• When people ask me where the best place to run a show is, I always say Under Saint Marks. First of all, it’s a great way to brag and say I did my half hour there. Secondly, it really is a swell place to do a show. It’s intimate, has a classic showbiz feel and the laughs sound incredible in there. It’s even better when there’s a fantastic show inside. That was the case on Monday night when Max Weinbach and Nicky Weinbach put on the two-year anniversary show of their monthly “Vintage Basement.” This one was special. The room was totally packed out (had to stand on the side) and the performances were top notch. Max and Nicky opened with an audacious powerpoint (don’t want to spoil it) that got an applause break and then kept going. They sing, they dance, they whistle, they do one-liners, they do slapstick. They’re a comedy total package. As for the rest of the show, it was all headliners. I only saw two (Phoebe Robinson and Judah Friedlander, since it was getting late and the L train had limited service) but they both brought the house down as well. Judah’s crowd work where he tells the crowd he’s running for president and asks people to yell out issues to hear his stance on them is so fun and genius that I wouldn’t mind seeing it every day because it would be different every time. Go hang at their next show if you get the chance (and stay longer than I did), it’s a great time.
• Everyone’s talking about SNL. To be fair, I’m always talking about SNL but right now everyone in particular is talking about the hiring and subsequent firing of Shane Gillis. Should he have been fired? I don’t know (but probably yes, we don’t need to give such a negative voice a platform) and don’t really care to debate. My major takeaway is a.) as a major fan of the show, I’ve never seen a new hire get attention like this ever. Maybe it happened in 84-85 when Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest and Martin Short after they’d already been well known joined the cast or when other celebrities joined (Janeane Garofalo, Chris Elliott, Anthony Michael Hall come to mind) but those are for totally different reasons. This had to have been a stunt move by Lorne and co. for sure. We’re all going to watch the premiere to see how they handle it, right? Secondly, b.) Shane Gillis getting SNL (whether or not it is legitimate) shows all of us that average stand up comics can get on the show. If anything, we should all be pumped to know that you don’t need to be a master impressionist or virtuosic improvisor, they’ll just hire a guy that might be forgettable on a bar show. This should be a glimmer of hope. Finally, c.) Gillis will be fine. Dude will definitely get a special and has more of a fanbase than he would have had as a one season-and-done cast member. I’m not bringing anything insightful to the table here but these are the genuine thoughts of a guy who cares way too much about SNL.
• For a person with so many thoughts about the industry, I did shockingly little comedy this week. What I did get in was a very fun, packed mic at Halyards hosted by Kyle Turner and Clayton Williams which is one of those sweet cool kid mics that’s also a welcoming environment. Also, Library Mic is back in full swing. In related news, my pal Seth Pompi who graciously runs the mic from the library will be out for awhile on paternity leave (his wife is due soon). That’s a good a reason as any to not host a mic.
• Had a big weekend watching HBO (if that’s how you define big weekend) and saw the hourlong pilot for “The Righteous Gemstones” with Andrew Tavin and Liz Michelle (we also had a nice Thai dinner). It has some really nicely realized moments about the hypocrisy and excess of mega churches and then surprisingly veers off into thriller territory toward the end of the episode. I would definitely recommend if you have time- plus you get to see John Goodman kill it as the patriarch. For pure curiosity factor, you can also stream “Welcome to Marwen,” a movie Anna E. Paone and I really wanted to see in theatres based on how strange and potentially bad it looked. Well, after having seen it, I can confirm it was both of those things. Still, I cautiously recommend. You can see Steve Carell do some wild overacting and a lot of famous actors made up to be miniature dolls. Finally, not HBO, but I watched the official finale of NBC’s “Bring the Funny.” Surprised SNL didn’t just use these people as this season served as a season-long audition for sketch troupes essentially. Either way, the final episode came down to a sketch team vs. a stand up and America voted....and the sketch team won. They were fine but not necessarily better. I guess the five of them had more people voting than the comic (who is just one person).
• Finally, big shout out to my pal Brian Bahe getting featured in Vulture (it's a great interview about his great Twitter). His Twitter is fire (I just said that, I know) and you should definitely read this piece on him if you missed it. It’s just as funny. I mean it’s hard to top “Brian Bahe Bases His Comedy on His Long, Wide Nipples" as a title for an article. The link is in the comments.
• Happy to announce I’m doing my pal Brandon Daniel Garner’s show at Starliner tonight at 9 PM. Other than that, I have a lot of HBO watching planned.
Can’t believe you read this again.
