe," because it all happened inside me. So the line is true sometimes. No way am I always a nervous wreck, but I could be and you wouldn't know.
What makes you laugh really hard?
Many things. People I know. My niece. Comedy-wise: Monty Python. I have a very high ratio of laughing out loud when I watch them on PBS. I laugh at lots of things. People ask me that question because they don't see me laughing onstage, but I laugh like a normal person.
Continue reading "Inside With: Steven Wright
By: Becky Ciletti"
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May 7, 2007
Inside With: Reggie Watts
By: Eliot Glazer
It's difficult to pin down Reggie Watts, literally and figuratively. The extremely busy 35-year-old performer manages to squeeze acting, impersonation, social satire, improv, dance, rap, singing, and storytelling into his ferocious live act. Constantly on the bill somewhere in the city (like UCBT, Comix, and Rififi) and currently touring nationally, Watts, the former frontman of jazz groups Maktub and Soulive, is a consummate performer whose original approach to comedy has garnered a cult. We spoke to Reggie after his performance at "It Is It" at Pianos.
Where did you grow up before moving to Seattle?
I was born in Germany. We traveled around Europe because my dad was in the air force. When I was four, we moved to Montana. I grew up there until age eighteen. Then I moved to Seattle for a longass time. And I came to New York last year.
When you went to Seattle, was that with the intention of becoming a musician?
I guess so. I mean, I'd been a musician. I've been studying music since I was a little kid. I was in the school orchestra playing violin. Then I was in a rock band in high school and I decided to move to Seattle because there was a great music scene going on and I'd just heard about Soundgarden... so I moved there for that.
You describe the current format with which you've found recent success as "disinformation." Can you explain what that is?
Sure. I started calling myself a "disinformationist" because I was kind of inspired by situationism, which was studied by a French guy called Guy Debord in the fifties or sixties, if I'm not mistaken. It was this artistic movement that turned quasi-political, but their whole thing was, in a nutshell, that they were practical jokers. Their whole mission was to provoke to the edge of violence, but just before violence occurred. So I kind of became obsessed with that, and I was a joker all my life. When I go up on stage, it's really [that] I'm just telling a lot of tricks - some of it is true, some of it isn't true. I like, in the end, for the audience to be confused. So when I think of it that way, I think of it as "disinformationist" because it's not just lies - it's lies mixed with truths and all the shades in between. I like that aspect of it.
Your sets, though, usually follow a pattern of dialogue or narration followed by song, and they're always interwoven beautifully. How much is improvised?
Some stories are loosely structured. Sometimes I'll make a joke about racism, sometimes I'll make a joke about my grandfather... But even with those, I'm improvising. So, yes, most of it is improvised. Usually if it's a ten-minute set, I'll do the whole thing improvised. If it's a longer set, I'll try to bring up subjects, like stories that I've kind of told before. And I'll play with them, as well. So, yeah, it's mostly improvised.
Reggie Watts: Out Of Control from Jakob Lodwick
Continue reading "Inside With: Reggie Watts
By: Eliot Glazer"
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May 3, 2007
Inside With: Joe Garden, Candidate for Host of Late Night
By: Ben Kharakh
Joe Garden, The Onion's Features Editor, is mad and he's just not going to take it anymore! What's he mad about? The state of late night TV. He's tired of people not taking chances and taking the route of hiring a name just because it's a name and having them go down the familiar road of late night failure. It's time for an unknown to step to the challenge and try something new. It's time to take a chance. It's time for Late Night with Joe Garden!
What inspired you to announce your candidacy for host of Late Night?
There's been a legacy of late night failures and I figured that it would be a good idea to throw my name into the hat in the most public way possible because you never know what you might achieve unless you try it.
What do you mean by failures?
The Alan Thicke Show, Chevy Chase, and so on. Too Late with Adam Carolla. Magic Johnson. The bar has been set pretty low. If someone's going to go on and fail miserably, I'd want it to be somebody who'd be willing to try something new.
What can you offer the audience of Late Night?
I think I'm a generally likable person. Not a lot in the looks department. I have a charming, goofy look but nothing that would make people stand up and say, "That's a guy that I can set my watch to." Overall, I offer a willingness to try anything to be liked.
How have you been preparing?
Little things here and there. I've been doing some comedy shows. The big thing was the announcement in the first place. As Onion features editor, I've been honing my comedy writing skills and I've taken improv classes. I look at it this way: when Conan started out, his best credit was that he was a writer on The Simpsons. He also worked on Saturday Night Live and a number of other things, but that was his biggest credit and, next thing you know, he has his own show. I think that I can go along the same trajectory. So, I also offer that television inexperience that people got when they first started watching Conan.
What sort of sacrifices are you willing to make in order to be liked?
I'm willing to sacrifice my morals, but I'm going to be choosey about guests. There will not be a Tara Reid or a Paris Hilton on Late Night with Joe Garden. I'm also willing to sacrifice my dignity and anonymity, and those are pretty big sacrifices in my book.
Where does your desire to be liked stem from?
Everyone wants to be liked; I just want to be liked on a larger scale.
What is the largest scale that you've ever been liked on?
As The Onion's features editor, I've had the chance to go to schools across the country. Well, various parts of the country. Mostly schools east of the Mississippi. That's not true. I did go to Nebraska, which is about as far west of the Mississippi as I've gone in that capacity.
Continue reading "Inside With: Joe Garden, Candidate for Host of Late Night
By: Ben Kharakh"
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April 16, 2007
Inside With: Chris Hardwick & Mike Phirman, Hard 'N Phirm
By: Billy Nord
Chris Hardwick and Mike Phirman, two of LA's revered stand up comedians, form the duo Hard 'N Phirm - a multi media, music-comedy hybrid that has showered the alternative scene since 2003. After meeting at UCLA in the mid-90s, the two would often collaborate on the campus' stage, delivering some early incarnations of what Hard 'N Phirm is today. This month, the duo embark on a West Coast tour with Reggie Watts, stopping at Coachella with The Comedians of Comedy. Before hitting the UCB Theatre for tonight's 8PM show, Chris and Mike sat down to answer some pertinent questions.
Hard 'N Phirm seems to mesh together perfectly, whether it be while you're harmonizing vocally or setting one another up for a joke. What was the precise moment you knew you two had clicked?
Chris Hardwick: UCLA comedy club, 1993, doing dueling Homer Simpson impressions (it was okay to do that in '93)
Mike Phirman: Well, getting into my car after our first show in the dorms at UCLA, I had unlocked his door first, and as I was walking around to my door, I could see him reach over and unlock mine. That's when I knew we were going to write a lot of dick jokes.
Had either one of you been a part of a comedy duo prior to joining forces?
CH: No. I was barely a comedy single back then.
MP: In high school, a friend and I did a daily morning radio-type thing. I guess I've always preferred performing with a partner.
The hilariously absurd video for your song "Pi" recently celebrated its combined one-millionth download.
CH: Excelsior!!! I thank, in part, the fact that it's a holiday song of sorts. We always get a spike in downloads on 3/14.
At the time of this interview, the clip has generated 855 comments on Youtube, delivering some interesting perspectives from all sides of the spectrum.
CH: I know! According to the feedback we're either brilliant, gay, or make people want to give you fReE rINgToNez.
MP: I salute each and every "wtf." I do not, however, salute anyone who claims that the video has wasted their time, yet has the time to leave a comment that says that the video has wasted their time.
Speaking of "Pi", you're re-teaming with the video's director, Keith Schofield, on a series of shorts for Superdeluxe.com.
CH: Yes, William! Especially considering that "Pi" spoofed "Zoom," a PBS-type show and our shorts are PBS-y in nature. That Keith Schofield is one talented fellow.
The series' premise sounds pretty unique, how did it come about?
CH: It accidentally came out in a phone conversation with The Dans (Dan Pasternack and Daniel Weidenfeld) who are overseeing Super Deluxe. We were pitching a musical version of the Science Channel's "How It's Made," and somehow it just evolved into being about Country Music Television having a PBS and writing country songs about science and culture. We already had one song in the hopper called "Trace Elements," which is an ass-kicking scientist song based on the style of country music's Trace Adkins. That came about because Brian Posehn told us that that guy was such an apologetic hick that it was impossible to satirize him, so we made his music academic.
Mike, you've done a bit of visual effects work in the past (CSI: Miami). Can we expect to see you manning the controls for any of Hard 'N Phirm's upcoming projects?
MP: I don't know about manning the controls, but I hope to get a few shots in somewhere.
Chris, a few years ago you hosted the great dating show Shipmates which we would often watch. On occasion, I could've sworn you would purposely mispronounce the show's title on air, welcoming the viewer back to Shit-mates. Were my ears deceiving me?
CH: Whether or not I said that it was hard not to hear that, based on what that show revealed about the nature of humanity. It may be one of those lingering mysteries like Manfred Mann's "Blinded by the light, wrapped up like a douche..." or The Clash and "Fuck the Casbah." Except most people have heard of those two examples.
For quite some time, the combined nature of stand up and music was directly associated with the mainstream, catching flack from the alt-comedy universe. Though, lately it seems music is finding it's way into the alt scene, whether it's well-respected comedians incorporating it into their act (Sarah Silverman, Zach Galifianakis) or straight, music-based comedy (Flight of the Concords, Reggie Watts) What do you think changed, allowing this form to be embraced by the same crowd that's shunned it previously?
CH: I think maybe what they were shunning, if anything, was just a specific kind of comedy music--the "Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy" Factor, as Mike calls it. Parodies that lacked self-awareness, that kind of thing. I don't know if all iterations of it were being shunned. Six years ago Zach told me he thought comedy would evolve into much more of a theatrical kind of presentation, mainly, I think, to grow away from classic one-man joke-telling. It seems true, certainly in our circles. I know that now when we're backstage at UCB-LA, and we have our instruments, and people are running around putting on costumes and spray-on hair color and getting props and setting up films to show and going over stand-up notes, I feel like we're in a kind of New Vaudeville (but not as retarded), mashing up all types of comedy. I mean, if that universe to which you refer encourages anything, it's experimentation so I think it's all kind of a logical progression.
MP: I think the scene is just expanding as well as evolving. Now that there are more venues and more performers, you're going to get more talents and people trying new things. But I don't think that audiences were less open to alt-comedy music before--I think there just wasn't much available to them outside of Tenacious D (and Spinal Tap and Tom Lehrer and a few songs from Kids in the Hall and Monty Python). A hacky, wacky "guitar comic" that sings top-40 parodies on the road will probably still find himself as shunned as ever.
You've recently landed a development deal with Film Roman, the animation studio behind great programs like The Simpsons and The Critic. Can you talk a little about what kind of project you have planned?
CH: The most we can tell you is that it will involve white people.
Can you tell the readers what they can expect with tonight's performance at The UCB Theatre?
CH: Well, we've done probably around 100 shows since we were here last August, so we're a lot tighter on stage than we used to be. We have a tendency sometimes to meander and be very loose on stage because we get a little too comfortable but being on the road has cut that down a lot. Most audiences don't want to hear you say to your bandmate, "So... what song do you want to play?" "I dunno. What about you?" "Oh, whatever. Shit, no wait..." That's not as bad in music venues but it can be a quick death in comedy venues. I'd day about half the set is new and half the set is "refined classics." (I just didn't want to say 'old') And I play guitar now. Sort of.
Hard 'N Phirm perform TONIGHT at the UCBT. Check out their MySpace page for their full schedule. Above photos by Anya Garrett.
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April 13, 2007
Inside With: Paul Mecurio, Comedian, Audience Warmer at The Daily Show
By: Ben Kharakh
Veteran stand up Paul Mecurio once left behind a comfortable life of sensational Wall Street bonuses to pursue the call of comedy. Paul got his early start crafting jokes for Leno and soon found himself on the fledgling writing staff of The Daily Show. After chalking up an Emmy and a Peabody there, he decided to dive full time into stand up. Today, he's headlining clubs around the country, tours with the Bob & Tom Show, and has his own series pending approval from the networks. In addition to having all these pots on the stove, Paul continues every evening to punch in on the set of The Daily Show--no longer as a writer, but as the guy who warms up the audience. Let's see how Paul likes it when we needle him with our crowdwork. Put your hands together for Paul Mecurio.
Paul, we have heard anecdotally that you have something of a legendary status around The Daily Show set. Could you please confirm or deny the allegations? How long have you been with The Daily Show and how has your involvement with the show evolved over time?
I don't know if it's legendary. I have been on the show since it started in 1996. I was a writer on the show and I did on-air correspondent pieces as well as in-studio desk pieces. I've also been doing the warm-up on the show since we started having an audience in 1996.
How does an audience for The Daily Show compare to that of a comedy club?
They are exactly the same. I live in New York City and work at a bunch of NYC clubs on a regular basis--including The Comedy Cellar, Carolines, The Comic Strip, Gotham, The Laugh Factory, and Stand-Up NY--and the audiences in these clubs are generally pretty bright and get the joke, just like The Daily Show crowd. Same holds true for audiences across the country. I'd say the biggest difference is that in a comedy club the audiences are there to laugh and have their complete focus on the stage. A television audience can get a bit distracted by the studio, the set, etc. and literally forget to laugh out loud so they need to be reminded at the beginning to make sure they make themselves a real part of the show.
Can you use the same tricks to read them?
Absolutely. An audience is an audience and the first thing any comic has to do is read them. I tend to talk with the crowd in the beginning. You read their body language, the way they're dressed, the looks on their faces, etc. as a way to get what they are about.
There aren't "tricks," so to speak, in reading an audience. Rather, if I talk with the audience in an honest and real way so they don't feel compromised, they end up revealing everything about themselves and an immediate connection with them is made, and then it's easier to get them laughing once that real connection happens.
Are there ever any hecklers in a TV studio audience?
Occasionally. They aren't really hecklers like in a comedy club. Rather an audience can be in a bad mood if they've waited for a couple hours in line in lousy weather. They tend to be tougher to crack but eventually they come around.
You were once an investment banker. Although the wages of a comedian probably can't compare to that of your former clients, what sort of financial and investment tips do you have for comics?
Try to buy a house or an apartment, even if you share the cost with another comic. It gives you great tax write-offs and you build equity. If that's too much, put your money in T-Bills--they are a very safe investment.
Oh, yeah, and on the road, take as many free blueberry muffins from the hotel breakfast bar as you can. They can be a meal later in the day or at the very least, be used as a comfy pillow on the plane home.
On the Bob and Tom Show, you provide a service known as The Image Makeover. With all the heat Carlos Mencia has been getting for his alleged material stealing, how can he improve his image?
Be as original as possible and as true to what you want to say as you possibly can.
The Bob and Tom Show is a National Tour. Do you find that your material is equally well received across the country? Ever been booed off stage for saying something controversial?
Yes, it is equally well received. I don't really change my act from town to town. Wherever I go, people seem to enjoy seeing me smash vegetables while wearing suspenders and a festive hat.
And no, I have never been booed off stage, but once I had someone not agree with a particular political position I had taken on something and they shut down on me--stopped laughing for the rest of the show. We had a discussion afterwards about it, but it did not escalate into anything ugly. Early on I worked dive bars and open mic nights and would have drunk hecklers, and you'd just have to work through it. Like the time I had to follow a guy who got his neck slashed. I went on stage and said, "It's nice to be here, I always wanted to follow a slashing." He heard me say slashing, charged the stage swearing at me and threw a wad of bloody napkins at me that stuck to my white shirt. So that was fun.
How's your show Sports Central coming along? Do you find playing the waiting game with networks to be frustrating?
We are shopping it to networks and are about to begin shooting sports comedy pieces for the internet site, This Just In, a joint venture of HBO and AOL. It's definitely frustrating waiting, but who can complain? Having a chance to have my own show is a big compliment. The networks do everything by committee so that's why it takes so long. Plus, the networks are owned by larger companies who have oversight of the networks so it's layers of bureaucracy you are dealing with. People in the decision roles move very cautiously--making sure EVERYONE signs off on a project so they can cover themselves in case the show doesn't catch on. It is an art, but the business side can take its toll.
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April 6, 2007
Simply Absurd: The Comedy of Late Night with Conan O'Brien @ The Museum of Television and Radio - 4.5.7
FROM L-R: Brian Stack, Brian McCann, Michael Gordon, Mike Sweeney, Conan O'Brien
The Museum of Television and Radio hosted Simply Absurd: The Comedy of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, an evening with Conan and his senior writing staff waxing on the show's history and its creative process.
--Any aspiring Late Night writers should check out what was said at the panel. Video from the evening should be online soon or at the museum. You could get a really good sense of how to better craft the packet you've been punching up. For example, they felt the best material isn't tied to any event or anything current and that comedy should surprise them. Keep it silly.
--The writers also function as producer/directors. They said they use an SNL writing method, in which whoever creates the segment does all the casting, wardrobe, and directing. The logic to that is that they feel the writer will be the most passionate about making his or her bit perfect.
--"There isn't a better use for any of these people," said Conan when discussing why they don't all make career moves to film or dramatic roles or something more productive for society. "(He wasn't a good lawyer)," Conan jokingly whispered in reference to Mike Sweeney, head writer and former legal eagle. What do you think about that first statement?
--Norm McDonald, Harland Williams, and Will Arnett topped the panel's list of all-time favorite guests.
--WORST QUESTION: "Will the dog run for president?"
--Former intern/current superstar, Lonny Ross was SPOTTED running late alongside Late Night staff member, Roey Hershkovitz. Dapper Late Night producer Jordan Schlansky, whose affinity for purple shirts once had no bounds, was also seen amongst the crowd.
--What does Conan think about YouTube and video sharing? He's for it! He said he doesn't care about making residuals, he just wants people to see their funny stuff.
--It was while working one afternoon at The Simpsons when Conan received the phone call from his agent that he landed the hosting spot on Late Night. His agent told him to get to Burbank ASAP because he was to go on The Tonight Show and break the news. Conan said he put down the phone, collected his nerves, and made a beeline for the exit door without announcing it to the rest of the staff. Once outside, he ran to his car and drove to Burbank.
MORE READING
NY Magazine reports from the MT&R
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April 4, 2007
From Behind the Bar at the UCBT - The Finale
By: Margot Leitman
After working at the UCB Theatre bar for three years, I've discovered that I have an endless amount of stories to tell. The job was offered to me a while back because I needed a little extra income as my relationship with the UCB theatre community was growing. I've appreciated my experiences working behind the bar at UCB as much as my experiences performing there. Here are some tales I thought I'd share with you this time around.
I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO GETS IN FIGHTS
There used to be a weekly stand-up show at UCB called "Hump Night." After Sean Conroy moved to LA it was briefly taken over by Roger Hailes before officially closing. Roger has one of the sweetest faces I have ever seen, so I was shocked at what came out of him the night he and I got in a huge fight with an audience member.
This group of really loud drunk guys who were visiting from the South came in, sat right in the front row pounding beers and heckling everyone. As a performer, I get very upset when audience members are disrespectful to the artists onstage. It's hard for me to separate it--I take it very personally and often act in defense of the comedians up there. So I went over and told the guys to be quiet. They rudely brushed me off. Then they tried to buy beer and I refused them service because they were too drunk, so they yelled at me interrupting the show even more. They sat back down and I actually saw one of the guys SPIT ON THE STAGE as a comedian finished up his set. I grabbed Roger and told him what I just saw and Roger immediately got on stage, grabbed the mic, got in the guy's face and said: "What the fuck is your problem man? I don't know where you think you are but I'll tell you where you aren't--you aren't in fucking Alabama!!" (I found this hilarious as Roger is southern himself, and was yelling this at him with his southern accent). "This is New York City! You don't heckle the comics, you don't yell at the bartender, and you sure as fuck don't spit on the fucking stage! Do you understand me or do I have to fucking kick you out? Do you fucking understand me?"
The guy shut his mouth, and we went on with the show. For that fleeting moment, Roger Hailes was my own personal Jack Bauer.
DINNER
The other night at work I pointed out how weird meals are during a shift at the UCB Theater. No other business operates like this. Manager Brian Waddell pointed out that the theatre operates somewhere between a business and a frat house, and I wholeheartedly agree. On a typical night, we all arrive, set up the theatre for the shift and then convene in the tiny box office to discuss what we're ordering for dinner. Everyone is included: the manager, interns, technician and bartender. Then we order food, go back to work, and when the food comes someone comes around notifying everyone. Then we all squeeze into the tiny box office and eat together. It's like a bizarre dysfunctional family meal. We talk about our love lives, jobs, careers, whatever. What other business eats together like this? I couldn't imagine everyone at a corporate office sitting together daily and having a meal where they stopped working and actually talked to each other. We don't have enough chairs in the office so someone always has to stand.
One time I grabbed a wheelchair from backstage so someone could sit in it for dinner. Chewing on my bacon cheeseburger, I looked around and saw five adults, in an age where technology and business have taken the place of basic human communication, sitting together in a tiny space enjoying a meal and having a genuine conversation. When I looked to my left and saw UCB manager Chuck D sitting in that wheelchair chowing down on his burger with catsup on his face, I thought to myself, "Someday I'll miss this. I hope when I have a family meals are just like this."
GOOD-BYE APIARY
Since I've started writing this column, I've received a multitude of compliments from readers. While it was really flattering to hear how many people both read and enjoyed it (and awesome to see how many other sites picked it up), it made me wonder: was I going to turn into Harvey Pekar? Was writing about my equivalent to Pekar's filing clerk job what was relatable to others? So of course, as soon as I embraced my day job (or night job in this case) and began writing about it, all these wonderful things started happening in my "real" career, and I found that I could hardly find nights free to work at the theatre anymore. That's always the way, as soon as you come to peace with something, it resolves itself. The way things are heading, I no longer feel like I’ll be working there forever; there was a time I feared that I might. Although I genuinely look forward to going to work now, I've become incredibly distracted whenever I'm there. The other night I was serving beers while typing on my laptop trying to get a script finished that was due the next day. Another time, I came into work to discover we were out of Bud and Bud Lite. I was stressed about a deadline and in a pissy mood. I put up a sign that read "No Bud, No Bud Lite, No Smalltalk." And mostly every customer obeyed. The rest of the staff laughed at it. Any other bar would have forced me to take that down or fired me for being so ridiculous. At this point, no one else in their right mind would ever hire me. I'm the world's worst employee: I can barely ever work, I get in fights with rude people, I write about incidents that occur at work in a very public forum, but for some reason the UCB keeps me around. I'm spoiled for life, no one else would ever put up with me.
And so, I feel like this is a perfect time to say good-bye to this column. Let's be realistic: if I keep it up, considering how little time I actually have to tend bar anymore, the writing will suffer. Sooner or later, I'll run out of stories and no new ones will be made if things keep going in the direction they are and my bartending schedule dwindles away. I'd rather go out on top leaving people wanting more, than having the internet equivalent to that last season of "Roseanne" when the Connors won the fucking lottery. So, thanks for reading, and thanks for all the glowing compliments from all the loyal readers that I've received every time I go into work now; it really makes my night.
"Bums and indolents, all of us working there realized our days were numbered. So we relaxed and waited for them to find out how inept we were. Meanwhile, we lived with the system, gave them a few honest hours, and drank together at night." -Charles Bukowski
PREVIOUSLY
From Behind the Bar at the UCBT - IV
From Behind the Bar at the UCBT - III
From Behind the Bar at the UCBT - II
From Behind the Bar at the UCBT - I
See Margot LIVE away from the bar TONIGHT, April 4 at 9pm as she co-hosts "Stripped Stories" with Giulia Rozzi. This month's theme: 'Guilty Pleasures'--true sex stories with The Rob and Mark Show, Anthony Atamanuik, and Nichelle Stephens. Mo Pitkins, 34 Ave. A. $5. Or see her LIVE tending the bar this Friday night. [Inset Margot Photo by Anya Garrett]
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March 22, 2007
THE PRIZE BUFFET | The Whitest Kids U' Know Self Titled, South Park Season 9 on DVD, Tom Shillue's Overconfident, & Faking It from CollegeHumor.com!
Forget Ponder-GROSS-a and HomeTown BARF-fet--here's the only smorgasboard in town that won't make you poop. Unless you're pooping with joy! It's insanely easy to win any of the items listed here. Why? Because this site is fucking loco. Simply send an email to theapiary@gmail.com with the title of the thing you'd like to win in the subject line. As is the case with most good buffets--you wanna sit as close as you can to it so there's less distance to travel between you and all the meatloaf. Which is a convoluted way of saying "if you snooze, you lose" because ALL entries must be in by 5PM tomorrow (3/23) and winners will be drawn at random at that time and notified immediately. You must live in the US and be 18 or older to enter. Quantities are limited. Void where prohibited. If you would like stuff to be included in future giveaways, please contact theapiary@gmail.com.
The Whitest Kids U' Know - S/T
Don't chain yourself to your television. Take the Whitest Kids U' Know on the go! Just insert this CD into your portable Sony Discman and bop along to such traxx as "Get a New Daddy" and "Sam's Message." Available now from What Are Records.
South Park: The Complete Ninth Season
Amazon says: "All fourteen episodes from South Park's infamous ninth season are now available for the first time in this exclusive 3-disc collector's set. This season features Kenny's epic battle between heaven and hell, uprising of redheads and adventures surrounding a certain closet. For these boys, it's all part of growing up in South Park!"
Tom Shillue - Overconfident
The latest stand-up album from Tom Shillue, recorded live at Gotham Comedy Club in New York City. For sale on March 27th.
Faking It, By the writers of CollegeHumor.com
From the dust jacket: "The cheeky alumni of CollegeHumor offer real-world novices a guide to getting ahead without getting out of bed before noon. From feigning a deep appreciation of Joyce to drinking scotch without wincing, Faking It offers all sorts of advice on how to seem classier and more mature while still having Pop-Tarts and light beer for breakfast." If you're the kind of person who says things in casual conversation like, "Nothing good's been written since Ulysses," then you either wrote the book or you're already implementing its teachings. Take charge of your life!
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March 16, 2007
Inside With: Michael Winslow, Man of 10,000 Sound Effects
By: Keith Huang
Michael Winslow has made a career out of making noises. The 48-year-old actor, writer and producer, best known as Cadet Larvell Jones in Police Academy, hopes the history books will remember him as the "Man of 10,000 Sound Effects." His ability to create realistic sound effects with his voice is uncanny, such that he repeatedly stole his scenes in Police Academy, a slapstick, mid-'80s comedy that revolved around the common "slobs versus snobs" theme.
Thanks to his role as Cadet Jones, Winslow has become a pop-culture icon, albeit not by name alone. He has earned references on The Simpsons, The Family Guy, King of the Hill and MADtv as the "guy who makes sound effects." But for the past 20 years, no one with greater skills has supplanted him, either.
Indeed, Winslow has never bitten the hand that feeds--he is the only cast member to appear in every incarnation of the Police Academy franchise, including the short-lived TV series. In fact, he has worked consistently for 30 years, appearing in classics such as "Spaceballs" and doing voicework on "Gremlins." Today, he's a touring standup comedian. The Apiary recently spoke to Winslow from his home in Florida to ask about his career, his love of kung fu and, of course, to hear him make some noise.
Did your parents have a similar sense of humor to yours? Or did your sense of humor come from somewhere else?
I'm not really sure how my sense of humor developed. I know my dad had a great sense of music because he grew up in East St. Louis when Miles Davis and everybody else was out there. Turns out he knew most everybody out there, too, because he was also a musician. But I never knew it growing up. I want to go back and play some of those old 78's of his. After the funeral, I went down to the basement and found our old Philips 1958 TV set. I can remember him putting me in front of it when I was little. The TV still works, too.
Your dad moved the family around a lot. I understand you lived on an Air Force base in Japan.
I was almost born there, actually. My family was out there with my other brothers, but they hurried back to the states so I could be born here. I guess I got Japanese culture through osmosis, though. I love it. I was eating Japanese cuisine while I was still in development. But I enjoy going to Japan. Whenever I can get the opportunity to go back, I take it. In fact, I once did a commercial for Nippon Oil in the late '80s.
Did you ever use your sound-making ability to pick up girls?
No, they never liked that stuff very much. Not at all, really. You would think, huh?
I would've thought funny sounds would have been a great icebreaker.
You'd think that, but it was the exact opposite reaction. But I guess you'd have to ask all the girls I knew about that one. But with my sense of humor, it never seemed to work anyway. Especially in restaurants. Talking food is not funny to girls.
Continue reading "Inside With: Michael Winslow, Man of 10,000 Sound Effects
By: Keith Huang"
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March 7, 2007
From Behind the Bar at the UCBT - IV
By: Margot Leitman
After working at the UCB Theatre bar for almost three years, I've discovered that I have an endless amount of stories to tell. The job was offered to me a while back because I needed a little extra income as my relationship with the UCB theatre community was growing. I've appreciated my experiences working behind the bar at UCB as much as my experiences performing there. Here are some tales I thought I'd share with you this time around.
JUST LENDING A HAND
There have been countless circumstances where I have been bartending and had to jump onstage to do a bit part. Mostly it's a last minute stand up set when someone hasn't shown up, one time I ran backstage put on a wig, a slutty dress, and some smeared lipstick and did a Courtney Love impression in a crazy bit show... things like that.
So one night, one of our more well known performers was doing a bit in a show where he played a purposefully bad stand up comic. He asked me before he went on if about three quarters of the way through his set if I would heckle him from the bar and yell, "You raped me!" He gave me the cue to say the line and I was good to go. I stood watching the show from the bar, and when he finally got onstage, I waited intently for the cue. Just as my cue was coming, like clockwork, a woman came up to the bar and ordered a Bud Lite. I grabbed the beer from the cooler, put it on the counter screamed "You raped me!" at the comedian and then looked at the woman, smirked and said "That will be three dollars please." The look on her face was priceless; moments like that make me love this job.
LATE NIGHTS AT THE DEL CLOSE MARATHON
I can't believe that in all of the previous columns I have never mentioned the Del Close Marathon. The DCM happens once a year for a three day period over the summer. It's nonstop improvisation from groups from all over the country, and I have bartended the mayhem that is the DCM for the past three years. It's a lot of fun, and somehow after every shift, I always end up onstage in some crazy late night show performing some bizarre form of improv. One year I got off shift, threw on a makeshift "sexy turtle" costume and found myself onstage, almost immediately getting lifted up by Rob Riggle and passed around through a crowd of improvisers.
The following year, from behind the bar, I saw some chick walking around wearing remnants of the sexy turtle costume that I had been planning on revamping for an encore performance of the previous year's debauchery. I actually had someone cover me at the bar for a moment so I could go confront the situation. I found the stranger wearing the turtle shell and said, "You probably weren't aware of this, but I'm the sexy turtle. You're going to have to take that off, I was the sexy turtle last year, I'm going to be it this year and basically every year thereafter. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to take off the turtle shell, please." She slowly acquiesced, justifiably looking at me like I was crazy. I went back to work, and realized that I had, as a grown woman, actually just had someone cover my bar so I could defend a handmade turtle costume. I have these moments all the time where I think to myself some variation of, "I'm a grownup, and I'm battling some stranger for the rights to a felt turtle shell." And then I have a second thought, "Maybe I've beat the system. Most grownups have mortgages and babies and divorces to worry about."
CHANGING TIMES
In the three years I've worked at the UCB theatre, I've seen a lot of changes. When I first started working there, Owen Burke was the artistic director. I came into work one night and for some reason everyone thought it was my birthday and felt terribly that I had been scheduled to work. It was actually not my birthday, but the day before my birthday. But nonetheless, I received a card signed by all the people there that night including Rachael Mason, Matt Besser, Owen Burke, Chuck D, I can't remember everyone. Then Owen came up to the bar and placed one white carnation in a tiny vase on the bar and said "Real sorry you have to work on your birthday." I couldn't bear to tell him that it actually was not my birthday, so I just simply thanked him. But when someone is running an operation as significant to comedy as the UCB Theatre and still takes the time to place a tiny white flower on the bar for one of his employees, it makes you realize why this place is so special, why it has such a following. As big as it has become, the human aspect of it will always remain, it's not corporate comedy. All founders and people in charge have very hands on relationships with both the theatre itself and its employees and performers.
The night the Red Sox won the World Series I was working. I went to the back to restock and Matt Walsh was sitting back there alone watching the game on a tiny TV with barely any reception, with a long antennae that actually had tin foil attached to it. He said, "Margot, stop working for a second, you gotta see this." I stopped and sat with Walsh backstage staring at that tiny black and white TV as the curse of the Red Sox was finally being lifted. It was so surreal. I know Walsh probably has a nice big screen TV back home in LA, but he'll always be watching the proverbial "game" on that rickety TV backstage at UCB with old friends like me.
See Margot live, away from the bar TONIGHT, March 7 at 9PM as she co-hosts "Stripped Stories" with Giulia Rozzi at Mo Pitkins. This month "My first..." true sex stories with Greg Walloch, Adira Amram and video editor Jon Levin.
PREVIOUSLY
From Behind the Bar at the UCBT - III
From Behind the Bar at the UCBT - II
From Behind the Bar at the UCBT - I
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February 23, 2007
The Search for the Next Elayne Boosler Continues
We were looking at some tea leaves the other day and do you know what they said?
The next Elayne Boosler is alive and walking among us!
But who could it be? (And wouldn't we know immediately just by the glistening hair?) Eliot Glazer had a creeping suspicion that Julie Klausner might be The Boos incarnate. There's only one way to find out if she's the one--watch the video.
RELATED
The Search For the Next Elayne Boosler | Harvard Sailing Team
Elayne Boosler's Site
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February 22, 2007
Inside With: Judah Friedlander
The bio at www.judahfriedlander.com says: "My name is Judah Friedlander. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am a comedian. I am also the World Champion." That's pretty much all the average person needs to know. However, we're above average people here, we wanted to find out what else is going on with the stand-up veteran, Hollywood actor, and star of 30 Rock on NBC. Judah graciously took a few minutes out of his busy shooting schedule to answer a few questions and grant us all access to the contents within his famed trucker hat.
Assuming there's a difference between your stage persona and the "real" Judah Friedlander, how did your stage persona come about?
I've been doing stand-up since '89. The World Champion thing started years ago and it has changed a lot and keeps changing. I do a lot of crowd work in my act and it developed gradually through that over several years. I've been making my own hats for over 10 years and one day I thought it would be funny to make a hat that says WORLD CHAMPION, but nothing else. So out of wearing the hat and doing crowd work , it just kind of grew more.
Are you ever out of character?
Yes. Like this interview. I'm tired and have some downtime on the set of 30 Rock, so I'm just giving it to you straight. Also, for acting in movies--I often play roles totally different from me or my stand-up act, such as American Splendor, Duane Hopwood, Southern Belles, Live Free or Die, Chapter 27, or Full Grown Men.
Do you feel you take more risks as a performer when you wear a persona?
Not necessarily. I take risks regardless. I think it's important to take risks in all areas of performing. You gotta always be trying new things.
We think we've seen you walking around town and you had your hat on.
I've always been a hat guy. My glasses are real too. Some people think they're fake. I pretty much wear the same stuff on stage and off. But on stage, it's all world champion stuff--not off stage--unless I'm walking around in between sets.
It's interesting that on 30 Rock you have been cast to play what is essentially your character. Was Frank written for you in mind?
Frank was not written for me in mind. I auditioned for it. Frank looks like me, but I don't think we act alike. In real life and in my stand-up act, I wouldn't say any of the stuff he says. But that makes it challenging to pull it off--to make it feel natural. One of the things I like about the show is that they let me dress pretty much how I normally do. So when I got the show, I didn't to have to cut my hair, wear contacts, shave, or move to L.A. If I had to do all that, I probably would have decided not to do the show. Working for Tina Fey is great. Besides being great at what she does, she's open to hearing ideas for the show. Wearing the hats on the show was my idea and Tina lets me do whatever I want with them. I come up with all the sayings on the hats I wear and I make all the hats myself.
Continue reading "Inside With: Judah Friedlander"
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Inside With: Rachel Tipograph, Judah Friedlander's Personal Assistant
We got an email a few weeks ago from rachel@judahfriedlander.com and the immediate reaction was, "Is she the webmaster of JudahFriedlander.com or something??" It turned out, she does more than lord over his website--she's Judah's personal assistant! The next reaction was, "Whoa! That's a neat gig! Tell us everything!" Meet Rachel Tipograph, assistant to actor/comedian, Judah Friedlander.
How did you get the job? Did he sense a World Champion quality about you?
I met Judah on 2nd Avenue late one night during November 2005. I'm still unsure what came over me that night, but I decided to instruct him on how to reach a younger audience through the Web. Now this was before NY Magazine's expose on blogs and the YouTube explosion, so Judah was impressed. And ever since, I've been working with him.
Describe a typical day as Judah Friedlander's personal assistant.
That's the thing; I don't follow the typical 'personal assistant' sidekick role. I don't wake him up in the morning, or travel to the 30 Rock set, or answer his cell when his mom calls. What I do, however, is primarily project based: Promote gigs he's doing, seek out interview opportunities, brainstorm innovative add-ons for his website, videotape performances, etc. But every once in awhile I wouldn't mind accompanying him to a film set or awards show (hint hint, Judah).
What is the usual reaction when you tell people what you do and who you work for?
Most people shrug it off because I'm known for finding myself in unusual situations or they react with, "Really? You serious?" But ever since 30 Rock, the Judah Friedlander name carries a lot of clout. So that's cool. I feel empowered.
Does he ever make you organize his trucker hats? Or shop for new trucker hats?
Nah. For some reason, I think he has only a few trucker hats. And a blue knit cap. Judah is not one for extravagance. But I do know he has boxes of 'World Champion' trucker hats for sale, which can be purchased through his website for $20.
If we were a celebrity, we would be concerned that our assistant is in it solely for the tell-all book deal. Is that an accurate assumption?
I'm sure it is, but that's not my intention at all. I'm a full time student at NYU and I also intern at Saturday Night Live. When I met Judah, I knew this could be my 'in' into the entertainment world. And Judah is really supportive of all my endeavors. I don't know what will come of my assistanceship with Judah--a tell-all book deal or more serious responsibilities with him--but I'm really glad I opened my mouth that night on 2nd Avenue.
You can find Rachel pulling levers behind www.judahfriedlander.com, a site where the calendar is ALWAYS accurate. If Judah is not coming to your city, college, or rec center, shoot her an email (Rachel@judahfriedlander.com) and she'll make it happen.
Posted by The Apiary in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary at 10:06 AM | Comments (1)
February 20, 2007
The Prize Buffet | Jen Kirkman's Self Help, Handmade Apiary T-shirts, Scott Bateman's Sketchbook, Super Deluxe Beenie, & Happy Cruelty Day!
Split your pants on THIS! Here comes another prize buffet. Everything is golden brown, just the way you like it. It's easy to win any of the items listed here. Simply send an email to theapiary@gmail.com with the title of the thing you'd like to win in the subject line. The heat lamps don't work very well on this buffet--all entries must be in by 5PM tomorrow (2/21) and winners will be drawn at random at that time and notified immediately. You must live in the US and be 18 or older to enter. Quantities are limited. Void where prohibited. If you would like stuff to be included in future giveaways, please contact theapiary@gmail.com.
Jen Kirkman | Self Help on AST Records
A Special Thing pumped a shot of adrenaline in the arm of the comedy world a few months ago when they announced they were starting their own indie record label. Their first release came out several weeks ago and features LA-based comedian, Jen Kirkman. One AST user testified: "holy shit. this is awesome. kirks is the best. no doubt. i am buying one."
Limited Edition Handmade Apiary T-Shirts
We are producing TWO-LIMITED EDITION, custom made Apiary T-shirts, fresh for two of you! One Girly-T and One Man-a-T. Both will be made out of a fine cotton polymer blend and the graphics will be applied using stencils and spray paint. There might even be embroidery of some kind on the girl's shirt, depending on what kind of mood the person who is making these is in. Lovers of t-shirts, now is your chance to own one.
Scott Bateman's Sketchbook of Secrets & Shame
According to the back cover of Animator/Cartoonist Scott Bateman's book, it features "300 of his unique comic creations. Mashing up pop culture with cultural neuroses in a single panel." Also contains essays by Wil Wheaton, Mary Jo Pehl, Zoe Trope, and others. Published by Word Riot Press.
Super Deluxe Beenie
A life-sized replica of the actual beenie worn by Leo Allen, pictured here. It's black, warm, mostly unused, and has a big ol' Super Deluxe logo that's perfect for your awesome forehead.
Happy Cruelty Day! by Bob Powers
From the fertile creative mind of Bob Powers, proprieter of the long-running Girls Are Pretty, comes Happy Cruelty Day!, a collection of the best writings from the site and some all-new material. Start your mornings right! Published by St. Martin's Press.
Posted by The Apiary in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary at 3:52 PM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2007
From Behind the Bar at the UCBT - III
By: Margot Leitman
After working at the UCB Theatre bar for almost three years, I've discovered that I have an endless amount of stories to tell. The job was offered to me a while back because I needed a little extra income as my relationship with the UCB theatre community was growing. I've appreciated my experiences working behind the bar at UCB as much as my experiences performing there. Here are some tales I thought I'd share with you this time around.
DEEP TALKS
I often work at ASSSSCAT, which frequently welcomes some unusual guests whom I've had some unusual moments with. For example, one week, I came into work and discovered that someone who had just hit it big was performing in the show. By "hit it big" I mean he jumpstarted to stardom very abruptly and was somewhat unprepared for what came with fame. We started talking at the empty bar before the show, and then I took him back to the Green Room. Backstage he quietly asked me if I had a moment, and I said, "Sure." He confided in me about how terrified he was of his current fame amidst his gratefulness for his success. He spoke as if he was confessing some dirty secret he had kept hidden for years and was finally getting a rare opportunity to tell. He wasn't sure he liked not being able to walk down the street; he wasn't sure he liked that strangers knew his name. He was nervous, scared and well-aware that his current emotions could cause him a great deal of performance anxiety. He feared he wasn't good enough and was nervous for his future. I reached out to him, trying to sooth his nerves, but I knew he just wanted someone to talk to, and I knew he knew there was no real "problem" anyone could solve for him. He was sweet, and asked me about myself, seemingly genuinely impressed with my own ambitions and encouraging with all my endeavors. Then the ASSSSCAT performers arrived backstage and I had to go, it was time to let in the audience and get to work. He put on a happy face and greeted them all politely, and I knew there was no way he would let the others know he was anything but completely confident.
When he left after the show, he gave a quick smile and timidly waved at me as he walked outside terrified of his own fans. It's odd how two strangers can bond, let their guards down, share their deep fears and dreams and then walk away and never see each other again.
I see him on TV all the time and I find it kind of beautiful that I of all people know what's really going on behind those eyes. I know his hands are shaking in his lap as he does the interview and that his stomach turns as the cameras zoom in. And I also know that he wouldn't have told me any of that if I wasn't the bartender.
THE CODE
In the book Live From New York, An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, Penny Marshall says, "[It] was a zoo, but it was fun. It was people getting famous at the same time which is always very scary. We held onto each other desperately because we trusted each other. In hanging out with each other, we knew we weren't going to tell on each other." If and when a book was to ever be published about the UCB Theatre, I would probably say something very similar.
There have been many "zoo-like" moments, like a late night wrestling match I instigated between two smaller comedians and one very strong comedian. After that match the very strong comedian made me put my money where my mouth is. The next thing I knew, I was wrestling another female comedian, while a room full of A-list comics, all about ten years my senior, were standing on chairs and tables cheering us on. The match ended prematurely when my head got bashed into a cement wall and we all decided that although I was not hurt, it might be time to stop. I've got photos from that night, and looking at them it's hilarious who was directly involved because they all were "getting famous at the same time." Penny Marshall was right, I trust these people. I know that nothing ever goes too far, and if and when it does, I've got a room full of comrades who've got my back and will make sure I don't get a concussion.
I love the loyalty we've all got for each other and when someone attacks that code, they get put in their place quickly. It happens all the time when I'm bartending. For example, one time I rejected these two girls' fake IDs. Doug Benson was doing a show that night (who I used to work with on "Best Week Ever") and came up to the bar to get a drink. The two girls said right in my earshot--"Watch out, this bartender is such a bitch, she won't sell us beer. You'll buy it for us right? Beware, she's a total bitch." To which Doug smiled at me and loudly responded, "Oh, you mean my friend Margot?" The girls' faces dropped with embarrassment. He continued, "Listen, sorry, if she said she's not selling it to you, there's nothing I can do." I thanked him for getting my back and he said, "Of course, it's nothing. Plus, if you're trying to pull a fast one on someone, you shouldn't do it in direct ear shot, right?" As minor an incident as that was, it still affected me because it was a prime example of outsiders infiltrating our space and trying to break our unspoken code.
THE BITS MUST GO
I've mentioned this before in this column, but I'll say it again--why do so many patrons at the UCB Theatre have the desire to prove to the bartender that they're funny? Many people are funny, many people are not. But I guarantee that anyone who has an uncontrollable urge to do a terrible bit with a bartender, who has a line wrapped around the corner with thirsty customers, falls under the unfunny category. I'm a nice girl, I usually pleasantly smile at people's forced humor; I know their intentions are good. However, one time I had to work the bar at ASSSSCAT on a Sunday, after working a private event the night before at UCB where I did not leave until 8AM. I got home at 8:30, slept a few hours, got up and went right back to work that night.
At the show's intermission some guy came up to the bar and said, "Could I get some cookies?" I said, "Sorry, we don't sell any food here." I waited on a few more people, and then that same guy came back up and said, "Do you have oatmeal raisin tonight?" My patience was running very thin at this point. ASSSSCAT is our busiest show and I had many actual customers to take care of. I said, "Sorry, but I just told you we don't sell any food." No joke, this guy waited another five minutes in the huge line to get back to the bar to do his hilarious bit with the exhausted bartender. I guess he read somewhere about the rule of threes in comedy and was trying to follow it, not realizing that if something is un-funny, it doesn't matter how many times you do it, you're still an idiot. So this time he decides he's going to "place his order" and says, "I'll take two peanut butter, two oatmeal raisin, and one chocolate yelled, "I don't know what your fucking bit is, but I don't have any fucking cookies!" He said nothing and sheepishly walked away.
After the shows, Amy Poehler asked me if I made it through the night ok, concerned that I was running on empty. I said, "Honestly Amy, I lost it on someone." I told her what happened and she made me fell less guilty by congratulating me on only losing it on only one person considering the circumstances. I've never seen the cookie dude at the theatre since.
Margot Leitman is a writer/performer living in NYC. You can see her LIVE at Mo Pitkins, 8:00 Thursday Feb. 15th as she co-hosts Stripped Stories with Giulia Rozzi. This month's theme: Unexpected sex stories. Featuring Sean Crespo, God's Pottery, and producer Rachel Fleit. Margot has appeared on Late Night With Conan O' Brien, Best Week Ever, Cheap Seats, E!, Style, AMC, Comedy Central and NBC Broadband. She is currently developing her hit UCB show Slow Night into a screenplay with co-writer Sarah Burns, in addition to writing a weekly column for www.hellohilarious.com on sex, dating, and nightlife from a female comedian's point of view. Margot is scheduled to bartend at the UCB on Valentine's Day and welcomes gifts of any sort. She won't get creeped out or curse at you, she promises.
PREVIOUSLY
From Behind the Bar at the UCBT - II
From Behind the Bar at the UCBT - I
Posted by The Apiary in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary at 4:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2007
Inside With: Andrew W.K.
By: Ben Kharakh
Before actually interviewing Andrew WK for the first time, the only thing I knew about him was that I liked his music and that he had an MTV2 show I never had the chance to see. I prepped by reading a few interviews and noticed that he was very articulate, interesting, and knowledgeable. That didn't prepare me for our first encounter where a single question garnered a one-page response full of aphorisms. It seemed like he had a lot to say and that if people were willing to listen they might learn something valuable about the world as well as about partying hard. Andrew WK makes his first comedy show appearance tomorrow night at Here's The Thing.
What do you find funny?
I've found the idea of the world being taken seriously very funny. More and more, I've been getting the sense that the world is absurd, and it seems many other people have also thought so. The state of everything--ie: the state of the world--may be absurd, but that isn't necessarily a funny state.
Do you think clowns are funny?
I think that's a funny question. Maybe questions about clowns can be funny, and maybe that's the same or close to all clowns in general being funny. I think it depends on the clown, or on the person asking the question--most experiences have appeared most enjoyable when taken case by case.
What were you like in high school? Were you a bit of a class clown type?
In high school I was anywhere between 5' 10" and 6' 2". I had brown hair and then green hair and then blue hair and then blonde straw hair. I never acted up in a very outward way, but I organized various disturbances around the school. Whether these efforts actually disturbed anyone other myself is still unclear.
One might think that there's a lot of clowning around on the road? Is that true? If so, can you share an anecdote?
I suppose it depends what you consider clowning around. There was one night on the road, driving in our tour bus from Texas to New Mexico, when one of the band's guitar player's took several doses of LSD and decided to climb out the side window of the bus while we were on the highway. I had to scramble to grab his feet and legs so he wouldn't fly away. The driver never noticed him hanging outside. We almost got side swiped by a truck and that's when the guitarist got his wits about him and pulled his body back into the bus. He had hundreds of smashed flies and gnats all over his mouth, eyes and t-shirt.
Should people expect you to clown around at The PIT? What should people expect?
I've asked people to submit a question for me to answer--or attempt to answer--at The PIT, in one 20-minute thought. The questions I've been getting have ranged from long to short, complex to simple, but all of them have interested me and inspired ideas. That's really the whole point of this--to engage each other in thought. It's something that's been feeling good to me. I expect it will also feel good for the people who come to The PIT. We'll make the experience what it will be, together.
Why are you performing at a comedy show?
Because I've never done it before.
See Mr. W.K.'s MySpace page for all his future engagements, including an upcoming spot at The PIT in March.
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February 7, 2007
Smoking Gun Discovered in Budweiser Super Bowl Commercial Ripoff Scandal
Guess it takes a little pilfer to make a little pilsener over at Budweiser. We spoke to Zach from the Whitest Kids U' Know about what is shaping up to be one of the most arrogant intellectual property thefts in recent advertising history:
"A while back, like in June or so, Budweiser contacted us through WMA [William Morris, their agent] and asked if we were interested in doing a regular show for them on what is I suppose called BudTV. We didn't respond because we were already working with FUSE but DVDs were sent out anyways."
There's your smoking gun, nonbelievers and anti-civil rights activists--The Whitest Kids' reel in a bow on Bud's doorstep. That factoid coupled with the general ubiquity of the Kids' video is enough evidence in the court of public opinion for us to make a ruling. Budweiser = Probably Guilty.
The main point of this is that just because we're living in the YouTube age, intellectual property is not up for grabs. Attached after the jump is an official press release sent out late yesterday by the Whitest Kids on the whole situation.
Continue reading "Smoking Gun Discovered in Budweiser Super Bowl Commercial Ripoff Scandal"
Posted by The Apiary in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary at 11:54 AM | Comments (17)
February 5, 2007
The Standby Line @ Guru Pitka - 2.2.7
"We can't believe we're going to get in this time," we giddily thought, while waiting on the standby line for Guru Pitka last Friday night, an exercise in patience that we've become all too familiar with. Approximately 20 hopefuls stood in the icy drizzle, hoping upon wildest hope that the tiny Magnet Theater might have enough no-shows to allow us (or at least the royal us) entry. Ten o'clock rolled around, the ticketholder line was gone, and we could feel they were about to start calling standbys at any moment. But then, the unthinkable happened...
Sarah Vowell appeared.
She emerged from out of the darkness of night and nefariously claimed one of the last remaining seats, a seat we were later informed, was taped off especially for her. We remained outside shaking our fists, mostly in anger at the NPR star for not staying at home to write her next book and to some extent from the chill we were undoubtedly catching. Just then, another peculiar thing occurred.
Mike Myers came outside dressed in full Guru Pitka costume. He popped through a door adjacent to the entrance to take a look at the pitiful standbys. In his hand was a piece of chocolate, which he then offered to all of us. Like terrified savages, the line timidly formed a semicircle around Mr. Myers. One of the braver standbys accepted the chocolate from his palm and quickly lurched back to the group. Myers retired indoors.
Two standbys were let inside. The rest of us were given a pass good for a free show at the Magnet. And that was that.
Earlier in the evening, one of the standbys had joked with a friend he saw in the ticketholder line that he should text a play-by-play recap throughout the show. Alive From New York does one better and posted a write-up and some NEVER BEFORE BLOGGED details from the event (including his own Sarah Vowell sighting):
The show certainly didn't disappoint. I appreciated the time and effort Myers spent on this show. If it weren't for those twinkling eyes of his, you might not even recognize him in his Guru costume, complete with silver wig and beard combo, prosthetic nose, and white robe. He also put a lot of work into the show's graphics. His lecture was accompanied by a slideshow that displayed pictures of his Gurus (Guru Tugginmypuddha), examples of his previous self-help books ("I Know You Are, But Who Am I?"), and highlighted clever play-on-words that parodied the ridiculous world of motivational speakers (the topic of the evening was "Intimacy" or "Into Me I See," and he spoke of taking us from "nowhere" to "now here"). READ MORE
Posted by The Apiary in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary at 1:24 PM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2007
Inside With: Super Deluxe's John Buzzell, VP of Product Development and Jim DiStefano, Community Director
Turner made heads turn and tongues wag last week with the launch of its slick new broadband/social networking portal Super Deluxe. We got Super Deluxe's John Buzzell (left), VP of Product Development and Jim DiStefano(right), User Experience/Community Director on the horn to answer the questions that matter.
Congratulations on such a successful launch. There's so much great stuff and amazing people involved. Tell us, how long has Super Deluxe been in development and what was your role with its launch?
Jim: Thanks for the kind words. We're excited about Super Deluxe too. We began brainstorming in late 2005. Product development started soon after and content development kicked off in Summer '06.
The core product team was led by John Buzzell, and consists of Todd Dominey, Robert Occhialini, and myself. This team was responsible for the design and development of Super Deluxe.
Who were some of the first artists you approached?
John: The artists are the most important thing to us. We had lots of opportunities to take existing libraries and chop them up, but it never felt the like the right first step. As it happened, the team went to a bar in East Atlanta to welcome Eugene Mirman to our project in Summer '06. We hit it off with him, and he became one of the first we considered a 'signature' artist--one who helped define the voice and tone of Super Deluxe. Other artists from back in the day were Brad Neely, Fark TV, Honor Student, and The Post Show. We want Super Deluxe to be defined by the artists and their work, not the other way around. New stuff is showing up literally every day, so who knows where we'll be this time next year. It's just one big comedy love fest (wink).
The elephant in the room with all broadband networks is: How do they make money? Quality doesn't come cheap, and it sure seems like a lot of time and money went into the site. Is there pressure to be immediately profitable? Or is Turner content with a long term approach?
John: Broadband programming is strategically very important at Turner, so management isn't pushing us too hard for short term financial results. It's important that we stay true to our artists and the brand we're trying to build. This is reflected in our 'soft launch' strategy. Instead of going for broke with a huge media buy, we're confident enough to let things spread virally--the way that anything good grows on-line.
As for how we'll stay in business, Super Deluxe is ad-supported (read: free), with additional opportunities around licensing, distribution and merchandise. We want to build a large regular audience, so no registration or download is required. If you want to upload your own videos you have to register, but sign-up is easy and free.
Clearly, the site is fertile ground for Adult Swim development. Should we look forward to seeing videos from Super Deluxe make the jump to television? Is there any chance of a user-uploaded video making the jump?
Jim: Here at Williams Street, we are already working very closely with Adult Swim on some innovative cross-promotion. I can't give away too much, but we're *really* excited about working with Adult Swim. So if you're an A.S. fan, I would recommend that you stay tuned to both networks.
In fact, you'll soon be able to find us in more places than just your web browser. Of course, we launched on-line, but soon you'll also find us on mobile phones, cable video-on-demand, downloads and other emerging platforms. We're watching every video that comes in and there's a good chance of content contributed by our audience appearing on these platforms.
Besides the videos, what are some of the other features with the site that are worth checking out?
Jim: Well, we're certainly not trying to out-do other social networking sites, but we recognize that people communicate that way, so we didn't want to hold them back. Super Deluxe's social network is built to allow like-minded comedy fans to find each other and share their favorite artists and videos. Our artists and advertisers are active members of the community . Cross-pollination is encouraged, and it's already happening in some spots. It's great to see.
After eighteen months spent building this thing, you'd think we'd all be on vacation. Actually, we're already adding more sophisticated features, trying to improve how comedy fans find each other and share their favorite artists and videos. This was just our 'core' release. There's a lot more in the pipeline.
Well, good luck. Anything else?
John: We're just thrilled that everyone is enjoying what we've built for them. In the end, this is all about creating a place for artists and fans to get together and share good comedy. We're adding more every day, so keep checking back. Thank you so much for the interview!
A SD sample: "I am Baby Cakes - Diary #1" created by Brad Neely
Photo: Leo Allen w/ hat via Super Deluxe's Flickr page
Posted by The Apiary in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary at 3:02 PM | Comments (1)
January 16, 2007
2007 San Francisco SketchFest Opening Night Show @ Mezzanine, San Francisco - 1.11.7
Many readers live and die by the saying, "If it doesn't happen in New Jersey, then it doesn't matter." This statement is false. As a proud web sponsor of the astoundingly booked San Francisco Sketchfest, The Apiary had a chance to send a field reporter to the opening night of the 2-week long event. San Francisco resident Chad Lehrman volunteered to mosey on over to the big gala to take some photos and check out the show.
It started as any good comedy festival would start: with fanatical war protesters BLOODLESSLY RAGING outside.
Meanwhile, a friendly mob queues up for the show. (Note: Correlation between liking Stella/hating troops?)
Standing room only downstairs. Sprawling room only upstairs in the VIP lounge.
Stella reunites! They are telling a joke in this photo.
Will Franken and his wife Carli are very important people too. Is that Brent Weinbach milling in the background?
Posted by The Apiary in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary at 1:40 PM | Comments (1)
January 4, 2007
2006: A Reflection on Stuff That May Have Rocked You
We've separated this year's wheaty Apiary headlines from the chaffy ones and assembled a one-stop guide for all the interviews and recaps this site had published in 2006. Everything is in chronological order. You're gonna need a jumbo sun reflector for all these nostalgia rays coming at you.
MOST COMPELLING HEADLINES OF 2006
Demetri Martin's Apartment Consumed By Flames
Improv Everywhere: Laughing All the Way to State Prison
Fraudulent Butthole Exposed By Crack Investigation
New Original Book From The Onion Coming Soon
Yanni Didn't Punch Out His Girlfriend, Max Weinberg Yarn Explains Why
Comedian/Clarinetist/Mariah Carey Opening Act Steve Byrne Rails Against Demetri Martin & Stella
F.A.Q.s: Where Can I Get a Job with This Skill Set of Mine?
Mike Ditka Calls Adam Wade a Nice Looking Girl
Allegations of Parallel Writing Rock SNL's Digital Shorts Team
Deadly Bees Seize Park Slope Restaurant
John Mayer Totally Comfortable Using Racist Slurs In Stand Up Premiere
Whitest Kids Sign Deal with Paramount
Lovebirds: Rush Limbaugh and Mary Lynn Rajskub
Dan Whitney is the New Ned Holness
Chengwin Gets Married, What Happened to Chengwin?
Rock & Roller Cola Wars Erupt Again, Only This Time It's With Comedians
The Bastion Emerges From The Apiary
Rare Mike Myers Improv Footage
What Ever Happened to... That Lawsuit Against David Cross?
Carole & Paula Make Surprise Visit to Free to Be Friends
Learn About Emmy Winning Writers
David Cross and Jim Belushi Continue Feuding
Agent Wimpy Has 16,000 Dollars!
Pre-Production/Post-Production: Saturday Night Live '06-'07 Season Premiere
Christopher X. Brodeur Accosted by Comedy Club Manager, Police Intervene
When the Laughter Stops: Giant Tuesday Night to End Historic 4-Year Run
Daily Show/Colbert Report Bombshell: Executive Producer Ben Karlin Alleged to Resign
UCBT Improviser Shatters Wrist On-Stage; Pudding Suspected as Culprit
The Search Begins for the Next Elayne Boosler!
Party Foul: Thousands of Distraught Revelers Turned Away From Onion Holiday Mixer
Ancient Texts of The Onion Recovered
INTERVIEWS
Inside With: Scott Sherman, Producer at The Magnet Theater
Inside With: Brian Berrebbi and Eric Appel, writers for The Andy Milonakis Show
Inside With: Katie Goan, General Manager of The PIT
Inside With: David Walsh, one half of The Walsh Brothers
Inside With: Christian Finnegan
The Friday Five With: Michael Delaney of The SWARM
Inside With: Ces Marciuliano & Carol Hartsell, Proprietors of Drink At Work.com
Inside With: Bob Acevedo, Improviser and Improv Instructor at Magnet
Inside With: Rich Juzwiak, A +1 to a Press Screening of Strangers with Candy, The Movie
Inside With: Dave Hill, Writer, Comedian, Rocker
Inside With: David Levin, New Improv House Team Member at The PIT
Origins: The Oh, Hello Characters
Inside With: Carl Arnheiter
Inside With: Brian Huskey
Inside With: Sean O'Connor, Andrew Wright, and Nick Maritato, Hosts of Here's The Thing
Inside With: Brent Weinbach
Inside With: Kathleen Grace, Producer & Director of The Burg
Inside With: Bob Wiltfong
Inside With: Neil Campbell and Paul Rust, of Growing Up is Tough
Inside With: Jonah Ray
Inside With: Julie Klausner & Sue Galloway of Free to Be Friends
Inside With: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Puppet
Inside With: Rachel Axler, Writer for The Daily Show
Inside With: Rob Riggle
Una Conversacion Con Baron: with Chelsea Peretti
Inside With: Rachele "Rocky" Benloulou-Dubin, Booker, Producer
Inside With: Olde English, Sketch Troupe
Inside With: Jon Lovitz
Una Conversacion Con Baron: with Kristen Schaal
Inside With: Frangela
Una Conversacion Con Baron: with Michelle Collins
Inside With: Noah Starr
SHOW RECAPS
Ritalin Readings @ Mo Pitkins - 1.10.6
Hot Tub @ The PIT - 1.27.6
Broin' Out with Leo and Tony @ The UCBT - 1.30.06
Hot Sauce in 4th Floor Walk Up @ The UCBT - 2.1.06
The Walsh Brothers @ The PIT - 2.18.6
Andres Du Bouchet in Presenting: Andres Du Bouchet @ The Kraine - 3.1.6
THURSDAY @ Rififi - 3.9.6
The Dave Hill Explosion @ The UCBT - 3.15.6
Dr. Earnest Parrot Presents Demetri Martin - 3.6
Party Central USA @ The PIT - 3.25.6
Broin' Out With Leo & Tony @ The UCBT - 4.24.6
Eugene Mirman Parade @ Union Square - 5.8.6
The Other Talent Show @ Mo Pitkins - 5.8.6
Dr. Katz Professional Therapist @ Gotham Comedy Club - 5.9.6
Elephant Larry @ The PIT - 5.20.6
Strangers With Candy NYC Premiere @ NewFest - 6.1.6
SketchFest NYC - Opening Night @ The SoHo Playhouse - 6.8.6
MC Chris @ UCBT - 6.14.6
Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg: Featuring Jon Stewart @ John Jay College - 6.16.6
Daniel Kitson's "Stories for the Wobbly Hearted" @ 59E59 Theaters - 6.20.6
Flight of the Conchords @ Mo Pitkins - 7.17.6
UCB Theater in the Park @ Central Park SummerStage - 7.19.6
WeirDass @ The Abingdon Theater - 7.24.6
Growing Up is Tough @ The UCBT - 7.24.6
The Del Close Marathon 8 @ UCBT - 7.28.6 - 7.30.6
CBS/NYC Presents: Louis CK @ Mo Pitkins - 8.14.6
Tybrus: You're Out Too Far @ The UCBT - 8.17.6
Neil Hamburger @ Pianos - 8.27.6
Grand Opening of COMIX - 9.14.6
30 Rock @ The Museum of Television and Radio - 10.30.6
Hell House @ St. Ann's Warehouse - 10.10.6
Night of Too Many Stars @ The Beacon Theater - 10.15.6
Megan & Bridie: Friends Without Benefits @ UCBT - 11.8.6
Robert Smigel @ The Museum of Television and Radio - 11.9.6
The Sound of Young America Live @ The PIT - 11.10.6
Billy the Mime @ The UCB - 11.11.6
How To Kick People @ Mo Pitkins - 11.29.6
Invite Them Up @ The Bowery Ballroom - 12.14.6
Posted by The Apiary in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary at 4:17 PM | Comments (1)
January 2, 2007
From Behind the Bar at The UCBT - II
By: Margot Leitman
After working at the UCB Theatre bar for almost three years, I've discovered that I have an endless amount of stories to tell. The job was offered to me a while back because I needed a little extra income as my relationship with the UCB theatre community was growing. I've appreciated my experiences working behind the bar at UCB as much as my experiences performing there. Here are some tales I thought I'd share with you this time around.
Groupies
This one time a very well-known and very attractive comedian was in town and made an appearance in a UCB show. He literally walked off stage, walked up to me at the bar, introduced himself to me and said, "I'm going out right now to get a drink, how about you come?" I said, "I can't, I'm working." He asked until when and I told him about midnight (it was around 8:15 at the time). He responded, "You want me to wait?" I said, "No, that's a really long time to wait. You don't have to wait four hours at a bar for me just to grab one drink." Then I realized, Ooh, he's talking about sex! He wants me to meet him after I get off work to have sex with him! Wow! I am being thoroughly propositioned. There was a long awkward pause as he stared intently at me, wondering if I understood what he was really saying. He was so hot and confident that I uncontrollably and almost robotically handed him my phone number. Although I had no intention of meeting up with him or sleeping with him, I was impressed with his technique and thought it at least warranted a phone number. When I'm working it's usually cute, awkward, kind of dorky guys that hit on me. But something about his fearlessness--walk off stage, walk up to bartender, ask her out immediately... really appealed to me. He acted like a rock star, and I understood why comedians now have groupies as well. The most I've ever gotten was a bouquet of red roses and an e-mail saying he was in love with me, from an awkward seventeen year old who came to see my one person show many, many times. This guy walks off stage and gets laid. Awesome.
Comedians as Rock Stars
I've worked some shows where some very big names in comedy perform. I'm very used to it, and a lot of times I end up having great conversations with them, probably because they all remember having their survival jobs as well. One night David Cross was performing and he came over to the bar to get a drink and we ended up chatting for a bit. He walked away and then I turned my back to refill something. When I turned back around a part of the cash register was missing (the sheet where we scan the merchandise). I was confused as to where it had gone and then remembered that a fan had been lingering behind David the entire time we were talking. Cross had been leaning on the sheet and the only conclusion I could come to was that the lingering fan had waited until I turned my back to grab the sheet that Cross had touched. The fan just wanted to own something that had been touched by David Cross. As extreme as I thought that was when it happened I realized how significant comedy is to our generation. My parents own crushed up brick dust from one of the bricks that constructed the Beatles original rehearsal space. They paid a lot of money because they believed it embodied the sounds and history that was made in that space. To this kind of obsessive fan, David Cross was his version of the Beatles, and that scan sheet that he touched somehow possessed comedy genius and history. The icons of comedy have become just as important as rock stars.
The Family
Throughout the years I have worked at UCB, I have developed some close relationships with the other people that work there. The people that make that place work: the interns the managers, the technicians, the other bartenders. One night we were closing up and one of my all time favorite interns came running into the box office saying, "Guys, Oh my God! I just found a whole cake in the audience!" The house manager made an executive decision--"Well, let's slice that shit up!" I, being the only female working as usual, took the motherly role, and grabbed a plastic knife and served slices to all the guys on paper towels. While chowing down with my bare hands I said to the guys, "This is what working here with all you dudes has done to me. I used to be a lady! I used to style my hair, watch what I ate, appreciate the finer things in life. Now I'm slicing up some stranger's mystery cake with a plastic knife in the basement of Gristedes. And strangely I'm perfectly happy." Often at work I feel like the Marilu Henner character on "Taxi." I'm the only woman surrounded by a nutty cast of characters who I work with and have grown to adore. And I am seriously trying to listen when they discuss their video games in depth with me, I really am.
You can see Margot live and away from the bar this Wednesday in her new show, co-hosted by Giulia Rozzi, Stripped Stories -- a monthly storytelling show featuring true sex stories on a theme. This month: embarrassing sex. With: Adam Wade, Reggie Watts and make-up artist Adriana Lomysh. Wed. Jan. 3 at 9PM at Mo Pitkins, Ave A and 3rd. FREE!
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From Behind the Bar of the UCBT - I
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December 21, 2006
Dave Hill and Kristen Schaal in Lewd Photograph
Someone leaked to us this graphic photo of Dave Hill and Kristen Schaal in a picklesome position--totally unaware that their genitals are hanging out!
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December 19, 2006
Ancient Texts of The Onion Recovered
A few weeks ago, The Apiary caught wind of an Ebay auction for archaic issues of The Onion from its first year of publication. (Carbon dating tests have shown they're from 1988!) Since we've never ever seen such things on the market before, it seemed like too rare of an opportunity to pass up.
First, a history lesson from Wikipedia:
The Onion was founded in 1988 and originally published in Madison, Wisconsin by two juniors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson; they sold it to colleagues the following year. The Onion's success was limited to the Madison and Milwaukee areas until it began its website in 1996. In 2000 as the publication had broken through to the mass market, The Onion was approached by Comedy Central for a buyout that would broaden the scope and reach of The Onion's brand of satire into other forms of media. While the editorial staff was enthusiastic about the move, the deal was ultimately scuttled by then-owner Peter Haise when his negotiations with Comedy Central fell flat and alienated Comedy Central's management. Despondent over the botched deal, the editorial staff threatened to leave en masse for New York City with or without The Onion affiliation. In a compromise motivated to keep the company alive, in early 2001 the company relocated its offices to New York City.
Before these issues get hauled off to Sotheby's and sold for what they're really worth, we thought it would be neat to share one. Enjoy!
The Onion - October 11, 1988 - Volume 14, Number 7
Pages 1-4
Pages 5-8
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December 12, 2006
Inside With: Noah Starr, Writer, Performer
Noah Starr is a dab of everything. He writes, he performs, he fights--you'll see in a second. He caught our eye when a leading comedy theater here, The PIT, posted the following announcement: "Congratulations to PIT writing student Noah Starr, who just got hired as a comedy writer for WWE.com" Noah was nice enough to answer (almost) all of the pertinent questions of the day and to give us the dish about his writing partner, Baron Vaughn.
Noah, after reviewing your oeuvre, one thing is clear--you've got your hands in a lot of pots. Your online resume lists "Singing, Improv Comedy, Voice Over/Character Voices, Dialects, Teaching, Guitar, Driving, Juggling, Fight Choreography, Most Athletics, Fencing, Skiing, Commedia Dell'Arte, Recognized as an Actor/Combatant by the S.A.F.D. 2001"--no idea what S.A.F.D even is. What do you want to do?
Thanks for saying I have an oeuvre. I kind of learned the hard way that if I said I was only an actor or only a writer, it would limit what I could do. It's so hard to get paid when you are starting out, so I kind of had to bounce from job to job wearing lots of different hats. I really like writing and would love to write comedy for TV. All the Conan writers are so creative and write hilarious bits that they can perform themselves. To me, that's a dream job. Also, that S.A.F.D thing means I can pretend to fight.
It's neat that you've published all your various writing packets online because it's helpful as a writer to see actual pitches. How did each of them go? And is your Family Guy spec script still under development?
Those pitches have all been really positive and great learning experiences. I'm really interested in how TV production works, so the whole process of pitching has been cool. I have gotten nice feedback on what I have written and I'm starting to figure out that it's a war of attrition; you just have to keep pitching ideas and get up every time you get knocked down. I'm sure I'm not the first person to ever say that but I think it's really true. The Family Guy spec script is coming along and I will finish it whenever I get some free time. I really want to have it polished before I start sending it around.
Could you cite specific examples of how classes at the various comedy theaters have helped you. Like, do you think you could have gotten all the opportunities you've had so far with just the BFA?
Drama school taught me a lot about structure and I was lucky enough to have Keith Johnstone as one of my first improv teachers. I also think it's helpful for someone who writes for actors to understand how an actor works. Performing and studying at the PIT really helped me to learn to take time, react honestly and not rush towards a joke. I always really liked doing scene work there. The UCB was a great place to learn about games and patterns and I generated a ton of ideas while going through classes there. If you live in NYC and are interested in Comedy there are really are no bad options. The PIT, UCB, and The Magnet all have great teachers and shows.
And now, the big Q: Tell us about your gig writing for WWE.com! How did you get it? Did the fight choreography background have anything to do with it? Do you travel with them? Have you met Vince McMahon??
Because of company policy I can't discuss my employment.
Oh, c'mon! Just pretend the discussion is between us! No? Moving on then... your writing partner is Baron Vaughn. What is he really like?
Exactly what you see on stage. Baron is a great guy who is usually the funniest person in the room. He can relate to almost anyone. In Boston we had no money and Baron used to borrow his roommate's socks and return them filled with holes. The kid can get away with anything--he is so damn charming!
Visit Noah on the internet at www.noahstarr.com.
Noah on the weekly video blog, Pink of Perfection
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December 5, 2006
Una Conversacion Con Baron: with Michelle Collins
By: Baron Vaughn
Recently at The Shark Show at Mo Pitkins, I saw Michelle Collins again and was reminded of how much I love to watch this comedian. She made the audience guffaw with her brand of tangentially revealing humor. Since sometimes she and I spend too much time on the net, we decided to IM each other. This is the fruit of our loins...
BARON: Tell me a little about where you grew up.
MICHELLE: Well... I grew up in Miami Beach and knew from a young age I was meant to be in showbiz. My defining moment came in Kindergarten while at Temple Menorah. I was cast as the middle candle on the menorah because I was a foot taller than the other kids. The way my parents tell the story, all the kids sang with their heads down and hands firmly clasped, and I took a step forward and BROUGHT THE HOUSE DOWN! My arms spread wide out, singing the Jew classics. Then I curtsied for 4 straight minutes after everyone else had left the stage.
BARON: You craved the spotlight. How did you know it's what you wanted to do?
MICHELLE: My father did stand-up in Miami when I was a kid. Very Eugene Levy in "Waiting for Guffman." He was like a Jewish Weird Al, did parody songs... like instead of "The Wanderer" he sang "The Hondeler." We don't like to talk about it.
BARON: Do you remember any of his jokes?
MICHELLE: Well I do -- (In order to understand it, you should know that I was born with a different last name. Cikk. Which we changed when I was 6 because no one could spell/pronounce it)... So his joke was "People always ask about my last name, Cikk, if we shortened it from something longer. And I say, 'Yes, it used to be C-I-K-K-K-K-K-K...'" He gave it up a couple of months later.
BARON: Are there any early influences that you can remember that made you go "I just GOTTA do that!"
MICHELLE: I used to love Rita Rudner and I Love Lucy as a kid--I know it sounds cheesy, very 80s. And I used to watch Def Comedy Jam with my parents when I was like 11.
BARON: You watched Def Comedy Jam WITH your parents? What was that like?
MICHELLE: Every now and again weird. They had strange rules. We would have company over for dinner, and after dessert my father would tell everyone all these dirty jokes, but I'd have to leave. So I'd hide on the stairs and listen and crack up without them knowing. My mom would then call me down and force me to do an hour of George Carlin for the company, which was then capped off with my playing "The Schindler's List" theme on my violin. This is all true. Carlin's airplane routine was my standard go-to. I think I was 12.
BARON: So when did you first get up on stage and do stand up?
MICHELLE: I did humorous stuff in high school -- was very involved in speech team, or "forensics" to you insiders. The first time I officially did stand-up was in college, at Barnard. They had a thing (Barnard is an all women's school, where every event had something to do with the vagina) called "The Queens of Comedy!" and they asked me to open for them. Three of my friends came and there was an audience of three. I killed.
Continue reading "Una Conversacion Con Baron: with Michelle Collins
By: Baron Vaughn"
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November 17, 2006
Inside With: Olde English, Sketch Troupe
By: Elaina Fejes
Things are looking good when your videos run right off the web. For the past four years, Olde English has been developing a flourishing online fanbase with their vids, but one of their latest creations, "One Picture Every Day," made its way to unlikely places such as Good Morning America and Entertainment Weekly. We approached Olde English after their show at the UCBT last week to talk about the process and their presence.
After an intense stretch of shorts you produced this summer and fall, what can you tell us about writing for a live show compared to writing for the screen?
RAIZIN: What sucks about writing for the stage is it means you have to rehearse. When I direct a video, I can get a hundred different takes of every line and use the one that's the most not-crappy, throw some music over it, and boom, there's a sketch. In a live setting, the actors only get one chance to deliver their lines, so the odds are much higher you'll get one of the crappy takes, unless you rehearse the crap out of it. When you rehearse a sketch, that means reading it over and over again, until it's not even funny anymore and you start to think maybe the actors aren't crappy... maybe the line you wrote is crappy! THIS IS DANGEROUS. So instead, we put off rehearsing as long as possible and that way every performance is a surprise. If you go into a show well-prepared and confident, where's the thrill in that?
ADAM: I'll echo Raizin on this one, but more seriously. I think that often when working on a live show we'll leave more elements unplanned or unrehearsed than other groups would, simply because letting the moment happen spontaneously is often more successful than trying to force it with obsessive planning. Or maybe it's just because we hate rehearsing.
You have some devoted fans that visit your website regularly and leave brutally honest comments on your videos. Do you guys take those to heart? Do you have your fans in mind when you write?
BEN: We're thrilled when the fans like our videos, but we don't get shaken up when they don't. We always try to make comedy that's interesting to us. If we like the comedy we're making, we're happy.
ADAM: Frankly, I view "writing for the fans" as a temptation to be resisted. We often have to remind ourselves that the most vocal of our fans are also a small minority of our total audience--not to downplay the value of their opinions, because they are also often the most insightful--and that aiming to please them won't necessarily please the other 99% of casual viewers and first-time visitors. For instance, our more devoted fans tend to enjoy self-referential videos like "Raizin and Adam Live Together" or "Hidden Messages," because they play off of material they're full of in-jokes, which obviously don't mean much to everyone else. That's not to say that those videos aren't fun to make, of course.
Do you feel that the internet has given an advantage to groups such as yourselves who might not have had the forum in years past to do what you do?
RAIZIN: Yep!
BEN: For sure!
ADAM: Absolutely. Next question!
In the same vein, do you feel it's harder now for groups to find their own identity because of the accessibility and overpopulation of groups on the internet?
RAIZIN: I think we're very lucky in that we kind of caught the wave early. Now just about every comedy group has videos on their website, but when we started, it was mostly cartoons, or clips of TV shows. If we started posting our videos today, in the era of youtube, there's no way we'd become as popular as we have over the last four years. That said, I think we'd be even more popular if we had more videos about babies yawning, or cats falling off things. I'm always pushing for more cat videos.
ADAM: Definitely. "Gym Class" was a minor hit on the net a few years ago, but I doubt it would have done nearly as well now, simply because there's too much material out there that is frankly much better. We got incredibly lucky with "One Picture Every Day" on YouTube--there's plenty of equally great material other groups are putting up that goes ignored there, simply because the volume is so high. That's why our website will always be, in my mind, the real home for our material: if you follow a link to "One Picture" on our site, you know who we are--if you watch it on YouTube, it's just one of the fifty funny YouTube videos you watched today.
What do you think makes you stand apart from other comedy groups? Don't be modest.
ADAM: I'd say it's our lack of attention to any facet of life on Earth other than making comedy. Our apartments are filthy, our clothes are rags, and our girlfriends don't bother calling us anymore. We're also never content with any of our material, which is frustrating but productive.
DAVE: I'd say our ability to fill out complicated forms. When we come up with a device like the one for "Ben Take a Photo," we brainstorm until we've got more material than we could ever use. Then, we arrange the best pieces until we've got something that works and we fill it out with connections and argue over endings. I think it's that laborious process that makes us who we are.
What's next?
ADAM: We're currently looking into producing content for various online and traditional media companies, and doing our best to worm our way into the industry at the same time. I'd say more, but I'm of the opinion that telling people about a possible project you're working on is a surefire way to make sure it doesn't happen.
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November 16, 2006
Inside With: Jon Lovitz
By: Keith Huang
Jon Lovitz has nothing to prove. For nearly three decades, the 49-year-old native of California has built an illustrious career in film and sketch comedy, stopping occasionally along the way to act on Broadway and to sing at Carnegie Hall.
But lately, Lovitz has decided to give standup comedy a go; although he has experience hosting sets by his comic friends, Dennis Miller, Kevin Nealon and Victoria Jackson to name a few, Lovitz has finally worked up his nerves to go all-in behind the mic.
Lovitz, who has starred in more than 60 movies and television shows, is perhaps best known for his turn on Saturday Night Live where he played, among his many recurring characters, the Master Thespian, Hanukkah Harry and pathological liar Tommy Flanagan, whose line "Yeah, that's the ticket!" would eventually assume a life of its own in American pop culture. Moreover, Lovitz's voice is also famous, having breathed essence into Jay Sherman in the animated series The Critic, as well as eccentric multimillionaire Artie Ziff on The Simpsons.
The Apiary recently spoke to Lovitz from California about his new adventures in standup comedy, his humble beginnings with The Groundlings, and how he is responsible for, arguably, the most famous catchphrase in SNL history.
Is standup comedy going to be a fulltime gig now?
I plan on doing it for the rest of my life, but right now it's something I've been doing on the weekends. It's fairly new for me and I enjoy it.
So what can people expect--or not expect--in your standup routine?
I don't really do anything I did on Saturday Night Live. It's more of who I am now--just me and my opinions. I talk about sex, religion and politics. I make fun of Judaism, Catholicism, Scientology. I make fun of myself, my sex life, women -- I make fun of everybody. But the show is pretty silly. I'm really looking forward to doing it in New York. For me, personally, they'll probably be the best audience, and by best, I mean I know they'll get all my jokes.
When was the last time you lived in New York?
I guess during SNL from 1985 to 1990. And I was there for three months when I did The Stepford Wives. I travel back and forth [from Los Angeles], though.
You have a very accomplished career in sketch, voicework and comedy film. What made you decide to do standup now?
I actually wanted to do standup years ago. I used to do Woody Allen and Lenny Bruce routines in my college dorm. Years ago, I took a free workshop taught by this comedian out of The Comedy Store, but he said, "If you"re doing [standup] to get a job on a sitcom, don't waste your time--they're not hiring comedians for sitcoms." And I said, "Well, you'd think they would because you guys are funny." And he said, "Yeah, you'd think they would, but they're not." Well, I realized years later they just weren't hiring him. But I never really felt ready to do standup. When Dennis Miller and I were on Saturday Night Live, he'd take me to Catch a Rising Star and I'd get up onstage, but my heart would just be pounding through my chest, and I just never felt ready. But about two years ago, I guess, I just decided if I'm ever going to do this, I'm going to do it now.
On your Myspace blog, you spend a lot of time answering readers' questions about standup. Is this because you're still learning the craft?
Dane Cook told me about Myspace about a year and a half ago and how he helped use it to sell his albums--I'd never even heard of it. I decided to do that blog to give something back and help people with the one thing I know about, which is comedy. And I enjoy sharing what I know because I just think you should--I don't want to keep it a secret. So people just ask me questions and I try to answer them with what I know.
Tell me about your early days with The Groundlings in the '80s.
I first heard about The Groundlings when I was in my 20s when someone told me I should go see this guy Paul Reubens who was doing this character "Pee-Wee Herman." But I didn't really start taking classes there until five years later, mostly because I wanted to do straight acting first. But at the time I was also trying to overcome my fears of wanting to be a comedian but not being sure if I was funny enough. So I finally took class for a year and a half at this place called the Film Actors Workshop, then I was in New York for a year, but I wasn't getting any work, so I came back to Los Angeles because I thought had a better chance [getting work] here, as slim as it was.
So I started taking classes at The Groundlings, and I remember driving from this condo of a friend of mine where I was staying in Woodland Hills, which is in the valley, to Hollywood, where The Groundlings were, and I was just so scared that I was literally crying because I thought, "I'm putting everything on the line to be a comedian." Everyone at the time was telling me to quit acting and do something else, but I just knew that I wanted to do comedy.
What was your first class like?
When I took my first class, I was in Heaven. It was just this place for class clowns--everyone was really funny and smart. And instead of saying, "Quit goofing off," they were basically saying, "Well, if you're gonna goof off, then you goof off this way, or goof off that way." I just couldn't believe it because I always liked being funny and instead of getting in trouble for it, they were encouraging me. I liked my first class so much I took notes, and by the end, I had typed up the notes for all my classes and showed them to my teacher who couldn't believe it. My goal was to go there and get in the company, get seen and get work. But I never thought it would lead to Saturday Night Live. It never once crossed my mind.
How did you make a living back then?
I had a regular job at a clothing store and then I was a messenger. Everyone that was involved in that group wrote together and they partied together and hung out together. It was a very tight group.
Was this around the time you got to know Phil Hartman?
In 1984, Los Angeles hosted the Olympics and an Olympics Arts Festival. Part of that was the funding of nine theaters to put on shows. So they picked The Groundlings, and for that show they needed an understudy for one of the parts, so Phil suggested me. And so that's when I met him. But at that time, he was a legend at The Groundlings--the king of The Groundlings--because he was so talented and everybody liked him. He had tremendous charisma. And I remember when I first met him, I said, "Hi, Phil, I'm Jon Lovitz," and he said, "Yeah, I know who you are," and I said, "You do?" He goes, "Oh, sure, I've seen your work--you're great." And I just said, "Thanks for recommending me to understudy the part," and he goes, "Oh, sure, you'll be fantastic." And then he just walked on by, and I remember thinking, "Oh my God, Phil Hartman just spoke to me." That's how big a star he was to everybody. But you know, he was friendly to everybody, too, and he older was than everybody and he was the only guy who had money and a new car and a house. But I was always so grateful to him. He was like my older brother--he was just this guy who didn't know me, but was recommending me--it was the nicest thing in the world.
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By: Keith Huang"
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