• In mid-June, I was going really hard spearheading Comedy Therapy sessions with folks; most were with comedy friends I’d never met on Twitter via DM. However, I did do an impromptu chat in person with my number one collaborator, my wife Anna Paone. I asked her the question that I used back in June to open every session. I said, “It’s 2030. What’s the one creative endeavor you’re proudest of having accomplished in the 2020s?” She said that she needed to make a feature film called “Booklove” that had been rattling around in her head for months a reality. We discussed the logistics of production and she started to devote her nights to her screenplay writing draft after draft after draft. Not to center myself, but I feel the tiniest bit responsible for lighting this fire within my wife. Now, four months later and in October, the screenplay exists in a nearly complete format and is being performed live on Anna’s theater company Dragonfly’s weekly Zoom show to drum up interest in this future feature film. Split into three parts (the first part was recorded last week and can be seen online), each roughly 40 minutes, “Booklove” tells the tale of Corrie Calabrese (Anna Paone), a former child star from a film for tweens who is now in her late 20s. She stalks the book’s controversial JK Rowling-like author and meets up with her former co-star before they are magically thrust back into the world of the movie within the movie. My biased favorite part of the screenplay is that Corrie’s character is in a relationship with a guy named Louis, who is wholly based on me. The character sends texts that say, “Where you at” and introduces himself to celebrities by telling them they like their least well-known works. I felt seen, as the kids say. Comedy or artistic therapy has been incredibly rewarding for me but to actually become a part of the project that I discussed with my client (this all sort of violates the comedy therapist/patient confidentiality but I’ve gotten permission) is doubly rewarding. If you want to see Part Two of Anna’s “Booklove” featuring me in the role of Louis who is me, the link is in the comments. If you want to talk about your career or comedy with me, DM away. Happy to chat about you and we’ll set up a time (there is a tiny fee now but you get an hour).
• Quick shout outs to those in the trenches doing cool comedy things:
- Gianmarco Soresi’s new Amazon Prime special “Shelf Life” is a really great snapshot of what live, outdoor comedy in NY has been like these past few months. I’ve mostly stayed away and only read secondhand accounts of what things have been like and the first six or so minutes of the special put the spotlight of Gianmarco actually being on the ground floor. We see cops ending sets before they’re over as well as footage from shows in Central Park and all over the City before the special settles into a more intimate outdoor dining venue where Gianmarco does an incredibly tight, timely, punchline heavy set. There are many clever jokes about having been the comedian on the Titanic, being too close with your family, making fun of what a Zoom date actually is and what a show with a Zoom bomber is really like but the one that stuck with me the most was a throwaway line about getting the light that will stick with me for my entire life. If you’re interested in seeing this thing, I put the link in the comments. It’s well worth your time.
- One of the all-time greats Lucien Formichella (famously known as “LOOOOOSH”) made an incredible video back in February I just became aware of that everyone needs to see. It’s a two-minute, award-winning performance art piece called “In Memoriam for the Cancelled” and is a hilarious send-up of the “In Memoriam” at the Oscars. It’s artsy, ballsy and a bit that could run for years in NYC. Check it in the comments.
- Every Friday, I look forward to RA Bartlett’s fantastic deep dives into all the films released 20 years ago (well, all the films released that week). They’re a historical mini-peek into cinema’s past of what audience and industry expectations were for each film, their quality and what was their legacy. This week, he covered “Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows,” “The Little Vampire” (genuinely had never even heard of this), “Lucky Numbers” and “Requiem For A Dream.” Check out his page and indulge. Well worth your time.
• It might seem like I watched an obscene amount of movies, TV and videos this week and you would be right. Since there’s so much, I’ll do my best to keep this tight so you can move on with your life.
“Save Yourselves!” (2020): One of the odd peculiarities of movies in 2020 is seeing stuff that was made pre-pandemic that gets something right about our present day. This recent release is an eerie mirror of our present reality. It’s a great, simple premise too. A couple (John Reynolds and Sunita Mani owning the lost in their early 30s roles that most of us are living) decides to give up tech for one week and live out in a summer country home. They struggle to communicate, interact with nature and notice an odd ottoman-like thing in the corner of their cozy cabin. Without giving away too much, the odd ottoman-thing (that looks oddly like the COVID crown) has caused the demise of the world which this couple completely missed out on because they shut their phones off for the week and had no idea what was going on in the world. Reminds me of the guy who was on the silent retreat in March and didn’t hear about quarantine until May or something. Either way, this is a film full of nuance, callbacks, payoffs, big laughs and small moments. Other than the copout ending, I loved everything about this flick and its gradual raising of the stakes. The 93-minute runtime felt like nothing at all and I didn’t look at my phone once while watching. A true rarity. ONE OF THE BEST OF THE YEAR FOR ME (Streaming on Amazon Prime for $6.99).
“Yes, God, Yes” (2019): First of all, the wordplay in this title is fantastic. A movie about a repressed Christian high schooler (Natalia Dyer from “Stranger Things”) going to a weekend retreat where sex is on everyone’s mind? Honestly, maybe movie title of the year. The actual movie itself is fine. It’s brief at only 77 minutes but feels a bit longer as it’s padded out at the end by on-the-nose speeches about what Christianity really means and somewhat obvious third act turns of events. The movie’s main pleasures come from its period specificity about early 2000s tech with chat rooms, AOL Instant Messenger and VHS tapes. When I was living in the early aughts, I didn’t think there was any culture to the decade (most of the decade was made up re-living the 80s on VH1 it seemed) but I guess there really was. Back to the movie. It’s good. Not amazing. They don’t go for the easy, cheap jokes and one scene about a personality test where you circle traits about yourself and then immediately erase brought me right back to high school but these fully-realized moments felt few and far between. The reviews for this are glowing but I’M NOT A BELIEVER (Streaming on Netflix).
“Trial of Chicago 7” (2020): Aaron Sorkin is one of the few writers whose work I will always see no matter what it is. I might not love it but I always give him the benefit of the doubt. Here, I did so happily. I remember reading about this movie coming out way back in the early 2000s on movies.com’s list of “20 to look out for” that I religiously refreshed weekly. This one languished in development hell forever and I can see why- it was made for streaming. Don’t think this would have done huge box office but this is a bona fide streaming all star. Here’s a quick history lesson to catch you up if you aren’t familiar with this trial: 1968 was a wild year of political unrest and at the center of it were the protests at the Chicago Democratic Convention led by countercultural icons Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin (Sacha Baron Cohen and Jeremy Strong, who replaced Seth Rogen), clean cut youth activists Tom Hayden and Rennie Davis (Eddie Redmayne and Alex Sharp), elder statesman David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch) and two other guys who were barely in this thing. They’re defended by the blustery William Kunstler (Mark Rylance) who gives a billion speeches about the law and what’s right. Also, Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen) was tried with the group even though he was not part of the riots which leads to many of the film’s most lasting images that demonstrate how poorly he was treated while on trial. The trial itself is a bit of a farce with the other defendants mocking the proceedings (dressing as a judge is such a brilliant bit), its incompetent judge (a stubborn Frank Langella, whose still got it) and the prosecuting attorney (a welcome return from Joseph Gordon-Levitt). There are shenanigans with undercover cops, impeccably edited scenes (this felt like a masterclass in pacing, use of inserts and equal screen time for a sprawling cast) but toward the end, once again, felt a bit on the nose for something that had such an anarchist spirit in small doses. I liked it but I WOULD HAVE LOVED IT WITH LITTLE TO NO EXPECTATIONS (Streaming on Netflix).
“An Evening with Tim Heidecker” (2020): Tim Heidecker gets to the bottom of the emptiness of straight white male mediocrity better than anyone alive (as a mediocre straight white male in comedy, it pains me to see echoes of myself in his work). This anti-special (which was actually sort of already done in 2014; Dan Klein’s special linked below is VERY similar but mocking a different kind of mediocre comic) has every bad joke and/or pun you’ve ever written in your first year of comedy that you cringe at now; poor performance technique like starting bits over until you get them exactly right, not knowing how to take the mic out of the stand, half baked crowd work and a pointless wedding proposal. The promise that he could riff on the name “Cookie” for an hour made me snort. I also laughed stupid hard at the bit about getting something nice “like wine from 7/11.” Toward the end, Heidecker makes an interesting point by revealing his character is a Trump supporter. He continues to do empty material but now you stop rooting for him and kind of hate him. The mediocrity is no longer charming, it’s a statement on the vapidity and lack of substance the Right has. At the end, Tim comes out for an encore as himself that isn’t as fun as what preceded but is just as silly. If you’ve done comedy in any capacity, I’d say to see this as a manual for what NOT to do. Best comedy class I’ve ever taken. (Streaming on YouTube; link below).
“Everything’s Fine” with Sarah Cooper (2020): I was so excited to see this. Sarah Cooper set a new template for “making it” in comedy this year and I couldn’t wait to see what the fruits of her labor was. This special was an interesting jumping off point for her quick rise to stardom. Here, Sarah plays a news anchor in the middle of our current doompocalypse surrounded by big comedy names like Fred Armisen (her producer who can get a laugh with a simple facial expression), Maya Rudolph as her weather woman (no one has had a busier 2020), Jon Hamm (hawking pillows that cure COVID), Aubrey Plaza (doing her best QVC pitchwoman who is bombarded by QAnon conspiracy theorist calls), Ben Stiller (doing a bit mocking apologies people make once cancelled is one of the special’s most pointed takes), Helen Mirren (as Billy Bush from THAT tape), Tommy Davidson (in a pitch perfect creepy Mar A Lago sketch) and Marisa Tomei as Satan among others. It’s edited quickly giving it a bit of an Adult Swim vibe and feels like what an episode of SNL would be like if Cooper hosted. She shows off her Trump lip syncing yet again and brings to life the thing about Trump that all impersonators miss- he never finishes a sentence. He always gets halfway through and abandons the thought, going to something more exciting. This is a great temperature check of how we all felt late October/early November 2020 with the election on the horizon. It's a comedy for a time capsule. My only complaint? I wish there were more Sarah Cooper (Streaming on Netflix).
“Sassy Justice” (2020): Maybe the only good part of this upcoming election is all the great satirists are coming out of the shadows to flex their comedy muscles. Last week was Sacha Baron Cohen with “Borat;” this week it’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s “Sassy Justice.” At only 15 minutes, this deepfake show is something you didn’t know you needed until you’ve seen it. Hosted by the fictional Fred Sassy (who looks JUST like Trump) and with interstitials by Zuckerberg for a dialysis center, this short special exists to show just how fake news is spread and how easily we can be duped in 2020. Plus, you get to hear “South Park” voices. Make this appointment viewing (Streaming on YouTube; link is in the comments).
“2020: A 1917 Parody” (2020): Every time an idea is so good, it’s infuriating I didn’t think of it. A lot of my life is saying, “I should have thought of that!” This is definitely one of those kinds of ideas. Let’s talk about it. Remember the movie “1917” that came out less than a year ago? I barely do. Anyhow, a group of filmmakers had the foresight to make a parody of the film’s sweeping one-shot, real-time narrative to cover the neverending onslaught of current events in America. Filmed in LA, in what appears to be one shot (obviously it’s not but it’s fun to spot where they cut), they touch on pretty much everything that happened these past ten months. Wish they had held off until the end of the year to get everything in but it didn’t bother me too much. These guys already packed in a billion references to our present day (Streaming on YouTube; link in comments).
SNL with John Mulaney and The Strokes: I was a little too excited for this episode. SNL, in its record fifth (!) consecutive week needed a jolt of energy and if anyone could supply it, it would be Mulaney. His monologue, while very funny, had an apathy toward voting which felt a bit like a kick in the pants. Not now, man. Just wait a week. You’re supposed to be the jolt of energy! As for the sketches, there were no true classics. The Biden cold open had brief moments of levity (the Hillary Clinton return was a nice surprise) and there were quite a few that were very fun (honorable mentions go to the “New York Tough” commercial highlighting how NY weirdos haven’t gone anywhere AND the sketch showing just how incredibly difficult it is to vote; the heighten with the voters walking on the freeway to their polling place got a genuine “Damn, that’s funny” from me) but most felt like what has become the standard formula for Mulaney where we get a deconstruction of a classic film (tonight was “The Birds” as well as a play on the headless horseman), a musical in a mundane New York spot (I love these but they are all starting to blend together) and an older man that gets memed and doesn’t know what to do with it. Jost and Che blasted Trump hard as a last ditch effort- seemed like everyone wanted one last shot at the guy to hopefully be the one that knocks him over. It’s a bit naive of me to think comedy has the power to sway voters’ minds but hopefully they converted a few ballots last night. Overall, this was easily the best of the season but it’s been a low bar. Plus, it was nice to see my favorite band The Strokes crush it on live TV (when I saw them live, they underwhelmed if I’m being real). I air drummed the hell out of “Bad Decisions” and “The Adults Are Talking.” Julian Casablancas hits high notes with a casual air like no one else that has ever existed. Oh! One final thing. The show went 92 minutes. I can’t remember a time that the show didn’t just get cut off at 1 AM. So many times the goodbye credits just ended in the middle as they raced against time. Felt insane to be watching the show at 1:02 AM but I didn’t mind.
Got a tiny bit of comedy goings on this coming first week of Daylights Saving Time. I’ll be playing Louis (myself) in part two of Anna’s reading of “Booklove” on Wednesday and doing an Instagram Live show on the after.hours.vibe channel on Saturday at 11 PM EST. When not performing while simultaneously using WiFi, I’m open for a Comedy Therapy session if that sounds like something you’d be interested in and A Profile About You hasn’t gone anywhere if you want a piece written about you.
That’s all for me. See you in seven days. Big week lol
01.) Anna Paone’s Booklove Reading Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/374118200692424
02.) “Shelf Life” from Gianmarco Soresi: https://www.amazon.com/Shelf-Life-Gianmarco-Soresi/dp/B08M67JZD7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=BGJPFQDU9HWZ&dchild=1&keywords=gianmarco+soresi+shelf+life&qid=1604264367&sprefix=gianmarco+so%2Caps%2C131&sr=8-1
03.) Lucien Formichella’s Oscars 2020 “In Memoriam” for the Cancelled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX-YhKdEOb0
04.) An Evening with Tim Heidecker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gnnFVRlucg&t
05.) Dan Klein’s “This Is Comedy” Special: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhNaU5mjgAE&t
06.) Sassy Justice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WfZuNceFDM
07.) “2020: A 1917 Parody:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skgcruZichc
08.) after.hours.vibe Instagram Live show: https://www.instagram.com/after.hours.vibe/
09.) A Profile About You: medium.com/@aprofileaboutyou
