Last night was like an audio version of the evolution of man chart. We started with the caveman comic...he didn't really have the confidence to look at anybody and made jokes that kids get in trouble with in third grade. Sadly, the last couple of times I've gone to a comedy show the MC has been slightly less funny than the end to Hotel Rwanda.
What was really funny about the second guy was that he was the same guy who checked our I.D.'s when we came in. He was actually pretty funny, although he came off as hysterical after the Hotel Rwanda guy. On the evolutionary scale, he was the comic who was walking, starting to use his thumbs and could grunt and point out the occasional funny thing happening in the cave.
And then the show really started. Mike Birbiglia took the stage looking like someone had just pushed him out of bed. He was a perfect picture of disheveled...and you knew that he didn't really care. He was wearing his typical uniform of a t-shirt covered by a zip up hoodie.
It's always interesting to watch when a bigger name comic comes on stage. You can tell that the audience desperately wants to laugh at them. You could hear people murmuring (especially to my immediate right) some of their favorite lines from his act...and he was great.
He told one crazy story after another, peppered with great one liners and little asides. He was rock solid for an hour and never let down. He got big laughs throughout and was just a far superior comic than the fist two. I saw Frank Caliendo a few months ago and he got a standing ovation...and Mike Birbiglia did not...and Mike was just way better. Frank went off on a riff of impressions that were impressive, but just not that incredibly creative or funny...just impressive. Mike is a completely evolved comic that blew away everyone last night, and pretty much everyone I've seen since the Dane Cook and Gary Gulman show.
It was a good night for laughs...and smelling like an ashtray.
Yay for stand-up comedy!
ReplyDeleteHey, I was at that forementioned Dane Cook/Gary Gulman show. Ohh, the laughs and high jinks!
Anyway, hopefully we can connect sooner than later.
I've gone to a comedy show the MC has been slightly less funny than the end to Hotel Rwanda.
ReplyDeleteit wasn't an old woman whose daytime job is a high school teacher was it? she MC'd the Tim Cavanaugh show and was terrible. How do these people find their way into introducing the feature and headliner? I mean, you don't want them to steal the thunder of their presense, but at the same time you have to be inviting. Turning people off might be a psychological advantage for the other acts, but come on...
and what's up with word verification asking me to spell insapwzl? it's layered, twisted, and green. completely unneeded. go with something like, syrup. it's tasty.
Hey Sean, I have decided to re-enter the Bloggery.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever really taken a crack at the stand up thing?
I remember when I inherited the Integra and all the junk that came with it-- I found a “How to be a stand up comic” workbook with all the blanks filled in, in the trunk.
People would pay good money to see Sal in his purple suit.
...it's a plum suit
ReplyDeleteI taught a seminar on skits, interrupters and that sort of thing at a few conferences - so I used the book as a - how to write - kind of resource.
Eventually I just told people to look up funny pick up lines, or one liner jokes online...and weave them into one of their scripts.
I figure that copy write or plagiarism don't matter that much when they're going to be "performing" in front of 75 people in someone's basement or church hall...
Pass the Sunchips, cracker!
ReplyDeleteRegan's coming to Harrisburg.
ReplyDeleteDitch the kids and come visit me for a couple days.
already have tickets to see him here in November.
ReplyDeleteDitch the hospitals and come visit me for a coupleof weeks...