Soooooooo Underrated
April 11, 2008 · Print This Article
On any given night in the back of any given comedy club you can hear comics drunkenly listing which of their peers are grossly overrated and undeserving of success, but what about those that don’t get the accolades they deserve? Brian tries to define what underrated means to him, and it has nothing to do with their bank account.
Other topics include new towns and old jokes, defining sell outs, defending Lewis Black, why 3 piece suits are never funny (well, almost) and the voice of the comedy fans on BTB continues to grow. Did I say rape? I meant slightly discolor.
Email: brianmcomedy@gmail.com and give us a call on 206-203-4692
Whoa, you weren’t kidding about the new layout — awesome job, guys.
Yeah the new layout is awesome…..I feel like I should curse less to not damage the image B-mo!
Thanks guys. Still plenty to come. I know what your saying Nick, I feel the site is so clean that it’s only gonna get sullied when people start streaming the show and my nonsense comes barreling out.
Great show B-mo, ive gotta pick up some arj barker. *phew* this has been an interesting couple of weeks for me comedy wise. I finally started on this humor blog I’ve been meaning to get to(link provided above) and I started a CollegeHumor.com account(link on the blog). also i just finished writing 15 new minutes of material for a cmpus open mic competition. I’m find that im very critical of my writing, which im very happy about. I’d really appreciate all of your input on the blog and the ther stuff since i trust all of your opinions. thanks, Im gonna try to make a list of some underrated comics. see yah later.
Brian, the site looks great! I loved the topic about overrated comedians. One thing I’ve realized doing the open mic scene is that comedians seem to form their own groups (kind of like in high school). Does anyone else notice this? I have a few guys I talk to but I don’t feel like I have to befriend every comedian I see. In fact, some of them I don’t even think I could ever be friends with.
Is it a necessary evil to network with comics? I know how the world works but I don’t want to kiss the ass of every comedian I watch.
Overrated Comedian: Sarah Silverman
Underrated Comedian: Bill Burr
Henny Youngman: “Take my wife…please.” Keep the quarter, I’ll take the bragging rights.
Underrated comic: well to the public anyway, brain reagan and doug stanhope
my top 3 overrated comics are:
1. Dane Cook
2. Carlos Mancia
3. Jeff Dunham (yes he is funny but not nearly as funny as the drunken red neck population thinks he is)
just to break in the new site, and to mess with everyone i must say “it is a FUCKING good looking site isn’t it?”
Whooa nice makeover……….not listyened to the show yet but thought i’d chime in with a comment on the website.
Top 3 Underrated Stand-Up Comics:
1. Brian Regan
2. Gregg Rogell
3. Woody Allen (as a stand-up? Yes, he doesn’t get the props he deserves to this day for how brilliant his stuff was)
Top 3 Overrated Stand-Up Comics:
1. Richard Lewis
2. Roseanne Barr
3. Bob Hope
I think overrated/underrated is kind of tricky. Stanhope is underrated to his fans who think he should have a wider audience, but he’s not the kind of comic PG-13 America will ever embrace. His fans, however, are loyal and rabid.
If mainstream commercial success is the yardstick, Bill Engvall has to be among the most overrated comics in the history of comedy. But if he weren’t doing sold-out theaters with Jeff Foxworthy and Co., most of us would probably think of him as just another OK, inoffensive club comic.
Anyway, my list of underrated comics is more a list of comics I think other comics and fans should at least check out, regardless of their chances for mainstream fame. Some of them have been on TV, some haven’t.
Danny Bevins
Darryl Lenox
James Inman
Jeff Caldwell
Jim Norton
Kerry White
Laurie Kilmartin
Sean Rouse
Hell, anyone doing his or her best 3 minutes for 200 people and killing is the most underrated comic in the country at that moment, no?
Brian, again a nice show. You are so right about how comedy can ruin normal, everyday life humour.
I’ve got a question for all the working comics. How long does it normally take to write 5 minutes of working material?
And another question: Stage time seems to be the most important thing for a new comedian, but as I am currently living in a very little city with only one open mike every month and too lazy to start my own room, I had another idea:
What about street performing? Every few minutes a completely new audience, you can test your new jokes a dozen times a day, plenty of “stage”time and if your doing everything right: Cash in your hat!
Has anyone done something similar? Or is currently doing a street show just for the sake of testing new material?
My goal at the moment is to create 15 minutes of material and to test it out this summer on the streets until I have 15 minutes of working material, where I can slip in new jokes for my stage act.
Good/bad idea?
I’m just a bit anxious that some material will only work on the streets and some only on the stage and also that when you start to work on the streets that you’ll get some (bad) habits which you won’t be able to loose on the stage.
(Normally it’s easy to tell if the entertainer is also a street perfomer. There is always a certain structure in a street act.)
Something interesting:
http://lifehacker.com/software/motivation/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret-281626.php
I’m trying it at the moment, but so far I only have a chain of 5 X’s.
I’ll keep you posted if it works out for me. Normally I’m known for not getting things done..
-Insert funny end-
Jan
“Hell, anyone doing his or her best 3 minutes for 200 people and killing is the most underrated comic in the country at that moment, no?”
Based on what I see on Last Comic Standing, I’m gonna have to say no.
quick thing, if robert kelly sells 30,000 albums this week he gets to kick the head of comedy central records in the balls. this is probably a gimmick but im gonna try to get my hands on one now. it’s like voting but it actually matters
Awesome looking site!!!! Just got here and looks briliant. Great job Tony with the tech side!!!!!
Underrated
1. Ron Shock
2. Sean Cullen
3. Jimmy Pardo
4. Greg Proops (I know he’s proabably pretty well known from whose line but i really like his stand up)
Overrated
1. Jerry Seinfeld
2. Joan Rivers
3. Martin Lawrence
Love the new site layout Brian
1st post:
love the pcast, liking the new site. I know im offtopic but I was wondering if anyone has ever experienced the following:
I took a class from a local comic early this year and he helped me out on delivery as well as a couple formulas he’s ‘tested’, and for graduation allowed me to perform in his show. It’s been a pretty cool experience so far but he recently offered me a host spot for his next show (My first paid gig!!!!!) I should be excited, but I’m a bit confused. He’s having me go to jokes.com and hunt for stock jokes to personalize and use during my host set that night. I thought comics were supposed to come up with original material. Is this common practice in the standup world?
Patrick, not to digress, but did you say you wrote all new material for a competition? Was it in the rules that it had to be all new, or are you getting more than 15 min?
The site looks good. So, you’re looking for people to write reviews on comedy CDs and books, eh? Well, I can’t keep my mouth shut…hmm…
Jan, to answer your question, I’d say it’s different for everyone. And, and I can only speak for myself, now I’m concurrently writing a lot of essays and stuff in college, and writing comedy. I can tell you the one main difference is that comedy doesn’t stop. With an essay, you have a first, maybe second or third, and a final draft. Then you stop writing because the essay is good (hopefully).
But, I’ll write what I think is 5 minutes of material, then six months later, it will be 2 and a half minutes, since I’ve made it so short and concise. The difference is, I think, that a “draft” for a piece of comedy is each time you get on stage. So, while an essay goes through a few drafts, each time a comedian performs, (s)he is making another draft of that piece. You’re constantly made to critique your own comedy, listening to it every time you tell it.
I have a question for everyone, including Brian (and Jay, get your ass over here), and maybe it’s dumb:
If you’re a comedian, what kind of comedian would you classify yourself as if you had to? More of a dark humor or safe humor, or political, satirical, sarcastic, blue, clean, et cetera et cetera, et cetera. It doesn’t have to be one of those above, but no adverting the question! If you’re going to answer it, answer it. I want to see what people say if they have to.
For comedy fans, what kind of comedy do you like best? Comedians, if you want answer this, too. But without giving me an example of a comedian, tell me what kind of humor you think you like.
That’s it.
Man, my fucking internet has ben down since my post last week on BtB, I had all these great laudable instes, and now they are stale, so instead of sharing them, I shall just bury them and tell everyone how great they were.
Ok, underrated comics. Where I’m from, it tends to be mainly Australian and British comedians who come over, go figure.
I really dig
Andrew McClelland,
James Nokise
Arj Barker
Kristen Schaal (who just won over at Melbourne! huzzah for her!)
Oh, I wonder how I possibly got interested in Arj and Kristen? How could I, a Kiwi comedy fan possibly stumble accross those two? Fuck, i hate myself and my lack of live comedy cred.
As for overrated, I just don’t know,the same dozen “name” stand ups and a bunch of effectively open mic people do the NZ circuit, so besides the occasional Aussies, and the NZ Comedy Fest (starting next week, oh yeah!) attendies, all of what I see is from what is recommended to me via the internet or when ever I go to a new city and go on a binge at the local alt record store.
However, last comedy fest I went to see Ed Byrne, and I was pretty negative , because he was the first guy to successfully do the joke about that Alanis Morrisette song ‘What really would have been ironic, is if you had 10′000 spoons and all you needed was a knife, and the very next day, you realised, shit! I could have used a spoon anyway.’ Which, as we all know, became hack, like 30 seconds after he did it. So, as far as I was concerned that was all he ever did, and I was delightedly wrong. And that’s a cool thing about being a conceited comedy fan. Some guy, you think is shit, turns out to be the shit and you go home a very happy camper.
Yuss!!!!!! html works!
Quick question though, why does your favicon say “R”?
Also, I’m glad you got rid of most of the white. White websites are really, really glarey. Because, light is additive, so white light is the brightest a monitor can be.
charles, yes it had to be new, i used alot of my old material for the audition, and althought it was hard i think it paid off in the end. I really like these new jokes. I admit it was a strange rule, but these are mostly non comedians who dont really relize how hard it is to write. but ive been relying on the same material for the last 6 months and honestly i think this new material is more personal and a better window of who i am. so i have to thank them for getting me off my ass.
oh and also i have to admit i personally like dark comedy and a bit of absurdity best
Not really related to this thread, but Christopher Hitchens has wandered into comedy territory a bit:
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/01/hitchens200701
Hmmn, my big post has disappeared. Weird.
Jan! Street Performing!
Oh god, it can be hard for street performers. The best non musical buskers I’ve seen (and I get to the Int. Buskers fest yearly) use comedy as pater while they are supposedly doing another thing altogether; juggling as the cliche, but I did it with one of my firebreathing acts. When comedy street acts do their thing, they generally do more physical and bizarre things than straight up stand up. This is mainly because street performers have to actively pull attention towards themselves, while a stand up on stage, theoretically already has high enough status to be listened too.
One thing I have seen that works,is finding a cafe with a nice little outside area. It works best in the summer. Then, after clearing it with the resteraunteer, performing a couple of times a day, and then passing the hat around. Old school (as in pre WW1) vaudevillian performers would sometimes take a street or three of establishments and perform up and down it all day.
I really dig what you’re trying to do, getting performance time really is key. Hell, I worked the MC spot at a strip club for a year so I’d have a nightly chance to do my stand up, and fuck, I didn’t even like ladies back then. Finding ways to do your stuff is a neccisary thing until you are ready to make the “exodus.” That was talked about last week.
The Exodus!
I’ve been thinking a bit about the exodus thing. I.E. Creatives leaving smaller areas to get to a bigger place. It has to happen if people want to really improve their craft. No performance art can really be mastered without time in front of an audience, so obviously; getting to a place where there are enough people to have a steady and “comedy literate” audience is important. It’s more than that though, you also do desperately need peers. The entire “hang out with comics after their set” thing is something that Brian keeps mentioning a lot, and I dig it. Any performance practitioner is going to look at their craft, at least a little, and if you can access what they think about their craft, then you can inform your opinion of it. Your opinion can be that ‘that fucktard couldn’t sniff a hack premise from his set if it was covered in deer spore.’ But it’s still going to help, because you’ll have an aesthetic to oppose.
There’s that and then there is the cash, if you’re good enough. In New Zealand, a lauded comedic success is someone who can live, some of the time, on their earnings from their comedy. I don’t mean ‘oh, this guy is pretty good.’ I mean, this is the stuff that gets ‘This person has reinvented how we think about ourselves, we must include him or her in our history books and museum exhibits.’ I can almost guarantee that the FOTC are being canonised like this as we speak. So, it’s kind of the kiwi comedian thing to do to take off overseas, mainly to Australia and London. Thank god, we have the anglosphere to travel in. Imagine if you had to rely on languageless stuff like physical comedy all the time…. shudder
Brian, that was interesting that you asked Arj about his “character” on stage and he didn’t think he was actually doing one - that’s just his personality on stage. Some comedians, you can tell they are, of course:
Jake Johanssen - nervous and neurotic
Jim Gaffigan - nerdy and slightly confused
Dave Attell - loud and disturbed
Todd Barry - timid and false-confident
George Carlin - grumpy and pissed-off (actually…not an act? hehe)
Excellent new web site! It’s all shiny and fresh, just waiting for us to tarnish it’s good name.
Brian - anyone ever tell you that you kind of sound like Casey Kasem at times? You should do a “dedication” on the next show:
“This next joke is dedicated….to someone special. Someone who made me see……that life is too short…..to be subjected to lies and torment for years on end - my ex. And I write:
Dear Ex,
What is the difference between a bitch and a whore?
A whore will screw anybody….
A bitch will screw anybody, but you!
(insert Sam Kinison scream here)
….and now, back to the countdown!”
P.S. I think I just grafitti’d the new site.
Being an ethnic comic myself (Indian), I’ve always been a fan of ethnic comedy. But not the hacky types that get on stage and make fun of their parents and white people for 45 minutes.
Anywho, I noticed that a lot of the comics that I find underrated, are ethnic comedians that get on stage and dont “play the ethnic parent card.”
For example:
Paul Varghese
Jo Koy
Arj Barker
Bobby Miyamoto
Godfrey
Steve Byrne
Vincent Oshana
Obviously some of these guys might have a couple of ethnic parent jokes here and there, but an overwhelming majority of their act is solid material that covers a wide variety of subjects.
And now the overrated ethnic ones. Notice how they all do hacky ethnic jokes yet are the most successful:
Dat Phan
Margaret Cho
George Lopez
Bobby Lee
Carlos Mencia
99.7 % of comedians on BET Comic View
I’m sure there are plenty of exceptions to my theory, but I thought I’d throw that out there.
Sando, if you go to one show in the New Zealand comedy festival may I suggest David O’Doherty, whom is my nomination for most underrated comedian. Although that is changing slightly and the chances of seeing him week in and week out at my local club aren’t as great as they once were. This is also the man who also introduced me to Flight of the Conchords many years ago (well to their music anyway, I introduced myself to Bret and Jemaine after one of their shows a few years later), with his cover version of [i]Albi the Racist Dragon[/i].
As for overrated I find it difficult to say as the people I would nominate I have never seen live. Therefore I feel I can’t really say that they aren’t as good as the hype, as I just know them from telly appearences. So maybe I shouldn’t say whom I think are overated.
Nah, it’s Russell Brand and Ricky Gervais. Ricky is funny but not as funny to deserve his success. The US Office is the better show to the British one in my opinion. As for Russell Brand, I have to swtich channel whenever he appears on the telly and the radio now, how in the name of God to people find him entertaining?
Any thoughts on Kevin Pollack– overrated or underrated?
Brian C; after a quick google, I’d murder my aunt to see that keyboard playing freak.
But seriously… covering somebody elses comedy songs? That’s audacious.
Hey cmon, where the bricks at? Can we get a little brick and mortar on this site? I like bricks and I don’t see bricks. What gives?
(Maybe the background could be……bricks??)
Did anyone manage to sit through that abomination that was A Night of Too Many Stars on Comedy Central Sunday night? Thank God for Tivo, because I was able to skip through the most painful moments,.
However, I was wondering if anyone saw what I thought was the only truly funny moment of the evening: Chris Rock and Steven Wright coming out and doing each other’s jokes. It was hilarious, especially Wright, because it was just so damn incongruent seeing him do Rock’s material. Just wondering what your thoughts were on that.
I caught it on Tivo as well. I thought it was the funniest thing i had seen by far on the show. Steven Wright talking about how he’s scared of El Cracker. That was fantastic. I couldnt stand the intro song, i had to skip through it. Does anyone else think Kevin James is overrated? I tried watching his special, and could barely get through the first five minutes. I think I am a big fan of the dark stuff. First comedy album I bought was a Titus one, which i loved. Stanhope is perhaps my favorite comedian ever. However, I am afraid to share my stanhope albums with others, because it is so dark and perverse.. meh… what albums would you guys use to introduce standup comedy to someone whose never heard it before, or have had only limited exposure…
Bob The Liar, the background is Bricks. Or thatch, or something.
Mike not really:
If i were going to introduce omedy to someone i’d start with some gaffigan, some patton oswalt later on, and then move unto the darker stuff like stanhope or Hicks.
Maybe we can change the name to Behind The Wicker?
Almost missed your post Roly. Welcome. Um, no. That’s not normal. It’s incredibly lame. In my experience, these classes are often run by comics with questionable ethics. They offer gigs to people from their classes as a carrot to dangle in front of everyone else. Now that you’re opening for him he doesn’t want to take a chance of you bombing (which is perfectly normal for your second time ever) with him vouching for you, so he’s covering himself by loading you up with stock jokes. If he won’t let you do your own stuff, I’d bail. You don’t want to get the reputation of being an internet hack.
Hey Mike Not Really — A person who’s already really cool and doesn’t mind adult material might fall in love with Stanhope immediately without having to be “warmed up” by tamer comedians. Whichever comic you recommend will really have to depend on your friend’s personality and how much they can tolerate.
It’s the same reason that Bill Cosby couldn’t get into Eddie Murphy, as funny as he was. Cosby, a genius in his own right, just couldn’t get past the language. And that’s fine. It’s just like Nickelback being super popular and me wishing they had a plane crash. Okay, not the same, but you get what I mean.
Anyway, here’s my list of overrated comics (a.k.a. comics in movies and TV shows who piss me off, hehe).
Harland Williams
Mario Cantone
Mo’nique
Aman! You need to check out Aziz Ansari. He’s great and never references the fact that he’s obviously some sort of middle eastern race.
He’s on MTV’s Human Giant http://www.TheHumanGiant.com
and you can find him at http://www.AzizIsBored.com
Good times.
Does anyone else find it funny that at the top of the page, it says Print this Article? As if this page was an article, that could be brought in for show and tell, or current events.
oh man aziz ansari rocks, he was the first comedian i ever reviewed for my school paper. I saw him last year at the Invite them up show. all the comics were great but Aziz stood out to me cuase he was so young and he was so good. also his sketch show Human Giant is the only reason i watch MTV at this point.
ahh. he’s hilarious. i’m wasting way too much time watching youtube videos, when i should be writing english storys.
Nice looking new website—I like the style, very well put together. Look forward to seeing it come together.
Going on vacation (back to my home town..LOL) so I am going to catch up on the last two episodes.
Just a random bit of news—-we probably have some video game players here, the new Grand Theft Auto 4 video game out in about 2 weeks is going to have Comedy Clubs with REAL Comedians-at least that is what I read today….it will be interesting to see what comedians made it in the game.
I hope they put carlos mencia in there…that way i can take a chainsaw to his face, run him over with a SUV and then light him on fire. And they say video games make you violent
Grand Theft Auto 4 is supposed to mimic New York in the pre-Giuliani days. Guess it’ll be 80’s comics then.
Hey Brian, love the show! As for my top 3 most underrated comics of all time, here is my list:
1) Eddie Izzard - a genious who gets overlooked and underrated because of the way he dresses. His “dress to kill” special is what got me into comedy in the first place. It is smart, high-brow, killer comedy.
2) Louis CK - he’s amazing, but only serious comedy fans know that. He doesn’t have anywhere near the amount of respect/fame that he deserves.
3) Dave Attell - similarly to Louis CK, he’s an unknown genious.
My Top 3 Overrated Comedians are:
1) Bob Saget - his special was probably the worst hour of standup I have ever seen. I didn’t laugh once.
2) Carlos Mencia - a talentless hack.
3) Andrew Dice Clay - I think he definetly had some talent, BUT, he was WAYYYYYY overrated.
I can’t tell you how excited I am for the new GTA game. Those games are the only reason I play games anymore and I’m buying a PS3 just to play the new one.
I need to stop talking about this before I have an orgasm.
before? man i havent stopped cumming since it’s announcement…but i dont have a PS3…………..GGGGGHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA
Man, the PAL version is going to be censored. Super lame.
I know this is a very old topic on Behind the Bricks but I can’t help but chime in late with Eddie Gossling. I’ve got (an underground?) DVD he did in Austin with Sacred Cow Productions where he does a 60 minute set that just kills.