A lot of people hate math. People hate math so much that our word for “complete and utter destruction” is “after–math.” That’s pretty bad. Like, what’s left after a bomb – we compare that…to multiplication tables.
That’s a joke I wrote that pretty much sums up how 50% of people feel about mathematics: it’s the absolute worst thing in the world. Physical torture cannot compare to the mundaneness of arithmetic nor the frustration of solving a system of equations. And yet, there are some crazy, weird people who actually like math.
What?! Who?! Well, I’m one of them! And so is San Francisco/Los Angeles based comedian Sammy Obeid. And if you’re a comedian who likes math, sometimes that can work against you.
“His gigs were part strip show, part heavy-metal concert, all primal-scream therapy.”
If you’re young and don’t know anything like me, you might never have heard of Sam Kinison. I heard about him once when I started comedy and now I have one of his comedy records and we get along just swell. Kinison is up there with the greatest comedians of all time. Why? I actually don’t know. I actually don’t find him very funny. But I do think he’s unlike anyone I’ve ever seen and if I was friends with him I know I’d think he was hilarious. That’s why I like listening to him so much.
I know my mom wouldn’t like him because he screams and yells all the time in his stand up, something he might have picked up as a short-lived Pentecostal preacher. Kinison was a weird, crazy guy and he died too young and too suddenly.
He did a lot of stand up. And something I didn’t know until reading this article was that apparently every one of his sets was different. That’s insane. He told different jokes every time he was on stage. So, a lot of his material has been lost over the years, especially since not everything was video recorded in the 80’s (that’s why you can’t find too much of his stand up online and why I’ve gone to albums).
Comedy Dynamics is coming out with The Sam Kinison Comedy Collection, which will pull together all his “lost” specials. Apparently there will be a bunch of stuff that hasn’t really been seen before. How do they do that? I don’t know. But it sounds cool and I’ll be looking forward to it.
Here’s some of his stuff. By the way…sorry if you’re like, “Duh! I KNOW who Sam Kinison is!” But it’s better for me to pretend you don’t than to pretend you do. And hey, you get to see a little more of him! Lucky you!
And it’s probably true. Comedians are super weird people, so it’s not a huge stretch to say they might have psychotic tendencies, too.
So these British scientists took a bunch of comedians and compared them to actors and a control group and found that “comedians scored significantly higher on all four types of psychotic personality traits compared to the general group.” Comedians scored especially high in impulsive non-conformity and introverted personality traits, which, well…yeah.
I found this article about it pretty funny. There are some great quotes in the article like,
“The creative elements needed to produce humor are strikingly similar to those characterizing the cognitive style of people with psychosis – both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.”
That’s really nice, scientists. But you really don’t have to use online questionnaires to discover comedians are crazy. Just go to an open mic at 1AM and listen to everybody talk about killing themselves as the audience stares, blankly, half asleep.
One of my comedian friends just taught me how to pee on the street in the middle of Midtown, Manhattan in broad daylight without anyone noticing. He was like a magician. And he was beaming the whole time: the proudest I’ve ever seen a person. I think my anecdotal evidence might trump your numbers. You’re late to the party, science.
This has been all over Reddit, but I can’t help but share it because it’s hilarious. If you didn’t know, H. Jon Benjamin is the voice of infamous Archer and also Bob from Bob’s Burgers. And he’s a hilarious guy. He’s been all over TV, too – I’ve seen him in everything from Important Things with Demetri Martin to Aziz Ansari’s Master of None.
He released a new jazz album where he plays along on piano with a jazz band composed of world-class musicians…and he doesn’t know how to play piano. It’s the same kind of funny as those horrible recorder-playing songs, but way classier. And funnier, I think.
You can actually buy the album, too. So do that. If you like it.
So one of Amy Schumer’s joke-stealing accusers, Tammy Pescatelli, went on Opie and Anthony to apologize for what she said about Schumer and I thought that was pretty cool of her. Just sharing it cuz I think it’s important.
If you haven’t heard this recording between Jim Norton and Amy Schumer, it’s a must-hear. She defends herself regarding all the recent accusations of her joke stealing and it’s fascinating.
A lot of comics rush to Schumer’s defense, and rightfully so. I can’t say for sure that she didn’t do it, but the jokes that she’s been accused of stealing are really…well, not that great of jokes that basically anyone could think of. I think it’s more likely to have been coincidence. That won’t stop the internet from bashing her, though. Just take a look at the comments on the video…sheeeeeesh!
On the other hand, Schumer does say a lot of things in this interview that she probably doesn’t have to say. Saying over and over that her accusers aren’t famous like her and suggesting that accusing her of joke stealing is how they think they can get famous is not exactly super classy. That doesn’t mean she’s wrong, and I know she’s clearly upset in the recording, but I might try to handle it a little differently if I were her.
My buddy Patrick posted this list on his blog a few weeks back and I’m remembering it again. It’s a fantastic list of things to remember when you’re running your own mic, and I think it’s especially applicable to New York City.
Patrick runs one of the best mics in the city at The Creek and the Cave in Long Island City on Thursday nights. Check out his blog! He’s a really funny dude.
I saw this fantastic little piece about Louis C.K.’s experience with film on Splitsider and, as I just implied, I think it’s fantastic. The author actually went through all the interviews of C.K. he could find to pick out everything about film, and when you look at all those pieces altogether you get a much better appreciation of who C.K. is as a filmmaker rather than just a comedian.
As much as he is respected, I think C.K. never gets as much credit as he is due. When people talk about C.K., they’re usually talking about him being funny – being a comedian. Rarely do they talk about him being an artist and filmmaker who directs, writes, edits, and all but films himself in his various projects. Some people mention that, but rarely do they go further to explain how much he knows about film. If you’re just a consumer of the content he puts out, chances are you probably wouldn’t talk about C.K. in the same way you’d talk about Woody Allen, for example.
This article gives you that appreciation for C.K. way better than I could. Awesome read. Eddie Brawley has also written some other really cool pieces, so check him out on Splitsider.
If I can bring up Louis C.K. twice in one week, it’s a pretty good week!
You just got back into town from a long business trip. And you’re like, “Hey! No one is talking about what the weather was like yesterday! I wonder what I missed! Even if it was a pretty regular day I’d just like to know about it, you know? Just to ease my mind. Like, the weather channel only ever talks about the weather for today and the future! Unless there was an avalanche or Sharknado yesterday, no one is ever chatting about yesterday! I wanna know about the past, man! I wanna know what I missed!” You talk to yourself a lot.
Or, maybe you’re just forgetful.
Either way, my new segment, Yesterday’s Weather, is a perfect fit for you. I’m no meteorologist, but you will find out whatever yesterday’s weather was like wherever I was. The weather channel is always wrong. Get ready for the only weather report that’s 100% guaranteed…it’s time for Yesterday’s Weather.
stumelton.com 