Podcasting Legend Lance Williams Takes The Stage
February 21, 2007 · Print This Article
We interrupt the regularly scheduled program for an emergency news update! Ok not really, I just wanted stand up to sound importanat for once. However, it has been an interesting week for comedy lovers as stand up vigilante Joe Rogan accosted Carlos Mencia live on stage during a set at the comedy store.
To discuss this topic as well as a host of others, Brian welcomes in a heavy hitter in the podcasting world, Lance “Big Swa” Williams. Swa confronts the topic of race in comedy, political correctness, and picks a side in the Mencia/Rogan battle.
Behind the Bricks closes with the full version of Brian’s dad’s dirty joke (complete with accent), a rant about young love, and a spotlight on the greatest stand up comic of all time.
Email: brianmcomedy@gmail.com
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Not trying to nitpick, but one thing that bothers me is the overuse of the words “genius” and “legend”. I have never met a genius, I have met some sharp cats in my day, but never a genius. A genius or legend only comes around once in awhile, and calling everyone a legend or genius kind of bastardizes the term.
That said, I have my application in for “big headed, unibrow” legend.
I agree with what you’re saying Darcy. In fact, I heard someone refer to Anna Nicole as a “genius” the other day and I almost put my head in the oven. When I refer to legends and geniuses on this show I’m speaking in terms of comedy. Whether they could tie their shoes or spell they’re names is none of my concern. I have definitely branded a few comics with the legend tag like Hicks, Kineson, and certainly Prior. I’m curious to see what other people think. i love the topic. PS - I’m sorry to hear you’re looking for a new job. From what I remember, your old job was almost as sweet as mine.
By the way, the Mencia/Rogan battle just got a whole lot fruitier. Bobby Lee who was taped outside of the Comedy Store accusing Carlos of stealing one of his bits released a fucking apology video! He said that Carlos was his friend and he didn’t mean any of his comments. What a tool.
Not to make the forum all about me, but I am still working, just looking around. The interview I went on would have been more money, but more responsibility, and who the hell needs that?
Amen! That’s been my philosophy for most of my adult life, and I’ve done just fine. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go out and catch my dinner.
Don’t be a hater, Darcy - I am a legend - Just kidding - No I’m not
Not to nitpick about the show. But wasn’t it Carlos who entered the stage after Rogan finished his show? And Rogan introduced the next comic as someone who would open for “Carlos Menstealia”. and then carlos came on stage, and then they fought?
Maybe this may change your opinnion about Joe Rogan. He was working the Comedy Store that night, not Mencia. Joe introduced one of the opening comics and said the guy worked for “Carlos Menstealia”. Carlos then took the mic from the guy after his set and challenged Rogan to “say that to his face” which, obviously, he did. They gave Joe a second mic because he was the MC that night. He also happened to be filming that night for his internet show “The Joe Show” viewable at http://www.JoeRogan.net.
All that being said, Joe admits that he has been trying to bait Mencia into this argument for years. He never thought Carlos would get into it a) on stage and b) in front of a camera. Neither did anyone else.
That tape was gangsta…….In any other profession it would have turned into a riot. noses would have been broken……mace and nikes would have played a big part……and a major rap star would have been charged who wasnt even there. Hell if I was Mencia I would have lost it and been serving time as I type.
Thanks for the info guys. I got a hold of some bad info, no shock there. In a way that pumps Rogan up in my eyes. I knew he’d been accusing Carlos of stealing for years, but I thought to run up on the guy after a set was going to far. If Carlos decided to pick the fight, he deserves everything he got, and it makes the fact that Carlos pulled all of those youtube clips even funnier.
Honestly, i think Rogan is ultimately doing the right thing. In the magic circles (yes, I am an amateur magician) there was a huge stink a couple of years ago where a manufacturer was stealing magic concepts then recreating the gimmick and selling it for half of what the creator does. On the surface it sounds good for the magicians, because hey, you get the same effect for half of the price.
The stink came when the creator wanted credit, that was all, just say, “Joe Magician created this effect.” But they would not even do that. So a lot of us boycotted the company, and they had to start crediting the creators, or loose a ton of money. There were enough sales loss for them to have to stop running ads in the trade magazines.
But here is where the problem lies, when the creative minds are ripped off, and essentially not able to make enough money off of their creation to make a living, they will stop creating. So if you have a Mencia stealing bits and whoring them on Comedy Central for cheap, then you kill the opportunities for the more creative comics, and their future creative material, who will wind up having to find another profession to make a living.
GO JOE!
Listening to the latest show, I remembered when Rogan was actually a judge on Last Comic. I think it was the second season (maybe the first?) because the thing I remember most was that Ant (who has gone on to a long and fruitful career doing VH1 countdowns) told a joke that Rogan said was just a stock joke, and Ant tried to play it off like it was his. The thing was the joke had been used in the movie The Boiler Room (which Rogan pointed out) so I couldn’t figure out how Ant could pretend like it was in any way original. One of the other judges tried to diffuse the situation by saying Ant “made it his own”. What I didn’t get was that clearly it wasn’t his joke, but he told it well, so why wouldn’t he just say that it was a stock joke but he told it because he thought he could perform it well?
I thought Lance summed up Mencia perfectly. If you don’t want to come up with your own material, just pay people as a team of writers. From what I understand Bob Hope was held in very high regard for having the stones to just hire a staff of writers and pay them well. He didn’t claim to be a writer, only a performer, and for the time he seemed to do his job well. When you are confronted with that mountain of evidence I can’t see how Mencia can claim to not steal jokes.
Great points Brandon. Chris Rock is a guy who uses writers and never shied away from giving them credit. He writes a lot of his own stuff, but how much original material can one person produce. There is no shame in paying people to help you generate material. The shame comes when you rip someone off, and despite proof, insist that it’s your own.
Also, for all who are interested, comedy central is running a marathon this weekend on the “Heroes of Black Comedy”. There are some really cool features on comics like, Tony Rock, Chris Tucker, Tony Woods, Richard Prior, etc. I love how they waited until the last 3 days of black history month to do something like this.
Dear Mr. Molica:
I just watched UPC Cash, when you and Madsen are on screen I noticed you were mouthing his line, something about “here’s my cash hold ‘em highlight of the day”. It was a bit of a tongue twister. My guess is he must have muffed it several times…
That’s funny Leonardo, I didn’t even notice that. it’s a funny dynamic with most of the pros. They have all of this information, but they’re not used to talking about it in such an official way. I can talk for days, but most of it is total bullshit. It’s definitely a delicate balance. Thanks for watching.
How come comedians on the Oscars are always awful?
And what’s the DEAL with theatre trash?
Asterion,
I thought Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and John C. Reilly had a funny bit. I’ll admit, I find Ellen Degeneres pretty god damn lame. Her comedy is so safe, she should be performing at old age homes and stuff. Why does she dress like that. If a billion people are watching me, I’m not coming out in a leisure suit with sneakers. Mix in a dress.
I don’t mind Ellen as a comic, definitely safe, but her early stuff was pretty funny. That said, she was boring the shit out of me last night. I though Jon Stewart was great last year, but the Oscars aren’t exactly a dream gig for a comic, so I’m not surprised he didn’t sign on for another round.
As for Seinfeld, I’m still trying to figure out what he was doing there. You want him to give out an award, ok, but why is he doing a 3 minute stand up bit first. Oh that’s right, because the Oscars are boring.
Yeh, Seinfeld didn’t impress me with his bit. And that shameless plug on his “documentary” was as blatant as I had ever heard. Wayching his bit was like watching your drunk uncle piss in the shrubs at the family gathering, you can’t look away and your not laghing for the reasons he thinks you are.
but on a brighter note, have you guys seen the Mitch Hedberg DVD set that came out in 03? I didn’t realise there was a DVD of his set until I heard an interview on NPR the other day. I am interested in seeing it, even though I have most of his stuff, I just want to support those I enjoy. If anyone can give a review, I would appreciate it.
I just saw the video of the Mencia/Rogan thing. I thought it was awesome. Mencia must’ve curled up into a little ball when he got home and murmered lullabies to himself in a dark corner. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Rogan’s material in the past but by doing this he may have just cemented his niche in the comedy world because as a whole it was hilarious. I work in marketing and know how important the creative process is and how horrid the stealing of ideas and concepts is.. not to mention the verbatim lifting of material designed to produce an effect in the people watching. At least with marketing you have the product itself to fall back on, in stand up the material itself is the product.
On another quick note, it was great that you had Lance on the show. I’m a huge fan of bob and weave (Filipino fight fan here after all… and no it isn’t all about the Pacman hehe) I only have 2 podcasts on subscription.. bob and weave and behind the bricks.
sigh because i’m an idiot i forgot to mention stand up orlando. Sorry Ryan!
i thought this episode was great but there was one thing thats been bugging me. although i do believe richard pryor is one of the greatest standups of all time, i think george carlin is just as great becuase 1 they had been doing stand up for the same amount of time and carlin is still doing shows. and also idont agree with what you said about carlins popularity waning. any way theres my opinion. shows great brian, kepp doin what you do.
oh man i just saw the mencia/rogan video and that shit was hilarious. it looked like the audiance was really enjoying it but i am suprised that neither of them started hitting each other. i am really impressed with the evidence rogan pulled up, almost like a stand up detective. ive never been a fan of either but im gonna side with rogan on this one. also im really glad lopez punched that annoying little bitch mencia out ( or was it pinned? eh who cares).