Rooftop Comedy spotlights Mottley's

Mottley's Comedy Club is featured on the front page of RooftopComedy.com this week, complete with a link to two pages worth of comedy clips from DJ Hazard, Bethany Van Delft, Josh Gondelman, and a few others, all shot at the club. For the uninitiated, RooftopComedy.com does this with differnt clubs around the country, giving it a pretty deep reach into various local scenes.

Here's a bit of a sample from DJ Hazard's sold-out show in December.

Weekend Comedy -- Stephen Lynch, Whitest Kids U'Know, DJ Hazard

It was a busy weekend in Boston comedy with three great sold-out shows from a couple of out of town acts and a Boston treasure coming back to his old stomping grounds. Starting with Saturday and working backwards, DJ Hazard at Mottley's Comedy Club was the show to see. The club holds just shy of one hundred people, and it was packed to maximum capacity to see Hazard, who now lives in New York City.

It was a hot crowd, and they were didn't take long to warm up to Tim McIntire and Bethany Van Delft, who hosted and middled the show. Van Delft was especially on, with material about her modeling days and efforts to conceive. She mixed drier, headier material with a couple of well-placed, more graphic punchlines. Ira Proctor did a drop-in set, working on material for a tape to send to the Tonight Show. He did what you'd call an extremely tight five, talking about running to get in shape after not having done it in a while ("It's changed," he said), and the type of lazy it takes to not get off the couch, even to go to bed.

But it was Hazard's night, and he absolutely crushed. Material new and old -- a few things you'll hear on his new CD, Man of Hazardium,and a few things I'd never heard him do. He compared going on a first date to bringing your balls to the Antique Roadshow (I won't spoil the punchline for you), talked about gun violence (I'm beginning to think if more people got shot, less people would get shot"), performing on cruise ships, and a variety of topics for about an hour's set with not a single lull.

He closed with a classic Hazard tune, "Untie My Ankles," which is so far removed from the original Juice Newton song from which Hazard borrows the tune that it had no right to go over as well as it does. Attribute that to Hazard's skill at feeling out a crowd and timing a set. The song went right into his "DJ Hazard -- Nightclub Comedian" routine, wherein an animatronic DJ mouths a prerecorded message from the future. If you're a Hazard fan and haven't seen this bit, see him every time you can until he does it. It's offbeat, inventive, and it was just the right way to sign off for a well-satisfied audience.

Friday, I pulled double-duty, catching the Whitest Kids U'Know at Great Scott and the late Stephen Lynch show at the Comedy Connection Wilbur Theatre. The Whitest Kids were playing Anderson Comedy's usual Friday night show, The Gas, and sold it out about an hour before show time. They brought a mix of sketch comedy and video, material most of the audience seemed to recognize from their Tuesday night show on IFC, like the Deer Hunter sketch and "Slow Jerk" (check my interview post from earlier this week for videos of the original sketches). I spoke with Sam Brown (a Sandwich native) after the show, and him to describe what you missed if you didn't see the show.

Here's the quick interview:


Stpehen Lynch played two sold out shows at the Wilbur, each of them about two hours of music drawn mostly from his new album, 3 Balloons. I caught the second show, which was literally the second show of the tour, and the second time Lynch had performed this material together the way he will for the rest of the tour (he's done a bunch of the songs for one-off gigs, and you can find a few of the songs if you search YouTube). He did twelve of the fourteen songs on 3 Balloons, a few old favorites like "Special," showed a couple of video shorts, and even covered Prince. He had a bit of support from friends David Josefsberg (whom he perfomed with on Broadway doing The Wedding Singer) and Rod Cone, who helped with the banter and the background singing. For the encore, he played piano for what he said was the first time onstage in front of an audience.

I spoke with the very tired Lynch backsstage after the show about the show and the tour:

DJ Hazard's Park Your Grok in Fraggle Rock

When DJ Hazard comes to Boston from New York to play the Comedy Studio Friday (for a guest spot) and Mottley's Comedy Club on Saturday, it won't be the first time he has made that trip. Hazard is a Boston comedy legend, part of the Ding Ho crowd and mentor to many a local comic over the years, but he was born in New York City. He came to Boston as kid and wound up staying.

This is DJ's story about coming to Boston, with a tiny bit of embellishment about the Blue Line and Hazard's subterranean subjects. And we here (okay, I, here) at FunnyGrownHere.com are proud to present...

Park Your Grok in Fraggle Rock
By DJ Hazard

Are we alone? No one followed you, right? Okay, I have a confession to make. I’m not from around here. I was born in New York City.

My family moved here a year after I got out of high school. I had no idea what Boston looked like. I knew Boston existed. I knew the Red Sox came from somewhere to play Yankee Stadium. I figured there were some buildings on a dock where Carl Yastrzemski, Julia Child and the Kennedy Family all lived together.

I was leaving a playground of sixty story buildings and all night subways. At least I was also getting my very first plane ride, which turned out to be the next best thing to losing my virginity. Some thirty minutes later, the pilot announced that we were approaching Logan Airport and that, if we looked out the window, we could see the Boston skyline. He forgot to mention that I was sitting on the wrong side of the plane. All I could see were miles and miles of little wooden buildings, empty lots and the vast Atlantic. I thought I was being taken to live with the Pilgrims.

On top of that, my folks had rented an apartment in Winthrop and our cab ride went right from the airport to the middle of what I had seen from the air. I hid in my room for three days. Some kindly neighbor lady, bless her soul, asked my Mom if I wanted to see ’the city’. She explained that all I had to do was go down to the corner and catch some bus to some place called Orient Heights and get on the subway. I found the subway and tried not to panic as each of the following stations heralded a further plunge into my Green Acres nightmare.

Wood Island: From the frying pan into the fire. This must be where they get lumber for their cabins.

Airport: Hmmm, perhaps I could stow away on an airliner and get back to civilization.

Maverick: What the hell was this? Time Travel? Now I have to deal with cowboys?

Aquarium: Some guy and a fish tank. Great.

State: State of what? Solid, liquid, gas and plasma? Was I now dealing with oblivion on a sub-atomic level?

Government Center: I figured if it ain’t here, it ain’t nowhere. I got off the train and trepidly walked upstairs.

The rest is history. As you all know, the scary-looking but kindly Lava People surrounded me as soon as I emerged from the T kiosk. They made me their King and began construction of the Hancock Building as a token of their loyalty. I told them that if they really loved me they’d renovate Quincy Market into a tourist Mecca, transform the Commonwealth Pier into the World Trade Center and put the Orange Line underground. They complied.

Life was good as the omnipotent ruler of Boston’s Subterranean Mutant Population. At least until a couple of years ago, when they took it upon themselves to dig a huge tunnel under the waterfront as a surprise birthday present for me. I knew they meant well, but I guess they figured out that they screwed up. Good Lord, the poor little fellows were so depressed. I told them that it was okay, but they kept trying to make it up to me. They replaced Boston Garden with the Fleet Center. They chucked IMAX Theatres everywhere.

The one thing they couldn’t accomplish was rebuilding Fenway Park. It seemed like their every attempt was met with a force far more mysterious and powerful than their own Lava Mutant power. That force was called Red Sox Nation.
Lava People… Red Sox Nation… Lava… Sox…

The push and pull threatened to pull the very fabric of Boston apart. A truce had to be declared for the sake of my adopted city, its inexorable fan base and my Empire of Underground Minions. I asked the Lava People if there was something they could do that could make Red Sox Nation happy, leave Fenway untouched and serve as an apology for their mega-flop burrow beneath a perfectly good Southeast Expressway.

A few days later they returned and said that through ways I wouldn’t understand, not being a real Lava Person and such, they could make the Red Sox win the World Series. I said go for it and, in one fell swoop, never had so many had so much to revel about.

Personally, it was right up there with when I found that loose brick behind the Union Oyster House that spits out gold coins. But that, my friends, is another story.

Bonus Hazard Material:

Video of Hazard at the Boston Comedy Festival


And check the music links on Hazard's MySpace. He has posted some rare and lost tracks along with tracks from his new album, Man of Hazardium.

DJ Hazard Talks Man of Hazardium

DJ Hazard is one of the founding fathers of Boston Comedy. He was there when the Ding Ho was swinging, not only performing, but helping out with the creative end of promotions and even writing the theme song. For his new CD, Man of Hazardium, Hazard pulled from recordings from his past 20 years in comedy, including live bits and music. It's his third album, if you include the out-of-print Lock Up the Planet When You Leave, and a CD he was selling at his shows last year. He’s now doing stand-up and acting in indie films in New York City, but look for him next month at Mottley’s Comedy Club.

What time period does this CD cover?

For convenience sake, I went with from 1988 to 2008. To be honest, I believe that session of the Ding Ho Song was recorded in the fall of 1980. Wet Cigarette was part of that session, as well. I recorded the Ding Ho Song because we were going to make a 45 vinyl and put it in the juke box at the Ding Ho. One thing lead to another and it never happened. I recorded Wet Cigarette that day because we would have needed a 'B' side.

Why did you decide to use bits and pieces from that period instead of just going to a club or a theater and doing a full set?

I don't feel like I had a 'perfect' set on film or sound. A lot happens during 45 minutes. A lot happens with different crowds and their reactions to the same joke on different nights. I call this macropsychodynamics. I gave up trying to figure people out. I just try to exist with them until the mother ship comes and gets me.

It also would be lopsided to have this 45 minute set, then a whole bunch of studio sessions. This way, it's a little more broken up. Like a collection of short poems, maybe. Yeah, I think I'll stick with that answer, Meredith.

Will you release the last album on CD Baby now, too?

Nah. It would be a rip off, since the best parts of the last CD are on the new CD.

Do you think you’ll ever rerelease Lock Up the Planet When You Leave?

Not in the least. LUTPWYL was actually a debacle. I was terribly mismanaged and misguided while making LUTPWYL. I hear there's a cache of unsold albums somewhere. I never made a dime off of that project. Fortunately, it was financed by somebody else, so I didn't exactly lose money either.

What’s your favorite bit on the album?

That part where I say that thing, y'know?

How much of this material have you retired?

Other than the MacGuyver bit? I also don't know why I went with that spelling of MacGuyver/MacGyver. The "Hazard History" tracks are bookmarked that way as a subtle hint that they're just old chestnuts. Iran-Contra, Hinckley shooting Reagan, Elton John regifting his Marilyn Monroe song for Princess Diana- you pretty much ain't gonna see these in my set this weekend.

Was it a sentimental choice to include the Ding Ho Song?

No, not at all. I would have omitted it if not for the documentary When Stand Up Stood Out. Enough people have seen that film and come up to me to talk about the film. I wanted Man Of Hazardium to make sense to anybody who listens to it, and the Ding Ho Song now has enough cred to be more than an ancient inside joke.

You once told me people think you’re a prolific writer, but part of that is having a few decades worth of material to dust off. Do you ever find old stuff going through tapes or video that you want to add to your current set?

Oh, yes, for sure. I believe Tony V. once said to somebody that I've forgotten more material than other comedians have. I look at old note books that I've manage to spare from my artistic purges, but most of the notebooks are just pages and pages of 'bullets', one word names that comedian have for entire bits.

I have about three hours of video that I've hung onto, spanning three decades, different looks, different eras, different head spaces. I think at one time I was toying with the idea of making a mockumentary about myself, as if I was dead or disappeared or something. I think I decided that was either too ghoulish or egomaniacal or stupid or something.

How do you work the songs into your average set? They seem to me more a part of your recordings than your live show.

I'm actually pretty concise about the stand up/music proportions of my set these days. It's about 25 minutes of stand up, 20 minutes of music. I don't do a lot of parodies anymore, except for "Untie My Ankles," as the crowds would probably tar and feather me if I didn't close the show with that, and a Springsteen piece, because people come up to me and say that's the most frighteningly dead-on Springsteen impression they're ever seen/heard.

On Man Of Hazardium, I do Bruce as he might sing "I've Been Working On The Railroad." Live, I have him do "Take Me Out To The Ball Game."

"Railroad" is sung the tune of "Born To Run," "Ball Game" is a parody of Meeting Across The River. I LOVE doing "Meeting Across The River" live, as it's a deeper back and lesser known Springsteen composition. I see those who know the song, I see their eyes light up and they REALLY get the joke. For everyone else, it justs stands on its own as how Bruce would sound turning a lively song into a dark and haunting epic.

"Ankles" and "Ball Game" are the only complete songs I do in my live set, at least usually. The rest are parts of songs I wrote. I don't think people want top sit through 10-11 whole songs at a comedy show. At least not my comedy show.

What’s on your plate as far as film work these days?

I have some webisodic things in the oven. Nothing to report about yet, but I'll let you know.

My comedy/acting buddy, Mark Riccadonna, and I recently did what we call our first 'Ballywood' movie. It's not the traditional singing and dancing extravaganza. It's actually a very well shot and artistic short psychological thriller. A two man cat and mouse, if you will.

If you watch episode 4 of this season of 'Damages' on FX, I'm one of the convicts in the prison.

If you watch the very last episode of Battlestar Galactica this year, I have a love scene with all the Number 6 Model Cylons at the same time.

Okay, I lied about the last one.

What’s available on DVD?

Blackballed: The Bobby Duke Story (directed by Brant Sersen) and Bourbon (directed by Adam Woodworth are both definitely out on dvd... along with When Stand Up Stood Out, of course. Cold Calls (directed by Jack Daniel Stanley) is doing the fest circuit as we speak, but is slated to be viral online at some point.

The Tourist (directed by Kelly Knudson) is still in post production, but I heard there's a working copy now. It takes place in the 70's and Kelly went so far as to buy 1970 film stock from some crazy warehouse so that it actually looks and feels like you're in the 70's. He's been lovingly and painstakingly crafting this film for over a year since we wrapped shooting.

Random Notes

Improv Jones has cancelled tonight’s show at the Arsenal Center for the Arts due to weather. They have also canceled the December 26 show, but offer you this link to their YouTube videos instead… DJ Hazard will release Man of Hazardium Monday on CD Baby. You can check here Monday to order your copy… The Wilbur Theatre has added a New Year’s Day show with Joel McHale, who plays two shows there New Year’s Eve… Chris Coxen has announced his jazzy alter-ego Barry Tattle will host Valentine’s Weekend at Mottley’s Comedy Club… Brian Joyce is bringing Irish comedian Ardal O’Hanlon back to the States for a March 5 show at the Somerville Theatre. O’Hanlon, one of the stars of the BBC show “Father Ted,” gave a great show at the Burren last year when Joyce first brought him in. Make a point to catch this one.

CD Sneak Preview: DJ Hazard's Man of Hazardium

One of the best things about working the comedy beat is that people send you great stuff to listen to before anyone else gets to hear it. Today I was happy to find Boston legend DJ Hazard’s new album Man of Hazardium, which comes out sometime next month, in my box.

In just over an hour, Hazard covers material from the last twenty years, including tracks from his impossible to find 1993 album Lock Up the Planet When You Leave and last year’s El Hazardo Rides Again, which Hazard sold only at his shows. He reports the recordings were made “pretty much all over North America,” and spans “from 1988 to just a few months ago.”

A sampling of the tracks – the off-kilter song “Music (Is Like a Woman),” which is one of my favorites, “The Ding Ho Song” from the Boston Comedy documentary When Stand Up Stood Out, the Bruce Springsteen parody “Bruce,” and the crowd favorite “Untie My Ankles,” which is sung to the tune of Juice Newton’s “Angel of the Morning.” Die-hard Hazard fans may recognize the cover art from FUEL TV’s American Misfits.

More on this album closer to the official release date. You’ll be able to find it on CD Baby, but watch this space for an exact date. If you want a sneak peak at some of the material, Hazard will be on the Reid and Renata show at the Comedy Studio Friday with MC Mr Napkins, Billy Bob Neck, Dan Sally, and others.