Everybody Loves Hedberg
June 14, 2007 · Print This Article
We talk top 10 comics on Behind The Bricks today, and 2 names keep popping up, Steven Wright and Mitch Hedberg. Brian talks about why these 2 are so easy to love.
Listener topics include, the search for the next great hack, Brian recants his position on guitar acts (sort of), and are comics to blame for the shitty state of stand up?
Finally, a break down of items that are worth the extra mone, one great comic who is hanging them up and another who is set for life, and a listener requested stand up who will rant until he’s blue in the face. If you don’t think it’s funny, that’s your problem.
Email: brianmcomedy@gmail.com
Hahahaha,
Don’t worry B-mo, comedy speak is a website with news and interviews on stand up comedy. It’s got lots of pretty good interviews with top comedians (and Ralphie May), so I haven’t jumped ship………..don’t worry, you’re always my numero uno.
Nick
Glad to hear it Nick.
Did anyone catch the premier of Last Comic Standing las night? I’ll get into more on next week’s show, but so far I’m less angry than in previous years. I actually laughed out loud a few times at some comics I’d never seen before, and the number of big name comics they slipped in was far lower than in previous seasons (but seriously Arj Barker?). Let me know what you guys thought.
Looks like comedyspeak.com hasn’t updated in a loong time. Not that I have any right to complain, my podcasts are old, too.
I caught it, but only because my buddy Joe Devito was in the NY auditions (made it through to the next level). Another website already divulged who the 10 finalists were going to be, which kinda pissed me off. C’mon, people, put up some damn spoiler alerts!!!
You know, I LIKE both Hedberg and Wright, but I don’t think I’d put either of them in my all-time top 10… I always enjoy what I’m listening to when I hear new stuff and even have some of their albums, but that punchline-punchline-punchline style without really much else to it doesn’t replay very well for me. I’d actually classify both of them as observational comics… they just make really, really weird observations.
I tend to respond more to a fast but more conversational style, but still packed with jokes, so that the set feels like you’ve just hung out with the funniest new buddy you’ve ever met. Not a top 10, but a detailed top 5:
1. Patton Oswalt - like me, he’s a comic book nerd who loves comedy, movies, music, and pop culture in general, so every time I hear his stuff all I can think is that he’s as close as God will ever get to building a comedian that’s speaking directly to me. Plus, he’s got to have one of the smartest deliveries I’ve ever heard, throwing around obscure references and four syllable words just as freely as the four-letter ones, and all while maintaining an easygoing personality that avoids the smarminess of a Dennis Miller. I love Oswalt’s stuff so much he’s even ousted my long-time former #1,
2. Bill Hicks - God how I wish I wasn’t in middle school when this guy passed. I would have killed to see a live show. Smart, smart, smart… this guy was the Lewis Black of his day, but with a lot fewer predictable punchlines. Another comic with a perfect turn-of-phrase who not only refused to dumb down his act, if you didn’t get it he spewed vitriol and otherwise oozed loathing at you and dared to ask, “Goddammit, why aren’t you smarter?” Even despite having a relatively repetitive recorded output and having been gone for a good 14 odd years now, I can still get turn the uninitiated into Hicks fans with less than 5 minutes from any given track on any given album.
3. Dave Attell — I agree with Bmo, this guy might be the funniest man who ever lived. I’ve never seen a comic make dick n’ fart jokes into an intellectual enterprise, but Attell gets it done…. not with big words or obscurity, but with pitch perfect delivery, rapid-fire wit, and an unrelenting edge that teeters just on the brink of the bizarre. Just when you think the bit’s over and you’ve heard every great punchline he can squeeze out of it, he’ll plow ahead with an ending that’s so funny you realize everything else you’ve been crapping your pants over has just been foreplay. I love this guy, and wish to Christ he’d do some new stuff soon.
4. Chris Rock - Not only do I agree that Bring the Pain was the best hour of stand-up ever done, but his follow-up specials haven’t been slackers either. I’m probably right with the rest of the world in thinking that after his failed and boring stint on SNL that Rock would disappear, but he not only came back stronger than ever, he proved once again just how adept SNL is at wasting talent by changing the face of comedy for the past decade. Far from being revolutionary in subject matter, Rock still won back mainstream attention from the Seinfelds and Romanos to the side of raw, frank, and socially relevant comedy.
5. Dave Chappelle - you’re probably wondering why he’s so high on my list, but I actually feel like I have to explain why he’s so low… the guy just can’t seem to find the focus for an unbelievable amount of raw talent. His stand-up ranges from completely brilliant to borderline retarded, and that lack of consistency keeps him from being a #1 or #2… but this guy has got to be one of the funniest people alive right now, and if someone could just slip him a little ritalin I think we might be in business. Still, he’s got to have a top spot for me just for Killin’ ‘em Softly.
Hon. mention — Yeah. Carlin. My first comedy love. I saw him live a few months ago, and he can still command an audience… so he’s not as funny as he used to be, guy’s 69 and still touring the country with new material every year.
in refrence to audiances i think i should bring up something i once heard about Bill Hicks. You all probably know, but i’ll tell you again, that Hicks was very political but had a tendency to play in some of the most redneck clubs on earth. most people wouldent call the ex president bush senior a “child of satan” and call the gulfwar “a war fought by christian crusaders to try to destroy “sand niggers”". some heavy shit. at one show an audiance member pointed a gun at him and threatened to blow his brains out.( i should note that the legend goes that hicks walked to the guy with the mike, pressed his forehead against the barrel of the gun, and continued with his act). in another incident he made jokes about the vietnam war and after the show two vietnam vets jumped him outside, worked him over and broke one of his legs. Man, talk about violatile audiances, eh.
I only caught the Montreal auditions on LCS, but I can already tell that this season is going to piss me off less than last season. I actually had some legitimate laughs during the show. I thought Deanne Smith’s (the one who, as I read somewhere, looked like Harry Potter’s sister) jokes were very well written but her delivery was very self conscious, I’m guessing that will work itself out since she’s only been doing stand up for two years. I thought one of the low spots of the highlighted comedians was the woman who made it through who did all the lonely-woman-with-a-cat jokes. I was also surprised by the gorilla guy (talk about a hook, but at least if he takes the suit off he could start over again as though he were a new comedian), I thought he would be thrown out in seconds but I actually thought he was amusing.
I was generally pleased with the judges this time. Alonzo Bodden and Kathleen Madigan were two of my favorites who were ever on the show. Ant is… well Ant… but I was just surprised that they let him do anything on television besides VH1 countdown shows. I can’t imagine how hard it is to sit there and listen to 2 minutes of material from every person within a three hour radius who believes they can become a star off some old knock-knock jokes, but I thought they generally seemed to show good taste in who they let through.
All in all I’m actually sort of looking forward to seeing this year’s show.
Great points Brandon. The only disagreement I have is with the judges. I don’t believe comics should be the judges, because they’re too selfish. There were many times that they would interupt, almost heckle, the comics while they were performing. Even though the douchebags from the first 3 seasons were, well, douchebags, I felt they were more impartial than another comic.
I have to admit that I was not really paying attention to the impartiality of the judges, I tended to focus on who was more entertaining on the show and when compared to Brett Butler and Drew Carey, I’d pick Bodden and Madigan every time. In the past to me, the judges have been more of an afterthought and this time I thought they actually contributed to the show, of course that probably did come at the expense of them being actual “judges”.
I’ll give you that Brandon. Those other 2 guys may be impatial, but they definitely brought nothing to the table in terms of entertainment.
For all of you LCS fans, Dylan Gadino from punchlinemagazine.com will be on the Thursday show and he’s been doing a live blog while watching the show. If you have any questions please post them here.
hey i dont know if you guy talked about this all ready or not but today i went and saw the movie with dane cook in it. I did think he played his part well we was sorra of a mess up dude but him antics from his comdey rotine fit well in the moive. he wont win any thing for his preformace but for (what i think) is his frist moive he did not do bad.
Bring the Pain is probly the best hour of stand up ever recorded so I’m glad you mentioned that becaouse that’s what I think when ever I see it. I don’t like LCS it’s just like that impression show the stand up is the same every other week the comedians don’t change there act, which I get you can’t come up with eight minutes of funny material every other week, but after a while it just gets to repetitive for me. I wached the NYC part and they passed on a comedian named Victor Varnado he was the black ablino he is one of my favorite under the radar comedians,so then I just changed the channel way to go LCS.
Hi Brian,
Mate (DONT DO IT), have a chemical castrastion!, Kids are great but but if you like doing your own thing, gambling, drinking, gambling, and some more gambling etc, forget it as theres no breast feeding at the poker table !
I live in Omaha, NE and there isn’t a whole lot of stage time available here and want very badly to move to another city in the midwest in the next year or two. Any thoughts on what citys are great for getting stage time. I know Chicago is probably the best choice(maybe?) but I don’t know much about the other big cities scenes.
I’m not judging the guy, and it sucks that he’s dead, but was he on drugs on stage? Check out this clip from Letterman.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LDxBUoCN6MQ
There’s a debate below the clip, but it’s just a bunch of tools from youtube.
I know from watching many sets by Hedberg that he definitely performed in various states of conciousness. It’s hard to believe he would do Letterman high, but then again, I’ve never done heroine, so I can’t say for sure.
Has anyone checked out Brian Regans new special on Comedy Central? I thought it was o.k., and I believe it was because I went into it remembering how original and funny his last special was. Maybe my expectations were too high, I don’t know. Don’t get me wrong, there were several laugh out loud moments, but as a whole I would give it a solid 7 out of ten.
Sorry I haven’t been on the boards much lately, but work has picked up and we had a screw up happen that has consumed a lot of time to get straightened out. When I don’t post, I still read.
As far as Hedburg performing high, I believe that most comedians who use drugs, rather for recreation or out of addiction, have performed high at least once in their career…. just my two cents.
STOOD UP IN VEGAS!!!
I brought recording equipment and a Stand Up Orlando T-Shirt all the way out to Sin City only to be told by B-Mo “I’m working.” Right away I thought, “Mother fucker, I know you don’t have a job!” So tune in to the next Stand Up Orlando for a new contest called “Win Brian’s T-Shirt.”
I saw when I got back that the World Series of Poker was going on while I was there. So anyway… Give me your address and I’ll mail you the shirt.
I was going to suggest Stanhope, not only one of MY favorites but if you look at MySpace pages for top comics, he’s consistantly in their Top 8. He’s the definition of a comic’s comic. Two things, though, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have a kid and I know that he is still married (technically), but it was such a brief encounter that he doesn’t even remember her name and therefore can’t get a divorce. He talked about it on Stern.
Ryan Valeriano
Host/Producer Stand Up Orlando Comedy Podcast
Some names in my top favorites that weren’t at all mentioned in the show I don’t think. Louis C.K.!!!! Brian Regan, Doug Stanhope, Ricky Gervais, Maria Bamford (love her!), Jonathan Katz (somethin about him I love), Demetri Martin. I know that this was about all-time comics, and these are mostly “now” comics, but just wanted to throw out the names.
I jsut remmemred I saw Hedberg live a few years before he died at the Tampa Improv. He was very funny, but he was really, really drunk and/or high that night. He came up with two glassess of vodka and orderd two more about halfway through the show. At one point it seemed he needed to prompted from someone in the audience becasue he kind of drifted off a bit. It was kind of funny however when he ended his set. He pounds the drinks he has and says something like this glass is empty..this glass is empty…sets over. Again he was really funny that night but his self destructive habits were pretty obvious that night.