Louis C.K. is probably my favorite comic working today. There’s a level of honesty about his personal life and a sense of craft that’s worked the jokes to a razor’s edge but without losing the spark that made them so funny in the first place. So I’m really looking forward to his second one-hour special, “Chewed Up.” Louis has taken on Chris Rock’s model of training for each special like it’s a prizefight. So this isn’t just another show, this is the show.
Here’s a clip from that special where Louis talks about September 11th is a yardstick for your masturbation habits.
“Chewed Up” premieres on Showtime October 4th at 11 PM.
There talk out there of how late night comics are treading lightly with Republican Vice Presidental nominee Sarah Palin and her personal life. But not Doug Stanhope. He already had a couple of strongly personal jokes about her even before that news.
Here are the new blunt and brutal jokes he shared with a Oslo, Norway crowd only a couple of days after her candidacy was announced.
Stanhope originally planned to run for President in 2008 as a Libertarian, but withdrew after he discovered he could not make a living at his shows and use them as political events. Despite having to compromise on his candidacy, he has certainly not compromised his comedy.
The much anticipated album from the late comic Mitch Hedberg takes one of his final shows and ultimately shows a bit more of the depth and speed of his comic mind, demonstrating that the man was more than just a joke machine. My favorite track involves some impromptu work with a friendly heckler who has all the answers, but you’ll have to hear that for yourself when the album is released next week.
But here’s some snippets from some of the other tracks that demonstrate how sweetly and smoothly his joke machine did work.
Here’s a great ecard that’s a wonderful way to introduce Mitch’s album to folks who aren’t necessarily the comedy nerds you and I am. It has most of the material you hear here.
“Do You Believe in Gosh?” arrives in store September 9th.
Bill Burr talks about his love for the New York Comedy Club scene, how a stand-up special should be shot and the answer to his special’s title.
I thought the title of the special, “Why Do I Do This?”, was pretty interesting in that it implied a level of frustration or self loathing. But that’s not really reflected in your performance necessarily.
It was sort of an inside joke. That question has popped in my head throughout my career. On my way up, I’d be waiting to go up on stage in some sort of impossible situation that was going to be an hour of humiliation.
A lot of it was college gigs. I’d be standing there waiting to go on in a cafeteria at 12:30 in the afternoon. There’s people eating grilled cheese sandwiches and there like, “OK, we got a comedy show with a comedian Bill Burr. He’s really funny and here he is.” They give you the worst intro ever and nobody has an idea that there’s a show. And you go up there and you look like an absolute tool.
And I’d remember that I always think that, “Why do I do this?” Why didn’t I study harder in school? And just become a lawyer or something like that.
So it’s kind of undercutting. This is a very big highlight in a stand-up comic’s career – an hour special and a DVD. And the title undercuts that.
Yeah, and the subtle thing is that the special is why I did it. I went through all that crap. I guess the answer is “the special.”
I just didn’t want to call the special “Dangerous” – everybody has the one word description now. “Never backing down” – so fuckin’ edgy. I’m not trying to belittle the art but you’re just telling jokes.
I imagine a bunch of people are going to trash me. It’s very easy when you ask a question. People who aren’t going to like my show are going to go “’Why do I do this?’ Because you suck! Why should you do it.” There’s always a danger of that but I don’t really care.
Sometimes when I’ve not added a new post to the blog, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working on Dead-Frog. The Stand-Up Comedy Database is still a large project that I keep trying to expand and make as comprehensive as possible. But there hasn’t been a very easy way for people to track the updates.
Until now. I just finished creating a RSS feed for the Stand-Up Comedy Database that collects every time a new comedian is added or updated and also whenever a new work (be it album, special or book) or joke is added to the database. If you want to subscribe here’s the link:
Also: as a note, I’m looking to add quite a few more comedians to the database before the year’s end. If you think there’s a comedian who is being egregiously overlooked right now, please who I am missing. Please include any relevant works or info that’ll help their case.
My first thought, and perhaps yours as well, when I heard this was “Hmm. Can I think of a role where I thought Crowe was particularly funny?”
Nope. As always, I can see that as both an advantage and a disadvantage. Obviously we have no idea if portraying someone as darkly funny as Hicks is in Crowe’s wheelhouse but if it is, what an explosive and enjoyable surprise it’ll be. Another advantage, Hicks, though a funny man, wasn’t a clown. He’s a serious figure in comedy and probably the kind of comic who’d be a great fit for a more dramatic actor.
But what makes me optimistic is that Crowe and his screenwriters seem to want to work closely with those who knew Hicks best, specifically Hicks’ frequent collaborator Kevin Booth. Here’s a clip from a syndicated radio show hosted by Alex Jones where Kevin talks a bit about the film. The Hicks stuff starts at about two minutes in. (If you’re a Hicks diehard, the metaphorical “burning of Rome” talk that surrounds it may be something you’ll appreciate as well.)
That March of 09 date mentioned in the clip seems a little more unlikely, as Crowe’s next film Nottingham has been delayed in shooting. And of course, still no script.
Crowe must have felt pretty confident about his ability to portray Hicks to actually consider it being the equivalent to a concert film, but fictionalized. I assume that’s what is meant by “performance piece.” I’m glad that they are going a bit more traditional route however - seeing something like that would just make we wonder why they didn’t release an actual Bill Hicks concert film. It’s a approach that rings of (probably mistaken) hubris.
There are some pitfalls to a more traditional take of course… I fear the story would focus far too much on Hicks’ last year of life as he became sick and ultimately died from pancreatic cancer. It’s certainly a big element of his life, but Hicks was not a big walking statement on cancer. I’m not even sure if he ever did any stand-up material on it. (Anyone more versed in Hicks’ oeuvre want to enlighten me?) Any HIcks story should celebrate how he lived, not dwell on his death.
Whether on stage, TV, or videotape, watch as many comics as you can. Study their techniques and get a feel for how they construct their jokes.
Wait, wait, but isn’t that . . . copying? Our response: whoever said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery was obviously not in the stand-up business. True, the biggest sin in comedy is to steal another comic’s jokes. However, for learning purposes only, it’s OK to take the jokes of a comic you really like and try to rewrite them in a different way. Of course, you would never perform any of the variations you came up with, because that would still be considered stealing.
It’s definitely a good point, it’s actually regular advice for any sort of creative endeavor. I’ve heard it dispensed to fiction writers - start typing another writers’ work and build from it from there. You end up using the tools that were there and discovering what makes them work. You learn more elements of the art form that you could just from listening or reading someone else’s work.
But the general smartness of the advice is actually a little destroyed by the fact that the whole section has been cut and pasted from the SoYouWanna page on stand-up comedy. And without attribution.
The first ad from Jerry Seinfeld for Windows Vista now appearing online. Features comic with Bill Gates in a shoe store but nothing about Vista. Funny? Will it sell computers? Watch and judge for yourself.
Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz working on new sitcom with Jason Biggs for CBS. The show will revolve around a family who "loves too much."
Sep4
There's such a dearth in new comedy shows this fall, apparently in both network and cable, you can fit them all on this small chart.
Margaret Cho on race and comedy: "Race is still very much a factor in how much we see of you.. the people I started with are people like Ben Stiller... considering the difference in our careers, and how far he goes . . . he’s white, he’s straight, he’s a man... I like him a lot, but . . .Race is a big factor in how successful people become." (GiggleSugar)
Judd Apatow's script for "Funny People" suggests a cameo for Bruce Springsteen. The Boss might appear as a vision to Adam Sandler's character, a stand-up who has a near death experience. Why not a comic?
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The much anticipated album from the late comic 
Bill Burr talks about his love for the New York Comedy Club scene, how a stand-up special should be shot and the answer to his special’s title.
