On Monday’s Late Show, Bernie Mac told Letterman that he’s retiring from stand-up later this year. But not without a last hurrah, in this case the film “The Whole Truth, Nothing but the Truth, So Help Me Mac”, which presumably will tape a farewell concert performance. There’s no word yet of where that final performance will tape or when, other than the less-than-definitive date of fall.
In his conversation with Letterman, he noted the difficult life of a road comic:
“Oh, man, you miss out on so much, you know, and you live in all these hotels _ I was on the road 47 weeks out of the year,”
He also cited this year would make 30 years since he first started performing in clubs, which sounds like a good round number to me. Still this might turn out to be one of those never say never deals, Bernie Mac is only 49.
Though he’s best known for talking about how he will beat your kids in The Original Kings of Comedy, below is a clip from Def Jam before that groundbreaking tour and film. First you’ll notice the 90’s era red yellow and green clothing. And then, you’ll notice the repetition - it’s not really a catchphrase, more of a moodsetter.
At the beginning of her new album Self Help, Jen Kirkman describes how she has a stand set up with papers on it, presumably for reference. But after listening to her stand-up, where ideas cascade so fast that you feel you’re rushing right alongside the neurons of her mind as they fire, one might wonder - why does she need the stand of papers? It’s a contradiction that plays over and over in her work - she seems to teeter on the edge of her impulses (just giving her a copy of your key makes her wonder if she might sneak in and kill you) but it camouflages an explosively funny routine that’s obviously been made with care. This slight of hand is a unique component to stand-up and it’s a joy to hear someone like Kirkman master it.
As a New Yorker, I don’t get to enjoy the Los-Angeles-based Kirkman’s work on a regular basis, so the recent release of her album Self Help by the nascent AST Records makes it that much more of a prize. You should pick one up yourself. She’s also a player on VH1’s upcoming viewer-driven sketch comedy Acceptable TV, which airs this Friday at 10PM. You can already watch and vote on some of their programing now. I corresponded with Jen via email, where she talked about Joan Rivers, audiences on dates and the parallels of political dissent and comedic taste.
How much distance do you feel there has to be between “stage Jen” and “real Jen”?
I don’t know if there has to be that much distance. I found the more I revealed myself, or the parts of myself that I’ve come to accept but I realize might be simultaneously weird but relatable I’ve had more people tell me that they liked my set or related. Stage Jen comes from Real Jen but of course, Real Jen does not hold people hostage talking for 8-45 minutes at a time without letting the other person respond. Of course, Real Jen has emotional and personal experiences that with time, distance and a good sense of boundaries could become funny and she doesn’t let Stage Jen take them out until they are ready or else you’re really watching someone’s therapy session on stage. I’d rather tell the audience how the session went, and not invite them into it. It surprises me though that people still feel like I’m ‘baring it all’ on stage but I pick from a small pool of what I deem acceptable to reveal.
A small group of Mitch Hedberg fans are planning to honor the late comic by asking for a “Mitch Sandwich” at their deli on March 29, the day of his death. And while it seems a little odd to me to celebrate someone’s life on the day they died, it’s sort of a fun way to think about the performer.
So what exactly is a Mitch Sandwich? It’s based on the second track of his album Mitch All Together where he describes a sandwich a deli owner refuses to make because it’ll ruin his reputation. What’s in it? Two slices of banana bread, pastrami and cottage cheese.
Yuck.
The group is currently compiling a list of delis that will serve the sandwich so that his fans can eat it. So far only one in Westwood, California has consented to make it. But the team seems motivated, so who knows? I haven’t checked if any one of the organizers has yet had the sandwich, but I suppose the surprise of the taste is part of the fun. If anyone has eaten one before, please write me and describe the experience.
Comedians consider this. Think about what you want your devoted fans to eat on the date of your passing. And write material accordingly. I’m scouting Richard Jeni‘s material now.
Reports have come in that stand-up comic Richard Jeni died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His website has currently gone dark, but I’m sure that’ll be updated in time.
Fellow comic Elayne Boosler has a tribute on the Huffington Post.
According to this story Marc Maron filled in for him at the Chicago Improv this weekend.
Jonathan Katz loves jokes. And he cannot resist making them. He’s best known for Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, an animated comedy that was the only reason to watch Comedy Central prior to South Park. But he’s been a performer for more than twenty five years, first as a musician and then gravitating to the Boston comedy scene. In 1997, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He often describes it with a typical lightness: ‘’I have two incurable diseases. I’m a comedian, and I have MS. And neither of them is getting a lot better.”
His first CD Caffeinated plays as a sort of greatest hits, putting together pieces from more than twenty years of performance into a seamless package. (The track “Three Hobbies” has three of the funniest prank calls I’ve ever heard.) I talked to Jonathan Katz about his beginnings in the Boston Comedy scene, Dr. Katz’s legacy to stand-up comedy and how the media expects someone with MS to behave.
One of the things that you joke about with your comedy is how it’s not for everyone. But is there a certain pride that you have in that?
Well, yeah. I think what I do is a try to give the audience as little information as they need to get the joke. And if they don’t get the joke, it’s not the right audience.
I guess it’s a kind of a snobbery. I’m not saying I won’t let them into to the show. But I’m challenging them to pay attention.
You would want more people to get you if they could.
I think there the Jerry Seinfeld model. He created a kind of comedy that appeals to such a broad audience up to and including Asians. (laughs) I don’t know what that means. He works with such a broad audience and he’s at least as clever as I am, if not more.
And then there’s somebody like a guy named Robert Shakes, who I quote all the time but nobody ever heard of because he died before he turned 40 of a heart attack. He did jokes that you really had to pay attention to. Steven Wright is in that category. Steven Wright could have found a broader audience. But instead of finding a broader audience, he went out and found the people who love him. And eventually they started looking for him.
I’ve heard you describe yourself as a comedian in an accountant body. You say it like it’s a curse, but do you think it helps you create surprise in audiences who don’t expect what you say to come from you.
I described myself that way after working in Boston for a few years where there was a shortage of bald, Jewish comedians. Not the case in New York, but in Boston I was following these very energetic wild zany guys. Guys like Kevin Meaney, Steve Sweeney, Don Gavin, Lenny Clarke.
As a performer, Zach Galifianakis stretches what audiences expect from a stand-up comedian. He has incredible jokes, one-liners which twist as explosively as any by Stephen Wright. But what surrounds that material is equally fascinating; diverging into moments that are joyful, strange, or uncomfortable but can always be hyphenated with a funny (joyful-funny, strange-funny, uncomfortable-funny). Zach Galifianakis: Live at the Purple Onion, his new DVD, gives audiences a chance to see Zach naturally, not how he is in any moment but at this one moment. I talked to Zach about being polished, comedy nerds and the ethics of pranking.
The DVD is shot very differently than a lot of other stand-up specials. It’s a much more intimate experience. What was the goal when you were deciding how it should look?
As far as the execution of it, I think I and the director Michael Blieden wanted to show the bare bones of stand-up. Because a lot of stand-up things you see are much more polished. I just wanted to make sure the audience got to see the rawness of stand-up performance. A lot of times they are edited where it is more streamlined. I’m not really interested in being polished.
It kind of dispels that illusion of making it look easy. There’s a real awkwardness, and the pauses and the mistakes are left in.
The mistakes. (Zach laughs)
There are parts where you say that “this won’t be on the DVD” and then it is.
I also wanted to comment on that I was being taped. You don’t see that either.
Definitely. You talk to the camera a number of times.
So it’s more interesting to me to show the tumbleweeds, if you will, sometimes.
Do you feel people don’t appreciate the process of building a set?
I mean, people either get it or they don’t get it. It’s not for everyone. If you see a special on television – a Comedy Central special – it’s very polished and very staged. And every beat worked out. To me, I don’t perform like that. I perform a bit of a high-wire act. Some people don’t want to see that, though, and I understand that. To me, that’s what I wanted to show.
The video I posted earlier obviously had a reaction for those trying to prove Carlos Mencia‘s larcenous ways. I heard from Ari Shaffir, one of those who claim to be wronged by Carlos. While Ari agrees that the “Who will build the wall” joke “isn’t the best example of Carlos’ joke thievery”, he does set down a persuasive timeline for when it happened. Here’s what he said:
I opened for Carlos a few times over a 3 months period and did that joke (that I can clearly remember) at least 4 times. He saw me do it. I twice saw him in the room as I did the joke and I saw him laughing. Then maybe 9 months later, people all over town started telling me that Carlos was doing my material. So yes, it might be an easy joke. But once you see another comic do an easy joke, that doesn’t mean you can start doing it yourself. That’s still just stealing.
This clears up a few issues I had with the original video - the accusation depends on Ari opening for Carlos and Carlos being in the room at the time he performed. The fact that Ari can be specific to the point of remembering when Carlos laughed at the joke, a very telling detail for a comic, makes me inclined to believe what he says.
However, I think if the video of Carlos performing it had came out in 2005, he would be had dead to rights. Now with so many others having told the joke independently, particularly with it being such a news event in 2006, it’s very easy to create doubt. There’s a lot of people who are convinced already - but an abundance of them I’d venture to say are Carlos haters already. The point is to convince those who are completely neutral. I don’t think it does. It creates the smoke that will lead people to look for fire. And judging from the large number of leads Ari provided me for material that may have been stolen, fire could be inevitable.
Joke stealing is hard to prove, but still can be incredibly damaging. Carlos is right about one thing in the original video, it’s very easy to say someone steals shit. It’s the type of rumor that can destroy a young comedian’s career and haunt a successful one. I imagine I frustrate the hell out of people with my devil’s advocate ways, but I’d rather be more than fair than wrong.
I might not be on the fence for long. The original video’s author, Redban, tells me he’s working on another video which will show Mencia up against multiple earlier comics. Part of that might be Mencia’s HBO HalfHour Comedy Hour, which is up on YouTube. That’s the video where George Lopez claimed to have found 13 minutes of stolen material from his own act. And it’s only a 28 minute video. If something’s been lifted, you wouldn’t have to throw a large rock to find it.
Until then, I’m moving on to some positive stuff. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s that if I dwell on this any more, I’m going to go crazy.
Susie Essman: "I don't get heckled that much. Most hecklers are men... When I'm on stage, I'm in control and I don't think men want to be humiliated by a woman. Where with other guys, it's a mano y mano thing, with me I don't think they want to go there." (AintItCool)
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where he describes a sandwich a deli owner refuses to make because it’ll ruin his reputation. What’s in it? Two slices of banana bread, pastrami and cottage cheese.
Reports have come in that stand-up comic Richard Jeni died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 
, an animated comedy that was the only reason to watch Comedy Central prior to South Park. But he’s been a performer for more than twenty five years, first as a musician and then gravitating to the Boston comedy scene. In 1997, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He often describes it with a typical lightness: ‘’I have two incurable diseases. I’m a comedian, and I have MS. And neither of them is getting a lot better.”
plays as a sort of greatest hits, putting together pieces from more than twenty years of performance into a seamless package. (The track “Three Hobbies” has three of the funniest prank calls I’ve ever heard.) I talked to Jonathan Katz about his beginnings in the Boston Comedy scene, Dr. Katz’s legacy to stand-up comedy and how the media expects someone with MS to behave.
As a performer, Zach Galifianakis stretches what audiences expect from a stand-up comedian. He has incredible jokes, one-liners which twist as explosively as any by Stephen Wright. But what surrounds that material is equally fascinating; diverging into moments that are joyful, strange, or uncomfortable but can always be hyphenated with a funny (joyful-funny, strange-funny, uncomfortable-funny). 
, his new DVD, gives audiences a chance to see Zach naturally, not how he is in any moment but at this one moment. I talked to Zach about being polished, comedy nerds and the ethics of pranking.
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