• Didn’t feel right to clutter the timeline with what I did this week. This is a moment that is decidedly not about me or comedy so I saved it for today. Just a nice respite for you on whatever day it is that you read it to take your mind off the heaviness that is our current reality. Here goes.
• The good people at Caveat NYC have taken the ball and ran with the concept of a Zoom show in a more sophisticated way than I’ve seen anyone else tackle it. Their shows, produced through StreamYard (a superior platform to Zoom), are professional, nicely paced and most of all entertaining. This past Monday (May 25), I was lucky enough to participate in Matt Starr’s “Nerd Search” show. The show is formatted like any gripping reality television where nerds compete against one another to prove their nerdiness. I was on the show stan’ing for SNL. I built a little background (Starr’s suggestion to have props) out of all my SNL DVDs, books and newspaper cutouts. Over the course of the hour, we were all quizzed on our respective passions (the other contestants were thrift store, sex facts and violin nerds) with questions ranging from, “Why does the show have to be live?” to “Has your obsession ever made you physically ill?” and “Show and Tell.” It was amazing. For an hour, I had a platform to talk about the piece of pop culture I love most and without feeling self indulgent or annoying about it. Very cool to celebrate something you love without feeling self conscious about it. Even better, my whole family and wife Anna watched which made it all feel even more special since they’ve heard me blab on about SNL and how great it is so many times without rolling their eyes.
• Completed a number of really fun profiles this week. The more I do this, the more self assured I feel to play with the form and create stronger, weirder and more powerful portraits of my peers. This week, I got to write about the loose cannon comic with formal acting chops Will Purpura, accomplished filmmaker Zef Cota, comic/musician/cartoonist Anthony Kapfer, straight shooting/bathroom reviewing comic Neassa Hunt and storytelling/Coronavirus fighting comedian Joey Rinaldi. Each was a unique pleasure to write about and discover each of their personalities. I want this job to go on forever and if you want a profile, please don’t be shy and let me know. I’d love to write about you.
• Quick shouts for this week:
- Highly recommend checking out the very funny Twitter account belonging to Portland comic Jamie Carbone. I met him at a few comedy festivals awhile back and actively enjoy his writing. How could you not enjoy the writing of a guy who wrote the amazing modern day Seinfeld fan fiction:
George: She was smoking a juul
Jerry: A juul?
George: A juul!
Jerry: What flavor?
George: Does it matter?
Jerry: It might, maybe she’s trying to quit smoking.
George: It was cotton candy, Jerry!
Jerry: Cotton candy? She’s not tryin to quit anything!
What are you waiting for? Follow the man. His handle is in the comments.
- Also highly recommend the online work of Paul Lombardo. He’s making the simplest, slice of life comedies on the internet starring himself in multiple roles that constantly blow me away with their nuance. With the slightest change of inflection or look, Paul transforms into a totally different character. He’s a chameleon but wants you to see all of the tricks in his bag. The guy is going to be a big star like John C. Reilly is- an actor that can effortlessly move from comedy to drama while remaining entirely human in the process. Check out his Facebook to see his short videos if this seems like your kind of thing.
• Feel like I set another new record for movies, shows, podcasts and articles consumed in a week. This is not brief. I wanted it to be but it’s not.
“Not Another Teen Movie” (2001): Must have seen this one thirty times over the course of my life from way back when in seventh grade in the theater with my brother Ben to most recently streaming this week. It’s still the most underrated parody film of all time. Sure, a lot of the jokes are dated about “American Pie” and other late 90s teen romantic comedies but naming the school John Hughes High and packing it to the brim with visual gags brings something new to every viewing. My favorite this time was hearing Samm Levine’s character dub getting aroused, “Happy in pant.” I’d actually said that for years without realizing I stole it from this cinematic masterpiece. Also, never caught that Josh Radnor of “How I Met Your Mother” is one of the leads. The movie might be most notable for the creation of the “token Black guy” joke but there are a billion other perfect jokes like the entire school knowing how to dance professionally. THIS IS A MUST IF YOU’VE EVER SEEN A TEEN COMEDY (Streaming on Amazon).
“Greta” (2018): Saw this was leaving HBO and missed it in theaters in the halcyon days of going to see movies in public. Watched and loved how pulpy this yarn was. Starring Chloe Grace-Moretz/Isabelle Huppert and directed by “The Crying Game’s” Neil Jordan, this cat and mouse story had me yelling at my TV for the dumb things the characters were doing. That’s a good sign the movie is engaging as hell. Not going to tell you anything about the plot, THIS ONE IS SO WILD, IT’S BETTER TO GO IN KNOWING NOTHING (Was streaming on HBOGo; might not be anymore).
“Harmontown” (2014): Always heard about how toxic Dan Harmon was but had never seen it in action. Now I have! The movie is about his podcast touring across the States with his wife whom he bickers with and is unnecessarily mean to. Didn’t know his podcast was about Dungeons and Dragons which was fun to see represented on screen in such a “mainstream” fashion at comedy clubs but the most interesting thing was watching his crew play Stand Up Live in Phoenix, a club I’d been to many times. Gave me a nice pang of nostalgia. Overall, I’d say I LIKED IT BUT HARMON IS A HARD PILL TO SWALLOW (Streaming on YouTube; link in comments).
“A Good Old Fashioned Orgy” (2011): No idea how this flew so under the radar when it was released ten years ago. It’s got improv-heavy comedy ringers in it like Jason Sudeikis, Nick Kroll, Martin Starr, Lake Bell, Melanie Lynskey, Will Forte, Lucy Punch and on and on. The story is exactly what the title promises. A group of early 30s friends who haven’t quite grown up are spending that one final summer at their privileged childhood mansion before it gets sold and instead of an epic party, they’re going to have an epic orgy. It comes with unexpected anxieties and questions I’d never even thought of. Sudeikis is at his smarmy best and this thing has a surprising beating heart with a low-budget studio comedy. IF YOU NEED A GOOD LAUGH, THIS WORKS (Streaming on Hulu).
“Just Another Girl on the IRT” (1992): Had never even heard of this but Anna recommended and she’s got great taste so I put it on my must-see list. It’s an angry, neorealist, urgent tale about growing up as a Black teenager in early 90s NYC. There’s timely AIDS confusion, natural non-actor performances, funny moments and eerily prescient racism. Interestingly, the director never made another film after this one. The movie does feel a bit like a “Do the Right Thing” homage but it has enough flourishes to make it its own “thing.” My only gripe is she wasn’t on the IRT enough. FOR A BIT OF POWERFUL NOSTALGIA, THIS IS THE TICKET (Streaming on Amazon for $3.99).
“Lollilove” (2004): Another Anna recommendation. Apparently, Jenna Fischer (you may know her as Pam from “The Office”) spent her life savings with her then-husband James Gunn (“Guardians of the Galaxy” director) to make this industry calling card. It paid off. At only 64 minutes, this one knocked me out. It’s a smart parody of smug, well to do liberals that felt like an attack right at me. Their plan to end homelessness is to give the less fortunate custom-made lollipops. Some of the bits are too silly and there’s quite a bit of focus on Fischer and Gunn’s crumbling marriage but this is a movie I won’t soon forget. This isn’t parody, it’s more pointed. It’s excellent satire. YEAH, YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY SEE THIS (Streaming on Amazon).
“Hollywood Shuffle” (1987): Robert Townsend nearly made the cast of SNL when he auditioned in 1980 but NBC only had one slot for a Black cast member so it went to, you guessed it, Eddie Murphy. Lucky for us, we still have an artifact of Townsend’s comic abilities on full display. This skewering of Hollywood giving minorities limiting roles started a mini-revolution into ensuring everyone who wasn’t White was placed in stereotypical roles. There are fun parodies and inspired gags with the lead’s son being too directly influenced by his father’s work he’s not proud of but gags aside, this movie is important. YOU SHOULD CHECK IT; THIS ONE SHOULD BE A MAJOR PART OF THE AMERICAN COMEDY CANON (Streaming on Amazon).
“CB4” (1993): This underrated movie lost among the other SNL movie releases from the early 90s like “Wayne’s World,” “Coneheads,” “It’s Pat” and “Stuart Smalley Saves The World” is notable for a number of reasons. Number one is that it’s Chris Rock’s first starring role which he knocks out of the park as the frontman for the rap trio CB4 (stands for Cell Block Four). Second, the main bit that CB4 is made up of middle class kids pretending to be hard rappers which ends up working against them is a brilliant joke that also serves as the movie’s central story. Respect for that. Many great 90s cameos from Chris Elliott, Phil Hartman, Ice-T and Ice Cube abound and silly rap parodies too. THIS ONE AGED VERY NICELY (Streaming on HBO).
“Edge of Seventeen” (2016): Loved everything about this flick. It never makes its sentimentality too gooey with a deceased parent, and the intriguing teen love triangle never becomes contrived (my only gripe is that everyone in this movie is too attractive). Plus, the obvious highlight is a career best performance from Woody Harrelson as lead Hailee Steinfeld’s smartass history teacher. You’ll LOL. This one captures all the awkwardness of youth perfectly. PERFECT MOVIE THAT’S RIPE FOR PARODY FOR “NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE 2” (Streaming on Netflix).
“Robbie” (2020): My friend Clayton Porter recommended I check out this eight-episode Comedy Central series starring one of our favorite comics Rory Scovel. So glad he did. Each 20-minute installment was better than the last. This series is about an ice cream store employee/youth basketball coach who finds out he fathered Sasheer Zamata’s child who ended up on his basketball team. All the while, he deals with his somewhat awful Dad played by Beau Bridges (Jeff’s brother) and there’s even a piano-playing chicken. I WAS GENUINELY SAD WHEN THIS WAS OVER. MAKE SURE YOU DON’T MISS OUT (Streaming on YouTube; link in comments).
And here are the podcasts (all the links are in the comments):
“You Made It Weird” with Conan O’Brien: Not a truly memorable episode but it was fun hearing about Conan in quarantine and how he was a quick yet selfish improviser back when he started doing comedy. I love the guy but I can see that. The major highlight of this episode was learning about the old fable “Perhaps.” In it, a man lives in a mansion. A friend says, “Must be nice.” The man says, “Perhaps.” His house floods. The friend says, “This is horrible!” The man says, “Perhaps.” He then finds gold under his mansion to build a new one. The friend goes back to the “Must be nice” rhetoric. The man says, “Perhaps.” It goes on forever but teaches you never to expect anything. Love that.
James Mattern’s “The Commissioner of Comedy” podcast: There are only three episodes so far but the best host in New York City has already established his voice with a podcast all about comedy etiquette. The first two installments deal with hosting tips and the third is the somberly titled, “Quit” about contemplating ending a career in laughter. It’s a one-man show and James bares his soul in these three. My favorite part of all occurred in episode one though; he shares a forgotten anecdote from “The Larry Sanders Show” about the Janeane Garofalo character who is nervous. Artie (Rip Torn) tells her to carry a glass of wine with her. She doesn’t drink but Artie says that’s besides the point. The wine shows you’re comfortable which is the job of any good host but really any good entertainer. Wise lesson. Glad I’m listening.
“You Made It Weird” with Zach Braff: Slightly insufferable episode since Holmes and Braff lean into their “nice guy” personas a bit too hard here. Anyway, it was fun learning Braff’s cousin is Jessica Kirson and he used to go to her bringers when she started performing way back when. My other favorite moment was when Braff expressed anxiety over his inability to make a spy-thriller film. Holmes told him he could but it would have the Braff imprint all over it. I love that. None of us need to be intimidated; just put your personal stamp on it and you can do it.
“You Made it Weird” with Jay Baruchel: The slightest of all the podcasts I heard this week but clocked in at the longest (2 hours 16 minutes). Fascinating origin story for this friendship where Pete met Jay on the set of “She’s Out Of My League” as TJ Miller’s friend hanging around since he had just gone through his famously difficult divorce. They bonded over 9/11 conspiracies and Baruchel even admits to having been an Alex Jones fan in the past (don’t worry; he denounces him now). There are fun stories here about working with Seth Rogen and Nic Cage but it's not the best episode in the show’s oeuvre.
Tracey Carnazzo and Andrea Allan’s “Only In New York” podcast with Gilbert Gottfried: Always meant to check this show out and once I saw Gilbert was the guest I jumped on it fast. This one was a banger. Tracey, Andrea and Chemda make an indomitable trio with never a moment of silence between them; they’re always racing to say the next funny thing that comes to mind. Luckily, they get to bounce off of comedy God Gilbert Gottfriend who talks growing up in NYC and stealing from craft services tables. Also, he plugs his Cameo at least ten times. I don’t care. No matter what he says, he’s funny as hell. Best part of the whole episode was at the end, when Tracey told a story about being held at gunpoint. She obviously survived but her cool here made the story doubly impressive. Excellent listen.
“WTF” with Samantha Bee: Starts with an update on Marc’s grieving over Lynn Shelton and it’s nice to hear he’s doing better. As we get into the interview portion, we hear all about Bee’s artistic evolution from actress to comedic powerhouse. I loved her insight on being an employee versus being a boss. Could listen to her for hours.
Finally, here’s my reading recs for the week (all short form and links to the pieces are in the comments as well):
Stephen King 1990 New Yorker Little League story: Read this awhile back but if you’re hurting for reading content and love baseball, definitely check out this story about the 1990 Maine Little League team that King covered since his son was the first baseman on the squad. It’s gripping, full of great baseball insight and genuinely dramatic since I had no idea how the season turned out. Best part was after I finished reading it, I searched for all the names of the characters on LinkedIn. Most of them are now “Professionals in the Greater Boston area.”
Seth Simons Substack: One of the most divisive voices in comedy strikes again. This time, he covers Theo Von’s podcast with guests Jeff Dye and Brad Williams. Both comics chose to perform at clubs two weeks ago. Yes, it’s irresponsible of them while we should be social distancing but it was their decision. They sound wrongheaded and Seth slams them for it. I can’t say I disagree. Also, I’m not doing his words justice. Check out his writing and subscribe to his blog if comedy journalism is your thing (and if you got this far in the piece, I think it is).
Stevie Nicks’ Fajita Roundup Ringer article: In 1998, Lucy Lawless took over for Michael Richards to host an episode of SNL. I barely remember this one even as a self-appointed superfan but there’s one sketch that made an indelible mark on a small subset of folks called “Stevie Nicks’ Fajita Roundup.” I don’t remember it but in it, Lawless plays Nicks as the owner of a fajita restaurant in Sedona. There are great song parodies incorporating burritos and it’s all played with a straight face. This article covers it painting in the corners the story of how the sketch originated with writers, cast and Nicks’ impression of it. Hell, they even talk to a guy that started a Facebook group for it. The three-minute commercial parody deserves every bit of cult classic status it receives and if you’re curious, absolutely check out the very well-written piece.
Finally, I did a quick thread of Twitter this week helping people bump up their follower counts. I wrote:
Bummed about your follower count? Do this:
1.) Go to a more popular Twitter account similar to yours
2.) Find a recent popular Tweet of theirs
3.) Check everyone that liked the Tweet & follow them. Not everyone will follow back but a bunch will
4.) I really am this annoying
If you want more followers, seriously follow the link below to the Tweet and follow everyone that liked it. You should get like 150-200 followers out of it. Feels good to see all the new followers roll in too.
Got a few comedy things going on this week. Doing Steven Cohen’s West Side Comedy Club Zoom game show with Anna on Wednesday and helping produce a comedy competition on Friday with Stephanie Houng and Todd Hunt called “Stay at Home Madness.”
Fuck the police. Seriously. This disturbing footage we’re all seeing shouldn’t be coming from America.
01.) Jamie Carbone Twitter https://twitter.com/ThiccSonic
02.) Paul Lombardo’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulombo
03.) Harmontown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hVkJHIIrpM
04.) Rory Scovel’s “Robbie:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJdsLiaH0bg&list=PLD7nPL1U-R5ob2CAUmizYmg-xMEUJUIi2
05.) Conan “You Made It Weird”
06.) Seth Simons on Theo Von: https://sethsimons.substack.com/p/if-they-get-me-sick-or-i-get-them
07.) James Mattern’s “The Commissioner of Comedy Podcast:” https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-commissioner-of-comedy-with-james-msGkAbcpH0O/
08.) Zach Braff “You Made It Weird:” http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/5/0/7/507871b20a933ece/YMIW_504_Zach_Braff.mp3?c_id=70685096&cs_id=70685096&destination_id=81568&expiration=1590953653&hwt=7ff4aa8341a1009736d30065dbec8c45
09.) Jay Baruchel “You Made It Weird:” http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/d/b/7/db74d3beab24c264/YMIW_506_Jay_Baruchel.mp3?c_id=72081302&cs_id=72081302&destination_id=81568&expiration=1590955423&hwt=839f9d1da914eaf547a89e6b38860df3
10.) Gilbert on Tracey Carnazzo’s podcast: https://onlyinnewyork.libsyn.com/ep-11-nice-fella-gilbert-gottfried
11.) Samantha Bee WTF: http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1124-samantha-bee
12.) Stephen King’s New Yorker story: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1990/04/16/head-down
13.) Stevie Nicks’ Ringer story: https://www.theringer.com/music/2020/5/26/21269642/the-story-of-how-saturday-night-lives-stevie-nicks-fajita-roundup-sketch-got-made
14.) Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/MattLevy51/status/1266012002088103941
