Tag: entertainment

Comedy Actor Roundtable With Ricky Gervais, Will Forte, Fred Armison, And More!

Any time you see a set that looks like like an A Midsummer Night’s Dream patio party, you know what you’re seeing has to be good.

A comedy friend shared this fantastic YouTube video with me that’s from The Hollywood Reporter: a roundtable discussion with a bunch of comedy actors who are on shows that are really big right now. Ricky Gervais (Derek), Don Cheadle (House of Lies), Will Forte (Last Man on Earth), Fred Armisen (Portlandia), Jordan Peele (Key & Peele), and Thomas Middleditch (I’m not gonna tell you which show he’s on…jk it’s Silicon Valley). They talk about what it’s like to be improving on set, how working with the writers and directors works, and just generally a lot of stuff you wouldn’t normally hear about their television shows.

Any “roundtable discussion” seems very overly structured to me. Like, just call it a discussion or something, right? But, the conversation here flows really naturally and you get the sense these actors are having a good time. Any time you get people in the industry together just talking I feel like better stuff comes out then when it’s just an interview with the media or something like that. I enjoyed watching it a lot. And, having seen most of their shows, I can vouch for them as funny people.

I also like how they threw in a woman to lead the discussion when they realized “Wait, these are all men actors. And they’re funny. We need a not funny woman to keep them on track.” Yay diversity!

P.S. I can’t help but feel like they coordinated the colors of the suits.

Cameron Esposito: Lesbian Comic, Also Just Pretty Darn Funny

Cameron Esposito is visiting my alma mater this week for a performance, which is great! And as colleges tend to go, the people who invited her probably don’t really know who she is. She’s a lesbian comic, and that seems to be their main selling point on students going to see her. College students tending to be liberal and thinking, “oh that’s great! I support lesbians! I’m gonna go see that!” and going to see the show for that reason instead of just, like, just wanting to see good comedy.

I have no problem with that strategy, because Esposito also happens to be a really great comic. But, I wanted to point out that she’s not simply a lesbian with a voice, but also just damn funny. She’s really funny and she just happens to talk about how she is a lesbian sometimes.

Some people even call her the next big star of stand up. Who’s to say? She’s from Chicago originally (like me) so I’d be pretty down with that happening. Some great comics lately coming from there: Hannibal Buress, Kyle Kinane. Represent!

Typing “my alma mater” feels weird. I feel like I wouldn’t like someone who talks about “their alma mater” for some reason. Like, “Ooh, so fancy! You know Latin!” But I’m pretty sure that’s the only word for that.

Seth Meyers’ ‘Making a Murderer’ Parody

So apparently all the rage right now is making jokes about Making a Murderer – that Netflix documentary series that everybody’s been watching. It seems like every other joke at open mics is about it (exaggeration).

Yes, I watched the whole thing pretty much straight and yes it is an addicting show. And yes you should watch it. If you have seen it, you’ll find this video pretty funny, which Meyers used as his cold open for his first night back to Late Night.

Buzzfeed Ranked The Hottest Men In Comedy

Spoiler alert: I’m not on the list. Mostly, I’m assuming, because this list was made in 2013. If it was made today, I can only expect that I’d be near the top. If not the toppest.

This was clearly a joke. Not to rag on John Mulaney, but #1? Hahaha. There are also a lot of pretty darn unknown comics in there, which is fun.

P.S. I love the picture I used for this. It looks like Marc Maron is peeking into your window.

The 10 Best “Best Of 2015” Comedy Lists Of 2015

Yeah, so, as implied by the title I have seen a ton of lists out there chronicling the “whatever-est” comedy “whatevers” of 2015.

Here are the best of the best of 2015 when it comes to lists of the best comedy things of 2015:

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Comedians Are Killing Comedy

Found this brief blog post on HuffPost Comedy UK called Who’s Killing Comedy? Comedians… Now, that might be a little extreme of an argument to make, but I get what the author is saying. Often times a lot of comics starting out will do anything to work their way into the industry and often times that means sacrificing actually being funny and putting on good shows to just appear as if you are doing well. It’s really frustrating when what everyone truly wants to see is just good, funny material.

Give it a read!

Young Louis C.K. Video

Writing “Young Louis” reminds me of “Young Link.” Like, from video games. Which makes me think: “Hey, wouldn’t it be fun if there was a comedian video game? You know, where like you go to clubs every night and try out jokes for ten years and then you go on late night and bomb? No, you’re right – that probably wouldn’t be fun.”

I’d still love to see an animated “Young Louis” though.

Well, here’s a clip of Young Louis doing a set when he still had all his hair. Part of him certainly sounds like he does today, but there are lots of differences too.

 

 

Crowdsourced Tips From Podcasting

As I’m getting ready to launch a podcast with my comedy friend Matt (who also happens to be my roommate), I’ve been trying to find out more about what it takes to make a good podcast.

I just found this list of comedy tips that a comic named Simon Caine has compiled on his website from all his podcasting. He podcasted for a full year (34 episodes) and compiled all the best advice he got from each episode. The best thing is that his guests are people “from the industry,” so they kind of know what they’re talking about. Haven’t had a chance to actually listen to his podcast yet, but the tips are super helpful, and I think the podcast idea is really terrific. Just asking people questions about how comedy works can get you to a much better level of understanding.

Some of the episode topics look fascinating and I’m excited to give the episodes a listen!

 

Comedy Throwback: Who The Comedians Of Today Remind Me Of

Sometimes it’s fun to play stupid games like, “Who is the Richard Pryor of today?” So why not? But, before we get into this, I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to argue that any of these modern comedians are on par with the legends I am comparing them to. Nor am I saying they’ve necessarily been influenced by them, either. All I’m saying is that when I watch these comedians today, I can’t help but be reminded of some great old comedians. Maybe they’re just similar comedy souls born at different times.

Not quite sure what that means, but hey it sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Sure it does. Anyways, I tried to pick some comedian pairings that would be interesting without being too much of a stretch. We’ll see if that’s true, I suppose.

Continue reading “Comedy Throwback: Who The Comedians Of Today Remind Me Of” →

Music Open Mics In NYC

I found this little ditty about going to your first music open mic in NYC. I just looked up the meaning of ditty, and it’s “a short little song.” Sorry for my inaccuracy; it’s an article, not a song. I could have just deleted what I wrote and then I wouldn’t have been wrong, but you know what? I like it this way. I feel more transparent. You can see how the cheese is being made.

Shit. It’s sausage isn’t it? I meant sausage. You know what? There’s no reason why I can’t make cheese AND sausage. They go very well together.

Well, this has some tips about going to open mics in NYC and it’s interesting. The ideas about “bombing” and meeting people are very similar to comedy. It also reminds me about how one of my friends always goes to these music open mics in the city and does comedy at them. He says they’re a very different, more engaged crowd and they can be pretty fun. I went to one once and I pulled to go 24th. Everyone got 10 minutes of stage time. Seeing as how I didn’t want to stick around a small bar exclusively filled with musicians for 230 minutes, I decided to leave. But, it makes me want to check out a better music mic, try it out, and see how good they are for comedy. Maybe I’ll write about that.

p.s. I love the picture I found for this post