What began in December as a promising venture to bring Boston comedians and musicians to a larger officially ended today when Rob Potylo and Metropolitan Pitcures announced they were pulling Quiet Desperation from MyTV. In a press release posted this afternoon on Facebook, Potylo and Metropolitan announced the decision, citing MyTV’s new ownership and subsequent stricter censorship of the show as their motivation.
Carlisle One Media bought WZMY in March, and have said they plan to continue the association with the MyNetworkTV. Shooting Star Broadcasting had owned the station since 2004.
The press release says the new ownership has a different vision for the station, and had asked Potylo and Metropolitan to removed some content and to “bleep” some words. They contend they had already vetted the show for content that would comply with FCC standards.
“Principal filming has been completed according to the original standards we agreed to with MyTV management when we made our broadcast deal,” said Metropolitan Pictures Creative Director Warren Lynch in the statement. “Now that we’re more than halfway through the season what are we supposed to do, re-shoot it?”
Potylo contends much of the shift has to do with Carlisle owner Bill Binnie. “Last week they (MyTV) ran an infomercial for tooth whitening instead of a repeat episode they had already broadcast – simply because of the new owner’s personal taste,” he said in the release. “He already wants us to remove humor related to marijuana and bleep words that don't violate TV-MA/18 standards, and it’s the start of a slippery slope which, for me, would destroy my vision of the program. I know QUIETD has a mass appeal that is undeniable, and we’re willing to stand by that.”
Rob Potylo posted on his Facebook page that tonight’s Quiet Desperation Night at Great Scott will be his “last little musical performance for a loooong while.” That’s not terribly surprising when you realize he is now working on two different shows for MyTV – Queit Desperation, and a children’s show called Worried All the Time that Potylo expects will debut in May or June.
Potylo has been hyping Worried on Facebook as a kind of surreal take on The Little Prince. “Worried All the Time is a kid's show geared towards kids that grew up like me,” he said by e-mail, “Not quite fitting in... Bullied.... Nervous.... Just trying to stay afloat.”
But considering Quiet Desperation has the backing of WBOS 92.9 and music is such a big part of the show, it is surprising to hear Potylo say he’s backing off live shows for a while. When I asked him if he might be planning live shows that weren’t music oriented, he said, “Who knows? I’d rather be creative than social.”
So if you want to see Potylo playing music, get out to Great Scott tonight. He’s playing with Taiwan Typhoon and Hooker Clops.
Rob Potylo told his Facebook friends a few days ago that big news was coming about Quiet Desperation, his Web-based sitcom satirizing the local music and comedy scene. Tonight he revealed that the show will move from the Web to MyTV starting Christmas Eve. Here's Potylo's interview on the future of the show.
As Rob Potylo gets heavier into the band side of his creativity (he's playing Great SCott May 31 with his band), Quiet Desperation is back to focusing on the music side of things, although there are still plenty of comedians in different roles in the current episode. Here's QD 20, posted earlier today. I have more from the Quiet Depseration Rumble show to post soon, so keep checking back.
I first met Sam Walters shortly after I moved to Boston and started covering comedy in 1998. He was part of a comedy group that included The Walsh Brothers, Kyria Abrahams, Val Kappa, Ben Joplin, Dan Sulman, and Tim McIntire, a bunch of regulars at The Comedy Studio, trying to do something a little different, and generally succeeding.
I spoke with him by Facebook about the show yesterday.
Do you perform comedy anymore, or are you strictly staying with music now?
I'm not doing stand-up at the moment--my long suffering liver would up and quit if I started attending both comedy AND rock shows--but there's plenty of comedy in King Hell. I've got a two-horned anvil now... Christ, I've become the Carrot Top of metal.
Do you still get out to see comedy?
Not too often, though we played the Jerkus Circus earlier this month in Worcester, which was phenomenal. The hosts, the Steamy Bohemians, were as hilarious and deplorable as I remembered them... which isn't too clearly. Man, stand-up was a boozy time. I remember coming out of the Comedy Studio one night and thinking, "Damn, I'm drunk AGAIN." Thanks Jenkins...
What's the difference in dynamics between fronting a band and doing stand-up?
Stand-up, for me, was an intellectual exercise in crowd seduction; "intellectual", in my case, consisted of high-brow dick jokes (a genius concept). I was trying to solve the riddle of the audience, poking and prodding them 'til something clicked. Fronting a rock band is much more of a one-sided physical display; the audience comes to you. Some comics can bridge that gap though, like Kevin Knox (may he rest in peace, though he's probably not resting, wherever he is). That guy was a rock star. Ask Brian Longwell about his night at the Kowloon with Kevin and these twin sisters who... um, ask Brian. Don't let him leave out the part about the snakes.
For the uninitiated, how would you describe King Hell?
We're like Parliament meets Metallica (though, mercifully, without a band member in diapers). We're a funk-fueled, old-school metal band chock fulla melodic hooks and bawdy humor that, according to a recent review, will make you break out in a maniacal grin and new dance called "the fist pumping booty shake". Call it Berzerk Du Soleil.
Anyone you're looking forward to seeing again in Boston?
Certainly not Tim McIntire. Now that he's vegan, he won't take me fishing. Otherwise, being a metal front man, I'm entitled to say, "I love you all!!!"
Robby Roadsteamer/Rob Potylo has a new solo album to promote. So obviously, the thing to do is visit Santa in New Hampshire and eat a big bag o' mushrooms. Also, the return of Chippah!
Robby Roadsteamer has a new band called Super Time Pilot, and as previously reported, a new sound. Robby and Nikki turn in some nice work at the end of this. Stay tuned for more news abou the band and their new album.
Very few people would have ever thought of putting Bigg Nez and Joe Wong together as a hip-hop duo called Tin Tin Buffet, as Robby Roadsteamer has done in Episode 7 of Quiet Depseration, a faux reality show about the Boston arts and entertainment scene. It's those sorts of combinations that have made Quiet Desperation so appealing, throwing a couple of dozen of Boston's talented comics together in one story and seeing what happens.
Friday night at Anderson Comedy's show, The Gas, at Great Scott Roadsteamer celebrates Quiet Depseration with some of the show's contributors -- Mehran, Chris Coxen, Tom Dustin, Erin Judge, Shaun Bedgood, Ken Reid, and Joe Madaus.
Coxen is one of Boston's most reliable character comics, and has a considerable collection of whackjobs and goofballs (there's a very fine difference, I would have to cite sources) including Ripps McCoxen. McCoxen has just added the title "Camaro Whisperer" to his resume, as demonstrated in the latest video from Coxen.
Robby Roadsteamer has not one but two new videos posted on his site -- Episode Four of Quiet Desperation, his YouTube sitcom about the local comedy and music scenes, and a video for his song "Swamps of Sadness."
Here in Episode Four, sessions for the new album are heating up:
And bonus relationship angst in "Swamps of Sadness":
