Want to hear Brian go into a bitter comic rage? Mention the top 10 highest paid stand ups and wait for the fire works.
Topics on the day include racist restaurants, the slowest sudden death of all time, why comics are the least supportive people ever, the funny people behind Funny People and a listener discovers the only truly universal humor. You wanna see some elk porn?
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I don’t understand why people continually compare Hedberg and Wright. Yes, they both did short nuggets. Yes, they both had odd deliveries. But Wright was much more absurdist, and most of Hedberg’s stuff is observational.
Wow. Best show yet. This show inspires me on my “I want to slack times” to either write more (as listening to/watching comedy usually does), or to polish up my set. So, thanks.
And as a one linery type of guy, I definitely see a vast difference between Mitch and Steven Wright, and hope that there’s room for more of us.
Yes, I just included myself in a sentence with Mitch Hedberg and Steven Wright, and no, I’m not even close.
I LOVE Mitch Hedberg and think he is in a category on his own. He was original and always entretaining. He always seemed a little out of control which made it exiting.
Anyways…thanks for the advice Brian. There are allot of comics out there that are haters. As I keep doing better and wining contest the less people like me. Oh well.
There’s a nice saying in german:
“Mitleid kriegt man geschenkt, Neid muss man sich erarbeiten.”
Which translates something like this:
“You get pity for free, but for envy you have to work.”
So, if they don’t like you anymore: Take it as a compliment for the hard work you’re doing…
- Jan
Also, I’ve never even heard of the America’s Got Talent guy. And to hear that he’s making that much? I’d be curious to hear how much a Dave Attell or Joe Rogan or Jim Gaffigan makes.
Brian probably has a better idea about this, having been on the road with more comics than I have, but… if you don’t count TV shows, residuals, movies, Vegas, Branson, and theater tour windfalls, and just stick to money earned working clubs, the annual take can vary greatly.
A full-time headliner, even a good one, who is not a household name, might pull in an average of $200-300 per set. Even if he does an average of 5 sets a week, 50 weeks a year, that’s 50-75K before he buys the first tank of gas. Not a bad living if you’re young, have no kids, and aren’t terribly worried about owning a house or having health insurance.
I have no idea what someone like Louis CK pulls down just from club work, but I would guess – based on what little I’ve learned – that someone at that level gets a flat fee of anywhere from 5-10K a week depending on the size and location of the room and the number of shows.
Then there are acts that are huge draws in certain regions/rooms. I’ve heard rumors of insane amounts of money that Etta May gets in the south and Midwest. Whether she gets the big money in Seattle, I don’t know.
Ok.. I’ll be that guy.. it CANNOT be UNIVERSALLY FUNNY if it’s not funny to EVERYONE. The ONE asshole heckler, if he doesn’t find it funny, it’s not universally funny.
I now hide behind the tomato shield, fire away.
Interesting, Dan. I’ve never even heard of Etta May. Off to youtube.
I agree with Brian May. For something to truly be universally funny, would mean everyone laughs at it, and quite frankly, I don’t think anything falls into that category. Well, except for pedophile jokes, I mean, c’mon, who doesn’t laugh at those…..
If American TV is any indication, kids accidentally hitting their fathers in the nuts with whiffle ball bats is pretty close.
Snappy.. I think even pedophiles even giggle at them, so you may be on to something there…
Universally funny:
1. Being tickled!!
2. A contagious laugh
Yesterday I attended a “talentshow” with mostly singers and bands but also one comedienne who, luckily, played also guitar and sang (unfunny) songs.
It had all the elements of a hell gig (it was in a tent and the tent next to it played techno music, the crowd was really far away from the stage and they had a bar and served food and had really quite everything to distract the audience which wasn’t there for the show in the first place, cause it was just a tiny part of a faire and it rained so the people looked for a place to stay dry and wait for the fireworks) and it scared the shit out of me to think about to have to go up there and do comedy. Which not I had to do but this poor comedienne. She didn’t get one response from the audience and just bombed badly like I’ve never seen it before.
So question: What do you do in a situation like this? Brush it of as experience? Not going out there cause it’s fruitless from the beginning?
Or do you try to turn around the show? And when: How?
- Jan
PS: Never seen a car accident but now I know why you can’t look elsewhere…
I hear you Jan. I think that once you are there you are a professional and just do set and count it as experience.
But is doing all these hell gigs really worth it. I keep getting told that you just need to get onstage whenever you can. So I have but I don’t know if its helping. Is bar gigs where people are semi attentive at best or at places where people are just not there for show worth it?
I really don’t know.
Did anybody catch the Joan Rivers Roast?
It was really bad….worse one I have seen.
The roasts all seem to get progressively worse. I think the roast fad has faded away. I wish Comedy Central would get on board.
The best set of the joan rivers roast was Joan Rivers…I don’t know why they don’t get better comedians.
If you want to hear a really really good comedian listen to the Bert Kreischer CD. I saw him live and he destroyed the crowd. His CD is awesome.
If I’m not mistaken, HBO broadcast Friar’s Club roasts prior to Comedy Central doing them. They used to be funny then.
The problem as I see it is they put a handful of friends of the roasted on stage and then the same line-up of comics on the Comedy Central approved list, whether they know the roastee or not.
Also, even some of the comics’ bits are written by others. Lisa Lampanelli, for one example, doesn’t write a lot of her roast material. Not everyone can be expected to write great stuff for every roast, but I think the current set-up saps some of the energy they used to have.
Last but not least, why roast Flava Flav at all?
Finally saw Funny People. Definitely wanted more stand-up, but I liked it a lot.