It’s the day after a long holiday weekend, so don’t expect Brian to work to hard.
Topics on the day include crowbaring comedy into new years eve, keeping your jokes to yourself, stand up between music and poetry, and why living off the grid is the stupidest idea ever. Garden State? Ever been to Elizabeth?
Email: brianmcomedy@gmail.com and give us a call on 206-203-4692
I did a New Year’s Eve show at RumRunners Comedy Club in St. Cloud, Minnesota. It was the worst experience of my life. Some of it had to do with the fact that it was New Year’s Eve and the crowd was extremely antsy, eager to get downstairs and celebrate the ball dropping. But 85% of it was that I just wasn’t funny.
It’s a VERY weird atmosphere for NYE shows; the show started at 9 and you could tell the crowd honestly just wanted to get out of that room and get WASTED.
It was also my first time staying in a non-hotel Comedy Condo. That… that was an altogether different story.
I’d like to clarify: Worst COMEDY experience of my life. Did well the first 3 minutes, closed well, but the time in-between (I featured) was r-o-u-g-h to say the least.
Brian, I’d like to request Larry the Cable guy. he is my favorite comic. You are the one that challenges us to check out Stand up comedy. Well, I took your challenge and watched several comedians and several comedians were so bad I wanted to destroy my television, Because the comedians were completely horrible,but after I suffered at your challenge. I found Larry the cable guy and I absolutely love him. He is widely ignored by behind the bricks just, because you do not like him. Everyone has different styles of comedy and i f you want to encourage people to check out Stand up comedy you should have all types of comedy.. not just Brian’s favorites.
If that doesn’t persuade you..I nominated you Brian Mollica for the JTS hall of fame. I backed B-Mo please play my comic!
If anybody is in the Los Angeles area in the coming week I’m doing my open mic at the Smiles Nightclub in Sherman Oaks on Wednesday… I’ve got 23 comics on my roster, but if email that you’re a board member I’ll open up a premium spot on the list for you.
If you’ve always wanted to do standup and never had the chance, come an hour before the show and I’ll give you some pointers on mic technique and how not to choke and I’ll find a sweet spot where I can give you a softball intro and make your first time rock. I love poppin’ cherries on my stage.
Brian May… It’s a restaurant… so perhaps a “tails from the comedy dinner” segment? If nothing else there’s no cover, ½ price food and beer until 10:00PM, and a hot bartender… Where’s the downside?
8:30PM on Wednesday January 7th
Smiles Nightclub
13615 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
There’s a new open mic in Des Moines. Our old standby, Comedy Splash @ Billy Joe’s Pitcher Show, is closing in February. The last show there is February 5. The week after it closes, a brand-new one will open at AK O’Connor’s in downtown Des Moines. It will be run by myself and a fellow comic, Jerad Cherniss.
Comedy on Court
@ AK O’Connor’s
216 Court Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50317
If you are ever in the area and want stagetime, lemme know. Just e-mail me at joelfry@cornstarcomedy.com, we’ll hook you up.
There is a WHOLE lot of fun stuff going on with this open mic, including holding a comedy contest affiliated with the open mic at a music concert hall in June. No news on amount of cash prizes or anything, but the people we are working with to bring this open mic to Des Moines are very receptive and fun. Wish I was in CA, Dennis, I’d pick up on your open mic in an instant!
Congrats on the new room, Joel. Comedy needs more people with the initiative to make things happen. And “CornStar?” Clever. I like it.
I have a new blog on the subject of DIY comedy at my new-ish and improved-ish site (with a link to Stanhope’s 2007 blog on the subject at the end – very entertaining). I’d be interested in all of your takes on the subject.
D.I.Y. comedy is necessary right now. The Des Moines Funny Bone s-u-c-k-s at promoting, developing, nourishing, or even acknowledging the local comics in Des Moines. They don’t even have an open mic, for goodness sake. That’s why we’ve all had to band together and book shows ourselves and for each other. Calling on everyone’s behalf, setting up shows at rinky-dink bars for $250 to be divided up amongst three comics (or door shows, which I will never again do unless I have total creative control of the show).
What this has done, though, is forced us to write a greater quantity of material so we can fill a 75-minute show. I feel that if we just had an open mic at the Funny Bone, then everyone would be competing against each other to get the best 5-to-10 minutes they can have just so they can graduate to being an MC. Then they’d try out new stuff there, instead of just at the open mic, and the other guys could develop an every-person-for-themselves mentality, like exists in several comedy clubs like Penguins in Cedar Rapids.
Booking shows for each other, I think, makes us better, faster out of necessity. We have to get a quality 30-minute set just to survive, and we have to stick together and develop camaraderie for the same reason. I feel lucky because all the people who do stand-up in Des Moines are down-to-Earth guys who call each other up to go grab some chicken wings and watch TV at everyone’s house. Hell, I recently needed a place to live, and my buddy Marc who does stand-up offered to have me move in with him after his old roomie, who also did stand-up, moved out.
So yeah, I like the DIY method of marketing, booking, and creating a viable comedy product.
One of the clubs I started at has the questionable policy of not using local comics to feature, only emcee. I know a lot of clubs do this, but I don’t get it. No one knows who the feature acts are anyway, and it makes it harder for newer guys to move up to emcee work. Then a headliner told the GM that the emcee that night (who is very funny) should be featuring, so the GM moved him up, which caused some bristling, of course.
And lately there have been club closings: Jokeboys in Ocala, FL, Wiseacres in VA and a couple others. I know it happens frequently, and new clubs do crop up, but then the backlog of comics with fall-outs makes it difficult for newer comics to get the bookers’ attention. So DIY shows are sometimes the only way to cut your teeth.
Comedy Central is holding a “Stand-up Showdown.” You can vote for the top comedians and they will be featured in a marathon later this month. At least, that’s the gist of what I gathered from my Comedy Central e-mail. I wasn’t impressed with the comedians on the home page when I clicked on the link, so I didn’t go any further. However, for those who are interested:
http://comedians.comedycentral.com/standup-showdown
After a rough fall, I’m back on board, I hope. I kind of didn’t feel very funny after losing my mother less than a year after losing my dad, so I’ve been listening, just not posting. However, with a new year comes new resolve, and another semester of teaching my comedy class, so I’m excited for what lies ahead.
Here’s for a very funny 2009.
Dan T. – Wiseacres was what I considered my “home club” for open mics for awhile, sad to see it go.
Welcome back, Grammar-Nazi. I am sorry 2008 was so tough.
Re: non-comedy open mics
I get what you’re saying, Brian, but I think the greatest strength of a non-comedy open mic is the lack of other comics. If you have the stage presence for it, you can perform in front of regular people.
Non-comedy open mics have gotten me tons of gigs, and bulked up my mailing list by giving me exposure to people who don’t think they like stand-up. It takes balls, but it makes balls, too.
kind of random but I saw the movie Comedian recently. It’s the one where Jerry Seinfeld throws out all of his old material and kind of follows him trying to get a new act together and trys to like show the life of a standup comedian. Anyways I thought it was interesting and was wondering if any of ya’ll saw it and what ya’ll thought of it.
Last night’s open mic went great! We started the show at 8:00PM and had 20 comics go up. The audience was probably 80% civilians and they laughed pretty much all through. Since it’s a restaurant/bar rather than a club we had a constant stream of people and the room stayed fresh until almost the very end.
I’m really having fun with it.
eschmiel– I saw Comedian, and I also saw Jerry Seinfeld’s “I’m Tellin’ Ya for the Last Time,” which is a must see _before_ Comedian. I thought they were both awesome. I know BMo doesn’t like Seinfeld too much, but he has always been one of my comedy idols.
I really liked it. I admired the pure dedication the man puts into what he does, especially juxtaposed next to that Orny Adams loser. You could definitely see the difference between Sienfeld, who focused on the material, and Adams who focused on just about everything else. And when Adams did focus on the material, it was simply a vehicle to get to the next big step. Seinfeld didn’t worry about the steps, and just kept walking.
However, and I’m sorry if I’m longwinded, but I watched it with Jay Black, and he pointed out that, while the points were good, no one–NO ONE–but Seinfeld could walk into Caroline’s on a Saturday night, on a whim to do a 20 minute set. And we don’t all drive BMWs to get to get to our next completely sold out theater show.
I watched Comedian, about a year ago. It was entertaining and interesting. The best part is seeing the comedians just hanging out and talking about shows and this and that. I kind of wish they could have shown a different comedian trying new material and working on stand up, instead of Seinfeld… for the reasons stated… Seinfeld one of the biggest names. If you can go on stage as fast as you can come up with material… that’s a big help to polishing the material quickly. But then again, it would be difficult to market a movie like this without a big name…
I need to watch it again, now that I’ve had a small taste of doing stand up.
I didn’t really care for Orny Adams at first, but tried to understand his plight. His comedy didn’t really hit my funny bone… but didn’t really have anything against the guy. That was until he started whining and complaining and said “where is he now?” about Steven Wright… ugh… what a swirl of ignorance and arrogance…
As for D.I.Y comedy… I’m on the very frayed edges of the business of comedy right now… but from what I can see this is the only viable way to go in my area. (Milwaukee, WI)
I can’t even recall any of the comedians I’ve hung out with working at the few comedy clubs in the area. Just bars and whatnot…
Stop raping me with all this typing fuckers.
Where is the show.
Sooo… did B-Mo just claim the title of “Fastest New Year’s Resolution Broken Ever?”
Got in around midnight, poured a cheap cabernet, went to BTB and…no show. 2009 is totally ruined now.
thats it, lets put our own show on. That’ll show that dick.
ha ha, we’ll feel so bad if his kid’s in hospital or something.
It’s cool guys, I mean it’s not like I have Chemo EVERYDAY. Actually I just dropped the ball. Looks like I can only miss 1 more show the rest of the year or my resolution is busted. Way to pace yourself fucko. New show next week all. Please continue discussing comedy amongst yourselves!
But I see TAI went out on time. Admit it, Brian, you like whores better than you like comedy!
If anyone is in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area, the Comedy Cabaret opened up a new club in a restaurant called Casa Carollo. you can go to comedycabaret.com for details. The owner and manager are really good about new talent, and they’re willing to give people a shot. Email me, clkuski at yahoo dot com if you’re interested, I’ll shoot you through the right people.
And if you want to come out to a show, the local comedians are usually pretty good, and in NJ we can’t enforce a 2 drink minimum.
I’ve mentioned our little open mic in LA a few times. It’s been very successful, with a growing audience of civilians to perform in front of. This week we’re going to change things up a little bit… I booked a dozen comics who are all “of a certain age” and we’re going to do a themed show we’re going to call “The Baby Boomers of Comedy”… I have no idea what to expect, but I’m looking forward to seeing if it brings out an audience.
I’ve learned how to bring out the comics, and we’ve been lucky to have an audience each week, but I’d like to have confidence that things don’t turn into a room full of nothing but comics waiting for their turn to go up (‘cause we all know how much that sucks).
I’m sending emails to a list the club has compiled, but never used. I’m posting something on Craig’s list and I’m asking my comics to forward an electronic flyer I created with the show information.
What are some other ways to promote your show? That’s a question that might be show worthy…
I’ve been burning through these past episodes like a chain smoker off the wagon, I’m up to 4 pods a day and down to August 2007. But it helps me stay at my desk during my job therefore strengthening the economy, it’s all-good.
I have a few questions regarding comedy festivals. I’ve never attended one but would like to try to check some out this year. What goes on at a comedy festival, how are they run, what are the schedules like, and how do you go about getting stage time?
I’ve also been inspired by this show and a few non-comedy shows to start my own podcast. Another comedian and I have been kicking around the idea of starting a comedy duo so we decided to get our feet wet in cyberspace. Right now we are putting down the concept and trying to figure out which direction we want to take it and technical issues. So far it’s been pretty exciting but time consuming!
Dennis: Sounds like you have some great ideas for spreading the word about your show. “Drink Specials” always brings out a crowd. Talk to the room manager and see what he is doing to help promote the show. Does the place have a website?
I know if it is a good room, word of mouth will spread like wild-fire, but mostly among comedians so if you don’t want to have a room full of comedians then you may have to set some rules.
I got a chance to see Jimmy Fallon in Vegas last Friday on one of his standup dates (to practice for taking over from Conan in March). The show was pretty good overall – There was a good balance of songs/impressions and actual standup. He also brought his opening act (Wayne Federman) back on stage to do some comedy together at the end of the show, which made me wonder if Wayne is going to be involved in the TV show as well – Wayne is a musician too.
The part that surprised me was there was no topical humor – I would have thought that is what he would have been practicing in order to do a monologue every night. He did do something very cool to close out the show. He talked about how the theater (The Joint and the Hard Rock Hotel) had been hosting standup shows for 25 years, and proceeded to do a 10 second impression of each of the big names that ever performed there. That included Seinfeld, Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, and lots more.
My only major complaint about the show (and the reason I don’t like seeing big names live) is that they don’t draw well-behaved audiences. A good chunk of the crowd stood around talking while Wayne Federman was on stage, and during Jimmy’s set they’d yell out punchlines before he said them.
Hey Marc…
I spread the word pretty quickly amoung the comics… I’ve had so may ask to perform that I’ve got the next three weeks fully booked with not one repeat. That’s 16-18 comics per night, three nights… Gotta love the LA scene…
— D
whoo, i never wanna go three weeks without internet ever again. i appreciate my joke being featured. actually that joke might become an essay im writing for a freinds blog, but more on that later. and i agree that i did sound like i was saying “black guy”, which would be great if i were lisa lampenelli, unfourtanetly im straight which has resulted in one hell of a sexual dry spell. god i hope i didnt peak at 17. it seems that whenever i talk i seem a little bit drunk. damn none of the booze and all of the consequences