• New York is the place where up and coming comics hustle, get chops and speed up the “ten years to get good/find your voice” process since you get so much stage time. However, the major downfall of NYC is that comics on the verge rarely get a chance to spread their wings and actually learn to headline like one might in other parts of the country. That’s part of what makes the Carolines “Breakout Series” so great. They put on this show every Tuesday or Wednesday that gives comics who need that one last piece of the puzzle to grow an opportunity to put on their dream headlining show. This week it was the very funny Kenice Mobley’s turn to take part. Kenice did an admirable job and the crowd ate her up for her entire set. About 30 minutes in though, she hit a fever pitch and started crushing super hard. She dialed it up to 11. That’s exactly what the Breakout Series exists for IMO- it gave a deserving comic the platform they needed to craft their hour and get them to the next level. On top of that, the headliner for the series gets to select a host and two openers. Major props to Caitlin Peluffo for killing it in her hosting set plucking out a 19-year-old and doing fantastic crowd work with the youngin’ and Rohan Padhye and Fumi Abe for extremely fun opener sets. The whole thing was a blast. Already looking forward to this Tuesday when Camille Theobald does her Breakout Series. You should definitely hit the club and support. Who knows? Someday, you might be doing your own Breakout Series at the Club. Go see how it works.
• My show FREE FRIES was pretty insane last week. As noted many times before, an ambush show is maybe the hardest thing to pull off in stand up comedy. It’s an uphill battle (especially when the NFC Championship is on) where it’s really hard to get the crowd who wasn’t expecting a show on your side. You really have to be a dynamite performer to make it happen. Last week, I did everything I could to set up the show for the best possible results. Beforehand, I went up to every audience member and told them, “Hey, we’ve got a show about to happen.” Still people were ambivalent. On top of that, it was so crowded that we had audience members on the stage. It was pretty much insurmountable. Still, things worked out. There were rowdy audience members from Tempe who kept the show afloat and Josef Anolin tamed the crowd in a way I was incapable of. Once again, a noble experiment. Plus, people got fries.
• Been fairly busy this past week but I did get a little bit of comedy viewing as I always try to make time for it. It’s only my favorite thing in the world so it’s not that hard. Here are some quick synopsis’ of those things:
“Bombshell” (2019): Anna E. Paone and I had really wanted to see this when it came out last month but somehow didn’t quite get around to catching it. Yesterday, when we went we expected we’d be the only people in the theater. Nope. It was completely full. As for the movie, it deserved its packed house status. Directed by Jay Roach of the “Austin Powers” trilogy, the movie is satirical, light on its feet and packs a major punch. The message “Speaking truth to power really outweighs the potential consequences” is especially powerful in 2020. Still, it’s interesting to root for the women of Fox News because as right as they are about taking down Roger Ailes they are ostensibly still the mouthpiece that helped create the stubborn beliefs of the modern Republican Party. Either way, I would easily RECOMMEND this one. There’s too much to like to downgrade it for the minor hypocrisy it employs (In theaters now).
Leslie Jones’ “Time Machine” (2020): I’ll admit I’ve never actually seen any of Leslie’s stand up outside of SNL. Maybe a clip here or there but never her hour. Well, now I have. And wow. This is one hell of a special. She has POWER onstage. She’s at that level where it doesn’t matter what she says, it’s just the way she says it. That doesn’t matter though because the special is beautifully written detailing each decade of life from what your 20s are like to 30s to 40s to 50s. It culminates with a 10-minute closer involving a time machine that I’ll admit I had written myself long ago (I’ve seen many people use the joke structure of talking to their younger self) but she does it the best of anyone I’ve ever seen. This is an hour EVERYONE SHOULD SEE (streaming on Netflix).
SNL (Adam Driver Episode): As a self-described SNL obsessive, I am not a huge fan of the show reusing hosts in fast succession. I love seeing what the format does with new blood hosts like JJ Watt and Rupaul in the coming weeks. This was Driver’s third stint in four years which is a lot by SNL standards. Luckily, he upped his game last night from his first two gigs and it made for one of the best episodes of this solid season. The Cold Open with Alan Dershowitz (played by Jon Lovitz!) in Hell was a nice break from the standard form, the monologue was delightfully free with Driver wandering into the audience (I love when the crowd is shown and they all cannot stop laughing even though nothing super funny is happening) and Weekend Update was on point with the best take on Mr. Peanut’s death plus a very funny guest correspondent spot from Aidy as the Seventh Grader who tells us about her vacations. On top of that, sketches were great too from the return of the Kylo Ren “Undercover Boss” to the ketchup bottles being married to the Medieval Times Method actor. This felt like an instant classic of an episode that I definitely RECOMMEND (streaming on Hulu now).
• Had the opportunity to check out Hari Kondabolu’s headlining set for his weekend at Carolines this past Friday which, as mentioned before, is the best place to learn about how to make that jump from being a hobbyist comic in the City to being a truly working comic. Hari’s hour was fantastic but I had a few takeaways from it that really struck me. The first is how incredibly different the room was from last week when Donnell Rawlings hosted. The place was just as packed but the audience was not the same. Very cool how this room can morph into the sensibility of the comic performing. Secondly, Liz Miele opened for Hari and was great but she closed her set with a really brilliant explanation of her app. I’ll try to do it justice here. Basically, she got tired of people illegibly writing their email addresses after shows when trying to get audience members on email lists. So, she put business cards on every table and told people to text the number on the card to get on her mailing list. Infinitely smarter than the old way to do a mailing list. Glad to see comedians moving into the tech space in a way that benefits their actual comedy. Made me proud to see that.
• Wanted to give a shout out to Matt Starr. He’s been teaching a pilot writing class for some time now that I’ve always wanted to take part in but I never had an idea for a pilot that I would love devoting time to. Recently, I came up with an idea for a play but wasn’t sure how to structure this concept or make it happen. I hit up Starr and he helped me figure out what the thing was. If you have an idea floating in your head for your dream project, get in touch with Matt. He can help you make it into something that actually makes sense to you for how to get it done. Or take his class. The guy is going to help you get your idea on its feet.
• Got a little bit of comedy stuff ready to go for this week. Tonight, I’m doing my show Free Fries (A Comedy Show): Episode Nine as always. Tuesday, I’m on Gabe Mollica’s show at Q.E.D. which I’m really excited about and I’m not sure what other comedy adventures the future holds but I’m psyched for whatever they may be.
Perhaps a mic?
