• A 2020 Film Festival is obviously not going to be your typical red carpet affair. Still, while you can never replicate the in-theater experience, with modern tech you can get pretty damn close to bringing the intimacy of a shared viewing with audience and fellow filmmakers. Thanks to the ingenuity of founder Dominick Rancano’s All The Laughs Festivals (more laughs than Just For Laughs), I got to take part in one of these 2020 Fests and witness this type of communal screening firsthand. Rancano’s fest, in its first year, was held this weekend and yesterday (October 17), he screened Anna Paone’s and my short sketch “At Home With A Guy From Anonymous” in a block with other comedy filmmakers and sketchepreneurs from all over the country. While in the past we would have had to fly cross country to see our three-minute vid with an audience, thanks to this newfound type of festival, now we can see our movie and others in a chatroom that my parents, aunt and grandma can all watch with ease (my biggest fans!). After the films in our section screened, Dominick moderated a panel of the filmmakers where I got mad pretentious (I said I was inspired by the Stephen King quote that “writing is like telepathy, a form of magic that allows two people to communicate without speaking” instead of being a human being who is inspired by their parents and wife) but I’ll take any forum that will allow me to get mad pretentious. Special shout outs to fellow filmmakers Dylan Aames and Caryn Ruby for also participating in the panel and answering my Mom and Dad’s questions. This wouldn’t have happened pre-2020 and was a nice momentary distraction. Excited to see what All The Laughs 2021 looks like. If this sounds like something you’re interested in, check the comments to see everything that screened this weekend.
• Quick props to a few NYC comics:
- Isabel Hagen put together a fantastic and funny four-episode webseries “IS A VIOLIST” about what playing the viola professionally is really like. The first episode about a botched proposal is a perfect comedy of errors and later editions go deeper covering the competitiveness, sexism and bizarro gigs that come with playing a beautiful instrument. I loved it and would love to see this on a larger platform ASAP. If you want to see what it’s like to be a modern day violist, check that far, far away link.
- Dan Perlman and Kevin Iso’s excellent, interconnected multi-story web series “Flatbush Misdemeanors” was picked up by Showtime for a ten-episode series. The series features a number of familiar NYC comedy faces and is subdued, naturalistic and absurd all at once. Cannot wait to see what they do next. For a quick taste (you can’t see episodes online at the moment), take a peek at their site in the comments.
• As it gets a little colder, I’ve given myself some slack for spending so much time inside watching movies. Here’s just a few things I avoided the outside world by staying in and watching:
“Hubie Halloween” (2020): “Uncut Gems,” this ain’t. No, this is a film about a man child (Adam Sandler, who else?) that an entire town makes fun of...and then people start disappearing. It is what you think it is- dumb fun. Forget the story and let the aggressive, sophomoric jokes wash over you (my favorite was a sight gag where eggs thrown at Sandler all flew right into his trusty canteen). An added bonus is that this thing is cameo city featuring a murderer’s row of SNL alumni and Sandler collaborators (Kevin James, Dan Patrick, Shaq and Ray Liotta AKA the weirdest lineup of actors in film history) all taking bit parts but the MVP is easily the smiley Tim Meadows. He’s a put-upon bald man with the world’s worst wig but somehow can’t stop grinning. It should also be said that for all the screenplay’s repetitive faults, I was really taken aback by the somewhat twist ending. I actually exclaimed, “That’s good screenwriting,” out loud. PEAK SANDLER IS BACK (Streaming on Netflix).
“Jackie” (2012): This is the first movie I’ve seen in years that I didn’t go into with any preconceived notions. As a trailer and review addict, it was nice to see something I’d never even heard of before (Anna discovered this one). Since I doubt you know about this either, let’s talk about it. Dutch twins (played by the real-life Van Houten sisters; the elder Carice is famously from “Game of Thrones”) travel to the United States to locate their surrogate birth mother. Think “Mamma Mia” without the songs and set in New Mexico. Upon arrival, they find their ailing mother, the eponymous “Jackie” (freaking Holly Hunter). What follows is a true movie mashup; the sisters act as if they are in a cute, indie comedy dealing with workplace issues and mild insecurities while Jackie is in a gritty drama dealing with addiction and poverty. They never outwardly point out their stark differences but it is a fresh take on a familiar genre. Also, oddly enough, there was a very satisfying third act twist here too. VERY HAPPY I WAS INTRODUCED TO THIS ONE (Streaming on GAIA which is part of Amazon Prime; Prime has a TON of seven-day streaming trials; make sure to cancel them right away or else you’ll be racking up fees for minor film libraries).
“Game 6” (2006): This movie was on Netflix for years and I started it in 2009 or so watching five minutes and thought I would get back to it. Then, it disappeared and it was out of sight, out of mind. In July, I read a comprehensive tell-all in The Ringer (linked below) about the trials and tribulations of bringing author Don Delillo’s only screenplay to the multiplexes. Found out the only way to see this movie was DVD. Made the effort to buy it that day. It’s been sitting in my apartment ever since. Finally, 11 years later, I have seen the glory that is this brief 83-minute retelling of one divorced Red Sox fan playwright’s (Michael Keaton) show’s opening that coincides with the famed Game Six of the 1986 World Series (THE Buckner game). There’s a lot going on here for such a short runtime but it feels like the work of an auteur with flourishes like characters continually saying the phrase “This could be it” in different contexts and a woozy reinterpretation of how Game Six itself ended (Keaton smartly watches from the bar which somehow feels better than setting the game in the stadium; these are the fans that WISH they could be there). If you’re still not sold, you get to see Catherine O’Hara playing it straight in a throwaway role and Robert Downey Jr. hamming it up as a rock star critic who goes to shows in disguise. It should also be noted, Keaton watches the game with his cab driver and her grandson. This is not an important detail but one that I can’t get out of my head. IF YOU LIKE BASEBALL, THEATER OR 80S NEW YORK, THIS IS A NICE TRIBUTE TO ALL OF THE ABOVE (If you want to borrow the DVD, let’s figure it out).
SNL hosted by Issa Rae: I was quick to call this season’s third episode a return to form. The first half was a lot of fun featuring dueling Town Halls (Carrey actually did a Biden impression this go-round), a purely silly go for broke French talk show and my favorite sketch of the season so far- Five Hour Empath. If you haven’t seen it, link’s in the comments. Too short for me to spoil here; might as well enjoy it yourself. After a laissez faire Weekend Update where Che and Jost messed around like they were at an unruly bar show because they knew their jokes were going to get mixed reactions, the show took a bit of a nosedive. “Your Voice Chicago” about being a single issue voter was sneaky, smart satire (the entire backhalf wasn’t bad) but both Kyle Mooney sketches (“Dancer” about dancing with Bieber and “Jack Flatts” featuring militant guys who really wanted to eat at a fake chain restaurant) left me confused and wanting more. Doing shows five weeks in a row has to be exhausting. There’s going to be some home runs and quiet strike outs- this week had a bit of both.
The Jeff Richards Show: This new podcast has a format I haven’t seen before. Former SNL cast member and master impressionist Jeff Richards interviews his subjects in character (if this has been done a million times before, excuse my ignorance). Anyhow, I couldn’t help but check out his Jesse Pinkman-hosted edition with guest new SNL’er Punkie Johnson (had no idea she was a waitress at The Comedy Store). It starts hilariously as the concept of Jesse Pinkman hosting a pod is ripe for bits but slowly deteriorates over the course of this short 13-minutes as Richards stops committing to the bit so hard and asks standard questions like, “How did you get started in comedy?” Still, I kinda loved it and want to hear more. If this sounds like your cup of tea, I’ve done the legwork and linked below.
• This is a left field addition to the Stray Notes canon but I thought if you’ve gotten this far, you might be interested. In 2010, Chuck Klosterman (predictably one of my favorite writers), put out a series of intense, open ended hypothetical questions. It’s a fun party game that provokes conversation where you ask yourself, “What would I do if I walked into my place and Shaq was in the shower?” or “You get to stereotypical Heaven and are told there’s another place. We can’t tell you what the other place is but 18% of people go. You have 20 minutes to decide. What do you do?” This is kind of the stuff I love talking about. So, if you’ve played every single card of Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity dozens of times, this might be a welcome change of pace.
• Finally, the biggest story in the New York comedy world this week was the untimely end for Dangerfield’s Comedy Club. I don’t have much to add to the conversation since I only ever walked in once and never performed there but I did read many wonderful tributes and alternately scathing diatribes about the place. If you’re in the camp that prefers wonderful tributes, I recommend browsing the pages of Harrison Greenbaum and Jason Chatfield. Both were poignant, funny and a reminder that these clubs can have a personality on their own.
This week, you can find me at The Tiny Cupboard (for the first time) as a presenter at Marcus Cardona’s BOMBYS Awards. Other than that, I’m trying to do sit ups more often. Will report back when I have abs.
LET’S GO RAYS
01.) Dominick Rancano’s All The Laughs Festival:
https://www.bingewave.com/f/all-the-laughs-atl-comedy-awards
02.) Isabel Hagen’s “Is a Violist” web series: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcPMh3QZEjBgS3TmCPSTpJg
03.) Dan Perlman and Kevin Iso’s Flatbush Misdemeanors:
https://www.flatbushmisdemeanors.com/
04.) Ringer “Game 6” article: https://www.theringer.com/movies/2020/7/6/21300934/game-6-movie-don-delillo-1986-world-series
05.) Five Hour Empathy sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP0H0j4pCOg
06.) Jeff Richards podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/maybe-i-could-be-the-girl-robin/id1534672185?i=1000493725067
07.) HYPERtheticals by Chuck Klosterman: https://www.amazon.com/HYPERtheticals-50-Questions-Insane-Conversations/dp/0307587924/ref=sr_1_2?crid=ZY24WU8S9IAH&dchild=1&keywords=hypertheticals+50+questions+for+insane+conversations&qid=1603070598&sprefix=hypertheticals%2Caps%2C133&sr=8-2
