• Ahh, March. Madness is in the air. There’s the Coronavirus, the NCAA tournament and comedy competitions. Love the season for Comedy Competitions. 64 comics enter (basically the number of comics at your average Creek mic) and all do their A material. There’s something really exhilarating about it. This week, I was behind the scenes and ran the first round of Comedy Madness at Carolines (if you didn’t know, yes, I’m working there. If you have questions about it, DM me. I really don’t mind. Also, no. I didn’t book Madness. Just so ya know). It was a stressful undertaking making sure all comics were there on time but it was one of those rare occasions where 64 comics cooperated and made for an exceptional show. Special props go to James L Mattern, NYC’s most in-demand host. He brings any room to life, is easy to work with and super professional. If you’re looking for a comic that will make sure the crowd is at ease, never goes long and always sets other comics up for success, he’s your dude. I like to think of James as the template for what clubs are looking for- punctual, funny, low maintenance. Take note. There won’t be any shout outs here for the comics performing because they were all great (not even I am doing 64 shout outs) but the show was super entertaining. I’m already looking forward to the Wednesday show with 32 comics.
• Last Sunday, I shot a sketch. The cast was small (Anna E. Paone, David Rey Martinez, Nate Borgman and Belton DeLaine-Facey) and the crew was even smaller (Kate Nahvi and Spencer Ward). Brought me back to the old film school days. Skeleton crew with lights and sand bags and craft services consisting of granola bars, Reeses and water bottles. Makes me happy just thinking about it. So does the sketch. Keeping it under wraps for now but I wrote this thing last July and have been itching to film this for eight months now. Can’t wait to show you the great performances, cinematography and sound I got out of this thing.
SPOILER ALERT: The scene with Martinez, Borgman and the pennies is one of the funniest things I’ve ever had the pleasure of filming and I didn’t come up with it at all. It was improvised by the talented actors.
• Caught a ton of excellent content this week (I always do). Here’s a mini-review of what I saw, whether or not I’d recommend it to you (yes, you) and where you can find it:
- Taylor Tomlinson’s special “Quarter Life Crisis” (2020): She’s only 25 (at least of the time of filming) and this is one of the front-runners for best special of the year. This is one of those hours that has almost zero filler and is just chock full of jokes. I was stupid impressed. 25-year-old comics should not be this polished and also not sound this mature. She makes jokes about her parents spanking her, break ups and how awful her 20s are (“That’s why you’re thin in your 20s. You don’t have a gut to listen to yet.”) work for audiences of all ages whereas most comics at that age (myself included) only really work for other 25-year-olds. This is a masterclass in how a 25-year-old can really level up. Totally WATCH THIS if you can (streaming on Netflix).
– ”Honey Boy” (2019): I was STOKED to see this movie was streaming. It didn’t make the awards noise it was supposed to last year but the trailer was great, the premise fascinating (Shia’s tell all about his relationship with his Dad/experience on “Even Stevens”) and the cast all over the place (Shia Labeouf, Noah Jupe, FKA Twigs, Martin Starr, Lucas Hedges, Byron Bowers and Laura San Giacomo from “Just Shoot Me”). Anna and I sat down to watch it Friday night (took two sittings to finish it) and while the movie has flashes of brilliance like Shia getting his son ready for an audition and their process for punching up a scene, the movie spends a lot of its run time navel gazing during stock AA scenes and domestic violence. This is a curiosity that I would tell you to CAUTIOUSLY SEEK OUT but not actively recommend (streaming on Amazon Prime).
- “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” (2020): Well, we all know the ads for this are everywhere. NBC wants it to be a home run so bad. It’s fine. If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen the best parts. There’s a nice scene where (SPOILER AHEAD) her sick Father played by Peter Gallagher who can’t speak sings to her. Other than that, I’ll break it down. It’s 50% indie film tropes (attractive 20-something who doesn’t quite have her dream job with relationship problems), 30% comedy (occasional banter, slapstick here and there) and 20% musical (breaking out in song). I just hate the genre where someone is hit in the head and then they have magical powers, don’t tell people about it and then they have to reckon with it. I mostly hate it because they’re all the same. Props again to “Isn’t It Romantic” for turning it on its head. I CAN’T RECOMMEND (streaming on Hulu and NBC).
- Daniel Craig episode of “SNL” (2020): Last night, was a GREAT episode. From Elizabeth Warren in the cold open, to the best coronavirus take I’ve seen yet (watch the opening sketch where the cast does everything they can to avoid touching each other) to the increasingly obscure movie quote sketch, I was onboard for the whole thing. One of the best episodes of the season. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND (streaming on Hulu, YouTube, etc).
Side Note: I usually try to Tweet during the show. A lot of people are online and reading the hashtag about SNL. Last night was no different. When they reprised Debbie Downer, my comedy nerd brain went off and I tweeted that Kenan was in the cast for the original version of the sketch. I expected 12 favs. Pretty standard. Maybe some like minded nerds would see it. For some reason, 400+ people fav’d it. Twitter is weird but I tried my best to own the situation and followed every random person that fav’d it. I liked a Tweet of theirs too. Got 70 new followers out of it. I might be insane. Did this until 3 AM (thanks to daylight’s savings).
- “Original Kings of Comedy” (2000): I had the DVD for this as a kid. In fact, I remember buying it at Best Buy with a gift card from my Bar Mitzvah (remember when every gift you ever received from 1997-2005?) but never got around to watching it. Was super pumped when I saw it on a listicle of “Best Comedy Movies to Stream on Netflix.” It’s a damn good concert special. Steve Harvey is transcendent at points (I love when he takes the audience member’s jacket who had walked out mid-show), DL is probably my favorite (did he create “Y’all know I usually don’t do this” line that R. Kelly used in “Ignition?!”), Cedric had the most fun using music cues to bolster his bits and Bernie, well, he’s great but the material does NOT age well. His final bit is next level though. YOU MUST SEE THIS IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY (streaming on Netflix).
• Did two shows this week. The first was at Beauty Bar and beautifully hosted by Phil Rizdon. There were two audience members when the show got underway. A Trump supporter and his wife. Not what one would expect. They were actually very nice and willing to take part in crowd work. I went up first and luckily a few people walked in. My set was fine. Fun sets from Michael Good and Jon Alcabes too. Haven’t been on a show in New York with just four comics in forever and it was a nice change of pace. Second show I did was an unpaid guest spot at Carolines (I will never give myself a paid spot at my job that can go to another comic). The crowd was mighty and we turned a late Thursday night show into a party. The audience had people from Salt Lake City to Boston which is as different as white people can get in the country. Except for maybe they’re both Trump supporters too? Do I only perform for Trump supporters now? Also! I tried self promotion at the end and asked the audience if they would pull out their phones and sign up for my mailing list.
Like half of them pulled out their phones. Checked my site the next day. Not a single one of them signed up for the mailing list.
• Got quite a bit of comedy stuff this week. Tonight, I am on Kevin Hurley’s Comedy Mob show at the E. 4th Street New York Comedy Club at 5:30, FREE FRIES at 7:30. Tomorrow, I’m in Jersey City doing Doug Cafran’s show. Tuesday is Matt Maran and Anthony Passaretti’s podcast “Who’s On First?” and Thursday is Vivek Netrakanti and Shenuque Tissera-Salazar’s “Token White Guy” show at QED. Don’t want to be too brash but if you book me, the assistant to the booker at Carolines will be coming to your show to watch your set. It was gross to write that but just so you know. I also tape sets too. I’m a twofer!
Long live the reign of Kenan
