Berklee: Igudesman and Joo Make A Little Nightmare Music

Igudesman and Joo at the Berklee
Performance Center Saturday

Aleksey Igudesman and Hyung-ki Joo are classically trained virtuoso musicians, knowledgeable and versatile. They have worked with big name musicians across genres – violinist Iguedesman with Bobby McFerrin and film composer Hans Zimmer, Joo with Billy Joel, for whom he arranged his classical compositions. They have serious credentials, but the show they are bringing to Boston for the first time Saturday at the Berklee Performance Center is anything but.

A Little Nightmare Music is a two-man revue of sorts, showing off Igudesman’s and Joo’s skills as players, but also a silly stew of classical music, broad physical comedy, parody, and pop culture references. It’s a mash-up of Rachmaninov, Mozart, “I Will Survive,” “All By Myself,” and the Beatles. They pair have been performing together since they were 14, and put together their first stage show in 2004. Their YouTube fans number in the millions, and they have sold out their New York City show.

I interviewed them by e-mail while they were busy touring and getting ready to invade the States.

How did you choose Boston for your US debut?

JOO: We throw darts randomly at the map of the world. No, seriously, Boston has been a dream for us to play for a long time. Aleksey's bow is made by a wonderful Boston bowmaker called Roland Benoit, whom he will meet for the first time. And we are both fans and friends of the Boston based great pianist Gabriella Montera, who will hopefully also attend the performance.

The US in general is a place we have always wanted to perform as so much of our inspiration has come from American sitcoms and comedians! The audience in the US s also extremely open minded, appreciative and very warm, a rather fabulous combination!

How receptive are classical music fans to the humor?

JOO: We have been very blessed, with good critics from the press and positive response from the public and especially from great musicians. Whether this will stay this way, we will see! The public is understandably enthusiastic: the regular concert breaks out of its routine and goes off into a new fresher direction, with humour and music that we hope to be fun and original, but yet of high quality.

From the professional side, we have had wonderful feedback so far, even from great artists such as Julian Rachlin, Janine Jansen, Mischa Maisky, Emanuel Ax and Gidon Kremer, all of whom we have had the great pleasure of performing with and including in various humorous ways in our performances.



Do you have to show a certain level of knowledge and virtuosity to get the classical audiences to respond, do you think? To show that you take it seriously before you can have fun with it?

IGUDESMAN : We believe its important to show that one can play before the fun begins. But classical music has many faces. It can be serious, it can be funny, it can be highly emotional, or simply light and entertaining. Opera is a mix of many things. Perhaps what we do is like an own kind of "piccola opera buffa moderna." We sing, we play, we speak, we even dance at times.

Interestingly enough, when working on a "humorous" program, the preparation is even more serious than a "regular" concert. This has many reasons. The "timing" of a humour is just as vital as the timing of the music, so one is constantly working on more than one level. There is also the theatrical and the visual aspect. Then again one has to feel so comfortable in the music, that the humour has space to feel natural and vica versa, so virtuosity is required on many levels. And this has to be practiced and rehearsed separately and together. So it is double the work, but often also double the fun!

Do you remember the first piece the two of you performed together?

JOO: The first piece we ever played together was when we were both 14 years old. It was a piece written by Aleksey called "Bastard Sonata," which by now is published on Universal Edition. It involves a short improvisation section, where, in the first performance, Aleksey lost half of the hair on his bow and forgot to come in after that.



How about the first piece into which you injected humor?

IGUDESMAN: We tend to try to find humor in music, rather than inject it, most of the time. If one were to pick up a historical account of how music was performed in the last three centuries, one may be astounded as one would see that the performance of classical music of the past has no resemblance whatsoever with today's performance. This is not to say that the way in which classical music was performed and received at those times is ideal but one thing is certain: there was a lot more spontaneity and fun in those times and less of a barrier between the performers and the public. But we digress - the first piece with humor was probably also Alekseys "Bastard Sonata."

Is there much speaking in the show? Does it overcome language barriers in that way?

IGUDESMAN & JOO: Our show is an international show and uses little language. Whatever language might be used, it is secondary to the presentation. It is not important to understand the humor of a sketch, however, we do our very best to adapt those bits of language into the local language, wherever and whenever possible and we have managed to perform the show in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and even Korean and even used bits and sentences in Japanese, Malaysian, Mandarin and Cantonese! What is wonderful for us is the way the different parts of the world react to different parts of the show. Humor is the same everywhere, but every culture has its own "preferences" Some nations laugh more about the slapstick, where as others prefer the musical or the linguistic jokes.

You’ve played for a wide variety of audiences – what pop culture touchstones have transcended cultures, have you found? Has it ever surprised you that a reference to a specific song, say “I Will Survive,” worked with a specific audience?

IGUDESMAN : "I Will Survive" has become a very significant song for us. We have managed to transcend cultures in that song, simply because the harmonic structure is such a common one. And that is not saying its bad. Just the opposite. A lot of great music is based on the same chord structure. And at one point in the song, we combine Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Bach, Vivaldi, "Autumn Leaves," "Killing Me Softly," and many other songs of composers that are based on those chords. For us, it signifies that it all comes from the same roots and that pop, jazz, ethnic and classical music are much closer linked than one thinks. In our eyes, this song also stands for the survival of classical music in particular and music in general. And why does Aleksey sing it with a Russian accent, you may well ask. You may ask that.



Who are your influences musically, and comically?

IGUDESMAN : Already back at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England, where we met at the age of 12, we were always listening and watching great comedians, parallel to great performers. We were influenced by people who were both, wonderful musicians and had a great sense of humour, such as Victor Borge, Dudley Moore or even Glenn Gould, who did some sketches for Canadian TV, which many people don’t know. Even the great violinist Yehudi Menuhin himself, who Aleksey was lucky enough to have lessons with, spread the word of being open to all things around and not just "classical music" itself.

We have always been very close to the theater, the cinema and acting. As a teenager Aleksey went through a phase of reading the entire works of Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and Anton Chekhov. We have both done many projects on and off stage, written music for the stage and the screen and acted in shows and plays.

It is difficult to say which composers influenced us the most, but the Russian neoclassical movement has always been a big inspiration to both of us. Aleksey listened to anything he could get his hands on by Prokofiev and Hyung-ki, has always been a big admirer of Stravinsky - he even won the Stravinsky piano competition at a very young age. But we have also been influenced by various types of non-classical music, like Frank Zappa, Queen, The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Billy Joel, who Hyung-ki has worked closely with for many years.

You also work for other people, like Hans Zimmer or Billy Joel. Do you have to approach that sort of work for hire with a different mindset from what you do for yourselves?

JOO: Primarily we are passionate musicians (besides being absolute loonies, that is). All music we play or write is done with complete and utter dedication, whether it is with or for Hans Zimmer, Billy Joel, or the girl next door who has asks us to sing a lullaby to her baby. And all creative work requires our full dedication which we always give. We try to have an open mind for all work, breath deeply into our chakras, stand on one foot and chant old Hebrew songs, but then again, we do that before every show anyway!

Have you seen that you’ve opened up classical music to people who otherwise hadn’t responded to it? Have you gotten feedback from fans to that effect?

IGUDESMAN & JOO: We have a lot of feedback from fans and people who didn't give a damn about classical music and now are into Rachmaninov and Mozart! Needless to say we are overjoyed about that! From a young age on, we felt that the whole business and ceremony surrounding classical music was way too serious for its own good and found that people were afraid to go to concerts. Some of our aim is to dispel this fear by making classical music more accessible to the public.

We would like to say that our audience is mostly female and between the ages of 18 and 38, but that would simply not be true. It truly is as varied as advertised, which is, in actual fact, a beautiful thing. Any age, race, sex, species can enjoy our show. You can be musically educated or not, a lover of classical music or of heavy metal.

Igudesman and Joo: A Little Nightmare Music: 8PM, $37-$67. Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Ave, Ma. 617.747.2261

Ralphie May plays Berklee, happily

Onstage, Ralphie May is an aggressive guy. He likes the “in-your-face” approach to comedy, taking on race, talking about his wife, Lahna Turner, in a way that might earn him a continuous slapping at home if Turner were not a fellow comic. But make no mistake, May is a happy guy, and some of his best moments onstage comes when he admits that, and talks about how he would be nowhere without Turner. He’s thankful for everything he’s got – wife and kids, a good home, and a healthy career.

It’s trend that started after May got his show on Last Comic Standing in 2003, and has continued ever since (I spoke to him for the Boston Globe in 2005 about his success). He’s got four specials, including last year’s Austin-tatious, and he’s playing venues like the Berklee Performance Center, where he’ll be Saturday.

I caught up with him via e-mail this week.

When we spoke for the Globe a few years ago, you talked about how thankful you were for being able to settle into a good place to live and being in a good relationship. Did you have to recalibrate how you write comedy after that?
No, if anything it gave me more freedom to be me. I’m still just as much of a filthy, dirty animal. I still like controversial material and I still do what I think is funny.

You had a lot of fun with the birth of April June May in Austin-tatious. Should we expect similar material about August James May?

Ya know what, he’s so chill, he hasn’t really done anything yet that has surprised me. He’s an amazing baby and I haven’t done any jokes specific about him, but I know I’ll have fun with him.

In the liner notes for Austin-tatious, you thank “the angry lesbian at Starbucks that gave me a piece of her mind and listened to you” for “making me think more.” What was that conversation like?

I went into a Starbucks and she seemed mad at me and I usually don’t get that reaction. She told me that she didn’t spit in my coffee, even though she wanted to. She said she heard me on the radio that morning and I was joking that a Prius looks like a “gay” spaceship. Why is “gay” bad? I apologized to her and told her thank you for the new prospective that she was right and that I wouldn’t joke about it anymore. She said thank you she offered me a piece of lemon loaf.

Have you left Last Comic Standing behind at this point? Is it still a credit that sells tickets, or do you find you don’t need to mention it anymore?

I don’t need to mention it, but so many people fell in love with that show at that time. There was a lot going on with the war in Afghanistan and Iraq and people constantly come up to me and tell me how they loved me on that show.

Will you appear on the show when it comes back?

If they asked me to I would. I would arguably be the biggest thing they ever launched (figuratively and literally). That show gave me my start, so I would do anything I could to help them out.

What does it mean to be “politically incorrect” these days? That, to me, always seems to set up a vague sort of straw man enemy – has anyone actually tried to censor you?

The media always tries to censor me. I can’t do parts of my act due to the content and context. I’m always being told to not touch on this subject or that subject. Comedy Central took out a chunk of my act talking about dirty Chinese people. What does being “politically incorrect” mean? Just speaking about what’s on my mind and not worrying who about I’m going to offend. Just like when I talk about Tiger Woods being half Asian and half black. He hit a tree while driving in his own neighborhood, that’s the most Asian thing I’ve ever heard. How about the fact that he slept with all of those women… that’s NBA black. I didn’t make it up, I’m just pointing out the obvious.

You’ve got albums, DVD specials, and you’re playing big rooms. IS there a “next level” you’d like to reach, or are you where you dreamed you’d be someday?

I’m far beyond wherever I dreamed I would be, but I don’t think I’m done yet. Dane Cook plays Madison Square Garden, Larry the Cable guy plays Corn Husker Stadium. I want to perform to bigger audiences. I want to perform around the world. I’m trying to learn Spanish so I can perform to audiences in Central and South America. I want to be a movie star. I’m already bigger and more successful than I ever thought I’d be. I never thought I’d have my own home and now I’ve got two. I never thought I’d drive a nice car and now I’ve got three. I never thought I’d have a beautiful girlfriend and now I’ve got a beautiful wife and 2 healthy children.

Maz Jobrani is "Brown & Friendly" at the Berklee Performance Center

Maz Jobrani is probably best known from his role as Gourishankar “Gary” Subramaniam on the ABC sitcom Knights of Prosperity and from the Axis of Evil tour with fellow comedians Ahmed Ahmed and Aron Kader. With his “Brown and Friendly Tour,” which comes to the Berklee Performance Center Saturday, he steps out on his own as a stand-up. His social commentary is anchored by his experiences as an Iranian-American, but his passion is more joyful and energetic than resentful or exclusionary.

I caught up with him by e-mail to talk about his various film and television projects, and the photo he sent out to his newsletter singing with a band.

What’s with the pictures of you singing? Are you pursuing music now, as well?

That’s me singing with the band Kiosk. They’re a group of Persians who have a Dire Straights sound to them. They’re more like world music. Really cool – check out www.kiosk-music.com. Anyway, I’ve always wanted to be a rock star. Every time I see Bono singing to 50,000 fans I think, that looks fun. So the guys in Kiosk let me close out the show singing with them to 1,100 people. It’s not 50,000, but it’s a start.

Will the Axis of Evil Tour return, or has everyone moved on from it now?

I think we’ve all moved on. We had a good run and it helped us become better known around the world. It’s the natural progression for a comedian to start touring solo and to grow the act.

Do you think the tour helped change perceptions of Middle Easterners at all, the way you hoped?

Absolutely. I remember reading a blog after our special aired on Comedy Central and it was on a conservative Web site. The guy actually said to another guy, “I never knew these people laughed.” If you think about it you’d never seen a group of four Middle Easterners on a stage telling jokes in English and laughing. Usually we die in most of the things you see us in on TV or in film.

How did the tour name “Brown & Friendly” come to you?

Well, Iranians are actually white – we come from the Caucuses, so we’re really not “brown.” However, we, Arabs, Indians, Pakistanis, and many other groups are seen these days in the West as being part of the same people. The best way to describe these people is “brown.” So I figured I’d accept this categorization of me, but add the word “friendly” at the end to counter the image we have in the media. Bascially saying that we’re not all bad; as a matter of fact, most of us are friendly and good.

You have a certain energy and movement onstage that reminds me a bit of Howie Mandel’s early days – was he an influence on your comedy at all?

It’s funny you should say that because he wasn’t that big an influence. I was a fan of his, but someone like Eddie Murphy was a bigger influence when I was a kid.

Then when I got into stand-up I think I looked at guys like Richard Pryor who were talking about personal experiences and commenting on society. I hadn’t heard the Howie Mandel comparison until after our Axis of Evil special came out. Someone pointed out that my energy and the use of my hands on stage reminded them of Howie Mandel. I watched it again and realized that they were right. Who knows, maybe he influenced me subliminally. I just think it’s me being really excited on stage and trying to channel my energy. If you watch my legs on that special they’re constantly bouncing back and forth like I’m boxing or something. I’ve even had people think I was on drugs during that taping and nothing could be further from the truth. I was just amped to be shooting that special in front of all those people. The stage and crowd get me excited.

Are there any influences fans would be surprised by?

I guess Eddie Murphy somewhat because my stand-up is nothing like his. When I first wanted to do stand-up he was huge and I was in high school. I tried to write some bits and they were all sex related – I’m guessing somewhat because Murphy was dirty and somewhat because I was a horny 17 year old. When it came time to perform those bits I chickened out. Years later when I got serious with stand-up I really didn’t do any dirty bits. I do swear from time to time, but not like Murphy used to.

Have your parents accepted your career yet? I know when last we spoke, you talked of the generation gap in context of show business, and it seemed like there was some interesting friction there.

They started accepting my career one they saw I could make a living doing it. Ultimately, they were just worried for their son. “How is he going to buy food being a clown? He should’ve been a lawyer.” At one point, my mom even suggested I become a mechanic as a back-up – “People need to fix their cars. You’ll be needed.” Now they’re huge fans. My mom comes over from time to time and grabs from my t-shirts I’ve made up with sayings from my show. “I need a small for my neighbor and two mediums for her son.” She’s basically giving away my whole stash.

Have you performed much in Iran? If so, how is it received?

Never performed in Iran. We did Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Cairo, Amman, and Kuwait with the Axis of Evil. That was really cool. It was amazing to do shows in English in the Middle East and see that everyone got everything. With the Internet they know more about America than Americans know about America. I didn’t make it to Iran though. I would love to, but I think under the current regime it wouldn’t work out too well. You might never hear from me again.

Now that you’re doing theaters and bigger rooms, are you able to leave behind some topics you weren’t really happy covering in the clubs and grow a bit?

Well, I’ve always tried to do material that meant something to me. If I can’t connect with it then I can’t do it. There was a time, though, really early when I would do bars. Those were the worst because people weren’t there to hear your jokes on the Iraq War or on the economy or anything that really mattered. They wanted tit jokes. So I was forced to write a few tit jokes. Thank god I don’t have to do those anymore. (By the way, in case you’re wondering what the jokes were, they were more statements that got the crowd to go wild with cheers – things like “Who likes tits!?” Crowd goes wild!).

How does humor fit into Iranian culture outside of the concept of stand-up comedy?

Iranians are big on humor. Every time you go to an Iranian party someone will have the latest jokes out of Iran. Our jokes tend to be provencial and make fun of other provences. It’s the equivalent of Polish jokes in America. Iranians love to laugh.

What became of the pilot we spoke of about an Iranian man living in LA?

I think you might be talking about the film I had written called “Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero.” Basically an Iranian Pink Panther. We’re trying to raise funds for that. As you know now a lot of people have funds these days so it’s been a bit of a challenge. I did sell a TV show to CBS, though, based on my stand-up last year. I wrote it with Spike Ferensten (Talk Show with Spike Ferensten and writer on Seinfeld) and Chuck Martin (writer on Arrested Development). Anyway, the script was bought, but it didn’t go further than that. I think it’s a tough sell to have a show about an Iranian on TV. The funny thing is that there’s shows about vampires on TV, but not about Middle Easterners. I guess you could conclude that vampires have a bigger demographic than us.

What is your character in Overnight?

Overnight is an independent film I shot last year. It’s about a few stories on an overnight flight from L.A. to New York. I liked it because I got to play a Middle Eastern man from the U.S. who’s on the plane with another Middle Eastern man. People keep looking at us as we walk onto the plane and my character is really bothered by this. My friend, the other Middle Easterner, isn’t as bothered. As the flight goes on some guy confronts me and asks me what I’m up to on the plane. By this point I’ve had it and freak out revealing to him and the other passengers that me and the other guy are actually a gay couple going home after getting married. It was a nice twist and a fun film to work on.

What else do you have coming up?

I’ve got a recurring part on a new ABC show called Better Off Ted. That comes out in mid-March. I continue to tour and will release the DVD from this tour later this year. We also hope to sell the special to Comedy Central or HBO. I continue to pitch TV shows based on my comedy to other networks. Maybe I’ll make it about a Middle Eastern vampire living in L.A. Maybe then, they’ll listen.

Preview: Louis C.K.'s Chewed Up

Any comic could mine a topic like “boxers versus briefs” for some easy, observational material. For Louis C.K., “boxers versus briefs” is a confession. It’s a chance for him to merrily reveal how his crotch “looks like a pig’s ass when I’m naked.” Which is not the worst of C.K.’s confessions from his brutally funny new special, Chewed Up, which is out on DVD and CD tomorrow.

Here’s a sample from that routine, “My Horrible Body.”

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

The Newton native does not ease into uncomfortable subjects. The minute he hits the stage of the Berklee Performance Center, C.K. starts into a favorite topic of one of his idols, George Carlin, taking on three specific terms in “Offensive Words.” Here’s a clip from the bit, in which C.K. explains his hatred for “The ‘N’ Word.”

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

There is an undeniable logic to even the most potentially offensive of C.K.’s thoughts that short circuits the immediate shock and leaves you saying, “Huh, that makes sense.” He looks at everything with a sort of dark wonderment, whether it’s the beautiful nonsense that his kids (and all kids) constantly spout (“A Three-Year-Old’s Secret”), his diet (“My Horrible Body”), or race (“I Enjoy Being White”).

When he goes to his doctor for a sore ankle, the 40-year-old C.K. is told there is no remedy, just painful stretching he’ll have to do from now on – “That’s just a new thing you do until you and your shitty ankle both die.” He sums up the history of race relations in a tidy hypothetical – as a white person, he could get into a time machine and go anywhere and know it would be all right.

As he notes in the bonus interview on the DVD, C.K. took a minimalist approach to the setting and lights, which has the effect of focusing attention on his comedy. (If that seems strangely obvious to you, compare Chewed Up to Bill Maher’s last special, The Decider, which was broadcast live and taped in the same venue. That was meant to seem more like an event, an approach C.K. purposefully eschewed).

Chewed Up is stand-up comedy stripped down to its bare essentials, something we can expect to see from Louis C.K. about once a year. C.K. (and also notably, Bill Burr) has committed to leaving his old material behind after every special and starting work on the new one immediately following, in the tradition of George Carlin (to whom this special is dedicated). The more C.K., the better.

BONUS: The DVD is of special interest to Boston comedy nerds. Besides the aforementioned facts that C.K. is from Newton and the special was taped at Berklee, C.K. speaks at length in the bonus interview about his time here, remembering Chance Langton’s open mic at Stitches, seeking inspiration from WBCN’s Friday Funnies, and playing Off the Wall Cinema.