Greg Giraldo Interview: New York, 1994

Greg Giraldo 1965-2010

Greg Giraldo wasn't technically a Boston comedian. He came up through the New York scene, where he was a staple for most of his career. But he was smart and sometimes rough, and he studied at Harvard Law, and we tend to accept or even claim comedians like that as our own.

When Giraldo died last week of an accidental overdose, I wrote about him for TVSquad.com. I spoke to a Boston comedian named Jessie Baade for that piece who had known Giraldo briefly while they were both comedians starting out in New York. She had an interview with him she intended to be part of a documentary on comedy in New York that never got made. It shows a young Giraldo being charming and not taking anything seriously, which is a fitting tribute to the man's approach to his comedy.

The interview is below, with introduction from Miss Robles.

From Jessie Robles (aka Jessie Baade): Greg let me interview him when I told him him I was working on a project about comics while we were hanging out at Chuckles in Mineola, Long Island NY around late 1994. It never got finished because his was the only thing that didn't turn out to be in the dark. Jim Gaffigan is there off camera which is why Giraldo kept making cracks about him. He did not, in actuality, think Gaffigan was a hack.

Interview: The Bombshell Show

The Bombshell Show: Boston Comedy's Blond Invasion hits Mottley's Comedy Club on Thursday with all sorts of blond comedy fury. The reason Jessie Baade and Nicole Luparelli put this showcase together have little to do with hair color, though. Both sport blond locks, but the Bombshell Show is more a good excuse to put some talented comics together on the same bill -- Chris Fleming (who is moving to L.A. soon), Amy Tee, Sara Blodgett, Kaite Lasky, and Ken Reid, who will sport a blond wig for the show.

If you're going to the show, remember blonds get two dollars off the $12 ticket price, and they're not picky. You can wear a wig or dye your hair that day, anything that makes you blond for the duration of the show.

I spoke with Jessie and (The Real) Nicole last week about the show for FGH's cameras. This is the result:

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.

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.