Come on sparky, it’s time to go see mama.
Topics on the day include beastiality, changing art forms instead of writing new jokes, convenience stores, Tony begins to put the pieces of his comedy set together, knowingly alienating half of the country and cock fights. Mmm smoothies.
Email: brianmcomedy@gmail.com
I’m no comic, but just listening to Tony develop his bit has been really fascinating to me. I think it’s a great segment.
As a listener (and, again, NO comic), my point of curiosity about the story and what I’d like to hear Tony get into a bit more is, what is it that makes seeing Finding Nemo in the hooker’s room so weird? Because I think that if he had seen a different movie sitting there like, I dunno, Love Actually, it wouldn’t have been as strange or funny.
So I’d be interested to hear more on that point… is it because it’s kind of a children’s movie, and imagining someone pounding cock all night and then popping in a cartoon and eating a bowl of Cap’n Crunch is hilarious?
Or maybe you wanted to lock in on her shitty taste in movies… like, “Man, I wasn’t expecting Citizen Kane, but seeing I’d just fucked someone who liked that crap movie kinda made me want to ask for my money back. It felt like I’d been tricked. (Which I guess I had *rim shot*)”
I agree that it’s really weird and funny, I just need you to tell me why. That’s the tag I’m looking for when I’m listening to the bit.
Really looking forward to more!
As for Bill Maher, I guess I’d disagree that what he does is particularly ballsy, and my own politics skew more to his side than the other. I think he’s at a point now where people know what they’re in for when they go to his shows, so he’s pretty much preaching to the choir… in the clip Brian played, he had to calm the audience down with an “Alright, this isn’t a rally.” That’s kinda what his shows feel like to me, like the leftist comic they brought in to make jokes about Republicans at the Democrat’s convention.
At some point, I think you’re just saying things you know your audience is going to agree with, which is the opposite of ballsy to me. It’s not like he’s doing his act on the Blue Collar Tour or something. Maybe I’m missing where you’re coming from though, Brian.
I agree there’s no sin in Tony switching the movie. The truth matters more than the facts. But listening to that again I thought maybe there’s a connection between Finding Nemo and the old saw, “There’s plenty of fish in the sea.” Dunno what the joke is, but run with it.
As for Maher, I’m also on his page politically, for the most part, and do not like his stand-up. I was thinking about this when checking out some clips from Jamie Kilstein, a young dude who does lefty political material almost exclusively. Again, I agree with him, and again, I don’t care to watch it. I think maybe the fact our politics are similar is the problem. The jokes might be good, but the point-of-view is all too familiar. It’s no easy to write good, original material, but I think it is easy to pick a side that already exists.
I do think it’s important, though, to be true to yourself and bring your audience to you rather than try to appeal to everyone (you never will anyway). The problem with that – if you’re not already a headliner – is managing that AND getting work.
I think you have to be true to yourself…BUT the job of comedian is to be entretain and make people laugh. If you want to preach then become a polititian or a preacher. Otherwise as comic you can’t disreguard your audience.
Also Brian hit a great point on comedians who don’t change material. There are many headliners who keep same set year after year after year. I ussually only watch then twice. You need to continually create new material and keep it fresh for you and your audience. I can see how you can get “bored” with stand up if you don’t continue to expand your material.
Tony and Brian the workshop is fantastic I am looking forward to the next installment. What I really like about the brothel story are the parts that crash you back to a stark reality from a sort of fantasy world of sex to the dick check, nemo and broken bed.
Some things in comedy just go together like Jerry Lewis and France and Bill Maher and his supporters. There must be some attraction other than comedy. I love political humor and some of the most brilliant and funniest acts I have ever seen had scathing bits against Thatcher, Reagan and Bush. It’s not Bill Maher’s constant bashing of conservatives like me that I do not like it’s his pathetic juvenile approach. I think Bill Maher is a stupid moron but repeating that over and over again doesn’t make it funny.
While I agree that there is nothing particularly risky about what Maher himself does (as he has the benefit of performing to “his” audience anytime he’s on stage), but what about in a more general sense. If an unknown comic takes the stage and does the kind of act that Maher does. Is that a good idea on any level, to knowingly alienate half the population?
Brian, Jamie Kilstein is that unknown guy, perhaps. I’d be interested in your and others’ reactions to him. I think a big part of what allows comics like him, Maher, and the original Dennis Miller to succeed with political material is their delivery and demeanor. None of them really come off as angry, though Maher would probably appear condescending to an audience that didn’t already like him.
We’ve all seen our fair share of open mike guys who try to do the lefty political thing and bomb because they seem more angry about the issues they’re talking about than enthusiastic about their material.
I like Bill Maher and really enjoyed the clip.
I’m left-leaning too, and find the dilemma of enjoying a comedian who’s politically conservative tricky , mainly because I can’t think of many funny right-wing stand-ups.
I love cinema and have no problem enjoying a film with a right-wing agenda as long as it’s well made, like Dirty Harry or The Deer Hunter. I can also respect and enjoy Conservative actors like Charlton Heston for being brilliant in movies like Ben Hur , Touch Of Evil and Planet Of The Apes.
But to be a Conservative Comedian seems a contradiction IMHO – like Christian Heavy Metal, or non-alcoholic wine. What’s the point? You’re taking all the fun out the thing that made it fun in the first place!
I always associate the comic with the image of the court jester – the one person who was allowed to act silly and make fun in the court of the King without being beheaded.
If you’re Conservative, you’re likely to hold religious and patriotic beliefs that immediately stop you making fun of God or Country, which is a serious drawback for any modern age court jester.
Conservative comedians are the same as Christian rock ‘n’ roll bands in that they’re out there performing somewhere – but they’re never gonna be George Carlin or the Rollin’ Stones are they?
Howdy, howdy… I am a subscriber from TAI and started listening to BTB because I was Jonesing (Spelling?) for more. I have to say I am really enjoying this podcast as well. The Tony project is really fun and I am looking forward to hearing the end product. Bill Maher…. sorry this episode ended early for me, I am a righty and as such it is my sworn duty to dislike this man. I cant really say for sure since I am biased, but I really think if I was left leaning I still wouldnt appreciate his humor.
Thanks again for the excellent podcasts (Both BTB and TAI) you are putting out.
Had a small suggestion for Tony…you mentioned in your story “once you’ve picked out your piece of meat,”…
Maybe a decent segue into the “how do you break the ice?” would be to liken it to picking out a steak from the butcher case. Everyone stands in front of the butcher case meticulously picking out just the right cut of beef (when the reality is, they’re all the same anyway, and all gonna taste the same), only at the butcher case you don’t have to follow up the anxiety of second guessing whether you picked the right steak by then having to talk to it.
…or something like that. Just throwing it out there.
Also, just thinking out loud (er…on print), maybe the way to tie it all up is to continually highlight the awkwardness of the situation…highlighting the unsettling anxiety as you move through these different phases, and than at the end, wrap it all with “and as she was surveying the wreckage, I noticed her DVD shelf, and I took a look through her collection (who wouldn’t?). That’s when I finally felt like everything was gonna be alright, and I knew I had made the right choice. Because any brothel hooker that has “________________” in her DVD collection is not only the right choice, she’s the only choice.” (Whether you go Nemo, or something more ridiculous….ever season set of 7th Heaven…what have you.)
I used to really enjoy Bill Maher when he had Politically Incorrect and thought he was done dirty when that was taken off the air for his statement that the 9/11 hijackers were not cowards. And I loved Ricardo’s comment comparing conservative standups to non-alcoholic wine. I’ve beaten this aspect to death (why can’t conservatives be funny standups) a while back, but wnated to mention that although I liked Maher before 9/11, I don’t find his stuff or shows funny now, and I don’t think it’s my politics, I think his bits are all just easy lay-ups for the crowd he draws, like “Git ‘er dun” is adored by rednecks.
I think Leonardo’s post nails it. I guess part of the question, too, is … can stand-up actually change hearts and minds, or do political comics just draw the audience that’s already in their camp? I think it’s mostly the latter, with one or two possible exceptions.
Well said Leonardo. No need to put any real finesse into crafting an act when you can just punish the “opposition” knowing that a few thousand people will give you a standing o after it.
forgot to post a random gag idea regarding Tony’s set and the bit where all the girls at the brothel assemble for selection.
” The last time I ever saw a line-up of people this ugly ,I was asking myself which one was really Keyser Soze ? ”
(too obscure ?)
.
Brian, that’s a good point about the difference between Maher and an unknown road comic. I think it would be way more risky to do Maher’s material as an unknown touring random clubs and not knowing what sort of audience you’re going to have.
Maher isn’t really in that position anymore, and that’s the only reason I don’t see his act as all that risky. At this point, I actually think it’d be more risky for him to come out and do a show with absolutely no political material. Defy all expectations. I don’t know whether I’d recommend he try it, though… maybe he’s just a lot better at political material, and wouldn’t necessarily be all that funny as a straight comic. Nothing wrong with playing to your strengths. (And for the record, I thought the clip was pretty funny… just not super-risky.)
Ricardo: As an audience member, I wouldn’t call Usual Suspects too obscure. That’s a funny line.
Crap, I keep forgetting things and having to post twice… I was going to chime in on whether conservatives can be funny comics, and say that I think they can. I don’t think all conservatives necessarily have to be the sort of extreme stuffed shirts and flag-waving bible-thumpers they’re often characterized as. They’re just people who don’t agree with leftist politics, the left doesn’t have a copyright on partying.
There used to be a conservative comic that cracked me up back when Stand Up Stand Up used to be on Comedy Central, I think his name was Nick DiPaolo… he used to do jokes about animal rights sometimes in a way that let you know he was definitely not with the left (“If hooking a monkey’s brain up to a car battery will save a human some day, I got one thing to say: the red is positive and the B is negative.”) and a few other conservative-angled topics that I can’t remember off the top of my head. I hope I don’t have the name wrong…
I’ve just finished reading “I’m Dying Up Here…”, great book and cheers for the recommendation. I was wondering if anyone can recommend any books about the stand-up comedy scene in the 1980s?
This was the decade of the stand-up explosion, and most of the big names from this era went on to be the sit-com stars when I was growing up, folks like Seinfeld, Tim Allen, Paul Reiser etc. There has to be a good story from that era, and it would be even more relevan to me as these were my influences when growing up. I am searching Amazon but it seems that this book has yet to be written, does anyone know any different.
Brian C: There’s a collection of short road tales from several dozen comics called “I Killed,” but I don’t know of a comprehensive history of 80’s comedy.
Brian C : There’s novel writen by Bill Maher (him again) called True Story set in 1980 and about 5 ambitious stand-ups all trying to get their big break just as the Comedy Boom is starting.
I’ve not read the book, but downloaded the audio version read by Maher himslef off ITunes for just a few bucks. I thought it a great story and a fascinating chronicle of that time and definitely worth a listen.