• One of the most important hurdles of comedy is finding and growing your audience. Some comics are really great at this and foster a fanbase right off the bat. Others, such as myself, literally give away merch. So, it was inspiring to see that building a passionate fanbase while also having a message IS achievable when I filmed and attended the “standing room only it was so crowded” Goth Socialist Variety Hour alongside Anna E. Paone this past weekend at Littlefield. The variety show was hosted by a bunch of socialist podcast/comedy folks I was not familiar with as well as pals Alex Ptak and Anders Lee and honestly it was a totally different kind of radical, leftist comedy experience. There was stand up, podcast recordings, panel, a lip sync dance thing and the show concluded with the entire crowd singing about unions uniting. The show really was a great lesson. Find a movement you believe in and make comedy about it. You’ll start producing great shows like this because of it.
• People forget about it but before “Between Two Ferns” there was Martin Short’s brilliantly oblivious interviewer Jiminy Glick. He once asked Mel Brooks, “What’s your deal with the Nazis?” and had a very funny Comedy Central show in the early aughts. Much to my surprise, I found out that there was a Jiminy Glick movie sitting on HBOGo called “Jiminy Glick in Lalawood.” It’s 90 or so minutes of slightly outdated showbiz satire but I loved every second of it. Especially Martin Short playing David Lynch. There are a few very funny interview bits with Kurt Russell and Steve Martin in there too.
• Also, came across Chris Rock’s doc “Good Hair” on Amazon Prime. I’d been meaning to see it for like ten years. I loved it. Well worth the wait. The flick is an amazing showcase for Rock to do his thing and also educate his audience about the origins of women’s hair (occasionally comes from India) and how dangerous it is to have “good hair” (you can seriously burn yourself). It flies by and there are so many great, real moments in barbershops and salons that make it worth the watch alone.
• Filmed another fantastic show hosted by Rachel Kaly on Monday at Union Hall called “Ellen is the Only Ally.” It was some of the most subversive satire I’ve seen in NY. If you don’t know the conceit of the show, I’ll break it down. Rachel hosts the show as Ellen and as you know, Ellen happened to be in the news this week. Rachel wrote and performed so many great bits in between comics about this but my favorite of all was the pilot she performed starring Ellen and Bush living in a WMD. Also, Bush as a blow up doll. Check out this monthly show at Union Hall for sure if you haven’t already. She’s doing something really different and we should all be doing stuff as fresh as her.
• Got a pretty cool show this Friday out in Jersey produced by my brother from a New Jersey mother Danny Braff. I’ll be hosting the early and late shows (the early one is sold out!) and if you want in, let me know. The link for the event is in the comments and you get a discount with promo code “MATT.” Seriously. It's the first time I've ever been a promo code.
Hope you liked this one. I give it a 6/10
