God, I would have killed tonight if all 300 people in the crowd weren’t all so much dumber than me.
Topics on the day include washing your balls to make a good first impression, coming out later in life, turning down work to move up the comedy ladder, why some gigs aren’t worth the stage time, and finally a woman who says the word cunt without whispering. Sometimes when we touch, the honesty’s too much.
Email: brianmcomedy@gmail.com and give us a call on 206-203-4692
It’s been 12 hours without any comments?
Well, I for one thought you did a great job Brian. Such a lovely young man…
great episode brian! love the new day of the week, for some reason it seems like less of a wait.. but that makes no sense.
I wanted to check in with three possible quick topics generated out of my recent successes in ‘movin’ up the food chain’ locally (booked on “pro” section of pro-am night, woo! also I cracked the ten minute mark for the first time).
1) You’ve talked about recording a set; do you think it is a good idea to keep the physical setlist, noting the date/venue/etc? A comic friend of mine does this, puts little notes on the sheet, etc. I see his point, but DAMN that seems like a lot of work.
2) A friend of mine who has seen me a few times loves to comment after I’m done that she “would be so good, like AMAZING, at standup if she ever got around to it.” Finally, I signed her up for an open mic. Am I cruel?
3) Comedy is so cliquey! In town, I feel like there are two or three groups of standups that hang out and relate like they were in highschool — the cool kids, the losers, the arty crowd. Am I better off trying to be friends with everyone, or is there a strategic element to who I hang out with?
Bingo! Hurrah.
ddd
2) No! That’s awesome! either she’ll sink or swim. if she swims, hurrah! You’ve got a new comic as a friend. If she sinks there are two options, either she’ll have eaten shit and go, I can do it next time, and bamn! you’ve got a new comic as a friend, or she’ll say, wow, that’s too hard to do. and then bamn! you’ve got a person who appreciates what you do.
Whether you want a new comic as a friend instead of a sycophant depends on how narcissitic you think you are.
I’d like to share my best eat-shit experience… I was at a local open mic place where it’s pretty much just comics ignoring each other waiting for the five minutes they paid $5 to do (yes, it really sucks)… Anyway, everything I had bucketed… they didn’t just not like my stuff, they weren’t even paying attention… even the guy in the first row I tried to riff with turned around and started talking to his buddy rather than respond to me…
It was the most liberating thing ever… I went out to my car, tore up all my notebooks and started from a completely blank page… it got rid of all the dead wood stuff I’d created in the first few months and let me create all new stuff…
I think of comedy as a binge/purge thing where the comedy gods knock you down before they let you move up a step… down one, up two, down one, up two… it helps to keep you humble.
Important Topic: Important Things with Demetri Martin. I couldn’t find a straight video of the episode, but comedy central has clips (http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/important_things/index.jhtml)
I’m not gonna lie: I really like Demetri Martin and I enjoyed his first episode. It was kind of inconsistent and rocky, but I think as they figure out what works, it’ll just get better.
P.S.- Love the new site. It’s slick like a slip-and-slide.
Definitely see your point about Demetri Martin’s show… by the end I liked it, but for a second there I was really worried that the Rave sketch was going to be indicative of the rest of show. I felt he pulled it off though.
So here’s a question: what’s the best way to confront someone about them possibly stealing material? It’s not always obvious if it’s an honest mistake or outright stealing, anyone have some experience with this?
I liked the Rave sketch. I thought the show as a whole was very funny (the second rave sketch was overkill, though).
Was that Joe Starr in the Rookie Cop bit? Anyway, I’m neither here nor there about Demitri. I think his material is pretty well written, just never got into his act. None of the clips on the site hooked me.
yeah, I think that as I get more distance from my initial viewing of the show, I become more objective. I feel like Demetri Martin’s material was forced into an awkward format and that the ADHD cutting of his jokes destroyed his otherwise funny flow. Basically, I just want to watch him do stand-up, not dick around with everything else.
I have a hard time believing the show will have a very long life. Demetri’s comedy has always struck me as the “shine twice as bright/last half as long” type. I know Flight of the Conchords had a hard time writing new songs and coming up with new concepts for their second season, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it became difficult for Important Things to last a long time.
Thought I should share this:
I posted a link to this week’s show on the Uk comedy site Chortle, thinking Brian’s excellent advice on bombing and stage time would be of great interest to fledgling comedians, and also hoped it would get some new regular listeners.
The thread has gotten nearly 400 hits, but a couple of people expressed concern at the show’s content. One guy even described the show as:
” starts midly homophobic, gets interesting, ends up aggressively racist.”
Its a pity they’ve missed the irony in Brian’s anecdote about his school friend coming out. And I assume the racist bit refers to the Lisa Lampanelli clip. I’ve politely tried explaining that BMo plays clips requested by listeners and doesn’t necessairily like the comedian in question himself (plus it was the gay guy who wanted to hear Lampanelli in the first place).
I just hope these oversensitive people realise Brian’s a good guy and give the show another listen! Hopefully the “gets interesting” comment about the stage advice means they’re impressed enough to do so.
Thanks for spreading the word my friend. I’ve been called worse things than mildly homophobic. Funny that someone who frequents comedy message boards and listens to a comedy podcast can’t recognize a joke. But at least they gave it a listen.
It’s the language barrier. They didn’t pick up on the sarcasm and irony.
” It’s the language barrier. They didn’t pick up on the sarcasm and irony.”
Absouloutely. From now on never let any Brit say it’s Americans who are the ones that don’t get irony!
Chortle poster Scottish Sarah says about the Lampnaelli clip ” It is still racist and it is still not funny… it does not matter if someone asked for it. It was a shame because the show was interesting but I won’t be listening again.”
Sheesh. I’m baffled why someone can hear Brian’s sagely words on stand-up for the first time and admit finding it interesting, but be put off listening to him again because they didn’t like the featured comedian. What’s there to say other than Fuck ‘em If They Can’t Take A Joke?
I think that the reaction to you plugging Behind the Bricks would have been less harsh if your user name hadn’t been Bricksguy Ricardo.
I know you’re totally aware of this already, but, Chortle is volatile at the best of times, (which is why I lurk more than post) and talking trash is one of their main pass times, but fuck do they hate self promotionals that pretend to be otherwise.
Still, fuck ‘em.
I used the name Bricks Bloke purely to plug the podcast – I didn’t want to use my own name as I was worried trolls on Chortle I’d previously had flaming fests with would just trash BTB if they saw my name supporting it.
But even by Chortle’s cold-hearted standards, I’m gobsmacked how quickly the thread became so cynical. If some of the posters found this weeks BTB distasteful, I’d love to play them an episode of Nobody Likes Onions – the content would probably make their oversensitive heads implode.