Comedy Stray Notes
• Happy fourth day of Hanukkah and...Merry Christmas. This is the final Comedy Stray Notes of 2019 (there will be more weekly installments on Wednesdays next year). Enjoy.
• Every year, I write out “Comedy New Year’s Resolutions.” Didn’t do incredibly well this year. I achieved four of my ten goals, half achieved three and didn’t do anything for three. This is what they were and how I fared:
01.) Perform stand up 365 times: Only got up around 280 times in 2019.
02.) Shoot one sketch a month: Only completed two sketches.
03.) Record five new episodes of my old podcast “We Didn’t Die:” Did zero episodes.
04.) Write another feature film: I did this! It’s about speech and debate!
05.) Revive my old show It’s Everybody’s Birthday: I started two new shows! The Comic’s Table (since cancelled) and FREE FRIES with Veronica Garza. Come on a Sunday night!
06.) Go to 52 shows I’m not on: Want to say I achieved this without actually checking.
07.) Perform on six roast battles: I did five. Went 2-3.
08.) Write a late night packet: Did not do this.
09.) Find an agent: I tried incredibly hard, cold emailing a ton of agencies. Didn’t hear back once.
10.) One strong Tweet a day: Check out @mattlevy51 to see. I think I did it.
I also got married to Anna Paone. I feel like I should mention that.
• On a much smaller scale, I hosted a fun edition of our FREE FRIES show this weekend. As mentioned here before, it is an ambush show. I don’t know if I ever truly expressed that to the comics on the show in the preliminary email with all the information about the lineup, etc. Having told comics to go in and “Be loose and not married to their material” really helped a lot. Honestly, a great philosophy for any show set I think. Every time I think “This is a big one and don’t want to screw up,” I end up projecting a robotic feel where I don’t have a good time. Anyway, back to this show. There was a baby named Luka in the audience and once said baby left, no joke, another baby came in in a stroller. The show now has a one-baby minimum. Had my friend and coworker Hong Xu, whom I’ve never seen perform before (just recently found out she did standup!) on the show and she crushed it. Please book her if you can! Had lil Anna P. do a party trick in between comics that you have to come see to believe. Finally, we ended the show on a high note with a set from Joel Walkowski. He’s been one of my favorite comics since I’ve moved to the City and he had a joke that blew my mind when I moved here. After he closed out the show, I brought him back up for an encore (an unprecedented move and also kind of a dick move since I didn’t tell him I was planning on doing this) to do said joke one more time. The joke was even better than I remember.
• Well, it’s been two weeks since I’ve written anything here. In that time, I’ve seen a ton of comedy stuff. Here are some snapshot reviews:
Derren Brown’s “Secret:” This show is on Broadway for just another week or so. It’s pretty affordable at around $70.00 or so and is an adventure through the mind. Anna and I went and sat fourth row. The show is incredibly interactive and has Brown throwing frisbees into the crowd to get audience members onstage, there’s an improbable painting and he can read your mind. The show is 2.5 hours but I was genuinely bummed out when it was over. In fact, I was actually part of the show making my Broadway debut in sweatpants (Anna’s line). I know the secret behind secret. If you’ve seen the show, DM me and I can tell you at least one thing about the end of the show.
”Avengers: Endgame:” Not a traditional comedy but certainly has laughs in it. At three hours, it’s probably an hour too long but when you have 38 storylines to pack in to the second three-hour film to close out a 22-movie series, I’ll allow it. Either way, the method in which they closed out this series was very innovative and a nice homage to previous films. Other than a hokey funeral (won’t say for who but they are a former SNL cast member), this was a rollicking good time. Streaming on Disney Plus. I watched it on TWO different Delta flights since I couldn’t finish it in one.
”Long Shot:” If you haven’t seen this Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron-starring movie, this is my Christmas gift to you. Very funny, somewhat relevant and proves once again that Rogen might be the most underrated comic actor/writer in the game. The story is simple and original- writer gets fired for being too opinionated, was babysat by the Secretary of State (Theron) and they meet again by chance at a party. She hires him because he’s an edgy Vice type-writer. Go for that but also go for a great comic turn by Bob Odenkirk as President and SPOILER a Boyz II Men cameo. This one is on HBOGo.
“Astronomy Club:” This brand new sketch show was sort of unceremoniously dumped on Netflix recently. Didn’t see a ton of fanfare but wow. This show comes out swinging. It feels like if “Key and Peele” had even more courage. I will say that two of the performers on the show were former UCB teachers of mine (Caroline Martin was my Improv 201 and James Dwyer was 401). This might be why I like it so much. Not because of their performances (which are great) but the ethos of the UCB comedy philosophy runs throughout. They play strict game (improv term) and heighten very well. Plus, it has a social conscience. And it’s mad funny. Some of my favorite sketches I’ve seen in ages. If you haven’t seen it, look out for the Robin Hood sketch in Episode One. Maybe my favorite of the year. This is also on Netflix and only six episodes.
“Ready Or Not:” This is kind of a thriller but I thought I’d throw it out there since it sort of qualifies as a black comedy (I saw “The Irishman” too but didn’t write about it here because it ain’t comedy). This flick has a novel premise where a rich and powerful family makes a new bride who has just married into their clan play a deadly game of hide and seek. It’s part “The Most Dangerous Game,” part “Get Out” (the most oft-copied movie of this generation; I see its influence everywhere now) and all very fun. Great soundtrack and comic performances from actors I’d never seen before. Plus Andie Macdowell. Not sure if this is streaming (saw it on Delta; this is all just an ad for Delta) but great viewing if you’re near a RedBox.
“Lion King:” I swear this is the last movie I saw on a Delta flight. Once again, not a traditional comedy but if you haven’t seen it, it’s the same plot as the original almost down to the word but plus Beyonce. I’m solely here to mention that Rogen (quietly a big year for him) and Billy Eichner are so damn funny as Timon and Pumba that it’s worth mentioning. Can’t believe I’m shilling for Disney Plus again and I don’t even have it but you can stream there.
“Marriage Story:” Yet another non-traditional comedy but I’ve been a Noah Baumbach fan since I saw “The Squid and the Whale” way back when and I think I’ve seen all of his stuff save for the screwball comedy he made in the 90s after “Kicking and Screaming” which has the same title but is not the 2005 Will Ferrell/Robert Duvall soccer coach movie. This two-hour fight of a film is a powerhouse. Driver and Scarlett kill it. Frank Terranova called it a Lifetime movie but this has so much specificity and heart that calling it that is an insult. Laura Dern, Ray Liotta and Alan Alda all deserve Oscars for their turns as divorce lawyers. This is on Netflix and I’m pretty sure if you got this far, you know about it.
Eddie Murphy hosting SNL: I was stupid excited for this since they announced it at the beginning of the season. It more than lived up to expectations. Eddie still has the charisma to make any sketch sing. No one is really talking about the pre-taped short film where they cross-cut between a serene Christmas dinner and the reality of the weekend dealing with grandparents and fights. That was my favorite. And Gumby. I will say as a person who never misses SNL, it saddened me to see people write that this was the only good episode in years. Folks, I hate to be that guy but as great as this episode was, the Will Ferrell one from last month was funnier. You heard it here first. Even the cut sketches were better. Please come at me.
To be fair, I also saw the Scarlett Johannson episode these past few weeks. It was fun but didn’t compare to Eddie although it certainly had moments. The children’s clothing ad from the Scarlett episode was fantastic. Celebrity Sighting with Bowen Yang (maybe the season’s MVP so far) playing the guy from the Heimlich Maneuver posters was money. And the “I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus” sketch with the great reveal. Honestly a very good episode too.
• The reason I didn’t write last week was because I went on a cruise with family. We were on the Royal Caribbean and I’ll spare you the details other than my thoughts on the cruise comedians. There were three comics and the most important takeaway is that if you want to do cruises you need two hours. One family friendly and one “dirty.” Playing cruises ain’t easy. The first was Ralph Harris. He was actually on our last cruise but we didn’t see his “dirty hour.” It was OK. My parents walked out because they were tired. This cruise had a “Comedy Hypnotist” as well which intrigued me since I was hypnotized on a cruise (I faked it to be honest) back in 2003. This show’s comedy was completely dependent on audience participation. These people were truly hypnotized. One genuinely thought they were getting pinched in the butt. Another had a true disgust for the hypnotist (which might have been genuine from the get go). It’s gotta be a tough act if the people can’t get hypnotized but we went on a good night. The final act we saw was a lifer comic named Kivi Rogers who had allegedly been on “Everybody Loves Raymond.” He had a ton of stage presence and called out the spotlight director for missing him saying, “Who’s up there? Stevie Wonder?” Felt genuinely bad for the guy in the booth but it was the biggest laugh of the night and maybe the whole cruise. Also, major props to Rogers for performing while the ship rocked back and forth violently. Never seen anyone perform under such wild weather conditions and do it with aplomb.
• For this week, I’ve got just one comedy thing coming up. Our show FREE FRIES this Sunday at 7:30 PM. Come for the fries and loose sets!
Finally, if you read this far, DM me. I will book you (if I haven’t booked you in the last calendar year). If I have booked you, I’ll do you some other comedy favor.
