Arj Barker: LYAO

by Reid Faylor

While listening to LYAO, the new album from Arj Barker, it was hard for me to keep track of how often I found myself doubled over in laughter, hands on my head, shouting, “It’s so stupid!” Yet, to me, this is one of the best signs of great comedy: jokes that are so ludicrous that there is a part of the brain that is in complete disbelief that it’s actually hearing what is being said.

The album, released by Warner Bros. Records, is steeped in this kind of silliness –a level of absurdity that can only be achieved by a performer with such confidence and commitment as Barker. Granted, while no big issues or truths are really tackled, the comedian and former supporting player on Flight of the Conchords instead provides a dose of deceptively well-crafted ridiculousness that exists for its own sake.

This is not to say the material is easy or superficial. Somewhere around the point that Barker begins accusing his water of war crimes, tearfully reminiscing the father of his current shampoo, and reluctantly stopping a joke because he is not smart enough to finish it, it becomes clear there is a sense of brilliance to such idiocy. He has the ability to lure the audience unexpectedly into his reality, to take them from an area of relative sanity and relatable experience into absurdity and surrealism.

Often, what I appreciated the most was his commentary on the jokes themselves. He’s not just creating this ridiculous, selfish, adolescent character, he also lets you look behind the curtain to see the person laughing at and acknowledging the stupidity of what was just created. His comedy is intelligen–t not in a way that’s heavy-handed or pretentious, but rather in its absolute willingness to be completely idiotic.

Check out a track from the album below.

And buy yourself a copy of LYAO by clicking the album cover below.

Gabriel Iglesias: No labels, just funny

by Emma Kat Richardson

One of the most widely recognized and biggest selling comedians of our day, Gabriel Iglesias keeps things simple, funny and mostly clean. With a new DVD in stores now and plans to record a new special this year, the road horse comic shows no signs of resting on his success.

Gabriel Iglesias wants you to know that he’s not fat; he’s fluffy. And beyond fluffy, he’s a big-hearted dude with an overwhelming comedic persona to match – a rare blend of wry, observational wit that never strays to far from the realm of the clean.

For in a world where far too many lesser comic voices have choked and perished at the hand of a dependence on f-bombs and grotesque sexual humor, it’s rather refreshing to find a guy funny on his own merit.

Leap-frogging from kids shows – he used to steal the stage as a cast member of Nickelodeon’s All That – to fiery, impermeably driven stand-up, Iglesias’s latest Comedy Central special, I’m Not Fat… I’m Fluffy is on DVD shelves right now. He’s also performing at Comedy Central’s South Beach Comedy Festival tonight!

Checking in with Punchline Magazine, Iglesias opines on institutionalized racism propped up by Walmart, his stepson, and why his death would be ultra beneficial.

How did you come up with the term ‘fluffy?’
Uh, fluffy? Oh, wow, it’s been years now. It was a nickname that my mom kinda accidentally gave me. She liked “fluffy” better than “fat.”

How do you keep jokes about being fat fresh and funny?
I guess I don’t like to refer to it as “fat.” “Fat” kinda sounds, like, mean. Fluffy sounds like, more… it almost sounds sexy. It reminds you of a cat.

You find cats sexy?
Well, women do.

Does that work for you?
It works for me, just fine.

How do you keep jokes about being ‘fluffy’ fresh and funny, especially on a scene where a lot of comedians talk about that type of material?
Basically because I talk about myself. I talk about myself, versus talking about others. I tell real stories about things that happen to me. In keeping it fresh, day-by-day, I come up with more stories – things that happen to me. I used to tell people that I’m not a comic: I’m a really funny reporter.

It’s always changing. I tell personal stories and put my real life out there, and the fact that I’m a big guy is part of something that I don’t avoid or not talk about. Of course I address it; I have to address the fact that I’m a big guy in a small man’s world. So rather than being all like, ‘Oh, I’m so sad I’m fat,’ I’m just up there dealing with it.

Jokes.com
Gabriel Iglesias – Hookers
comedians.comedycentral.com

Do you think it’s easier or more difficult to be a Latin comic in this day and age?
I think it’s more challenging for me. I try to avoid that topic, because I’m dealing with so many things that are so frustrating for me. I don’t want to [be labeled] as one kind of comic: when you talk about Seinfeld, you don’t say “Jewish comic Jerry Seinfeld.” When you talk about Steve Harvey, you don’t say “African American comedian Steve Harvey.” You just say ‘comedian,’ but with me, for some reason, because I’m bilingual and doing the whole Spanish thing, Latino, it’s almost like they’re using ethnicity to hold us back.

I’ll give you an example: I’ve done two DVDs already, and the first one I have out, Walmart refuses to carry it in an English section. They have the DVD in the Spanish section next to the, you know, Mexican soap operas and whatever else is in Spanish. That’s really frustrating.

Do you know why? Have you talked to their sales rep about that?
I think it’s just ignorance. Not knowing the product and not knowing who’s doing what. I have to tell people that if you don’t find me in the new release section or on the regular rack, check the Spanish section. Sure enough, that’s where I’m at.

What have you as a comic tried to do to transcend that labeling?
I try to focus hard on my show and make sure that it’s still funny. I’m doing more than other guys are.

Your comedy is a lot cleaner than that of your contemporaries. Was keeping your material relatively clean a conscious decision, or something that came naturally to you?
It was actually advice that I got from a really dirty comic. He basically made it really clear that he’s funny, but because of the fact that he works blue, he’s not given as many opportunities. He said if he could give me any advice, it would be to try and work clean. I normally just try to keep all the f-bombs out. Don’t get me wrong – in my special, I did an hour and ended on a fuck joke, but that was only one time in an hour. Not bad.

Do you think you’ll always be going in that direction?
I’ll always stick to that direction. If for some reason my career fizzles out, you can always slip it and go dirty, but you can never go from dirty to clean.

Does your stepson ever watch your comedy? What do you want him to take away from it?
He does watch my comedy. He’s in so much of it! [Laughs]. A whole bunch of it. He’s really cool with it. The fact that his friends kinda make life easier for him because I talk about him is kinda really cool.

When I talk about myself, I try to talk about it as positively as I can. He’s a big kid, so he’s not ashamed of being a big kid, and he might experience some of the same problems I did when he gets older. As far as the way he looks at himself now, he’s very proud and he’s a happy kid.

Jokes.com
Gabriel Iglesias – Kids Discovering Late Night TV
comedians.comedycentral.com

Since you used to be on Nickelodeon, have you found it easy to transition from kid’s entertainment to a more general, wide-based comedy style?
I think because my show is silly – I try not to take myself too seriously with it – I just try to keep it friendly. It’s always been like that. I think [it comes naturally] to me. I’ll give you an example: I could go up onstage and talk about this interview, and I could find a way to make it really funny.

I take everything that happens on a day-to-day basis and talk about how I’m challenged; things get thrown at me, and it’s harder for me to do so-and-so. I’ll bring up the thing about Walmart. I’ll talk about being a big guy for a little bit, and about how you called me fat. It’s cool.

Can I have a pseudonym onstage, please?
[Laughs]. I’ll find a way to do it, and I’ll be very friendly about it.

What is your technique for perfecting sound effects and imitations? Is it a practice that you work on every day?
It’s about a good sound system. You can’t practice unless you have a good sound system. You can sit there and go, [makes vibrating buzzing noise], but it has to happen onstage. I’ve been doing that since I was about 10. I was a huge fan of the Police Academy movies and Michael Winslow.

I liked your story in your stand-up special about getting recognized in public. Do you take these occurrences to mean that you’ve really made it in your field?
I don’t think I’ve made it. I think I’m far from. I think I’m in the right direction, but I don’t think of myself in the terms of, “Ah ha! I’ve arrived!” I think when you start thinking that you’ve made it, you start declining. I think that’s the end of your career right there. You’ve got to keep yourself hungry and keep yourself focused. No pun intended on the ‘hunger’ part.

How do you keep yourself focused?
By staying busy. I’m on the road 46 weeks of the year. I balance home life and I balance the road life, so in that plan, I work hard right there. I make it happen.

Is there some sort of milestone that would need to happen for you to feel that you’ve got that brass ring in your hand?
I think when I’m dead is when it’s going to happen. That’s always the case – somebody dies, and their DVDs and artwork starts going through the roof.

Jokes.com
Gabriel Iglesias- The Sixth Level of Fat
comedians.comedycentral.com

So death is the goal for you, then?
Rest in peace is when I’m gonna go platinum, baby. But I enjoy it. Even though I bitch and moan about some of the little things I’m going through, if I didn’t have those things, I wouldn’t have nothing to talk about.

What’s up next for you? Are you working on any movie or TV projects?
I’m doing another special at the end of next year. This one, I’m going to call it Funny, and it’s kind of a putting a group of guys together. It’s going to be an ensemble – five guys in one show. They’re all friends of mine – guys that I’ve worked with over the years, and guys that I think are really, really funny who aren’t given the same opportunities. We’re going to put them all together on one, and we’re going to release it and it’s going to be called Funny. One guy, then the next guy, then the next guy, then I close the whole thing out.

For more info on Gabriel, check out his official site at fluffyguy.com. And be sure to snag yourself a copy of his latest DVD by clicking the image below.

Ryan Singer: How to Get High Without Drugs

by John Delery

Although less incendiary than the explosive Lenny Bruce and more homespun than the irascible Bill Hicks, Ryan Singer nonetheless shares DNA with those great comic commandos, each of whom shot from the lip with howitzers.

On How to Get High Without Drugs (Rooftop Comedy Productions), Singer seemingly lobs softballs instead of hand grenades when deftly and cleverly deriding hypocrites, homophobes and bigots. But just because he camouflages his contempt in sarcasm does not make him any less of a prickly provocateur than his predecessors.

Unlike his heavyweight forbears Bruce and Hicks, Singer merely jabs at his witless targets throughout his set. Although he pulls his punches, his perceptive comic points nevertheless stick in listeners’ minds long after the CD ends 59 minutes later — his real objective, agreed?

His underlying “I’m just a comedian” manner belies the craftsmanship of his jokes and his alternately trenchant and daffy wit. Equally silly, sinister and mischievous, Singer can playfully mock his mom, skillfully dissect the Left, Right and Center (with a cookie cutter, no less) and distill 400 years of animosity into 4 minutes, 13 seconds.

“United Snacks of America,” the highlight track (check it out below), is less a sugary-sweet ode to America than a sulfurous summary of racial and global politics. It’s memorable because of its ingenuity, simplicity and subtlety, and it’s the masterpiece in a gallery of wickedly hilarious comedy.

Snag yourself a copy of How to Get High Without Drugs now by clicking the image below.

Aziz Ansari: Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening

by Reid Faylor

Aziz Ansari, a new star in the comedy world, offers an album of confident, fast-paced, and though at times overly energetic, hilarious and unconventional material. Though he rose into the limelight partly on the merits of a little character called RAAAAAAAANDY, who appears in last year’s Adam Sandler flick Funny People and who makes a small and welcome appearance in this album, his comedy definitely stands for itself and affirms strongly a new and growing voice in the comedy world.

On his Comedy Central Records debut, Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening, Ansari shines most brightly for his ability to break down a situation so thoroughly that the humor doesn’t come from gimmicks or bait and switch, but rather from his steadfast logical follow through. This is evident in tracks like “Cold Stone Creamery,” “Simple Man Cruise” and “CVS” where he looks at what store employees would assume if he bought the same four items for six months. Ansari also maintains a lot of variety: mixing stories, detailed analysis, and absurdity –the album stays interesting and often inventive in its delivery and choice of material. He has the ability to equally offer insightful observation, as well as a degree of well-received stupidity and silliness.

However, it must be noted: though Ansari maintains a quick pace, it’s this high energy that if anything is the biggest drawback of the performance. Often it seems he sacrifices a punch line or a crescendo for volume, profanity and insults. The crowd seems to like it, but it makes for a lack of comedic ingenuity on some of the tracks –a quick fix that doesn’t hold up well on repeat listens, like in “Kanye West vs. Darwish.” However, though he does keep a huge amount of energy throughout, these excesses are not frequent and are well overshadowed by an album of inventive material and genuine laughs.

Listen to a clip from the album below.

Click the image below to buy a copy of Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening.

Aisha Tyler: Funniest spy ever

by Dylan P. Gadino

For someone who’d rather stay at home, park it on the couch and kill virtual zombies with her husband, playing an oversexed spy on FX’s new animated series Archer is a stretch. But Aisha Tyler — comedian, author, Renaissance woman — can do anything; so long as there’s still time for Xbox.

Beyond her incredible career onstage as a stand-up comedian, Aisha Tyler has been no stranger to the small screen, showing a wide range of acting chops in comedies (she played Joey and Ross’ girlfriend on Friends for nine episodes) SciFi dramas (she was Jennifer Love Hewitt’s best friend on Ghost Whisperer) and dark police shows (12 episodes of CSI).

But she’s never played a spy, until now. And she does so, wonderfully. In the new animated FX series Archer, starring H. Jon Benjamin (famous for his role in the classic Dr. Katz) premiering Jan. 14 at 10 pm EST, the down-to-Earth, video game-obsessed Tyler transforms seamlessly into Lana Kane, and under dressed, over-sexed spy who enjoys psychologically abusing her boyfriend. The show itself is a brilliantly written, handsomely drawn 30 minutes of some of the finest adult humor on television.

Tyler’s new role comes on the heels of a banner 2009, having starred in her own one-hour Comedy Central special and DVD Aisha Tyler is Lit: Live at the Fillmore, recorded in her native San Francisco; she’s also in the running to host her own daytime chat show on ABC. The pilot is taped and submitted. Now’s it’s just a waiting game.

We caught up with Tyler a few days ago; she was just home from recording scenes for Archer. We talked about everything from working on an animated show, to her ambassador role in the world of video games, why she doesn’t do political comedy — despite her political science degree from Dartmouth — and much more.

Tell me a little bit about what Archer is. It seems you’re making fun of the slick detective or sexy spy shows.
Yeah, I think the show shares probably even more DNA with Bond franchise; we’re turning the Bond franchise on its head. It seems to be a re-emerging genre, kind of with the slick, sexy spy guy. And Archer is obviously incredibly good at what he does, but a lot of the time by accident. And he also says and does kind of whatever comes into his head. We’ve described him as kind of a walking Id. Whatever is in his head comes out of his mouth. What he wants to put in his mouth goes in his mouth. He’s like a lethal infant in a really nice suit. I just think this show is so fun and kind of turns on its head that kind of symbol of like suave, sexy perfection that we got from the Bond films.

You play Sterling Archer’s ex-girlfriend, who is also an agent.
Yes, exactly. I’m an agent. I think I met him at the agency. We occasionally partner up. But the agents all kind of work independently as well.

In one clip, you and Archer are in bed, and he gets a phone call from his mother. You guys aren’t dating but is this kind of a running theme where you guys end up sleeping together anyway?
The clip you saw is a flashback from when we used to date. So, it’s part of the reason why we break up, because he’s just got this total mommy complex. She dominates his whole life and he can’t get it together. And I’m just sick of him. So he works for his mother and he’s got this incredibly twisted, almost Oedipal relationship with her. They compete with each other. They insult each other. I don’ t know if they’ve ever had sex but they talk about really inappropriate things with each other; so that’s a big reason why Lana and Sterling aren’t together. He doesn’t understand boundaries with his mom.

What’s the difference between voicing a character and actually being in front of the camera? Do you still have the same amount of contact with your co-stars?
No, actually, not at all. And this is the first animated series that I’ve done where I was a series regular. I’ve done a lot of individual kind of, guest starring on the Boondocks and some stuff for Disney. I did a big Disney movie a couple of years ago where my role eventually got cut out of the movie called The Wild. You almost have no contact, no acting contact with the other actors. I mean, I met Jessica Walter in the hallway once when I was in New York and then today I met Judy Greer. She was coming out and I was going in.

It’s amazing that there’s no real contact.
Yeah, there’s just no interaction. And one of the great things about the show is that it really does feel like all the characters interact; lines overlap a lot. But we’re in there all alone, just us, and [creator] Adam Reed and the producers and we just do the lines in lots of different ways and try to be as explosively funny as we can. And then they lay it all together.

So it’s very different than doing scripted live acting where a lot of what you do is really dependent on the environment and the conditions and what the other actor is doing and your interaction with each other. It’s just a really, really different experience. It’s very freeing. It’s just purely about how to be as funny as possible and how to be as creative as possible, and to find the funniest beats and moments and elements in the script. And of course, you just get to kind of show up there in your sweatpants.

I just came back. I was working at my desk and then I hopped up 10 minutes before I had to be there. Jammed down there, did two hours, and then came back. So you know, for one hour of scripted drama, you show up at four o’clock in the morning, come home at midnight, and get mono every three weeks. It’s a totally different experience.

So you didn’t even interact with Jon Benjamin?
Very limited. I had met him at the TCA’s in the fall. I got to meet him there. We said what’s up and hung out, did some interviews together. And I do think it’s a testament to Adam and [executive producer] Matt [Thompson] and the guys on the show that they have a really clear vision of how they want the show to look and feel and they’re able to help us get to where they need to go, but they also enable us to be as funny as we can possibly be. It’s really very pleasant. That’s almost an under-endorsement. It’s incredibly fun to do this show. Because they just laugh their heads off, like ‘Let’s try it this way, let’s try it that way and say whatever you want now. Go nuts.’ There’s a real kind of raw creativity that happens when we’re laying the show down, which is really wonderful.

Are there any similarities between you and Lana, your Archer character? The one parallel that I saw, and maybe it was a stretch, but in your stand-up, you have that bit about how it’s easy to get addicted to Internet porn and Lana seems to enjoy porn.
You know, it’s interesting. I handle that in my act but I don’t necessarily know that they were thinking about that when they created the character since they wrote the pilot before they hired me. We started to shape Lana a little bit more since we’ve all been working together and we kind of brainstorm on things like what does she do in her free time, what kind of television does she watch, you know what I mean? She’s definitely not shaped by me. I think of her as her own person. It’s not like I’m say, ‘I like this so Lana would like that.’ I think she’s definitely got a different attitude and a different approach to life than I do.

I mean, today we had a discussion about what word Lana would use for having to go to the bathroom. We were discussing whether she’d say “pee” or “take a leak” or “piss” or “drain the main vein.” that was like 15 minutes of conversation. So we do try to come up with a concept for her for the way that she looks at the world that’s uniquely hers. I think that’s she’s somebody a lot of girls would love to be. Because she’s just super bad ass.

There are a lot of different women in the office and Lana, obviously is always completely under dressed and like a super fox but not a victim. She doesn’t try to pick up on anybody. She just is who she is. And I always joke that if an intruder came into my house I’d jump up in my long jammies and leap out the window. If an intruder walked into Lana’s house, she’d jump up naked and beat the crap out of him with like a chopstick and a paperclip. So I definitely think that she’s the girl that we would all love to be. She’s’ balls out, if you can use that word about a girl.

Also, Lana, as far as we know, didn’t graduate from Dartmouth with a degree in political science, as you did.
Right.

It’s interesting that you don’t do much political humor. Did you just want to get away from that after being so embedded in the subject?
While I very certainly have political views, I tend to have an attitude of wanting my show to be really welcoming no matter what other people’s political background is. I feel like there are things that are universal. And when I mean universal, I don’t mean like neutral or vanilla. I think my show is very specific. There are definitely people who would be offended by it. I don’t think you should just get up there and be kind of tepid and easy to swallow. But I do think that the more people that can get into a show, if I can get inside their head in a more of a surreptitious way, then it’s better for me.

I also think that I’ve always loved really personal comedy. The comedy that I love to watch is the comedy that’s really revelatory personally about how the person feels up on stage. And you think about somebody like a Richard Pryor or a Lenny Bruce— those guys were personal. They were like ‘this is how I feel, this is my experience.’ And that, I think, is the way to get people to connect with you directly. Doing comedy is about being funny, absolutely. But I also think it’s about being relatable. If they feel like they connect with you, and they relate to you, then you can do or say almost anything. So, for me, talking about stuff that I feel personally has always been more interesting than talking about what’s going on in the world.

You can be political, and even socio-political, like I feel like my book, and some of my comedy, is socio-culturally critical, without being specifically political about current events; it’s more about culture. I talk about things that most women don’t talk about. I talk about porn. To me, that’s subversive. Most female comedians don’t talk about sex the way I do. Most female comedians talk about how annoyed they are that their husband wants to have sex all the time. I’m somebody that gets up there and talks about how I really love to have sex with my husband. And I think, that in its own way, that’s a culturally subversive position to take for a female comedian. But, the other thing is with political comedy, besides the fact that if you get up there and strongly voice your opinion, there’s 50 percent of the audience that’s not going to be able to relate to you.

Right.
The other thing is, it requires being really vigilant about constantly writing jokes. You end up writing jokes like, ‘This thing happened—‘ punch line. ‘This guy said this’— punch line.’ So you’re not able to develop longer, kind of narrative threads in an hour. In order to develop an over-arching concept or theme, or point of view, I hate to use the phrase point of view, so I take it back. It’s harder to develop an overall hour that hangs together because you’re constantly having to rewrite. Your act is different every day or every week. I think there are guys that are really good at that. Lewis Black is someone who is really great at political comedy. And I think that there are guys that are – but it’s just never been my forte.

It also requires your audience to be readers. And let’s face it, not everybody reads. Some people that don’t laugh are going to laugh anyway because they don’t want to feel left out or feel stupid. But that type of comedy requires everybody to be thinking and reading up on current events. And if they’re not, you’re just going to lose people. It’s just not what I spark to when I put on an hour special; the things I want to see are not necessarily political. That stuff is fun, but it’s always the personal stuff that really gets you and so that’s just what I’ve chosen to do.

Is it a challenge, then, to keep you’re material relatable, but not so much that it just becomes uninteresting?
I don’t think about relatable as we’re being all alike. Relatable is like, ‘this is shit that happened to me and it’s real.’ If you talk about what really happened to you and how you really feel and you’re really honest about it, it will be relatable. And I think that’s different than saying, ‘Let me do something that 100 percent of the people in the audience are going to understand and relate to.’ I never do that. I talk about my own shit. It’s another way of saying likable, maybe. I think it’s more about this person’s telling the truth. And they’re telling their own truth. And they’re being revelatory and they’re being self-deprecating and they’re being honest and they’re not up their on their high horse criticizing other people. There are guys that get up their and they’re mean and they talk shit about other people and they’re hilarious. But it’s just not what I do. Because of who I am and maybe the way I look, it wouldn’t really make sense for me to be like, ‘I’m so great and everybody else sucks ass.’

Speaking of the way you look, you do a few minutes on your newest special on how you were very awkward as a child and young adult, and how you really didn’t fit in too well. You always hear a lot of really great looking actresses and personalities say during interviews, that they used to be so awkward. Do you ever worry that your audience is rolling their eyes and saying ‘Come on, Aisha could not have been awkward at any time in her life?’
I think that’s entirely possible. I tell those stories specifically because it helps people not feel like that. I don’t want them to step into the relationship with an adversarial posture like, ‘Who does this girl think she is?’ And I think that’s carried out by the fact that when I’m onstage, I’m not precious. I don’t try to look cute.

I had a girl come up to me after a show once, and she was like ‘I only know you from TV and I was like how is this girl going to be funny if she’s going to worry about her hair the whole time?’ She said, ‘You didn’t give a shit what you looked like onstage, you looked like an idiot.’ And I was like yeah, you know. It’s not my job to be pretty up there. It’s my job to make you laugh.

But all I can say to people who think I’m lying about how I used to be is that it’s true. Those stories are true. I have pictures and stuff posted online. I was just the biggest, nerdiest, most outcasted kid and I’m still that geek at heart. I still don’t go to Hollywood parties. I still like to stay at home and play XBOX with my friends. That’s who I am in my heart. Hopefully, most people get it. I can’t do anything about the people that don’t. The first rule of comedy is there’s always going to be one guy in the corner who doesn’t laugh. You can’t worry about that dude. You can make 399 people laugh and everyone’s focused on the 400th guy. Fuck that guy.

You are definitely an enthusiastic gamer.
Yes, I am an avowed, avowed gamer.

I read somewhere that you’re part of a seven member Halo council.
Yes. When Halo 2 come out they kind of nominated this seven member ambassador council of gamers and I was the only girl, which is very cool.

So what do you do as an ambassador?
Nothing. Just play some video games. You just rep the game. They did a party for me for my birthday and we invited a bunch of people to come and play. They let us come and play the game in beta before it came out and, you know, I did a bunch of interviews on behalf of the game. It’s a very easy job. I didn’t get paid for it but I got a really beautiful custom gaming system that they built for us, which is kind of cool.

Besides Halo, what are you currently playing?
I played one game for a long time, a game called Fallout 3 and it’s kind of a combination of like role-play, first person shooter, problem solving, and interaction. It’s really complex and so that ate a good part of my year. It was really turning into kind of a problem that we couldn’t stop playing Fallout. It’s the longest game in history. And when you do all the downloadable content, it ends up being the biggest game in the world. We finished the game but we go back in and still play it, even though it’s finished. It just like never dies. I played a little bit of Left 4 Dead, I played Resistance: Fall of Man. I was not in love with that. And now we’re switching back and forth between Left 4 Dead and Halo again.

When you say ‘we,’ play, do you mean your friends or do you mean your husband?
My husband and I play together all the time. We geek out together, yeah. And I also have a group of friends that we play with.

That’s awesome that both you and your husband are into it.
Yeah, it’s great. If it was just one of us, it would be kind of ugly, right? But we sit down on the couch at night and don’t watch TV. We kill each other or kill aliens, or kill zombies. Depending on how we feel.

That’s adorable.
Yeah, I say we’re saving the world as a family. A family that shoots zombies together stays together. But we have a group of friends that we play with quite a bit. They come down every year and we have a really long weekend and we play Halo all day long, drink bloody Mary’s. It’s just awesome.

In May of last year, there was an announcement that you shot a talk show pilot for ABC. What’s the status of that?
We finished it and we turned it in and we haven’t heard anything yet. We have no idea. But they haven’t said no, which is great. They’ve been very forthcoming. A lot of people are quitting. Tyra’s quitting. Oprah’s quitting. So it’s been an interesting time. But we’re really proud of the pilot. I think it was really very definitely for daytime. It was much more comedy driven and the show was very political. It was much more about politics and culture and smarter than a lot of stuff that you see on daytime television, which may be good for it or may be not good for it. I really just wanted to make something that I was proud of, that was funny and smart, whether it got picked up or not. I kind of have no control over that stuff.

For more info on Aisha, check out aishatyler.com and the official Archer site.

Comedy Matters with Judah Friedlander, Ralphie May and more

by Jeffrey Gurian

Comic Strip Xmas Party

The truth is I liked my last column so much it was hard for me to start to write this one. That’s a dangerous thing for a writer to fall in love with his own stuff! Anyway, thanks to all of you who sent your condolences on my Mom.

For the second year in a row, The Comic Strip had an amazing, kick-ass holiday party, and tons of fun people were there. The food was great and there was even a show. Owner Richie Tienken was there with his beautiful wife Jeannie, and co-owner Bob Wachs was there with his beautiful wife Tess.

The great Scott Blakeman was the MC, and as he went around the room shpritzing everyone, he did me the honor of including me. First he acknowledged how many people there were from my mailing list.

Then he said, “ Jeffrey Gurian is here, … but he’s everywhere. As a matter of fact while he’s here, he’s also someplace else at this very moment!” It got a big laugh. ATTENTION SCIENTISTS: I seem to have conquered the physical principle of being in two places at the same time.

But it’s true. People come up to me all the time and tell me they see me everywhere. Why stay home when you can go out and have fun? Just to freak them out, the next day I turn up in their living room. That usually does it!

My wonderful friend Robin Byrd showed up, (Yup, that one from Ch. 35!), and really seemed to have a great time. I’m hoping that she and I will create a fantastically funny, sexy project for 2010. Keep your eyes and ears open for that, and any other orifices you have control over!

Comic Strip Drop Ins

On any given night at The Strip you’re always likely to be surprised by at least one superstar drop-in. JR goes out of his way to accommodate people who are loyal to the club. World Champion Judah Friedlander comes by often not only to work out new material, but to keep audiences hysterical with the tried and true stuff he’s already got. The man is every profession you can name. Whatever an audience member says he does, Judah does it too, but much better.

The night I saw him he had already “had” 40 chicks, and that was within two hours of the show. He exercises on a treadmill that has hurdles on it, and often lifts weight lifters for exercise while they are lifting weights. That is so my kind of joke. It’s just such a great visual.

That same night Jim Mendrinos, the producer of the NY Underground Comedy Festival was also there to perform. Jim got such props from Chris Rock when I was interviewing him for the book I’m doing on the Strip. Everything was “Jim Mendrinos this” and “Jim Mendrinos that.” Jim will be very proud to read the book when it finally comes out.

I’ll be interviewing Judah for the book in February, right after he finishes working on his own book. When The Strip won the Guinness Book of records award for the longest continuous comedy show, (50 hours), produced by Ryan McCormick, Judah was the final performer who received the actual plaque.

Then I ran into Kyle Grooms backstage at The Strip, who I also saw at Gotham this month. Kyle is always superb, and his CD The Legend of the Jersey Devil produced by Rooftop Comedy was named in Apple’s iTunes top 20 comedy CDs of 2009. He said 2009 was the year in the news for the light-skinned Black man. Barack Obama, (of whom he does a great impression), Michael Jackson, Tiger Woods, and Chris Brown.

And right after him came the super-talented Modi who was in from LA. Modi does such great dialects I had to tell him he reminded me of comedy legend Sid Caesar, who was known for being able to make believe he was speaking so many different languages. But of course I told Modi he was like a “hip” version of Sid Caesar, because no young comic wants to be compared to a man in his mid to late hundreds! Even if he is a legend like Sid Caesar.

Ladies and Gentlemen – Ray Ellin

Besides being a really funny, well established comic, Ray Ellin is also a great host, and has been the host of his own celeb-driven Internet show called LateNet With Ray Ellin since 2007, where he’s had guests like Jeff Garlin, Darrell Hammond, Fran Drescher, Amy Sedaris, Hank Azaria, Leonard Nimoy and Chevy Chase.

In 2010 he will be taking that to a new level thanks to his deal with AOL, and the Asylum Network. The show will begin to air this month, and I was present at the first taping where his guest was the hilarious Susie Essman, and great comic Todd Barry. Later on that day he also taped Letterman’s longtime bandleader Paul Shaffer, actor Ralph (Ugly Betty) Maccio, and tennis great John McEnroe.

I even got to contribute a fix for a line. Russ Meneve had written a funny bit about some guys stealing candy and winding up in jail where he said they would have their cavities filled. Great line. In rehearsal there was some discussion of how to play the line for it’s greatest punch, and I suggested making it stronger by saying “they wound up in jail where they would have ALL of their cavities filled.”

Protocol dictated that the writer of the line would have to agree to the fix, and Russ being the great guy that he is, agreed it would work, and so Ray said it that way. And it DID work! Only people in comedy know how important one little word can be in a joke.

The show looks like it will be lots of fun, and features an opening monologue, celeb interviews, short films, and general insanity. I ran into the LateNet writing team of Russ Meneve, Danny Lobell, and Dan Naturman, all of whom are hysterical in their own right.

I think the show will be a great success and someday hope to be a guest! (Are you listening, Ray?)

Gotham Happenings

Besides a host of other things, what’s great about Gotham is that they always have paper surveys on every table that allow you to win tickets to SNL, or Letterman, and I use them to make notes for this column. Thanks, Chris!

Tony Rock Rocks Gotham

The great Tony Rock held court for three sold out nights at Gotham. The night I was there he gave his brother Jordan Rock a shot at performing a set for the packed house, and he killed it. It reminded me of the story when Chris Rock got the chance to perform for Eddie Murphy to a packed house at The Comic Strip and that event launched his career.

Tony said that Black people carry the stereotype of being lazy. But then he explained it. “We worked for 400 years for free. We’re just on vacation, that’s all!”

He also explained that alcohol is like a friend that talks you into doing sh*# and then disappears. “ Floor it man. Those cops can’t catch us. The next thing you know they’re puttin’ you in the cop car and where is alcohol? Nowhere to be seen!” After the show we all went over to celebrate at Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club, where Jordan tried to teach me Swag Surfin’, a new dance that he did very well, but that I can not do. Honestly, I don’t think I have enough pigment to do that dance!

I saw Tony again the next night when he did a set at Anthony Anderson’s monthly Mixtape show, where he explained that White people can say certain things that Black people can’t say, like for instance Black people can never ask the question, “ Is there a problem Officer? ”

Tony will be appearing in my show at Westbury in February, that I’m producing with Jean Alerte from Alerte Carter and Associates called “Kevin Hart Live.” From the name you might be able to tell that it’s starring the hilarious Kevin Hart, from 40 Year Old Virgin, Soul Plane, Scary Movie 3 & 4, and his TV special “I’m A Grown Little Man.” Award winning comic Wil Sylvince will be the MC.

Check that out at kevinhartlive.com Tickets are selling fast and there will be an incredible after-party as well.

Godfrey Is Hilarious

I saw some amazing comics at Gotham this month and Godfrey was one of them. Ryan Reiss was the MC, and Gina Brillon knocked it out of the park with her spot- on imitation of a NewYorican girl complete with phrases like “conversate” and “ he asked me pacifically.”

Thank G-d she knew that “conversate” is not a real word. I was starting to doubt that anyone really knew that. Gina Brillon single-handedly restored my faith in humanity. I find it hard to live in world where people gather to “conversate!”

Godfrey too knows that people love accents, and when he imitated his Nigerian father, the audience fell out of their seats. (Fortunately no one got hurt! With hundreds of people falling out of their seats, it was an absolute miracle.)

No matter what his complaint his father always had it worse. Once when he complained about traveling far to school, his father said, “When I was your age I had to walk 100 miles to school, and when we got there, the school was not there. We first had to build the school.”

Then his father one-upped it and said, “When I was your age we didn’t even have feet!” Hilarious.

Nigeria’s been getting some rough press lately, with the Nigerian crotch-bomber, so maybe Godfrey can turn that whole thing around! Or at least maybe he could get some good material out of it!

Ralphie May Scores Big

Ralphie May is a big boy and he brought a big show to Gotham as well. He really doesn’t look like he weighs in at 385 which he claims, but I believe him cause no one’s gonna cop to that if it isn’t true. It’s not exactly a bragging point. Every once in a while you read about one of these 1,000 pound guys, where they have to tear down the front of the building to get the guy out to take him to a hospital, and it kind of makes you feel bad, … for the landlord.

No landlord can afford to keep tearing down his building every time a thousand pound guy has to go to the hospital, cause thousand pound guys tend not to be too healthy. Then they have to rebuild the building, and tear it down again when the guy comes home. And what if he has a relapse?

Construction crews would make a fortune, but the landlord could go bankrupt. So now before they rent an apartment, landlords these days are forced to ask, “ Are there any thousand pound men in your family?”

Ralphie was his usual hysterical self and commented on Michael Jackson leaving his race. Ralphie asked, “ Do you have any idea how much money it takes to leave a race? Oprah Winfrey is still Black. That should give you some idea of how much money it takes!”

The Jewish Xmas Show

No one hosts a Xmas show like Jews, and Marion Grodin proved that, along with Jon Fisch, Rachel Feinstein, and Gary Gulman, the tallest Jew who ever lived. Thank G-d for Gary. Now if we could only talk him into having thousands of children, we’d be okay! Marion did her act standing up, although she claims that at her age, she prefers to lie down, and always craves a nap. She wonders how long she has to be up before it’s acceptable to lie back down again to take a nap.

When Jon Fisch looks on the Internet for a date, he doesn’t want to see photos of girls who are happy. He wants to see a photo of a girl who’s disappointed and angry, cause that’s how she’s gonna look for most of the relationship.

Rachel Feinstein seems to have gone through some kind of transformation, and I mean that in a good way. She was kind of dressed up, and looked really pretty. She always looked good, but most female comics don’t exactly dress to impress. This brings up a good point. How do you compliment a woman for the way she looks now, without making it seem like she didn’t look that great previously? That’s not what I’m saying. All I’m saying is she looked really good.

Anyway, my favorite part of Rachel’s act is when she imitates her mother and grandmother, in response to some street schleps trying to hit on her. Those voices are so distinctive. It makes me wish I could do that. And then there’s Gary Gulman, the ultimate mensch. Gary is not only really funny, he’s a genuinely nice guy, and comes from the heart!

Speaking on behalf of those of us of the “Hebraic Persuasion” he mentioned Christmas Eve, and then qualified that, “ or as we Jews call it, December 24th!” LOL Then he expounded on The Greeks who haven’t really had anything going on since around 300 B.C. “Lately all they’ve had is John Stamos and Yanni. It’s like they all got together and agreed, “ For the next couple of thousand years, let’s just concentrate on our salads.”

A couple of nights later, Gary headlined Gotham as well, along with the always funny Barry Weintraub as the MC, with Karen Bergreen, and Dwayne Perkins who had an interesting take on why men propose to women in quiet secluded areas. So that they won’t be checking out any passing girls while they are busy proposing! Hilarious, … but true!

New Talent?

For me the greatest part of the new talent night was the old talent. Vidur Kapur was the host, and you couldn’t ask for more in a gay, Indian comic. I first met Vidur years ago at an Indian comedy show, (before I even believed there was such a thing), at Don’t Tell Mama’s.

He’s come a long way, and will be headlining a show at Caroline’s Comedy Club this February 24th called “Indophile” as part of what he called a “Major South Asian Comedy Initiative Event.” Sounds serious. What is it sponsored by the government? I don’t know. Ask him not me! You can find him at www.vidurkapur.com

I also got to enjoy the comedy “stylings”, if you will, of Todd Barry, who’s so laid back, he’s almost asleep, except for the fact that he’s so funny. He commented on people who wear a BlueTooth earpiece, cause they’re embarrassed to wear a hearing aid. “ Hey, I thought you were deaf. Turns out you’re just a jackass.” People rave about the Mexican food in Mexico, as if you can’t get that in New York. “NYC has about 10,000 amazing chefs. About a dozen of them have figured out how to replicate the quesadilla.”

Show of Shows

If you thought Sid Caesar had a show of shows, you should have seen the line-up that Chris Mazilli put together on his “Tonight Show Show.” William Stephenson is a great MC, and he was the host. Nate Bargatze opened the show with a very interesting, and relaxed delivery. But it was his references to fistfighting with a chicken and being killed by ducks that drew me in. That’s the kind of unusual thinking I like.

Wali Collins said he met a girl who wrote her name as La-Ah, which is how he pronounced it, until she explained her name was LaDasha. Amy Schumer is almost getting too sexy to be a comic. But then again, there’s always Chelsea Handler, so I guess sexy and funny is cool. Rare but cool! I liked Chelsea from the first time I ever saw her at Carolines. Amy said to a guy in the audience, “You’re very cute. I wouldn’t even report you if you date-raped me.” She’s so funny.

Also part of the show was my old pal Rich Francese who was a big hit, and crowd pleaser Jessica Kirson whose infant imitations are killer. Then came one of my favorites. There’s something about Mike Vecchione that I can’t get enough of. Maybe it’s his deadpan delivery or the cleverness of his lines. As a writer, I always admire another good writer. (That sounded like I complimented myself!)

He acknowledges that he looks like a cop. Not a nice cop. Like a nasty Staten Island cop. So someone suggested to him that maybe he should be an undercover cop. He said, “ I hate to point out the obvious, but if I already look like a cop, it probably wouldn’t be that effective.” Then he signed up for an online private detective school that ripped him off for all of the money he paid to take the course. And he thought to himself, either I just got ripped off, or this is my first case. ( I think the audience applauded that joke!)

He said he was afraid his girlfriend had a sleepwalking problem. Turned out she was justleaving him in the middle of the night. The guy is hilarious!

Followed by another favorite of mine who’s also a great writer, Ted Alexandro. Ted said that not only is Barack Obama our first Black President, but thanks to him there will never be another White President, … because you know what they say! Some day, I would love to write for either Mike or Ted, … or maybe both! Who knows, … it could happen!!!

Comedy Matters Quickies

Susie Essman’s book party at The Friars for “What Would Susie Say?” It was a big success, packed, sold out, tons of people. I couldn’t even get a book. They were all gone. I took the millionth photo I have with Susie at that event. I’m pretty sure I have more photos with Susie than she has with her husband Jimmy.

Her close friend Joy Behar was also there to wish her luck, and buy a book.

Comedy Doll

“Hot” toy designer Julia Griffel and I are working on a comedy idea involving her amazing dolls, “The Griffeys.” More to follow on that!

Help for Africa

Just to prove Scott Blakeman right that I’m absolutely everywhere, I turned up at a fantastic Susan Blond event called Same Sky at the Ana Tsarev Gallery on West 57th Street. The event was to raise money to help women in Rwanda by buying beautiful bracelets that they made. Cleverly billed as “ A hand-up not a hand out.”

Nothing to do with comedy,but a great cause. And I ran into my good friend, the gorgeous international DJ Donna D’Cruz, who happens to be a big comedy fan, and who was one of the hosts of the evening.

I may head down to the South Beach Comedy Festival at the end of January to catch Gabriel Iglesias, Mike Birbiglia, Aziz Ansari, Joe Rogan, Brian Regan, and Kevin Hart. Just waiting to hear from P.R. guy Woody Graber, and deciding whether I want to fly right now.

Letterbox Gets New Mailbox

Emmy award winning Letterbox Pictures, a film/tv production facility owned by producers Abby Russell and Brent Sterling-Nemetz has new fantastic offices on East 23rd Street. With great outdoor spaces for shoots of all kinds. I’m really excited that they are shooting the documentary film we are doing on The Comic Strip. I saw the trailer and it totally rocks. Check them out at http://letterboxpictures.com

Charlie Murphy also had a book party for his new book “ The Making of a Stand-Up Guy”, at the hot 40/40 Club, and I didn’t get a book there either. What’s going on here? I did get to make a plan with him to appear in both the book and documentary film we’re doing on The Comic Strip. His manager Richie Murphy, promised to set it up.

Richie also took me to be introduced to the legendary “Uncle Ray”, uncle to both Charlie and Eddie Murphy, and I ran into Ice-T again, who I seem to run into every few minutes, with his beautiful wife Coco. It was a really fun event.

P.S. Since the time of this piece Charlie Murphy lost his wife, Tisha Taylor Murphy to cancer. Our sincerest condolences go out to him, and his family.

So anyway, until next time, remember, … COMEDY MATTERS!!!

John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show

by John Delery

People planning to watch John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show may want to reserve their own sofas to assure getting a good seat to this comedy-show equivalent of an all-star game. The lineups for the series, which premieres Friday at 11 p.m. on Comedy Central, are teeming with heavy-hitting headliners.

Paul F. Tompkins, Janeane Garofalo, Marc Maron, Brian Posehn, Kristen Schaal, and Eugene Mirman are the showcase acts, but this comic magnet also attracts top pros Maria Bamford and Greg Fitzsimmons. Perhaps best of all, it spotlights newer comedians, including Matt Braunger, Hannibal Buress, Chris Hardwick, Pete Holmes, Hari Kondabolu, Nick Kroll, Matt McCarthy and Mary Lynn Rajskub, who emit lower celebrity wattage than their clever colleagues now but probably for not too much longer.

As entertaining as Bamford, Fitzsimmons, Kroll and Mirman are in the opening episode, the star of the premiere may be Oliver, best known as one of the many sardonic senior correspondents on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart: In his monologue, the droll Brit wit more than warms up the crowd; he brands his equally silly and perceptive sense of humor into the audience and his namesake series. Face it, most politicians are jokes, but Oliver makes politics funny.

John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show Item	Friday 11pm / 10c
Stand-Up: John Oliver – Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
www.comedycentral.com

His gag about voting under the influence may definitively explain how George W. Bush got TWO TERMS in the White House. He reduces the prior administration to a hilarious and literal sick joke without screaming, swearing, snarling or losing his primary comic attributes: his insane likability and affability. He also displays his spontaneity while riffing amusingly with Kroll (In character as the deliberately foul, fem Fabrice Fabrice) about midway through the first episode.

So reserve an hour and a great, not good, seat for his show — now!

Kristin Key: Where the Cab Takes You…

by Reid Faylor

Kristin Key, a Texas native and veteran of Last Comic Standing, has a comedic quality that is equally destructive and beneficial: she’s a people pleaser. On Where the Cab Takes You, her second album, Key offers slice of life jokes (and songs) about getting drunk, getting high, eating at Waffle House, and getting searched at the airport –simple, perhaps familiar topics. However, what they have in relatability, they sometimes lack in ingenuity. She has a quick wit, a strong rhythm and a confident and devious delivery, but rarely are the jokes surprising, rarely do they take you somewhere you weren’t already expecting to go. While the audience on the album can clearly be heard in fits of laughter, as a listener, I found myself at times guessing where the joke would go, waiting for a twist that didn’t come.

But, this is not necessarily a problem in her writing. In every joke, there’s a highlight: some inventive comparisons, a well-timed vocal fluctuation, or a great bout of wordplay and phrasing, like when she describes pouring out Aunt Jemima’s “life juice”, or how half and half doesn’t know what side to take in the refrigerator gang wars.

But the jokes never derail from your expectations. The songs at the end illustrate this well. With the exception of “The Pooping Song”, each one features skillful guitar playing, surprisingly pretty singing, and some clever songwriting. But on a couple they seem oddly simple, especially in “The Airport Security Song”, a musical romp through often formulaic realms: getting scissors thrown away, bottled water being prohibited, and cavity searches.

This is not to say the album is bad; the writing and songs especially allowed for repeat listens. It’s just the album was one you may have already been expecting to hear.

Snag yourself a copy of the album by clicking the image below.