Josh Gondelman Records Debut CD for Rooftop This Weekend, On Big Sauce Tonight

Josh Gondelman records his debut
CD Friday and Saturday at Mottley's

Not many comedians can get away with telling an adorable story in a comedy club. Not without the audience getting a little queasy. But Josh Gondelman has a story in his act about one of his preschool kids wanting to be a wizard, and showing him a less than thrilling magic trick, that is just that.

Gondelman’s reputation as Boston’s “nice guy” comic is well deserved. He hosts an open mic every Monday at Sally O’Brien’s that feels welcoming, even if the audience often stares blankly at the comic like the Chuck E. Cheese Players in between “shows.” We will be losing him next month to New York City, where he will be trying to take the next step as a comic.

Before he leaves, he’s recording his debut CD for Rooftop Comedy Production at Mottley’s Friday and Saturday. Friday’s show is sold out. He’s also on the Big Sauce radio show tonight, on which he has been a frequent guest, for a "Pre-CD Release Party."

When do you officially leave for New York?

My lease is up at the end of July, so that's when I leave Boston. I'm going to be on the road half of August and staying with my girlfriend who already lives in New York for the other half of the month. The idea is to have my own place (own meaning shared with a zillion other guys to keep the rent at Bostonish levels) by September.

Was it important to you to get your CD recorded in Boston before you left?

I really wanted to get it done before I left. It's kid of my capstone independent study project. It's the end of roughly my first seven years in standup, and I think it's a nice, tidy way to move on to a different phase. I'm not planning to retire the material, but it'll be cool to have a document of what I did while I was here.

What are your release plans for it? Do you have a target date?

I'm hoping to have it all squared away and ready to go by September. I'll probably come up and do a CD release show in the fall. I'm going to try and get the art and editing done as well as possible but quickly too. I'm eager to see a finished product.

How did you come together with Rooftop?

I had done Rooftop's festival in Aspen last summer, and they were all super nice and great. The quality of the stuff they put out is awesome, and I opened for Kelly MacFarland when she recorded hers (for Rooftop, and I thought: "I want that! I want to do that!" My roommate/great friend Shawn Donovan had just done an album on his own, and so I was a little jealous, and I reached out to Rooftop, and they were really awesome and enthusiastic.

What are your thoughts on selling out Friday’s show?

I'm really psyched! Lots of people from different corners of my life have reached out and said that they're coming and bringing friends, which is really flattering. It's better than just having a uniform group of people all there from the same place. Because everyone will have their own sensibility, but ostensibly they're all there to see me.

Has appearing on Big Sauce helped you at all?

I really enjoyed going on Big Sauce. They were great about inviting me back to promote. I really respect and appreciate what they do for the community. We'll be giving away tickets to Saturday night's show. My nightmare is no one claims them. No one wanting free tickets to my recording is terrifying to me.

How do you feel about the “nice guy” tag? I’d imagine it’s flattering but problematic.

The "nice guy" thing is definitely flattering. It's not something I had ever intentionally cultivated, but it kept cropping up from various people describing me. It's funny because a lot of the time it's something a comic will say that about a guy he likes as a person if he thinks that guy has no act. Like: "Josh Gondelman...yeah, I've worked with him. Super nice guy."

But I think/hope I get it because I'm actually nice, and my act is nice too. I'm not vicious onstage, you know? It's just an extension of who I am normally, and I've got a pretty good nice guy pedigree. I bake. I teach preschool (until June 21st). It's only problematic in that I sometimes worry I'm not nice enough. I have a tough time dealing with hecklers sometimes, because if I get mean for a second, the rest of my personality seems like a sham.

Do you ever write something that’s at odds with the nice guy image and not use it because it would be out of character?

I've definitely written some meaner or dirtier stuff that doesn't exactly fit with my persona. But usually either a. It doesn't fit with what I want to put onstage anyway, or b. I can "aw, shucks" it up a little bit and get away with it. It's all about attitude. If something is more adult in tone but dealt with in an innocent way, people find it much easier to swallow. Plus, I can always tweet it. My twitter is less consistently pleasant than my live performances. It's fun to be a little grosser or edgier.

How are your students taking the fact that you’re leaving?

My students are sad. The parents are sad. I've got kids in my class who I had their older siblings my first year as a teacher, so I've known the family for four years. I'm sad to leave them. Everyone's really lovely and supportive, though. Some of the kids have made me big heart-shaped cards, and the parents are all wishing me the best. I love when the parents try to explain standup comedy to the children. That's my favorite. The kids are like: "He just goes and tells people jokes?"

What do you expect once you get to New York?

I'm expecting it to be hard. There are a zillion comics there. So many of the best working comedians in the world live there, so it's a tough proving ground. I'm going to have to start from the ground up again, which is half demoralizing/half exhilarating. I'm excited to see how the change in scenery impacts my writing and performing. I've got a lot of friends there, which is nice in that I get to show up without being another anonymous dweeb coming to the big city to "make it." I don't want to lean on anyone for favors, but it's good that there's going to be someone to say: "Oh yeah, I know him. He's a nice guy."

Guest Blogger: Boston Grassroots Comedy in Full Bloom

Guest Blogger Lucas Lewis

Starting today, I'm declaring this "Lucas Lewis Week" on the Boston Comedy Blog. Why? Because Lewis is recording a set for the first time Friday at The Gas, he's going to be leaving town shortly, and he's written this fine, multi-part piece on Boston Comedy. He's gotten into quite a few corners of this scene, and there is a lot to explore. He also interviews me. So in a very lazy way, I am posting something I said, too. Lewis was not lazy, though. And you'll see the fruits of his efforts today through Friday, including an extended Q&A with Mehran, who will be putting up Criscoteqhue 2 at Oberon Friday. Enjoy! -- Nick
By Lucas Lewis

CAMBRIDGE — Rhys Thomas paces nervously in front of the Middle East Corner on Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square. The 22-year-old Beverly native and student at North Shore Community College is preparing to perform standup comedy in front of a crowd for the first time, at the weekly Corner Comedy Open Mic, and he’s, well…

“I’m a wreck,” he says matter-of-factly.

Thomas has been taking a standup class at nearby ImprovBoston with Josh Gondelman (joshgondelman.com), a young but seasoned comic thought by many to be among the city’s best. Gondelman won Atlanta’s Laughing Skulls Comedy Festival last year, and in June he’ll record his first CD.

But Gondelman is also a preschool teacher who’s widely considered “Boston’s nicest comedian” — a persona he plays with on his website — and his soft-spoken demeanor is no doubt a comfort for fledgling comedians like Thomas.

The impetus for Thomas to actually pick up a mic, however, came as a result of another show put on by tonight’s host, Rob Crean of Anderson Comedy.

“It’s been something I’ve always enjoyed, but I never thought I could actually do it,” Thomas says. “I went to see Rob’s show kind of by accident, ‘The Gas’ (a showcase that takes place every Friday Night at Allston rock club Great Scott), and that’s the first time I ever saw local comedy.”

Boston’s local standup comedy scene is experiencing a second renaissance, producing shows at the rate — if not the profit margin — that made it known as a comedy hub in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, when the likes of Denis Leary, Lenny Clark and Steven Wright patrolled the stage.

The Middle East Corner’s Tuesday night show is just one of many comedy open mics around town; Boston comedians regularly go on to appear on Comedy Central and, sometimes, the major network late night shows; and alternative shows are cropping up all around the city, from rock clubs in Allston to cramped living rooms in Jamaica Plain.

Not all of this is new, of course, but the manner, scope and character of these independent comedy ventures are unique, according to more than a dozen comedians, club owners and journalists interviewed for this series.

Thomas aside, the cast of characters at the Corner Comedy Open Mic doesn’t seem to veer dramatically from those comedians showcased elsewhere on Friday and Saturday nights. In this respect, it's similar to the other main comedy open mics around town: Sally O’Brien’s in Somerville’s Union Square (Monday), Grandma's Basement in Fenway (Thursday), and The Banshee in Dorchester and Rosebud in Davis (Sunday).

You quickly start to see a lot of the same faces.

This is one of the things that sets Boston apart — it's small enough that there is a real sense of community. There are Facebook groups as well as the Boston Comedy Softball League. Instead of stealing material, Boston comedians have a reputation for suggesting “tags,” or additional punchlines, to one another.

When Myq Kaplan, a finalist on the last season of Last Comic Standing, got started in 2004, “I didn't realize how welcoming and supportive and encouraging the Boston comedy scene was,” he says. Kaplan, who has released a comedy album (Vegan Mind Meld), now lives in New York — a place that, because of its size and scale, lacks the camaraderie of the Boston comedy scene.

“To me it was just incredibly supporting,” adds Shane Mauss, who within months of starting standup upon moving to Boston in 2004 was getting prime gigs and invaluable advice thanks to other comedians. A lot of that had to do with the fact that he was good, of course, but it's a sentiment echoed by most of the comedians interviewed.

Perhaps when Rhys Thomas conquers his nerves a little more, he might find the same thing. Despite being petrified, he gamely delivered his material, which was based on the premise that he's worried about people who are telepathic because he feels like his brain is a messy apartment. A line about there being “porn everywhere” got a laugh.

Ultimately, Thomas was pleased with how his first show went. Contacted a few months later, Thomas hadn't performed again aside from the graduation show for the class he was taking. But he was resolved to change that.

“I’m still terrified,” he says, “but in the past two weeks I have started writing out bits that I like, that I’m laughing at, instead of just premises.”

Even with his somewhat peculiar, alternative brand of comedy, Thomas can expect to find a warm reception.

Big Sauce Radio with Josh Gondelman and Nick Zaino

Me on Big Sauce Radio
last Thursday.

I appeared on the Big Sauce Radio Show last Thursday with Josh Gondelman, talking comedy and music and playing a couple of songs. The show regularly features comedians, many of whom are covered on this blog, and broadcasts live as part of UnRegular Radio.

I played two original songs, one of which, "Live Through You," is less than two weeks old. The other song was "The Good News," which I wrote as a kind of barroom singalong. Gondelman talked about his stand-up life and also about a hip-hop blog, Guy Raps, Girl Sings the Hook, that he writes with his girlfriend. Here's the link the last week's show in podcast form.

Gallery: Barry Tattle's (And Chris Coxen's) Farewell Show

The crowd got a free autographed
Chris Coxen headshot.

Chris Coxen and Barry Tattle went out with a memorable farewell show Saturday at Mottley’s. The show was Coxen’s last before he and his cast of characters leave for London this Wednesday, and included many old friends. Gary Gulman, Niki Luparelli, Jon Lincoln, Josh Gondelman, Shawn Donovan, Lamont Price, and Coxen’s old sketch partner, Nate Johnson all turned in great performances. The Grown Up Noise provides musical accompaniment.

It was a lot of fun to see Coxen and Johnson again, whether they were harassing Mottley’s owner Lincoln as bicycle cops or playing, respectively, a thunder salesman and a hurricane salesman. Tattle crooned to the crowd (it was his Valentine’s Day Surprise, officially), and sang a duet of “Up Where We Belong” that included a remarkable accurate eagle impression from Luparelli.

Since it was his farewell show, Tattle also gave out prizes gathered from cleaning out his apartment, including a tube of shower calk and a nacho plate shaped like a cowboy hat. Shamefully, the person who won the VHS Biography channel special on JFK, JR left their prize on the table after they left.

The biggest surprise of the night happened in the middle of Tattle’s rendition of “Single Ladies,” when water started dripping, and then outright spouting on the band. The dripping spread along different parts of the ceiling, forcing the crowd to rearrange. Apparently, a sink at the upstairs bar had overflowed while non of the bartenders were watching.

No one died, though, and the added dampness couldn’t ruin the show. Here are a few photos from the evening.

Barry Tattle gets sensual to open the show.

Gary Gulman praises legend Tattle.

Jon Lincoln's set interrupted by bike cops.

A blurry Josh Gondelman (he is much easier to see in person).

Tattle and Luparelli on "Up Where We Belong."

This is what a thunder salesman looks like.

A hurricane salesman and a thunder salesman.



A hurricane in motion.

Shawn Donovan speaks of his anti-Semitic haircut.

Grownup Noise - band in the shadows.

Fixing a hole where the rain came in.

Mopping up.

Sex ed with the wrestling coach.

Lamont Price in his "civil rights glasses."

The elusive Chris Coxen.

The nacho hat prize left. The VHS tape lingered.

Gary Gulman tops the bill at Steve Macone's Holiday Show and Toy Drive

Gary Gulman at the Burren's
Slightly Better Christmas
Spectacular Wednesday

The usual Wednesday night comedy contest at the Burren is being pre-empted this week for some special guests and a toy drive to benefit the Somerville-based Toys for Local Children. Macone is calling it his "Slightly Better Christmas Spectacular," because "the toys will be helping children have a slightly better Christmas and people can expect, at the very least, the show to be slightly better."

Gary Gulman is dropping in, supporting his new album, All I Want for Chunukah Is Christmas. Also on the bill, Matt D, Rob Crean, Tim Vargulish, Shawn Donovan, Maria Ciampa, Kate Ghiloni, Matt Kona, and Chris Fleming. Josh Gondelman and Zach Sherwin (aka MC Mr Napkins) may also drop by, depending on if they can get to Davis Square from the Wu-Tang show at the Wilbur in time.

Macone says a few more comedians may wind up stopping by last minute. 

Josh Gondelman on Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, and celebrity meltdowns

Josh Gondelman

Josh Gondelman has a funny, thoughful piece on celebrity meltdowns on his blog, Going Going Gondelman, called "Mug Shots and Pot Shots."

Why do we make fun of celebrities who blow up, melt down, or otherwise damage themselves? There are obvious answers. What does that say about us? That's a little less comfortable to contemplate.

Josh Gondelman talks Laughing Skull and open mics

Earlier this month, Josh Gondelman won the Laughing Skull Comedy Festival competition in Atlanta, goign up against comedians from around the country. IT won him bragging rights, and perhaps more importantly, work. Gondelman will hit the road with 24 weeks worth of work, as soon as he can schedule it with different clubs.

Josh also hosts one of Boston's most relaxed open mics at Sally O'Brien's in Somerville. It's a place where comics and crazies go to express themselves, and emerging headliners go to work out new material.

I caught up with Gondelman at O'Brien's after Monday's open mic.

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.

Discount Variety tonight with Dan Margarita and Josh Gondelman

We’ve come once again to the third Thursday of the month, which means it’s Discount Variety time. This month, the show features the music of Dan Margarita and the comedy of Josh Gondelman. You may know Margarita better as a comedian, but he is also a songwriter, working on a new album called Kill the Messenger. Gondelman is a regular at the Comedy Studio and hosts the open mic at Sally O’Brien’s every Mondays, where some of Boston’s best comics come for a workout.

The show starts at 8PM at the CinemaSalem Cafe in Salem. For mor einfo, click the Discount Variety button in the sidebar to the right.

DAN MARGARITA

After a career in stand-up comedy, working at clubs and colleges across the nation with such noted comedians as Judy Tenuta, Lenny Clarke, Steve Sweeney, Jimmy Tingle and Barry Crimmins, Dan Margarita has turned his focus to music. His forthcoming CD Kill The Messenger, contains songs with humor, personal loss and social commentary.


How long have you been playing in Boston?

I haven’t been playing around town for all that long.

What are your favorite places to play?

Generally speaking, I prefer to play the smaller, intimate venues, where I can really be heard and get my stuff across to the audience.

Who are your favorite comedians, locally and nationally?

Locally, I’d have to say my favorite comic is Mike Donovan, but there’s an awful lot of good ones around here. Nationally, I was most influenced by the young George Carlin. I have to admit, I thought he was funnier when he was still doing drugs.

What is the best comedy show you've seen?

Best comedy show I’ve ever seen... just too many to even consider.

JOSH GONDELMAN

An unabashed dork, Josh Gondelman consistently earns the right to hang out with the cool kids by making them laugh until they snort milk out their noses. Josh blends a sharp and quirky sense of humor with a genuine good nature, the result of which is a hilarious and accessible blend of “some holds barred” comedy. Josh is the comedian that your grandmother would love, even if she didn’t get the jokes. Josh just finished his degree in English and Creative Writing at Brandeis University, and he performs standup, sketch, and improv comedy at clubs, colleges, and theaters all over the country. Josh Gondelman. He can talk smart without sounding smarmy. He can talk family without sounding familiar. And he can talk sex without being sexy. Wait. Scratch that last one. He’s very sexy. Just don’t tell grandma.

How long have you been playing in Boston?

I started out at the open mic at Dick Doherty's Comedy Vault about five years ago. My grandfather was very ill at the time, and every week I took a bus into the city from Brandeis where I was in school to visit him at Mass General, and then I went one stop over to Park Street to perform in the theater district. Too much information? That will probably be the theme of this interview.

What are your favorite places to play?

Over the past year, I've really come to value any place where the audience comes to listen and enjoy rather than judge or disapprove. Little theaters are great for that. I did a hugely fun show out in San Francisco a few months ago at the Darkroom Theater in the Mission (run by Pat Bulger, a super funny Boston transplant). The show had all sorts of things going on, music and standup and video, and the crowd came in ready to roll with it.

The Comedy Studio in Harvard Square has the vibe a lot, too. The crowd expects to enjoy themselves, and it makes performing so much more pleasurable than when you have to deal with lots of crossed arms or big chatty parties. Mottley's by Fanuiel Hall is like that, too. They book the great old-school Boston headliners like Tony V, and they also are very open-minded about up-and-coming headliners like Myq Kaplan and Joe List. It's very supportive and fun to play there. Non-traditional standup venues like ImprovBoston and the Anderson Comedy shows at the Great Scott area great because of how loose things can be.

Too much again? Good. I'm keeping on task.

Who are your favorite musicians, locally and nationally?

Locally, I feel like I've got to plug The Grownup Noise until they are famous. They're such talented musicians, and as a group their sound is so unique but not in a way that alienates listeners. It's like: "Oh, yeah! Of course eventually a band should have decided to sound like this."

Also, the Brendan Boogie Band recently put out an EP called Disposable Pop that sounds like Weezer back when Weezer sounded like Weezer.

Plus there are some really great music/comedy people in Boston should be/are aware of. Zach Sherwin (MC Mr. Napkins) writes a perfect rap every seven seconds or something. And Robby Roadsteamer is worth watching 100% of the times he gets onstage.

Nationally, I've been listening to The Hold Steady on a near constant basis. If in an alternate universe, Bruce Springsteen grew up in the 80's and 90's with an awareness that Bruce Springsteen had already existed, he would be the front man for The Hold Steady. That doesn't make any sense, but they're awesome. Plus, I look like a bearded, less out-of-shape version of their singer. So they've got that going for them. Or do I have that going for me? Probably neither.

What is the best music show you’ve seen?

About six years ago I saw Cee-Lo Green (of Gnarles Barkley), Lauryn Hill (accoustic), Jurassic 5, The Roots, and Outkast at the Tweeter Center, which is now the Comcast Center, and was formerly Great Woods. The Roots were unbelievable. Their albums are very good, but their live show is so much fun. They're the only rap group who can really get away with cover songs, which I think is one key. And they give their original songs so much fullness and energy in concert. And, as Jimmy Fallon has shown us, they're really funny. I get jealous sometimes, when I see a really funny musician. I'm like: "Who are you? Leonardo DaVinci? Stick to one talent! You're making me look very bad!"

Josh Gondelman and Shawn Donovan's World Tour of America

Josh Gondelman and Shawn Donovan begin their trek across the nation this week, playing everywhere from Chicago to Austin, San Diego to Seattle, all in about a month’s time. They’ll kick off their World Tour of America tonight with a show at Mottley’s Comedy Club with a slate of guests – Jon Lincoln, Tim McIntire, Brian Moote, Dan Boulger, Ken Reid, Chris Coxen, and Renata Tutko. I spoke with Gondelman by e-mail about the tour.

How did you decide to do a national tour together?

I have some good friends in a really great local band (The Grownup Noise), and they do a self-produced tour every summer, so that was definitely an inspiration for me. I had the idea a year ago to do a similar thing. Shawn was my first choice to come with me because my rubric was: Who can I call who will leave his/her job on a moment's notice? And Shawn was the first name that came to mind.

Have either of you done extensive road work in the past?

I've been all over New England and down to New York for shows, one nighters and weekends and stuff, but this is my first serious long-term nation-wide trip. It's an excuse to see the country and meet people and get onstage in front of all sorts of different crowds. We've got some adventures planned, too. Salamander hunting with a nature photographer in Chicago, Graceland, riverboat gambling in Mississippi. Also, Shawn is a bigfoot enthusiast, so the Pacific Northwest will be full of mystery and danger.

How did you book the places you’re going to?

The internet has been a great resource. Just Googling cities and contacting people on MySpace out of the blue has yielded some great results. Also, Boston has become a really cool melting pot for comics who started out in different places. Brian Moote was a big help booking shows in Seattle and Jess Mozes who works at the Comedy Studio got us a gig in San Francisco. Also, there are lots of Boston transplants all over who were very helpful. The Walsh Brothers in particular. Lots of guys who went to Emerson are out in California, too, and they were very cool. Mike McCusker was very supportive. We're mostly crashing on couches of college friends. At this point in my life, no one owes me any favors anymore, though. I better not move anytime soon.

What is your mode of transportation?

1999 Toyota Corolla. Mine. I'm picturing it as a cross between the Blues Brothers ("It's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses, etc.") and the Big Lebowski ("They finially did it; they killed my f---ing car.") But mostly we're putting 8,000 miles on a ten year old car. Fortunately we've got a friend who is a comedian and a mechanic who's taking a look at it for us. Comedy is sort of like the free masons sometimes.

What venues/cities are you most excited to play?

We got hooked up with some really cool showcases in Chicago, which is our last stop on the way home. Plus, I've heard nothing but great stuff about Austin and San Francisco as places to spend time.

What do you think you might learn from playing these other cities?

What I'm hoping for mostly is to broaden my horizons in terms of absorbing comedy. Boston is a great community, but I'm excited to see what the conventions are outside of that community. What makes people uncomfortable in other cities? What sorts of jokes are "hack?" I'm curious to see whether mainstream comedy is sort of like mainstream music, in that what blows up nationally is the most commercially viable iteration of a particular style or dialect. I'm excited to get into the nitty gritty of things. And also to see how my act plays all over, for sure.

Will you be trying to pick up shows as you go along, in addition to what you already have booked?

We're already pretty jam-packed, with something like 17 nights onstage out of 28 days away, so it'll be tough to book additional things, but I'd definitely be up for doubling up and hitting a couple of shows on the same night in cities where there's a lot going on. You know, like Oxford, Mississippi.

What will be your first official gig back in Boston after the tour?

The Monday we return, I retake the helm of my usual Monday night open mic at Sally O'Brien's in Somerville. Then I'm at the Comedy Vault the first weekend I'm back (April 10th and 11th), and then The Gas (Friday) and the Comedy Studio (Saturday) the next week. So I'm hitting the ground running.

Shows This Weekend

Three shows this weekend deserve a special highlight. Tonight’s line-up at The Gas at Great Scott is solid from top to bottom – Anderson Comedy hosts Chris Coxen, Josh Gondelman, David Grabiner, Lamont Price, Robby Roadsteamer, MC Mr. Napkins, The Steamy Bohemians, and Mehran. Not bad for five bucks… You may not have heard much about it, but there’s a benefit show with a great line-up tomorrow at the Wilbur at 2PM, with Ira Proctor, Jim Lauletta, Tony V., Jon Lincoln, Dan Boulger, Mike Hanley, Jon Porch, Ahmed Bharoocha, and Roman Pierce. Proceeds benefit a family that lost their father to suicide… Also Saturday, at 7PM, is a great show for comedy and rock and roll fans. Jimmy Tingle is emceeing a show with Mission of Burma and the Neighborhood at the Somerville Theatre. Proceeds will benefit the Center for Arts at the Armory.