Tig Notaro is best known for her album “Live!” But I like her best for her typical stand up: silly, stupid commentaries on everyday things. And doing stupid things like pushing a stool around the sage for two whole minutes.
Watch out her Conan set from 2012. It’s fun. It’ll be good for you! You’ll like it, I swear!
Storytelling has been around forever. It might be the oldest source of entertainment. Besides…rocks? And like comedy, it takes a lot of experience to be really, really good at.
Continue reading “Ira Glass on Storytelling and How I Think Storytelling Relates to Comedy”
Here’s what I’ve been listening to recently…
I’ve been prowling the WTF Podcast waiting in anticipation for the release of Marc Maron’s interview with Lorne Michaels of SNL. This particular episode with Aaron Draplin I found really interesting. Why? Well, I find the intersection of comedians and stuff that isn’t comedy very interesting.
Who is Aaron Draplin? Well, he’s a designer who works with a lot of different brands (perhaps most notably, Field Notes) and also tours the country giving speeches. He has a fascinating back story about moving from Michigan to the mountains out west and eventually to Portland. But, even more captivating is Draplin’s enthusiasm for…well, whatever he happens to be talking about. I don’t care what he’s saying: it sounds good.
Maron has an ability to find really interesting people to talk to. I like that he doesn’t just talk to comedians any more.
Listen to this podcast episode, it’s pretty cool.
I posted a little while ago about Nathan Fielder’s new season of Nathan for You. A writer for the AV Club, John Teti, asked Fielder to do a traditional interview to promote the show, but Fielder had a different idea.
Teti had previously reviewed Fielder’s show on his podcast Mom on Pop, where he discusses pop culture with his mother. Teti’s mother gave scathing reviews of Fielder’s work on the podcast, saying that Fielder wasn’t funny and she didn’t think he was a very nice guy.
So, what did Fielder suggest for the interview? He wanted to meet up with Teti’s mother to try to convince her that he was a good guy.
The interview with Teti’s mother is hilarious, at least to me. It’s definitely not your average type of funny. But it reminded me of conversations I have with people who aren’t really connected to the comedy world and are pretty ignorant about what can and can’t be funny (even though they’re generally nice people). The idea that some guy’s mother is trying to tell Fielder, who runs a successful comedy show, what is and isn’t funny is a pretty funny idea.
Spoiler: Fielder is successful in the end.
I saw this article a little while back and I liked it because it shows how hard you have to work to make it as a comic. Even after starring in several stand up specials, her own sketch show, and her own movie, Amy Schumer is living in a small apartment in New York City. No pent house just yet, no butlers. She’s still saving her money in case something goes wrong.
It goes to show that even after you “make it” in comedy, you’re not set for life. You have to keep putting the effort in and keep working at it. It’s also nice to know that she doesn’t have it that much better than me. Right?
stumelton.com 