Lizz Winstead, Christian Finnegan, Lord Carrett, more to raise cash for cat rescue program

by Punchline Magazine

Greg Giraldo bringing ‘Daily Show’ to South America?

by Punchline Magazine

Stand-up comedy visits New York Giants; tight end Jeremy Shockey still hates world

by Punchline Magazine

Bill Bellamy: Diversifying a portfolio of comedy

by Tim Hammill

Veteran comedian Bill Bellamy has made a profitable habit of continually reinventing himself over the last two decades. But the Last Comic Standing host has never let go of stand-up.

Bill Bellamy is the Madonna of stand-up comedy. Hear us out. Like the Material Girl, the 43-year-old Newark, New Jersey native has enjoyed an amazingly long and diverse career by constantly reinventing himself and keeping flexible; both stars also have muscular man arms.

And although Bellamy has had his share of tangential success — from years of hosting on MTV, a starring role in the Fox cop drama series Fastlane to voicing video games to big screen projects like Any Given Sunday, How to be a Player and The Brothers — Bellamy has never abandoned his roots as a stand-up comic.

He still tours the country’s comedy clubs and theaters in earnest and is currently seen every Thursday on NBC as the host of the wildly popular Last Comic Standing, which is in its sixth season; it’s Bellamy’s second year at the helm.

Punchline Magazine recently chatted with Bellamy about his role as host, behind-the-scenes at Last Comic Standing and why, despite the show’s high ratings, there are so many LCS haters out there.

Don’t you think it’s odd to have well-established comics (this season, Louis Ramey is in the running; years past Gabriel Iglesias was in there as well as Ralph Harris, Doug Benson, etc…) compete against completely unknown comics?
I’m not surprised that the veterans are coming out. They realize the importance of getting exposure. If these guys aren’t getting that much-needed TV time after years of being involved in the game, at this point he’s just a really good road comic. TV gets you more reason to get booked. For the show, I think having these very funny veterans involved gives the show validity. It makes the show funny for real.

After doing this show for two seasons, you’ve had the chance to see a lot of young comics. Do you feel like there are a lot more people trying to break into the biz than ever before? How much of that, do you think is a result of the success of the Last Comic Standing?
To be honest it’s a combination of sorts. Reality TV is huge. Everybody wants to be on TV. Plus with the national exposure of a primetime TV, I can see why people are trying to get involved. We get a good mix of people who are very funny, who are good at their craft and the people who just want to be on TV.

As a comedian and someone who is very much involved with the show, do the people who just want to be on TV offend you?
Well, luckily the talent scouts are responsible for dealing with those people. This season, the judges are actors from current and previous NBC shows; they’re the ones dealing with the ridiculous people just trying to get on TV. Trust me, it’s ridiculous. We even had a few strippers in there. Strippers and comedy? Who knew?

Why do you think there has been so much backlash about the show from some of the hardcore comedy fans? Some might say that has something to do with the claims that the show is fixed.
That was the stigma that I heard too. I’m in the club with comics, I hear what the other guys are saying. I don’t know if that was true. I can tell you now, that that’s not the case. Having success on this show is really how well your act translates on TV and how the jokes match your personality, because the show does really give the fans insight on the contestants’ personalities.

Was there one city that stood out to you during the talent search?
I went to about 15 comedy clubs across the country without people knowing that I was there. There were a lot of great comics I got to see.

So for those people, I sent them out to the auditions with a VIP pass so they could cut the lines. I think Denver was really good. Raleigh, NC and DC were great. I went to Hawaii, that was nice. Boston had some great comics as well.

Since you guys have gone global with the search, do you see the international comics modifying their acts for the States?
I think the international comics are just being themselves. Our intention isn’t to water down their comedy. They know that there are things that won’t work here that would work over there. They can’t do regional stuff that we aren;t going to get. They’re doing a great job of keeping it general and universal.

What are the challenges in presenting stand-up comedy properly on network television?
Knowing that it’s clean comedy. You know there are certain subject matters you can’t talk about on network TV. In the comedy club, you can get away with those things but not on national TV. I compare it to talking at the dinner table at your momma’s house” you can be funny, you just have to watch you say.

Before you became host of the show, what was your opinion of the show?
To be honest with you, I never really watched it. I obviously knew about the show and thought it was a cool idea. I thought it was a good opportunity for comics to get exposure. But I think I might have watched one or two episodes back when Jay was hosting. I was shocked when they asked me to host.

What did you think of the opportunity to host?
I saw it as an opportunity to do my thing. I wanted to bring some fun to the show, something I thought the show might have been lacking– not from the comics involved with the show (they obviously were bringing a lot of fun and energy to the show) but just more fun to the show as a whole. And also, I like the idea of being on primetime TV every week, that doesn’t hurt at all. I also saw it as an opportunity to help other guys get in the game. I think it’s a refreshing way for people to see me. I haven’t done the hosting thing since MTV.

Speaking of MTV, what do you think of what that network has become?
I knew MTV was going to change back around 1998 when reality was really kicking in. I was like, ‘Wow this is going to be weird.’ Back then they were promoting the personalities; their stars were the VJs. Now the VJs aren’t really the stars of the network, now it’s the cast of their reality shows.

They don’t even show the whole videos anymore. It’s like video lite or video on a diet. I knew that I didn’t want to be there forever. I wanted to do movies and TV. To me doing this show is really like revisiting an MTV-like crowd. Now when I go and do stand-up, there are new people who know me. I got aunties and grandmas coming out to my shows.

For more info, check out Bill Bellamy’s official site and NBC’s Last Comic Standing site.

Dan Levy: One minute is all he needs

by Jessica Agi

At 27, Dan Levy is one of the country’s fastest-rising stand-up comedians. With two movies about to pop and a daily one-minute talk show on College Humor, summer ‘08 is looking damn sunny for the bespectacled lad from Connecticut.

Dan Levy, the host of the College Humor Live comedy tour, is now the host of the web site’s first talk show, The I Have to Go in a Minute Show. Sponsored by Mountain Dew’s Dewmocracy campaign, it’s a daily one-minute talk show on CollegeHumor.com. The 27-year-old LA-by-way-of Stamford, CT got his start in stand-up while at Emerson College in Boston; during that time he won the title of The Country’s Funniest College Comedian at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.

His new short, Below the Law will screen at the Just for Laughs film festival in Montreal next month and he’s landed parts in two summer movies My Sexiest Year starring Harvey Keitel and the Anna Faris comedy The House Bunny. In the middle of it all, Levy took a break from filming to chat with Punchline Magazine about his latest gig as “talk show host.”

How would you describe The I Have to Go in a Minute Show?
It’s like a compressed version of Conan or the other late night shows. The premise is I’m trying to basically host and produce a talk show from my parents’ bedroom every morning before I go to work, which is why it’s pretty rushed. I only have a minute.

And you’re doing this for the entire summer?
From June until August 1. I moved out here the end of May from LA, with Todd Strauss-Schulson, who is also writing and producing the show with me.

Did you approach College Humor about it, or did they come to you?
I have good relationship with those guys. They called me up, and said, ‘I know you wanna come out to NY and hang out.’ Would you be interested in creating and hosting your own talk show?’ Absolutely! Also, I really like the web site, I like those guys. it’s the perfect place for the show.

How long does it take to shoot each episode?
It varies. The way we do it is we shoot all of the in-studio stuff, a bunch of segments in a day. But the bits like with Stephen Colbert, those things take anywhere from 2 to 5 hours to shoot them, and it also depends on the celebrities’ availabilities.

Have there been any highlights, or is there anything you’re looking forward to, beyond getting host-advice from Stephen Colbert?
Everything has been a highlight. Living in New York City and doing a show is just really fun. We also just did a sketch with Colin Quinn, and I might be doing one with Bette Midler! For the most part, it’s really fun. It’s a lot of work, and I can’t imagine what it’s like when you’re doing a show that’s an hour as opposed to a minute, because I’m pretty wiped out.

Viewers might recognize you from some past hosting gigs, right?
I hosted a comedy game show for MTV, and from there, I hosted a terrible, terrible, horrible show with Andy Dick [for MTV] that was fucking horrific– literally a waste of time. And you can write that!

What have you been doing since?
I’ve been doing some acting and a lot of writing, but mostly stand-up. This is the ideal thing, though: I’m hosting a show, but it’s my show. I do what I want. Plus, I think we’re getting something like 50,000 views a day.

Do you like one over the other– hosting versus stand-up?
Actually, the two are very similar, so, I’d like to host a talk show and then do stand-up on the weekends.

If Punchline Magazine checks in with you again this time next year, what will you be doing?
I’ll be a multi, multi-millionaire due to the success of my two-minute talk show.

Check out Dan’s daily show at College Humor. To learn more about Dan, check out danlevyshow.com.

Andi Smith: Homeperm

by John Delery

OK, so you may not need to shower in Lysol after listening to Homeperm, but you may want to keep a spray bottle of boiled water nearby so you can at least sponge-bathe (with the rough side of the sponge or maybe even steel wool).

After all, you may feel more than dirty, you may feel downright Pig Pen grimy after convulsing in laughter at Andi Smith’s wickedly inappropriate and hilarious set at Go Bananas Comedy Club in Cincinnati.

Smith unloads with both barrels on harmless, defenseless and, best of all, altogether uncommon comedy targets (with the exception of our clueless commander-in-chief): like those “window-lickin freaks” (a.k.a foster children) that her Mom evidently collects like hummels; West Virginia coal miners (to whom she plays harsh guidance counselor); paralyzed porn poobah Larry Flynt; cosmetic-conscious women who inflate their importance with breast implants; hyperactive, do-goodin’ cheerleaders and their equally fidgety, Gidgety sorority sisters; art school students (apparently crayon-wielding crazies); teenage moms and (cringe here) the blind!

Smith savages all her victims, for sure, but only with piercing insights instead of cleavers. (She sounds misanthropic but not murderously misanthropic.)

She sands the rough edge off the brutally honest jokes with a distinctive conversational delivery. It’s a combination of retro Roseanne sass and an almost apologetic oh-golly-goodness-did-I-say-that-so-sorry Midwestern discombobulation, probably the result of her upbringing in Wisconsin, the cheese capital of America, where, it seems, the cheddar is sharp and the comics are blunt.

The one negative: All the fun ends too soon. Even with three bonus tracks, the performance lasts only 35 minutes, though Smith certainly packs lots of laughs into that time frame. So just do what I did: listen to it twice…or more. Who knew someone so cynical could be so comical, too!

Listen to a track from Homeperm!

For more info on Andi, check out snowflakehead.com; to buy the album visit RooftopComedy or iTunes.

Monday stand-up video: Joe DeRosa

by Punchline Magazine