The Lovely And Talented Sarah Newell
March 7, 2007 · Print This Article
What do stand up comedy and modeling have in common other than the fact that Brian probably won’t make it in either? Well we bring in an expert to find out. Comedian Sarah Newell drops by the show to talk about how she improbably made it in two of the entertainment world’s most competitive professions and why it’s’ better to be a hot comic than an average looking model.
Brian also discusses the importance of keeping comedy material fresh and why some stand ups have a hard time doing so. “I would spend time writing, but there’s a MASH marathon on”!!!
Other topics include the Dice-Man on Bill O’Rielly, listener takes on the Oscars and kicking people while they’re down, shopping with pets, and our first movie star comic take his turn in the spotlight.
Email: brianmcomedy@gmail.com
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You forgot to call the Phenom a legend. J/K.
Saw Cosby on Leno last night. Not sure if it was a new episode, but he was funny. My God he looks old. I can see why you like Norm and Cosby. They both take awhile to get to the punchline, but getting there is usually half the fun.
Brian how dare you!
You told us the groupies in comedy were bad but you failed to mention about the hot female comics! Hoarding them all for yourself eh?
The comments about Bill Cosby got me thinking about a couple of things. Brian mentioned he is a comedy album (CD) collector. What are the best albums you have that everyone should hear? We all know Bill Cosby, George Carlin, Bob Newhart and Steve Martin are great. But these are already popular and most people may have heard them. What hidden gems do you have? In my collection the ones I can listen to over and over again include, Ron Shock, Eddie Izzard, Billy Connolly, Drew Hastings, Robert Klein, etc.
And in a similar vein for the group, who is “legendary†comedian you got to see and/or always wanted to see.
There are still opportunities to see Cosby, Newhart, Carlin, even Don Rickles. But how cool would it have been to see Richard Pryor in his prime? Was Lenny Bruce as good as we’ve heard?
I got to see Alan King a couple years before he died and was blown away by his mastery of the stage. He knew every pause, every take and was brilliant.
Not in the official stand up vein I saw Victor Borge give a charity concert and saw this frail man come alive once on stage and turn a 30 minute performance into 90 with the crowd wanting more.
Anyone else want to chime in?
I love your question Hiropro. Expect to hear a show on the essential comedy cd collection in the near future. Keep the suggestions coming!
Brian, talking about Petco and the fun stuff you can find all over the floor there reminded me of the time I was there and watched a lady in the same aisle as me slip on a HUGE pile of dog crap. She slipped and fell straight down in it, so I stopped to help her up and felt at the time that laughing was not the proper thing to do….so I saved the laughter and ridicule for when I told my wife later that day.
My questions to you, the comedy fan: Is it funny when this happens to a middle-aged lady at the pet store? Or would it have only been funny if it were a teenage emo goth dork (which are funny to me even when they’re not sitting in dog shit).
Cody
Heading out to see one of the current greats tomorrow nite in Portland, Zach Galifianakis. I cannot wait. That dude is a riot.
Definitely let me know about the show. I’m a big fan of Zach. He wrote one of my favorite jokes ever.
“At what age do you think you should tell a highway it’s adopted? I say 10. Because that’s when they’re old enough to realize, hey, I don’t look like the Kiwanis Club.”
Darcy, You’re right on with your take on Norm and Cosby. Especially MacDonald. Quite a few people are annoyed by his delivery, but if you can buy into it, the set ups can be even funnier than the punchlines.
Hey Bmo, I actually meant I’m 14 now, as I turned 14 last December lol.
Anyway, I do agree with you that hosting the Oscars is a thankless job. I kind of misunderstood your point last week on that topic.
Keep “truckin” man…(Wow, how weird that seem typed?)
First of all, I acknowledge there will be some backlash in what I am about to type.
How about enough Johnny Carson already? He’s been dead for over 2 years already! Last night on Larry King, they had his second wife on. I barely followed the guy (I had 2 channels until I was 18 years old), and I have heard all the same things about him… when a joke bombed, he would acknowledge it, he was married a lot, he wanted to keep his private life private, he had few close friends, Tiny Tim got married on his show, we get it. What more is there to say? The guy hosted a talk show, he didn’t cure cancer. Marlon Brando (who had about 100X more talent) dies, and he barely gets a mention. Is that because he was such a prick? I have no idea.
I guess my point is I would rather see Larry the Cable Guy on 60 Minutes than hear the same tired shit about Johnny Carson. He was good, let’s move on already.
I’ll stand up for you Darcy. Carson gets glorified credit because he was around for as long as he was. Everyone raves about the way he would pause after a joke bombed. I do that all the time and all I get is awkward silence. I’ll go even further, I’ll take Letterman over Carson. (I’m pretty sure that comment is some sort of comedy sin).
I would love to hear more Zach Galifinikilisis or whatever, loved him in the Supreme Beings of Comedy movie or whatever the name was with Spence from King of Queens. Zack seems like he is in serious meltdown at all times, though, emotionally. Love him in a powdered wig.
there’s a new zach feature now online at punchline magazine, now that you mention it. here’s the link. enjoy.
http://www.punchlinemagazine.com/index.php?page=146
Wow, shocking news out of the comedy world. Richard Jeni died of an apparent suicide in his home. I was never a huge fan of his, but he was one of the “it” comics when I was a kid. As I’ve said before, comics are dysfunctional by nature, but I could have picked 100 comics I thought this could happen to before Jeni. Rest in peace man.
I just saw this news and came here to see if there were any comments.
I guess Brian is right. This seems, unfortunately to be a particular danger to comics.
To me (as an outsider to the comedy business and even to the core comedy fan base such as many of those reading this board) it would seem that comedians would be among the happiest people because they laugh at life for a living. I find it interesting that the opposite is the case.
Perhaps it is an old topic to this community, but I would be interested to hear Brians view on the possible source for comedians being particular susceptible to self-destruction.
Perhaps it is an old topic to this community, but I would be interested to hear Brians view on the possible source for comedians being particular suseptable to self destruction.
I remember when I was growing up I would catch Jeni, Belzer, Reiser and a ton of other comics on A&E. I think the show was: A Night at the Improv or something like that. I do agree Jeni could be funny but he was never really my cup o’ tea. Sad to see this all the same.
Caught part of the Dice Undisputed show last night (forgot it was on). I really think this will hurt his efforts to get back to the top but I need to see more to make that determination.
1) The Oscars.
One reason I think it would be a shit job is because the show is about rewarding the best of the best in its industry. How can you not be under so much pressure? The best of the best are watching a schmuck like you waste their time on an award that’ll bank them an even larger amount of cash.
2) Booking
Brian you’ve talked about going on the road and Sarah mentioned booking. How does the business side of the industry work? Do you hire an agent or do you do this on your own? How do you get started making those calls ro finding the places that’ll book you and how is the $ negotiated? Is that between you and the club or the headliner (outside of what you said of New York)?
Saw Bill Maher on Larry King last night. He had a theory on Jeni’s death that was thought provoking, but I don’t know if it was terribly accurate. He was just saying that when people get into entertainment, they have a vision of where they will end up. The line I thought summed it up best was, “He probably didn’t think he’d be playing the Improv in Chicago at 49 years old.” Like Maher or hate him, he always makes me think. I’m not sure this was a fair comment, but who knows really.
I’ll definitely be tackling this on the next btb, but in my opinion, Maher is right on. Jeni has been at the top of the stand up game for over 20 years, but was never able to get over that hump and find stardom at the next level. He may have seen the new wave of comics pass him by and couldn’t handle it. Who knows. Just my opinion.