Eddie Brill Scouts the Studio Sunday for the Great American Comedy Festival

Last year, Eddie Brill rolled into Boston with twenty-four spots to fill for his competition at the Great American Comedy Festival. Brill, who books the Festival and also books the stand-up talent on the Late Show with David Letterman, looked at talent from twelve different cities, and wound up taking five Boston comics – Myq Kaplan, Shane Mauss, Dan Boulger, Micah Sherman, and David Powell.

That’s a pretty high bar to set – roughly twenty percent of the talent came from Boston. But Brill expects Boston will be up to the challenge when he visits the Comedy Studio again on Sunday scouting for this year’s festival (Joe Wong is already slated to be in the Festival). ““My feeling is there’ll definitely be people from Boston because it’s just been a fantastically great city for us for finding great talent,” says Brill.

At least one person on the bill Sunday, Dan Sally, almost made the Festival last year, and Brill asked for him to be in this year’s line-up. “He was someone who was on the cusp,” he says. “I thought he could have gone last year but again, I could only pick twenty-four.”

Brill is a New York guy, but he has strong Boston roots. He went to Emerson, and he started doing stand-up here. He still keeps in touch with his alma mater, and sees Boston comedians all the time in New York.

Brill says he is looking for people who are “on the cusp of greatness,” and makes it clear he is not picking contestants for an amateur competition. “I’m looking for poise, I’m looking for people who own the stage, who call the shots up there,” he says. “People who are one of a kind, who are really true to who they are. I’m looking for great material, I’m looking for people who have a point of view, who have an edge.”

The point of the Festival, which takes place June 14-20, is to honor Johnny Carson in his hometown of Norfolk, Nebraska. This year’s gala host is David Brenner, who appeared on more Tonight Shows than anyone. And another Boston guy, Bill Dana, who was the first head writer for the original Tonight Show, will receive the Comedy Legend Award. Every comedian who goes to the Festival is placed with a host family, who shows the comedian around and shows off Carson’s hometown.

Comedians who are auditioning for the festival might want to review a few clips from Carson’s Tonight Show to remind them of the spirit of the show. “Carson, Letterman [they were] Middle America guys but they were really funny, but they were never milquetoast,” says Brill. “They didn’t mind their tongue. I’m looking for that kind of sarcasm, that really smart, funny, biting, great comedy. It’s not like these people have to Johnny Carson, they just have to honor what Johnny did. Johnny was huge for the comedy business. And this is us giving back to him, to the community that he loved so well.”

The Comedy Studio, Sunday April 5, 8PM
Line-up: Ahmed Bharoocha, Andrew Sleighter, Bethany Van Delft, Dan Sally, Dave McDonough, David Grabiner, Jennifer Myszkowski, Jono Zalay, Rick Canavan, Rob Turbovsky, Tom E. Morello, Zach Sherwin, and musical guest Ronald Reagan 80's.

Derek Gerry Hosts at the Burren: Tonight 10PM

Great line-up tonight at the Burren, hosted by Derek Gerry. The show is free, starts at 10PM, and features friend of the site Jessie Baade, Dan Sally, Ted Petengill, Mike Pincus, Dan Boulger, Danny Richardson, Steve Macone, Sal Votano, Jessie Baade, Shawn Marek, Mehran, and series creator Dave Rattigan. If you're reading this, stop now and run out to Davis Square in Somerville. the back room of the Burren is one of Boston's best, cozy venues, and they pour a great Guinness.

The Walsh Brothers Back In Town to Play Mottley's, Greater Boston Alternative Comedy Festival

When Chris and David Walsh left Boston for Los Angeles in March of 2007, they left a scene changed for the better by their participation. They created the Great and Secret show at ImprovBoston, which encouraged the participation of a generation of comedians who are redefining the current scene – Dan Sally, Renata Tutko, Nate Johnson, Chris Coxen, Ken Reid, Sean Sullivan and countless others. Their D.I.Y. spirit was inspiring, and the Great and Secret is still at ImprovBoston every Thursday at 10 PM, while the boys have brought their own G&S to the Improv in Los Angeles. The Walsh Brothers are back for the holidays, playing Mottley’s Comedy Club tonight and tomorrow and the Greater Boston Alternative Comedy Festival Wednesday. I caught up with David by e-mail to talk about life in L.A. and coming home.

Is it important to you to keep coming back to play Boston?

It is very important that we come back to play Boston. Actually, imperative might be a better word. The opportunity to perform in front of Boston audiences is reason enough to make it important. In our limited experience (playing the road a bit and the big comedy cities: CHI, NY, SF, LA), Boston has the best audiences for standup. Their smart, open to whatever we do, and have a long, comedy history (it's important that people remember seeing Don Gavin in 1983 at Stitches and then tell us we remind them of that time).

In addition to the audiences, the city itself is where we're from and what we're about. Every time we get introduced in Los Angeles, the emcee brings us up as from Boston. Most of our comedy and sensibility (Oh the sensibility!) comes from direct experience - true stories, real people and characters, our surroundings - and our whole life was spent here, so it's crucial that we stay connected and involved. And on top of all that, we developed here as comics. The comedy community is the best. We've got friends, a few enemies (which always helps) and great clubs and theaters to perform at. (This whole thing is a mess).

How do you keep in touch with the scene?

We keep in touch with the scene through Hologram technology. And friends. Friends keep us up-to-date on the comings and goings of everyone. Like an isolated mental ward patient, the comedy studio Kvetch Board is good to check in on once in a while. One thing that's cool about having our own show in Los Angeles is that it's kind of a way station for traveling comics. Every Boston person who comes to L.A. usually comes by our show and we put them on stage. Then, in front of our lawyers, they give us a deposition about what's happening with the Boston comedy scene. Most people say it's just Chris Coxen playing with himself.

What are your plans for the Great and Secret West in the new year?

The plans for the Great & Secret West are to do an industry showcase after the new year. We've been doing the show for almost a year and built up a bunch of new sketches, characters and videos and we're ready to show "the people who matter." So we'll get the agents and the executives and the czar of comedy down to the show, see what the feedback is and go from there. It doesn't really matter what they say. We'll continue to do what we do, if only because we don't know how to do anything else.

Other than that, we'll continue to build the show and the audience. And maybe fool around with the idea of a concept show.

How many folks that perform at the G&S in LA have Boston roots?

Aside from a few of the stand-ups that perform at the Great & Secret, most people involved with the show have Boston roots. We write and do the show with James Patterson - who we started out with in Boston. He's kind of become a third Walsh brother, much to his chagrin (which as chagrins go - is very large). And then we got kid from Emerson and the show Zebro doing a lot of stuff with us. His name is Fred Young. He's a great maniac. That's the nucleus of the show. And then we have mostly Boston people on speed dial that we call up to play characters as we need them.

One thing we're always on the lookout for though is a Murray. We can never find a good Murray. Ben Murray used to be our booth guy in Boston and he was the best. He wasn't just a booth guy. He was a presence, an ethos. We keep hiring guys from the tech union and none of them fit.

Do you see a huge difference between Boston and LA audiences?

This is a hard thing to explain because an audience is an audience is an audience. Comedy is a guy with a mic and people paying to listen. However, the people paying can have different agendas. For the most part, a comedy show in Boston has people who want to laugh and experience some sort of release. In Los Angeles, you have the same thing and then a certain amount of people who are filled with self-interest: industry, wannabes, star-f*ckers, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies and dickheads. The self-interest creates a different type of atmosphere. Los Angeles is more of a 'scene'. But that's only a part of it. It goes on and on. Also, I have no idea what the eff I'm talking about. Boston=Better.

Is there any particular place in Boston you like to come back to for the holidays?

The Comedy Studio Christmas Show and party is a great night (Dec. 21). Usually hang out with Keith Lockhart and the Pops one evening. Go to Billy Tse's on Commercial St. for my favorite festive Chinese food. Scope the malls on the North Shore for high school chicks. And a little, bunny hill skiing at the Blue Hills.

A Swinging Supershow at Mottley's

Even in a flourishing economy, it can take a while for a comedy club to catch on, especially on the non-prime weekend nights. Which is why a night like Thursday at Mottley’s Comedy Club are so heartening to see.

Faneuil Hall was mostly dead Thursday night. A few straggling shoppers, a sparser than usual crowd gathered at the food court. Around the corner at Trinity, a handful of people watched Thursday night football (Raiders versus Chargers – why not just flp a coin for the winner?). But downstairs, in a small room that can hold about 90 people, co-owner Tim McIntire was giving the cash register a work-out with a nice, steady stream of people for Dan Sally and Andy Ofiesh’s Supershow, which they host every Thursday.

McIntire, Sally, and Ofiesh say that attendance has been spotty so far, but the place was roughly two thirds full Thursday, and they got to see a great show. Sally and Ofiesh developed their chemistry a few years ago hosting Thursdays at the Comedy Studio, and they haven’t lost a step with Supershow. They are loose and conversational, and like to tweak their audience a bit.

The pair started the show with their “mission statement, “ which included the promise “to go too far,” to “threaten nudity,” and, said Ofiesh, to have a “rape whistle talk.” “Very important to protect your ears while raping,” he said. And yes, they did make good on the nudity promise, at least partially, in a hypnotists bit later on.

The line-up was almost all spot on, including Jess Baade, Shereen Kassam, Renata Tutko, Jon Rineman, and special guest Brian Kiley, a Newton native and Conan O’Brien writer who is in town for next week’s tapings of the NESN Comedy All-Stars show at the Wilbur Theatre. Kiley writes some of the most efficient comic couplets in the business, and it’s always a pleasure to watch him work. (I’ve written about him for the Globe a couple of times – You can see the last one here). I have to admit I didn’t enjoy show-closer Paul Marino’s style (including his extended riff on Phil Collins), but I seemed to be in the minority at the club that night.

If you’re trying to figure out what to do with your Thursday, go see Supershow. It’s worth supporting.

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.