Gallery and Review: Eugene Mirman's Pretty Good Friends At the Paradise

Reggie Watts, Kumail Nanjiani, Tom Allen, and
Eugene Mirman at the Pretty Good Friends show
Tuesday at the Paradise

There is an amazing consistency to Eugene Mirman’s shows. Mirman kicked off his Pretty Good Friends tour at the Paradise in Boston last night, but it could have been a show at The Comedy Studio or the Green Street Grill, both places he used to host when he was here. That is to say, it was a night of comics who shared an obvious familiarity and comfort with each other, and a crowd that was up for whatever they presented.

Mirman hosts a version of Pretty Good Friends regularly in New York, and this is a brief, one-week tour before Mirman heads out to the SXSW festival in Austin. His guests are Reggie Watts, whom Mirman called a “vocal trapeze artist,” Kumail Nanjiani, and Tom Allen. The group started the show with a kind of informal, onstage conversation, during which Nanjiani noted that there isn’t really any reason the four of them should even know each other. Nanjiani is of Pakistani descent, Watts is black, and Allen is English and gay (double minority!). Mirman noted they almost called it the “Accidentally Diverse Tour.”

All four were different personalities, but there was a sort of shared sensibility of being something other, or outside. They apparently had a fun time walking around Harvard Square together yesterday afternoon, drawing some strange looks. Didn’t help that Watts had decided to lumber around hunched over, his knuckles close to dragging on the ground, and surprise people by hiding in bushes.

Allen talked about bringing a monogrammed briefcase to school as a child, which only added to his sense of being different from his schoolmates. One kid said he would knock him to the ground. Allen’s solution? Just lay down before he had to take a punch, and no one can knock you down. Kumail spoke of being called “Kumar” as a slur, which is unfortunately close to his real name. He wants to become famous enough that his name becomes the thing the racists use to yell at other people, then he can be happy when they recognize him. Mirman said he always wanted to be the kind of comic who could toss out one-liners while playing guitar or piano, but has no musical ability. His solution? Read some Tweets while playing theremin.

Watts is the most obviously strange of the bunch. His comedy was less about the meaning of his words and more about keeping the audience off balance using mainly the sound of his voice. He took on the voice of a professor giving a conference lecture, launching into convincing sounding scientific gibberish. Then, just when the audience was comfortable with that cadence, Watts changed into some harder-sounding accent (New York? New Jersey?), changing back and forth seamlessly. That was before he went to his music rig, a couple of boxes on a stool that allowed him to record loops of his own voice and play them back on the fly. With those, he was able to build a strikingly accurate parody of a Radiohead song. It’s more about the breath than the voice, he explained.

As odd as any comedian might have gotten, it never felt like the audience was being held at a distance. Mirman had a volunteer up onstage for a bit where he pretended to be an alien and made her explain speed dating. He gave fake mustaches to everyone in the crowd so he could take a photo of it from the stage. Whenever anyone shouted, it was acknowledged by the comic and the set moved on. Other than one woman who seemed a bit confused about why she had yelled in the first place, no one seemed interested in interrupting the kind of apartment party atmosphere. Which is a nice feat to pull off in a club that holds several hundred people.

A few images from the evening:

Nanjiani, Allen, and Mirman discuss their day walking
around Harvard Square.

Tom Allen describes his experience with
playground bullies.

Tom Allen, star of The Cut and The Correspondent,
whom Mirman introduced with his U.K. credits.

Nanjiani, puzzled by Freddy Kruger's racism.

Nanjiani thinks Harry Potter is the best case scenario
for a transfer student.

Mirman Tweets and theremins.

The crowd wearing their new mustaches.

Reggie Watts grooves.

Watts improvises Radiohead.

Watts and his effects rig.

Watts riffs from behind the curtain
for no apparent reason.

The New Redesign Is Here!

Starting today, the Boston Comedy Blog looks a little different. I have ditched the old blocky design for something I hope looks a little cleaner and is easier to read and use. I’ve also retooled some of the features to make this a site you can visit every day for useful information.

The most extensive change by far is the listings, which you can access by clicking the “Comedy Calendar” in the top navigation. These are the most complete comedy listings for the city of Boston and beyond that you will find anywhere. I have made an effort to include every club, open mics, and even TV and radio spots. There are a few more stragglers coming in as the monthly schedules change, but what’s there so far takes up over 60 pages in Word format. If you have any listings for me, click on “Contact” above and e-mail me, including “Comedy Listings” in the subject line.

I also have a box in the upper righthand corner featuring a few shows going on every week, which I will update on Mondays. So if you’re planning your week, look there first. If you don’t see anything that suits you, check the calendar. There’s bound to be something to make you laugh every week (even if you just stay home and watch something like Showtime’s Fierce Funny Women special, which features Betsy Salkind and debuts March 10 at 8:30PM).

I will be approaching some of the content a little differently, as well. I will be writing more feature type pieces – like one about why comedians leave Boston that is forthcoming later this week. I will be out at Eugene Mirman’s show at the Paradise tonight taking pictures to provide a gallery and review. I will still have longer print interviews like I have done with Louis CK, Barry Crimmins, and Dick Gregory. I will also have short, 6-10 minute video interviews. And every so often, I will dip back into the past 13 year’s worth of interviews I have done writing for publications like The Boston Globe and The Boston Phoenix for some unpublished quotes and Q&As.

I have also added to the “Classic Clips” section, which will be a work in progress. Ideally, I will be adding video of comics from different eras in Boston comedy history that either capture a comic at a Boston club or a performance from around the time they were here. If you have a good one, e-mail me. Or if you’re a comic, venue, radio show, or local comedy blog, let me know and I’ll add you to the appropriate list in the top navigation.

Finally, if you’re curious about who the hell spends this much time writing about Boston comedy, I have added an extensive biography in the About Nick section (that’s me – Nick Zaino).

I have a few more ideas for things to add to the site that are still developing, so check back to plan your comedy viewing schedule, to find out what’s going on this week, or to learn a bit about the rich history of the Boston comedy scene.

Thanks for clicking me.

The Comedy Studio's Comic In Residence Interview - Sean Wilkinson

Sean Wilkinson is The Comedy Studio's
Comic In Residence for March

Every month, The Comedy Studio features one comic on every show. For March, it’s Brockton native Sean Wilkinson, starting with tonight's Mystery Lounge show.

Wilkinson says he wrote his first joke at seven or eight and grew up watching Letterman and Conan. He decided in high school he was going to give comedy a shot someday, and has fed himself a steady diet of Louis C.K., Patton Oswalt, and Zach Galifianakis (he lists Oswalt’s Werewolves and Lollipops as his favorite comedy CD – “I've probably listened to that twice as much as any other album,” he says). During the day, he works at what he calls a “big financial services company,” so he can afford to tell jokes at night.

When did you start doing comedy?

Five and a half years ago. I did comedy at my college for three years, about a show every 2 months back then. Then I graduated and started taking it more seriously, getting out to the Boston scene and doing some traveling when I can.

How often have you played the Studio?

One or two times a month over the course of a couple years.

What other clubs do you play?

Mottley's, Nick's, and Grandma's Basement.

What local comedians have influenced you?

All of them/None of them. In all seriousness though it's a great, supportive comedy scene with a lot of talent and everyone is very helpful. I'd say Jason Marcus and Sean Sullivan have influenced me more than anyone. They're both great and I've gotten to watch their entire careers unfold because I went to high school with them. I've done more traveling, writing, and drawing robots with Jason than anyone. Sullivan is good friends with my brother Steve and he's always been hilariously mean to me and I like people like that (in high school he didn't like the idea of there being two Seans, so he called me mini-Steve for the better part of a decade). Both of them have pushed me to get up on stage as much as possible too.

Don't tell Sullivan that I said anything positive about him by the way, he still intimidates me.



What's the average number of gigs you've played in a month before this?
It varies, but I probably average 7 or 8 booked shows a month, and then with open mics added in I get up on stage 20+ times a month.

How will you approach your time -- work on new stuff, refine older stuff, or a mix of both?

A mix of both. Older stuff on the weekends, with some newer stuff mixed in on the weekdays.

What do you expect to have gotten out of the experience when the month is over?

I'd be surprised if I didn't feel more confident in my material by the end of the month. They have great audiences and a set there can be a real confidence booster for your jokes. Sometimes I get too comfortable with how I normally arrange a short set, so I'd definitely like to play around with the order of my jokes a bit. It is a huge honor to be able to do this, so other than that I'm just going to try to enjoy the experience.

Do you plan to make comedy a job, or is it something you do as a hobby?
I plan on making it my full-time job, not sure what my timeline for that is yet. Also Mutual Funds Incorporated might not like seeing that timeline on the internet. Until then it is the best hobby in the World... next to scrap booking, of course. A distant second to scrap booking.

Michael Showalter's Mr. Funny Pants - At the Brighton Music Hall Tonight

Michael Showalter's Mr. Funny
Pants Tour in town tonight.

Michael Showalter is out at the new Brighton Music Hall tonight with Michael Ian Black on his Mr. Funny Pants tour, which also happens to be the name of his brand new book. You can find more info here.

Mr. Funny Pants has been described in the press as a mix of humor pieces and memoir, which is apt, except the pieces aren't side by side, they're integrated. Before you even get to actual chapters, you have five "About" sections, "Acknowledgments," a "Table of Contents" that is just an illustration of a table, a "Preface," "Post-Preface," "Post-Post-Preface," a "Pre-Post-Post-Preface" (which comes after the "Post-Post-Preface"), an "End of Pre- and Post-Prefaces Preface," and an "Introduction." Then a short bit about Showalter taking ecstasy and peeing on himself (in a chapter titled "Taking Ecstasy and Peeing on Myself," before a couple of different versions of the book proposal for Mr. Funny Pants itself.

The first thing you learn about Showalter from the book is something you already know -- that he is a very, very silly person. There is some personal information in there, some of it fairly frank, but you don't go too long before you hit a chart or a list to illustrate and make light of the topic. As Showalter put it in his chapter, "Book Proposal, Part 3," "I can't write the memoir I want to write if I stick to the facts. My life simply isn't eventful enough for an accurate portrait." Instead, he says, he will write whatever comes to mind, whether it's an imaginary interview with Charlie Rose or writing about a college girlfriend.

Mike Birbiglia summed it up nicely in a quote on the back of the book, "Mr. Funny Pants is unlike any book I've ever read. It's this weird, hilarious, choose-your-own-adventure inside Michael Showalter's brain."

If the more personal stuff becomes a bigger part of the stand-up, it will make for an interesting show.

Scheduling didn't work out for the interview I had planned with Showalter, but I may print that later this week. In the meantime, a thing called Flavorwire has an interesting interactive interview with Mr. Showalter for you to peruse. Take a look here.

And for good measure, here is Kevin Kline reading from the book.

Potylo Playing Last Live Music Show For “A Long While” Tonight At Great Scott

Quiet Desperation Night tonight
at Great Scott

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.

Here’s the Facebook page for the event.

The Boston Comedy Interview: Nate Johnson and The Great Boston Molasses Comedy Disaster Show

Nate Johnson turns the 1919 Molasses
Flood into comedy.

On January 15, 1919, a giant storage tank burst in Boston’s North End, flooding the area with roughly two and a half million gallons of molasses, killing 21 people and injuring more than 150. A little less than a hundred years later, Nate Johnson figures we are ready to laugh about it.

Johnson brings his Great Boston Molasses Comedy Disaster Show to Mottley’s tomorrow, with stand-up from Matt Donaher, Dan Boulger, Ken Reid, and Lamont Price, and sketch featuring Johnson, Tim Vargulish, Ryan Douglas, Maria Ciampa, and Sean Sullivan. Apparently, there will also be a group called the Burnin’ Love Sauces on hand to hawk 1919 Molasses BBQ Sauce, and a local band called Hot Molasses.

I caught up with Johnson by e-mail to get a few more details.

What led you to write a show about the Great Boston Molasses Disaster? Are you a history buff?

Yeah, I’ve always been a kind of history nerd, especially as I’ve gotten older. The molasses flood I’d known about for a while and really wanted to do something about it-whether it was a bit or a character or video or whatever. Doing an entire show about it provided all those options.

This was actually a tragedy at the time – how do you turn it into comedy?What’s the structure of the show?

There’s a little thing I like to say-time plus tragedy equals Thursday night comedy show. It’s always tricky writing anything about something that people could potentially find offensive. But if you’re just going with your reaction-which in this case, for me, was, “Wha? Seriously? Molasses?!”, then, ideally, the audience will get that and understand the intention isn’t malicious or disrespectful. The show is structured so there’ll be bits about the actual event, broken up by comics, with the goal being that people learn about this weird thing without feeling beaten over the head by it.

How does the stand-up fit with the overall theme? Are Matt, Dan, Ken, and Lamont going to taper their sets to the night?

Of the comics on the show, I think Ken’s the only one I heard do a bit about the molasses flood and Dan has some great history material. But the comics are really there to kinda break up the show and not make it too molasses-heavy. I’m just shooting for a funny show that I’d want to go to.

How did you put Tim, Ryan, Maria, and Sean together for the sketches?

I’d had them all in mind when I was putting the show together and knew I wanted some sketch. Doing sketch at Mottleys can definitely be challenging, but I feel pretty confident because I’ve done stuff with all of them before and they know the space pretty well. Also, they can all do excellent ethnic accents that no one will find offensive.

Who are the Burnin’ Love Sauces?

They’re a local saucier that makes a BBQ sauce called 1919 and molasses is an ingredient in it. It’s a great sauce and I thought it’d be fun to have them sell their stuff at the show. Plus, I don’t think there are enough shows with barbeque sauce vendors at them.

Who is Hot Molasses?

I’d really wanted a band to play at the show and found these guys online. They’re from Somerville and sound kinda like the B-52s. They’ve got a new EP coming out soon and they’re debuting a song about the flood at the show. Yeah.

Any plans to visit other Boston tragedies? Race riots? The 1986 World Series perhaps? Stephen Tyler?

Totally. I’m actually working on an operetta about the Charles Stuart murder and a 2-act play about the Blizzard of 78 performed by puppets.

Erin Judge Pitches The Date Rape Squad On Open Salon

Erin Judge, star of
The Date Rape Squad

ABC just cast actress Krysten Ritter in new sitcom called Don't Trust the Bitch, which, according to Deadline.com, "centers on June (Dreama Walker), an earnest, honest, optimistic girl from the heartland who, due to circumstances beyond her control, is forced to move in with Chloe (Ritter), a sexy, unstable New York City party girl who has the morals of a pirate."

This made Erin Judge think, if you willingly cast yourself in the title role of "Bitch," what opportunities might Judge be able to find for herself in Hollywood? She posted her ideas on her Open Salon page today. I especially enjoy idea number two.

Judge is in New York now, but she comes back often to play The Dress Up Show at Mottley's Comedy Club.

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.

Patrice O'Neal On Leaving Boston, Plus A Preview of Tonight's Elephant In the Room Special On Comedy Central

When I first spoke with Patrice O’Neal in 2001, he was already in New York, already drawing attention at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, on his way to better things. His first one-hour stand-up special, Elephant In the Room, debuts tonight on Comedy Central. O’Neal started out in Boston. He grew up on Dorchester and moved to Roxbury when he was 17, and threw himself into stand-up after heckling an act at a club called Estelle’s. He thought he was funnier than the comic onstage at the time. So, unlike most hecklers, he got up and proved it.

O’Neal didn’t leave Boston happy. He got to a certain level as a middle act, and then couldn’t break through the headlining scene and had to leave. A lot of comics from Boston have faced that dilemma. But O’Neal went on a local radio program and spewed a lot of venom at club owners. The way he describes it, he “pretty much had a falling out with everybody in Boston.”

“I officially walked over and tore the paper bridge with lighter fluid and lava shoes,” he told me in 2002, for a story for the Boston Globe. “I’ve had a chance to make amends with certain people. It was just a young black dude lashing out at what he thought was an old white dude thing.”

The scene has changed in Boston since O’Neal left. There is more diversity, there are more women and more minorities in the scene making a name for themselves. Probably still room for improvement, but it seems a vast improvement from O’Neal’s days.

“In Boston, there’s one black or two blacks,” he told me. “There’s always ‘the black guy at the time.’ Jimmy Smith was the black guy, and then Carl Yard and Gerald Bennett was the black guy. I came along, I was the black guy. And then after I left, Dwayne Perkins was the black guy.”

O’Neal told me that he loved Boston. He didn’t want to leave his mother and his girlfriend, but when he left, he felt he was pushed. In a sense, that was probably true, but it was the same for Eugene Mirman, Brendon Small, or any number of comics who had to leave to find a bigger stage. If you’re looking to get the attention from TV or film, the opportunities are few in Boston.

Now O’Neal is a headliner with his own TV special, and by 2002, he had also changed his attitude toward his Boston exit. “I outgrew that whole anger thing,” he said then. “I felt like I was thrown out of Boston. I don’t think that anymore. It was the best thing that could have happened to me. It wasn’t a conspiracy.”

[NOTE: I’ll be addressing the question of why comics leave Boston in a story next month, after the redesign is launched on March 1.]

Onstage and off, O’Neal is gruff and direct. Which is why he has been a favorite on the Opie and Anthony show on satellite radio. He makes no excuses for his point of view. “I have a very misogynistic viewpoint on life,” he told me in 2006. “Somebody has to.”

“On regular radio, it’s so inhibited, you can’t be honest at all,” he said then. “Fuck the swearing, just honesty in general is hard. You’re offending everybody. But cable radio, people are paying for it. You can do anything you want.”

O’Neal likes to use profanity (“Sometimes a good well-placed swear expresses it for you,” he said), he is sarcastic and off the cuff, and he clearly enjoys making people uncomfortable. That applies to O’Neal the comic and O’Neal the person, and it’s what you’ll get if you tune in tonight.

“I’d rather be sarcastic than to just sit around and talk about my favorite cheese, you know?”

Here’s a preview of Elephant In the Room (Comedy Central, 10PM).

Jokes.com
Patrice O'Neal - Valuable Life
comedians.comedycentral.com
Jokes Joke of the Day Funny Jokes

Comedy Studio’s Comic In Residence Interview - Alana Eisner

Alana Eisner - Comedy Studio
Comic In Residence for February

Every month, The Comedy Studio features one comic on every show. And each month, the Boston Comedy Blog interviews that person. For February, it’s Alana Eisner. Eisner started comedy while a student at SUNY Albany, and moved to Boston in 2008 in part because she heard it was a good comedy scene in which to develop. That, and her sister is in Boston. Since then, she has become more dedicated to her craft. “Comedy didn't start out as my main objective, but it is now,” she says. “I can't picture myself doing anything else.”

When did you start doing comedy?

I started doing comedy about four years ago. I started out towards the end of college in Albany so I didn't get to go on stage very often in the beginning.

How often have you played the Studio?

I probably played the Studio about 50 times before this month.

What other clubs do you play?

I perform at Anderson comedy shows such as the GAS shows at Great Scott, Grandma's Basement shows, Mottley's at times. I still do a lot of open mics.



What local comedians have influenced you?

There are a lot of great comics in Boston that have influenced me. Jenny Zigrino is a close friend and great talent. Rick Jenkins and Rob Crean are both strong performers and have helped me develop my act with providing helpful insight as well as stage time. Other local Comics I admire include Josh Gondelman, Shawn Donovan, Bethany Van Delft, Tim McIntire and Dan Boulger.

What's the average number of gigs you've played in a month before this?

About 6-8 shows a month. I still go to open mics and make sure to get on stage at least four times a week.

How will you approach your time -- work on new stuff, refine older stuff, or a mix of both?

A mixture of both, I have been writing more lately, so I would like to work on new material during the weekday shows.

What do you expect to have gotten out of the experience when the month is over?

I have already gotten a lot out of this month. This opportunity rekindled my comic momentum. I hope to work on my writing and strengthen new material. I would like to try out different openers and closers as well work on material that involve more storytelling. Other than that enjoy this wonderful opportunity and interacting with the other comics.

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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.

North of Boston: Mike McDonald Presents His Tenth Annual Comedy XXtravaganza For Charity in Portsmouth

If you happen to be in north of Boston or in the New Hampshire area Saturday, Mike McDonald had put together a great show at The Music Hall in Portsmouth. It’s his Tenth Annual Comedy XXtravaganza, and McDonald will be performing along with Ken Rogerson, Joe Wong, Matt D., and Christine Hurley, plus music from The Boston Naturals.

“I started doing it cause I wanted a theater setting for great comics to interact with a great audience,” says McDonald.

It’s an interesting mix of younger comics and veteran talent. So how did he choose the comics, I asked? “I needed a Chinese guy, a chick, a kid who’s never gotten laid, and a guy in recovery,” says McDonald. “Well. Actually I picked these comics cause they can all throw heat.”

The shows, as usual, will benefit charities, this time the Green Alliance and the Seacoast Food Pantry. “We hook up with some local charities every year to give something back from the show to the Seacoast,” says McDonald. “It’s tough out there and anything we can do to raise a little awareness. I picked [the charities] with my co-producer who lives in Portsmouth. I’d look over the cause and the website and if I was onboard with what they do, we go with them.”

Click here for tickets.

*UPDATE* Potylo To Join Jennifer Coolidge At the Wilbur Saturday

Jennifer Coolidge and
Rob Potylo

First, the Wilbur Theatre published a photo of Rob Potlyo and tomorrow’s headliner, Jennifer Coolidge, with the teaser, “What is Jennifer Coolidge & Quiet Desperation's Rob Potylo cooking up for tomorrow's Wilbur show?”

Then Potylo posted this on his own Facebook site: “Lovely evening. TTs was an epic show! But before that Jennifer Coolidge (Best In Show, American Pie, Legally Blonde) came over to the ole' Allston crib to go over some tunes I'm playing with her show at her Wilbur Saturday night.... And even grabbed a Clif Bar. We had some sick vocals cooking. Wish I cleaned the room a little bit better.”

When I reached Potylo to see what was up, he said only, “Looking to sing happy birthday.”

What, exactly, is going to happen? I couldn't say, but it will involve music, and hopefully, we'll see this end up on Potylo's Quiet Desperation on MyTV.

Coolidge was born in Boston and spent her early years in Norwell. After establishing herself as a popular character actor, she has been trying her hand at stand-up. Here are a few thoughts on her last performance in Boston from Brian Joyce.

UPDATE I got a little more info on how this came together from Potylo this afternoon. "I did the wilbur opening for Jon Lajoie last year and crushed, left an impression," he says. "She needs someone to sing happy birthday to her dad. They called yesterday and asked if I was interested and I spoke with her. She came over. I also told her about Quiet D and we could be filming shit with her too."

Chris Coxen Says Farewell To Boston - VIDEO



Barry Tattle

 By this time next week, Chris Coxen and his League of Characters will have left Boston for London, where he plans to spend at least a year working the clubs and seeking fortune, fame, and sensuality. Before then, he'll be at Mottley's Comedy Club Friday and Saturday for a pair of farewell shows -- Barry Tattle's Valentine's Day Surprise.

Here is Coxen at Mottley's talking about the shows and the big move. Stick around for a special message from Barry Tattle at the end.

DVD Release: Bruce Bruce - Losin' It! Live In Boston

Bruce Bruce originally came up through the Atlanta scene, but he chose to film his latest special here in Boston, at the Wilbur Theatre. It's called Losin' It! Live In Boston, and it's out today on DVD with bonus footage and an interview. You may even get to see yourself in the audience.

Newbury Comics might be your best bet for finding it without ordering online. A lot of other stores seem to have cut back on orders like this, but Newbury tends stock more stand-up specials, especially when they're new.

Here's a look. First clip is SFW, second clip, NSFW.

"Eating Like A Cow" and "Words"

"What's Sexy To A Man"

New Boston Comedy Redesign Hits March 1

Greetings, Boston comedy fans. You may have noticed the site has been a little light lately. I have not been ignoring it. I have been working on a redesign that will include some new features, a cleaner look, and a slight change in philosophy.

For day to day users, there will be more immediate and useful features. For longtime fans, the print interviews, videos, and news will remain, combined with something a bit more personal and opinionated.

This site will continue to grow and change as long as I am writing it. I will always be looking for ways to improve. If there's anything you'd like to see, feel free to drop me a line.


I will continue to update with some news and an interview or two the rest of the month. So keep checking back, and make sure you're hear March 1 for the new look.

Greg Fitzsimmons at the Wilbur tonight for the Magners Comedy Festival

Kelly MacFarland's new album
Bombshell.

Last night Kelly MacFarland packed Mottley's for her CD release show as part of the Magners Comedy Festival. The CD is called Bombshell, and it will be released officially on February 8. More on that in a later post.

The Festival is in its second year, and has expanded to moe clubs, and even to the Wilbur. Tonight, Greg Fitzsimmons returns to Boston for an early show at the Wilbur. If you want to know a bit more about Fitzsimmons, his time in Boston, and his new book, read my interview with him from late last year.

*UPDATE* Clubs Tonight -- What's closed and what's still open

As we dig out from the snow still coming down in some places, a number of schools and businesses are closed. There are some club cancelations for tonight, but the show goes on for others. Here's what's open and what's closed.

The Burren: Steve Macone will host his regular Wednesday night show in the back room at the Burren tonight. Show starts at 10PM. Admission is free.

The Comedy Studio: Owner Rick Jenkins confirms the club will be open. He will be there, and at least two other comics have confirmed. “We'll be there to do a show if any audience shows up,” he says, “but nobody should take any risks to come in.”

Dick’s Beantown Comedy Vault: Closed tonight. Will be open tomorrow.

Improv Asylum: Closed tonight for a private show. “We'll definitely be open tomorrow night and the rest of the weekend,” says Chet Harding, “previewing our newest mainstage show, Leave it to Bieber, which has a grand opening on January 20.”

*Update* ImprovBoston: Closed tonight.

Mottley’s Comedy Club: Closed tonight.

On tonight: Louis C.K.'s Hilarious

Hilarious debuts tonight
at 10PM on Comedy Central.

Louis C.K.'s latest stand-up special, Hilarious, makes its Comedy Central debut tonight at 10PM. If you have Epix, you may have seen the special when it aired in September. It also played at the Kendall Square Cinema that month. You may want to wait until Tuesday, though, when Comedy Central releases the full-length, uncensored DVD, and also the CD version.

Hilarious has been well reviewed -- you can read my thoughts here from September -- since its debut at last year's Sundance Festival. And C.K. is already working on the next special, his fourth hour since 2007's Shameless, a breakneck pace by most stand-up standards. He is also now filming for season two of Louie on FX.

Marc Maron and WTF in the NYT

Marc Maron in the New York Times

If one of your New Year's resolutions was to dive into Marc Maron's WTF podcast and you're looking for a primer, the New York Times ran a piece today that will bring you up to date on the show so far. They mention a few of the more high-profile interviews with Robin Williams, Carlos Mencia, and Louis C.K.

You can also go back to my interview with Maron before his show at The Gas this past July to see more of what Maron had to say about WTF, different comedy styles, and his time in Boston.

The Boston Comedy Q&A: Robert Kelly at the Wilbur

Medford native Robert Kelly plays
the Wilbur Saturday night

Medford native Robert Kelly is looking forward to a busy 2011. He’s touring – he plays the Wilbur Saturday night – and working on material for a new one-hour special. He’s amazed to have a book deal with Joe DeRosa and fellow former Boston comic Bill Burr that sprang from a film the trio self-produced called Shooting Angles. They are currently waiting to hear back from several festivals about screenings.

Kelly first came to the attention of national audiences when his buddy, Arlington native Dane Cook, put him on the HBO stand-up series Tourgasm. He’s also been a regular on Opie and Anthony, and played Louis C.K.’s brother on the FX series Louie, which is filming season number two now.

I spoke with him earlier this week by phone.

You’re taping a new one-hour special later this year, I’m assuming what you’re touring with now is the material you’re preparing for that?

Yeah. I’m trying to lock down who I’m going to do it with right now. But yeah, I’m going to be taping an hour special and it’s definitely the material I’ve got now. I’m trying to unload this chunk and get it done with. And then I’m going to do a new album with the special. I’ll be trying to get the album down and the special down in the next few months.

Have you dropped all of the material from the previous album?

Yeah, Just the Tip? I don’t really use that, anything from it anymore. The occasional hell gig, I’ll wail one of those out. Sometimes when you’re doing a hell gig, you can run through an hour’s worth of material in fifteen minutes. Then you look down at your watch and you’re like, aw, Jesus.

How often does that happen for you these days?

Not that often. I’ve been lucky. The last year of shows has been pretty good. It always matters when fans show up, you know? If your fans come to your show, it’s always a good show. If you’re somewhere where they don’t know you’re there or you’re not really popular in or whatever, and people just show up, sometimes it can get a little crazy. But the last year, a lot of fan support has really helped out the gigs.

Are there areas of the country it has been hard to break into?

I don’t know. I kind of did the whole country with Dane on that big tour. I’e been lucky that I kinda was exposed to every state in the union on a massive level. There’s better than others. Boston, Philly, New Jersey, New York, Vegas, those places always show a lot of support. I’ve done shows, especially in Boston and New York, where people are like, “Dude, I’ve seen you six times, every time I bring friends back.” They’ll just keep bringing their friends back to expose them to my comedy.

It’s just crazy, people have seen you six times. And you can tell, too, when you add new stuff to the act they’ll come up and say, “Dude, I love that you added new stuff to the act. I appreciate that.” There are certain guys who can do a new hour every other week, it seems. I can’t really pull that off yet.

Is that something you’re looking to do?

I think you can do it, yeah, but there’s always that fame factor. If Chris Rock comes into the Cellar working on new material, he’s always got that five to ten minutes of, he’s Chris Rock. We’ll let him slide. If I go down there and try new material, if they don’t know who I am, my fans aren’t in there, it’s like, “This guy stinks.”

So I think it’s a mixture of taking some risks, and you’ve also got to have some exposure, too. If people are your fans and they came to see you, and you’re just going off and trying new stuff, I think they appreciate that. But also, when you find your voice as a comic – if you look at all of the greats, they have their own little way of saying things. It’s a tempo that they have. Even a guy like Louis C.K. has his own little tempo, even Dane has his own little tempo, where you can kind of take any topic, throw it in that blender and it comes out the way they talk.

Do you feel you’re there yet? Where do you feel you are in that?

It’s weird. My life has changed so much. I feel like if I stayed on the path I was on, which was a single guy, chicks, rock and roll, I think I might have been there. But I’m married, I fell in love. My life went in a completely different direction. I’m trying to have a kid. I have a mortgage. I went to sleep at 9:30 on New Year’s Eve. My whole perspective of life is going in a different direction, which is new for me. That’s what’s reflected. But it’s also maybe funnier, because it’s more honest. Because I’m not doing comedy to get accolades anymore, I’m just doing comedy because I kind of have to. So I think I’m closer to my voice or the way I do things than I’ve ever been.

If people saw you at the Wilbur last year and they see you this year, are they going to see a marked difference, either in the material or the way you present yourself?

It’s going to be some of the same stuff, but I definitely added a bunch of new chunks. There’s comics that write jokes, where it’s like joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, set up, punch, set up, punch through the whole act. Then there’s guys like me who, you come up with a chunk of material, whether it’s getting fat or being old or going on vacation or getting married or whatever it is. Anywhere from three to ten minutes on the same topic in a chunk of stuff. So there’s definitely new chunks in there. I’ve fine-tuned it a lot. It’s kind of like a one-man show. Not a theme, but more what I’ve been going through for the past two years.

Does the new material and your recent life experience have anything to do with the book deal?

No, that’s just something that came around. Me and a couple of other comics, Joe DeRosa and Bill Burr, we wrote a short movie and produced it ourselves and filmed it ourselves. We entered into some festivals. Somebody heard about the movie and then our managers got involved. We wrote a book proposal, and they loved it. So in the next few months, I’m going to be hunkering down and writing a book. But I really don’t even know what a semi-colon is, so. Honest to god, I don’t know how to spell. I was in juvee hall from 13 to 15, and then I pretty much was in rubber rooms all through high school.

They didn’t have AP English in juvee?

Oh, no. You played volleyball and just didn’t stab each other. I know when somebody’s following me in New York City and I know when to cover my watch on a train. I know a lot of things that people who do know how to spell don’t know. I know secret codes for video games. I know how to jailbreak my iPhone. But I don’t know how to spell. But apparently you don’t need to. [laughs] I know, it makes me sick, there are guys who are just genius fucking writers and beautiful and put words together magically and they’d just love a book deal. And then some bald chunkball asshole from Medford can make something funny and they’re like, “Yeah, let’s do that!”

Is it going to be the same story as the movie?

No, I don’t know if I can talk about it yet. We have a meeting on Monday. But it’s going to be a controversial book. Let’s put it that way. Men are going to love it, and women, some women, are going to haaaate it. I mean, hate it. Put it this way, some of the publishers that wrote back who didn’t want the book were appalled by it. I think one of the words was “disturbed.”

Can you say if it’s fiction or non-fiction?

It’s non-fiction. A how-to book. It’s guys helping guys.

Any word yet on Louie for season two?

No. You know what’s weird, even last year, I know Louis was doing a show and I knew people that were on it already. I never asked to be on it, and I just got a call out of the blue. Small part. His brother. Just one scene, really quick. I was in Hawaii with Dane at the time and I flew back to do it. It cost me money to do Louie.

But you wound up on more episodes.

Yeah. He liked our chemistry. The only reason he wrote me in is because he never had a brother in life, and since it was is show, he was like, I wanted to write a brother in, just to have one. And he liked what we did so he wrote a couple of more episodes and just kept writing shit for us. It was awesome. Worked out for me.

Anything else you want to mention?

I just released my first iPhone app. I believe that the comic Web site, and Facebook, and Twitter, for comics and entertainers is going to be dead. Especially the Web site. Nobody goes to anybody’s Web site anymore.

What does the app do?

It’s just crazy, it does everything. It has all of my tour dates, but instead of, you know like Google Maps with all the pins, it’s my head. You can zoom in and buy tickets from the head. I have my own little Twitter feed right in there. Videos, text, and photos that only go to the app people. It has my podcast up there. A soundboard of all the crazy shit I’ve said over the years.

Selena Coppock and Leah Dubie bring their hometown Comedy Rivalry to Mottley's tonight



Selena Coppock and Leah Dubie
bring Comedy Rivalry to Mottley's tonight

 Selena Coppock and Leah Dubie are from neighboring towns west of Boston – Weston and Wayland, respectively. Their high schools used to play football every Thanksgiving, and, as Coppock reports, got into the occasional late night scuffle in fast food parking lots. That’s why their show tonight at Mottley’s is called Comedy Rivalry.

Coppock and Dubie didn’t meet until they both moved out of Boston and became regulars on the New York City comedy scene, where they met and discovered their common history. They became good friends, and both come back to play Boston frequently. You can see Coppock’s work on her Web site, and find her “Townie Martian” series on FunnyOrDie.com. Dubie’s work is on her Web site, as well.

I spoke with Coppock by phone earlier this week.

How much rivalry is actually going to be in this show?

We’re actually going to be doing a Weston/Walyand trivia section, so Leah and I are both brushing up on our sort of lame trivia. So there will be a little bit. It’s all in good fun. We are great friends, but we thought it would be a pretty jazzy little hook because we think it’s hilarious that we’re from rival schools.

Did you know each other when you were going to those rival schools?

Actually, no. Leah is class of ’95 and I was ’98, and I don’t think we played any of the same sports. I played field hockey in high school, but I was terrible. Leah played, I think basketball and softball. So we never overlapped. Although she knows some of the older guys for Wayland I used to have crushes on. But we did not know each other in high school, no. We just met on the New York City comedy scene.

Was it a pretty big rivalry between the two schools?

Yes. We’d play every year in Thanksgiving football. And when I was in high school, there was. As corny as it sounds, and it’s so small town, I remember my freshman year there was a huge fistfight behind the all-night Burger King, and it was Weston versus Wayland. And Wayland definitely womped some Weston ass.

They were pretty tight rivals in all sports. When I played field hockey it was always a big game when we played Wayland. And same with basketball and all that stuff. Because I think the towns were so similar, socio-economically and in so many respects. It is a pretty intense rivalry. I know from dating a Wayland guy when I was in high school, it doesn’t make you very popular in Weston.

Where did you and Leah wind up meeting?

We met here in New York a few years ago. We were both doing a pretty crummy show at the Laugh Lounge on the lower east side. And I used to do, I don’t do it to much anymore, but I used to do a joke that alluded to growing up with a bunch of rich kids, and I actually said the name Weston and I heard from the back her somewhat jokingly booing me. But I didn’t even know her so I was kind of like, “What?”

But we ended up talking, and over the years we’ve become great friends. We went out to Fire Island this year for a great gig. And she used to run a show here in New York and I run a show, so we book each other on our shows a lot. It’s been maybe three years since we met, maybe three and a half. She’s awesome. She’s hilarious.

So you never ran in the same circles when you were both doing comedy up here?

No. Leah went to school in New York. She used to watch a lot of comedy when she was younger, she said she used to go to the Comedy Connection all the time. But she didn’t try it until she got to New York, so for the two years that I was doing stand-up in Boston while I was still living there, we never overlapped because she was doing stand-up in New York at the time. Which is good, because, man, my first two years, I was pretty terrible.

But you had a somewhat common language from having seen the scene here in one form or another?

Yeah. When she goes back to Boston to see her parents, she performs at the Studio sometimes, and Mottley’s and stuff. There is definitely a commonality there. It’s fun, too. Sometimes we go to Dunkin’ Donuts together and hang out in Boston.

Is there a version of this show you do in New York or is this only for Boston audiences?

It’s only for Boston audiences. It kind of randomly came to me, and I thought that it would play best in Boston, just so we could do more local stuff and [be more] Boston-specific. Leah and I end up on a lot of shows together in New York, but I think the Weston/Wayland show might be just a specialty for Boston.

For people who may not be familiar with one or the other of you, what can you say they can expect to see?

I think we’re both going to do a fair amount of local stuff, which is always really fun. I am a very high energy, kind of a spaz onstage and talk about everything from ex-boyfriends to pop culture and what’s going on in my life right now, which is all of my friends in the world getting married and having babies and my thoughts on that. And Leah is a hell of a writer. She’s very steady onstage, great energy but great power behind it. Just calm, and she can run the show. Very witty. And then we have Maria Ciampa hosting, who I love. And we’re bringing Garry Hannon, who is also from Massachusetts, and he lives in New York now. He is very fun and silly. I think it’s going to be a great show, start to finish.