Last night I had a gig in Burbank. I usually don't perform locally because there's no money in it. I had to do 20 minutes when I'm used to doing 45 on the road and when all was said and done, I did 16.
Just when you think blogging is kicking your ass, try doing standup.
End of chat.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
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no thanks- but I'm sure you did wonderful
ReplyDeleteWhere? At NBC? Or the airport Hilton? I've been there. Oh, and to Ikea.
ReplyDeleteThere's no way I would do that. But I would love to see you do it. I am sure I would fall out of my chair laughing.
ReplyDeleteI am at a conference for my day job. I spoke yesterday for four hours on Mental Health issues in the workplace. Shoot me
ReplyDeleteOh you undoubtedly kicked their asses, even with 16. And with standup at least it's immediate, not like having to wait for us idiots to hit your blog, but also perhaps comment...
ReplyDeleteAloha,
Martha Jane
Jane, I tried out 4 new jokes, which is what I love. And rewrote a joke in the car on the way over and it killed and all I could think was, How come that never occurred to me before?
ReplyDeletegm, they were a great crowd. It's usually the women who swarm me after a show but this time a guy stuck his hand out for me to shake and said 'great material.'
eileen, GOOD LORD, 4 hours? I love that you were speaking about mental health in the workplace and then asked to be shot. Too funny.
mj, I did the gig with one NY comic and 2 LA comics. Another NY comic was there hanging out. I've known them both for over 20 years. This is how much I've changed. You know how NY male comics never tell you that you had a great set? I always used to tell people they had a good set. Last night I said NOTHING to the one who went on and neither of them said a word to me.
The MC was from LA and not funny and didn't know the meaning of the word MC. The other guy I didn't watch because me and the 2 NYorkers went outside to schmooze. Some things never change...
Saw this in the post and wanted you to comment on it. I bet you have a good story.
ReplyDeleteOctober 11, 2007 -- SURE, they're funny, but the world's top comedians are also full of anger and rage - toward each other.
In the upcoming book "Comedy at the Edge," which chronicles the rise of stand-up in the 1970s, David Brenner tells author Richard Zoglin he once threatened to attack Robin Williams for stealing his material and using it on HBO. Calling up Williams' agent, Brenner warned, "Tell Robin if he ever takes one more line from me, I'll rip his leg off and shove it up his [bleep]!" Williams tells Zoglin he was simply "sampling" material from others.
Richard Belzer, who plays Det. John Munch on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," was perceived as lazy and full of himself by other comics when he would play at Catch a Rising Star. Paul Reiser told the author, "There were nights people would feel very entitled - I'm a big shot and [bleep] you. A lot of near-fistfights. Belzer was one of those guys who was very indulged. He was given the run of the house, whether high or drunk." Added Bill Maher: "I never once saw [Belzer] do a set sober."
Pioneering female comic Elaine Boosler "could have been a major star. But she was too difficult to work with," says Carolines owner Caroline Hirsch, adding that Boosler once walked out of a show because she didn't like her opening act, Emo Phillips.
Mike Binder, creator of TV's "The Mind of the Married Man," recalls how Mitzy Shore, the mother of Paulie Shore who co-founded L.A.'s Comedy Store, chewed him out. When Binder, a stand-up vet, produced his first HBO special, Shore called. Binder recalled, "I was expecting congratulations. But she was furious. She starts screaming, 'You stole that from me! I'm the one that produces specials - you do comedy!' "
Shore could be prickly, for sure. She told Zoglin that when a hot comic named Jerry Seinfeld came to her club in 1980, she practically turned him away at the door. "I didn't like his attitude. He didn't fit in," she said. For his part, Seinfeld recalled, "Mitzi Shore didn't like me . . . She told me to my face. She felt so many people liked me, that's not good for a comedian. She wanted me to seek her counsel. She was like the kid with drugs at the school - if you want to be my friend, you'll buy drugs from me
Anonymous, thanks for sending that along. Belzer was before my time. I was at Catch A Rising Star in the early 80's and all the comics there were snooty and indulged. I was actually thrown out of that club twice. But those were the days of the comedy boom, we were like kings back then. Now every schmo gets up on a stage and most of them are really, really bad.
ReplyDeleteIn the interview I did with Brenner on my blog, he said that now he doesn't care if people take his stuff. He's had so much ripped off over the years that he just gave up. Robin was a notorius thief. At Catch, when he would come into the showroom, whoever was on stage would immediately get off. Eventually he got the picture and only hung out at the bar.
My only experience with Elayne has been from the comedian's party we gave in the Spring and she was very difficult to work with.
I feel vindicated with the Seinfeld/Mitzi Shore story. Adam Sandler and I auditioned for her on the same night and she didn't pass either of us. Glad Jerry's in our club.
P.S. Today Elayne Boosler and Emo Phillips are friends. I guess until Emo reads the book....
ReplyDeleteMy entire life is a stand-up comedy act. :-)
ReplyDeleteD2, everyone tells comics that. But not everyone can write a joke.
ReplyDeleteAnd hardly anyone can perform one.
We just make it look easy!
I hope it was a tight 16.
ReplyDeleteDave2...your entire life wouldn't fill a tight 16 mins.
-AL
Were there crickets chirping? I did a charity gig once - for a group of what I thought of as my kind of folks - and the room failed to elect a president. I did my half an hour in 20 minutes a form of self-preservation. And then set out to find a different kind of folks to associate with. The search continues.
ReplyDelete