Starting Thursday March 19th, my group Man VS Comedy, consisting of Jeff Kornberg, Boris Khaykin, and myself, will have a show every other thursday at the Broadway Comedy Club at 8PM! Each show will be a night of stand-up, improv, sketch comedy, and pretty much anything goes, and will feature some of the funniest groups and performers in New York City. If I were you, I'd make it my risky business to be there opening day. That's what I'd do, seriously.
In other news, I am seeing TJ and Dave in NY tonight. Pretty much everyone says they're two of the best improvisers out there, so I'm excited.
More other news. LOST has been good this season! Right? The first two episodes had some shaky dialogue and were a bit unfocused, but were still good. And I really liked the last one!
That's it for now.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
OOPS
So, Britney Spears is trying to make a comeback right now. And the headline on aol.com news right now is "Oops, Brit Did It Again". Really guys? Pretty old refference, don't you think? I think we can do better.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Sketch Plugs!
Hey everyone. My sketch group, Man VS Comedy, got this video we shot a while back on the front page of UCBcomedy.com! If you're a good friend who sees this today, you'll go watch it there even if you've already seen it, as more views will help it get featured on the site again.
AND my other sketch group, Lady Suite, is getting a SPANK show at the UCB theatre! Our show, Lady Suite Presents: No Hand Holding, will premier on Monday, February 16th at 6:30. If you're a good friend, you'll put this date aside to come see our 35 minute show full of hopefully dangerously gut-busting sketches! Yep, this whole post has been deticated to telling you what a good friend does.
AND my other sketch group, Lady Suite, is getting a SPANK show at the UCB theatre! Our show, Lady Suite Presents: No Hand Holding, will premier on Monday, February 16th at 6:30. If you're a good friend, you'll put this date aside to come see our 35 minute show full of hopefully dangerously gut-busting sketches! Yep, this whole post has been deticated to telling you what a good friend does.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Standing Up
"Perseverance is a great substitute for talent."
-Steve Martin, Born Standing Up
I finished Steve Martin's book last night and it is good. It might not be exactly what you're expecting, as I expected more about his stand-up philosophy and less about his life and got the opposite, but it is filled with funny stories and is a great read. Among my favorite anecdotes concerns the famous bit he used to do where he would get the entire audience to leave the venue with him and conclude his show outside, sometimes interacting with passerbys as the whole crowd watched. Martin says that the moment he realized he was really getting big was when he could no longer perform this bit as the audience got too large, and he "reluctantly dropped it". He goes on to talk about how he enjoyed himself a lot more performing for the small crowds. And when he looks back on his stand-up career that is what he misses most, "before comedy became serious". I find it kind of poetic in that we don't realize until later, after we've finally gotten what we've been chasing, that we were actually happiest while we were chasing it.
The quote above reffers to how when he was growing up he was always told he lacked talent, he couldn't sing, act, etc. And how he spent a lot of his career getting around that and using it to his advantage. He bombed often in clubs, at one point doing a 25 minute set "without getting a single laugh." But he didn't let it bother him. Actually that was a lie, he did let it bother him, and it helped bring him to severe depression several times. But he kept at it. And he got famous after years and years of writing and performing. I'm not sure what thing is particularly inspiring about all of this, but something definitely is.
-Steve Martin, Born Standing Up
I finished Steve Martin's book last night and it is good. It might not be exactly what you're expecting, as I expected more about his stand-up philosophy and less about his life and got the opposite, but it is filled with funny stories and is a great read. Among my favorite anecdotes concerns the famous bit he used to do where he would get the entire audience to leave the venue with him and conclude his show outside, sometimes interacting with passerbys as the whole crowd watched. Martin says that the moment he realized he was really getting big was when he could no longer perform this bit as the audience got too large, and he "reluctantly dropped it". He goes on to talk about how he enjoyed himself a lot more performing for the small crowds. And when he looks back on his stand-up career that is what he misses most, "before comedy became serious". I find it kind of poetic in that we don't realize until later, after we've finally gotten what we've been chasing, that we were actually happiest while we were chasing it.
The quote above reffers to how when he was growing up he was always told he lacked talent, he couldn't sing, act, etc. And how he spent a lot of his career getting around that and using it to his advantage. He bombed often in clubs, at one point doing a 25 minute set "without getting a single laugh." But he didn't let it bother him. Actually that was a lie, he did let it bother him, and it helped bring him to severe depression several times. But he kept at it. And he got famous after years and years of writing and performing. I'm not sure what thing is particularly inspiring about all of this, but something definitely is.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The Best Place To Write
I have just discovered this recently but, apparently, the best place in the world to write comedy is behind the counter at Panera Bread in Woodbridge New Jersey. Lately, all of my ideas have been coming to me while on the job and I have to struggle to remember them or try to quickly scribble notes in my pad while my boss isn't looking. I wrote-or at least thought-through- three sketches at work this week and, today, I wrote a stand-up bit I think is pretty good. I wonder what it is about sandwiches and cinnamon rolls I find so funny.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Greetings
So, short animated videos like this one, made on xtranormal.com are gonna be the new fad now. And, why not. They're so easy to write and make. Unfortuneately, since they are so easy to make, we will be overwrought with them soon enough and get tired of them. Anyway, I made this one and I kind of like it.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The Honeymooners
Today is the day most people recognize as New Years Day, the first day of the year that began at midnight last night. Some will also recognize it as the day channel 11 does their annual Honeymooners Marathon.
Beginning at midnight, the start of 2009, and ending at 5PM this evening, the channel is showing almost every Honeymooners episode. While not being one who spends my entire holiday watching television, I will turn it on and watch an episode or two or three and appreciate some of the best comedic work in television history. Not the writing. Oh, the writing is good. And it actually seemed better at the time before their plots would be used and reused by shows of less quality for years to follow. The writing is good, but not amazing.
When I speak of some of the best comedic work in television history, I speak specifically about the performances of Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. They are perhaps perfect. And perfect is not a word I like to use. The writing, in reality, was mostly a bunch of excuses to let these guys rant at each other. Their dynamic was perfect. They both played their characters so well, and understood exactly what was funny about them and how to heighten those details in every single episode. They didn't even really need a script. I could watch these two characters just sit in a room and talk about non-sense and it would be hilarious.
Consider the following exchange:
Gleason is yelling out the window for Carney, who lives a floor up in the same building. Gleason, however, doesn't realise that Carney is already downstairs and in the same room as him. So, when Gleason yells his name out the window, Carney replies from behind him causing him to get startled and jump.
This is a gag that would be trivial if almost any two other actors had done it. To be sure, similar jokes have been done on many a sit-com throughout time. But, in the hands of these two actors, it is great.
Everyone compares the Honeymooners to the Flintstones and, while they did get the idea of the Fred and Barney characters from the Gleason and Carney characters Ralph and Ed Norton, the comparison is not totally accurate. The dynamic is different. Barney was always subordinate to Fred. He was a dolt, flat out. They fought about big things, but didn't usually argue about the general planning of Fred's schemes. Barney participated in these schemes because he was Fred's dumb friend.
Norton participated and Ralph's ridiculousness because he wanted to. He was not the straight man to Ralph's crazy character, he was just as crazy. The women were the straight man. He was also, in a way, Ralph's intellectual equal, which is much different from their animated kin.
And, now, concerning the women. Trixie and Alice are almost never discussed in conversation concerning this show. But they were invaluable. Here amongst two of the most ridiculous characters in entertainment history, are two normal, cold, wives. Which is necessary. If no one was there to tell Ralph he was an idiot, it just wouldn't have been as funny. Alice also gave Ralph a reason to get mad. And Ralph getting reasons to get mad and scheme things with Norton was pretty much the whole point of the show. This (not to keep bringing up the Flintstones but...) was another difference in the two dynamics. Wilma and Betty were giggly and silly. Alice and Trixie and just real women. The writers of the Honeymooners were smart enough to know that Ralph and Norton are funniest when in a otherwise regular world. No one else needed to be funny on that show but them.
I easily rank both of these actors amongst the funniest performers in sit-com history. If I had make a list of the top six, I believe it would look like this.
1. Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners
2. Art Carney in The Honeymooners
3. Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy
4. Christopher Lloyd in Taxi
5. Carrel O'Connor in All in the Family
6. Ricky Gervais in The Office
Those are not in order. I can't order those geniuses.
I am a huge fan of smart entertainment and those above names, particularly the two I've discussed in this blog, are models of smart performers. The know what is funny about themselves, their characters, and their show. And they play just that, and nothing more or less. Being one who values little more in life than discovering exactly what is funny about everything and what will make people laugh, their accomplishments are inspiring.
This is the day everyone is discussing what's going to happen over the next year and personally, I hope we get more people like these. More people who can entertain us, smartly, and inspire us who wish to be inspired.
Beginning at midnight, the start of 2009, and ending at 5PM this evening, the channel is showing almost every Honeymooners episode. While not being one who spends my entire holiday watching television, I will turn it on and watch an episode or two or three and appreciate some of the best comedic work in television history. Not the writing. Oh, the writing is good. And it actually seemed better at the time before their plots would be used and reused by shows of less quality for years to follow. The writing is good, but not amazing.
When I speak of some of the best comedic work in television history, I speak specifically about the performances of Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. They are perhaps perfect. And perfect is not a word I like to use. The writing, in reality, was mostly a bunch of excuses to let these guys rant at each other. Their dynamic was perfect. They both played their characters so well, and understood exactly what was funny about them and how to heighten those details in every single episode. They didn't even really need a script. I could watch these two characters just sit in a room and talk about non-sense and it would be hilarious.
Consider the following exchange:
Gleason is yelling out the window for Carney, who lives a floor up in the same building. Gleason, however, doesn't realise that Carney is already downstairs and in the same room as him. So, when Gleason yells his name out the window, Carney replies from behind him causing him to get startled and jump.
This is a gag that would be trivial if almost any two other actors had done it. To be sure, similar jokes have been done on many a sit-com throughout time. But, in the hands of these two actors, it is great.
Everyone compares the Honeymooners to the Flintstones and, while they did get the idea of the Fred and Barney characters from the Gleason and Carney characters Ralph and Ed Norton, the comparison is not totally accurate. The dynamic is different. Barney was always subordinate to Fred. He was a dolt, flat out. They fought about big things, but didn't usually argue about the general planning of Fred's schemes. Barney participated in these schemes because he was Fred's dumb friend.
Norton participated and Ralph's ridiculousness because he wanted to. He was not the straight man to Ralph's crazy character, he was just as crazy. The women were the straight man. He was also, in a way, Ralph's intellectual equal, which is much different from their animated kin.
And, now, concerning the women. Trixie and Alice are almost never discussed in conversation concerning this show. But they were invaluable. Here amongst two of the most ridiculous characters in entertainment history, are two normal, cold, wives. Which is necessary. If no one was there to tell Ralph he was an idiot, it just wouldn't have been as funny. Alice also gave Ralph a reason to get mad. And Ralph getting reasons to get mad and scheme things with Norton was pretty much the whole point of the show. This (not to keep bringing up the Flintstones but...) was another difference in the two dynamics. Wilma and Betty were giggly and silly. Alice and Trixie and just real women. The writers of the Honeymooners were smart enough to know that Ralph and Norton are funniest when in a otherwise regular world. No one else needed to be funny on that show but them.
I easily rank both of these actors amongst the funniest performers in sit-com history. If I had make a list of the top six, I believe it would look like this.
1. Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners
2. Art Carney in The Honeymooners
3. Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy
4. Christopher Lloyd in Taxi
5. Carrel O'Connor in All in the Family
6. Ricky Gervais in The Office
Those are not in order. I can't order those geniuses.
I am a huge fan of smart entertainment and those above names, particularly the two I've discussed in this blog, are models of smart performers. The know what is funny about themselves, their characters, and their show. And they play just that, and nothing more or less. Being one who values little more in life than discovering exactly what is funny about everything and what will make people laugh, their accomplishments are inspiring.
This is the day everyone is discussing what's going to happen over the next year and personally, I hope we get more people like these. More people who can entertain us, smartly, and inspire us who wish to be inspired.
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