The Back Page: Shawn Donovan On His New CD, Few Mourn

Shawn Donovan's comedy CD,
Few Mourn

Shawn Donovan doesn’t have much faith in his friends. That’s why he named his self-produced CD Few Mourn and made the cover look like a cheesy tribute for a fallen friend you didn’t know that well on Facebook. It’s a shame – he looks so young.

But that also sums up Donovan’s comic point of view. He would be pessimistic, if it were worth the energy. Over the past year or so, he has been hitting a stride, telling more personal stories onstage that sometimes roam a little. You can catch him tonight out in Lowell at the new Back Page Jazz & Comedy Club on a show with Brian Brinegar. And you can find the CD on CDBaby.com.

I spoke with Donovan by e-mail this week.

So how many people do you think will actually attend your funeral?

No idea. Probably a few enemies coming by just to make sure I'm really dead.

Will any of them be from the audience from this show?

In reality, I don't even want a funeral. I feel the same way about funerals as I do about weddings. What's the point? It seems like a big to do when only a handful of people actually care. I don't want to be buried anyway. I take up enough space as it is now, no need to continue taking up space for eternity. I rent now, so maybe it'll be my only chance to be a landowner. Still, I'd prefer my body to be left to rot in the ocean. Can this blog act as my last will and testament?

More than anyone, Doug Stanhope seems to have been a huge influence on you. Is that something you're aware of as you're writing and performing? Is there anything specific you've learned from listening to him?

Doug's great and obviously a favorite of mine. I've always been drawn to ranty comics like him, Bill Hicks, Marc Maron, Bill Burr, Chris Rock. Ranty social satire is my favorite kind of comedy - don't know why, just a personal preference I guess. In terms writing and performing, something either happens to me that I find funny or I read something that pisses me off then I take it to the stage. I do nearly all my writing on stage. I don't know how effective of a process it is, but that's what I do.

How did you go about producing the CD? Who handled the technical end?

My friend Rob Hughes handled the recording, production and technical aspects of the album. He's a musician in a band called Fishing the Sky. Yup, that's a plug. I think he did a great job. He's recorded bands in studio before, but it was his first time recording a live comedy event like this. I think he did a great job.

How did you decide on Grandma's Basement to tape?

Ha...probably because they're the only ones who would have me. Benny was really on board with me recording an album and it was something I had been thinking about and working towards. That room is small enough where I could actually fill it and if I totally ate my cock, it wouldn't have mattered. It's not like I'd have to answer to anyone afterwards. Total no pressure environment. A perfect setting for a coward like me.

How hard is it to promote a self-released CD like this for a comedian? Musicians can send out to radio, but outside of satellite radio, comedians don't really have that option.

It's nearly impossible. CD Baby is a great resource though. They handled the distribution and provide a lot of resource for independent artists, it's really a great site. I'm the worst at self promotion though. I have no idea what to do. I plug it at shows I do and comics and friends of mine have been really great about passing it around. I think the only hope for something like this is word of mouth. Maybe it'll slowly gain momentum and something good will come of it. Probably not. That's just a pipe dream.

How has it sold?

Sales have exceeded my expectations. I hate myself and have very little self esteem, so the fact that one copy sold is great. I don't know an exact number. I keep getting sales reports every month from the online distributors and I've sold a few download cards after shows. I've made a profit and I consider that a victory at least for me. The consumer is probably losing out.

The CD is under comedy, and also "moods: mood: brooding" on CDBaby. How big do you think the "moods: mood: brooding" crowd is? You seem to be in there with mostly metal and synth bands.

Comedy has such a small market anyway. Is Bauhaus still a band? Maybe I can tour with them.

How is the Back Page as a venue? How did you find out about that?

The Back Page is a cool, little jazz/comedy venue that just opened in Lowell. They're running a comedy open mic on Tuesdays and I believe they just started doing weekend comedy stuff. Nick David, who's a bluesman in the band Mr. Nick and the Dirty Tricks - yup that's a plug - runs the comedy shows. He also runs the comedy open mic up at the Shaskeen in Manchester NH. I met him there and he's had me on a few shows that he's booked. How 'bout it!

The standard overly general closing question -- what'd I miss?

I feel like this is an opportunity for me to make a joke. I got nothing.

Brian Brinegar: 9PM. With Shawn Donovan, Kevin Cotter, Nick Lavallee, Alana Eisner, and Kate Nee. The Back Page, 15 Kearney Sq Lowell, MA. 978.455.4418

On tonight: Louis C.K.'s Hilarious

Hilarious debuts tonight
at 10PM on Comedy Central.

Louis C.K.'s latest stand-up special, Hilarious, makes its Comedy Central debut tonight at 10PM. If you have Epix, you may have seen the special when it aired in September. It also played at the Kendall Square Cinema that month. You may want to wait until Tuesday, though, when Comedy Central releases the full-length, uncensored DVD, and also the CD version.

Hilarious has been well reviewed -- you can read my thoughts here from September -- since its debut at last year's Sundance Festival. And C.K. is already working on the next special, his fourth hour since 2007's Shameless, a breakneck pace by most stand-up standards. He is also now filming for season two of Louie on FX.

Dane Cook I Did My Best: Greatest Hits arrives November 22

Dane Cook's Greatest Hits
November 22

Arlington native Dane Cook will release his two-disc set I Did My Best: Greatest Hits on Comedy Central Records November 22. The album will include tracks from his previous albums, Harmful If Swallowed, Retaliation, Rough Around the Edges, and ISolated INcident, plus some previously unreleased material, "hidden" on Disc Two.

Hard to hide when the number of tracks comes up on display when you insert the disc. There are 14 tracks listed on CD jacket, and 19 tracks on the disc. The extra five tracks appear to come from the same performance in Alaska, covering hot air balloons, the drawbacks of a mechanical leg, and strange masturbation habits.

Official Track Listing:
Disc One
1. Struck By A Vehicle
2. Car Accident
3. Car Alarm
4. B&E
5. Bathroom
6. Not So Kool-Aid
7. The Friend Nobody Likes
8. Pedophiles
9. Creepy Guy @ Work
10. Role Play
11. My 1 Regret
12. Robe
13. My Son Optimus Prime
14. Operation - Monopoly
15. Benson's Animal Farm
16. The BK Lounge
17. Haters
18. I Did My Best

Disc Two
1. The Nothing Fight
2. Tw*t Swatters
3. The Truth About Lying
4. A Condom?
5. W.W.Y.D.I.??
6. Someone S#!T On The Coats
7. Umm, Helllllo?
8. Heist/Monkey
9. Would You Rather...
10. Video Game Strip Club
11. Speak 'n' Spell
12. Let's Do This, I'm A Cashew
13. Where's the Handle?
14. The Atheist

MC Mr. Napkins/Zach Sherwin album finally has a release date

MC Mr. Napkins in action

When Zach Sherwin, a.k.a. MC Mr. Napkins left Boston for L.A. last year, he already had an album recorded. The question has been, when will it finally see the light of day?

That question finaly has an answer. And it won't be long. MC Mr. Napkins: The Album comes out 11/30 on Comedy Central Records. Here is the track listing, straight from Sherwin himself:

1. Sphygmomanometer
2. Irrevocability
3. The Aggressive Bee
4. Smoothies
5. Street Cred
6. Goose MCs
7. Krav Maga
8. Mussolini Miscellany
9. Oberlin
10. Flora/Fauna
11. Tae Kwon Do's and Don'ts
12. Bike Stop
13. Geography Trivia (Live)
14. Antepenultimate
15. F-Bombs (Live)
16. Get 'Pon My Arm, Homes!

Bo Burnham's Words Words Words, taped at the House of Blues, debuts tonight



Bo Burnham's Words Words Words
tonight on Comedy Central

Those who saw Bo Burnham tape his new comedy special, Words Words Words, at the House of Blues in May got a glimpse of a comedian taking a couple of steps forward. The special airs tonight at 11PM on Comedy Central. And that will show part of the story, but not all of it.
Burnham was already a YouTube sensation when he recorded his first “Comedy Central Presents” at age 18. He was clever, a little blue, and had a dorky white boy trying to be hip appeal. His story has been told frequently since then – the Hamilton native who made videos in his bedroom that led to a hit album, working with Judd Apatow, and a mountain of accolades and exposure.

So it’s a relief to see his wordplay is getting smarter, his premises are getting more inventive, and to see that he is completely aware of how ridiculous his sudden fame is. All of that is in the material on tonight’s special. Burnham has a tour and an MTV show coming up, so I’ll save some of the more specific ideas for then, but I was impressed with what I saw, and I’m hoping that translates on tonight’s show.

Don’t get me wrong, Burnham hasn’t ditched the silly, scatological stuff that caught people’s attention in the first place. But you can see him turning that over a bit, trying to add something to his repertoire, whether it’s Shakespeare references or parodying stand-up itself.

The thing you probably will never see are all the retakes Burnham had to do after going through the whole show, how he seemed genuinely sorry addressing the crowd and asking for their patience. He did throw a couple of jabs at the Comedy Central crew for having to repeat a few things, but he did a good ob keeping the audience involved, which is important if you want them to look alive while you tape something to punch into the rest of the show.

Words Words Words is also out on CD October 19.

The BC Q&A: Mike Donovan

Mike Donovan plays the
China Blossom tonight and tomorrow

Mike Donovan has been doing comedy in Boston for longer than there has been a dedicated comedy club in this town. He remembers his first paid gig in 1977, a year before the Comedy Connection became Boston’s first full-time comedy club. He’s played Boston through all of the supposed comedy busts and booms, and still plays regularly in Boston and around the country. He’s at the China Blossom in North Andover tonight and tomorrow.

Some of Donovan’s best stuff revolves around sports – his routines about doodling on his baseball cards and sports sponsorship are classics. You can hear both on Donovan’s new CD, Throwing Rocks, which is surprisingly also his first CD.

I caught up with Donovan earlier this month to talk about Throwing Rocks, sports, and Boston comedy.

What made you decide to finally release a CD?

Gas money. Plus to get Rob Steen to stop asking me, “When are you going to make a CD?”

How many shows did you cull from? It sounds like you bounce around from different shows.

I think its from at least 40 different shows. My wife Hilarie knows the exact number. She co-produced it. I think its fun to jump around from club to club, and audience to audience, and even from year to year. The second half includes some of the retro bits.

You say at one point on the CD that all comedy is mean, that no one has ever laughed at someone almost falling. Is that something you’re conscious of when you’re writing a joke? Is it an idea you write to?

No – Never think to write that that way consciously. I let a funny thought come to me and then I go from there. But the cruelty, its just the way I see it. Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side. The joke is on the person being told the joke. It's always funny at someone's expense.

Mike Donovan's new CD

The CD really shows off the range of your voice – do you think you’ll work in radio again? And have you ever tried to sing seriously?

I'd love to do radio again. I sang in a choir at Symphony Hall when I was 12.

The baseball cards routine is one of my favorites of yours. Did any of your collection survive childhood?

My mom threw my cards away. Bad day. There is a baseball card store in Arizona called, “My mom threw out my baseball cards.”

Which do you enjoy more, sports or history?

History. It's something that's grown in a good way. I wouldn't have said that ten years ago.

What are your thoughts on the “Yankees Suck” crowd?

It's September 4 and the Sox are drowning, so it’s a tough time to answer that one. I never chanted it. I still think the Giants/Eagles is a rougher rivalry. Sox fans have dignity now that we won two. Red Sox had more injuries this year than any football team I ever rooted for. I called them the Boston Red Cross.

You’re also working on a history book – what do you hope to communicate to people about history?

I just want to tell the story in a clear, fun, and edutaining way.

What was your first gig in Boston? Do you remember the place?

I used to host charity talent shows at the LaBoure Center in South Boston when I was 16. I did impressions and the voices did jokes. My first paid gig in Boston I think was at the Black Rose tavern at Faniuel Hall. I did sets between the Irish bands. About four Saturdays in the summer of 1977.

You’ve seen a good portion of this city’s comedy history, is there anything that has remained consistent about the scene over the past 30 years?

Some comedians steal jokes. Some don't. Some crowds are great. Some crowds aren't. Second show Friday usually blows. Cerebral comics bomb at the bowling alley gigs. Bowling alley comics bomb at the tux and gown banquets. When the blender goes on, the joke goes down. And it's usually a lot of fun, in spite of the obstacle course.

Where do you think you fit into that history?

I'll leave that one blank.

Tingle In the New Year

Jimmy Tingle has had a full year’s break from being a theater owner after his Off Broadway closed down, and he spent it playing clubs and theaters, re-sharpening his comic skills. The coming year will be busy for Tingle, who is working on the release of a DVD and CD release of Jimmy Tingle for President (he’s shooting for a mid-January release for both). The shows are drawn from his run at Watertown’s Arsenal Center for the Arts earlier this year.

“It’s basically my platform,” he says. “It’s fun. But it’s stand-up and it’s the platform, there’s audience participation, there’s a question and answer session with the audience.”

If you’re wondering why he’d release a “For President” album after the election, Tingle says the material was never about a single, particular campaign (other than his own). “It’ll make sense in a year, it’ll make sense in two years,” he says. “It’s not about McCain or Obama or Bush, really. It’s about ideas and it’s about ideas for a comedic run for the presidency.”

Tingle is also working on a new show and a new movie (based on his American Dream show). In the meantime, you can see him at the Regent Theatre Saturday and New Year’s Eve.