One of the things I haven’t mentioned about Just For Laughs is who I ended up flying next to - Brent Weinbach. One thing that came up was his Live at Gotham set and how Comedy Central promoted the show. There’s a moment in the promo - which didn’t make it online as far as I can tell - where Weinbach acts like he taking a creepy sniff of one of the audience members (the same girl used in the chastity belt bit seen below):
Brent mentioned it was a favorite part of his set and he was a little disappointed that it didn’t make it. I was a little disappointed too - it was a bit that I was looking forward to seeing. It’s kind of a strange change - something’s great enough for a promo, but not right for the show, which is what the promo is selling. It’s a very quick visual and has more movement and interaction than a typical stand-up bit.
As Live at Gotham is a rising comic’s show, I suppose I can see why they don’t feel that didn’t have to put exactly what’s in the show in a promo. Not necessarily will the people be names. But I’ve seen them do it with other stand-up specials - one that comes to mind is Daniel Tosh’s “Completely Serious.” I think it may have happened with the Comedians of Comedy special at the Troubadour.
But here’s a bit of Brent Weinbach goodness we’ll definitely be seeing, two episodes of his Super Deluxe series “Weinbach in Wonderland”. The self-hatred involved in creating these is more than a little brilliant.
The ubiquity of digital cameras may be a bane for some, but I kind of dig how you can see how thanks to web video you can see Robert Smigel at work as Triumph. Watching this you realize how much of a remote like this can come together in the editing.
First up, the actual piece as it aired on Conan:
Now, here’s some footage taken of Smigel while he looked for lines to lay on these guys. Turns out he wasn’t prepared for the guys dressed as Spartans from 300.
So, no gay jokes on his assorted pages of notes. I’m not sure how common it is that he needs those pages. Smigel may not have all that instantaneous knowledge of the fandom that makes for speedy recall of one liners. But he definitely would always be prepped with some pre-written lines based on whoever he expected to show up at any event Triumph was covering. Do you think he needs those notes on other Triumph shoots?
I’m sure it’s also pretty obvious from other remotes but the great thing about having a puppet character means that Smigel can drop in a better line later or, in the case of this clip, cut in the second time he told the joke. You can do that with coverage and editing with a live person, but so much easier here. No need to sync with Triumph’s lips whatsoever.
Next more of the Bomber-Man character.
And someone who didn’t make the cut of the finished piece (along with a piece at the beginning of a different big guy not in costume).
I love how he repeats the same “goo” punchline - he’s not going with laughs from con-goers. He’s going for laughs from the studio audience. So if it falls like a brick here, who cares? They’re cutting the next second anyway (if, or course, they had used that).
I’ve stayed in Montreal for a couple of days more to enjoy the city when it is sans comedy festival. So I actually got to read a Canadian paper’s review of the Judd Apatow stand-up event “Apatow for Destruction”, which took place the evening after he received the Comedy Person of the Year award. Thought the review expresses some love from Andy Kindler, it’s still reads to me like a reporter just hatin’ on Apatow for being successful.
Here’s my take. Apatow did seem pretty rusty to me, but I sort of expected that. But if you aren’t a comedy nerd, you’re not going to really care. You’re going to just want a good show. The best bit of his set involved how he prizes funny so much that his daughter’s taken up performing ventriloquism with her genitalia. It’s also, sadly, pretty similar to a Louis C.K. bit about his own daughter and how she plays with her vagina. No stealing here I’m sure, but it shows that it’s a perhaps more relatable experience than you’d ever think (or want to think). A bit that I hadn’t before about his other daughter unwitting emblazoning her myspace page with marijuana leaves was much better.
Apatow’s stand-up instincts were trumped by his dad experience when he dealt with some fans yelling things like “Superbadass” prior to Seth Rogen’s set. I was a little surprised he wasn’t cutitng them down, but rather asking them to “quiet down to listen to what this man has to say.” It’s the words of someone whose most recent experience with screaming is with children rather than drunks.
I’m always thrilled to see a more alt-y performer like Charlyne Yi do well in front of a big crowd, so it was great to see her pull some silly magic involving a “volunteer” helping her complete 2/3rds of a levitation trick - that last chair is always the doozy - and tell a bizarre grotesque story about a man, his girlfriend and her detached eyeballs. Plus, Yi can deliver a good gag like “God brought you all here. So take advantage of the opportunity to convert.” A few songs were perhaps a little off-track, but it was a gutsy way of starting the show - a great attempt at broadening the definition of comedy.
Million Dollar Strong followed, performing “What’s It Gonna Be” which just killed like it always should. Yishoto (Dr. Ken) was in his grey unitard but Mike O’Connell delivered his screaming plea in only a pair of small red briefs and an unbuttoned cardigan sweater, showing the ladies exactly what they’d get later. He apologized for performing without boner or semi-boner.
Considering Seth will be one of the stars in Apatow’s new movie about stand-up comedians, I was pretty curious to see where Seth Rogen was a performer. On stage, Rogen definitely lives up to his namesake in Superbad (which was played by Jonah Hill), with material that’s equally sex obsessed - both straight and gay.
After detailing the disappointment of Montreal’s full contact strip clubs, Rogen launched into a routine about how Ian McKellan’s sex life must have improved since X-Men, speculating the age of the balls McKellan could put in his mouth dropped at the same time as his character Magneto dropped the police cars in the film. A short bit about how all porn films must be untitled during casting was pretty great but Rogen finished with a bit about being able to attrack girls with testicle cleavage, an observation that I feel has been beaten into the ground by a couple of comics - the one I could think of off-hand was Greg Giraldo.
A favorite was Craig Robinson who leisurely flowed from one song to another, occasionally weaving the lyric “take your panties off” in (he believes it should be in every song, include Chruch hymns). Robinson has a great sense of surprise, unexpectedly flashing outrage that an audience will fail to stomp their feet for the second verse of “if you’re happy and you know it..” and then later molding that tune right into a Barry White melody. The full accompaniment by a band rather than Robinson’s usual solo keyboard work only added to the jokes.
Judd came out to sing a song with Robinson. but it took some doing. He turned down a classic from the rapper Biggie Smalls, asserting “that’s not a real song” and maintaining that even after the audiences sang a few bars. ("You worked that out with them.") No Michael Jackson because he fucks kids. The Holocaust made “hava neglia” a no. Finally, he sang Blood Sweat and Tears “Spinning Wheel.” Conclude what you will.
Russell Brand finished the night, and as he was a hot ticket at the fest, this was my only chance to see him. Brand dwelled quite a bit on sex, but first expressed his concerns that he only helped people with the expectation of getting something back, that he used homeless people as “scabby wishing wells” as well as his own knowledge his mind is against him in situations like meeting the Queen.
His sex material touched upon clitoral stimulation, gagging during oral sex and anal sex etiquette. My favorite was a digression of how people think he’s gay just because “I dress nice and have a lovely haircut and women trust me and then… [punctuating with hip thrusts] BANG! Pregnant! BANG! Pregnant!” After a warning about the dangers of “nut brush” during a threesome, the young crowd was let loose, probably a little bit the wiser for an evening on Montreal’s sex shop saturated Rue de St. Catherine.
Patrice O’Neal is one of those comics who can turn my head 180 degrees, making me see things completely anew. His one person show didn’t have fourth wall moments, he wasn’t “going to turn into the dude who touched my dick when I was 11.” But Patrice O’Neal did get personal, talking about his need to be smarter and his failings to himself with his health.
His honesty, his trust to say from his gut, to not let it clench up inside him and make knots of discomfort, elicits explosive laughs. How did he know to get his diabetes looked after again? Thank goodness for a more than good, giving and game girlfriend who told him his pee tastes like birthday cake.
Even with his ability to be blunt, Patrice can still see both sides when speaking from his gut. He’ll talk about how Jeremiah Wright scares white people because of the way black preachers’ talk, then confess to watching a white preacher and all he hears are the words of a cult leader, telling them to drink up so they go to Heaven now.
Patrice’s feeling about race are incredibly complex, asserting the need to be strong for his group, but a desire to not be defined by it. With white people you can say “why do white people all dismember hookers? why are you serial killers?” And they can reply, “I don’t.” But within the Black community, Patrice notes with some dismay that to respond to “Black people all rob gas stations”, you “have to march to prove the we don’t.” The sense of being black as a group Patrice suggests restricts the ability as a black person to be an individual as he describes why he didn’t study or learn to type ("if I didn’t have comedy, I’d be unhireable.")
The performance I attended, was blessed with some tension between Patrice and one woman in the front row. Perhaps others would think so (including Patrice), but I think comedy is often best when it’s a little uncomfortable. Patrice seemed to feel the woman was judging him a little, and began trying to engage her. After he talked about how he felt men had to give the best of themselves to get just the worst from women, she illustrated his point somewhat by not answering Patrice’s questions about whether she had love in her life.
Unlike a lot of comedy shows which are very “we vs. the people outside of the theatre”, some of his observations began to feel like he talking about someone right there. Even when Patrice attempted to qualify it, he said it, “I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about women like you.” The frustration he felt gave a sense that anything might happen. Isn’t that what you want to feel at a comedy show?
The Just For Laughs fest is primarily associated with stand-up, so sketch comedy is a bit of a outlier for the event. But Bob Odenkirk and Bill Hader weren’t giving any quarter at the Kola Note, coming out and asserting that the ranking for comedy goes from prop to stand-up and then sketch. Their proof?
After enumerating all of the brilliant sketch groups (including Mr. Show and Mr. Ed), Odenkirk asked the crowd to name one famous stand-up. George Carlin? “Actor. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” Jerry Seinfeld? “TV Actor”
After Odenkirk and Hader then did a quick sketch to illustrate Odenkirk’s troubles at customs (Prime Minister of Europe? “Simon Cowell.” Correct!), they got the show rolling. After all, “who has time for silliness when you’re in a nightclub trying to get shit done.”
First up Dance Party of Newfoundland. Among bits was a man ordering a small vegan… person who had to be captured with a harpoon and net ("See if you can close enough to crush all his bones at once. He has no muscle” and a singing group called “Sons of Our Fathers” who performs pro-condom songs during recess and exposes the teacher’s own VD.
Odenkirk asserts the evening’s comedy should be clean. No “I F-ed her with my big C.” Why? “Because there’s some couple here who haven’t even F-ed yet” who might not sure if “I want his D in my sloppy C.”
The Apple Sisters generated some audience goodwill for staying in character during a technical mishap where Candy’s microphone wasn’t working. Cora: “We don’t understand all this technology, we’re women.” The fact the tech had to reach up Candy’s dress to fix the problem (twice) gave them plenty to play with as well.
Once corrected, the Apple Sisters charmed the audience with their songs “Pink Wine” and a song which tells the first Thanksgiving with the Indians getting the boost. The line “And that’s America” was met witha lot of approval by the Canadian audience.
Finally, the Apple Sisters paid tribute to their sponsor Corndy by singing their jingle and spitting corn fresh from the cob in each other’s faces, much to the delight of the audience. But perhaps not so much after Hader announced intermission and told the first row that it was their job to pick it up.
When they returned, Bob Odenkirk announced he’d decided they’d try some improv, but confederates Bill Hader and Paul Rust as goombahs in the audience insisted on making some literal, but horrible, suggestions. Odenkirk invites Andrew Friedman on stage for the scene. We’ll just ignore that he’s in costume with a Hitler mustache and a feather boa. Sugestion? Hader: “Hitler in a feather boa!”
Our third group, Backpack Picnic shared a set of sketches that easily flowed into the next, beginning with a man attempting to dislodge another from his “favorite chair” but the force field prevents him from hitting him. We see from slow motion that the force field is a man who comes from off stage and quickly diverts any punch. One favorite exchange was in a scene between a tourist and a tour guide. “Do anyone of you speak English?” “Is This English?”
Michael Naughton and Andrew Friedman then get to show off a little, playing suspects in an interrogation room to Hader and Odenkirk’s cops. The puffed up Friedman’s gang member repeatly tried to get the pair to flinch (no luck, although Hader broke a smile a little). And Naughton playing a gang member who’s afraid of the cops, insisting he’s being roughed up when they’re not even touching them. They bounce back and forth - including the bits. Puffed up gang member insisted he killed someone with a Netty Pot, victimized gang member “You’re going to Netty Pot me, is that what you gonna do? Netty Pot me?” The scene felt very improvised in a great way…
Sax and Dixon were our last group and they seemed to delight in sketches that fall apart… an “impromptu” freestyle rap reveals far too much about their own sex lives and a cute song they wrote when they were six injures Sax’s leg, disrupting the next ironically-placed doctor’s sketch.
Then we lucky enough to get a visit from Dusty Velvet (Casey Wilson), the quadriplegic stripper who refused to let her spirit be paralyzed. One member of the front row, which presumably had corn clean up duty, got awarded with a lap dance from the indomitable Ms. Velvet. As she was dragged into falling onto the man, Velvet repeated “sensual and sexual” over and over. With such belief in herself, how could anyone else not believe it too?
Last year, a funny young comic named Mike Bridenstine (one of the Blerds) turned me on to another case where comics have similar sounding jokes. I just recently put all the pieces together.
This one involves a young Judd Apatow, before he fully established himself as the comedy writer and comedy director that he is today, and Denis Leary, who is held in suspicion by some Bill Hicks fans because they believe he stole much of the late comic’s act.
Here’s the video of the two up against each other. It’s the last part of the bits that are similar - I give you the rest to show how they got there.
The wrinkle is both of these were performed around the same time - 1992. It doesn’t seem to far of a leap to me to think this is parallel thinking - if you had to describe what the sound at a drive thru sounds like, a man with a voice box seems a likely conclusion any creative person might come to. But the back and forth of the patter and how you feel about Leary’s work might lead you to the other side of the argument.
With Apatow beginning to perform again in preparation for his new movie “Funny People”, which is set in the world of stand-up comedy, it’ll be kind of interesting to see if he touches on joke stealing (or other comedy issues) in the film. I doubt it’ll be too inside baseball, but when your character live in that atmosphere, it’s probably something they’d be concerned with.
That aside, what do you think? Parallel thinking or do you suspect joke stealing?
The first webisode of The Office went live on NBC earlier. While these two minute shorts are really just methodone for Office addicts, it’s still The Office.. Of course, my first thought any time the shot cut at Oscar was “where were all the other people who work there?” Probably for the best that the next episode looks to be at a bank. Won’t be so focused on the ensemble then.
Letterman Intern has already learned the most important lession: "To try as hard as you can, because there are 50 people ready to take your spot at the drop of a hat." (Washington Post)
Megan Ganz of the Onion: "I think you get to a certain level of comedy sophistication and you come full circle. Then the only thing that makes you laugh anymore is when someone shoots a bean out of their nose." (The Apiary)
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