Dec222004
Filed Under Stand-Up Comedy
Good article in the NY Times about 300 area comics founding a union to get pay raises for sets, including doubling the weekend rate from $60 to $120 and raising weekday rates from $15 to $25.
While reading the article, one of the first things that flashed in my head was Bob Zmuda’s book on Andy Kaufman. In it, he describes how a 70s boycott of the LA Comedy Store damaged the art of comedy. At the time, the Comedy Store had comics perform for free. Andy Kaufman opposed the ban, believing it would hurt comedic experimentation. His rationale: the more people had to pay for a show, the more conventional entertainment they’d demand from comics. (I’m away for the holidays, so I can’t provide the exact reference. I’ll dig it up on my return.)
I certainly don’t feel this way myself. I do think the price of seeing a show ($30 a person according to the article) does keep good crowds out and makes people a lot more demanding. But there are the alternative spaces out there which allow for comedic experimentation and attract crowds that embrace it. (Something Kaufman couldn’t had forseen in the 70s.)
In a sense, comics at mainstream clubs are getting paid to put up with performing for audiences that aren’t as sophisticated, interesting or intelligent as those in alternative spaces. Raising pay rates may not always be good for comedy artistry, but for the comedy industry it’s a good thing.
Dec162004
Filed Under Awards
Comedy and award shows never seem to work together. Award shows, by nature, are full of themselves, even when being “irreverent.” The American Comedy Awards has been dead for nearly three years now and Comedy Central’s attempt to supplant them with the first annual ”Commies” has fallen faster than the actual Commies did.
The web is picking up the slack, online (and soon to be print) stand-up comedy zine Two Drink Minimum has just named it’s “Goddammies,” which is like a Christmas list for comedy geeks (including the Seinfeld DVDs and the Lenny Bruce CD Box Set). The focus on stand-up sees rewards for new faces (Last Comic Standing’s Jessica Kirson), comebacks (LCS’s Kathleen Madigan), dirtiest (nearly-LCS’s Jim Norton) and, perplexingly, hottest (Dane Cook and Sarah Silverman, who are too good looking to need LCS).
Though Two Drink’s selection are already completed, Cringehumor.net is still taking nominations for their year end awards on its boards. The CringeHumor crowd loves darker comics, considering them to have more integrity. So don’t expect to be suggesting the most attractive comic. And best of all, you can indulge your angry impulses and share the “awful comedian of the year” and the “worst moment in 2004.” To give you an idea of how different the two sites are: Jessica Kirson has several nominations for “awful comedian.” If you’re just as opinionated, you can make nominations here.
Dec152004
Filed Under Stand-Up Comedy
Caught the rerun of “The Seinfeld Story” where Jerry Seinfeld asserts he knew even as he was pitching it that his sitcom wasn’t going to be about how a comic generates material. He states pretty categorically that no one would want to watch such a thing. (Of course, a two-hour documentary called ”Comedian”… that people will watch.)
While I’m not sure people would indulge in a half-hour series about comics developing material, they might view a web short on the subject. Over on aspecialthing.com, they have a little QuickTime movie entitled ”Birth of a Joke,” a first in what they hope will be monthly series. In it, LA comic Sari Karplus talks about a new joke she’s has about the true story of her parents meeting. We see her try it for the first time. After sharing what she thought worked and what didn’t, we see her try out the new version a few weeks later.
It may sound a little dry, but if you have an iota of comedy nerd in you it’s great viewing. You almost want to play along and deconstruct with her, attempting to see how everything could fit together. It’s just a great little lesson-by-example in joke mechanics. I’m definitely looking forward to more of them.
Dec132004
Filed Under Stand-Up Comedy
Read an interview with Eugene Mirman in the recent issue of Stay Free. In it, he describes how horrible comedy clubs are, referring to the system of going from opener to headliner “pointless and depressing.” Like many comics he prefers rock clubs, because even though there isn’t a system, they give “just as good if not better exposure.” And I imagine, the audiences are much more interesting as well.
I’ve never been a big comedy club fan myself. The idea of a singular culture product dedicated purely to generating laughs seems to be dying out in our culture. Comedy clubs, like sitcoms, seem a little archaic to me. I think much of it has to do with the presentation of it.
When you go to a comedy club, there an attitude of “enforced fun” that surrounds it. And desperation. With names like Rascals, Looney Bin, Zanies, Yuk Yuk, etc. etc., you don’t need screaming “c’mon, that was funny!” It may seem like a small point to harp on names, but atmosphere and presentation is everything to comedy. I think this banana peel ambiance just creates walls up in audiences, where they go, “Oh it’s funny. Prove it.”
Good comics overcome this obviously. But you look at the way TV promotes comedy in our culture and you’d wouldn’t think anything was funny. The announcer puts on his wacky voice and attempts to sell you on jokes like a laughtrack. There’s the idea that people in this country are so stupid that they have to be told something is funny with indicators like laugh tracks, wacky voices and other symbols. But laughter is a automatic response, it’s not something you can force out with a false atmosphere.
I hope comedy clubs will take cues from alternative spaces like the UCB and create more relaxed environments where the pressure to laugh is purely from the words the comedians are saying and not the CrAzY atmosphere. Don’t tell me it’s funny. Show me.
Nov182004
Filed Under Sketch Comedy, Stand-Up Comedy
Though I admire The Onion, I pretty much skip over the front page headlines these days. They’re still very funny, but I know their format and voice well enough that the surprise is gone. Instead I head for the AV Club section, which this week features a great interview with Chris Rock.
You definitely get the sense that in the 10/90 split of Inspiration/Perspiration, Chris likes to sweat. Early this year, when Entertainment Weekly dubbed Chris the Funniest Man, the image of Chris treating comedy clubs like gyms definitely came through. With one of his two iPods completely loaded like comedy albums, even his restful moments are absorbed in one thing… being a funny motherfucker.
The Onion interview gives some insights into why that is, with Chris recounting a story Al Franken told him about a major league pitcher allowing some batters hits early on so that they won’t try so hard later in the game. Chris was like that, apparently. It’s a rather strange thing to tell someone and says a lot about the power struggles to get a sketch on Saturday Night Live. (Let a guy have one sketch so you don’t have worry about him writing another… what happened to picking the funniest material?) Chris, obviously, ain’t that kind of hitter no more.
The most intriguing parts of the Onion interview are where Chris Rock smacks down Jay Mohr for complaining about SNL in Gasping For Airtime, including a spirited defense of Ellen Cleghorne (who Jay slags in the book), which argues she had to be damn funny to get on the show as a black woman. Some would argue its the other way around… Comedic Affirmative Action. I don’t think we’ll ever know how funny Ellen Cleghorne is because how good could she be in a organization that couldn’t see how funny Chris was?
The best part, Chris doesn’t say no to a special edition Pootie Tang DVD (though I could do without Pootie 2, thank you).
Nov172004
Filed Under Sitcom
I just noticed that Arrested Development has begun naming episodes variations of “The One Where...”, exactly how Friends titled every episode in its 10-year run. Since most viewers never see these, the shift in titles is probably just a way to amuse writers who are probably grasping at anything to enlarge their audience.
One change I did notice in the last Sunday’s episode however: music under a conversation between Michael and Gob that seemed to be an attempt by the creators to indicate the audience “Hey America, here’s some heart for you!” Arrested Development has always had heart… and used music to express it, particularly in conversations between Michael and his son. But this one seemed to be a bit more ham-fisted, a concession to audiences who may find the bizarre family humor cold. It was jarring for me as a regular viewer, but it might be necessary to raise those ratings. It’s just kinda sad that we need laugh tracks to tell us to laugh and musical cues to tell us to care.
That said, the rest of the show has continued to amaze. It’s the funniest show on TV right now. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. And buy the Season One DVD. I’m going to keep repeating it until it’s Seinfeld level hit.
Nov162004
Filed Under Late Night
I always admire the futility of Save Our Show campaigns. To me it’s better to be a cult hit than a hit hit, the near cult hits that make up “Save _____” campaigns reflect that there’s something about the show that people are missing, myself included in this case. Cringehumor.net’s savetoughcrowd campaign may not have prevent Colin’s cancellation, but it got me and hopefully a few other viewers to take a second look.
I’ve never been a big fan of Tough Crowd. It seemed pretty hit or miss depending on the guests, plus the yelling over each other made it impossible to hear a lot of jokes. But now, I can see how fans love the rawness of it. In an age where even show that trade in dark humor strive for an ultraprofessional look, something that shows everything warts and all is amazing. Other shows on Comedy Central have this aesthetic too… Insomniac springs to mind (which consistently showed Dave Attell‘s flubs, trips and bombs amid the late night living it up). I think the fact that Tough Crowd lived for two years is pretty amazing… it’s pretty much only-on-Comedy-Central stuff, even frequent guest Jim Norton gives ‘em credit for that in his blog.
That said, I don’t think the cringehumor fans show just be grateful for what they got. The camaraderie of the comedians on the show and its writers, many who like Laurie Killmartin describe it as the best experience of their lives, along with the intense devotion of its fans shows that something was lost here. It might be done, but at least Tough Crowd might be invoked with other long lamented CC Shows like Strangers with Candy, Upright Citizens Brigade and TV Funhouse. Comedy Martyrs like these kinda live on. (Hell, look at what the Comedy never-wases do.)
In fact, the faithful can continue to bemoan Tough Crowd’s cancellation. The savetoughcrowd campaign is still supplying letters and address to see CC exec. And if you’re in NY, you can check out Wednesday’s Rejection Show, which feature an all Tough Crowd guest list. Presuably, we’ll get to see some stuff Comedy Central was nervous to air, if you can imagine that (and really, if you can’t… you should go. You’d be surprised).
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