Comedy Stray Notes
• The Lonely Island were in town this past weekend doing live shows and I went to the show out at King’s Theatre in Flatbush on Saturday night (I found the theater by following the throngs of people dressed up for the show in Oakland A’s jerseys and kimonos). Good friends, former “It’s Everybody’s Birthday” co-hosts and fellow fans Jesse Swatling-Holcomb and Emily Austin were there too which made it so much better. The show itself was unlike any comedy show I’ve ever been to. There was so much energy. The crowd was singing along to EVERY song and there were intermittent huge laughs when they strayed from the material we knew and loved. To recap the show: It started normally enough with Mike Birbiglia opening with a fine 20 minutes of stand up. The crowd went wild when they saw him and then settled down once he did his set. A little while later, Stephanie Beatriz from “Brooklyn 99” came onstage to introduce the group and the crowd lost their minds. I don’t want to spoil anything (you really need to see them live if you’re a fan; Samberg is electric) BUT if you’re a fan of the Digital Shorts (Chris Parnell coming out for “Lazy Sunday” was easily the show highlight for me; he and Samberg rocked it so hard) or “Pop Star” or “Incredibad,” this is the show for you. What they did with Laser Cats and Alf in the show will hit you right in the comedy sweet spot of nostalgia mixed with absurdity. Make this a priority the next time they’re in your town. Jesse pointed out that the crowd was made up mostly of people that will “never make it in comedy” and he’s totally right. Still worth it to be one of those people if it means seeing a show this hyphy.
• Had a really rough week comedically. I performed FOUR bombs in a row at open mics which I’m vain enough to admit hasn’t happened in a long time (I sucked at Karma and Queen Vic on Sunday as well as Muchmores and Rosemont on Monday for the record) and had one of those, “Damn, will I ever be good again?” existential crises. I must have stupidly said I “lost my mojo” to Anna E. Paone like ten times. Even sadder was I just had my merch delivered in the mail (patches for holes in your clothing that say, “Caught ya lookin’” with mattlevycomedy.squarespace.com on them) and did a bit at two mics where I TRIED TO SELL THEM. Ya know, it’s a bit but it felt more sweaty and lame than anything else. The audience members at Muchmore’s (there were two!) looked at me like I was insane when I tried to make them buy something that I was associated with after sucking so much. Luckily, I broke the streak yesterday and had a respectable set at Alex Kennedy’s Tamra Tearoom mic off the Utica stop. There was only like five people there but it didn’t matter, a good set is a good set. Also helped that i ate a great meal at the venue before it started. The secret to breaking a slump is going to a mic that serves exceptional Asian stir fry. Even if you don’t do well, you’ll feel like you did because the food was so good.
• Didn’t watch much comedy stuff BUT I did listen to one of the best WTFs I’d ever heard this week with Stephen Colbert. It was laugh out loud hilarious, profound, sad and full of incredible anecdotes. At one point, Colbert even rags on Maron for calling himself an athlete just because he runs. I loved hearing Maron get bullied because everyone bows down to him so much on the show. He’s good but nice to see him knocked off his PODestal (see what I did there?). Besides that, Colbert is a fascinating comedian who I honestly think is more interesting as just a person and hearing about his tragic life story made me have such a deeper appreciation for what he does. I honestly think this episode deserves some kind of special award; it really made my day and I couldn’t stop listening.
• This is BARELY comedy but every year of my life my family has made posters celebrating each other’s birthdays. My Mom and Dad hang them in the kitchen and when you enter, you’re greeted by like 10-15 hand drawn posters about you. It makes your birthday feel really special. Anyway, since I moved to NYC in 2013, June has always been difficult because I miss my brother, Dad and Mom’s birthdays (their birthdays all happen within a span of two weeks). So, every early June, I take on my most creatively taxing project of the year and make 15 posters (five for each person) about them. I get a ton of marker all over my hands but it’s worth it. This year, I did 15 posters with “jokes” on them (they’re very inside and mostly about real estate or hedgehogs) but if you want to see them, you can in the comments.
• Happy belated birthday to my cousin Lisa Harrison. I only give Lisa a happy birthday shout out here (my parents don't get personalized bday shout outs and I use them to talk about posters that I made? WTF?) because she is one of the first people I truly connected with about comedy as we connected over "The Simpsons," Bill Hicks, Kay Cannon among others when I was 10 or so. Was cool to have my first official comedy nerding out with someone I was related to. For that, you earn the first ever Comedy Stray Notes birthday shout out, my friend.
• Wanted to give props this week to John Donovan who I hadn’t seen in a long while go up this week at Muchmore’s. No one tags their jokes with more punchlines and really analyzes word economy than John D. It really is cool to see his bits evolve from very funny to dense masterpieces chock full of laughs. My theory is that jokes are like drawings. You can doodle something and leave it at that or you can keep filling in the blanks and adding detail and it truly feels done. John does that. Kudos, man.
• Got a few things coming up this week. My sketch “Excuse Me” (currently streaming on...YouTube) with Usama Siddiquee and Mark King is playing at the Always Happy Video Comedy Bop on Friday night at Brooklyn Bazaar. Taping a sketch show at the PIT Loft on Saturday. On Sunday, I’m doing Randy Epley’s Comedy Dungeon show. Always an adventure.
Life is a highway, I’m gonna ride it all NIGHT LONG
