Jun062005
Filed Under Stand-Up Comedy
Shecky Magazine caught an article in the NY Daily News about a bill in Albany to make sure comics get $120 for a 20 minute weekend set. The bill was written by Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat. The Daily News editorial has had some fun with this, pointing out how ridiculous it is to claim comedians need a raise because they might have to cab between clubs. The Observer wonders if Espaillat is joking. And Shecky, though for stand-ups, is strongly against anti-raise efforts, stating “Nobody owes any standup comic a living.”
And they’re absolutely right, but the point here shouldn’t be not necessarily a living wage off of comedy but a fair one. Any language in the bill guaranteeing comics an ability to live off their comedy should be dropped. Entertainment is a crap shoot and if you try and eliminate the risk, you’d kill comedy clubs dead. But comedians should have some bargaining power to gain some money.
But the thing that gets me, isn’t this bill moot? Earlier this year the New York Comedians Coalition got club owners to agree to a wage increase. Sure it was not the $120 they originally wanted, but most went to $85, a compromise that all parties seemed grateful for, considering the potential work stoppage threatened at the time.
Worse, Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat seems unaware of this deal. The Daily News reports that a spokesman for Espaillat stated, “If they make a deal, we will withdraw the legislation.” But The Coalition website makes no mention of any sort of backtracking or reneging on the deal made in February, so why is the government getting involved? The two parties have already resolved their differences.
Espaillat might be helping comics just by making himself a good joke.
Jun032005
Filed Under Stand-Up Comedy
A brand new blog about comedy The Apiary, makes a good point that the Village Voice ignores comedy including a search for young comic Aziz Ansari which brings up nothing. To be fair the Village Voice does give a comprehensive listing of venues that can be found right off the home page. These don’t get down to the specifics of who’s playing where, but at least you know where to look.
It wasn’t always this way. Back during the 80s boom, Laurie Stone had a column in The Village Voice entitled “Laughing in the Dark” which covered stand-up comedy. It was later collected into a book with the same title
. Judging from the book reviews in Salon and the New York Times, the coverage wasn’t exactly compelling. (Sometime I worry this blog is a bit pedantic and pretentious but after reading the quote from “Laughing” about Kevin Meaney in the NY Times review, I think I’m A-OK.)
But what The Apiary is talking about is listings. It is rather puzzling The Village Voice doesn’t talk about comedy more, but the alt weekly seems to take itself so seriously, why would anybody who was interested in something funny read it. TimeOutNY and The Onion do a fine job with the scene. Comedy doesn’t really need The Village Voice.
Jun032005
Filed Under Stand-Up Comedy
Dave Chappelle is back to stand-up, making two surprise performances in Los Angeles and the Improv and the Comedy Store. College Humor, which sponsors the Improv show, has an account of his set which shows Dave has some good spirits about all the press, telling audiences he better get “my ass back to work” if he wants to get any money from sales of the Season 2 DVD. No mention if he did any racial material like the sketches that were beginning to concern him.
College Humor also goes on to mention that Chappelle was completely surrounded by fans and industry on his way out. Along with Comedy Central promising to talk business “really, really soon”, the pressure ain’t going away, but hopefully, neither will Dave.
Jun022005
Filed Under Awards, Sketch Comedy
The 2005 Emerging Comic of New York Award nominations have been set and are now open for voting. If you lust after a particular downtown comic, this is the best way to get their attention, outside of a balloon bouquet sent to their temp job. Vote now!
Jun022005
Filed Under Comedy Writers
Believer Magazine has an online exclusive conversation between the comedy writing twins Steve and Mark O’Donnell. It’s random but it does touch upon being funny as a profession for the “fairly” and Jimmy Kimmel being discovered as “quick and smart” once he gets out from under the pressures of network influence. A good quick read.
May312005
Filed Under Sitcom
A favorite of mine finally made it to DVD last week… Newsradio. The “Arrested Development” of its day, NewsRadio deserved from NBC the nurturing hands FOX gives “Arrested.”
What I admire the most about NewsRadio was that creator Paul Simms was exploring similar territory to “The Office"… trying to mine comedy from the workplace and real workplace issues. This focus probably came from Simms working on Larry Sanders, with it’s breakthrough focus on backstage showbiz (and sadly, repeated ad infinitum today - please stop navel gazing Hollywood).
NewsRadio was obviously a lot broader and bigger than
The Office, but it was very innovative in dealing with office politics, romances and relationships beyond the usual sitcom metaphor of coworkers as family. Concerns about downsizing, jockeying for titles and assignments and NSFW materials left in common areas were all were seeds for NewsRadio plots. For once, it felt like creators of a TV show had real jobs prior to becoming writers. (For a borderline obsessive/sweet homage to the show, check out Newsradio and the Comedic Art, which has nothing but superlatives for the show.)
In recent years, I’ve seen Simms work only occasionally in the New Yorker’s Shout and Murmurs page but not much on TV. Anyone who called NBC’s 90s-era Thursday Night Friends-Disposable Show-Seinfeld lineup a “shit sandwich” might have a hard time finding a network to love him, but Simms is a fantastic talent and if he’s still making pilots, someone should commit to a series and give him the kushy timespot denied him for so long.
May272005
Filed Under Stand-Up Comedy
Comedy in alternative venues is starting to get mainstream attention with a story in the NY Post today. An interesting point made by Christian Finnegan was how much harder you have to work with an alt audience because “You get a lot of bemused chuckling and wry smiling - like, ‘Oh, I see where you’re going.’” Previously I mentioned that comedy clubs surrender up a stink of desperation that make most smart audiences put up a wall between themselves and a performer, naturally making getting laughs harder. But it seems things aren’t easy all around.
Of course, if an audiences is that aware, they’re already a step ahead of seeing comedy in a venue like the Tee-Hee Teepee. They’re at the alternative venues, using their savvy to make Christian’s job harder. Other audience that might be less discerning faithfully head to the Chucklehut, willing to endure the flopsweat. Still, not every hipster loves this trend and working with in rock clubs isn’t necessarily any easier (as anyone who’s seen David Cross take a half hour to pack his bag on the “Let America Laugh” DVD can attest). Despite this, I think anything that gets comedy in a new context is great.
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