Comedy Stray Notes April 4, 2021

• In this ongoing series of increasingly self-indulgent “newsletters” I’ve tried to gloat about minor accomplishments in the most inoffensive milquetoast, self effacing way possible.  Yeah, I might brag but I’ll make sure it’s not overly annoying.  Well, this week, I hit the most arbitrary of comedy goals and I wanted to a.) inadvertently brag about it by bringing it up and b.) give you tips on how to achieve said goal as well following my (cue infomercial voice) four simple steps!

The goal?  10,000 Twitter followers.  I’ve had my eye on it since June 6, 2011 when I first Tweeted, “I am now a Twitter man.  The first thing I need to do here: quote as many Styx lyrics as I humanly can” (it rightly has zero likes).  It took me forever to figure out how to “game” the system and build my follower count (hint: not through Styx lyrics).  I probably languished in the 50 follower neighborhood for three years.

Then, it came to me.  The secret to getting a ton of followers is a little sad and time consuming (if you’re aren’t busting out viral tweets on the regular) but it does work.  All you have to do is follow these (cue infomercial voice again) four simple steps:

a.) Follow any person that likes a Tweet of yours.  They usually follow back.

b.) If a friend of yours has a Tweet perform really well, see everyone that “liked” that Tweet.  

c.) If the person that liked said Tweet has a Twitter bio and profile photo, follow them.  They’ll probably follow back.

d.) Repeat.

It takes forever, is ultimately meaningless but feels slightly validating (even if I imagine at least 500 of my followers are Bitcoin bots that want me to invest in Crypto).

Worst case scenario, go through my followers and follow them.  That works too.

So, yes, annoying, but if you’re looking to juice your numbers, this is a viable strategy that actually worked for me.  Did I get followers through merit or have a great ratio?  Not exactly.  I’m cool with this compromise though.

• Now that commutes are officially becoming a part of the newer 2021 normal, you may need some quick entertainment to pass the time on a train or a bus.  Here are a few recommended clicks:

- My pal from across the pond Tom Scudamore is quickly becoming a prolific producer of sketch.  Employing a technique where he has four actors film themselves using similar backgrounds to make it seem like they’re all in the same shared space, Tom seamlessly creates the illusion of togetherness and banter even though he’s directing American actors from the UK.  In “Boyfriends,” the banter among Anna Paone, Shauni Ramai, Laura Paone and Sam Zelitch is an electric back and forth where four pals defend their soon to be cancelled, problematic significant others.  No need to drop names and tell you who their significant others are; half the fun of the bit are the surprising reveals.  

- I’ve written about Ari Rubin’s freewheeling variety show here a few times.  It’s a long-form, Christopher Guest-like program where he invites comic actors on and lets them shine.  This past week, he had my wife Anna on as a ventriloquist performing the rare bit that is just as funny for children as it is adults.  Go to the 36-minute mark in the video to see Anna and Ari trip the light fantastic with a surprisingly legitimate puppet made with just a sock, ping pong balls and sharpie.  You gotta love when a million dollar joke costs $2.00 to produce.

- Last year, Dan Wickes had Twitter’s best running gag when he Tweeted out, “My roommate is fucking his girlfriend on Easter Sunday of all days” and followed that every single day for months with a variation on that very Tweet (a favorite of mine was “My roommate is fucking his girlfriend on Easter As Of Now Ghislaine Still Alive Day of all days”).  In a weird time of “unprecedented uncertainty,” I knew I could depend on Dan’s roommate getting it on and it’s so nice that it’s back today.  

- The Ringer is the rare site that speaks to all of my interests at once: in-depth sports analysis, insightful pop culture criticism and the occasional humor piece.  Josh Gondelman’s recent “It’s Time to Stop Letting Actors With Hair Play Bald People” combines all three of these elements (there are a few excellently placed sports jokes) to create a supremely compelling narrative about why a character actor Jared Leto shouldn’t steal roles from a Paul Giammatti.  Lines like, “MY CRANIUM IS NOT YOUR COSTUME, JARED” and “The issue of hair restoration falls firmly under the umbrella of ‘don’t hate the player, hate the game,’ except in the cases of Piven and Elon Musk, where you can hate both player and game alike” made me laugh out loud but the piece also makes an important point about accurate onscreen representation that lands unexpectedly hard in an article that begins on such a light note.

- OK, Netflix does put out an alarming number of comedy specials (or it did).  Joe Pontillo recognizes the absurdity of their willingness to hand a special to just about anyone and everyone and takes that premise to its logical conclusion in his very funny, very short “Netflix: Behind The Scenes” video.  Honestly, I laughed so much, I thought the video deserved its own special.  On Netflix, of course.

- When I moved to NY in 2013, it was really hard to tell the difference between comics for the first few months.  I’d go to mics and try my best to get a handle on the scene but it was never easy to tell who was who, where they were on the comedy pyramid, what their best bits were.  However, a seldom few stood out right away with a style all of their own.  One such comic was the inimitable Bob Hansen whose rat-a-tat, 1000 words a minute delivery was unlike anyone else around.  This week, it was really nice to see Bob put his silly style on display in his short sketch “Lean Cuisine.”  There’s too-relatable observations about Lean Cuisines themselves (something that’s needed to be roasted for a long while, excuse the pun) and a few nice bits of slapstick plus Bob being Bob.  Be the best Bob you can be and give this quickie a well-deserved view.

- Anna and I released the season finale to our ten-part web series “Minute Made” this past Monday.  I’ll be honest; it’s probably the least funny of all the episodes (this is admittedly my fault, not her’s).  However, it may be the most emotionally satisfying giving both characters the resolution they deserve.  It’s just a minute.  You made it this far in the series; might as well see how the puppy ends.

• Had the apartment to myself for a few days this week and things got pretty wild.  I ate croutons out of the bag and I watched all of this stuff:

“Bill and Ted Face The Music” (2020): The self aware reboot/long overdue sequel is a genre that I have mixed feelings on.  It’s typically fan service and a bit weird to see the original actors so much older reprising roles from 30 years prior.  In the case of the new “Bill and Ted’s,” it was all of the above, but still too much of a gas for me to really complain.  There’s wicked historical reimaginings off the top honoring the original in an inventive way like Kid Cudi being dropped into The Last Supper and then a bizarre wedding segment where a father technically becomes his own son through marriage.  What really sells this though aren’t these inspired jokes; it’s Keanu Reeves and Alex Winters having so much fun just “being” Bill and Ted that it doesn’t matter what happens here- whether it’s playing horrible (yet interesting) music, time traveling or struggling in couples counseling- they’re going to be likeable doing it.  In fact, this is the rare comedy where I don’t mind that it’s not actual comics headlining it since they bring such a specific, earnest and straight faced SoCal Gen X surfer energy that I can’t imagine another duo (other than their daughters that they hand the baton over to) in their roles.  

That said, the story here is nothing to write home about- they need to deliver the most perfect song to save the universe, you know exactly where this is going, etc. etc. but when you have the iconic duo at the helm and Kristen Schaal replacing George Carlin as Rufus, Jillian Bell (putting her in your movie is cheating for comedy- she always scores big in these bit parts), Beck Bennett doing his best Beck Bennett and then an assembled supergroup made up of Mozart, Jimi Hendrix and Louis Armstrong (and Dave Grohl shows up for a split second), it’s incredibly crowd pleasing.  ALREADY LOOKING FORWARD TO “BILL AND TED’S BODACIOUS RETURN” IN 2040 (Streaming on Amazon Prime for $5.99)

“Coming 2 America” (2021): Coincidentally, I caught both of the major, high profile, overdue sequels from the past year in the same week and while this one was fun, it didn’t have the juice that “Bill and Ted” did.  Eddie is undoubtedly one of the greats, but here, his Prince Akeem didn’t have the energy or urgency displayed in the original (even if he is essentially playing the straight man here).  Murphy just kinda showed up in sweats.  The story does too.  It’s another predictable affair (Anna called all the beats); Akeem and his bride Lisa bred three daughters but due to sexist traditions, they need a son to hand the kingdom off to as is King Jaffe Joffer’s (James Earl Jones at freaking 90; really wish he hosted SNL back in the day) final wish.  Thanks to a bit of technical wizardry, the film seamlessly integrates an unfortunate hook up between 1988 Eddie and Leslie Jones that leads to an unknown son (Jermaine Fowler) born out of wedlock that is the “rightful heir to the throne” who heads to Zamunda for a reverse fish out of water with the original- an American from Queens in an unfamiliar land.  

There are a few fun scenes along the way; Eddie and Arsenio bring back the crackling barbershop patrons and every other thing you loved about the original in a way that is more of a reminder of jokes you loved than a new spin on them.  

Also, Tracy Morgan shows up as Fowler’s uncle and steals the show anytime he’s in the frame.  The moment he shows up, he’s just funny.  Tracy’s posture is funny.  He makes anything watchable.  Another actor that’s basically cheating for a director to use.  Then, there’s a surprising Colin Jost cameo that really works for a minute before quickly petering out when the scene calls on Jost to emote. 

It should be noted that Fowler deserves credit here too.  The scene in which he bonds with his true love instead of Wesley Snipes’ rival leader’s daughter sparks with electricity in a flirtatious back and forth about favorite movies leading to an excellent meta-commentary about “sequels no one asked for” to Fowler earning Eddie’s respect using his street smarts to cut off a lion’s whisker with a classic bait and switch.  Dikembe Mutombo shows up for a second too which felt straight out of a Sandler movie.  COMEDY COMFORT FOOD (Streaming on Amazon Prime).

“The Last Blockbuster” (2020): A movie about Blockbuster going out of business streaming on Netflix, the very company that led to their demise, is a delicious piece of irony.  The movie itself, a love letter to a corporation, is a familiar jaunt through 90s nostalgia and features fun “I didn’t know that!” anecdotes like Jamie Kennedy and Jim Gaffigan getting their first big break in a Blockbuster commercial and how the company grew so much larger than its mom and pop competitors with its business acumen and inventory system.  In the present day, the company holds on for dear life in Bend, Oregon at its last location that, to me, looks less like a film geek’s pilgrimage and more like a place where people rent “Central Intelligence.”  This thing does fly by though and I could never dislike a movie narrated by Lauren Lapkus and featuring Doug Benson and Ron Funches as talking heads.  Bonus points for working the brilliant John Oliver Alaskan Blockbuster stunt into the narrative in the movie’s funniest sequence.  IF YOU’RE A GEEK THAT SPENT YOUR FRIDAYS HERE IN 1998 RENTING “A NIGHT AT THE ROXBURY” ON REPEAT, YOU’LL PROBABLY SMILE AT THIS (As mentioned before, streaming on Netflix).

“Mr. Mayor” Season One (2021): I am genuinely angry at the critical reception this show received at its outset.  Upon release, this show was unfairly maligned (however, a show about an elderly, widowed ((just like “Kenan”- NBC, why so many shows about single fathers?)) white politician that may have reminded some of 45 at the time may have deserved a skeptical raise of an eyebrow) but had critics stuck around, they would have found an excellent “30 Rock” companion piece that’s just as quick-witted and warm as Fey and Carlock’s previous crackerjack sitcom.  If you need a little catching up, Ted Danson stars as Neil Bremer, a billboard magnate who runs for office on a whim to regain the respect of his only daughter and wins.  The show revolves around the exploits of Bremer and his staff made up of old school Liberal with gumption Holly Hunter, scapegoat and series MVP Bobby Moynihan (playing the world’s oldest Jayden) and Vella Lovell and Mike Cabellon as their Millennial counterparts.  It’s a bit like “Veep” but with an instantly recognizable Jeff Richmond score that makes scenes pop like they did in any other Fey project.  Another secret weapon.  As are Rachel Dratch, David Spade, Andie MacDowell, Beau Bridges and Ed Begley Jr who show up in small doses.  Still not sold?  Seriously, watch Episode Six.  It’s an updated 2021 version of the “Diversity Day” episode of “The Office” that I would put against anything I’ve seen this year on television comedically.  In fact, I did a rare rewatch and I never rewatch anything.  THIS IS A SPEEDY NINE-EPISODE BINGE (Streaming on Hulu). 

“Baskets” (2016-2019): I hungrily watched the pilot for this show the day it came out in 2016, loved it and then promptly never caught another episode.  It just fell off my radar.  Luckily, now with abundant amounts of free time, I can afford to casually consume 40 episodes of Galifianakis doing his thing.  

Let’s start back at the beginning.  So you know, “Baskets” refers to Zach’s clown character’s name “Chip Baskets” (so gloriously dumb).  He has a twin brother, also played by Zach, named “Dale Baskets.”  Most impressively, Louie Anderson (also in “Coming 2 America!”) convincingly plays their doting, dim mother Christine Baskets in one of the most incredible casting stunts of all time.  The series follows the arc of aspiring clown student (pronounced “Cloon”) Chip in France who returns to the States with his French green card bride and then everything promptly falls apart similar to “90 Day Fiance” all while majestically deadpan platonic friend Martha Kelley loyally stands by his side with no inflection in her flatly delivered lines whatsoever for all the hijinks that ensue ove four seasons.  

The show is a lot of things- a perfect mixture of highbrow and lowbrow comedy (self serious clowns, misunderstandings of French menus, unselfconscious “Dog Days are Over” singalongs and a payoff with crickets getting into the Baskets home that pays off as beautifully as any Chekhov’s gun I’ve ever seen), an ode to the pleasures of suburbia (the show fetishizes Arby’s and PT Cruisers endlessly; there’s even a Lori Grenier from “Shark Tank'' appearance) and surprisingly heavy, grounded slice of life drama that veers toward depressing but always returns to overly dumb, larger than life humor.

The show finds its stride in later seasons in episodes when we meet real French clowns with actual talent and in beautiful throwaway lines like, “Anybody can be on television.  All you have to do is rob a bank or kick a dog” are spouted off.  It’s no surprise that every episode was directed by Jonathan Krisel of “Portlandia,” “Tim and Eric” and “Man Seeking Woman;” it hits that humanistic, absurd 2010s comedy sweet spot that became the benchmark for humor.  AN ODDBALL, REWARDING, HUMANE AND STUPID SHOW ALL AT ONCE (Streaming on Hulu).

SNL hosted by Daniel Kaluuya: After an off week with Maya Rudolph, SNL returned in fine form with this episode hosted by Kaluuya.  Best of all was the exquisite Kyle Mooney-starring David Dobrik parody “Viral Apology Video” satirizing immature influencer culture demonstrating that there are consequences for your actions.  Honestly, everyone 24 and under should see the video just to learn what not to do.  Other standouts were a.) “Proud Parents” where a medical student quietly admits he’s going to school for creative writing which puts his Mom and Dad in a tailspin furious with his choices, b.) a scene where Kate McKinnon incessantly interrupted a board game with every loud appliance one could conceivably find in a kitchen and c.) Kaluuya’s winning monologue where he shouted out Kel.  SNL, it’s not too late.  Bring in Kel to work with Kenan.  I wasn’t crazy about anything else other than Jost’s run of Matt Gaetz jokes off the top of Weekend Update.  

My only real complaint is most sketches tonight were met with abrupt endings.  Yeah, I know how hard it is to finish a sketch but just give us a cherry on top instead of a limp question mark at the end (see the end of “Frat Trip” if you’re wondering what I’m talking about here).  Also, four sketches took place in living room settings which has to be a record.  Felt almost like a bizarro sitcom.  Finally, there were three (!) cut for time sketches this week which is an abundance of riches.  Best of all, is this pre-taped “Hero” featuring Chris Redd doing his best Chris Redd.

Finally, your moment of zen for the week is my revised “Top 10 Comedies Released in 2020*” list inspired by my pal Phillip Karagas’ pitch perfect reviews of 2020’s “Top 20 Horror Films” (there’s even a tiny bit of overlap on our lists):

“Bad Education”

“Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm”

“Downhill”

“Extra Ordinary”

“Kajillionaire”

“Palm Springs”

“Save Yourselves!”

“Scare Me”

“The Climb”

“The King of Staten Island”

Honorable mentions: “An American Pickle,” “Another Round,” “Bill and Ted Face The Music,” “Come to Daddy,” “David Copperfield,” “Eurovision,” “Hubie Halloween,” “The Forty-Year Old Version,” “The Lovebirds”

*Not sure if I should include “Promising Young Woman” or not because it’s so heavy but it’s better than all the above.

Catch ya in a week.  Got something cool coming for you then that I’m pretty pumped about

Comedy Stray Notes March 28, 2021

• Every few months, something goes so viral that it eclipses internet notoriety and creeps into mainstream news.  We saw this in early January with the now infamous “Bean Dad'' which sparked debate and outrage and now this past week, the latest news story to become a hot button human interest ignitor of fury was “Cinnamon Toast Crunch Shrimp Tails Guy.”  This “guy,” Karp Jensen, turned out to be a comic, a bit of a dirtbag, married to Danielle Fishell AKA Topanga from “Boy Meets World” and ripe for ridicule.  Everyone had a hot take but no one took this mini scandal on better or more head on than Danny Vega who reinvented his Twitter account into a realistic, corporate-looking Cinnamon Toast Crunch feed writing subversive takes on the wild, rapidly evolving story from the perspective of CTC’s social media.  

Then, he wrote his magnum opus, “UPDATE: we killed the shrimp guy. He was blended and is now in every box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch” (see it here).  This cut through the noise and went super viral with over 100K favs.  While yes, a super funny Tweet, this is a master class on HOW to go viral.  Take something on the tip of everyone’s tongue and go the extra mile to have a unique perspective on it.  Change your account and run with it rather than just jotting a tossed off half thought into the void.  You might just get the internet attention you’ve been chasing after.

• This past Friday, my sketch “At Home with a Guy from Anonymous” was featured in a late night block at the Canadian-flavored Toronto Sketch Fest (yeah, I added that credit to my website).  For an entirely virtual Fest, it was incredibly well-run; shows started on time, they were very funny (the “Characters Welcome” hour featuring characters like “That glass of water you drink at 4 AM” and “your sourdough starter kit” complete with a  guy caked in dough) and there wasn’t a single technical glitch.  Our sketch played with a number of out-there, absurd entries that confounded and expanded my definition of what sketch could be.  I’d implore you to check out their site and take a gander at all the cool, offbeat offerings they dished up this year.  Fingers crossed, it’s an in-person event in 2022.

• My friend Belton Delaine-Facey is one of the busiest comics in New York City.  When not performing, he’s putting in work on a narrative feature film, directing a full-length documentary about NYC comedy during the pandemic that serves as a time capsule of the past year and now, he’s produced a slyly sharp Zoom sketch.  In said sketch, “Class Interruption,” Anna Paone (full disclosure, that’s my wife) plays a teacher helping a ragtag group of middle school misfits learn the ins and outs of improper fractions while also doing everything in her power to obscure her husband (full disclosure, that’s me) in the background who might be doing something he shouldn’t be doing.  It’s under three minutes, features enthusiastic, committed performances from a stable of 20-somethings playing kids and you can see me try to act.  What’s not to like?  

• In a couple months, Zoom shows may be a thing of the past.  As we head to a future where everyone is vaccinated (thanks, Biden), I wonder what the future holds for the form.  It’s been a fascinating medium that’s produced a new type of sketch (as evidenced by the above), communication and stand up comedy show that brings people from all over the world together.  I honestly think they live on in some capacity.  Whether it’s for broadcasting shows from clubs to international audiences or just for open mics, it’s become too much a part of our lives to let it completely go.  Anyhow, as we face the last gasp of the pandemic, it’s nice that quality producers like Elani Nichelle are still putting on real virtual shows for the NYV (Not Yet Vaccinated).  This week, I went up at her show performing stand up for the first time in months.  I challenged my rusty self and tried to see if I could write tags for my old bits from the “before times.”  I was met with mixed results.  Not many of the tags worked (I always forget that “Less is more” adage; this is evidenced by this incredibly long note) but it was nice to say these jokes aloud in front of an audience.  Special shout outs to Dan Wickes and Jay Jurden for also bringing the laughs opening and closing the show respectively.  Book them and Elani for your Zoom shows and in-person shows in comedy’s new future.

• Speaking of Zoom, one last Zoom shout out to Matt Starr for his superb five-minute short play “Whatever, Like, Whatever” also shot on your favorite communication interface.  In this two-hander, an internet date that starts as lively, comically nihilistic banter turns into something else entirely.  Incredibly acted with not a wasted line of dialogue, I highly recommend this quick piece if you like your comedy dark with a twist.  This is perfect pitch black at its best.

• Hands down, the smartest sketch I saw this week was Matt Ruby and Sagar Bhatt’s “The Five Whys.”  In a rat-a-tat style, the two of them engage in verbal sparring asking each other “Why” five times in order to find the nature of a problem as well as its solution.  A great maxim for life and a rich premise for sketch.  Here, the two of them take this concept to its logical conclusion and in turn completely point out the hypocrisy, banality and good, old fashioned selfishness of startup C-levels and their developers.  Felt like they perfectly roasted the last six years of my life working in tech in under two minutes.  It’s perfect.  If you haven’t watched yet, ask yourself why five times and then click the link.

• Really nice to see friends embrace new avenues to show off their talents and show off their writing ability in a way the stage doesn’t quite allow.  This week, I was delighted to see gregarious comic Gabe Mollica post the first episode of his new, earnest Instagram talk show “Gabe Time.”  In ten minutes, Gabe goes a bit more personal and confessional than one might in a stand up set covering a single topic: SIPS also known as a made-up acronym for “Self Important Pandemic Sadness.”  Too relatable.  There are winning jokes sprinkled throughout; my favorite was when he called his NYC crib a “room-bed” instead of a bedroom and a very funny misdirect about gerrymandering.  Stay until the very end for a quick guest appearance by Raanan Hershberg that puts Mollica in his place.

• I posted the penultimate episode of my Rizzle series “Minute Made” this week.  That means, just one left after this.  However, don’t cry because we’re saying goodbye, laugh because this episode is FIRE.  In it, Anna worries that she’ll never get the vaccine.  Does she?  I’ll never tell.  You’ll have to click that link in the comments if you want to find out.

• Here’s a speedy rundown of things I saw, listened to and read by people I don’t know but would like to someday:

“Another Round” (2020): The industry was surprised when Director Thomas Vinterberg snuck onto the Academy’s list of Oscar-nominated Directors for the past year.  I was too.  From the looks of the trailer, this seemed like a big, broad American comedy but starring Europeans.  You know what?  I was right.  Basically, this is “Old School” with art film flourishes.  If this movie isn’t on your radar, I’ll catch you up to speed.  Essentially, a group of four middle-aged male teachers (including Mads Mikkelsen playing very against type as a sad sack rather than a cunning villain), decide that if they maintain an ABV of 0.05, they’ll live happier, more fulfilling lives.  And for the first two acts, they do!  Then, it all comes crashing down.  Great concept for a movie.  I’ll be honest, not super well-executed.  I liked it fine but it did have the least visually inventive text display I’ve ever seen for text being written; they literally just put words on the screen.  Come on, man!  Live a little!  Make it a computer screen or something!  Plus, a majority of the scenes were our four protagonists talking about the act of drinking rather than imbibing.  Anytime, they waxed philosophical about how great being buzzed is instead of showing us sobered me up real fast.  At the end, there’s a bit of a mixed message that ultimately leaves one more confused about this whole enterprise than enlightened.  I will say though, it was cool that in Europe all the teachers had sick houses.  NO IDEA HOW THIS SNUCK INTO THE BEST DIRECTOR RACE (Streaming on Hulu).

WTF with Laraine Newman: Original SNL cast member on WTF?  Don’t mind if I do.  Making the rounds for her new biography “May You Live In Interesting Times” (which Newman assures us is a curse), this joy of a podcast episode dives right into those Interesting Times like Newman seeing The Beatles live twice (!) and what it was like being there for the origin of The Groundlings (fun fact: “Groundlings” derives from a term for poor audience members that couldn’t afford seats at Shakespearean plays).  There are also anecdotes about a lost 70s sketch movie she did called “Tunnel Vision,” doing ADR after leaving SNL, her sister Tracy Newman show running “According to Jim”, Jane Curtin hanging out with Mick Jagger, Mark Mothersbaugh hanging out with Larry Flynt and best of all, how she took Warren Zevon to see Paul Reubens’ very first Pee Wee show.  Can’t think of a better way for a comedy nerd to spend an hour than listen to this.

SNL hosted by Maya Rudolph: This was one of the most uneven episodes in a long while.  Things started promisingly with an unconventional Cold Open game show sketch.  In a show guilty for its reliance on game show, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them open the show with one, so kudos where kudos are due.  However, said “Snatched!  Vaxed! Or Waxed!” game show never really took flight or surprised and delighted.  This theme continued throughout the first half.  For example, I was pumped to see the featured cast members get the spotlight during Rudolph’s monologue but then she kicked Andrew Dismukes offstage and it became a bizarro homage to “The Breakfast Club.”  Unique concept at first and then subpar execution.  

The first half featured two topical, musical pre-taped sketches about Boomers getting the vaccine and an NFT explainer.  Fun ideas, yes, nothing particularly surprising.  I think I’m over SNL music videos.  There, I said it.  They just feel like “business as usual” now.  

Things picked up when Martin Short showed up as Second Man Doug Emhoff.  His character choices to play Emhoff as bashful showed that you don’t need songs and game show sets for laughs- you need lived-in performances.  Weekend Update came out swinging taking on gun reform but I’ll admit I laughed hardest at the dumbest joke of all- a remix of Biden falling walking up airplane stairs to make it look like he was breakdancing.  I’m ashamed.  

Interestingly, the up and down show redeemed itself at the end with two instant classic sketches in “The Barfly Awards” (the nominees for “Saddest lines overheard at 2 AM” is SNL Hall of Fame level good) and then the self-referential “The Maya’ing” riffing on “The Shining.”  If you’re a lifelong fan of the show, this is comfort food mocking past hosts, musical guests and the original cast.  Not exactly laugh out loud funny but one that sticks with you.  So, yeah.  Uneven. 

Joe Kwaczala’s 21 Sketches: On March 21, Joe Kwaczala released 21 sketches in intervals of 15 minutes on Twitter.  It was one of the coolest comedy stunts I’d ever seen.  SO MUCH CONTENT.  The release of the shorts was an effort to raise $2121 for East Hollywood Mutual Aid but was also a thrilling showcase of his comedic range.  I watched all 21 but can’t stop laughing at one in particular.  Let’s just say it takes place in an alternate history where two characters only talk about Seth MacFarlane.  All 21 are worthy of your time; the MacFarlane sketch is worthy of repeat play.

“The Opener” by Fran Hoepner: Writing fiction about comedy is hard.  If you’re not a comic, it’s glaringly obvious.  You miss the details about open mic hierarchies, what it feels like when a new joke hits or the contempt you might feel for a comedy blogger (like...myself?).  This breathtaking (yeah, I mean that) short story about a young comic who is given the opportunity to open for a problematic headliner is one of the best pieces of fiction I’ve read all year.  Gripping, intense and full of A+ lines, I couldn’t believe what I was reading.  It took me right back to what it felt like to spend long nights at mics and shows even though it took place in Schaumburg, Illinois.  Just goes to show that speaking comedian is universal.  Hoepner makes the monotony of road gigs with someone you can’t even respect the best “comedy buddy comedy” of the year.

“How Beeple Crashed The Art World” by Kyle Chayka: Not quite comedy but if you’ve been reading about NFTs everywhere and the artist Beeple’s $69 million sale, this is a hysterical profile that puts a face and voice on the burgeoning movement’s enfant terrible.  Crass, lacking sophistication and not interested in material goods, this Beeple fellow kept upending expectations.  If this is the future of art, I’m worried but also intrigued.  

I got nothing this week, folks.  

Well, I do have physical therapy for my back.  But other than that.  Not much.

See you in April

Comedy Stray Notes March 21, 2021

• The idea of a traditional comedy special makes very little sense.  You might have the set of your life but if you don’t perform one of the jokes to the best of your ability in one of the maybe two tapings if you’re lucky, the best version of your bit is lost to the sands of time.  Specials, simply put, are not a perfect time capsule of a comedian’s “A” material.  My pal, the talented comic, director and editor Jeremy Schaftel recognized this fatal flaw and did something to quash this glitch in the system.  His solution was to seamlessly cut together all of his best material from over the years to create a new kind of special.  One that plays with the form and shows off his writing and editing prowess in the process.  The 47-minute special “Thanks For Coming” begins with an inventive montage of hosts bringing Jeremy to the stage with a variety of credits he’s had over the years.  When Jeremy ambles onstage, he proceeds to treat the audience to a supercut of all of his best opening lines for each venue.  If you taped every great set and got a huge laugh off the top, might as well get credit for it rather than just for the one you got at your special taping.  From there, we’re off and running.

The actual chunks that comprise the majority of “Thanks For Coming” are similarly excellent as well; my favorites were extended takes on student loans, nonspecific dating profiles and rabid sports fans.  Best of all, Schaftel includes the spontaneous moments that happen in otherwise forgettable sets that you’d never see in a traditional special like audience members talking over your set, ruining it and winning the crowd back over.  Jeremy’s written, directed and cut a great encapsulation of a comic operating at their highest level while also showcasing some of the odder, magic things that can happen while one is onstage making this a must-see for anyone interested in the day to day of a comic.  

• Taking an extremely goofy idea seriously is the perfect recipe for sketch.  “More Cowbell” doesn’t work if Will Ferrell doesn’t absolutely commit 150% to the idea of playing the hell out of that cowbell.  That straight faced goofiness is beautifully replicated in Dejen Tesfagiorgis’ “Makin Choco-Chip Cookies TRAP Muzik, The best Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe” which starts simply enough with typical boasts from a mumble trap rapper like “No one thinking he was hungry enough.”   Then, the game of the musical vid kicks into high gear when Dejen singtalks “They said I wouldn’t make it/but I made it from scratch.”  From there, the catchiest, most serious banger track about making cookies of all time takes off.  Dejen never winks at the camera and it’s a billion times goofier for it.  Watch the ridiculous video and then add this jam/recipe instructions to your workout playlist.  The song is as fire as the cookie he describes making.

• There isn’t a kinder comic in the entire comedy world than Matt Storrs.  Years ago, in the salad days of 2013,  I recall attending an outdoor show in downtown Phoenix and finding a batch of homemade cookies sitting on a back table.  I did a double take.  There is rarely that much love and care put into anything at a small show.  Not when Storrs is there.  He’s all about those personal touches to make everything with his imprint on it feel as if it was made just for you.  Now, in 2021 fashion, he’s extending his old-fashioned friendliness to write letters to anyone that wants to correspond with him.  I took the plunge and last week, received a note in the mail that began with a bit of friendly catch up and then turned on a dime morphing into a wistful comic riff on Storrs’ childhood toy collection.  It was equal parts sentimental and self-deprecating and made my day in the process.  I wrote back recalling all my Power Rangers from childhood which had me smiling all day.  If this sounds like something you’re interested in participating in, he’s looking for a few more pen pals.  Hit the man up and start a chat with the nicest guy in a notoriously cutthroat industry.

• I’m using this blog space to promote all ten episodes of Anna Paone’s and my Rizzle series “Minute Made.”  Predictably, I hype them all up.  I want you to see them.  However, I want you to see this week’s edition more than any others.  Episode Eight AKA “How to have one marketable skill” makes me laugh harder than any other episode we produced (including episodes nine and ten- if I say they’re better in coming weeks, please know I am lying- this week is the best).  One of the major challenges of making these videos is editing them to EXACTLY one minute.  However, given this creative constraint allows for a lot of editorial innovation and goofy choices are made as a result which ended up making this one so special.  Sitcoms thrive due to the 22-minute format (just an opinion) and when web series are given similar guidelines, more interesting, weirder and better ideas blossom.  

• Finished a book, saw three prestigious 2020 movie releases and listened to a podcast this week.  Here are my unwieldy, mostly overly positive mini recaps:

“You Might Remember Me: The Life and Times of Phil Hartman” written by Mike Thomas: I picked up this book back in June of last year and read the majority of it while pacing in a now defunct parking lot while trying to get 10,000 steps a day.  While I wouldn’t classify this as essential reading for an SNL fan, the biography goes down smooth.  In fact, the author made the book seem so effortless that I thought I would thrive as a biographer and pursued it for about a month this summer as a professional endeavor.  This has not panned out yet.  All of that aside, this is a well-paced recounting of the life of one of comedy’s hardest working character actors who was met with one of the most tragic endings of all time.  The book’s first third is devoted to Phil’s Canadian turned American upbringing and rock and roll counterculture roots delving deep into his album artwork for America, Poco and Steely Dan.  Later in life (AKA the second third), he became a Groundling alongside Paul Reubens (better known as Pee Wee Herman; Phil is credited as a screenwriter on “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure”) and Jon Lovitz before settling in as “the glue” on SNL.  The final third is why the book takes so long to read- it’s painful to page through gory details of his untimely demise.  Either way, if you’re a fan of the man behind so many great characters (he was Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer AND Troy McClure among so many others), you’ll walk away with so many Hartman tidbits that can’t be found on Wikipedia like how Phil was supposed to voice Zapp Brannigan on “Futurama” (OK, this actually is on Wikipedia), his failed variety show where he hired two writers who applied to SNL and didn’t get the gig to run his unproduced show that never took off and Hartman’s brother’s concept of “Freeze framing” at his funeral (the concept is: if you’re having a bad moment, stop.  Think of a good moment in your life and smile.  It works).

* This is the first SNL book I’ve read that quotes SNL makeup artist Norman Bryn’s “Makeup and Misery” biography.  You read that right.  Even the SNL makeup artists have tell-alls.

“Minari” (2020): Lee Isaac-Chung’s slice of life tale of an immigrant Korean family in 1980s Arkansas begins with the most A24 flourishes of an A24 film- warm colors, sweeping orchestral score, long takes.  It’s pretty and certainly FEELS like a FILM but I was wondering what made this universally praised movie so special.  Soon thereafter, we meet the characters and the film’s greatness becomes readily apparent.  “Minari” is the tightest, lightest and most heartbreaking story I’ve seen about domestic strife I’ve seen all year.  To start, we meet entrepreneurial Jacob Yi (Steven Yeun) who has bigger dreams than sexing chicken (not exactly what that sounds like); he fancies himself a hotshot farmer with thriving crops.  While Yi would like to spend his every waking minute tending to his farm, he also has a family to take care of which often takes a backseat to his aspirations leading to our central dramatic tension.  However, the film’s true pulse can be found in the adversarial relationship between Yi’s son David (Alan Kim- just seven-years-old) and his maternal grandmother Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung who is much older than seven but undeniably fantastic)  who moves in with the family 30 or so minutes into the film’s two-hour runtime.  Yuh-jung who deservedly netted an Oscar nomination fully embodies the entire elderly experience bouncing from an outspoken brashness earned by years of life experience to complete dependence on those she raised.  There’s still so much more to like about this Best Picture favorite.  An atmospheric score that would be right at home with any “chill music to study to” playlist, well earned payoffs to setups embedded early in the first act, remarkably lived in performances from racist and devoutly Christian Arkansas locals and all the fixins that come with living in AR (tornados, tobacco and many Mountain Dew jokes that I’m not going to spoil here).  My only regret is I didn’t see this in a theater.  I’m so happy movies like this are still being made; this is what film is all about.  THIS IS A SUREFIRE CROWD PLEASER FULL OF PATHOS, TEARS AND JOY (Streaming on Amazon Prime for $19.99).

“Kajillionaire” (2020): At the outset of 2020, this was my most anticipated release of the year.  I’m a big Miranda July guy (her short “Are you the favorite person of anybody” is so gutting and weird and sad that I watch it every year or so and marvel at its perfection) and every work of hers feels like an event to me.  This one might be my favorite yet.  “Kajillionaire” presents as an indie comedy but really is a much darker and sadder than expected--kind of like a lo-fi American “Dogtooth” all while being accompanied by the best score of the year (also, great “chill music study to” vibes here).  With a style all of her own, July introduces us to a family of materialistic grifters with nothing to their name made up of a middle-aged couple Robert (a never funnier Richard Jenkins and I’m including “Step Brothers”), Theresa (an excellently distant Debra Winger) and their 26-year-old daughter Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood fully transforming into a brainwashed monotone human being unlike anyone I’ve ever seen) who artfully pull off the world’s smallest cons and often fall flat on their faces with bigge jobs.  

In wide shots, we see the threesome evade their pushover landlord with some of the funniest limbo walking I’ve ever seen committed to celluloid.  Things kick into high gear at the end of Act One, on an airplane mid-con job, when the family encounters the much more well-adjusted to reality Gina Rodriguez sitting in coach next to them.  Rodriguez joins forces with them for a series of misguided grifts on unconventional characters that don’t look like people you see or hear in film.  People on the outskirts of the society.  This feeling of otherness is echoed in the story’s central relationships where Old Dolio is never really at home with her parents; she wrestles with the feeling of being replaced by Rodriguez who her family instantly favors.  In the film’s greatest scene, the family play acts like “normal people” and we see a life they certainly could have lived had they chosen a more conventional route.  Perhaps the best scene in any film all year.  Or maybe the best scene of the year is when the family makes a wild, hysterical impulse purchase.  There’s too much to like here.  UNDERRATED, UNDER THE RADAR CULT CLASSIC IN THE MAKING (Streaming on Amazon Prime for $5.99; I shilled out this week).

“In and Of Itself” (2020): Danny Braff repeatedly recommended that Anna and I see Derek DelGaudio’s live show in Union Square back in fall 2018.  Knowing very little about it (it’s one of those things you need to go into knowing next to nothing about), we begrudgingly took his impassioned rec to heart and I’m so glad we took the plunge.  What we saw that night, in one of his 552 performances of his one-man show, was one of the most unforgettable live experiences I’ve ever laid eyes upon.  Surprisingly, the filmed, streaming version of the show is just as good, if not superior with its cinematic touches that employ montage, animation and crowd reaction for added effect.  For those unfamiliar with the show, I’ll tell you this much since it’s worth going in blind.  DelGaudio, a world-renowned magician, plays with the greatest illusion of all- our own identities (perhaps the most pretentious sentence I’ve ever written).  Through anecdote, sleight of hand, foreshadowing and neat marketing tricks (the show after the show as well as a guarantee that an audience member returns for an encore performance are truly brilliant gimmicks), there isn’t a minute where you’re not completely riveted by what will come next.  Audience members burst into tears (the major detriment to seeing the filmed version of the show is you miss out on a lot of emotion of what it’s like to see it live) and are “seen” for who they truly are.  Plus, if you keep an open eye, you may spot W. Kamau Bell, Bill Gates, David Wain AND NYC comic Dom Fogarty in the audience.  If you keep both your eyes open, you may even catch the “elephant in the room” (full disclosure, Anna pointed it out to me).  LIKE DANNY YEARS AGO, I CAN’T RECOMMEND THIS ENOUGH (Streaming on Hulu).

“You Made It Weird” with Jason Segel: Segel is one of those guys that was EVERYWHERE from 2008-13 or so.  Kinda like Jonah Hill.  Then, they backed away from the limelight.  They’re around but they’re not front and center like they were during Apatow’s unprecedented run of hit studio comedies.  Pete Holmes was just as excited as me to figure out what the man behind “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “I Love You, Man” has been doing.  This is what podcasts are all about!  

In short, Segel is working on smaller projects and focusing on being a more well-rounded person not devoted to just making movies.  

However, this was still a riveting two-hour conversation about a number of odd topics like breaking up “requiring more digital removal these days than simply throwing away physical things” like 15 years ago, “does doing a podcast count as a hang,” “the difference between an A and an A- on a movie or TV show is not something anyone cares about except the creator so you don’t need to make a costume designer stay up and age costumes to look perfectly period appropriate” and the Bruce Springsteen quote, “You don’t remember the album going platinum, you remember the hot fudge sundae you ate after it went platinum.”  Best of all, Segel shared a story about not living in the moment of the set of the “Muppets” film.  He remembered tap dancing with Kermit on his birthday and instead of BEING THERE, he was anxious about trying to find a way to top it.  Extremely relatable.  This led to Holmes detailing his similar troubles with immediately worrying about coming up with “A” material for an open mic after burning all of his new stuff and planning on coming back the following week.  Forgot all about that white hot fear that burned deep within me for years.  

In addition to all of the above, there’s a great riff to be found about Eminem being an amateur rapper at the beginning of his career that made me laugh out loud, a short story about how the best line of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” came to be and a name drop toward the end that has an obvious punchline but is undeniably very funny.  A bit meandering but never boring, this is a quality pod to pass the time.

• I haven’t had much of anything going on comedy-wise in a MINUTE (as evidenced by all the movies and books I read like a nerd).  Somehow, I buck the trend this week with a virtual show this Wednesday on Elani Nichelle and Elliot Bromberg’s “Witty Wednesdays” and on Friday, my short “At Home With A Guy From Anonymous” plays the Toronto SketchFest  at 10 PM EST.  Clickin’ that link will take you to the ticket page if you’re jonesing for a helping of late night sketch this coming Friday.

We’re international now, baby

Comedy Stray Notes March 14, 2021

• Perhaps the most missed aspect of pre-pandemic comedy jumping from mic to mic was the camaraderie.  You’d train from bar to used theater space to garage on random Wednesdays and run into comics that you may see every day for the next year or you may never see again but connect on social media.  Then, you’ll always remember that person as “that guy or girl I walked to the train with in 2014 after I bombed in Greenpoint.”  That was the case with fellow comic Ari Rubin.  We met forever ago at a Brooklyn mic and years later, because of that mic, I had the opportunity to do his character-based, scripted improv show “Rubin On Wry” this past Wednesday evening.  Thank you, Zuck, for allowing us to stay in touch.  Anyhow, in my “Rubin on Wry” episode, I come in at the 25-minute mark and play a comedic character you may have never seen from me but is a very real facet of my personality: the no-nonsense customer service representative.  This is who I am M-F 9-5 PM EST.  For my bit on the show, I awarded Ari with a prestigious title that I surprised him with at the last minute going with something other than what we came up with beforehand.  Even with the switch, he was a consummate pro and I was the one giggling like Fallon when things got heated between our characters.  Check it out and if you’re a character based comic interested in doing this show, hit up Ari.  It won’t quite be the same as meeting after a bad mic but before you’ll know it, you’ll become a part of his Christopher Guest 2.0 world.

• Just released the seventh episode of my Rizzle series “Minute Made” starring my wife Anna Paone as a woman who wants to be “Made into a woman that goes viral on Twitter.”  It sounds like a premise more fit for a 10-second TikTok (to bring a third app into the conversation) but Anna brings nuance to the proceedings showing us a whole range of emotions from the initial serotonin hit that comes with virality to the backlash inevitably tied to anything with enough eyeballs on it.  And yes.  She mustered up real tears for a silly vertical video.  Kid’s a star.  

• Two quick recommendations if you’re looking for some quick hit content on the web that won’t disappoint:

-Davidson Boswell is quietly churning out some of the most vicious Cuomo satire on Twitter and deserves recognition.   Take his excellent recent Tweet “Everybody criticizing Cuomo right now: I’d like to see YOU singlehandedly kill 15,000 senior citizens in a month.”  Perfect deconstruction of how indefensible America’s former governor is.  This mock serious tone is repeatedly replicated and always hits a little different than everything else the algorithm produces.  I’ll leave you with another favorite if you haven’t already followed: Uploading my consciousness to Twitter so that I can tirelessly defend Cuomo.  As a bonus, he writes great jokes about other topics too.  See “Wish I was either way smarter or way stupider. This middle ground is not working out” as proof.

- I instantly laughed out loud at Dan Fitzpatrick’s short TikTok where he does a reel of jokes tied to “Childhood boasts that just sound sad in your late 20s.”  Right off the bat, the smugly satisfied grin and backwards cap coupled with his first brag, “My parents let me sleep in the basement” work so well for this premise.  From there, it only gets funnier.  Dan gets more enthusiastic and the boasts become more and more pitiful.  Perfect way to spend a minute if you’re looking for an instant hit of joy.  

• This week, I saw a hodgepodge of independent film, comedy documentaries, fringe Oscar contenders that got left behind in the cultural conversation, cult classics I’d never actually finished and a podcast featuring a fairly reclusive legend.  Here’s a brief summary of each.

“Teenage Badass” (2020): There’s not a wealth of great Arizona-based funny feature films.  There’s “Raising Arizona.”  There’s “Hamlet 2” in Tucson.  There’s the Danny McBride starrer “Arizona” and now there’s the hysterical coming of age feature “Teenage Badass.”  The movie, while a love letter to AZ (seeing a character wearing 90s Suns gear warmed my heart), is first and foremost about the minor rise and crashing fall of indie band “Stylo and the Murder Dogs.”  In an early scene, we see the film’s director Grant McCord booted from the band as their drummer; both he and the lead singer want to count down to when they actually begin playing leading to a hysterical argument.  McCord eventually gives up paving the way for the titular Teenage Badass Brad (McCabe Gregg, bringing just the right amount of wide eyed innocence to the role as a kid who always dreamed of drumming) to come in and snag his spot.  What follows is a fully-realized portrait of a band on the verge coming to grips with sudden success after a gig goes well (featuring comic Chris Thayer as a pitch perfect deadpan sound guy) that leads to a local TV spot which then lands them a manager in Kevin Corrigan (if you don’t know the name, you’ll know the face).  There are falling outs, reunions and a killer cover of “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”  What matters most is McCord packs every scene with pathos never mocking his characters but giving them lives outside the band like Tucker Audie’s bandmate who is defined by his whipped marital status or Brad’s tough love single mother Rae (Julie Ann Emery) who supports her son’s dreams and shows us that while he’s a teenage badass, he’s also still just a kid.  That’s not to mention just how killer the music in the film is performed by the band or the inventive compositions and lighting dreamed up by Director of Photography Andric Booker.  THIS IS EASILY THE FIRST GREAT ARIZONA COMEDY OF THE 2020s (Streaming on Amazon Prime for $3.99).

Patrice O’Neal’s “Killing Is Easy” (2021): It’s easy to recognize just how incredibly funny Patrice O’Neal is.  It didn’t matter if he was riffing on “Tough Crowd” or doing polished bits onstage, he was pound for pound one of the funniest to ever grace the stage.  Finally, there’s a doc to do his story justice rather than an assortment of the clips scattered on YouTube.  

The first thing that struck me about this doc was how different Patrice’s material was.  Most comics (myself included) often come at you with a punchline that might be the third thing that comes to mind.  Patrice would go all the way down to the last you might think of that sounds illogical at first before making complete sense.  You might agree with what he says only 10% of the time but you’ll most likely find yourself in stitches and seeing the world in a new way (give or take some of his audacious pre-cancel culture opinions).  What’s even better is we get to see notorious ballbusters like Rich Vos, Bill Burr (there are many hilarious photos of a young, nerdy Burr standing next to the always confident Patrice), Robert Kelly and Jim Norton (plus, Dane Cook haha) get dewy eyed talking about their favorite comic before going back to talking smack about their old friend.  

Cobbled together with low quality clips of his sets where the brash material shines, interviews with friends and family where it’s revealed his nickname was Bruiser and chock full of road stories no one knows like the time he threw a phone book at Kevin Hart while he was onstage and how he would talk PAs out of their optimism toward the industry, there isn’t a dull moment here-- the guy led an incredible life and should have been a household name.  It should be noted that there are also surprisingly serious moments as well embedded here.  Namely, a section that highlights awful racism Patrice and other Black men encountered in Boston in the late 80s that made a major imprint on his life and material.  THIS IS EVERYTHING A COMEDY DOC SHOULD BE (Streaming on Comedy Central).

“Bad Education” (2020): Why this isn’t on the shortlist for Best Picture this year is a true shame.  This zippy “Based On A True Story” social commentary starring Hugh Jackman as a cheery, seemingly perfect superintendent treating even the dopiest of students like future world leaders while harboring a number of secrets is one of the most entertaining movies I’ve seen all year.  Jackman is truly fantastic as a chipper educator who seems to do everything by the book exemplified best in an early scene when he sits in the bleachers with cohort Allison Janney and breaks his no carb diet for a single bite of a pastrami on rye.  Things start to crack when Jackman’s character tells a student journalist to treat a puff piece about the school’s plan to build a skywalk like it’s The New York Times.  Watching this man crumble feels like a perfect spiritual sequel to “Election.”  Ray Romano makes an extended cameo as a board member and as the secrets get more and more bombastic, it becomes more and more fun to watch Jackman try and weasel his way out of the problems he created for himself.  I HATE MYSELF FOR THIS BUT “BAD EDUCATION” IS “GREAT ENTERTAINMENT” (Streaming on Amazon Prime for $3.99).

“The Assistant” (2020): This was another movie pulsing with Oscar Buzz upon its initial release and has since been relegated to the dregs of “Popular on Hulu.”  Anyhow, it’s a smart, soundtrack free, depressing slice of life about an assistant (Julia Garner) for a Harvey Weinstein type that will ring true for anyone that’s new in the entertainment business.  Our protagonist is just five weeks into her new gig, working weekends, missing her Dad’s birthday and beginning to feel the cruelty of her boss and superiors in the office.  In fact, this is what a real office feels like much more so than “The Office.”  Director Kitty Green perfectly captures the din and anonymity of being the “new assistant” who isn’t in on the inside jokes and is resigned to silence on elevator rides.  There’s unspoken harassment, belittling and a “the boss can get away with anything because he signs the checks'' attitude.  Then, male coworkers dictate Garner’s apology emails to send to the boss.  It’s cringeworthy and eye opening.  That’s not to say that the movie doesn’t have light touches like a new assistant that comes in to work with our hero and unwittingly says hysterically naive lines like, “I know film, my uncle worked in craft services.”  Most painful and funny of all is the boss’ response to an apology faux sincerely saying, “You’re good but I want you to be great.”  It’s that fake inspiration that keeps people under higher ups’ thumbs forever.  While not entirely enjoyable (because of its relatability), THIS IS THE MOVIE THAT PUTS A SPOTLIGHT ON THE MODERN TOXIC WORK ENVIRONMENT BETTER THAN ANY OTHER I’VE SEEN (Streaming on Hulu)

“Lethal Weapon” (1987): Sue me.  I’ve never seen this.  I know “I’m getting too old for this shit” (which is said THREE times in the movie) and that this is essentially the template for 80s-tastic buddy cop comedies but I’d never actually plunked down to check out the whole thing.  Now that I have, I gotta say, it’s exactly what I expected with a few surprises thrown in for good measure.  Credit where credit is due- I love that we start with Christmas in LA.  This is the exact opposite of the “White Christmas'' we've come to know and love in film.  We meet Danny Glover’s family man detective Murtaugh celebrating his 50th birthday (this dude’s been old since before I was born) and then his subsequent pairing with live wire Riggs (real life live wire Mel Gibson).  The action that follows isn’t important.  You know they’ll end up joking their way through every grenade toss and shootout.  What is important is how it’s done.  There’s quite a bit of “unethical filmmaking” where there aren’t realistic consequences to violence which I became hip to in film school.  Come on, dudes.  Don’t glorify getting shot.  Then there’s quite a bit of blatant sexism AND sexualization of Glover’s underage daughter.  To be fair, this is sadly true of a lot of 80s-tastic flicks.  There is still a lot to like though.  A scene where Gibson works with a jumper off the ledge of a building is simultaneously suspenseful and lighthearted, Gary Busey shows up in a welcome villainous turn and there’s even a goofy “Three Stooges” homage.  Amongst it all, a friendship is formed between the two cops and eventually the suicidal (yes, there is quite a bit of weary heaviness here too) Gibson ends up finding a family in Glover’s (sorry for the most obvious spoiler of all time).  So, yeah.  Tonally all over the place but my man Richard Donner (“Goonies” director for those keeping score) and Shane Black (“The Nice Guys!”) package it nicely and give a bit of heft and humor to a fairly well worn genre.  HEAVY CHEESE WITH A NICE DARK STREAK (Streaming on Showtime).

WTF with Eddie Murphy: First thing I do on Monday mornings is check to see who Maron booked.  I’m lame like that.  This week, I pumped my fist when I saw it was Eddie.  Yes, he’s been on “Comedians in Cars” but I wanted a real sitdown career discussion.  Before that though, there’s a Maron prelude where he details the life and death of Richie Tienken, the booker at The Comic Strip and Eddie’s manager in the 80s.  This prescient intro got the conversation off the ground and led to Murphy’s origin story as a kid on Long Island winning comedy competitions at 15 and admiring Pryor before doing club gigs with now long-since-forgotten comic friends of his from the late 70s.  It was especially interesting to hear about how when he started comics were as scarce as magicians and ventriloquists but by the time he was 18, the scene had blown up.  A year later, he was on SNL.  

What makes the interview special though is not the standard biographical strokes we’ve all heard before but the details that often get lost when interviewers aren’t comics.  Here, Maron goes deep with Eddie talking about Gilbert Gottfried being a comic’s comic back in the late 70s and early 80s, the legendary booker Lucien Hold telling EDDIE MURPHY that he had no material (Maron countered this with, “Lucien told me he had enough angry white guys”) and everyone only having ten minutes back then.  The two of them speed through Eddie’s SNL tenure dwelling instead on unknown stories about Eddie asking Pryor to listen to his album on a plane(!) and Dick Cavett and asking Eddy Grant how his dreadlocks came to be (the true highlight of the episode).  We’re also treated to Murphy’s Rodney impression and how he really felt after he was given a Razzie.  

However, what made me realize what makes Eddie great is he doesn’t simply say “That person was funny” when telling a story.  He becomes that person and recalls every detail.  Eddie would never, ever say, “You have to be there.”  As heard in this episode, he’ll transport you there.

“Metropolitan” (1990): I’m a sucker for talky movies that don’t really need a story to hold on to; they simply exist on the virtue of quippy dialogue and flawed characters.  Noah Baumbach might be the modern master of this form but Whit Stillman created a pretty solid blueprint with this breezy character study about a group of well-to-do yuppie socialite youths that spend all their time together at small high class parties for themselves.  You know the type.  They wear suits everywhere but are really just insecure 19-year-olds.  I especially loved one character claiming that he “reads literary criticism so I don’t have to read the books AND I get an opinion on it.”  I felt exposed when I heard that one.  That’s the sign of a good movie or a book- when you’re taught something about yourself not even you knew.  Better yet was, “I haven’t read The Bible but I have an opinion on it.”  What the movie lacks in story (there’s a thread where a kid is caught in a big lie to friends that would barely qualify as a plot; we’re here for the atmosphere), it makes up for in its foresight of 21st century gaslighting and fake news (they’re all awful to each other).  More than anything, this film felt like the origin of modern American politics.  The players are overly sensitive and lying and while in the film they get their comeuppance and are then portrayed as good guys in the end, we know what the future holds for these types.  THE ULTIMATE WITTY, URBANE MOVIE THAT MIGHT BE THE MOST INSUFFERABLE THING YOU’VE EVER SEEN IF YOU HATE THESE KINDS OF PEOPLE (Streaming on Showtime).

- Finally, a bit of light reading.  Seth Rogen was profiled in the New York Times a little over a week ago going into great detail about his new life as a ceramicist crafting weed accessories.  The guy is a business, man.  Excited to see where he’s at in ten years.  Perhaps running a weed-themed political party.  I could see it.  I linked it in the comments, my friend.

• Slow week for me this week.  Just a Fantasy baseball draft and a lot of HelloFresh.  If comedy stuff happens, it’ll be a welcome surprise.

Signing off for the week.  

Over and out

Comedy Stray Notes March 7, 2021

• We’re two full months deep into 2021 and it still feels like 2020.  The biggest difference between the two years?  We all think quite a bit differently of Andrew Cuomo now.  Otherwise, it feels the same.  To combat this sameness, I told myself I would take on a dream project I’d been pussyfooting around with for most of last year as a New Year’s Resolution.  To catch you up to speed, said project is my bildungsroman-esque feature length film “SHARK JUMPERS: THE MOVIE BASED ON THE STORY OF THE SHORT LIVED COLLEGE SKETCH SHOW.”  Thus far, I’ve gotten to my third (!) draft, had an animated trailer edited because no one wants to read a whole screenplay (trailer coming in a few weeks to a comedy newsletter near you), received fairly low marks from a reader on The Blacklist, took their notes, crumpled them up, un-crumpled them, rewrote (well, barely) and now held a reading of my beloved screenplay.  

Going to keep things under wraps for now but I will say that if you’re looking for actors I recommend all of the following that pitched in on a Saturday afternoon, gave hysterical performances and stayed afterwards for notes: CW Headley, Gayle Bass (reading on her birthday of all days!), Tom Scudamore, Anna Paone, Arthur Pugh, Justin Bulver, Justine D’Souza, Matt Vita, Jeremyah Schur, Will Purpura, Sam Zelitch, Shannon Dee, Dan Wickes and Christie Bahna.  

• OK, I have a second self-congratulatory pat on the back for myself.  Sorry.  Just who I am.  I’ve made way too many sketches over the past 14 years and decided to toss together a minute-long reel of some of the highlights.  As the narcissist I am, it made me incredibly happy to see some of my favorite clips edited to some Danny Elfman and The Strokes (my dream concert).

• Final piece of Matt Levy content for the week then we can move to non-me things.  Put up the sixth edition of “Minute Made” starring Anna Paone, Anna Paone and Anna Paone.  This week, she does an impression of Emma Stone flawlessly but is led to believe that’s the only celebrity impression she can pull off with ease.  Who else does she do?!  I say watch it for two reasons a.) you won’t believe who her second impression is of and b.) how beautifully it’s executed.  Seriously.  It’s such a good impression.

• Now, that I’m done swooning over my stuff, I’d like to introduce you to all the fun content I ran into on various platforms this week by folks in and around the world of funny content:

- Matt Ott’s “Train Gone Sorry” and “Dumplings” are not what you expect “silent short films” to be.  For me, I envision visual gags, pratfalls and pies in the face.  Here, we get a nuanced character study of a modern deaf couple signing together at home and in public.  Chock full with rapid fire jokes (I had to rewind to catch all of the bits), this show highlights just how much one can banter while speaking with American Sign Language.  They’re just a bickering couple that happens to have excellent comedic timing.  Better yet, the show doesn’t come across as preachy or heavy-handed; our lead characters just exist.  Highlights include an episode at a barbershop with a hairdresser that can hear which leads to some excellent miscommunication and also the unofficial pilot short film that led to the series with an indelible twist.  Keep an eye out for an essential Travis Carr cameo.  Check the comments for the link, kids.

- It’s pretty much impossible to make a good Zoom sketch.  The visual medium just isn’t very funny.  So static.  Yet, every so often, a premise is so good, so simple and so perfectly executed that it doesn’t matter.  This is exactly how I felt about Ben Katzner’s “Mixed Company- An Ode to interracial Zoom Calls.”  Clocking in at JUST a minute and featuring pitch perfect pile on bits from AJ Thompson, Shane Gayle, Tracy McClendon, Devin Harris and Gordon Baker-Bone, I could watch this one on a loop for hours.  Link is in the comments.  Scroll down and check it.

- One of the true secrets to satire is making sure that you’re capturing the look, tone and language of whatever it is you’re lampooning.  In John Connor Hammond’s “Protest Photography,” he not only recreates the feel of an inspirational protest ad, he turns it on its head and dunks all over well-meaning protestors that participate solely for social clout.  Big laughs are provided by Randall Otis and Matthew Broussard.  This feels more than SNL ready- it feels like if it were to air in an episode, it’d be an instant classic.  You’d be a fool to not click on the link.  There are too many laughs at stake here for you to potentially miss. 

- All of the above is perfect short form stuff that’s easily digestible.  Should you go looking for something a bit loopier, sillier and that’ll fill up nearly two hours, I might recommend Ari Rubin’s silly as hell Twitch show “Rubin on Wry.”  In said show, Rubin brings on silly character guests who play impressively heightened games of their scene.  In the episode I saw, my favorite bit was easily the IT guy helping Ari interrupted by another IT guy to help that IT guy and then another IT guy to help that guy.  The more iT guys appeared, the more delightful it became.  That’s not to say other bits didn’t crush just as hard.  There was also NDA guy who worked on over a dozen projects but couldn’t release a single detail and an intermittent faster who loses all of his weight doing speed.  Like a better “Comedy Bang Bang” (yes, I said it), this is a super quick two hours that will breeze on by.  Link’s in the comments, cuzzo.

• I should be embarrassed by how much I read and watched this week but instead I’m proud and want to proudly tell you all about it like a kid blowing the light at show and tell.  I think that’s who I am.  Anyway, here’s everything I got into:

Chuck Klosterman’s “X” (2017): No one writes 400-page books that I read faster.  I can’t help it.  I love everything about Klosterman’s cultural criticism.  He is a thoughtful nerd that actually likes stuff and when he doesn’t, his reasons aren’t arbitrary, he goes deep in the paint.  In this extremely readable anthology of essays, interviews and profiles written over the past decade or so, he moves effortlessly from a perfect tale of a basketball team that won despite only having three players on the floor, how Danger Mouse created Gnarls Barkley to try and make an album like a late 60s Beatles imitator, a Tom Brady interview where he awkwardly refused to acknowledge Deflategate, philosophy on sprinters and Usain Bolt, an NBA player who fought for mental health, a retread of his interview from “Shut Up and Play The Hits” with LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy (for which he discloses he was paid $5000 to do the interview on camera- love that transparency).  Then, there’s so much more (every chapter gets its own preface AND footnotes) and I’m leaving a lot out but I loved the quickie about seeing Creed and Nickelback on the same night in New York City, uncomfortable chats with Jonathan Franzen and Jimmy Page and warm ones with Taylor Swift and Stephen Malkmus (depending on your definition of “warm”).   Plus, so much KISS love.  The last 30 or so pages are a collection of obituaries.  The first is a lovely tribute to how much of a jerk Lou Reed is, then one dedicated to his father that ends up being about Eminem and finally closing with an observation about the proliferation of celebrities within our culture means there will be more famous corpses than ever.  If any of this sounds like something you’d like, I’ve left so much out and you’ll gobble it up.  Chuck’s the best.  

Also of note: His book “The Visible Man” is one of the most underrated novels of all time.  However, the audiobook is the worst audiobook I’ve ever heard.

“Enter The Dragon” (1973): I have a scratch off poster in my bathroom of “100 Movies You Have To See Before You Die.”  This movie has been taunting me since I hung that poster up right next to the toilet.  The New York Times pointed out this week it was leaving Netflix at the end of this month; I made it essential viewing and refused to see anything else.  Man, am I glad I did.  This badass, lively movie, which strangely feels more like a precursor to The Room more than anything else with its stilted dialogue, almost non-existent, threadbare plot and nutso acting choices rules so hard.  It’s the ultimate vanity project and for a worthy subject in Lee- the ultimate philosophy-spouting fighter who can flip and roundhouse kick effortlessly while also screeching at the top of his lungs.  Seriously, whoever did the sound effects for this film deserves multiple Soundy awards.  They’re laugh out loud funny and fairly believable.  In the film, I got a huge laugh out of the idea that 60 guards will come and fight Bruce Lee and after he mows down 50 guys down they still decide to try and fight him.  Makes NO sense.  Comedy perfection.  My major gripe is that this movie isn’t all Bruce Lee all the time.  Instead, there’s an inane plot where he’s sent to an island to battle in a tournament against other kung fu fighters to take down the evil Han and restore honor for his family.  As wild as that sounds, it’s mundane and over the top with meaningless dialogue and not enough fight scenes but somehow ends up being the ultimate good bad midnight movie.  When they’re fighting, you forget about the movie’s weaker elements and your jaw drops at flips so cool, you rewind ten times.  Wild POV shots abound and there’s visual poetry in the final showdown in a room surrounded by mirrors.  Although there have been quite a few films famously set in mirrored rooms, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone quite pull off what they do here.  My favorite part though?  Early in the film, there’s a close up of two praying mantis’ fighting.  Felt straight out of National Geographic.  More insects fighting on film, please!  SEE IT BEFORE IT LEAVES NETFLIX (Streaming on...Netflix.  You’re welcome, Sarandos).

“Zeroville” (2019): Like any self-respecting film nerd, I occasionally check on actors’ IMDb pages to see what projects are in development.  This one was sitting on Will Ferrell and Seth Rogen’s profiles forever listed as “In Development” and I was immensely curious since the since-cancelled James Franco directed.  I had no idea it received a proper release until I scrolled Showtime and was shocked to see the poster I’d seen on IMDb so many times without thinking it existed for public consumption.  I clicked.  It’s a weird, little, alternate world “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” with a killer cast.  Jacki Weaver, Megan Fox and Craig Robinson in a movie together is a dream come true.   And I’ll be honest, I liked this oddball flick about an excommunicated seminarian (sounds about right for a cancelled actor) played by Franco who rises the ranks of late 60s filmmaking and ends up with the femme fatale.  There’s self referential nods to George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, the filmmaking process and the art of editing.  It’s basically if Peter Biskind’s book “Easy Riders and Raging Bulls” was adapted into a film; ironically, it’s based on another novel (the film’s namesake).  This might be the ultimate navel gazing love letter to the movies but if you stick around, you’ll see Will Ferrell play true rage sans irony (once again, proving why he’s so great) and a robbery performed by Craig Robinson that turns into a compliment gabfest devoted to “Raging Bull.”  There’s also a guy that plays a convincing Iggy Pop.  I SECRETLY LOVED IT EVEN IF ALL THE CRITICS DIDN’T (Streaming on Showtime- get a 30-day trial!).

“Extra Ordinary” (2019): One of the best NYC stand up shows pre-pandemic was on Monday nights at Littlefield hosted by scene darlings Jo Firestone, Aparna Nanchernla and Maeve Higgins.  I was very familiar with Jo and Aparna but Maeve was kind of an unknown quantity to me when I started attending shows.  She quickly wowed me with her silliness, honesty and quickness with her on the fly riffs in between showcase comics.  She’s even better as the lead in this feature she stars in that I’d classify as a supernatural Irish “Napoleon Dynamite.”  The zippy film excellently showcases her talents building a story around her as a driving instructor who can see ghosts that cheekily nods to “Ghostbusters.”  This leads her to a widowed man whose wife haunts him (this is one of the most perfect plays on the Cyrano De Bergerac love triangle I’ve ever seen) and his daughter who needs to be exorcised.  Will Forte (speaking like a full-blown D&D character) is here too as a one-hit wonder rocker that needs to sacrifice a virgin.  It should be noted that this bit is paid off beautifully in a bonkers third act that ramps up the comedy 100 times over in maybe my new, all-time favorite sex scene.  However, it’s the little moments where Maeve defines herself as a singular comedic presence.  From intimate sequences where she sits on an exercise ball eating leftovers and listening to voicemails to using her “cool voice” to a bemused response to the widow yelling, “Get your shit together, woman,” she proves she’s poised to break out.  If you want to see a singular talent flex all their chops in one place before they become a household name, you can’t do better than this.  PERFECT GOOFY, DUMB FUN WITH HEART AND A FEW JUMP SCARES (Streaming on Showtime).

“Big Brother Volcano” (2017): You might not realize it but SNL’s short films are directed by a stable of visionaries who have just as much comedic voice as the writers and actors they partner with.  I’m particularly fond of Paul Briganti’s videos; he has a knack for shining a light on small, human moments.  I honestly think “Friendos” with Donald Glover is one of the finest shorts the show has done this decade; jumping from energetic hip hop to therapy with each character having individual revelations is joyous, deep and also features a great hip hop track to boot.  So, I did my research and found Briganti directed a feature that’s just as fun as his work on the show and feels like a lost SNL film.  In this perfect debut, we meet newly single Alan on a destination vacation with his brother-in-law Mike (George Basil of “Crashing!”).  Mike’s a free spirit who inspires Alan to come out of his shell; however, this movie eschews stereotype and we get to see Alan find himself and try to develop with a relationship with resort owner Barbara (Aya Cash from “The Boys!”) while Mike shrinks and is exposed for the freeloader he is.  So good.  There are silly bits about prescription glasses theft and a deeper meditation on realizing you can’t just give up your life and move to the fantasy vacation town you’ve spent a week in.  All that said, this is an excellent movie about what being on vacation is like, a complex bromance and should be in the canon of excellent postmodern comedies of the 10s.  BREEZY, ATMOSPHERIC AND HYSTERICAL (Streaming on Amazon Prime).

“The Rental” (2020):  A second movie directed by a Franco brother?  Yep.  James’ little brother Dave directed a surprisingly effective horror that was released at the height of the drive-in era of the pandemic and now it’s streaming.  Reviews were mixed but I liked this horror film that’s more a chamber drama about two doomed couples than anything else.  The domestic quibblers are stale married couple Dan Stevens and Alison Brie who travel to a beautiful AirBnB with Stevens’ brother and girlfriend (who happens to be Stevens’ business partner in the film as well- crucial plot point!).  The racist jerk that runs the rental is exactly the one-dimensional jerk you expect him to be but there are enough twists and turns and small character moments that you don’t mind.  This really is a smarter screenplay than it gets credit for with many Chekhov’s guns planted and twists and turns galore without all that much gore.  My only gripe is the ending was a major letdown.  It felt more like an out of leftfield non-ending.  GREAT FLICK FOR 90% OF THE RUNTIME AND THEN, EH (Streaming on Showtime; get that trial for real). 

“Judas and the Black Messiah” (2021): Weekly Oscar contender viewing.  I hate to be that guy but I wasn’t as high up on this film as everyone else.  For anyone looking for a brief synopsis, this is the true story based on Bill O’Neill (LaKeith Stanfield) infiltrating the Black Panthers for the CIA as payback for a crime he committed.  Yes, Daniel Kaluuya is electric as Fred Hampton (even if it’s crazy he’s playing a 21-year-old).  Dominique Fishback is vulnerable and sweetly moving as the mother to his child; the scene where the two meet and flirt is the best meet cute of the year.  Jesse Plemons is menacing as all hell as LaKeith’s intermediary.  You even get Lil Rel (his “Twilight Zone” like scene gave me goosebumps) and Jermaine Fowler in cameos. Director Shaka King also took the care to shoot this film in a uniquely cinematic way separating it from your typical period piece doing things as simple as putting extras in the foreground of standard dialogue scenes.  Early in the film, LaKeith’s car is swiped into with a knife and it made me hop out of my seat on the couch.  However, the film does suffer from pacing issues.  There are a number of unnecessary establishing shots (the most pretentious gripe of all time) and occasionally drifts into typical historical drama fare.  However, it won me back with its shocking conclusion.  It’s a truly tragic tale energetically told with visual flair and vitality.  WORTHY OSCAR CONTENDER YOU GOTTA CATCH BEFORE IT LEAVES HBO NEXT WEEK (Streaming on HBO MAX).

“Wandavision” (2021): The pilot of this nine-episode series put me in a stupor.  The idea of two superheroes (Wanda and...Vision) transplanted into a 50s sitcom set with perfect period detail was somehow deliciously vital for two well-worn genres.  Even Lynchian.  Yet, wholesome?  It felt exactly like the sitcom but something was just slightly off.  Toward the end of the episode, Vision’s boss (Fred Melamed), chokes at a dinner thrown last minute by Wanda.  Our two heroes don’t know what to do and the intensity ratchets up to a million; scenes like this simply don’t exist on Disney+ or sitcoms.  It felt like a watershed, genre re-defining moment.  I thought to myself, “Hate on superheroes all you want but this is cinema.”  Cut to episode two.

The second episode, taking place a decade later was fun and a top-notch sendup of talent shows and smart world building but I wasn’t quite as wowed as we moved slightly further away from the sitcom conventions and more toward the characters’ places within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  From there, I continued watching and was occasionally slack jawed at the zags they took at expected zigs but the show slowly moved toward a slightly more conventional fan service to the fans of the ever expanding series.  There’s odd touches but the show never got back to the magical sweet spot it clicked into in the pilot.  Kathryn Hahn soars as a villainous witch making the show her own (you may have seen her in the wildly viral meme with her winking mug) and the penultimate episode serves as a backstory that feels almost like “Eternal Sunshine” while also serving as an homage to all sitcom lovers out there (made me smile to see a “Malcolm in the Middle” DVD).  By the end, I tuned out a bit when characters were shooting lasers out of their head at each other and side characters spouted interesting lines like, “We have the same nightmares as you, Wanda” which is a great idea but never shown visually or explored at all.  So bummed we didn’t get to see that- it sounds rad.  If only every episode felt like the perfect pilot.  IMAGINE HOW GOOD THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN IF IT DIDN’T HAVE TO BE PART OF THE MCU (Streaming on Disney+).

• Finally, my condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of legendary Comic Strip booker Richie Tienken.  I feel a lot of comics based their opinions on whether or not he passed you at audition night at his club; many liked him because he gave them opportunities.  Others maligned him because he saw through your inabilities or shortcomings.  I auditioned for him four times and each time he had a valid reason for why I didn’t move forward.  He kept me humble and was always in the back of my mind.  No doubt, he had no idea who I was and instantly forgot me but he made an indelible impression and I’ll never forget what he said to me in 2014: “You need to talk to your Mother more.”

We all do.

RIP Richie.

Comedy Stray Notes February 28, 2021

• As much as we all miss live comedy, I’m selfishly going to miss this new, golden age of comics developing and enhancing their comedic voices online.  Yeah, jokes onstage in person are fun but I’m enjoying watching folks embrace the DIY and making do with their limited resources whether it be as large as a release of a pre-COVID special, a Tonight Show set (that is technically live, in person comedy but I saw it online so I’ll count it) or visually inventive sketches.  Here’s the best of the best of what I peeped this week:

Jake Silberman’s “The Crowd Work Album”: Ah, yes.  I remember crowd work.  That thing we used to do to start a set to warm up the room and show you had actual chops.  Some people did the bare minimum- “What do you do for work?”  “You a couple?” and some truly made the off the cuff their specialty.  Portland comic Jake Silberman defiantly sits in the latter camp.  In his aspirational 51-minute pre-COVID all crowd work special, he leaves no prisoners and keeps the laughs coming for the entirety of its runtime.  Every audience member near the stage gets delightfully picked upon- when you’re in the splash zone you’re going to get dissected.  In a particularly fun moment, a man in the front row said he didn’t want to be made the subject of Jake’s jokes.  Like an old pro, Jake said, “Get here early next time.”  From there, he effortlessly moves from a conversation with a failed playwright to platonic friends who met at Santacon to drumline buddies (making up the perfect cross section of Portlanders) all the while making it look easy.  The laughs never let up as he weaves in callbacks to audience members who didn’t approve of a couple not living together and rowdy Montana folks in the crowd.  This is comedy at its purest; this is what audiences think every show will be; a rollicking, raucous, spontaneous time.

Kenice Mobley on “The Tonight Show”: OK, this is the real, live comedy happening now that I mentioned earlier.  I had the biggest smile on my face watching the always funny Kenice have the set of her life on network television.  There really is nothing better than watching a peer take the leap from New York City favorite to the national stage.  It was especially interesting to see how Fallon has decided to showcase comics outside of the studio.  In Kenice’s case, they had Jimmy introduce her in-studio and then cut to her set on a rooftop in front of a socially distanced crowd.  After that bit of inventive TV magic, Kenice goes right into her tight five and man, did it feel good to hear well crafted TV-ready jokes.  The tight five is still alive!  Kenice hasn’t missed a step and was just as sharp as she’s always been.  It brought me back to what New York comedy was.  Be sure to check Kenice out now- you’re catching her right as she’s on the precipice of superstardom.

Joe Nehme’s TikTok: It’s not quite as easy as to go viral on TikTok as folks say.  You really have to bring something special and new to the conversation in order to stick out.  In Nehme’s case, he struck gold with a silent bit of visual comedy that cut through the noise of GameStop stock jokes and found an audience.  This one is super short, super funny and super worth your time.  If you haven’t already caught it at the top of your TikTok algorithm, make it a priority.

James Creelman’s “Dollar Tree Rap”: This was a shot in the arm of pure comedic joy.  Creelman was the type of comic that would never, ever phone in an open mic set and it really shows in this throwback to hip hop of yesteryear.  Not only are the lyrics laugh out loud funny (“You go to the store/you don’t know how much things cost/not gonna have that problem at The Dollar Tree) but every single shot has something funny going on it.  Seriously, blink and you’ll miss Creelman literally rolling on the ground while rapping and being kicked by the indispensable RA Bartlett.  That has to be a first.  Plus, the beat is fire.  Watch it and then play this on repeat in the background forever.  The song is that good.  Don’t blink and check that link (my attempt at rhyming).

Tom Scudamore’s “It Matters”: SNL sketches speak a certain language.  There’s an economy of words that are unique to the show; writers are paid to write one thing a week and it shows.  Not a word is wasted.  That’s exactly how I felt about Tom Scudamore’s biting commercial parody here starring all my comedy favorites like Anna E. Paone, Ronnie Fleming, Will Purpura and Shauni Ramai.  In this quick, snappily edited sketch, we see would be daters air their unflattering opinions to a Siri-like voice rather than scaring off future potential mates.  It’s a great concept executed exceptionally well- Siri herself even gets big laughs.  Watch this one twice for maximum laughs.    

Jack Finnegan’s “Chair”: Sometimes all you need is a perfectly realized observation.  In this case, Jack has a moment of clarity where he decides he’s ready for a couch of his own and not just a chair.  From there, jokes about communal couches and chairs flow freely (“No one can smoke real quick on my chair” is an instantly classic line) making me realize how much comedic potential can be found in the utilitarian piece of furniture I’m literally sitting on as I write this.  Bravo for seeing something so mundane in a completely new way.  This is a slam dunk way to spend a minute.

Episode Five of “Minute Made”: If I can’t plug my own ten-part web series here, I don’t know where else to do it.  Once again, Anna crushes it in her patented triple roles.  This time around, she frets over her Instagram follower ratio until she’s given a convenient solution.  As we learn, any problem can be solved in just a minute.

• All of the above is excellent short form material that you’ll breeze right through.  If you’re looking for slightly longer options, I’ve got a few tailor made for you.

“Moonbase 8” (2020): If your show is headlined by John C. Reilly (my favorite living actor), Tim Heidecker and Fred Armisen AND Jonathan Krisel is directing, I’m going to watch your show.  This wonderfully silly six-episode series about three inept would-be astronauts stuck on an Arizona moonbase mimicking moon-like conditions on Earth is the perfect comic setting.  Basically, imagine “Bio Dome” but with three of the world’s greatest improvisers.  In the pilot, the three work alongside...Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce and John C. Reilly’s subservient relationship with him kicks the show into its unique, lived in and low key tone.  As the show progresses, we learn of Heidecker’s past as a “Phish head turned super Christian” that can barely say grace and Armisen’s family legacy with his mentally abusive NASA father.  Speaking of NASA, literally all three of these NASA employees have no idea what the acronym stands for in one of the show’s best bits.  The show’s true standout moment though belongs to Reilly in a throwaway reaction shot when the crew loses a test mouse and he delivers a new one.  Not going to spoil it here; it’s absolute comedy perfection. (Streaming on Showtime- get that free month!).

“Ramy” (2019-): Out of all the one-name “creator has complete creative control” sitcoms out there, “Ramy” is easily one of the best of the best.  The show centers around Ramy, a lost 20-something that has finally decided to take his Muslim roots seriously.  Sounds like a terrifically dull indie film.  Not at all.  In this show, Ramy forgoes all the traditional storylines you’d expect from a show like this and takes time to have episodes devoted to his Mom’s tumultuous stint as a microaggression spouting Lyft driver, his Father coping with losing his job, his sister losing her hair, and his uncle’s sexuality.  Plus, Mahershala Ali plays his Sheikh.  Two-time Oscar winner.  In a sitcom.  He isn’t given a wealth of comedic material but plays a great straight man to Ramy’s bumbling “trying his best to be religious” character.  At the end of Season One, Ramy heads to Egypt to find himself and ends up having a wash of an experience.  However, it’s not the story here that sings- it’s the little details that separate this show.  We see Ramy’s cousins eat pigeon and advise him on the dangers of drinking Egypt’s tap water.  Even more importantly, they play on Ramy’s willful American ignorance of the Egyptian experience- he repeatedly asks about the revolution without realizing how painful it was for all those that lived it.  The show doesn’t resolve things easily- the stakes feel decidedly real and messy.  There are consequences as opposed to other sitcoms where conflicts are wrapped in a bow in 22 minutes.  Having said all that, my favorite episode was the Atlanta-like standalone where he goes to meet an eccentric millionaire to help finance the Sufi Center he’s been praying at.  If you’re familiar with the Donald Glover show, you’re going to get real Teddy Perkins vibes.  Plus, Mia Khalifa makes a truly inspired cameo.  Watch and you’ll see why this show is awards bait (Streaming on Hulu).

“Aunty Donna’s House” (2020): I feel like Netflix made an algorithm of all the things I love (Stella!  Comedy songs!  Fast cutting!) and this show is what came out.  As a result, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this show.  No matter how much I wanted to like it, it felt like a retread of things I already love which made it feel false.  If the existence of this show is news to you, all you have to know is that there are three Australian dudes living in a house and there really is not much logic to what happens within their world.  They oscillate between very silly, meta and introspective material that at times genuinely wowed me.  I absolutely loved the idea of a dream sequence within a dream sequence with a dream sequence and a studio audience that’s present for the entire series but never laughs.  Hell, the song about becoming an organ donor to everyone except one jerk named Steve worked for me quite a bit too.  However, the show is backed by two of my least favorite successful comedy enterprises (controversial opinion alert!): Comedy Bang Bang and Ed Helms.  Their inconsequential brand of absurdity grates on me like none other.  Really, if more of the show was grounded in reality rather than outsized overacting, this show could have been something really special rather than an odd mismash of tones.  Maybe I’m overanalyzing and this is really for 12-year-olds but smart self-referential sketches about the guilt over selling out your race for a stereotype make me wish the show had the chutzpah to stick to its guns and not try to appeal to the lowest common denominator at times (Streaming on Netflix).

“Sword of Trust” (2019):  What a premise for a film!  A well-meaning woman (Jillian Bell!) and her partner (Michaela Watkins!) discover that they are the heir to an important Civil War sword.  The major wrinkle here is that said sword has ties to the South.  Immediately they try to pawn off their newfound family heirloom to....Marc Maron.  Maron plays Maron extremely well here (although it might be a bit TOO much Maron) and as the three of them find themselves more entwined in the twisted world of modern Confederates, they realize they’ve bitten off a bit more than they can chew.  Unfortunately, the premise is a bit richer than the movie itself.  Directed lightly by the late Lynn Shelton (who also appears in an extended cameo), the movie has some keenly observed scenes like Maron’s assistant Jon Bass (this guy is a star in the making) doing next to nothing around the pawn shop but ultimately it all feels a bit too slight and doesn’t have a ton to say after delivering such a rich premise.  There is a scene where Maron essentially delivers an Oscar speech about his past that feels out of place; this is not the movie where one swings for the fences emotionally but there it is stuck right in the middle of this goofy flick.  Also, it should be noted that the always underrated and always Dan Bakkendahl lightens things up at the end with his rousing Southern huckster character our lovable lot gets mixed up with. A SLIGHTLY BELOW AVERAGE COMEDY THAT YOU’LL LIKE MORE THAN YOU DISLIKE (Streaming on Showtime).

“Sonic The Hedgehog” (2020): Minority Report is one of my four all-time favorite movies (the other three on my cinematic Mount Rushmore are A Night at the Roxbury, Truman Show and The Goonies).  There’s a guy in the movie with an instantly recognizable look and seemed to be everywhere in the early 2000s.  Then, he disappeared.  Well, he’s in this movie!  Just for a second but it was strange to see him so many years later (his name is Neal McDonough).  Anyway, that was my big takeaway from this movie.  I didn’t necessarily hate this movie; it has its charms.  Jokes about Sonic going to tourist stops incredibly quickly are inspired and well earned.  However, this overly earnest movie with force fed messages mostly felt like something the studio felt obligated to release rather than a labor of love.  They try to make it work with indie comedy stalwart Ben Schwartz voicing Sonic (similar to Ryan Reynolds in Detective Pikachu) and here it just feels jarring.  There’s a requisite backstory about why Sonic is a fish out of water living in modern day America alongside James Marsden whom he refers to as “Donut Lord” because he eats donuts and then an easily resolved conflict with Jim Carrey’s supervillain who never feels like a true threat.  He does have a scene set to the hypnotic lost classic rock track “Where Evil Grows” by The Poppy Family I can’t get out of my head a week later though.  Credit is due to unsung comedy cameos from Adam Pally as Marsden’s bumbling co-worker and Nicole Byer as his flustered sister-in-law.  Both are so well-assured, it feels like they’re operating in a different movie.  As is my dude Neal McDonough.  Finally, it should be known that this is one of those movies where the end credits are the most fun part of the whole shebang.  FOR KIDS, SONIC SUPERFANS AND PEOPLE WHO RECOGNIZE ACTORS FROM MINORITY REPORT (Streaming on Hulu).

“Waves” (2019): I read festival reviews out of TIFF and Sundance as soon as they’re released.  Seriously, I refresh review sites seeing what the foremost critics have to say about movies before anyone else in the world has seen them.  A year and change ago, Waves was considered a visionary film that was a cut above the rest.  It didn’t make much noise come awards season and like a wave, faded into the shore.  Now, it’s hidden on streaming and is a heavy, heavy gem.  Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays a high school wrestler that has it all.  Lives in a massive mansion, a happy relationship and impeccable music taste (this kid seriously only listens to Animal Collective- seriously feels like “Merriweather Post Pavilion” come to life which I salute).  However, through a series of unfortunate events, life has its way with him and things take a very dark turn.  Really, this is a tale about what happens to youth when they get everything they want and it’s not pretty.  His overbearing father played by Sterling K. Brown shares more than tense scenes with him that buzz with alpha ferocity.  As deep, dark and upsetting as this story is, what’s most impressive is the director Troy Edward Shults’ vision.  There’s bonkers camera work with 360 degree shots in cars, forced perspective and a brilliant fireworks display with lights melting in ways you’ve never seen.  The rapturous reviews are well earned even if the intense character drama becomes a traumatic and triggering sob fest.  Lucas Hedges shows up halfway through as he does in Oscar Bait films and that’s when I knew it was getting a bit long.  THIS IS THE MOVIE BEFORE THE MOVIE WHERE THE DIRECTOR HITS IT BIG (Streaming on Showtime- making the most out of that subscription).

SNL hosted by Nick Jonas: Well, I think the show has run out of gas.  Not in general, just five consecutive weeks of 90-minute shows is an impossible feat that no one should subject themselves to.  This past Saturday’s edition wasn’t bad; just merely middle of the road.  With a fairly low-profile NBC approved host and musical guest in Nick Jonas (the best part was they made his freaking brother sit in the cheap seats), things felt less important than they usually do.  Like they knew this one had lower stakes.  Also, I would personally be embarrassed to be the host and musical guest.  That’s just too much of a person.  Feels self indulgent in a bad way.  There were quite a few recurring characters (Pete as Cuomo and Aidy as Ted Cruz returned for the second straight week and Ego reprised her Dionne Warwick from earlier this season) and a few oddities like a sketch where Jonas’ Prince Charming had bestial relations with a...rat.  Still, I’m being a bit harsh.  This was week five and there were some major bangers.  The “Bachelor Party” pre-taped singalong was a classic.  The production value that went into Kenan as Lamelo Ball’s chocolate shoe as well as the waterlog ride set in the “fifth wheel” sketch were beyond impressive.  Not gonna lie, I was very excited to see two ideas that were similar to mine rear their head into the show (taking a tip out of the tip jar in the show’s ten to one is something I used to do in my standup and “What to do when your significant other leaves the apartment” is a sketch I just produced- only difference is my sketch was about sudoku; theirs was murder shows).  All that being said, SNL cut the best sketch of the night.  Four minutes of pure comic gold lampooning bachelor pads in a makeover show format.  I’m genuinely a little angry it didn’t make it on air.  It’s easily one of the best things the show has done all season.

Well, it’s March now.  You made it through the roughest part of the year and deserve a pat on the back.  Keep chuggin’.

Like a rock

Comedy Stray Notes February 21, 2021

• At this point, we’ve probably all gotten our 10,000 hours of podcast listening in.  We’re hypersensitive to what tickles our ears and feel like we’ve heard every word that could possibly be transmitted from Pro Tools to our AirPods.  Well, I’ve got a new one for you.  Samantha Rager’s exceptionally unique podcast “My Eulogies Please” is that one that should be added to your carefully curated rotation.  With brief episodes under 20 minutes, Rager plays the sassy, quick witted owner of a fictional morgue alongside her sarcastic intern Santiago Iglesias.  After a bit of dark banter where Iglesias airs his grievances, the show has comics on to share eulogies of, well, whatever they damn well please.  As a guest on the most recent episode, I chose to eulogize LIVE STAND UP COMEDY (hot take alert).  For three minutes and change, I gush about all the things I miss about the #grind and some that I don’t.  I’ll shamelessly admit that I’m extremely proud of my segment I recorded.  Throw it a listen and let it tickle them ears.  

• Anna E. Paone and I have been chugging along with our Rizzle series “Minute Made.”  We diligently try to write, film and edit at least one episode a week.  In the fourth of ten (found linked below), we...mock podcasts.  Yes, just a second ago, I was talking about how much I love pods.  Couldn’t help myself though.  There’s nothing quite as fun as poking fun at those who want to start podcasts and we do that here.  It’s just a minute long.  Reader, can you spare a minute?  Here she is.

• Found an overwhelming amount of comedy gold on the web this week.  If you’re looking for something new, I got you covered here:

- One of New York City’s best pound for pound joke writers Ben Miller is unsurprisingly a scientist.  What’s more surprising is how obsessed this scientist comic is with...milk.  In his super quick, joke-heavy five-minute vid, Ben goes super in-depth on whether or not milk is good for you and I gotta say, you have to see this just for the Spike Lee joke.  I almost spit milk out of my nose when I heard it.  Subscribe to the channel in the link; there’s more wholesome, hilarious goodness coming your way.

- Ryan Dee has always been one of New York comedy’s merriest pranksters.  He’s the type of comic that would switch from silly wordplay to impossible physical gags and wouldn’t even phase him.  His newest project/stunt is pure Ryan Dee channeling Banksy takes place on Wall Street.  Dee, a gifted carpenter, crafted a giant swirl of...excrement and placed it under the iconic bull statue that tourists gather round.  This is the anarchic spirit I moved to New York for and it’s awe inspiring that he followed through on such an ambitious and ridiculous idea.  For photos and the New York Post’s coverage of the gag, check this out.

- There’s a number of incredibly well-written comedy blogs and for me at the top of the heap is Matt Ruby’s Rubesletters.  Insightful, focused (he doesn’t just jump from bullet point to bullet point like yours truly) and full of clever, analytical thought, I try to catch it every week.  This week’s installment was my favorite yet though.  As most comics are aware (as well as their significant others), Jon Stewart’s new show had a deadline for packets this last Tuesday.  I submitted a page of “headline jokes” like “Fauci wins $1 million Israeli prize for 'defending science.'  He said he's finally going to get Disney Plus.”  Nothing SUPER in Stewart’s voice or hard hitting but I’d kick myself if I didn’t try.  Matt Ruby did it the right way.  In his newsletter, he lets us into his writing process sharing his packet and industry insider tips for how one should construct a packet.  I loved everything about it except for one thing.  Matt feels bad for the readers of everyone’s packets.  To me, getting paid to read thousands of packets sounds like my dream job.

- I’m a sucker for a “See More” Facebook post (you know this) and no one writes them better than Eddie Brill.  This week, Eddie shared a story about opening for Colin Quinn at Carolines a few years back.  It’s an amazingly well-told tale but had Eddie not shared, this perfect moment in comedy history would have been lost to the sands of time.   This is what social media is all about for comedy nerds.  The link to the short story that I think is worthy of a mini-documentary is in those comments I keep mentioning.

- Major shouts to Ely Kreimendahl and Elani Nichelle’s continued virality on Twitter (click these links to check their stuff out).  Every time I log on (which is far too often), they’re sitting atop the algorithm with perfect, pithy observations about our modern, indoor times.  Get on the follow train if you haven’t already.  They’re going to be a big deal soon and you can brag that you knew them before they were huge stars (70% of comedy is telling folks “Yeah, I knew that (SNL star/person with a Netflix special/influential podcaster) from open mics.”

• In an attempt to continue to catch up with “2020 movie releases” so I can someday put out a “10 Best Movies of 2020,” I watched a few movies this week.  I also watched, listened and read to some other stuff.  Here it all is:

“Nomadland” (2020): OK, THIS is what “Hillbilly Elegy” wanted to be.  A grim, gruff and slight episodic tale of the ultra low class blue collar Southwestern Americans that slip through society’s cracks.  Starring Frances McDormand who simply just exists as the widowed lead Fern and doesn’t show off any actorly flourishes, she travels from RV community to RV community populated by non-actors (other than the warm David Strathairn) making the most of her bleak situation.  For a movie that had all the potential in the world to be incredibly maudlin, there’s quite a bit of hope in this picture.  McDormand’s character always makes the best of her humble lifestyle and always aspires to do more.  At one point, a plate of her’s breaks.  She glues it back together and I pointed out, “That’s a metaphor for her barely keeping her life together.”  

I never catch metaphors like this.

To be blunt, this movie shouldn’t work just like “Hillbilly Elegy” doesn’t.  Some scenes don’t.  There are stories told at a campfire and Amazon warehouse lunch table (the positive Amazon imagery feels especially out of place in the wake of their refusal to unionize) that are so on the nose about the abject poverty that these folks have faced that the viewer feels as if they’re being force fed a capital M Message.  Dramatic yes, but without nuance, they feel propagandistic.  Honestly, it felt like preachy morality tales I would peddle in college screenplay classes that professors would pooh pooh.  With a directorial touch as deft and light as Chloe Zhao’s naturalistic style, it somehow coalesces.  Non-actors named Spankie detail tragic plans to end it all and suddenly you don’t care if a Message is being shoved in your face.  You’re invested.  There’s many scenes of old people just being kind which is so rarely shown on film that you forget how nice that can be.  I DON’T THINK IT’S CRACKING THE VAUNTED TOP 10 OF 2020 LIST BUT IT’S A MUST SEE (Streaming on Hulu which is hilarious with all the Amazon imagery).

*It’s fun to watch this movie and imagine this is Skylar White from “Breaking Bad” twenty years after the movie ended.  Not important but figured I would share.

“Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” (2020): Another parable about real folks in flyover Middle America that is rarely glamorized by popular media.  In this free-flowing almost-documentary, the viewer is a fly on the wall on the last day of a dusty dive bar’s existence in a small town.  From the questions about “what’s next” to nonsensical drunken debates about generational differences to inebriated, ill-advised hook ups, this is perhaps the best movie about the bar experience I’ve ever seen.  It’s the ultimate unassuming slice of life “hang” movie.  Brought me back to walking into a dive to the back room for an open mic and passing the regulars sitting in their usual spots.  I was reminded of so many of my favorite things while I watched- like a live action Moe’s Tavern, “American Graffiti” and outtakes from “The Office.”  I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the perfect diegetic soundtrack featuring classic rock from Chicago and Sugarloaf (!) during the day to danceable bar anthems at night, it’s all radio tracks you love to hear while driving you’d never even think to put in a movie.  Now you don’t have to.  I COULD LIVE IN THIS MOVIE’S WORLD FOREVER (Streaming on Amazon Prime for $0.99).

“Cinderella” (1997): A staple of my wife Anna’s childhood.  It’s one of those movies she references all the time that eventually I’ve heard so much about it that I feel like I’ve seen it.  Now that it’s on Disney Plus, we made it Valentine’s Day appointment viewing.  What can I say?  It’s honestly one of my favorite live action Disney movies with its Klimt inspired homes, freewheeling choreography and easy to follow tale that doesn’t muss things up with complicated subplots.  You’ve got a sprawling cast featuring freaking Brandy as Cinderella, Whitney Houston as the singing Fairy Godmother, Jason Alexander doing an unrecognizable accent as a manservant (I would have watched a whole movie about him planning the meal for the ball), Whoopi Goldberg and Victor Garber as a bickering married couple and Bernadette Peters convincingly playing evil.  My only gripe was about the mechanics of the world.  Why does Cinderella go back to rags at midnight but the shoe remains intact?  Seriously, this makes no sense.  SHOWING THIS ONE TO THE KIDS (Streaming on Disney Plus).

“Kenan” (2021): Comedy friend Tom Scudamore alerted me that SNL was unceremoniously dumping a Kenan Thompson “Best Of” this past Monday.  It’s a bit unprecedented and odd that they’d drop one before a cast member’s tenure was up (also, it’s egregious that this happened before a Bill Hader or Will Forte “Best Of” came out).  Once I watched it, it made sense.  The “Best Of” is essentially an hourlong ad for Kenan’s new pilot that heavily featured scenes with him and the show’s co-star Chris Redd.  So, I gave into NBC’s marketing ploy and checked out the 22-minute pilot about Kenan as a grieving widow/former sitcom star/current morning talk show host.  It begins with an inspired wordless bit of impressive character building where the Kenan character does everything just right preparing for the day and seems to be totally in control before spilling his coffee on his shirt.  Once the actors start talking, things go downhill.  There’s dead air all over the place, odd, roaming camera moves when characters are statically conversing and unnecessary potshots at Kenan.  At times, it does show flashes of “30 Rock” level quick paced dialogue but for the most part it leans into easy, sitcom beats about “speaking from the heart.”  Yes, it’s a pilot but I don’t have a ton of faith.  Maybe we’ll get another Kenan “Best Of” in ten years when he’s still on the show and doing another go-round at the whole sitcom thing.

“You Made It Weird” with Chris Kelly: Kelly is undoubtedly one of the important, unsung voices in comedy of the past decade.  As the head writer of SNL’s standout 2016-17 season, showrunner of Comedy Central’s “The Other Two, writer/director of “Other People” and director on numerous shows  you know like “Broad City,” ''Crashing” and The Onion, his track record is more than proven.  I couldn’t wait to hear more.  The pod begins normally enough.  Kelly is coming from Zoom therapy.  The conversation revs into full gear when Kelly and Holmes talk about how the best writing happens on the drive rather than when you’re in a writer’s room.  True.  That is where you focus most.  Other trenchant observations were, “Taking on new projects make you accept every idea as good but OCD makes you want to focus and not just accept anything and everything,” “the job of the writer is noticing the small things” and “We’re all happier in December when it’s Christmastime” (honestly, true).  I loved Kelly’s stories about the time he thought “What are we doing playing with kids?” when he was a kid, the time he lied about writing for SNL before he worked there on a plane and then almost got caught in the lie when he ran into the person he told the story to when Will Forte was in earshot and pacing during episodes of SNL when he didn’t have anything on the air just to stay busy.  More than anything though, this episode is a love letter to his movie “Other People” and serves as the ultimate Director’s commentary for a movie I saw in theaters five years ago.  Pete really did his homework and noticed everything down to Bradley Whitford’s boxers in the movie.  They go deep into the writing process and Kelly says that he often spices things up in scenes in the movie by keeping personal ideas in scenes that felt conventional.  Best of all though was their banter about what it’s like being in the hospital versus what movies show us.  Watch Kelly’s movie for a more accurate portrayal than your typical hospital drama.

The Empire Podcast with Quentin Tarantino and Edgar Wright: I used to think I could listen to Quentin Tarantino talk forever (this is my toxic masculinity trait).  Well, after this three-hour podcast, that theory has officially been disproved.  Still, for film nerds, this is a fun if not overlong listen.  Tarantino, Wright and a moderator discuss their favorite moviegoing experiences and I have to say Tarantino describing seeing “Aliens” was mad gripping.  I felt like I was in 1986.  He gushes about “Rolling Thunder” a movie I’ve never seen that he regularly programs at his second-run movie theater for too long and I began to tune out.  Came back when Wright and Tarantino complained about Netflix auto-skipping the credits at the end of films, their recommendation of YouTube as the premier streaming service with the most options and discussion of Scorsese’s list of movies you “have to see.”  The highlight of highlights though was unintentional.  Around an hour or so in, Tarantino bashes the new “Joker” film for being a direct homage to “Taxi Driver.”  Bro, have some self awareness.  I love you but you’re the king of blatant homage.

SNL with Jean Rene Page: A relative unknown hosting SNL is always an exciting proposition.  The last time I remember this happening was 14 or so years ago where the host wasn’t on my radar at all.  That was Jon Hamm (to be fair, I didn’t really know who Halsey was either when she hosted).  Well, this was a pretty damn solid show.  Jean Rene Page shone (I’m predicting a Robert Pattinson-like career ahead) and Ego Nwodim and Pete Davidson each had their best shows ever respectively.  I even liked Mikey Day as a “sex technician” and that dude annoys me to no end.  My two favorites were easily the “five to one” where Kyle, Beck and Andrew Dismukes palled around shooting a silly rap video at a grocery store before being asked to stop that felt too real to life and a loopy job interview sketch that I barely paid attention to the first time that Anna suggested I give a second shot.  After seeing it a second time, I realized how dumb I was for barely paying attention to the madness at hand.  Beck Bennett plays a harried ad exec with intentionally failed ads and his and Page’s interviewee ads are somehow simultaneously dumber and less logical.  Plus, there’s a great Ghislaine joke.  Also, I have to give it up for the grandiosity of the musical Sea Shanty sketch, the one upmanship in the prayer sketch that was reminiscent of “Key and Peele,” and the scarring, nightmarish oddness of the “wrong legs” visual in the “Chicken Leg Pageant” that Anna wisely pointed out that it felt like it was plucked from the 70s era.  

Jason Bateman and Judd Apatow Interview: I love the interview structure where there’s no true interviewer or interviewee; both participants are there to just talk and see if questions spontaneously pop up.  In this case, two master comic directors amiably goof off talking about their craft.  My favorite two excerpts were Apatow’s helpful advice that every time he’s on set he’s “thinking of himself in the edit bay in six months hoping he got everything he needed” and also that he’s the “anti-David Fincher” meaning he doesn’t care quite as much about detail because that takes all the fun out of it.

• Closing on a bit of a bummer note.  The PIT’s mainstage shuttered its doors this week (The PIT Loft and Pioneers, its accompanying bar still exist).  I did a hell of a lot of fun shows but more awful open mics in their stadium style seating circus-like showroom with little to no legroom than anything.  With that being said, it was a great place to be weird and try new things (considering I often paid $5.00 to perform).  The stakes always felt mysteriously low.  Plus, there was a basketball hoop next to the stage for no discernible reason.  I’ll always remember seeing Gary Gulman do a New Material Basement show, Jay Welch hilariously manning the God mic in the booth at the rare good open mics and Alan Shain’s long hair brushing against my knees while I waited to go up.  Those were the days when I didn’t know any better and wore shorts onstage.  It was a different time.

At the beginning of this newsletter, I eulogized live stand up comedy as a joke and closed with a true eulogy for a club.  

Now that’s a punchline

Comedy Stray Notes February 14, 2021

• When Jason Zinoman covers comedy in The New York Times, I make sure to seek out whatever new thing he’s introducing to the NYT’s sophisticated readership.  He’s yet to disappoint.  The most recent piece of media he shared and I consumed was an exquisite profile on Keegan Michael Key’s new ten-part podcast “The History of Sketch Comedy” podcast.  It’s exceptional.  Just when you think you’re a true comedy buff, you realize you hardly know the half of it. 

Through ten episodes (ranging from 25-40 minutes apiece), you hear Key riff live on why “Who’s On First” isn’t a sketch but crosstalk, the import of Dionysus (yes, he really goes that far back) and how a sketch where Eddie Murphy taught Stevie Wonder how to do a Stevie Wonder impression inspired him.  That’s all just in episode one.  The icing on the cake is Key actually plays EVERY single character in each sketch he acts out all the way through.  Yes, he literally does everything from the “Argument Department Python sketch to Tom Hanks in “Black Jeopardy.” Not to mention Burns and Allen, Nichols and May and Bob and Ray bringing them all to life in bite sized snippets of each act’s most choice offerings.

What really makes the pod great though is when Key inserts himself into the narrative not only recognizing the greats but also his contributions to the form as well.  Insider tips about how he and Peele formed game for their show are invaluable to budding comedy writers.  Just as important are his sharing of the influences that made him the talent he is today such as The Second City, “Mr. Show,” “The Groove Tube” and “Top Secret.”  Toward the end, Key chides his audience into making a list.  Oh, I made a list.  You should listen and do the same.

• I think that all Valentines’ Days from here on out should fall on Sundays.  Forget the randomness of February 14.  For couples, you get to spend the laziest day of the week together and single people don’t have to be stuck online with co-workers asking them what they’re going to do.  You can just avoid the world.  For me, I’m lucky enough that I got to spend it with my beautiful wife and comedy life partner, Anna Paone.  Just like Adam McKay has Will Ferrell, Judd Apatow has Seth Rogen, Paul Feig has Melissa McCarthy, Blake Edwards has Peter Sellers, I have my smashingly funny wife who is always game to act in any sketch or video we put out.  I love her for a billion different reasons but I’ll be honest- number one is how damn witty she is.  Old Levy (that’s me, I’m Old Levy) married the reincarnation of Dorothy Parker and I’m so fortunate to be with such a gifted, generous woman who is up for anything.  As a little gift to you all, I’ve linked her acting reel here so you can hopefully cast her too.  She’ll make whatever you’re working on from web series to films to voiceover work more emotionally resonant and, most importantly, funnier.

• Get yer content!  Fresh content hot off Instagram and YouTube!  The best part?  My favorite things I saw this week are all free and curated for your viewing pleasure here:

“Somebody- A Smashing Comedy Short” by Nick Whitmer: There’s nothing that’s quite as all-consuming as a song getting stuck in your head.  One second you’re listening to “Baby Shark” and next thing you know all of your thoughts are of “Mommy Shark.”  Nick Whitmer’s exquisitely produced four-minute short “Somebody” takes an opposite approach asking, “What if a song played everywhere you went?”  Full of inventive sight gags (I couldn’t believe the lengths his production designer went to in an elaborate record store scene), impressive world building and a perfect conclusion, this sketch is a perfect way to spend four minutes.  Also, I’m not telling you what the song in the sketch is.  You gotta watch to find out yourself.

“Roommates” by Andrew Harms: Back in pre-March 2020 days, I regularly made it appointment viewing to see what material one of my favorite writers Andrew Harms was working on.  His jokes always have this idiosyncratic worldview that’s equal measures silly and wise.  This week, I was especially excited to see a sketch of his show up in my Instagram feed that put that sensibility on full display.  Clocking in at three minutes, Harms and his roommates flip the tired roommates sketch trope on its head as he and his two housemates get about as close as three roomies can be.  If sincere silly is your comedic genre of choice, this is for you.

“All Days Off” podcast: Like all of us, I spend too much time scrolling.  One trend I’m starting to really enjoy is snippets of video podcasts broadcast on the Gram.  It’s a perfect sampling of a long form show’s tone and gives you a bit of visual variety not found in static auditory clips.  I’ve found myself becoming particularly fond of Corey Yoskowitz and Alex Aronson’s “All Days Off;” it’s perfect for the scroll: light hearted (their discussion on Brita Filters made me snort), high stakes mundane arguments (“Tails never fails” clip is a standout)  and an excellent showcase of two friends enjoying each other’s company.  Add this pod to your rotation stat.

“Lord bless the partners of comedians” by Alex Dobrenko: I met Portland comedian Eliza Butler almost two years ago at a fire bar show.  At the end of the set, I plugged my Twitter like any shameless comic might and we’ve been following each other ever since.  I enjoy her Twitter quite a bit.  In fact, follow her.  Anyhow, she recently Tweeted something along the lines of “if you aren’t following Alex Dobrenko, you’re doing Twitter wrong.”  I was curious.  I searched.  Well, she was right.  It’s worth taking the plunge just for Dobrenko’s magical pinned Tweet that hits especially hard on Valentine’s Day.  It’s just a minute long and a painfully realistic depiction of what being in a relationship with a “comic” is like.  Give this guy a follow and enjoy the short.  Then thank Eliza for the tip.

• My mission this week?  Watch a bunch of movies, listen to podcasts and read articles in my spare time.  I’m happy to report I succeeded once again.  Here are the honest to goodness highlights.

“The Climb” (2020): Short films getting adapted into feature films rarely work.  It’s just not easy to expand something compact into something much more sprawling.  The writer/director/star Michael Covino made it look easy here.  In the short, two friends of varying athletic ability bike on a remote mountain.  One stoically confesses to the other that he slept with his friend’s bride to be.  A humorous chase ensues.  That’s the short and this film’s first scene.  What happens next is the film sees this premise through showing the years that follow and the repercussions from this event going in surprisingly dark and cinematic territory.  It’s the rare artsy, sophisticated comedy that feels more European mining death and falling into a fishing hole (!) for laughs.  As terrifying and visceral said fall into an icy fishing hole appears, the tracking shot that follows is something Wes Anderson would be jealous of stylistically and comedically.  Covino really puts himself out there getting punched in the face, falling headfirst into a table, putting on an unflattering amount of weight and taking part in a car accident.  If you’re put off by the lack of familiar names here, be aware that George Wendt (Norm!) and Todd Barry make appearances if you need something to hang on here.  Also, the sequence in which Covino hijacks his good buddy, a debate with his fellow hijacker over who gets to use the “Batman voice” ensues.  It’s one of the best comic set pieces of 2020.  THIS IS A MASTER CLASS IN HOW YOU STRETCH A SHORT INTO A FEATURE (Streaming on Amazon for $4.99).

“Black Bear” (2020): Cryptic, glowing reviews sprouted up for this film in November or so everywhere.  You know, Vulture, AVClub, Slashfilm, New York Times, stuff like that.  They all alluded to a twist at the midpoint but didn’t give anything else away about the movie’s “mind games.”  Well, you don’t tease me with a promise of twists without me seeing your movie.  I excitedly went into this dreamlike, meta feature and instantly enjoyed its sparse storytelling.  A crumbling relationship between a bickering couple (Christopher Abbot playing a musician who has made just 53 cents in royalties in the past year; relatable! and Sarah Gadon, an idealistic dreamer) at their lake house bed and breakfast are met by visiting filmmaker (Aubrey Plaza) trying to find inspiration to put pen to paper.  Instead, a tense relationship triangle forms.  Plaza pokes the proverbial bear probing into Abbott and Gadon until it implodes.  Then, the movie resets at its first shot.  What follows is a complete recontextualization of what came before.  I’ll be honest.  I’m not sure I 100% GOT what this movie was going for but I sure as hell admired what they did in the second half.  It’s self-referential and an extended riff on what can happen when gaslighting goes too far.  NOT GOING TO GASLIGHT YOU INTO THIS ONE, IF IT SOUNDS LIKE IT’S FOR YOU, IT’S FOR YOU.  IF NOT, STAY AWAY (Streaming on Amazon for $5.99).

The Tim Ferriss podcast with Jerry Seinfeld: If you have Jerry on your pod, I’m going to listen.  He’s a live wire that says whatever he wants on podcasts even when he’s making the publicity rounds.  Seinfeld is so big, he doesn’t have to stick to the script.  It doesn’t really matter if he sells book or not.  So, instead, he shares great stories like the origin of Comedians in Cars being that Jerry noticed coffee gets people talking.  I love it.  

Ferriss is a strong interviewer who isn’t here to talk shop about comedy; he asks practical questions about how to work effectively and gets insightful answers from Jerry.  I was impressed by his delicate observation that comedians need to “experience everything very sensitively,” the differences between “simple and easy” and “the mind and the brain” and if you’re ever going to write, make sure to “wait 24 hours to tell anyone about any writing you’ve done.”  Outside of writing, Jerry offered the piece of wisdom that “pain is knowledge rushing in at great speed to fill a void.”  Toward the end, Jerry defined “survival as the new success.”  He continued, saying, “We’re done at 43 and then it’s on you to keep going and stay relevant.”  Even with all that said, the best part was when Ferriss brought up tech and Jerry was out of his element.  For a second, he wasn’t the self confident, all knowing comic.  He was a mere mortal that didn’t understand coding.  That may have been the most relatable moment of all.  Thanks to Christie Bahna for the rec; this is a must-listen.

SNL with Regina King: You’d think after SNL has done consecutive weeks of shows, they’d be depleted of all their creative juice.  Sometimes though, that’s when true comedic inspiration kicks in and the show kicks into high gear.  This was one of those rare weeks where old, potentially tossed off ideas shone.  Standouts included “Pelotaunt” a bit of Peloton sponcon where the trainers mock users who don’t respond well to positive reinforcement (the bit where the trainer reduced the distance the biker had gone felt especially relatable to someone who has experienced endless frustration with treadmills), “Birthday gifts” with its takedown of goofy alcohol-friendly signage going to a much more confrontational place where friends give realistic quotes and this week’s instant classic “The Negotiator” where a cop accidentally takes a weed gummy at the exact wrong moment.  There were interesting misfires where a nearly silent crowd stone faced the sketch “70s green room” which felt more like a 30s screwball throwback with zippy dialogue.  Felt like a cult hit in the making.  Can’t wait to see what they do in their fourth show in a row next weekend.

“The Comedy Industry Has A Big Alt-Right Problem” by Seth Simons: Love him or hate him, Seth Simons is reporting on comedy in a way no one else is at the moment.  He looks at the industry with an incredibly critical eye and exposes the problematic players who have reprehensible motives that may have flown under the radar since they’re “gatekeepers.”  In this particularly damning piece, he takes on Gavin McInness’ ties to the scene using respectable comics as leverage for credibility and certain clubs’ intentions to spread “cringe humor” that supports freedom of speech in all the wrong ways.  It’s a quick and important read for anyone that’s been a part of the comedy world in New York City in the past decade.  We all need to take a good, hard look at who we’re working with and what they’re trying to achieve in this “business.”  Mind before you grind.

Well, I think I’m going to bed at this point.  It’s 1:25 and I’ve been writing for 3.5 hours.  My chair broke mid-writing session and Anna helped me fix it (she suggested gorilla glue).  That seems like a sign to call it for the week.

This newsletter was built Ford tough

Comedy Stray Notes February 7, 2021

• Pandemic era sketch comedy is evolving rapidly.  My Instagram feed these past few months has morphed from front facing videos and photos to visually inventive quick hit sketches that continually raise the bar for quality.  From Usama Siddiquee and Pranav Behari’s Mango Bae podcast highlights to Brent Pella’s on point unexpected angle on virtually every topical news story to Tori Piskin’s flashy, amazingly edited short form videos packed with surprises, scrolling social media is pretty much better than flipping channels now (all of their channels can be found in the links btw).  This week, another one of my favorite content creators Rebecca Kaplan added to the algorithm with the release of her Ke$ha parody “When U Unblock Me.”  It’s a hilarious 3.5-minute music video about getting the attention of a guy she doesn’t really like all that much and I happen to proudly play that guy (don’t worry, we’re pals).  

To piggyback on what I was saying about the evolution of pandemic era sketch, I was especially impressed by how this was made and directed remotely by Rebecca.  I’ll recap: Rebecca sent me a polite DM asking me to appear in the sketch; I politely accepted.  She sent me generous directions on what to do with my performance (I love this remote approach) and had me transfer footage over Google Drive (never been a WeTransfer fan).  That was...it.  No traveling to shoot a sketch, no being on set for five hours for a few lines- nope; this was way more efficient and it turned out great.  If you want to peep this video and see this hands off collaboration, you can find the link at the bottom o’ this long thing with the other links.  

• Speaking of new forms of content on the web, Anna Paone and I put another episode of our minute long Rizzle series “Minute Made” online this past week we’re rather fond of.  This one is about Anna’s character (aptly named Anna) wishing she looked at her phone a little less and read books a little more.  I may be a little biased but I think my wife gave one of her finest performances in her three(!) roles.  Check it out and see her skills in action before she becomes too big to appear in short form web series.

• Major shout out to Amy Cardinale for showing up in a Super Bowl commercial.  When I saw her, I pointed at the screen like Leo in "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" and exclaimed to Anna, “I know her!”  I would have bragged to more people, but, you know, socially distanced Super Bowl 2021.  Either way, way to rep NY comedy, Cardinale.

• January and February have always been the ultimate hibernation time period for cinephiles; there’s no good reason to go outside when it’s so cold out.  That makes it the best time to see everything you possibly can (at least that’s what I tell myself).  Here’s everything I caught:

“Promising Young Woman” (2021): Movies like this are why I don’t make top ten lists for the year until I’ve seen absolutely everything; this just shot up to the number one on my list for 2020 easily.  This film is as impressive a directorial debut for Emerald Fennell as “Get Out” was for Jordan Peele; the next generation of auteurs is shaping up nicely.  In an effort to conceal the film’s brilliant story (go into this as blind as you can, it’s better to know nothing), I’ll keep my notes brief about this candy colored yet darkly comic (I call it countercoloring) Carey Mulligan star vehicle.  First of all, the banter here pops offscreen harder than any punch in a Marvel film ever could.  One scene at a coffee shop involving saliva was the most attention grabbing moment I’ve seen in film all year and it didn’t need a single special effect.  On top of this, Fennell uses familiar, well known, likable comic actors and makes us see them in a whole new light.  It’s a tough pill to swallow to see Sam Richardson, Alison Brie, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bo Burnham and Max Greenfield as complicit or evil.  Most impressive of all, this film was made by a British woman, stars a British woman and has more to say about America than any movie I’ve seen since “Get Out.”  MAKE THIS A PRIORITY IF YOU’VE BEEN HOLDING OFF ON SEEING THIS ONE (Streaming on Amazon for $19.99; worth it).

“Red Oaks” (2014-17): I’ve never binged a 26-episode show so fast in my life.  I watched this coming of age dramedy about a tennis instructor/aspiring filmmaker David (Craig Roberts) in 80s New Jersey like it was nothing.  The show is essentially the dream indie project every pretentious film school kid wanted to make about their precious life while still getting in a bit of sneaky class commentary about those with money at the club (yes, the club is called Red Oaks) and those that work there feeding the rich.  With an impressive list of producers attached (David Gordon Green and Steven Soderbergh; Amy Heckerling directed a few episodes too), this felt like comedy comfort food at its best with fantastic comic turns from an all-star team made up of Richard Kind as David’s stubborn, divorced father, Oliver Cooper (the loudmouth kid from Project X!) as his best friend, Paul Reiser as the sleazy country club owner/father of David’s love interest (plus, Gina Gershon as the wife) and Josh Meyers (Seth Meyers’ brother!) as the duplicitous photographer for the club.  That’s not even to mention the performances by Freddie Roman, Tom Papa, John Hodgman, Beth Stelling, Greer Barnes, Jon Rudnitsky AND Selena Coppock.  Seeing who would show up in a small scene stealing role almost became the most exciting part of the show.  Yes, some episodes are overtly silly like the one where Richard Kind switches bodies with his son (have no idea how this made past the writer’s room) but overall, I loved it even the hints at these characters being future Trump supporters (some move to Mar a Lago and there are shots of club members reading Trump’s magazine).  I’ll admit, I welled up and got butterflies at the series finale when it all ended.  A HIDDEN GEM WORTHY OF RECOGNITION (Streaming on Amazon Prime; this one’s free).

“Schitt’s Creek” (2015-2020): I’ll admit I have mixed feelings about this beloved Emmy winner.  Anna and I actually started watching at the outset of quarantine and finished all six seasons this week just in time to see Dan Levy’s SNL hosting gig (more on that in just a scroll; no, we’re not related; no, no one’s actually ever asked me that).  At first, I didn’t get it.  The jokes seemed soft; the editing and comic timing, poor; the sets, dull and unimaginative; the number of makeouts the show’s creator Daniel Levy engaged in, gratuitous.  I liked the conceit of seeing a wealthy family having to completely reconfigure their lives to one where they lost everything that gave them self worth.  As we went along, the characters and their quirks grew on me.  Yes, at times, this felt a bit more like a soap opera full of love triangles than a quirky sitcom but somehow it really grows on you.  Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara are comedy royalty for a reason; O’Hara mines every single syllable for maximum comedic potential and Eugene may be the best straight man to ever live.  Annie Murphy and Daniel Levy make complete sense as their children and over the course of the series, the four of them begin to feel like your own family.  There is nothing quite as satisfying as watching self centered characters learn compromise and grow.  Even if they’re fictional.  That’s not even to mention the show’s other MVP Chris Elliott as Roland Schitt.  He walks into every scene and offers a blue collar sensibility that undercuts the show’s self importance and reminds us it’s a comedy.  Sure, I had issues that persisted throughout the show like having only 20 or so people in the town having speaking roles with silent extras who somehow attend all their parties and events but seemingly never have anything to say or the Levys not casting their own family member in their family making Sarah Levy play waitress Twyla.  I forgive it though.  By the middle of the fifth season, the show found its footing and really matured.  There were no longer storylines based on misunderstandings and the characters showed new shades of themselves; in fact, the best moment of the series takes place in Season Six Episode 11 when we get to see Annie Murphy’s Alexis in a whole new light at an escape room.  That’s how you know when a show is good and worthy of critical love- you’re still learning new things about the characters up until the very end.  IF YOU STOPPED WATCHING, GO BACK.  IT GETS BETTER (Streaming on Netflix).

“F is for Family” (2015- ): Comedy recommender extraordinaire Sam Zelitch told me that I HAVE to see this show way back in 2019.  This was back when I went to the gym and I regularly watched this Norman Lear-inspired animated family sitcom starring Bill Burr, Laura Dern, Justin Long, Sam Rockwell and so many others on the treadmill.  Then, once the pandemic hit, I stopped going to the gym and started doing the dishes more often.  So, I am not lying to you when I tell you I watched almost all four seasons of this show while doing the dishes and folding laundry for the past eleven months in ten to fifteen-minute bursts.  I’m so glad I got to savor it like this; this show has been a part of me for over a year now and the dishes aren’t the same without it.  This naturalistic, sometimes downright mean-spirited show is essentially an updated “All in the Family” but written from a modern perspective. In the earlier seasons, jokes seemed like cheap shots but, like “Schitt’s Creek” above, the writing and storylines became so much richer as the show aged into itself.  The duality of the nice guy Vietnam vet who ends up not being the hero he presents himself as, the rise of Burr’s coworker Rosie into town alderman and his wife’s involvement in a pyramid scheme were a few choice arcs that felt far from the typical sitcom fodder.  Most impressively, seasons tied up loose ends and all stories in their finales gracefully.  In fact, the third season’s last episode, a character not being able to swim, ring toss and a political race came together without feeling telegraphed.  My jaw hung open; I didn’t see any of this coming, yet, it was all well earned.  Then, we get to the fourth season and the show recontextualizes a character we thought we knew all along.  Allegedly, there’s one more season after this one which is great news because the show ended on quite a cliffhanger.  Can’t wait to see where they go next.  OUT OF THE THREE SITCOMS I WROTE ABOUT HERE, THIS WAS POUND FOR POUND, THE BEST AND FUNNIEST (Streaming on Netflix).

SNL with Daniel Levy:  The show is coming off what I thought was the best week of the season with the John Krasinki-hosted episode.  Honestly, it’s rare that there are two killer episodes back to back.  This one was close but not quite there.  The Cold Open featuring a score of NFL commentators at first felt bloated and unfocused; somehow it blossomed into a razor sharp commentary on “commercials with a message.”  The surprise Cheez Its ad got an actual lol in our apartment.  Levy’s monologue (where I learned he pronounces it “Leh-vee,” I come from the clan that go with “Lee-vee”) was a mixed bag; the Eugene trapped in plexiglass cameo was certainly welcome but it was short on laughs as Dan toured the studio showing off its COVID precautions to near silence.  It’s nice that the show has the applause sign to save the day when a bit ends on a perplexing note.  As for the actual sketches, the true standout is the steamy Zillow ad.  You know something is zeitgeist-y when multiple folks text you and tell you that they felt attacked by the show.  If you haven’t seen it, drop what you’re doing.  Other highlights include the “why I should be able to take my mask off at this Super Bowl” excuse party and the “It Gets Better” show capper featuring a rapidly growing iguana.  Get that iguana a TV show.  Final props to Kenan and Chris Redd for their silly heightening of the Twinsthenewtrend Weekend Update segment for making something funny even funnier (the rare hat on a hat that works), Dan Levy’s disturbing “Back to the Future” theory shared in the tour guide sketch and the biggest laugh of the night which was Phoebe Bridgers trying really hard to break her guitar.  It was punk and funny (Streaming on Hulu...and YouTube...and Peacock...and Instagram.  It’s hard to miss). 

“David:”  I came across this excellent eleven-minute short film while browsing Matt Starr’s  Instagram story.  Written and directed by Zach Woods (yes, the guy from “The Office” and “Silicon Valley”) with Brandon Garner, it’s a beautifully executed variation on the “what happens when your work and personal life collide.”  In this case, the short stars Will Ferrell (!) as a grizzled therapist sitting with a depressed patient David (played by William Jackson Harper) who really needs him.  That is, until Ferrell’s son interrupts the session to remind his dad of a wrestling meet he promised he would attend.  A simple reminder that it’s not easy to please everyone.  Life happens.  To see this short in all its comedic and dramatic glory, I’ve linked it below for your viewing pleasure.

George Wallace on WTF: There’s not many comics that are quite as fun as the effervescent Wallace; I couldn’t wait to hear him dish this week.  Before we get to Maron’s chat with Wallace though, Marc goes into great detail in his twice-weekly monologue about how we’re all going to be dealing with COVID PTSD for years and he’s right.  I hadn’t thought about how much it’s completely changed us (outside of the evolution of sketch that I detailed at the beginning of this newsletter).  Luckily, things lighten up when Wallace joins the chat.  He’s humble and not sure what he can even add to the conversation as everyone feels when they step into the podcast hot seat but before you know it we hear him defending fart jokes (this stems from a great story about his COVID vaccination), telling stories about owning property in 17 places, sharing his love for traveling (I’ve never heard someone get so excited talking about being on a plane), what it’s like to be Jerry Seinfeld’s best friend, his days at Catch a Rising Star in the 70s with Pat Benatar and opening for Diana Ross and Tom Jones.  My favorite part of all though was Wallace saying that he’d heard other comics say he had “never bombed.”  He admitted he had many awful sets and has no shame telling stories about bad gigs from his past.  Always nice to hear that so-called “perfect track record” comics don’t always crush. 

Slow week coming up.  Hmu if you trying to do some comedy stuff.  I’m down!

Damn, that sounded desperate.  I still meant it

Comedy Stray Notes Links:

01.) Usama Siddiquee and Pranav Behari’s Mango Bae’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourmangobae/ 

02.) Brent Pella’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentpella/ 

03.) Tori Piskin’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toripiskin/ 

04.) Rebecca Kaplan’s “When U Unblock Me:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2joZUbZg30 

05.) Rizzle Episode Three: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKxY5xPA2Qm/ 

06.) “David:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zj-vjUBa3E 

07.) WTF with George Wallace: http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1195-george-wallace

Comedy Stray Notes January 31, 2021

• This week, I put the finishing touches on my most meta sketch yet.  It’s called “Long Post Club” and lampoons people that write posts that are way too long (judging by the “See More” on this post, yes, I am making fun of the very type of post you’ve just begun reading).  Luckily, the sketch is short at just 98 seconds (cut down from EIGHTY MINUTES of footage) and breezy thanks to the comedic talents of Anna E. Paone, Ronnie Fleming, Danny Vega and Lucas Connolly who make the verbal sparring on the page whiz by.  Stick around to the very end of the sketch for a brief “Whiplash” parody (all improvised; I can’t take any credit for it).  I’m proud of this one and think you’ll enjoy it quite a bit.  The link is in the comments as they often are in long posts.

• Every day we spend inside, my Instagram feed gets funnier, my Twitter algorithm is sharper and TikTok content is better than ever (I know this because everyone is reposting their TikTok vids to Instagram and Twitter).  Anyhow, this week, I wanted to highlight two friends who put out longform pieces into the world.  They are:

Jacob Williams’ “Unemotional Rollercoaster:” New York is known for nursing the talents of comedy’s best up and coming joke writers and Jacob falls squarely in that camp.  In this hour special filmed at New York Comedy Club in a pre-COVID world, Williams goes hard for all 60 minutes with rapid fire jokes; there’s no stories here.  It’s ALL jokes all the time which is not an easy feat for a five-minute set, let alone an entire hour.  His material covers his breakup, self esteem issues and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  My favorite sections were when Williams makes light of his persona with jokes about performances that didn’t go well because of his trademark low energy as well as jokes about his tenure on “Wild ‘n Out.”  My favorite moment of my favorite section was when he called out Nick Cannon.  Or maybe it was the Q and A at the end.  Or maybe it was ten other jokes.  There’s a lot to like here and if you want to spend an hour lost in well-constructed jokes, this is the place to do it.  The link can be found a mile away.

Lillian Tanner’s “The Superlatives:” The only true benefit to the quarantine is we can finally tackle our most ambitious projects; even if it’s just writing them, we’re getting one step closer to taking on that dream project we always wanted to produce.  Some of us are taking it a step further.  In this case, I’m talking about Lilian Tanner’s feature film she’s started a round of funding on.  Her film, which she calls a mix between “Wet Hot American Summer” and “Election” is about a group of students vying for the all-important high school superlatives.  It looks incredibly funny, features a number of New York comedy favorites and I can’t wait to see this puppy produced.  If this movie sounds like your kind of thing too, I’ve linked the IndieGoGo below.  I will say the donation perks are pretty legit- I know because I received one the day after I donated which is record speed for any donation I’ve ever made (looking at you, Kurt Vonnegut documentary I donated to in 2014 that still hasn’t come out).

• In typical quarantine fashion, I kept my eyes glued on books, computer screens, TV screens and my phone this week.  Here’s a rehash just for you:

Michael Streeter’s “Nothing Lost Forever:” As much as I love the “Live” aspect of Saturday Night Live, I’ve always gravitated to the short films in the show more than anything else.  From Albert Brooks’ work in the first season to the Digital Shorts to the “Good Neighbor Stuff” reimagined for the show (that’s Beck and Kyle’s old sketch group, check them out), it always provides a welcome break from the limitations of live performance.  I would argue that, pound for pound, the greatest of the filmmakers to be employed at SNL is Tom Schiller.  He’s well known for his “La Dolce Gilda,” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger” shorts from the first five years but he also had a quietly productive second wind with the show in the late 80s and early 90s that doesn’t get its due.  This book, carefully crafted by author Michael Streeter details not only the shorts he produced for the show but also painstakingly recounts every last piece of information and story about Schiller’s excellent, semi-unreleased masterpiece “Nothing Lasts Forever” from the early 80s featuring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Imogene Coca.  I can’t imagine there’s any other book in the world that gets into how two high schoolers essentially ran the marketing campaign for this obscure film for its limited Seattle release.  Beyond that, the book is a treasure trove full of comedy trivia not covered in any of the other major SNL books (or video that can even be hunted down online).  Did you know about the unproduced screenplay “Nineteen Eighty Five” by Al Franken (sorry), Tom Davis and Jim Downey that was supposed to be a “1984” parody?  Or are you familiar with the SNL short film “Dog baseball” or Todd Solondz’s “How I Became a Leading Artistic Figure in New York City's East Village Cultural Landscape?”  I certainly didn’t.  If this sounds like a missing piece of your comedy education, don’t worry, I’ve got you.  There’s a link to Streeter’s site below.

San Francisco SketchFest’s Sketchpocalypse: In January 2012, I went to the San Francisco SketchFest by myself and stayed with my friend from high school, Carbon Therrien, sleeping on his couch.  I believe there was an exotic bird in the room I stayed in.  Anyway, it ended up being one of the most exhilarating comedy weekends of my life- I got to see Chris Elliott talk “Eagleheart,” Mindy Sterling (Frau from “Austin Powers!”) improvise and the guys from “Stella” live.  The wildest thing that happened though was when I attended a Q and A with the UCB Four (Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh) and asked if they would watch my thesis film (shameless!).  I brought the DVD onstage and the four of them proceeded to roast the short film saying, “Are executive producers Andy and Susan Levy your Mom and Dad?”  Yes, yes, they are.  For the past nine years, I’ve desperately wanted to go back (no matter how traumatic that roast was) but I’ve been roundly rejected each and every year I’ve applied to perform and couldn’t justify flying out again.

Well, this year, the Festival streamed an abridged version over the course of one night.  It wasn’t quite the same (we’re still a year away from virtual being just as good as live I think but it’s catching up fast) but still had innumerable highlights.  This year, they brought in all the big guns.  I’m talking about The State.  Kids in the Hall.  Mr. Show.  Other than Monty Python, that’s kind of the sketch nerd holy trinity.  All three did brand new sketches that, while not perfect, were incredibly edifying for superfans.  Other standouts were a handful of SNL cameos (Tim Meadows and Fred Armisen are the best scene stealers around), a sketch about ad wizards with John Michael Higgins, Christopher Guest stories about Fred Willard (apparently, no one can get a word in while improvising with him), any time that Paul F. Tompkins was onscreen, Joel Kim Booster debating Ron Funches about whether breakfast or dinner was better while an amused Todd Barry watched on, Danny Pudi (Abed!) improvising, a hysterical name dropping Improvised Shakespeare, two of the UCB Four bringing back their famous “Ass Pennies,” Jonathan Couton performing a cover of “A Birdhouse In Your Soul,” Maria Bamford complaining about having to do 19 takes to get her bits right, a scary looking, jacked Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt speaking directly to the camera all bummed out about not being able to be at the Fest live, the return of the very silly Slipnutz, Doug Loves Movies, the emerging sketch group White Women (bonus points to them for actually producing a sketch) and finally, props to the purest laugh of the night when Jon Hamm learned that “The Sixth Sense” in Taiwan is titled “He’s a ghost” which completely spoils the twist.  If you want to see all four hours of this fest (I left a LOT out), there’s a link below.  Disclaimer: I believe it’s $20.00 to watch this.  I’d say it’s worth it.

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Blues” (2020): With our elongated Oscar season (I believe movies being released are STILL eligible), it’s tough to catch up on everything with buzz.  However, seeing this movie that was on every Best Picture shortlist was a no brainer to check out.  I’m sad to report that it wasn’t really for me.  Adapted from August Wilson’s stage play about the real life Ma Rainey and her band, the talk-y, stage-y movie is essentially a dramatic day in the life of the band and their interpersonal struggles as well as their troubles with record executives.  There was just something missing for me though.  Perhaps I wanted to see these characters exist outside of the rehearsal and recording rooms?  I’m not sure but something felt limited about the whole movie.  In any event, the movie is a phenomenal showcase for Chadwick Boseman in his final onscreen appearance.  Every scene of his pops as he jumps from playful to seductive to vengeful showing the many sides to his young, smiley performer, Levee.  Trigger warning though- Boseman does perform many scenes about death that come across as tragically ironic now.  Other highlights include a scene where Viola Davis’ Ma Rainey demands that her stuttering nephew introduce her and the band as well as her insistence that the producers bring her a Coke.  She’s a star.  It shouldn’t be this hard for her to get a Coke.  NOT A CLASSIC BUT SEE IT FOR CHADWICK (Streaming on Netflix).

“First Cow” (2020): This movie about a cow is oddly enough a dark horse (see what I did there) for the Oscars this year.  It’s another one that shows up on every major critic’s Best of 2020 year end list.  This simple tale, taking place in the early 19th century, is certainly worthy of all the praise heaped upon it.  The film starts at a slow moving clip, with our unassuming hero Cookie (John Magaro, one of the gentlest starring roles in film history) who is supposed to feed fur trappers on the ride out west.  It’s basically if “The Revenant'' was a slice of life low stakes comedy of errors.  The film picks up steam halfway through when Cookie teams up with Chinese immigrant King-Lu (Orion Lee) to steal milk from a prized cow that allows them to bake biscuits effectively shocking the community with how much better they are than anything they’ve ever eaten; it’s like when we were all collectively blown away by cronuts.  That’s basically the gist of it.  As novel as this story is, this is a film all about men with modest dreams and what they’ll do to attain them.  Major props to Toby Jones for his nuanced turn as the villain of sorts.  There isn’t a false step here- THIS FEELS LIKE A GREAT SHORT STORY COME TO LIFE (Streaming on Amazon Prime for $3.99).

“The Insider” (1999): I first heard about this crackling, message movie about the importance of truth in journalism while reading Brian Raftery’s superb “Best Movie Year Ever” and couldn’t let it escape my mind.  When it was scheduled to leave Prime this week (if you’re reading this, it’s no longer free, sorry), I made it appointment viewing and I’m so glad I did.  This is a 157-minute EPIC about a single segment on “60 Minutes” in the mid-90s.  It’s about more than that, but that’s kind of it when you really boil it down.  Directed by Michael Mann, the thrust of the true story is about producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) who is determined to tell Jeffrey Wigand’s (Russell Crowe) side of the story about the addictive nature of nicotine which ends up disintegrating Wigand’s life into something unrecognizable for a successful family and company man.  It’s a stodgy premise brought to life by these two actors and a host of other greats you’ll recognize like Christopher Plummer, Philip Baker Hall and Rip Torn.  Plus, Gina Gershon.  THE KIND OF MOVIE YOU’D SEE IN SCHOOL AND FEEL EMPOWERED AFTER YOU SAW IT (Formerly streaming for free on Amazon Prime; not sure what’s going on with it now). 

SNL hosted by John Krasinski: We now have a frontrunner for best episode of the all over the place season thus far.  There’s a lot to discuss here, so I’ll keep my thoughts brief.  The “What Still Works?” Cold Open covering every major event didn’t quite “work” for me; I wasn’t a fan of the overstuffed nature of the show cramming every major event of the past two months into a single piece rather than letting them all breathe (ironically, I’m cramming here).  The monologue, where Krasinski addressed audience questions about his tenure as Jim on “The Office” since that’s all anyone’s been watching for the past few months felt intentionally timely in the best way possible.  The biggest laugh for me though came when Krasinski tried to muster applause for his Jack Ryan character and got nothing.  There was a Pete Davidson kiss to close things out.  At this point, I thought the episode would be fine at best.

Then, SNL pulled a complete 360 and completely turned itself around.  That’s why I love this show; it reinvents itself every few minutes.  You never know what you’re going to get.  The sneaky satire “Blue Georgia” about the state in a post Warnock and Ossoff world worked so well; I loved seeing all these genteel Southerners embrace Wokeness.  Other highlights included, “Now That’s What I Call Theme Songs” where lead characters belted silly lyrics to their instrumental themes hit me right in the comedy sweet spot as did the Krasinski news correspondent who had twin children that kept popping up in the background of his frame with increasingly bizarre abstract art.  Simple game, excellent heightening.

Finally, Kyle Mooney as Martin Scorsese to Bowen Yang’s Fran Leibovitz cut right to the heart of what makes these irresistible New Yorkers great and also insufferable at times.

Oh!  And Cathy Anne!  Plus, the bizarro Subway sketch about the ad men that crafted the narrative for the Jared story.  

There’s so much to like here (other than, you know, the cast not wearing masks).  See the whole episode.

• I spend a lot of time reading comedy journalism.  It’s a bit compulsive.  I just want to keep my finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the world.  That’s what I’m so thankful for Luke Kelly Clyne and Graham Techler’s Vulture series ‘Funny Videos Of The Month.”  Every month, they highlight all the best sketches released in the past month and this installment is a perfect lunch break read/watch.  My favorite sketches they highlighted this time around were Amy Zimmerman’s “Scrunchies” and a clip of Niles Abston’s stand up.  Yes, I linked it.  I always do.

• This past week, “HARSH WRITING ADVICE” was a trending topic on Twitter.  There were many great pieces of advice but my favorite of all was shared by Seth Rogen.  The hilarious Becky Braunstein prompted him with a question in his thread that really got to the core of what to do when you have an idea but you’re not sure whether or not you want to commit to the project for the next couple years.  The Tweet is linked pretty close by for you!

• A major meme account “The Funny Introvert” has been incredibly generous with me sharing my Tweets and videos boosting them up to larger audiences than they’ve ever seen with his 2.6 million followers.  This week, he surprised me and shared a dumb Tweet I wrote that I came up in casual conversation with Matt Vita.  The tweet was, “Going to become the first Matthew that doesn’t go by ‘Matt.’  Call me ‘Thew.’”  Nothing special.  Somehow, a billion Matts messaged me letting me know they already did this.  Then, it ended up on a few other Instagram pages (they didn’t even reach out and ask for permission- I thought we did away with that, no?) as well as the subreddit “white people tweets” and friends from high school and college reached out to me to let me know they’d seen it.  Wild.  All because that dude shared it.

If you’re so inclined, feel free to check out the video The Funny Introvert shared of mine as well.  It’s the second episode of my ten-part Rizzle series “Minute Made.”  In this one, Anna dreams of being “Made” into 11-year-old Hermione.  Does she pull it off?  The answer WILL SURPRISE YOU (you probably won’t be surprised to learn that the link is in the comments though).

• Also!  If you’d prefer to read this newsletter in your email, feel free to sign up for the Substack.  This is the link https://mattlevyscomedystraynotes.substack.com  and of course, I put it in the comments for good measure as well.

That’s it for this week.  

Wow.  It’s February now.  

Haha, that WAS a long post lol

01.) Long Post Club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQPCPfvWkw0&t 

02.) Jacob Williams’ Unemotional Rollercoaster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAda4xsGKjM 

03.) Lilian Tanner’s IndieGoGo: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-superlatives-a-comedic-feature-film?fbclid=IwAR0sYk_5S6u57KvIAHVi7u_hXkwzfqS_QyNiPAAwUm1xkHiByQNdf6AgGeA#/  

04.) “Nothing Lost Forever” by Michael Streeter: http://mstreeter.com/ 

05.) SF SketchFest’s Sketchpocalyspe: https://www.sfsketchfest.com/?utm_source=SF%20Sketchfest&utm_campaign=ed78318750-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_11_17_10_53_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c593bf768a-ed78318750-5584979 

06.) Luke Kelly Clyne and Graham Techler’s Vulture series: https://www.vulture.com/article/funny-videos-of-the-month.html 

07.) Becky Braunstein on Seth Rogen Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/BeckyFromAlaska/status/1355274409695535109 

08.) “Thew” Tweet: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKoq2azhFXm/ 

09.) Rizzle episode two: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKfRr9OAovB/ 

10.) My Substack: https://mattlevyscomedystraynotes.substack.com

Comedy Stray Notes January 24, 2021

• In mid-November of 2020, I caught wind of an interesting post in the NY Improv/Sketch/Stand Up Resource Facebook group written by Allen McRae.  He was looking for content creators to pitch pilots to go to series for the app Rizzle.  I sent him a message like the status suggested and he replied telling me to pitch a few ideas.  That afternoon, I shot out 17 pitches liberally selecting anything that seemed worthy of ten one-minute webisodes from my Twitter drafts.  Here are two rejected ideas:

Show name: Tutorials where nothing happens

Logline: You know how the first minute of the tutorial for something important is always...nothing?  This show is that first minute that is just...showing people nothing and blathering on.

Show name: I'll Be With You In A Minute

Logline: We see what a customer service representative really does when they put you on hold; push up, make out, scroll Reddit, shovel ice cream into their mouth, then they always go back to the call like it was nothing.

Those were rightly rejected.  Allen’s got taste and knows when something has legs.  He saw something in my idea that I wrote nearly nothing about:

Show name: Minute Made

Logline: It's MTV's Made but the person gets made in a minute

He said I needed to make a pilot and I did.  It went OK; it starred my talented wife Anna E. Paone as a woman who wanted to learn how to ice skate.  It wasn’t perfect but we got picked up!  Rarely in comedy do you hear any good news; Anna and I were ecstatic.  We now had to write ten episodes based on this premise.  The two of us brainstormed as many things that one could be “made” into in a minute.  We shot the true first episode right around New Years and will be releasing the next eight on the app over the next few weeks and subsequently on the Gram.  If you want a taste of the series, you can find the first installment at the second link in the comments (the first one will take you to Rizzle; sign up!  See if you can start your own series!).

• One of the great traditions of the new year in comedy is the “50 First Jokes” show that usually takes place at The Bell House in Brooklyn.  The comics sat onstage anxiously waiting to get their first bit of the year out into the world.  I loved going to see fleshed out jokes that had been workshopped for two weeks for this very show, silly, absurdist anti-jokes to break the tension and, of course, the barely fleshed out jokes that were probably written on the subway ride over to the venue.  It came as a complete surprise to me that this past Friday, I got to see two shows that were spiritual siblings to the 50 First Jokes format.

The first was Jordan Scott Huggins and Spencer Bland’s 50 First Jokes featuring North Carolina comics.  It was a well-executed, breezy watch that made one feel like they were meeting the elite of the NC scene.  Comics did topical material (Bernie seated in the background was clutch), song parodies about Mountain Dew and one dude who pretty much didn’t say anything.  I’m glad I saw it and if you’re nostalgic for the 50 First Jokes format, you can too.  It’s linked below.

The second show was John Rosenberger and Chris Donahue’s 60 Shorts for 60 Shots.  This beautifully titled show had a brilliant conceit.  Essentially, the two hosts took 60 shots off camera while they rolled 60 short films from comics from all over.  It was magical and felt like a Pine Box open mic operating at its absolute highest heights.  The sketches/videos poked fun at pop culture, Zoom meetings and some were just flat out lunacy.  This thing flew by and was executed flawlessly feeling more like a lost 90s Comedy Central short films showcase than a Zoom.  If this type of thing strikes your fancy, you can catch a URL in the comments.   

• This week, TWO people reached out to me to ask if I knew Matt Somerstein from Twitter since they were such big fans of his writing.  I do know him and it’s great that he’s finally getting recognized.  Somerstein’s great on the platform and deserves all the attention he can get.  I mean with jokes like, “I made a fake facebook account of a comic who's new to New York City and i'm disgusted by how many of you sent him a friend request.”  Brilliant.  His handle is sitting in the comments just waiting for you to click on it.

• Rarely do comics have skills outside of slinging jokes; that’s why we get into it.  It’s what we’re good at and decide to skip “getting good at other things.”  Every so often, a comic will have a talent outside of bits and it makes their comedy all the more interesting.  In Fluke Human’s case, the dude can rap and his Instagram video he released this week where “comic Fluke” battles “rapper Fluke” not only made me laugh but impressed the hell out of me.  Come for the brilliant idea and stay for the surprise ending.  Video is linked a scroll away, my friend.

• Saw three movies and listened to two podcasts this week.  Here’s a quick synopsis and then we’ll be on our way.  

“Shirkers” (2018): Every so often, I’ll see a movie and not want it to end.  It’s rare.  It’s not that I want other movies TO end but I feel their natural conclusion coming and I don’t feel the need to see an extra hour’s worth of material.  With “Shirkers” I could have watched a year’s worth of story and not been bored.  In Sandi Tan’s “debut” project, she tells the story of the botched film she made as a teen in Singapore that was never completed.  Why it was never completed is much darker, weirder and juicier than you could ever imagine.  Sandi Tan could have been Wes Anderson but it’s almost better than she didn’t; we get to see this unbelievable vision of hers instead here.  FEELS LIKE IF A GREAT PODCAST WAS A MOVIE (Streaming on Netflix).

“One Night In Miami” (2021): This is a guaranteed Best Picture nominee this year (if the Academy Awards actually happen) that you should totally, totally see.  The movie takes place mostly over the course of one night (yes, in Miami) in 1964 at a hotel.   There, Muhammad Ali, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and Malcolm X hold court talking about the turbulent state of their present day that reflects our modern world a bit too closely.  There’s crackling dialogue (Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X verbally sparring with Leslie Odom Jr as Sam Cooke is a standout scene in a movie full of standouts), great character moments showing the vulnerable side of all these iconic men and it ultimately felt like a movie like “The Outsiders” where you’d see it in 30 years and say, “I can’t believe all these huge stars were all in a movie together.”  Directed by Regina King and based on a stage play by Kemp Powers (who co-wrote “Soul”- he’s having a moment), she milks everything she can out of these characters leading to transcendent moments that gave me chills like Sam Cooke performing “Chain Gang” acapella with Malcolm X looking on in the audience or Muhammad Ali charming reporters and friends alike.  AS GOOD AS THE HYPE SUGGESTS (Streaming on Amazon Prime).

“Austin Powers and the Spy Who Shagged Me” (1999): I’m not big on re-watching movies.  However, I do make special exceptions.  This movie falls squarely in that camp.  If you haven’t seen this lately, treat yourself to what I think holds up as one of the most complete comic visions of all time.  I surprised myself; I could recite almost every line.  Yes, the Fat Bastard jokes didn’t exactly age well but Mini Me, Scott, Dr. Evil, Austin, Bosley, the Will Ferrell cameo (and post-credits gag), Jerry Springer all are as funny as ever.  From the opening visual gag connecting the first film to the second and subsequently hiding Austin’s you know what’s to my all-time favorite match cut montage where characters are linked by different euphemisms for the male member, there’s so much to enjoy here if you need some good, dumb fun.  HOW ABOUT YES, SCOTT (Streaming on Hulu).

“You Made It Weird” with Dane Cook: I’ve never particularly liked Dane Cook but I’ve always been fascinated by him.  He’s the kind of guy that always speaks at full volume and is the life of the party.  I don’t know exactly what transpired with the whole “joke theft” thing but I wanted to know what he was up to and how he was riding out the pandemic so I listened to him talk on a podcast for hours.  After finishing, I became a bit more of a fan.  For two hours here, he discusses Boston not suffering fools, how comics shouldn’t “just do podcasts” because you’ll have fans because they won’t come back, how his parents didn’t get him doing stand up as a career until they saw him at a big venue (this also led to a conversational detour where Dane and Pete said that having their headshot in a local pizzeria was more important to them than their biggest career achievements) and how he staged the “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” Zoom reading this summer that I had totally forgotten about after seeing it trending on Twitter.  It is important to note that Dane did drop two brilliant pieces of wisdom in the episode.  The first was, “We always worry about the risk of doing something rather than what the risk is of NOT doing something” and “Nostalgia is basically just saying to yourself, ‘Remember when you felt OK?’”  This all came from a guy who was confused about how to get his video up on Zoom in the conversation.  Good chat.  Glad I listened.

“Good One” with Bobby Moynihan: We’re talking about one of the all-time unsung SNL greats here.  Interestingly, this podcast goes deep into Moynihan’s experience playing obscure character Janet Peckinpaugh, a woman that confidently hits on Tom Brady (played by Channing Tatum) and Adam Levine.  Although just a few years ago, I do not remember this at all.  Off the top, Moynihan quickly rehashes his ascent to being cast on the show very quickly (he performed at UCB and used to wait in the standby line pre-SNL like the rest of us mere mortals) and then settles into a nice rhythm telling the story of being the only new hire in his first season and the creation of Drunk Uncle (he and Colin Jost spitballed the idea together last minute; the last time he did it was the infamous Trump episode and Trump loved the character which made him uneasy; little did he know that the character providing support for Trump in that episode would resonate with his voters).  My absolute favorite anecdote was about the creation of Riblet, the Weekend Update correspondent who went to high school with Michael Che and thinks he can do a better job than him.  Moynihan confided that this character’s mispronunciation of words like “jorb” instead of “job” has been copied for years (although I feel like “ermagherd” came first).  Then, of course, Moynihan went into great detail about cut sketches that an SNL superfan like myself can only dream of.  I wish we lived in a world where Moynihan’s farewell tribute to Seth Meyers aired and Meyers went to the Weekend Update bar and hung out with all the correspondents from his era or Mike Myers got to do his SNL “Inception” Cold Open when he hosted or the “Lost” parody with Alec Baldwin made it past dress rehearsal but alas, we can only dream.  Finally, Moynihan gives philosophical insight on how to write formulas for recurring characters and then let the cat out of bag about why they don’t have recurring characters anymore: it’s because we see sketches online immediately; characters appeared multiple times in previous eras because people may have missed episodes and not had easy access to find old versions; this was likely their first time seeing said character.  Plus, so much more about why Lorne hates long sketches.  There’s a billion reasons to recommend this episode if you’re an SNL fan.

• Started doing this thing where I list what I plan on working on every day creatively for the next month to focus my attentions, have goals and be more productive.  I’ll report back next week on whether or not it worked.  Other than that, I’m just chillin’ this week.

Yeah baby yeah

01.) Rizzle: https://rizzle.tv/

02.) Episode One of Minute Made starring Anna E. Paone:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CKM_StxAo1R/ 

03.) Jordan Scott Huggins and Spencer Bland’s 50 First Jokes: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=1340533542948805&ref=search 

04.) John Rosenberger and Chris Donahue’s 60 Shots For 60 Shorts: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/884214550 

05.) Matt Somerstein’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPSomerstein 

06.) Fluke Human sketch: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKSLAR6A3n6/ 

07.) “You Made It Weird” with Dane Cook: http://youmadeitweird.nerdistind.libsynpro.com/dane-cook-returns 

08.) “Good One” with Bobby Moynihan: https://www.vulture.com/article/bobby-moynihan-snl-good-one-podcast.html

Comedy Stray Notes January 17, 2021

• You know who doesn’t get enough credit?  Zoom show producers.  They tirelessly invite friends and family to show, often pay the performers and make sure shows don’t ever go too long.  It’s another thankless gig in the long line of comedy jobs and this week I want to give due props to Stuart Allard and Daniel Anderson for having me on their show this past Wednesday.  The comedic duo, who have performed together for the past eight years, have produced 77 shows (!) and counting since the start of the pandemic, often getting in two a week.  On Wednesday, they hosted comics from Long Island (Bruce Lipsky), New York (Helaine Witt), Chicago (Edgar Mota), Washington (Lucy Tollefson) and Queens (me).  It was a breezy hour and I tried to mix things up with my set a bit.  Having done quite a bit of Zoom comedy, I was tired of watching my face on screen so much.  So, I mixed it up and used multiple cameras to try a different type of stand up figuring why not play with the medium if Zoom will allow it?  If this doesn’t quite make sense and you want to find out what I’m talking about, click the link below and go to 42:24 to see my set.  It’s about ten minutes and I start mixing things up about two minutes in (I say this in case you start watching and think, “Hey, this is a standard boring set!  Levy tricked me!”  No, keep watching).

• Major shout out to comedy writer and friend David Spector for spreading his wings this week and starting the fantastic satirical newsletter “Magician’s Secrets Revealed.”  The pieces are brief, have eye popping headlines like “Do You Guys Only Like Me Because of Corona Virus? By Anthony Fauci” and “Republican Congressman Refusing to Assassinate Joe Biden to be Primaried.”  If you love golden age “Simpsons,” The Onion and taking politicians to task, this is a no-brainer.  The link to subscribe to this excellent comedy complement to your day is in the comments.

• One of my favorite NYC comics Joe Pontillo released the excellent short film “Social Media Killed The Supervillain” last month and it might be the finest portrayal of what post-cancellation life is like.  So, I shone a light on the short and Pontillo’s budding stand up career for A Profile About You.  We cover everything from producing a film during the pandemic, his start as a comic and what’s next for the cinematic universe he’s created.  My favorite excerpt from the piece is:

In perhaps the “most 2020 moment” of production, Pontillo needed to reshoot a scene because of sound issues and also because he came up with a much funnier line. Rather than going back to the location and reshoot, Joe thought on his feet, moved the scene to a different location, reshot and edited the updated piece into the project all in the same night. What makes this most impressive is he did this while waiting to perform on a Zoom comedy festival. He had a great set that night too (Official sources claim otherwise). 

The profile, which can be found linked below, brings you to the piece which brings you to the short, Joe’s podcast, his Amazon special and a whole treasure trove of other great things you ought to check out in your spare time.

• We all want to write for SNL, right?  It seems so far away and unattainable though.  Yes, they have open submissions but like me, you know you don’t really stand a shot without representation or a claim to fame.  This is where Ali Farahnakian’s “SNL Writing Seminar” comes into play.  On Monday, he put on a workshop giving amateurs and vets alike tips on how to move forward with your packet.  Shared secrets about what order to submit your 3-5 sketches (always go shortest first), formatting and my favorite of all- you should be able to describe your sketch’s premise in 15 words max.  If you can do it in ten, you’re golden.  I loved the hour long course (I had taken it in 2014 too!) and after digging deeper, found The PIT has other free classes available.  This is not paid sponsored content, I’m just saying, you can take their courses free of charge and they won’t even harass you to sign up for a paid class in the future.  If you’re looking for an hour to learn about comedy without dropping a dime, the link of classes the PIT is offering is waiting for you.

• With clubs closing left and right (more on that later), it’s nice to see that at least one brick and mortar comedy club is actually...opening.  Comedian and entrepreneur Steve Hofstetter is in the process of starting up The Steel City Arts Foundation in Pittsburgh refashioning a church into a comedy club/work/live space (according to Hofstetter’s Facebook, comedians can live there for up to six months free of charge).  It all sounds too good to be true.  When the pandemic is over, count me in for a road trip to check out the space.  For now, if you want more details, there’s an article with plenty of them linked below.

• Here’s a few things I saw.  They were all on Amazon.  All are streaming for free if you have Prime.  Once again, my apologies for sounding like a corporate shill.

“Peggy Sue Got Married” (1986): In terms of time travel movies, there’s no beating “Back To The Future.”  However, this female-led crowd pleaser comes damn close.  Surprisingly directed during Francis Ford Coppola’s “I’ll do anything!” decade, the movie allows its lead, Kathleen Turner, to transport from her high school class reunion back to high school itself.  She gets to relive her senior year and avoid all the mistakes like marrying Nicolas Cage (doing what sounds like a “Trump as a nerd” impression) she made before.  More than anything, it felt like the inspiration for the classic Marge flashback “Simpsons” episodes.  There’s a killer 50s soundtrack featuring loads of Dion, Fabian and other one-name pop stars, sharp dialogue plus cameos from a young Jim Carrey, Helen Hunt and Sofia Coppola.  THE DIRECTOR OF “THE GODFATHER” MADE A DAMN GOOD COMEDY

“Gemini Man” (2019): The main attraction here is the dual Will Smith roles- “He’s old!  He’s young!” was all the media could talk about.  I was mostly interested in this one because it’s by one of my favorite oddball directors Ang Lee who has made absolute banger movies as well as bizarro oddballs like “Taking Woodstock” and “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.”  Categorize this as a strange experiment as well.  The story centers on a world class assassin (Will Smith, 50s, grizzled, seen it all) who can only be taken down by an up and coming assassin (Will Smith, 26, fresh faced, naive).  What sounds like a fun cat and mouse game is bogged down by draggy dialogue scenes when there should be action, semi-glitchy young Will Smith images and an egregious amount of Coca-Cola product placement.  There is good in the movie as well; I loved the scene where older Will Smith proved to his younger self that he was him by explaining all the demons inside of him as well as the opening five minutes where elder Smith shows off his skills as a marksman.  Also, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (so good in “Ten Cloverfield Lane” and “Scott Pilgrim”- decent here), Clive Owen and Benedict Wong appear.  I love seeing movies like this just to be surprised by which characters show up in secondary roles.  JUST EXCITED TO SEE WHAT ANG LEE DECIDES TO DO NEXT AFTER THIS WEIRD ONE

“Wild Things” (1998): As a kid at Blockbuster, the sultry VHS cover of this movie tantalized me.  I was always too embarrassed to ask my Mom to rent it though.  Then, I kind of just forgot about it.  It didn’t really have any type of cult status or import and dropped off from my consciousness.  Well, it’s on Prime and I wanted to know what I missed out on when I was 11.  Having seen it, I don’t think my young self would have been ready for this twisty, comical psychological thriller.  At times, it feels like an overwrought drama about Denise Richards’ rough high school experience as a wealthy teenager who has it all, then a realistic portrayal of Matt Dillon as a rapist/high school counselor, next a courtroom drama with Bill Murray crushing it in the Saul Goodman role and finally a con man tale with Kevin Bacon taking the lead as a detective.  Neve Campbell is in there too (I was too young in the 90s to know much about her; I’m a fan now).  Somehow, it’s all one through line and minus a few too many twists, it’s just as steamy, creepy and fun as advertised.  Plus, a Smash Mouth song I’d never heard in the soundtrack.  Very 1998 indeed.  NOT FOR 11-YEAR-OLDS

Eddie Pepitone’s “For The Masses” (2020): Spotted this on a few year-end lists for best special of last year and as a fan of Eddie Pepitone’s loudmouthed, curmudgeonly style, I made absolute sure that I caught it as soon as I could to jump on that bandwagon.  This relatively brief special is just as fun as advertised with many inspired moments of comic innovation.  Pepitone pulls a bit of a Gaffigan jumping from his loud delivery to quiet reflection to comment on his material, there are multiple callback to his Father working on “the docks” and an on-the-nose prediction about the rise of the Alt-Right and the riots that took place in 2020.  Gave me chills.  Aside from having my hair stand on end, I was laughing hysterically at jokes about how he needs to stop asking his parents for financial help because he “should be earning my own money at 60,” Trump being the Joker makes sense to him and how he takes sports incredibly personally.  PEPITONE IS AN ACQUIRED TASTE THAT IS WORTH GIVING A SHOT 

You Made It Weird with James L. Brooks: In the week prior’s episode, Pete talked with Brian Koppelman about how he was not on his game chatting with James L. Brooks; as soon as he shed that self conscious note, I couldn’t wait to hear this episode.  I know the feeling- being out of your element while talking to someone higher up the food chain than you is an anxiety I’ve experienced many times and I couldn’t wait to hear someone ELSE live through it.  In this case, yes, there are moments of supreme awkwardness but above all, Holmes gets an amazing array of showbiz stories from this legend like the tale about how the line “Noodle salad” made its way into “As Good As It Gets,” Mat Groening coming up with “The Simpsons” on the spot for Brooks rather than repeating himself with “Life in Hell” for “The Tracey Ullman Show” what really happened on set when Mary Tyler Moore tossed her hat for the show’s credits and finally how TV writer’s rooms went from no one having gone to college to all writers having graduated from Harvard at “The Simpsons.”

• The Village Lantern closed this week (told you clubs were closing).  I performed there a lot in 2013 and 2014 when I moved to New York and less often over the ensuing years.  I always had a soft spot for the place.  Walking down the narrow stairway to their basement, the sign that read “As seen on FX’s Louis” back in the day and odd bathrooms you had to pass the stage go to are some of my earliest NY comedy memories.  The place was home to the rightfully maligned Laughing Buddha cult but the nice thing about Laughing Buddha was that the mics were usually good (you paid $5 to be there AND had to purchase a drink- they better have been good) and you could have a halfway decent set in the middle of a slump.  I’ll admit it; I used the place as a pick me up plenty of times when I was floundering.  Plus, one time I waited to go up at a mic for so long, that I was booked by Ryan Hernandez on a Lantern show based on my patience alone.  It’s a true story and I used that line to start sets at mics when I went up late too many times to count over the years.  Later, they switched to an upstairs space that I never really went to but I’ll always have the memories of that basement.  Once again, I know it’s a place of business but I’ll miss it.  The light has gone out on the Lantern.

• To end on a positive note, I wanted to share that Anna came across a commercial for Netflix and Ben and Jerry’s new ice cream collaboration that comes with a joke hotline.  We were intrigued and I called 1-866-PUNCHLINE.  It leads you to a prerecorded line of messages from Wanda Sykes, Fortune Feimster and Aparna Nanchernla running bits on a number of topics you can choose from (“Press 1 if you want jokes about ice cream,” “Press 2 if you want jokes about 2020” etc).  A fun, free diversion.  

What do I have going on this week?  What do any of us have going on this week?  All I know is I’ll be back here next Sunday with more stuff.

Arrivederci

Comedy Stray Notes Official Comedy Links:

01.) Stuart Allard and Daniel Anderson’s Flower Shop Bangers (go to 42:24): https://www.facebook.com/FlowerShopBangers/videos/411179950102803

02.) David Spector’s Magician’s Secrets Revealed: Spector.Substack.Com

03.) Joe Pontillo Profile: https://aprofileaboutyou.medium.com/joe-pontillos-social-media-killed-the-super-villain-is-the-funniest-youtube-short-you-haven-t-7329fafaeca5

04.) Free PIT Classes: https://thepit-nyc.com/available-classes/

05.) Steve Hofstetter’s Steel City Arts Foundation: https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/celebrities/2020/12/16/Steve-Hofstetter-comedian-Stanton-Heights-church-live-work-play-space-stand-ups/stories/202012150028

06.) You Made It Weird with James L. Brooks: http://youmadeitweird.nerdistind.libsynpro.com/james-l-brooks

Comedy Stray Notes January 10, 2021

• Another week with history making highs (Warnock and Ossoff!) and stupefying lows (everything else!).  Yes, these events took up most of mine and everyone else’s mental energy for the entirety of these past seven days but luckily, there were some moments of levity as well.  Most notably, I had the honor of witnessing the Zoom reading of Dylan Aames’ edgy half hour pilot “Unfit.”  The show is about a group of lovable misfits and cynical opportunists who aren’t exactly qualified to own a gym or train there but somehow do.  After reading a few drafts of said pilot and seeing Aames’ steadfast devotion to writing and rewriting (I’ve never met someone who actually wrote fifth and sixth drafts; I thought more than three drafts was a myth), it was incredible to see the comedy come to life performed by Aames himself, Anna E. Paone, Ronnie Fleming and Pete Burdette.  They made airheaded and vapid characters come to life with their line readings; I can’t wait to see where this goes next.  I see great things in this show’s future. 

• Exactly ten years ago, I was shooting my thesis film at ASU.  It was my first time going all out and to make sure the quality matched the effort, I reached out to local professionals rather than just students.  One of those actors was Debbie Jennings and she came in, absolutely crushed her scene as the flabbergasted teacher (her second grade student was tendering his resignation) and we parted ways.  We stayed in touch over the past decade over social media and this week I had the honor of profiling her and her flourishing real estate career in Chandler, AZ.  The best part are the Zillow reviews of hers I included in the piece that exemplify her skill like:

“Debbie leaves no stone unturned to find you what you need. If not for her I would have ended up in an apartment again.”   

If you want to learn a little about real estate, as well as a few other reviews, or need an agent in Chandler, you can check out her profile in the comments below.

• We’re all inside (well, unless you’re in DC).  With live comedy taking a backseat, sketch and short films are taking the steering wheel and driving most of what I’m consuming these days and I’m loving every second of it.  Here’s a few quick hits of great things I saw this week that I think you’ll enjoy:

- Dan Rosen and Jeff Ayars’ “Cannibal Milkshake” is pound for pound one of the most consistent quality sketch factories there is.  If you follow, you get a new great video every other day or so; it’s wild that they produce so much and with nary a dud.  Highlights this week include “Lin Manuel working on the musical about this week” and “pitch meeting for a startup that is Airbnb for post it notes.”  You can find them below; it’s a very worthy follow.

- I’ve been a big fan of Tynan Delong’s short films for ages; this week, I came across his freewheeling, naturalistic nine-minute “Landlady.”  Told in a nonlinear fashion, it examines the odd, almost familial relationship tenants have with their supers.  This is New York in a nutshell.  A landlady and her silly, entrepreneurial son played with comic verve by Bardia Salimi; her sweet resident and a Scrabble game.  It’s lived in, has well-earned tonal shifts and moves at such a quick clip, I couldn’t believe nine minutes had passed when it was over.  Worth your time.

- You ever go to Penn Station and wait for your LIRR train times?  It’s anxiety inducing.  You stare at a big board and wonder if they’re ever even going to put your train’s track up on the board.  I’d never seen anyone approach this from a comedic angle and I’m so glad I finally have.  Jeremyah Schur and Camden Pollio’s “The Big Score” posits Schur as a lo-res Howard Ratner from “Uncut Gems” betting on train times.  The stakes get higher and higher in this three-episode web series that I watched on a loop this week laughing at the absurd take these guys found on something I had experienced so many times.  If you love commuter comedy, check the comments.  There’s a treat for you.

• Watched an odd variety of movies this week.  Listened to a podcast.  Here are some brief thoughts:

“The Vast of Night” (2020): At the beginning of the pandemic, I watched like eight minutes of this movie.  Said, “I’ll get back to it.”  I do this a lot.  Put a bookmark per se in a movie and then come back to it eight months later for no real reason.  Anyway, I’m glad I did.  For those not in the know, this 50s period piece is a love letter to radio operators and science fiction; in this film, an aspiring radio personality and his switchboard operator hear a bizarre sound on air and chase after said sound to its logical conclusion.   The film riffs on Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” with a helping of Humphrey Bogart in there as well.  It’s also the rare example where “telling” instead of “showing” actually builds dramatic tension.  As the story gradually revealed itself, we fall more in love with the stylized dialogue and lead characters.  I got goosebumps, now I understand why plays on the radio pre-television were so stirring.  DON’T PUT THIS ONE OFF LIKE I DID (Streaming on Amazon Prime).

“My Spy” (2020):  This was one of the first movies that lost out on its theatrical release last March.  Well, it was originally supposed to be released in August 2019 but got pushed and now it never saw an AMC.  This movie comes from the long Schwarzenegger, The Rock, John Cena comedy genre where you “put a brooding, hulking giant in a fish out of water situation” this time with Dave Bautista.  For what it’s worth, the genre still has legs.  Here, Bautista plays a spy who has to keep an eye on a single mother and his daughter, he gets too close to them and you already know the rest.  It’s in the details where movies like this shine.  Here, we get to see the sensitive side of Bautista who gives the role quite a bit of color as a poor dancer with a soft spot for Britney Spears.  The film (yes, I called “My Spy” a film), directed by Peter Segal of “Tommy Boy” fame, genuinely surprised me in places (I did a double take at a third act reveal) and while some of the actual “spy action” stuff felt tacked on, I really enjoyed this movie despite its 47% Rotten Tomatoes rating.  Plus, you get Kristen Schaal at the top of her riffing game (a movie about her character would have made for a better movie) and Ken Jeong as a dickish boss.  IF YOU’VE SEEN “KINDERGARTEN COP” TOO MANY TIMES, THIS WILL DO (Streaming on Amazon Prime).

“Bringing Out The Dead” (1999): I’m no Scorsese completist (not by choice but because he’s put out so many movies, shows and now...series with Fran Liebowitz?) but this movie about a paramedic played by Nicolas Cage co-starring John Goodman, Ving Rhames and Tom Sizemore fell right in the sweet spot of things I had always wanted to see but could never find.  Well, now it’s streaming and I completely understand why it’s not considered a classic as was so hard to find.  It’s not a capital B bad movie but it doesn’t match the quality of Scorsese’s best; in fact, it feels most like a 90s version of “Taxi Driver.”  In this movie, we see Cage slowly unravel as he deals with the insomnia and PTSD of having to deal with tragedy after tragedy.  There are a few incredible setpieces like when Cage tries to revive a dying elderly man to Sinatra and the time lapses of 90s NYC set to The Rolling Stones have a real kick to them but for the most part this felt oddly low budget and schlocky.  FOR THOSE FASCINATED BY AUTEUR MISFIRES (Streaming on Amazon Prime).

“You Made It Weird” with Brian Koppleman: I’m a sucker for interviews with screenwriters.  I procrastinate and procrastinate on my own work but I’ll spend hours listening to them talk about their own work ethic and you just “have to do the work.”  This was one of those with quite a bit of practical advice thrown in from the writer of “Rounders” and “Ocean’s Thirteen.”  He advised that you shouldn’t buy screenwriting books- watch the movies and read the screenplays of things that inspire you.  “If you want to make a heist movie, research heists.”  I love that advice.  The rest of the interview included name dropping stories (the best was about how he had dinner with Joel Coen and couldn’t stop saying “Joel”) as well as nuggets of wisdom about being kind to strangers.  He said, “You don’t know if people have been in horrible accidents so always treat them with respect.”  Not a lot of laughs here but I felt 5% wiser after having listened.

What’s going on with me this week?  Glad you asked.  On Wednesday, I’ll be doing a set on Stuart Allard’s “Semi-Regular Wednesdays” show at 8 PM EST.  You better believe I got a link for you.

I’m going to bed

Comedy Stray Notes Links:

01.) Debbie Jennings Profile: https://aprofileaboutyou.medium.com/debbie-jennings-is-just-as-legit-as-her-zillow-reviews-say-8f35bc3655cb

02.) Dan Rosen and Jeff Ayars’ “Cannibal Milkshake” Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cannibalmilkshake/

03.) Tynan Delong’s “Landlady:” https://vimeo.com/408972735

04.) Camden Pollio and Jeremyah Schur’s “The Big Score:” https://www.instagram.com/camdencomic/

05.) “You Made It Weird” with Brian Koppleman: http://youmadeitweird.nerdistind.libsynpro.com/brian-koppelman 

06.) Stuart Allard’s Semi-Regular Wednesdays: https://www.facebook.com/events/155239009438156/

Comedy Stray Notes January 4, 2021

• I’m no expert but I think there is nothing better a comedian/creative person can do than write New Year’s Resolutions.  A lot of our time is spent worrying about what we’re going to do; with resolutions, you tell yourself exactly what it is you want to do.  Then, you really only have to do that thing, whatever it is.  For me, I know my goal for 2021: Get to a point where I can start production on my feature-length movie “Shark Jumpers: The Movie Based On The Short Lived Sketch TV Show” based on the week where I was told I had one week to make a pilot if I wanted to get on the air at SDTV (that’s Sun Devil TV for those of you that didn’t attend ASU; pretty much everyone called it STD TV).   Yes, I’ve only written one draft.  Yes, it might be pretty expensive with some of the ridiculous effects shots I’ve written into this thing.  Yes, I would like high profile cameos in the thing.  Am I going to let any of this hold me back?  Nope.  Hopefully, by 2024, this thing will be streaming on Hulu or Netflix.  Baby steps.  You heard it here first and if you want to be a part of the project in any way, DM me.   Sorry for sounding pompous but this is my way of holding myself accountable.

• Rebecca Kaplan is one of my favorite Twitter personalities.  Over the pandemic, her account has exploded into a full on course on how to write consistently top notch, relatable Tweets.  She had one particular Tweet reach a stratosphere of virality that very few ever reach though- 150K+ favs.  Taylor Swift has to actually try a little bit to get that many likes.  Rebecca pulled it off though and ended up writing an insightful, equally funny essay about the experience called “The 5 coolest things that happened after I went viral on Twitter.”  It was a fast read with many practical tips on how to actually get better at social media.  If this sounds like your type of thing, it’s just a scroll away in the comments.

• I’m always on the hunt for new podcasts so I was excited to hear that one of my favorite New York comics Mike Szar was releasing a new podcast with his pal Brad Wenzel (whom I’ve never met but am a fan of as well) called “Quiz Me, Dude.”  The pod has an ingenious premise: two friends simply quiz each other about topics they recently researched like “Garfield” or quicksand.  Things you THINK you know a bit about and end up walking away learning that there’s a whole Garfield strip dedicated to John maybe eating dog semen (my apologies for spoiling one of the best bits in the pod but that’s why it’s worth listening; you learn crazy stuff).   Szar and Wenzel have an easy rapport and the show is just as educational as it is funny.  I’m definitely going to revisit.  Looking for a new pod?  Look no farther than the comments.

• It’s end of the year list times.  I never feel qualified to make a “Best of” list for the year because I feel like I’ve missed too much.  In fact, I’m still working on my “Best Movies of 2014” (probably “Nebraska” or “Top Five” for those keeping score at home).  So, since, there’s no rush to make a Best Of list of any kind, here’s a hodgepodge of things I saw this week that you may enjoy:

“How To With John Wilson” (2020): This was one of those shows that seemingly came out of nowhere and then all the comedy literati couldn’t stop gushing about.  I saw glowing reviews by Jason Zinoman and Matt Ruby as well and received texts from my friends Charlton Jon Villavelez and Dave Stolz recommending this thing and finally, I made it a priority and I’m so glad I did.  In this blink and you’ll miss it six-episode season, literal fly on the wall John Wilson who constantly journals (too relatable) takes on various small concepts like “splitting a check” and turns it into a treatise on what fairness really means finally ending up at a banquet for referees (my favorite episode) or “making the perfect risotto” serves as a metaphor for not holding ourselves to such high standards.  The show, told in POV video diary cinema verite, revels in catching mundane moments that are so mundane you never even considered them for comedic fodder.  Who knew that one could make a whole episode of comedy about scaffolding?  And that there was so much to say about it?  Or even find beauty in it?  This is everything a comedy show should be: comfort food but also eye opening.  I have no idea how Wilson got all of the unaware stars of the show to participate but I’m floored by his ability to turn NYC B-roll into something meaningful.  Also, I can’t wait until you watch this and get to TLC Tugger.  You’re in for the bizarro treat of the year.  There’s so many other funny things here but I don’t want to spoil anything else.  THIS FEELS LIKE IF THE LITTLE INSIDE JOKES YOU HAVE WITH YOURSELF WAS A TV SHOW (Streaming on HBO MAX).

“Moonraker” (1979): I wanted to see a random bad movie on New Year’s Eve and messaged a group of friends if they were interested in checking out “Howard the Duck” to watch over text.  Sam Zelitch called the movie “bad bad” not “fun bad.”  The rest of the week was spent trying to discover a movie that was “fun bad” that not everyone had seen.  Sam suggested “Moonraker” which has been described as the most insane James Bond movie that ever was (it mostly exists as a film capitalizing on the recent late 70s “Star Wars” trend) and that’s pretty much what it is.  Less a film, more than vignette of middle-aged Roger Moore fight scenes in space and on gondolas (both of the aquatic and airbound variety), bogus sex scenes, this thing is basically “The Room” with a budget.  That’s not to discredit it at all; I was riveted the whole time.  Yes, Bond does his typical Bond thing trotting the globe fighting baddies alongside elderly colleagues and ultimately saving the day but also we get to see Robert Kiel (whom you might know as the “I believe that’s Mr. Gilmore’s Jacket” guy from “Happy Gilmore”) in a star-making turn as “Jaws” that made me laugh so hard I snorted at points and so many clear visual influences for the “Austin Powers” and “Kill Bill” that this movie is a snapshot into the DNA of what inspired some of your all-time favorites.  THIS IS THE PERFECT DUMB MOVIE (Streaming on YouTube for $3.99- it was free last week and they just started charging).

“The Forty-Year-Old Version” (2020): A darling of last year’s Sundance, this movie more than piqued my interest with its curious parody title.  Having seen it now, I can confirm it’s not very similar to Steve Carell’s breakout performance other than it’s a nice little breakout feature for writer/director/star Radha Blank.  She stars essentially as a beleaguered herself; a playwright turned drama teacher who had appeared on a “30 under 30” list and didn’t live up to her promise.  This movie shows her getting her creative mojo back switching from writing to rapping (felt a bit like the 2017 “Patti Cake$” but I’ll give this a pass).  It’s a solid commentary on how the need to express one’s self evolves over time; sometimes, simply writing words won’t suffice.  The movie also serves as an excellent satire on modern theater with out of touch white producers who want to put up shows with on the nose statements about gentrification (stay for the climax that Anna E. Paone informed me was a direct parody of “In The Heights”) that cut a bit deeper than the typical “clueless white liberal” archetypes.  There’s a striking rap battle sequence that’s just as fun/bold as anything in “8 Mile” and many visual nods to Spike Lee.  Excited to see what Blank does next because this was A VERY SOLID DEBUT FEATURE (Streaming on Netflix).

“The Personal History of David Copperfield” (2020): It’s pretty wild that in 1800s England, even the homeless had impeccable style.  That was mostly what I got out of this movie.  I love Armando Iannucci (who doesn’t?) and was excited to see his spin on the costume period piece biopic and while it had moments, this rambling, all over the place curiosity wasn’t entirely for me.  To quickly summarize, Copperfield (Dev Patel and younger versions of Dev Patel; Anna joked that Patel only does movies where there are younger actors portraying him) is born and run out of his home by an abusive stepfather, he works at a bottling factory and moves from place to place after that finding love, trouble and successes along the way.  A lot happens and nothing happens at all too.  That’s not to entirely discredit this film though.  The tilt shift lens photography is some of the crispest I’ve ever seen and the segues between scenes are so inventive I rewound a few times to watch them more closely.  There’s a lot to admire and the line “Run!  We’re criminals!” certainly made me lol but this was a tough watch.  TIL, I need a central conflict or my mind wanders.  FOR THOSE THAT ARE SMARTER THAN ME (Streaming on Amazon Prime for $5.99).

“My Dad Wrote A Porno” (2019): My wife and I pretty much sit butt to butt in our apartment working from home in quarantine and I get to hear her giggle constantly.  Whenever I ask what it is she’s larfing at, it’s always “MDWAP.”  Always.  I’ve tried getting into the podcast but I’ve never truly made the leap.  This week, we sat down and watched the gateway HBO special to the podcast.  In it, we hear the three hosts from the UK read a chapter from Rocky Flinstone’s “Belinda Blinked” universe and quip about how bizarrely delightful Flinstone’s writing is.  For what is ostensibly a “porno” he is famous for zeroing in much closer on business and other minutiae that is anything but erotic.  The special is chock full of interactive, bawdy crowd scenes but left a bit to be desired.  As fun as the naughty jokes are, the whole affair could have been a bit more visual than just three friends sitting on couches gabbing.  Hopefully, next time around.  IF SILLY IS YOUR CUP OF TEA, THESE CHEEKY BRIT BITS ARE FOR YOU (Streaming on HBO Max).

“Beer Hall Putsch” (2015): Everyone has that glaring gap in their viewing history.  I find a lot of people have never seen “Star Wars” and are deeply ashamed of it.  For me, it was my limited exposure to Doug Stanhope.  I’m familiar with him (he ran a one-minute stand up competition in Arizona, lives in Bisbee and hosted the bizarro second iteration of “The Man Show” with Rogan) but never actually saw the stand up he’s known for.  So, when YouTube recommended I watch his hour, I agreed with their too smart algorithm.  Clicked into this bootleg special and found myself wowed at Stanhope’s polished yet raw style.  For the first 55 minutes, I was hooked.  Jokes about Toys for Tots, Fun Runs, Occupy Wall Street and an assisted suicide made me gasp at their frankness, willingness to go there and fairly forward thinking ideas.  My only beef was the last five minutes. After building goodwill for nearly all of his special, his anti-Semitic and homophobic bits at the end left me feeling cold.  Somehow, they were surprisingly eaten up by a 2015 Portland audience.  Not sure how I feel about it once he crosses a line and moves to a place of what feels like hatred rather than comedic inspiration but otherwise, this is a very impressive hour of comedy (Streaming on YouTube; link in comments).

Nothing major going on this week for me (is there for anybody anywhere?).  Maybe I’ll get to that old New Year’s resolution early.

Congrats on making it to 2021.  Let’s do it big this year!

Also, happy birthday Anna

Comedy Links:

01.) Rebecca Kaplan’s Medium article: https://medium.com/swlh/the-5-coolest-things-that-happened-after-i-went-viral-on-twitter-30b5bfa2cca8

02.) Mike Szar and Brad Wenzel’s Quiz Me, Dude: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/quiz-me-dude/id1545052154

03.) Doug Stanhope’s Beer Hall Putsch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS49wg9WD2Y

Comedy Stray Notes December 27, 2020

• There are a shocking amount of books written about stand up comedy.  Searching “stand up comedy book” on Amazon yielded 843 results.  From memoirs to oral histories to showbiz satires to entire tomes comprised of interviews with comedians to “how to write joke” guides, you’d think the “talking funny into a microphone” genre of literature would have nothing left to add to the canon.  That’s until Sam Tallent’s darkly comic novel “Running The Light” was released this year and shocked new life into the form.  

Basically, “Running The Light” is like if “The Wrestler” centered on a broken down piece of meat that happened to be a comic playing the road in the Southwest instead of, well, a wrestler.  In 287 gripping pages, Tallent tells the story of washed up former great/former convict Billy Ray Schaefer’s week on the road playing thankless gigs (one such gig had Schaefer literally following a duck in the book’s most acerbic comic set piece), committing minor and major crimes, giving into vices and despite all of the above, still having the chops to work any room at all.  As great as this book is at touching on minor details about performing that feel like secrets only a comic would know, it’s a much richer experience than a superficial story about what it’s like to do gigs on the road.  Oftentimes, I couldn’t believe what I was reading since the writing was so intimate and chock full of details about what life on the road is REALLY like from all the characters you meet along the way to all the lonely thoughts that accompany this chosen life of solitude.

This book is a lot of things.  It’s poetry, it’s a fully realized inner monologue, it’s a nuanced character study of a jaded 50-year-old, it’s funny as hell, it’s dark as hell, it’s dirty as hell, it’s beautifully written, it’s the best portrayal of the highs of performing comedy and the lows of addiction.  This is the most important cautionary tale about what a life in comedy with minor successes could evolve into for anyone who aspires to be a joke slinging troubadour.  There’s a stretch around page 150-160 about what it’s like to be on top of the world as a performer where I couldn’t put the book down.  I’ve read many books this year but my ADD often wouldn’t allow me to read passages straight through like this; I always lost focus and took a look at my phone or became distracted.  Not here.  I couldn’t wait to see what Tallent was going to write next.  Hell, I loved a section where he explained all the minute details of the walls at a local bbq joint Billy Ray dines at.  I counted three separate meanings the title had (not going to spoil any of them either; I’d love to hear what interpretation you come up with yourself).  Not a page went by that wasn’t completely engrossing and Tallent literally made my jaw drop when he inserted my friend Kevin O’Brien into the story halfway through.  I’ve never known a person that was the inspiration for a character in a major work of literature before but now I do. 

This is easily one of the best books about stand up comedy I’ve ever read (sorry “Born Standing Up” by Steve Martin) and I was incredibly sad when I had gotten all the way through it.  Luckily, the day after I finished, Sam serendipitously showed up on WTF.  His interview detailing the Denver comedy scene, his experience as an unrepped new face at JFL and self publishing his debut novel was informative, funny and a nice companion piece or epilogue of sorts to such a grand story.

With all that said, you must read this book.  Even if you’re not “a reader,” this book defies odds and will completely sweep you away.  I can’t recommend it enough.  It feels like “The Great American Novel.”  The link to Sam’s website and his WTF interview can be found in the comments; I implore you to click.

• My wife Anna E. Paone and I wrote, filmed and finished a 49-second video called “Post-Credits Scene” which imagines a post-credits scene for a movie that previously had none.  I spent way too long trying to come up with the gag for this sketch; a post-credits sequence can literally go anywhere since it doesn’t have to be a true extension of the story.  Here, we take “Wizard of Oz” to a place that you might not expect.  I think checking it out is a worthwhile use of your 49 ticks on a clock.  It can be found a long scroll away.

• A few quick shout outs to folks that put things on the web that made me laugh and/or impressed me this week:

- Alex Falcone published a fantastic piece of satire in The Hard Times this week titled “Forlorn Man Sends $18.50 to Ticketmaster Just To Feel Something Again” that almost transcended comedy in how a.) real this feels and b.) how corrupt these fee services are.  The link can be found below and make sure to read until the end to get to Falcone’s perfect, final capper of a joke.

- It seems like there’s been an exceptional output of Grinch parodies this holiday season but none hit harder for me than Dan Yang’s “The Grinch Stops by Joe Rogan” Instagram video.  Intercutting real audio of Rogan with Yang dutifully underplaying the part of The Grinch, it’s a fine skewering of Rogan’s inability to truly listen to his guests and a showcase of what a 2020 Grinch might sound like.

- Not a true comedy shout out but my friend Jordan Chilois’ band K Sofia is on such heavy rotation for when I write that I can’t help but recommend them.  You can find them in a number of places like Spotify or Bandcamp but I actually recommend their YouTube channel the most; there you'll find imaginative videos that accompany songs that bring you back to a time in your life you didn’t know you missed.

• I know you’ve got things to do but I did want to share a few streaming oddities and blockbuster releases I caught this week while sitting on a couch:

“The People Vs. Larry Flynt” (1996): “Man on the Moon” is my all-time favorite biopic.  No question.  I saw it in theaters when I was in fifth grade by myself (honestly not sure how logistically I got into an R-rated movie all alone but this did happen) and used the narrative as the framework for my expository speech sophomore year of high school in speech and debate.  I love everything about the movie but especially its offbeat screenplay with colorful flourishes, and tight direction that never allows the material to get too joke-y or serious.  For years, I’d always wanted to see director Milos Forman and screenwriters’ Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander’s previous collaboration “The People Vs. Larry Flynt” and finally did this week.  It’s actually a bit similar to their latter work as the biopics about forward thinking eccentrics share a number of bit actors, expert pacing and star turns from Courtney Love.  That’s where the comparisons end.  As titillating as this movie is and for all it has to say about freedom of speech, it’s a bit of a standard courtroom drama with the Flynt character fighting desperately to keep his Hustler Magazine afloat.  Don’t get me wrong, scenes with Larry Flynt (played by Woody Harrelson doing his best Woody Harrelson) guiding his kind, naive parents through his mansion are comic gold.  However, these truly inspired moments are scattered throughout.  SEE “MAN ON THE MOON” FIRST (Streaming on Amazon Prime).

“The Comedy Store” (2020): Clocking in at nearly five hours, director Mike Binder set out to make the definitive love letter to one of stand up’s most well-respected institutions (although I’d love to see one of these docs made about The Cellar or a joke one made about a place like The Village Lantern) and he mostly succeeded except that this fairly paint by numbers doc easily could have been three hours instead of five (watching Annie Lederman do man on the street segments toward the end had absolutely nothing to do with The Store).  Rather than dwelling on an unnecessary fourth and fifth episode about “modern day Comedy Store” culture with Joe Rogan (whom you get to see cry here) and Joey Diaz (also, speaking of cancelled comics, they give Louis CK a lot of screen time which is barely commented upon), let’s talk about all the good here.  Man, there is a lot of good.  Tales of Freddie Prinze’s quick rise to stardom and retaliation against John Travolta for taking his crown as the modern “it” celebrity in 1975 are so good, I could hear them repeatedly and never tire of them.  Same goes for JJ Walker recruiting Byron Allen, archive footage of Michael Keaton doing silly bits, Jim Carrey hiding in a piano for three hours during a show just to pay off a gag, debaucherous tales of the wild Sam Kinison, doormen having to work for free for stage time and the stories we’ve all heard about loyalty to Mitzi Shore who famously refused to pay her comics while also sleeping with some of them.  Especially bizarre was hearing that tale recounted by her son, who you might know as Pauly Shore.  Still, my favorite part of this engrossing series (minus its flaws and flagrant centering of director Binder who inserts himself into the story a bit too much) is the light it shines on cult comics that were beloved at the Store but never became household names.  My two favorites were Tim Thomerson and Brian Holtzman.  Had no idea they existed and am now a fan of both.  Also, there’s a great Tatenda Mbudzi cameo.  COME FOR THE STARS, STAY FOR THE HIDDEN GEMS (Streaming on Amazon Prime for $8.99 for the five-part series).

“Soul” (2020): Pixar continues its hot streak of churning out brainy, endlessly entertaining thought experiments disguised as highly visual children’s films.  I didn’t love “Soul” the way I loved “Inside Out” or “Wall E” or even “Onward” but I have nothing but mostly good things to say about this film (I have one minor critique coming at the end of this long paragraph).  For starters, its story about a jazz teacher (Jamie Foxx) who finally is given the creative opportunity of a lifetime to play alongside a legend starts inspiringly enough; when he meets an untimely demise, he’ll do anything he can to get back to Earth even if that means disrupting the entire afterlife universe and ending up with in the “Great Before” with souls not yet attached to a person.  All for a gig.  Eventually, the movie comes to be more than about “a gig” which is the true lesson.  This movie has a lot to say about what makes life worth living and finding your true purpose.  And death.  A montage about all of the best moments of the protagonist’s life made me tear up as most Pixar movies do when they remind us of how precious our time on Earth is.  Moving away from the heady, emotional core of the film, co-writers and co-directors Pete Docter and Kemp Powers keep things light with Foxx’s character mixing it up with Tina Fey who inhabits his body for an amusing stretch taking place all over New York City and perhaps the greatest Knicks joke ever committed to celluloid.  Plus, a perfect scene taking place in a barbershop.  And!  The meshing of surreal, simplistic images for the afterlife contrasted to the photorealistic everyday waking life keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat; up until the last frame, there isn’t a wasted frame of visual language.  Yes, a few of the story devices about “getting the right soul in the right body” drag a bit but you need an artificial conflict in order to keep the stakes high.  ANOTHER HEAVY, UPLIFTING TRIUMPH IN THE PIXAR CANON (Streaming on Disney+).

Ted Knight hosting SNL: I was barely familiar with Ted Knight until Thanksgiving.  I just thought he was an angry guy in “Caddyshack” not knowing of his tenure on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”  This all changed when Anna’s family introduced me to “TMTMS” and I witnessed firsthand what an incredible comedic talent he was; essentially, Knight was the original Ron Burgundy.  When I found out he hosted a Christmas episode of SNL in 1979, I knew I had to watch it with the Paones on Christmas Day.  There’s nothing better than going back to a completely random, not considered “classic” episode of a show to see forgotten sketches you may have missed.  Here, we get a lot of not quite as well known versions of well known recurring characters like the Nerds performing a Nativity scene (which was easily the episode’s highlight), Roseanne Roseannadanna on Weekend Update and Andy Kaufman wrestling a woman alongside Bob Zmuda.  All had slightly stagnant pacing and while Knight tried his damndest, it mostly felt like he was hamming it up for the entirety of the episode rather than disappearing into his roles.  His monologue where he imitated Steve Martin and then revealed he was his father was more surreal than truly funny.  Further, there are a few oddities lost to history in this episode like a sketch about Knight as sexual harasser in the workplace or another where he’s an overzealous grandfather with a penchant for holiday decorations that are not regarded as classics for a reason.  What will stick out most to me was a pre-taped sketch about a building addiction to coffee starring Peter Aykroyd (Dan’s brother) that didn’t have many laughs but was the most fully realized.  Also, the many, many recurring Gary Coleman jokes in between sketches.  They surprised and delighted every time.  I wish the show never stopped doing running gags throughout.

• Two last internet recommendations and that will be all for me for the week:

- The Instagram account @thefunnyintrovert curates Tweets and shares them with 2.6 million followers.  It sounds like this person is taking others’ work and then sharing it for their own gain.  That’s not exactly the case.  This week, this person asked if he could share a Tweet of mine and then introduced my writing to 2.6 million strangers.  It’s honestly pretty generous to use this massive platform to share jokes you’re into with so many.  Basically, he’s like if any of these meme accounts had a soul.  Give this person a follow.  Reach out to them and they just might share your writing for you too.  You can find a direct URL to them in the comments. 

- I like 90s rock just as much as the next average person.  I smile at the nostalgia of hearing a song from my childhood but rarely think about the clever folks that created this ear candy that’s been lodged in my unconscious mind for years.  This past week, my friend Sam Zelitch (one of the best recommenders I know; I recommend his recommendations) suggested I check out Eve6’s exploding Twitter account.  What I found was a hilarious recounting of the writing of their hit “Inside Out,” jocular beefs with other 90s bands like Third Eye Blind and a perfect running gag where they reach out to Radiohead to open for them at Sal’s Oyster Pub.  If jokes about 90s rock get you going, there isn’t a funnier resource for you right now then this account.  It’s linked below.

That’s all for this week and this year.  

See you in 2021!

Comedy Stray Notes Links:

01. ) Sam’s website: https://www.samtallent.com/ and his WTF interview: http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1186-sam-tallent

02.) Anna Paone in “Lost Wizard of Oz Post Credits Scene” sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAGKSQjmgfM&feature=youtu.be

03.) Alex Falcone’s Hard Times piece: https://thehardtimes.net/culture/forlorn-man-sends-18-50-to-ticketmaster-just-to-feel-something-again/?fbclid=IwAR00tDTpdkS8yIAoeTlPVRqGY7A9xFmZ0z9YGCZN4uCkW-xOBM-r9iqEBxQ

04.) Dan Yang’s “Joe Rogan Interviews The Grinch” sketch: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJJjKjtAzaf/

05.) Jordan Chiolis’ K Sofia YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVkzKlR_gDzrH5Yq_GLdNaw 

06.) Thefunnyintrovert’s Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/thefunnyintrovert/ 

07.) eve6’s Twitter account: https://twitter.com/Eve6

Comedy Stray Notes December 20, 2020

• You know how when you see a viral Tweet, you can’t quite explain it?  You’re like, “That’s not funny!  Why aren’t my Tweets or Instagram posts or TikTok videos or Snapchat filters that popular?”  I feel that way all the time.  I had gone BARELY viral on Twitter before and couldn’t explain it then.  1,000 favs here.  2,000 a few times.  4,000 once.  Nothing wild.  Then, this past Monday (a week ago), I innocuously asked Anna Paone, “Is this Tweet anything?”  She said, “Yeah, it’s kind of funny” and I sent it out into the world.  It did fine for an hour or so.  40 favs.  Then 70.  150 a couple hours in.  A nice ego boost.  Then, a few big accounts retweeted it.  Got up to a thousand.  Once it gets to 1,000, my experience has been that it either snowballs a bit and rides a wave of momentum or kind of slowly drifts off the algorithm.  For some weird reason, this one kept going.  By 7 PM that night, I couldn’t even see who liked the Tweet anymore the likes were coming so fast and furious.  I don’t say this to brag- it was honestly weirdly annoying.  People would a.) like the Tweet and b.) like all the accompanying comments and then c.) leave.  All in all, the Tweet ended up getting 79,500 likes.  A sizable number.  A decent margin in a Presidential election even.

Anyway, a few capital letter thoughts about going pretty viral.  A.) People all make the same joke comment on viral Tweets.  In my case, a lot of Michael Scott gifs.  If you want likes, make a joke on a viral Tweet.  People will blindly like it.  Some people got 1000s of likes tagging my joke. B.) You can’t follow everyone that likes your Tweet.  These folks don’t follow you either; I only got about 200 new followers from this Tweet.  You have to follow them first and then hope for the best.  C.) Twitter doesn’t allow you to follow that many people so after awhile you get soft banned so you can’t even capitalize on this platform they just gave you.  It’s a bit disappointing.  You can D.) make a variation of “This is my SoundCloud” but it always feels sad.  Either way, it was nice having 300 or so people check out my YouTube channel.  Even got two (you read that right) subscribers out of it.  Getting people to push the subscribe button to you on YouTube is the hardest thing to pull off on the internet. 

What did I learn?  Have a game plan for when you go viral.  Have the “This is my SoundCloud” joke ready to go and don’t take insults about your joke personally.  After awhile, it doesn’t belong to you anymore.  It belongs to the internet.  If you want to see this Tweet, it’s linked below.

• Dan Fitzpatrick’s Divine Comedy” is one of the top Zoom stand up shows I’ve seen in terms of comedy quality, audience size and structure.  The show is a perfect alchemy of talent, fanbase and efficiency.  So, it was an honor to do the show this past Wednesday.  The show kicked off with a bang as Dan made a joke about Zoom shows that killed me; I lost it when he said, “You know, Richard Pryor made it big doing Zoom shows that all of his parent’s friends came to.”  Perfect bit.  First comic to go up was the very funny Jeremy Pinsly and I was excited to see what he was going to do.  The Zoom spotlight was on him and he proceeded to say he was going to run all of his Hanukkah material since it was the second to last day of the eight-day marathon of a holiday.  I was shocked.  I had actually written a special all-Hanukkah jokes set as well.  This level of parallel thought had never happened to me before.  I debated scratching my jokes that I wrote specifically for this show and just gave in and said to myself that it would be more fun if I just did the bits even if they were somewhat similar.  At the very least, it would make for a memorable show.  Well, that was generous.  My jokes fell a little flat (sample: Zoom Hanukkah is the festival of ring lights) but I’m glad I stuck to my guns and was glad when the whole thing was over and I could give the floor to the headliner, the always funny Subhah Agarwal.  She riffed on how in the age of Zoom shows, comics tell jokes about their parents and then follow it up with, “You know I’m kidding, Mom and Dad” because they’re at the show.  For my Hanukkah set, I was very guilty of this.  Either way, incredibly fun show and it’s nice to know that no matter how many times you do comedy, something entirely new can happen.

• Got to guest on my pal Franklin Miller’s “Franco’s World” podcast last week and he was generous enough to allow me to adapt the format of the show into something entirely different.  He said, “We can do whatever you want to do.”  I asked, “Do you mind if I demonstrate what a comedy therapy session is like?”  He was game.  So, for a little over an hour, I treated this episode a bit like a comedy therapy session so folks could get an idea of what I actually do in these comedy therapy sessions.  We talk about his writing process, what material is most important to him and how to obtain his career goals.  It’s a nice showcase of Franklin’s talents and ability to answer tough questions on the fly; I’m just there to help facilitate the funny as best I can.  If you listen to the podcast (which can be found in the links) and this is something you want to do, let me know.  I would love to set up a session with you to ring in the new year.  Let’s figure out how you can own 2021 even if you can’t perform live indoors.

• I believe the old saying goes, “Content creators be creating.”  I saw so many great things on the web by my friends who happen to be content creators this week.  Here’s just a few: 

- The eight-episode web series “Not From Around Here” produced by Shannon Dee and Kenneth Rosendo dropped this week and I can’t recommend it enough.  The show is about a group of three roommates in LA who happen to originally be from Jupiter, Mercury and...New Jersey.  Each of the ten-minute episodes feel like they’re part of a larger universe where aliens walk amongst humans and it’s almost normal.  I loved every episode and was actually tapped to write a profile about the series.  I’m going to share a quick excerpt from the profile that also serves as a recommendation for my favorite episode in the series: 

Best of all, there’s a brief bottle episode ironically titled “This Sucks” that chooses to highlight physical comedy instead of the rapid fire verbal tit for tat culminating in a silent film romance between Dee’s android character Eve 2.0 and a roomba that is equal parts Buster Keaton and Wall•E. It was so funny and heartfelt, I didn’t watch it two times. I watched it three times.

If you want to read the whole profile that links to the series, you’ll find that link down below.

- As a longtime fan of Jordan Scott Huggins, I anxiously awaited the drop of Bop or Flop, his new podcast.  The premise is irresistible.   Huggins and his co-host Spencer Bland dub Billboard’s Top Ten Singles from random weeks in history as either “Bops” or “Flops.”  For their first episode, they covered Jordan’s birth week which fell in November 1988.  The episode that follows is a true trip down nostalgia lane.  There are songs you barely remember like Kylie Minogue covers and many others you had no idea existed.  For that alone, the pod is a bop.  What takes it to the next level is hearing Huggins and Bland’s back and forth patter about how they feel about songs from the past and how their opinions differed from my own.  For example, they loved the Chicago track they heard (I was meh on it), were lukewarm on Duran Duran (I felt that) and were downright angry at other tracks.  I had no idea there was so much “lounge-y” music at the top of the charts in the late 80s but I learned that in this episode.  These two have a gift for gushing about formerly popular music and if this sounds like your thing you can find a link to their pod below.

- Mastering an impression is damn near impossible.  You can do it based on instinct but it’s not the same as actually being a virtuoso that actually transforms into the subject of their impression.  That’s where this video from Steve Cohen and Jordan Yanco comes in.  In nine minutes, dialect coach Yanco walks Steve from wanting to do a Bernie Sanders impression to Steve fully becoming Bernie.  He instructs on what syllables to emphasize and how to jut out your jaw all they way down to the proper physicality.  I can’t believe they put this online for free; this type of workshop is worth $150.00.  Lorne Michaels, you ought to hire both of these guys- Yanco to teach and Cohen to do Bernie.  If this sounds like your thing, I’ve got a video down below just for you.

- Just wanted to share that Misha Han has an all-time great Twitter.  If you like jokes like his recent, “I dated a nurse that was terrible at texting me back. Not much of a “first responder” if you ask me,” you’re gonna love following him.  Alternating between silly and satire, he’s got a great account worthy of popping to the top of your algorithm.  Link to follow Misha can be found in the comments where you expect it.

• Huge week for good stuff to watch.  So good, in fact, that I’m a day late with this release.  I had too much good stuff to see.  Here it all is.

Season Four of “Big Mouth” (2020): A simple blurb will not do how incredibly good this season of television is.  Just like “The Simpsons” peaked in Season Four, this show all about puberty has found a similar stride.  Starting with a shaky premiere episode at camp (although the recapping of Season Three to start the festivities was an inventive way to make a retread entertaining), the season picks up dramatically and comedically in Episode Two and never lets up from there.  Seth Rogen makes an appearance as a camp friend to the show’s leads that is a nice nod to his arc on “Freaks and Geeks,” Patti Harrison mines her transitioning story for laughs and pathos and on top of that, Episode Two closes with one of the most brilliant poop gags of all time.  So good it felt like it was written by Simon Rich, who I think may be the best living humor writer, pound for pound.  That’s barely scratching the surface though.  We see the evolution of the Missy character embracing her race, an episode that takes place entirely in the future chock full of Martin Shkreli jokes (a nice homage to “Futurama” and “The Simpsons” episode where Lisa becomes President) and another that was four vignettes about...hand stuff.  It was...touching.  The sequence with Andrew’s grandfather might be the funniest thing you’ll see on a TV all year.  THIS IS TV’S BEST COMEDY (Streaming on Netflix).

“Sound of Metal” (2020): Every time I listen to my headphones a little too loud, I get anxious that I may go deaf.  It’s probably an irrational fear but one made all the more visceral in this phenomenal character study.  Ruben, played with ferocious vulnerability by Riz Ahmed, is a drummer for a sonically heavy band, when all of a sudden his hearing goes.  Not all at once.  There are sounds but every noise is like a Rorschach test; Ruben has to interpret what it is.  Before he knows it, his perfect life making music and traveling the country in an RV is taken away from him.  His girlfriend leaves him at a home for the deaf and what follows should be your standard issue, beat by beat movie of the week style film.  Yeah, the movie does kind of follow that format- Ahmed’s character is an addict, he lashes out, he finds his way.  This movie is anything but conventionally made though.  The unknown actors alongside Ahmed all deliver lived in performances and the sound design alone demonstrating what the different stages of deafness are is the most visceral thing I’ve heard in a movie all year.  Just the idea of this type of hearing loss made me tear up while watching.  Hate to be hyperbolic after saying “Big Mouth” was the show of the year, but this could easily be the movie of the year.  Also, of note, Anna and I have a little inside joke where we sing Meatloaf’s, “I would do anything for love but I won’t do that.”  This movie, if you see it, ends up making the same exact joke we always make.  It’s about eight minutes in.  Once they made that joke, I was hooked.  THIS IS A MUST SEE AND HEAR (Streaming on Amazon Prime).

“Scare Me” (2020): One of the best get rich quick secrets to quick success in Hollywood is the one-location horror movie.  Rarely do these movies end up being funny though; they’re usually interested in just scares.  Josh Ruben’s directorial debut is a bit more interested in using the one-location horror film to Trojan Horse a pretty nifty comedy film into the world.  Smartly done.  In this flick, Ruben and Aya Cash (you may recognize her from “The Boys”) are writers who both head to solitary cabins to get away from it all and find time to put pen to paper or clack away at a keyboard.  After a great opening sequence featuring an eager Uber driver who drops Ruben off, his character meets the more successful Cash.  They end up finding themselves in a battle of wits trying to one-up each other with scary stories that are edited in such a way that show you don’t need tons of money thrown at a project to make it entertaining; just great performances and world class sound design.  Just as soon as the premise wears thin, the film introduces Chris Redd and it all leads to multiple satisfying endings.  AN EXCELLENT ADDITION TO THE HORROR-COMEDY CANON (Streaming on Amazon Prime for $3.99).

“Mank” (2020): I was genuinely surprised to see so many lukewarm reviews for this film.  The trailer looked like a slam dunk ode to Old Hollywood and unconventional biopics (especially about the man who essentially reinvented the biopic) usually work like gangbusters.  So, I went into this Fincher flick with low expectations.  Man, that was the way to do it.  I ended up loving this thing.  Smoky cinematography, a charming Gary Oldman and amazing period detail (not only production design; I’m talking more about how Hollywood Elites reacted to Hitler right before he really assumed power are all just a few elements of what made this so special.  If you’re not sure about this movie, it’s the tale of Herman Mankiewicz AKA the man who allegedly really wrote “Citizen Kane” and based it on William Randolph Hearst.  The movie touches on what it’s like to work for someone younger than you and creative ownership in a way that still feels resonant 80 years after the film’s story took place.  What gives it an extra air of intrigue is that Fincher’s deceased Father wrote the screenplay.  Really hoping he wins an Academy Award just like Mank did.  Also, wanted to point out two oddities in the film- Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Fincher’s in-house composers) recorded a jaunty, bouncy and evocative 30s score as opposed to their steely, electronic work that totally works and Bill Nye THE SCIENCE GUY makes an extended cameo as Upton Sinclair.  WAY BETTER THAN THE CRITICS ARE SAYING (Streaming on Netflix).

“SNLPodcast” with Luke Null: One of my all-time great fascinations are people that made it in comedy but then it all disappears.  Folks that last just a single season specifically.  There’s so many interesting ones.  Gilbert Gottfried.  Ben Stiller.  Jenny Slate.  Also, Luke Null.  You might remember the name.  He was on the show a few years ago and billed as a “musical comedian.”  Not once in his season did the show allow him to do a musical bit.  It ended up being a baffling hire.  In this 40-minute podcast (with fairly poor audio quality), Null spills all about his season.  The most interesting tidbits were that he was hired to essentially be the “bad boy” on the show as he demonstrated in his “I couldn’t care less” audition but once he got there, he buttoned up and the show put him on the back burner.  SNL wants rebels was the lesson there.  Also, of note, the podcast goes into great detail about a cut sketch of Null’s that played extremely well at dress BUT said sketch was stuffed in the classic first episode that Mulaney hosted so it was cut at dress.  If you’re an SNL nerd at all, this short pod will scratch an itch about the show’s history you didn’t know you had. 

“You Made It Weird” with Tim Ferris: This was a bit of a mashup of stuff my brother and I like; he’s into Tim Ferriss philosophy and I listen to Pete Holmes run bits for hours at a time.  I was interested to see if these two would get along and what they would discuss.  For awhile, the two of them didn’t take off.  In this 2.5 hour episode, the only story that stood out to me was how the fire department came to Ferriss’ home in the middle of the night because he followed his own advice and put his phone on airplane mode.  However, in the second half, he talked about an ayahuasca trip that preceded a silent retreat that brought out repressed memories in a way he could have never expected.  The show became surprisingly moving.  Some conversations just need an hour to warm up.  For most of this edition, Ferriss is a bit more practical than charismatic making for one of the duller installments in the show’s history but there are nuggets of raw wisdom here if you stick around.

SNL with Kristen Wiig: Never understood why SNL needed to do essentially three Christmas shows back to back every December; it’s just an overload of Christmas it seems.  I might just be cynical but all the episodes tend to feel the same.  For the three Christmas-ish episodes from the past three Saturdays (Jason Bateman, Timothee Chalamet and now Kristen Wiig), this was by far the weakest.  The show relied heavily on Wiig’s recurring characters (Secret Password with a contestant who always says the password, woman who is always surprised) where the bit doesn’t quite escalate more than it just exists.  Either you’re onboard for it or you shrug and patiently wait five minutes for whatever’s next.  Luckily, there were a few winners embedded in this 90-minute variety show.  I was a fan of the “Mom Christmas Gift” sketch (although it reminded me quite a bit of the CVS Valentine’s Day sketch from a few years back) and the parody sequel to “A Teacher” was a nice spin on how silly that show’s premise is.  On top of that, not a bad showcase for underused cast members Ego Nwodim and Andrew Dismukes.  What will be most remembered from this episode though is Alex Moffatt’s debut as Joe Biden (I was really hoping Kyle Mooney would bring his awkward energy to the role of President but this is a decent settle I guess) and the tit for tat joke sparring at the end of Weekend Update where Che wrote jokes for Jost to tell and vice versa.  It’s one of the few times the show insists on refusing to play it safe and Jost’s Scarlett Johansson burn instantly became a classic.

• Finally, I just wanted to point out that there are so many great articles about comedy on the web if you’re hankering for more comedy journalism covering what’s going on in the world.  Special recommendations of pieces I’ve read recently are Alan Siegel’s “Tragedy Plus Time” about comedy in the Trump era for The Ringer, Jason Zinoman’s dissection of Carmen Lynch’s virality on TikTok in The New York Times, Brian Boone’s Top Ten Comedy Books of the Year for Vulture, Dennis Perkins’ cantankerous AVClub reviews of SNL and Zach Broussard’s list of Top 250 Comedians of 2020 (formerly 1000 comedians but shortened to operate at “25% capacity for CDC guidelines”) which gets funnier every year.

No comedy planned for the week.  Just some good old fashioned celebrating around a tree.

Egg nog life

Comedy Stray Note Links

01.) Super viral Tweet: https://twitter.com/MattLevy51/status/1338483818999713796

02.) Franco’s World Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/francos-world/id1469885794#episodeGuid=ed6a5726-8ab7-433f-97be-e92e59919e6e

03.) Not From Around Here: https://aprofileaboutyou.medium.com/not-from-around-here-shows-you-a-whole-new-world-8075e093f79c

04.) Bop Or Flop: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bop-or-flop-pod/id1543762556#episodeGuid=https://boporflop.podomatic.com/entry/2020-12-14T18_51_28-08_00

05.) Steve Cohen and Jordan Yanco: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LYqzy0uZ7k&list=PL_vsv3om9FiAhFqo0sUqLcIvCfi-T29Ms&ab_channel=StevenBusinessCohen

06.) Misha Han Twitter: https://twitter.com/himishahan

07.) Luke Null podcast: https://snlpodcast.com/episodes/2019/11/17/interview-luke-null

08.) You Made It Weird with Tim Ferriss: http://youmadeitweird.nerdistind.libsynpro.com/tim-ferriss

09.) Alan Siegel’s “Comedy In The Trump Era” Ringer article: https://www.theringer.com/tv/2020/12/15/22174371/trump-era-comedy-in-review-snl-impressions

10.) Jason Zinoman’s Carmen Lynch TikTok article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/arts/television/tiktok-carmen-lynch.html

11.) Brian Boone’s Ten Best Comedy Books of 2020: https://www.vulture.com/article/best-comedy-books-2020.html

12.) Dennis Perkins’ AVClub Reviews: https://tv.avclub.com/kristen-wiig-closes-out-saturday-night-lives-2020-with-1845921502

13.) Zach Broussard’s 250 Best Comedians of 2020: https://www.top1000comedians.com/2020

Comedy Stray Notes December 13, 2020

• I’ve always been a huge fan of performing on homework comedy shows.  For those not familiar with this concept, a homework show is when you have to perform anything other than your regular act.  The two most common shows where you have to generate new material are typically roast battles and storytelling shows.  I actually had never been asked to do a storytelling show before this week and was always a bit intimidated by the concept.  With standup, you can hide behind jokes.  With storytelling, you need to have a compelling enough story about your life to hold an audience’s attention for eight minutes.  As soon as showrunner Joey Rinaldi told me the concept behind this week’s show broadcast on Twitch was “Bad Decisions,” I knew exactly what story I was going to tell.  I won’t tell you exactly what story I told (because it’s linked below and I think worth a watch) but I really leaned into the homework aspect of the show and tried to not only try to tell the story but punch it up with jokes so it was more than just a story.  I wanted to make it a performance.  I tried to integrate interesting Zoom backgrounds with actual photos from the story to enhance the experience.  I’m starting to love Zoom more and more.  It’s a young medium and you can do so many creative things with your frame.  Every Zoom set is an opportunity to do something that’s never been done in comedy.

• Quick shouts to folks doing unique things in comedy this week that also made me laugh:

- Seattle comic Taylor Clark just dropped a very funny album called “Addictive Tickle” that is more than worth a listen.  What sets Clark apart though is he really leans into his character of an adult skateboarder (which is also his authentic self).  This is a character we all know but for some reason hasn’t been lampooned much.  Clark saw the opening and owned it; he put a clip from his album about his status as an elderly skatesman on Instagram and it rightfully went viral.  See the popular clip and check out the album in the links.

- Comedy trio Danny Vega, Ronnie Fleming and Lucas Connolly regularly release fantastic absurd sketches and this week, their short “Coming Out As A Eunuch” really made me laugh.  They mine jokes about eunuchs for all their worth and build to a surprising conclusion in under 100 seconds (it’s 97 seconds long).  Definitely worth checking out the link in the comments if I do say so myself.

- It’s always exciting to scroll Facebook and see what project Matt Vita is up to.  He’s the rare comic that seems to say “Yes” to anything and everything; there is no comfort zone for him.  He’ll try anything.  That’s the true comic spirit; to always be down and insert your brand of funny into something.  This week, Matt made an appearance in a hysterical sketch called “GoPro at Home” that blew me away with its simple concept and effective execution of what an extreme activity is in 2020.  1000% worth watching if you have two minutes.  Link is pretty close.  You might as well give it a look.

- New York comedy’s most underrated Twitter belongs to Joe Pontillo.  He regularly drops unassuming opinions on The Mets, observations about the comedy scene and sharp jokes about current events with regularity.  Easily one of my most quality follows and deserving of your follow as well.  You can find his handle in the comments.

• This was honestly a fantastic week for streaming for me.  Let’s be honest.  Every week is a great week for streaming for me.  I never have a bad week in that regard.  Either way, this one was particularly good and I’m excited to recommend these forms of media to you if you’re a.) looking for something new or b.) already seen these and can’t wait to tell me how wrong I am about my thoughts.  OK, here goes:

Natalie Palamides’ “Nate” (2020): I watch so much comedy.  Nonstop.  Every day for probably 25 years now (became obsessed with it around seven which is probably too early).  Still, I’ve never truly seen anything like this and I want everyone who watches the special to go in as blind to the experience as they can be so they can experience this in a pure way.  Essentially, this hour special is what Andy Kaufman would have done if he had a heart and didn’t exist merely to infuriate.  This is a live wire act all done in character as the titular “Nate” and full of audience participation that lends itself to a “Choose Your Own Adventure” narrative that always led to a shocking and beautiful conclusion.  I’m surprised more people aren’t talking about this because it’s an INSTANT COMEDY CLASSIC (Streaming on Netflix).

Sam Morril’s “Up On The Roof” (2020): I can’t speak for comedy scenes all over America or the rest of the world but the New York scene has been kept afloat by shows mainly in parks and rooftops.  Morril, who self released a special earlier this year, decided to pull a Taylor Swift and put out a second one of all the different rooftops he performed on these past few months.  It’s amazing to see how much material he amassed in just a few months.  A bit looser than his previous special, some of the jokes here are timely critiques of the Election but there’s also evergreen material about calls being marked “spam” that is a perfect chunk and a closer about the gig he played alongside a magician the week after he got “Conan” that is equal parts humbling and hysterical.  Stay until the bitter end to see Morril get roasted by a dude serving him a slice of pizza.  EASY WATCH; THIS ONE BREEZES BY (Streaming on YouTube; link is in the comments).

“Dick Johnson Is Dead” (2020): The trailer for this film stunned me.  It’s the rare imaginative documentary that doesn’t just point and shoot its subjects.  No, director Kirsten Johnson does something wholly new envisioning a love letter to her declining father.  Here she envisions all the ways he might die and then executes them with Dick Johnson playing himself aided by stuntmen.  There really is so much going on in this film though; it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.  There’s the behind the scenes aspect of the affair where Johnson shows us her process and how they pulled these acts off, there’s the intimate portrait of a man who doesn’t want to be the star of a documentary but is it doing it simply for his daughter (I can’t say I’d want my child to make this raw a portrait of me; she shows her Dad’s stubby toes he’s been embarrassed about his whole life to the world), there’s surreal visions of Heaven complete with chocolate cake and professional dancers and finally there’s the portrayal of elderly life we so rarely see.  The sexually active seniors, the close friends crying at funerals, the waking up in middle of the night thinking you’re going to work.  This thing is visceral, tragic and life affirming all at once.  I HONESTLY LAUGHED AND CRIED (Streaming on Netflix).

“What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael” (2020): Kael was a tough cookie.  I love reading her reviews but after reading 20 of them I never have any idea what her criteria for what makes a good film.  She’s the rare critic that never fails to surprise and evoke emotion out of a reader.  Thus, I was very excited to see this documentary and get a slightly better idea of what made her tick and maybe gain a more sophisticated understanding of her tastes.  Well, I learned quite a bit about her life story (she’s a bit of a failed filmmaker herself, worked with her daughter and was discovered arguing about movies in a coffee shop, directors hated her because her reviews were personal and didn’t follow the status quo) but I still have no idea why she likes what she likes.  I’m fine with this.  This is a sharply made documentary with amazing archive footage to accompany voiceovers of her reviews of various films like “Star Wars,” “The Godfather” and a scathing review of “Stardust Memories” which is one of my favorites.  IF YOU CONSIDER CRITICISM AN ART FORM, WATCH THIS TO PAY RESPECTS TO ONE OF THE ALL-TIME GREATS (Streaming on Amazon Prime).

SNL with Timothee Chalamet and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:  Expectations were low this week.  As a massive SNL fan, in seasons past, the episode before the true Christmas episode is a low key affair.  In fact, I used to tell people to go the episode that fell before the Christmas episode because it’s typically low profile.  Not this week.  Timothee and the Boss.  Perfect for your kid brother or your uncle.  Still, I came in with low expectations.  Had a feeling that the writing staff would write sketches that would appeal to Chalamet’s young fanbase.  Man, was I glad to have my expectations wildly exceeded.  From the rare brief Cold Open with Kate McKinnon absolutely owning the Fauci impression (“The goal is that COVID is so far gone that I’m no longer famous”) to the brilliant satire of “The Ronas,” a sitcom send up of a bickering family made up of COVID people (kind of Coneheads-like) with a rebellious son who chugs Purell the show was off to a fast start.  This became an early contender for sketch of the year.   There was more.  The earnest and touching “Tiny Horse” felt like something from an entirely different program; it’s the rare sketch that the more you think about it, the funnier it becomes.  Finally, Pete Davidson and Chalamet as TikTok rappers who spout off nonsense like “YEET” and Jets fans who can’t come to terms with the team’s losing had me laughing way too hard at the end of the show.  The rest of the episode had familiar beats like a product placement sketch featuring a Lexus where, not to brag, I called the game of the sketch before it happened (the family couldn’t afford the vehicle; felt like a genius for a second) but it still worked and a recurring Food Network bakeoff where the big reveal is a mind bendingly disgusting cake.  Always fun but you know just where it’s headed.  Also, for comedy nerds, it’s nice to see Max Weinberg playing in the E Street Band.  It takes you right back to 90s Conan to see his deadpan face drumming away in the background.

“Take Your Shoes Off” with Rick Glassman: I do not take Sam Zelitch podcast recommendations lightly.  No one I know is more in tune with what is quality in the audio entertainment world.  This week, he suggested I check out Rick Glassman’s “Take Your Shoes Off” and I’m extremely glad I did.  Dove into Episode #75 featuring comedy stalwart Beth Stelling where they shared valuable nuggets of advice like comics shouldn’t feel awkward having to take time out of conversations to write down funny thoughts so they aren’t burdened with remembering them. More than that, this is a podcast that doesn’t focus solely on auditory pleasures; it’s also a visual medium.  Glassman uses quirky editing tricks like putting images of words that were just said onscreen and cutting to what appeared to be a fake rug commercial anytime it felt remotely appropriate or inappropriate.   Coupled with emotional honesty in the conversation that these two shared, this is the rare podcast that doesn’t take itself too seriously (a fly got into Glassman’s smoothie and they spent a good few minutes going on a tangent about this) while also having a bit of weight behind it.  Looking forward to exploring this world more.

• The only noteworthy events on my calendar this week are actually taking place at exactly the same time.  On Wednesday at 8 PM, I’m booked on Dan Fitzpatrick’s exquisite Divine Comedy Show (comment linked below) and Anna Paone and Catherine LaMoreaux are putting on a reading of Tommy Wiseau’s magnum opus “The Room” for Dragonfly (also linked below).  

Congrats on getting this far.  Sorry for all the links below

Comedy Stray Notes Links For You:

01.) Story Night featuring me (playhead starts at my set) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/832930924?t=1h28m57s 

02.) Taylor Clark’s “Addictive Tickle” clip https://www.instagram.com/p/CIRNWQKAFCN/ and album https://taylorclarkcomedy.bandcamp.com/album/addictive-tickle 

03.)”Coming Out As a Eunuch” by Danny Vega, Ronnie Fleming and Lucas Connolly: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIlHy6FA6oW/

04.) Matt Vita’s GoPro Sketch: https://www.facebook.com/jojitsu99/videos/10108253297128251 

05.) Joe Pontillo’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoePontillo 

05.) Sam Morril “Up On The Roof” Special: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0qDTYmaT-Y

06.) Rick Glassman’s “Take Your Shoes Off” with Beth Stelling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnAEMAc3X50

07.) Dan Fitzpatrick’s Divine Comedy: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85238213895 (Wednesday at 8 PM EST)

08.) Anna Paone and Catherine LaMoreaux’s “The Room” Reading: https://www.facebook.com/events/410784266709403/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A%2229%22%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3A%22plan_user_invited%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&notif_id=1607913475892240&notif_t=plan_user_invited&ref=notif

Comedy Stray Notes December 6, 2020

• Back at my childhood home, we have a book in our bathroom by one of the greatest hitting coaches in baseball history, Charlie Lau.  I leafed through it many times as a kid.  I wasn’t so interested in how to become a better batter; I was more intrigued by Lau’s arc.

He never quite made it as a player; he didn’t have the ability barely sipping a cup of coffee in the big leagues.  However, Charlie did have the ability to recognize what made a great batter with concrete philosophies and practices.  As I’ve aged into my 30s, I’ve begun to think of myself as a “Comedy Charlie Lau” (not that I’m all that great a coach) with this new comedy therapy gig I’ve thrust upon myself (I’m not a licensed therapist for the record!).  Simply talking about the actual comedy writing process with my “clients” over the past few months, I’ve started to develop pretentious philosophies about the recipe for developing great material.  I could tell you all of them here but that would make me a pretty poor salesman.  You know those YouTube ads where they’re like, “Do you want to lose that extra belly fat?” and you’re like, “Yes, I do!” and then you click into their site and you have to sign up for it and it seems like a bigger hassle than it is?  This is kind of like that but all you have to do is message me.  I want to talk about your material and career at length.  Let me be your therapist/manager or get 12 open mics worth of material in on an eager and willing audience member.  There is a tiny price but if you hate our session or think it didn’t accomplish anything, I won’t charge you.  Scout’s honor (well, cub scout’s honor.  I stopped after fourth grade to get into baseball.  That’s when I began reading Charlie Lau books.  We’ve come full circle).  

• The only constant I’ve had in my life since that fateful March day where the world effectively shut down is that Dragonfly Multicultural Arts Center puts on a weekly show.  Sometimes, they’re readings of radio shows of yesteryear, others are renditions of popular sitcoms but my favorite are their showcases of original works by emerging playwrights.  This week, the emerging writer was none other than Dragonfly co-founder Catherine LaMoreaux (the other co-founder is the talented Anna E. Paone) who presented “We Love Our Town,” a satirical examination of all the baggage that comes with being in a community Facebook group.  There’s name calling, punches are pulled, sides are taken and moderators do everything in their power to keep things in check.  If you’ve ever want to see the internet come to life, check out the comments section below for a link that will take you to a reading of the comments come to life.   

• We’re a few short weeks away from a vaccine; now is the time to stay inside and catch up with as much content as you can before we all feel socially obligated to be inside again.  With that in mind, I recommend using your time inside to stream Nick Hopping’s excellent, tight new half hour “Giraffe In The Shed.”  The 31-minute special takes place in Hopping’s backyard and is an amazing showcase of his writerly talents.  A few standout jokes covered what it was like to be a.) a shy kid b.) own a tortoise  and c.) have sad nipples.  Stay for the end too; Nick’s act out of baby crying like an adult is laugh out loud funny.  The link is in the comments and it’s free to watch.  That’s a steal.

• One of my favorite things in comedy is seeing a little group of like-minded performers become a collective.  In this case, I’m talking about the formation of Mark Heneley and Ben Miller’s Bomb Cypher; they’re quickly turning into New York comedy’s Wu Tang.  In their Bomb Cypher series, Mark and Ben form a semicircle of comics with bravado in front of a pillar somewhere in Jersey City and the comics proceed to spit jokes instead of rhymes.  I love it; we get to see all the highlights of their sets and this format gives the joke life.  Not only are we watching the performer but we get to see the reactions of comics standing behind the performer supporting their bits.  The most recent edition features choice cuts from Andrew Harms, Farooq Hussain, Joe Gorman and then the king Bobby Sheehan comes on to close the thing out in spectacular fashion.  The link is in the comments and more than worth your five minutes.

• Not a huge week for watching movies and TV this week; don’t worry though.  I still have a little bit for you here.

“Time” (2020): This documentary showed up on a number of “Best Movie” lists and I’m a sucker for “Best Movie” lists.  The story the filmmakers tell here is simple yet tragic.  A man (Robert G. Richardson) is incarcerated for a bank robbery for 60 years.  We see the toll this takes on his family made up of an incredibly supportive wife (the magnetic Sibil Fox Richardson AKA Fox Rich) and his two children who wait patiently for his release.  This arrest informs their entire life from Sibil’s budding activism to her children’s debate careers.  They want to make sure no one else has to go through something this horrible.  It’s by no means a comedy but a portrait of how unjust our prison system can be.  Another one where you need to stay until the end; I haven’t seen a moment in a film that was this cathartic all year.   (Streaming on Amazon Prime).

SNL hosted by Jason Bateman with musical guest Morgan Wallen: Fresh off a month-long break, SNL finally delivered an episode that felt at ease with itself.  It felt as if there were no expectations that everyone was watching because the election is long from over.  The stakes were lower and the show could just...be itself again.  As a result, this was easily my favorite of the season thus far.  Right out of the gate, Bateman brought an assured, relaxed presence to the show as a host with a monologue that detailed how a monkey almost ripped his face off at the goodnights fifteen years prior when he last hosted the show.  They showed archive footage and follow up the story with great jokes about the fate of said chimpanzee.  My only issue is they didn’t come through and bring the monkey back for goodnights tonight.  

The actual sketches in the rest of the show were also of a higher caliber than in past episodes.  There was one though that stood out in particular for me.  That would be Kyle Mooney’s “Bits” about the friend that just can’t keep up in a group of funny friends.  Mooney regularly gives a voice to the person inside all of us that so desperately wants to fit in that we adopt others’ speaking style and fall completely flat on our faces.  SNL isn’t a perfect fit for his talents but this sketch rivals anything he did with Good Neighbor Stuff prior to his SNL tenure.  

I also really liked Pete Davidson’s 18 years too late take on “Stan” where his “Stu” pines after a PS5 from Santa instead of Eminem’s admiration (gotta be honest, Chris Parnell is a far superior rapper though in terms of SNL’s all-time greatest rhymesman).  The commitment to the bit was admirable and McKinnon’s Dido was a standout in an episode of small standout moments.  

Honorable mentions go to SNL calling out that Morgan Wallen was asked not to do the show mid-October when he was spotted not wearing a mask and now a.) bringing him back while b.) mocking him mercilessly in a sketch about how much of a mistake he made.  The only thing about this sketch that makes my skin crawl is SNL is making fun of anti-maskers while doing a show with performers who aren’t wearing masks.  It’s a fine line to walk on and they feel like the preachy friend that says, “Oh, my God.  I can’t believe people aren’t wearing masks while also not wearing a mask” oblivious to what they just said.  Adding to that, there was a sketch about how folks shouldn’t travel for Christmas to see their families.  Good idea, yes.  A bit unfair to say that while getting a large group of folks together in a building to perform a sketch comedy show helmed by a man in his mid-70s.

• If you’re a film nerd and looking for avenues to go down while you’re on the web, I highly recommend the following:

Carson Reeves’ Scriptshadow:  I’ve been a loyal reader of Carson’s newsletter for years where he takes on emerging screenwriting trends, Hollywood news, shares tips (the best I’ve ever read was “Every ten pages you write should be better than the last ten you wrote.”  Imagine if every movie followed this rule and just kept getting better and better) and then reviews a hot, new screenplay at the end.  Every time it shows up in my inbox, it feels like a treat has arrived.  His site is just as fun and is linked below if this sounds like your kind of thing.

Hats Off Entertainment’s YouTube Channel: Sometimes, the YouTube algorithm knows you so well, they push and recommend a creator on you so often that you break down and finally give them a chance.  In this case, I’m so glad I started watching this channel’s videos.  The first one I saw was a 17-minute video essay about the “Planes, Trains and Automobile’s” three-hour shooting script and what the movie could have been.  Then, a piece on the famous flop “The Chevy Chase Show” with footage showing us why the show was actually so bad.  Others include the failed “Uncle Buck” sitcom and the Geico “Cavemen” sitcom (I had no idea Nick Kroll was one of the leads).  As a film and comedy nerd, you always read about these stories but to actually see why they didn’t work is far more fascinating.  This channel does the work for you and succinctly.  

• Slow week in my neighborhood coming up.  I am booked for Comedy Therapy Sessions every day except Saturday (if you’re interested, let me know) and I’m going to be doing a set on Joey Rinaldi’s Zoom/Twitch storytelling show about “Bad Decisions” on Thursday.  I’ve been looking forward to it for a month.

See you on the timeline next week

The links:

01.) We Love Our Town: https://www.facebook.com/DragonflyMulticulturalArts/videos/200548051605933

02.) Nick Hopping’s “Giraffe In The Shed:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhBi2jL0fxo

03.) Bomb Mode Cypher Vol. 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Z5Olwg2Ls&feature=youtu.be

04.) Scriptshadow: http://scriptshadow.net/

05.) Hats Off Entertainment: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCay-jgoQFnEFsJ8GD6fjzQ

Comedy Stray Notes November 29, 2020

• At the outset of 2020, I had one New Year’s resolution.  Make 12 sketches.  I’m proud to say I have achieved that goal (1. “Winter Symphony” 2. “What A Honeymoon Cruise Is Really Like” 3. “There’s A Twist You Won’t See Coming In This” 4. “Quarantine Comedy Club Audition” 5. “Joke Police” 6. “Lord of the Sighs” 7. “Potluck: The Film” 8. “The Untold History of Southwest’s Hold Music” 9. “At Home With A Guy From Anonymous” 10. “100 Movies To See Before You Poop” 11. “A Comedian Goes To Sleep” and 12. “When Your Wife Leaves The Apartment” if you’re an OCD completist like myself).  It’s the first time I’ve ever set a concrete resolution and actually followed through on it.  Some of the sketches are A+’s in my book (#’s 12, 6, 9 and 2 are the best), a few are solid B’s (#’s 5, 3, 10, 4) and the rest are average C’s which I blame myself for (#’s 1, 8, 11, 7).  

However, I think the most recent one is the best by far no question (this is definitely recency bias and I felt this way about all of them; well, except for #’s 7, 8 and 11).  

Coming in at a scant 3:04 and using copyrighted music from Ty Dolla $ign (which makes it so you cannot watch this short sketch in Cuba, Syria and North Korea- this is all real), “When Your Wife Leaves The Apartment” was quite the wild ride to make for something I shot in my apartment.  

First of all, I shot the sketch and it didn’t land.  The premise was softer in the first cut and there was no real joke to it.  I cut the piece and knew something was off.  That day, I forced myself to rewrite the sketch (something I’ve never done before out of pure laziness).  Two weeks later, it was ready.  I brought in one of my favorite comics Ronnie Fleming to act alongside my favorite actress Anna Paone (the true connective tissue to these twelve sketches is that Anna is in all of them strutting her stuff) and I executed 40+ shots for this short piece trying to make it more visual than the previous, dialogue-heavy sketches.  I think it works.  I don’t want to spoil too much since you’ve already read so much about it and I haven’t quite told you what this thing is about BUT it’s about what you do when the person you’re with all day leaves and you’re free for a short period of time.  Let’s leave it at that.  Link is in the comments.

• The hour special is rapidly evolving.  Yeah, jokes are cool but is there a hook to what makes your hour different and memorable?  There have just been so many specials at this point and giving yours a unique point of view makes all the difference.  My pal Bret Raybould is one of the best comics in the country but he decided to make his hour have a hook so unforgettable that it makes you laugh just thinking about it.  That hook?  It’s in the title of the special which is “Bret Raybould Retires From Comedy” (for context, Bret is under 30).  Raybould gets onstage dressed in a tuxedo ready to treat this like the most important gig of his lifetime.  He does.  There isn’t any time to waste on this hour as Raybould moves from airtight material on weddings (“If the groom planned the wedding, the invite would be a text two hours before the wedding” is one of my all-time favorite jokes) to getting pulled over by a cop who ends up being a fan of his work.  Then, 40 minutes in, Raybould switches things up and leans into why he’s retiring.  Once again, no spoilers here.  You can just watch this incredibly funny special yourself and be surprised all on your own.  The link is in the comments and I promise you’ll enjoy Bret’s swan song.

• Had a fairly light week when it came to watching movies, shows and pods.  Here’s what I saw with a few impressive short films thrown in for good measure: 

“Hillbilly Elegy” (2020): I’m a sucker for Oscar bait with big performances that receive bad reviews.  What did Ron Howard see in this screenplay that critics and the general public didn’t?  I had to know for myself (I have been rejected from numerous Ron Howard screenwriting competitions so I was extra curious).  The story that drew Howard in is one about Yale law student JD Vance (played by a guy that looks like my cousin- this guy’s name is Gabriel Basso) who had a troubled past growing up in the South with a reckless nurse/drug addict mother (Amy Adams, mostly yelling) and opinionated soulful grandmother Mawmaw (Glenn Close- when they show the real-life grandma at the end, it was amazing to see how close Close was to her look).  It’s not quite as bad a movie as they say.  Yes, Anna and I did yell at the screen “ONE MORE DRAFT, ONE MORE DRAFT” whenever the movie traded in cliches or obvious lines that Anna predicted before they were said but there are a few excellently done scenes like a reveal that the mother is still using in a hotel.  Or a domestic drama over Easter eggs.  A scene shot in a baseball card shop that brought me right back to what it felt like to be ten in 1998.  I wish there were more of these moments but the reality of the film is that mostly every scene is kind of the same thing over and over where the characters yell at each other before apologizing (In one of these fights, a calculator is thrown.  Nice product placement, Texas Instruments).  Plus, the protagonist is the least interesting character in the film.  It’s a little better than the critical consensus lets on but this is NO TRUE OSCAR FILM EVEN IF IT GETS NOMS OR WINS (Streaming on Netflix).

“My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” with Dave Chappelle: After eluding the spotlight for over a decade, it seems like Chappelle is more a part of the culture than he ever was before.  Whether it was the impromptu special he released this summer, his Mark Twain Award, his SNL post-election hosting gig or his feud with Netflix over not getting paid for their streaming of “Chappelle’s Show,” we’ve all gotten a lot of Dave content this year.   Most recently (for me at least), I caught him on David Letterman’s casual talk show “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” shot in Chappelle’s Ohio hometown, Yellow Springs.  The two of them chat about “Half Baked” (Letterman watched it to prepare for the interview in the interview’s most essential moment), tour the town, praise Dave’s truth telling and finally get to larger social issues.  Chappelle makes an incredible statement about police brutality saying, and I’m paraphrasing, “I don’t want retroactive justice.  I want real change to happen while these events are happening.”  It’s a different side of Dave, one that he alludes to in his SNL monologue when he said, “You don’t listen to me when I’m not telling jokes” (another paraphrase).  He’s softer, more thoughtful and more generous than he is when performing.  Yes, he makes mistakes (misogynistic and transphobic jokes on major platforms don’t really mesh with his humanist real-life POV) but he’s also got a lot of good to say that’s important (Streaming on Netflix).

“You Made It Weird” with Kumail Nanjiani: I remember listening to the first episode of this podcast years ago with Kumail as its guest.  There wasn’t quite a structure yet (not that there really is one now) and Holmes wasn’t as assured a host as he is now where he’s covered so much conversational ground that he seeks out the more unconventional directions a one-on-one can go.  In this episode, Pete asks what we all want to know- how does one make the leap from being sort of in shape to becoming totally ripped?  Kumail lets us in on the secret- he embraces the pain.  Damn.  Sucks that that’s part of the process.  He also shares that a lot of actors take a deep breath before they begin saying their lines which deflates the tension from their performances (I MIGHT be misremembering this; I don’t get paid to do this so my notes are hasty) and added that one of the worst parts of the pandemic was he had gotten used to not waiting for restaurants which was taken away from him (this might be another misremembering; he may have said this about going to other countries and not being treated with the preferential treatment he gets in the States).  You heard all of this right.  He’s kind of a pretentious actor type now.  Still, I walked away from the episode liking Kumail a little more; he’s embracing that he’s a privileged A-Lister rather than shying away from it which is an interesting arc for a guy that was doing almost exclusively stand up ten years ago.  This type of A-List knowledge is valuable for everyone that wants to get to that level (most, if not all of us- we’re delusional!).  In fact, the most valuable knowledge he dumped was that doing stand up for corporate tech events (he’s often asked to do so for “Silicon Valley”) always fails.  Do a Q and A with the founder instead so the employees can be funny with you as opposed to bombing in front of them.  Noted for when we all become A-Listers.  

I promised short film recommendations.  Here are two.

“The Follow Up” by Ben Berman: My friend Adrienne Hall recommended I check out this five-minute short about the struggle one has following up a hit project and how to deal with it.  Told entirely on a computer screen, it’s a perfect and timely portrait of how one deals with writer’s block in 2020.  The link is just a few scrolls away.

“Nighty Night” by Matt Porter: A bit longer, clocking in at 13 minutes, this short is a two-hander featuring winning performances from Zach Cherry and Chris Gethard as a sleep study aide and patient respectively.  It’s a humorous slice of life simply about how it can be incredibly difficult to fall asleep.  I smiled quite a bit while watching; this one is smartly made and deceptively chock full of plot.  I can’t help but recommend this for a lunch break or an outdoor stroll when you’ve run out of content to watch or want something new.  The link is even closer than the one above.

• Last week, I wrote about how great Mike Birbiglia’s podcast is.  I Tweeted at him about this and he quote Tweeted me back.  So, if you read last week, know you’re in good company.  Birbiglia has read it as well.  Yes, I mentioned this just to brag.  However, if you need proof that this actually happened, the Tweet is linked below.  I am this annoying.

• Special shout out to friend John Labarbera for his amazing Thanksgiving Arizona Department of Transportation messages to drivers that made me laugh out loud.  My favorite of his is linked below (worth the click).

• As for me this week, I am booked up doing Comedy Therapy sessions every single day.  If this interests you (the hour can be anything you want- you can run bits, we can talk about your sketches, body of work, career plans or future projects, whatever you like), let me know.  I’d be happy to schedule a session with you.

OK.  You pretty much made it to the links.  Thank you for reading!  Here’s a quick deal.  If you subscribe to my channel on YouTube (you’ll find it with the first link), I will a.) subscribe back and b.) watch and c.) comment on one of your videos (as long as said video is under 15 minutes).  Not a bad deal.

That’s all.  Enjoy the rest of your time online today

01.) When Your Wife Leaves The Apartment starring Anna Paone and Ronnie Fleming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMZr3TVxSMM&lc=UgykU_yZ1rtyfMQK57Z4AaABAg

02.) Bret Raybould Retires From Comedy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHGAmXc-bS8

03.) “You Made It Weird” with Kumail Nanjiani: http://youmadeitweird.nerdistind.libsynpro.com/kumail-nanjiani-returns-0

04.) The Follow-Up: https://vimeo.com/399324266

05.) Nighty Night: https://vimeo.com/379840737

06.) Mike Birbiglia Tweet: https://twitter.com/birbigs/status/1330954174717173762

07.) John LaBarbera’s Department of Transportation Thanksgiving Message: https://www.facebook.com/AZDOT/photos/a.137665612971817/4688352854569714/

Comedy Stray Notes November 22, 2020

• A little over a month ago, my friend Sam Zelitch casually mentioned how much he got out of Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out Podcast.  I made it appointment listening the next day excited to deep dive into the show’s catalogue.  What I found was arguably the best free, joke-writing seminar in the world.  I binged all 22 episodes (I’ve never been a podcast completist before usually picking and choosing which episodes to listen to based on the guest) because a.) they’re short at around 50 minutes apiece, b.) full of wisdom and c.) very funny.  In each episode, Mike and a guest chat off the top, there’s Jack Antonoff’s theme song, Bibiglia lightly grills guests asking them to recall childhood smells/neighbors/times they’ve felt left out and then we get the meat of the episode- Mike working out material with the guest’s input and the guest trying something on Mike in return.  It’s addictive; a look inside how the pros develop their act.  In fact, I learned the best piece of joke writing advice I’ve ever heard from this show: 

Every punchline should be a surprise yet also inevitable.  

That was too generous of me to just give you.  But it was also too generous for Mike to just give his audience.

Since I listened to all episodes, I wanted to give you a brief taste of each so you can get an idea of all the different flavors:

Ira Glass episode: Incredibly thoughtful punch ups to flesh out ideas; he’s the friend that looks for the deeper meaning behind the jokes that makes Mike probe deeper into his psyche.

John Mulaney: His friend with the best jokes.  You really hear Mulaney’s process and innate ability to create funny out of thin air. 

Jon Laster: The deepest episode in the series.  Laster had an amazing line about how “How cops exist to protect white people.”  Had never heard it put so succinctly. 

Matt Berninger: The lead singer of The National came on with his wife; Mike’s wife joined as well.  They talked about their partnerships.  The best part is easily Birbiglia’s wife’s poem about how the 21st century is mostly “people telling machine secrets.” 

Hannah Gadsby: She’s the smart friend on a different plane.  Gadsby thinks of her specials as a trilogy which I’d never heard anyone refer to their work as such.

David Sedaris: The older friend who has seen and done it all.  He brags about getting 90k steps in a day.  Unbelievable. 

Sarah Cooper: The newbie on the scene; Mike is the older friend in this one.  She has a wonderful line where she says, “No one in Hollywood likes you until you’re famous.” 

Melissa Villasenor: The friend that writes completely differently than you.  Interesting to hear how an impressionist/voice artist develops material.

Hasan Minajh: Slight episode but not bad; the distant friend you don’t see enough.  I especially liked that Hasan thinks about his legacy so much rather than just accepting gigs blindly. 

Roy Wood Jr: One of the best podcast guests; always very open.  His greatest piece of wisdom here is to own your negative story.  He owned his past where he had been arrested and used it to his advantage on “Star Search.” 

Judd Apatow: So many funny riffs here for ostensibly goofing off with your former boss (Apatow directed Birbiglia in “Trainwreck” and they go off on how angry people are that Mike is married to Brie Larson in that movie).  Apatow’s “wishful recycling” about people that want to recycle everything was extremely relatable.  He also takes a two-hour walk and meditates every day.  Not a bad schedule.

Sam Jay: Right off the bat, Birbiglia asks if she remembers how they met.  She does.  She told Mike, “He was boring and didn’t get his act.” 

Ronny Chieng: Made an amazingly astute point about comedy.  He said, “We’re competing against funny internet videos.”  Stand up is much harder when competing against animals doing funny things.  Chieng has an amazing joke as well about “reverse conspiracy theories.” 

Tig Notaro: Your friend that’s so funny it’s hard to keep up.  Tig is on a different wavelength; she starts by riffing on wanting to become a nutritionist and also revealed later on that Billie Eilish’s parents are in The Groundlings.  To this day.

Jimmy Kimmel: Your friend that admires stand up but doesn’t quite do it and always has a critique.  He says, “Nothing gets worked out.”  I disagree. 

Maria Bamford: Your friend that makes you want to work harder because they’re so deep.  Maria gives a hot tip: call a pizza place instead of suicide hotline.  They’ll actually pick up. 

Pete Holmes: The annoying little brother comic that needs attention.  Kind of interesting to listen to Pete TRY so hard. 

Pod Save America guys: Your political friends.  Favreau and Vietro worked out a strong bit of Birbiglia’s about Trump being a conspiracy theorist for people with less power than him. 

Jacqueline Novak: Your friend that you always put on shows.  Her riff about “People love acting like they’re smart when saying ‘you know comedians are actually smart’” is a series high.

Bowen Yang: The new guy who is TOO good.  Birbiglia asks a million SNL questions and envies that he gets to work with other comedy writers all day.  I do too. 

Abbi Jacobson: Feels like an old college pal.   Mike had been working on a bit about seeing penises in the YMCA locker room for the entirety of the series and Abbi nonchalantly punched the joke up giving it the closure it needed.  They worked it out. 

There’s new episodes weekly.  I think you’ll like it.  A generic link to the show’s site can be found in the comments.

• Speaking of podcasts, I was a guest on two fairly recently.  It’s weird being a podcast guest because you’re always self-conscious that you’re boring or repeating stories you’ve told on other podcasts.  This wasn’t the case here.  I don’t think there was any overlap.  Here’s quick summaries of each podcast in case you want EVEN MORE podcast reviews after the 22 I wrote above:

”Fake Outrage Report with Phill Causey and Sandip Sen:” Phill and Sandip have the rapport of hosts who have been recording together for years.  They banter effortlessly; each is the yin to the other’s yang.  The twosome skew toward offensive comedy but also make their guests feel welcome; there’s no need to meet them on that level.  In our episode, we discussed outrage at COVID-based Halloween costumes and remarks about obesity made by the Whole Foods CEO.  I had a completely spontaneous moment and ended up going on a tirade about how obesity can be genetic but can also certainly be classist and the Whole Foods CEO has no place to comment on it.  One of those rare moments, where I felt smart and for a good reason.  The link’s right below the Mike Birbiglia one. 

“Gay Vs. Straight with Rhett Sever:” This isn’t a true podcast; in fact, it’s an Instagram Live show that Rhett hosts on Sunday evenings.  Rhett, a gay man, interviews straight men about their understanding of gay culture.  We didn’t get very far in that regard; I asked a question about manscaping and somehow we got to pondering the meaning of the universe.  For stories I haven’t told anywhere else (there’s never been a better place to hear about the time I did edibles), they can all be found on Rhett’s Instagram which is linked a long scroll away.

• As the pandemic continues to dictate our every move, there are still folks doing special, new things comedically.  Here are just a few:  

- My wife Anna E. Paone’s aunt Alene Scoblete made her playwriting debut with “What’s In A Name.”  Her 45-minute piece traces the day in the life of a group of similarly named librarians dealing with a sleaze who continually checks out risque titles.  The Zoom reading is embedded in the comments for interested parties.

- Danny Vega has adapted his “I’m Walking Here” series into bite sized informer TikTok videos finding a massive audience in the process.  I was fortunate enough to collaborate on a few of his videos that are compact, comedic observations constructed in real time.  Danny doesn’t stop until the jokes are word perfect; in the two videos I helped out on that are linked below, you can see what I mean.

- Bri Valdivia has always been one of my favorite comedic writers; her trade is in humorous journalism and it’s always so delightful to see something funny of hers in a newspaper or alt weekly that doesn’t feel like...news.   Her latest piece “Been Spending Most My Life Eating In A Cheddar Bay Paradise” (a title so good it gives Weird Al a run for his money) is an ode to Red Lobster’s biscuits that is personal and absurd all at once.  I read it in the morning and was the perfect pick me up to get a dull Wednesday going.  You can find the link somewhat nearby.

• So, yes, I mostly listened to Birbiglia’s podcast this week but I did read and see a few other things.  They were:

“On Writing” by Stephen King: Similar to “Working It Out,” this half autobiographical/half informational nonfiction piece feels like a 300-page plus Medium post, which I mean in the nicest way possible.  King writes incredibly well and shares invaluable secrets that you always inherently knew but never expressed yourself like, “Writing is telepathy.  You’re communicating with someone at a later time.”  That blew my mind.  He also shared an extended metaphor about writing skills being a toolbox where you need to have a number of basics in order to even begin doing the work.  The most practical advice he shared though was “every second draft should CUT 10% of the words from the first draft” (this led to his major success) and “plot is worthless- story is where it’s at.”  When he’s not getting heady, preachy or teaching is where the book veers off in odd directions.  King actively bad mouths other writers, uses slurs in places and spends 100 or so pages telling the reader his origin story as well as a recounting of the time he was hit by a car in 1999.  It’s personal, messy and chock full of insight from a great.  Like I said, great Medium post except this one isn’t a five-minute read.  It took me 2.5 months.

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” Season Ten (2020): It’s truly unbelievable how much mileage Larry David gets out of his winning “A, B and C stories dovetailing into a third act where they all combine” structure but it almost never fails.  For a tenth season built on such a formula, there were surprisingly few duds (bringing back taking advantage of handicapped parking with comedy’s omnipresent Fred Armisen and the recurring rivalry he generates with a coffee shop were rare misfires, yet each story line had their moments).  Even when the show isn’t quite on top of its game, I could still listen to Susie yell at Larry and Jeff forever.  Plus, Larry’s banter with Leon (JB Smoove) is better than ever.  The show is just so much fun.  Most episodes had me laughing out loud;  Several standouts include Larry discreetly having his friends weighed by an expert guesser at a carnival; there’s one where he wears a MAGA hat to get out of obligations (you have to respect him for always going to that cringe-y place- he doesn’t shy away from anything); another episode features a restaurant that seats patrons based on attractiveness and places Larry in the ugly section (kudos to the extras that were deemed ugly by the casting director); and a professional crier (Isla Fisher) who gets exactly what she wants by shedding tears in opportune moments.  Did I mention there’s a meta episode where Jon Hamm studies Larry for a method role where he plays Larry?  There are hundreds of other fun things I’ve left out.  Fault the show for its formula (I do sometimes) but you can’t say it’s not pure comedy.  At its core, this is a show that is about a man (Larry) who has unbelievable wealth and still can’t be satisfied.   Do we hate him for that?  Nope.  We love him even more.  I CAN’T WAIT FOR SEASON ELEVEN (Streaming on HBO Max).

“Don Verdean” (2015): I’m slightly fascinated by Jared and Jerusha Hess.  They’re an oddball writing and directing husband and wife team who struck gold with “Napoleon Dynamite;” given a Hollywood budget, their follow-up “Nacho Libre” was a huge box office success soon after.  Then, they began making smaller, oddball films like “Napoleon” that retain their sensibility but now live on the outer fringes of the mainstream.  No one is wearing “Gentlemen Broncos” shirts like they are “Vote for Pedro” tees.  Their later works fit into what I would call the “alt-wholesome” scene.  Like if Wes Anderson went to Bible camp instead of listening to The Rolling Stones.  One of these oddball films is the sleeper “Don Verdean” (when I say sleeper, I mean it, this flick made $31,000.00; you can’t survive on that in most cities) about the titular Don Verdean (a pre-Oscar Sam Rockwell), a Biblical archaeologist with a timid assistant (Amy Ryan; there are shades of Michael Scott and Holly here).  His career has seen better days (a commentary about the Hess’ dwindling stature?) but he gets called by a megachurch pastor (the always ready to lampoon the faithful, Danny McBride) to discover religious artifacts in Israel.  Verdean exploits an actual Israeli digger (Jemaine Clement adopting a wacky Middle Eastern accent) and then exploits the church’s willingness to believe anything.  Will Forte steals a handful of scenes in here as well as a rival, spiteful pastor.  It’s fun.  Is it great?  No.  IT’S A PERFECT SLEEPER FILM (Streaming on Netflix).  

“The Wedding Planner” (2001): I don’t know why but Anna and I own this movie.  J. Lo and McConaughey’s faces have been staring at me from the DVD cover for years.  I felt like I knew exactly what to expect from this movie so I put off seeing it.  Well, that postponement is now over.  I am now a person that has seen “The Wedding Planner.”  It’s a standard rom-com that plays by all the rules we’ve come to expect from the genre just as I suspected.  Anna called it “comfort food.”  The nice thing about comfort food though is the weird ingredients that are occasionally mixed in.  We’ll skip the plot (OK, here’s the plot: overworked, perpetually single woman meets the one; the one is the groom to be in the next wedding she’s planning; hijinks ensue) and discuss what makes this recipe unique.  For one, Fred Willard plays a dance coach in a single scene.  The scene is not entirely necessary but it is nice to see Fred do his thing in a role where it seems he mainly improvised.  Another scene has McConaughey competing with J. Lo’s other beau by racing him side by side on a treadmill.  The only reason this is noteworthy is because it’s the exact same idea as my very first sketch I ever shot.  Just when you think you’re original, you find that one of your favorite things you’ve ever done was originally in “The Wedding Planner.”  There’s a subplot involving Scrabble toward the beginning of the film that is exciting (Anna and I had just finished a game so it felt like destiny) because it’s such a unique detail and is promptly dropped at the end of Act One.  Come on.  Pay off your setups and give us Scrabble in Act Three instead of the typical wedding being cancelled scene.  Finally, McConaughey sucks in this movie.  Not his acting.  He’s fine in that regard.  No, he’s a horrible person.  He might be decent by 2001 standards but in 2020, there’s no way J. Lo would put up with his selfish, deceitful antics.  YOU’VE GOT TO LOVE ROM-COMS FOR THIS ONE (If you want to borrow the DVD, I will gladly pass it along).

I don’t exactly have any comedy shows, projects or things planned for this week but that’s fine.  When there’s a holiday week, you’re entitled to use that as an excuse for lack of creative projects.  Might start doing that more.  Like, “Yeah, I would have done more comedy this week but it was National Donut Day so I was pretty busy celebrating all week.”

Sorry, for trying a new bit.  Where else am I gonna do it though

Links for you:

01.) “Working It Out” Podcast: https://www.birbigs.com/working-it-out-pod

02.) Fake Outrage Report with Phill Causey and Sandip Sen: https://soundcloud.com/the-fake-outrage-report/217-coronavirus-costumes-poor-people-food-with-matt-levy

03.) Gay Vs. Straight with Rhett Sever: https://www.instagram.com/p/CH6oBMGgru6/

04.) Alene’s “What’s In A Name:” https://www.facebook.com/DragonflyMulticulturalArts/videos/226827052195587

05.) Danny Vega’s TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dannyvegacomedy/video/6887179378904583430

https://www.tiktok.com/@dannyvegacomedy/video/6886784062447439110

06.) Bri Valdivia’s “Been Spending Most My Life Eating In A Cheddar Bay Paradise:” https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/restaurants/cheddar-bay-biscuits-at-red-lobster-an-ode-11279770?fbclid=IwAR3N0wAwr3a76VnuaFGu-SSdhlgbPt_rHMRMDQ916HhzqhAzbIj4kcgSUcw