Dana Gould: Anger and frustration, the cornerstones of great comedy

by Ben Kharakh

On the advice of the late George Carlin, comedian Dana Gould held back the social critic inside of him for years. Now, the veteran comic and former Simpsons scribe is older, wiser and funnier. And lucky for him, the world is more fucked up than ever. Let the social criticism begin!

The world can be just as funny as it is infuriating, but most people are usually too caught up in being annoyed to pick up on the humor in it. That’s one reason why comedy is such a great release.

You take a guy like Dana Gould, put the spotlight on him, and he’s going to vent about the things that get to him and they’re going to be the same things that eat at all of us— except when Dana brings them up, we laugh at them and feel a little better. And while Dana may have made people laugh on HBO, Comedy Central, and as a writer on The Simpsons, nothing compares to seeing him live. Luckily, he’s been doing the road a lot since leaving everyone’s favorite dysfunctional yellow family.

You’ve said of the differences between the young ‘you’ and the older ‘you’ that, ‘I was just a young, single guy and my act was based in anger and frustration. Now I’m an older married guy with two little kids and my act is based in anger and frustration.’ Since a sense of humor is able to turn aggravating events into something more palatable, do you find comedy a useful tool for dealing with life?
Yes. Not so much as vodka. But yes. I also think all comedians are innately dissatisfied with life in one form or another. No one becomes a clown because they so have their shit together.

What are some things that still make you angry or frustrated as when you first discovered them?
I still get infuriated when I see people coaxed into voting against their own economic well being because one millionaire politician purportedly likes guns and bullets more than another millionaire politician. I see people still lining up to gulp it down and it boggles my mind.

And why does every Cirque du Soleil show have to have a sad clown in it? Those shows are amazing! Chicks in blue paint and mermaid suits jumping off a flying boat into water that’s on fire, but they still all have to start with that sad-eyed douche bag with the baggy pants and the wilted flowers.

An interesting thing about stand-up is that you can tell a joke that connects with a crowd and makes them laugh one night, and the next, nothing. Is there a time this happened to you that comes to mind?
Well, years ago I was in New York and I was crashing on Lizz Winstead’s couch, and the copy of the key I had didn’t really work, and I got locked out at, like, 3 a.m. Finally another tenant gets out of the cab, walks up to the door, throws up on my shoes, then looks up and says, ‘I forgot my keys.’ This is true. I told the story that next night and it was really funny, but for some reason, it wasn’t funny again for like four months.

Do you find stand-up to be at all therapeutic?
Yes. Especially now that therapy is no longer therapeutic. I’m out of stuff to say. I drive to the office and work up a set list of stuff to fill the hour.

You’ve mentioned several times how you were searching for your stand-up persona around the same time as your walking-around persona. How long did it take you to find both and how did you know when you found them?
Oh, that’s very ‘Which came first, the chicken or the egg?’ It basically came down to this. I’m the kind of guy who dresses like he’s in Weezer. That applies to everything. Who doesn’t remember Weezer?

Both a comedian’s stand-up and off stage persona, however, are always evolving, no?
Yes. That’s one reason I love meeting young comedians. They still believe that you’ll get everything you want if you believe in yourself. They are a hoot!

A lot of jokes that you tell are about interactions with people, but how do you feel about people in general?
I love people in general. Specifically, they bug the shit out of me.

So, what sort of material did you do before making the transition to the Dana Gould we know now?
When I first started out, I wanted to be a social critic, like George Carlin was in his angrier stuff. Then, another comedian told me that it’s better to hold off on social criticism until you’re older – I was about twenty-one at the time – as you have the wisdom of experience in addition to looking more like you’ve earned the right to offer those opinions. Had that comedian not actually been George Carlin, I probably wouldn’t have listened. In other words, I wanted to be George Carlin, until he politely advised me to wait.

Did you ever consider changing professions?
I’d like to be a reporter. I love that idea. Police band radio in my grimy bachelor apartment. A hot plate, a Murphy bed and a big stack of porn. Wait! Maybe I am a reporter! But, honestly, no. I’ve always had this in me. Sad to say.

Were there ever any times when you felt that you’d be unable to be a comedian?
No, but I am questioning my delivery system. Going on the road makes me feel like a door-to-door joke salesman. I really have to find a way to do this from my house.

Comedians drop bits that they perform, similarly to how people drop habits and behaviors. Although it’s probably easier to drop a bit, what’s a habit or behavior that you’ve let go over the years?
I’m trying to give up listening.

What’s something that society needs to let go of?
The more insecure people are, the more apt they are to wear a T-shirt showing a furious eagle beating something to death with a flag. Move on, I say from that whole anti-intellectual, macho-patriotic nonsense. George W. Bush doesn’t make my skin crawl because he’s not intellectually curious. He makes my skin crawl because he brags about not being intellectually curious.

A lot of what makes us human is the ability to relate our experiences to others. It’s a good feeling when we find we share similar experiences. Have you ever felt that way?
I’ll quote George Carlin: ‘Y’ever wear a hat so long, it feels like it’s off? Then you take it off… and it feels like it’s on?’ Wow. Stalin would laugh at that. Hitler. Jeff Daniels. It’s a beautifully human observation.

One experience we can all soon share is your DVD. It’s released in early 2009. How will it be distributed?
It’ll be on my website. On Amazon, and in stores if there are still stores that sell DVD’s. It comes out March 24.

Once it’s released, what will you be doing with the material on the DVD?
Replacing it!

You’re also at work on writing the movie Alternadad for Warner Bros. and The Last Larry for Comedy Central. How are those things coming along?
Same as Iraq. Slow going, and best not to dwell on the bloodshed.

I read that you’re also writing the big screen adaptation of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. How did you get involved with that?
Tom Stoppard passed and they called me.

For more info, check out Dana at his official site, danagould.com or his MySpace.

Photo fun: The Punchline Magazine 3rd anniversary show

by Punchline Magazine

PHOTOS by KEVIN DUFFY, Kevin Duffy Photography

Two nights ago, Punchline Magazine celebrated its 3rd anniversary with an amazing show at Comix in New York. Some of the country’s biggest and best comedians came together onstage to perform in support of the magazine; Greg Giraldo, Tom Papa, Judy Gold, Christian Finnegan, Robert Kelly, Laurie Kilmartin, Pete Dominick and Ray Ellin were all there.

For most of our readers not in the New York area, we wanted to give you a slice of the night– some live shots from the Punchline Magazine 3rd anniversary show. Enjoy.

Greg Giraldo

 

Robert Kelly

 

Christian  Finnegan

 

Judy Gold

 

Tom Papa

 

Laurie Kilmartin

 

Ray Ellin

 

Pete Dominick

Read more

Video interview: A Tight Five with Jim Breuer

by Punchline Magazine

In our new episode of A Tight Five, Punchline Magazine editor in chief Dylan Gadino sits down with Saturday Night Live alum and Half Baked legend Jim Breuer. Shot at Comix in New York City and brought to you by RooftopComedy, Breuer dishes on everything from the Judas Priest/Iron Maiden rivalry, his three daughters, his still-huge college tours and much more.

Louis CK: Comedy legend in the making

by Dylan P. Gadino

Over the last few years, its become clear that Louis C.K. is fast on his way to owning legendary stand-up comedian status. Sharper and funnier than ever, C.K. premieres his new hour-long special, Chewed Up on Showtime this weekend.

When his HBO One Night Stand aired in 2005, Louis C.K. was one of the most well-respected, nationally headlining stand-up comedians— not a bad place to be. In less than three years, the 41-year-old has become something of a major comedy star in the eyes of the masses, not just hardcore comedy fans.

He spent a year writing and playing the title character on HBO’s Lucky Louie, filming another special – this one, a full hour – for the network called Shameless and began touring not only bigger clubs but also began selling out theaters. He’s currently in the midst of yet another national tour (this one dubbed Hilarious) wherein he’s performing all new material; that is, you’ll see no overlap with C.K.’s new hour-long special, Chewed Up, which premieres on Showtime Oct. 4.

The contents of Chewed Up are what C.K.’s fans have come to expect from him: soul-baring honesty, an incredible knack for getting the audience on his side despite his major character flaws and a Carlin-esque surgical strike on the English language (see first video clip below). Perhaps most compelling about C.K., however, is what he represents to middle class Americans: He’s a normal looking guy in a black t-shirt and jeans – and not the trendy kind – who’s afforded the opportunity to tell a thousand or so people at a clip that once when young, he let (or was it made?) his dog lick cottage cheese off his testicles.

We want to do that! But we can’t. We can’t bare ourselves without severe social consequences. We can’t walk into work tomorrow and start telling everyone how we can’t stand the way we look but still find it near impossible to do anything about it because we’re paralyzed by self hatred. But Louie can. And for that, we’re thankful.

We’re also thankful that Louie took some time to chat with Punchline Magazine while he was in Phoenix set to play the Orpheum theater. We talked about his recent split from his wife, why he’s changed the way he talks about his two daughters onstage and much more.

Last we spoke, Lucky Louie was about to premiere on HBO. What’s changed most since then?
I think mostly it’s been that stand-up has become my full-time job again over the last couple of years, which has been great. I really enjoy that— not worrying about whether I have a TV job anymore.

But you’re working on a new pilot for CBS with Pamela Adlon, who played your wife on Lucky Louie. That show was canceled after a season on HBO. What’s different about this show?
For Lucky Louie, outside of the FCC problems, it would probably have worked on CBS. It’s a populous show. It’s a show about regular people. And there really are no shows on HBO that are about anyone normal. They sort of like to reach to this one percentile of people and that’s more and more what HBO has become. The great thing about HBO is they don’t care as much about ratings as networks. They’ll just keep doing the show. Lucky Louie was on the other side of that. Our ratings kept going up each week. And they didn’t give a shit. They still canceled the show anyway.

But they gave me a whole season, they’ve given me a special, they’ve given me everything. The greatest benefactors of my entire life by a long shot is HBO. I owe them more than I owe anybody. This new show is back to being about a family just living in the real world and trying to do it as real as possible. I still think that’s a show that doesn’t exist that needs to. And so CBS came calling. They said we really want something from you. And Pamela and I had always wanted to write something together. We wrote together on Lucky Louie and we collaborated a lot on that series. So CBS bought the show and we’re writing it and hopefully we’ll do it and be in it together. We’ll see; you know how these things go. The odds are is that it will be a pilot that we’ll shoot and no one will ever see it. But I have hope. I feel really good about the material.

Is there less career pressure on you now, since stand-up is your main concern?
If anything, there’s more pressure because the money comes a little slower and I’m on the road all the time. But when you’re in Hollywood and you’re trying to climb up this invisible ladder that has very many colored rungs, it doesn’t add up to much. Now, I have a more pure, simple project, which is trying to be as good as possible onstage. And Lucky Louie and the special I did after it, Shameless, kinda made this possible because all of a sudden I could hit the road and start doing theaters and make real money that I could live on. So that kind of let me focus on stand-up as its own thing. I started now to try to do one special a year; it’s been an obsession for me.

What’s the main difference for you about performing theaters as opposed to clubs?
It’s more pressure, and I like pressure. I can also kind of breath more on a big theater stage. I perform material a little more; I put a little more thought into what I’m saying and how it feels as a whole show. That’s opposed to working at a club where I’m fighting for attention a little bit because of the nightclub atmosphere. But I still do both. I have a pattern where I start in the spring and summer doing clubs because the clubs are better for writing; you get a more honest sense for how you’re doing and you could build a momentum that will start to generate its own laughs. If I only did theater shows I think I would start to stink.

Also you do more shows in the clubs. If you’re doing theater, you usually do two shows a week, two cities two shows, but at a club, you camp out there; you’re there two shows Friday, three Saturday and a show Thursday and Sunday so I’m hammering my stuff more.

You performed a lot in England this year for the first time. Did you notice a major difference between performing overseas?
In London, stand-up comedy is more part of their culture. It’s not this separate thing. In the States, a lot of times stand-up is thought of as the dirty old cousin of art. There’s nobody that writes about stand-up in newspapers. Like the New York Times will send one of their TV reporters out and they’ll do a ‘What’s so funny?’ article, every 10 years— and it’s the same shit. But there’s not really any critique and analysis of stand-up in newspapers. And that’s part of what makes art interesting: how people digest it.

When you do a show in London, everyone reviews it. It’s in the London Times and The Guardian and people of all stripes come. And some people are watching you with a finger on their lip, like hmmmm interesting. It’s a whole different approach. And its not so much fans. After shows in the states, I’ll go to the lobby and fans ask for camera phone pictures, so I’ll go out and meet my fans. It’s a small and easy thing for me to do and I know they appreciate it a lot. In London, I come out to the lobby and they’ll all stand around talking about how they liked the show but they won’t come say hi. It’s a different world.

But really, the biggest difference to me is that it wasn’t here. No one knows me there and I don’t sound like them, so I don’t have their trust in that sense; I’m not one of them. I also come from a country that a lot of people think is ruining the world. But I think because I don’t have that trust automatically, I with helps with the material. It makes it better because I had to work on it from the ground up, which is an important thing to do as a stand-up. When I’m in New York, I stop into places like the Comedy Cellar because nobody knows I’m going to be there. It’s not people that were eager to see me and laugh at my jokes. You have to get out of your comfort zone. It keeps you honest.

It’s strange that stand-up is better integrated with the rest of live entertainment in England than it is here, even though stand-up started in the States.
We just have a different culture here. It’s more about money and capital. Comedy gets big in America when it starts making money. That’s when people start writing about it. I’m definitely getting more press now than I ever used to– partly its because I’m bigger and partly its because folks like me and Jim Gaffigan are playing theaters now. That wasn’t always the case. There was always like one or two theater acts in the comedy scene, but now the theaters is sort of a new circuit and its more lucrative now. And in America it something’s making money, you write about it.

It’s the capitalist system. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just different than England. I still would much rather live here. And I like the approach we have to stand-up here The neglects that we get from the press or whatever I’m grousing about is pointless because we have good stand-up here and its well attended. Whatever we’re doing, it’s working.

I watched a screener of your new Showtime special, Chewed Up. In the past, my eyes have teared very times while watching stand-up, but the bit you do about once you hit a certain age, doctors just don’t even try to fix you anymore hit me hard.
Thanks. Yeah, that bit came about when I was in Cleveland at Hilarities. My ankle had been hurting for ages so I decided to go to the doctor and I had that experience exactly. [The doctor said there was basically nothing he could do to help him]. I went onstage and told the story that night. And that was it. It was imprinted.

So you’ve retired all the material on Chewed Up and you’re touring with your show Hilarious. How is your material changing these days? You’ve recently split from your wife, right?
Yeah, so that’s changed. I don’t talk about that very much. I don’t at all really. I don’t talk about her. I figure that now she’s a private person and her private life isn’t mine anymore, it isn’t part of mine. So I’m not going to talk about her life anymore. My life now is about me and my kids. My wife and I share custody of our kids so I’m with them every week. When I’m with them, we’re alone. It’s just the three of us. There’s more pressure on me as a parent. That’s really changed the way I talk about them onstage. So they’re certainly still part of what I talk about. But everything that happens in your life changes the way you look at the rest of the world.

So when you say you’re still talking about your kids but you’ve changed the way you talk about them, what does that mean?
I’m singled out now and that’s just a vastly different life. And I’m alone with the kids now. And also, my kids have grown up. They’re six and three now. They’re both verbal with personalities now. They’re no longer a toddler and infant.

So is it going to be adorable, endearing comedy now from Louis C.K.?
No, it’s the same. I think I’m less angry about them now than I was. I’m frustrated more now than I was before. I was angrier before because I just wasn’t as good at being a dad to them. But I’ve grown up a lot. Sometimes I look at the older specials and I’m like, ‘You’re unhinged buddy’ and I’ll laugh at it myself. I have a little bit more patience and I know a little bit more about what I’m doing as a parent now.

The older material was born out of this frustration about not knowing what I’m doing. And now my act is more about being a shitty father than it is about having shitty kids. That was actually always pretty much the case. If there’s a relationship problem between a 40 year old and a three year old, you have to blame the 40 year old. My act was never about my daughter being an asshole, it was about a person feeling their daughter is an asshole. It’s a flawed feeling but it feels very real when you’re having it.

Are you in a good place psychologically now, being single, having the kids and all?
There’s a good balance now. I have kind of a stable life now. I go on the road every week now. But it’s basically Thursday through Saturday but I’m with my kids the rest of the week. And when I’m with my kids I dedicate my time to them because I don’t have a job during the day. I probably spend more time with my kids than any other working father. I’m really enjoying my time with them.

I’m starting to realize quickly – because my six-year old is in first grade – that it’s going to be really soon that they don’t give a shit about me, where I become their landlord, a pain in their ass. Right now, when they’re with me, it’s the three of us. We’re a team and that’s who we are. That’s going to go by really fast. By the time they’re like 10, their lives are going to center around their own friends and I’m just going to be this embarrassing fat idiot.

You’ve got to be pretty organized to take care of your kids and still keep up with touring.
I am. I’m pretty organized. Thursday morning, the last thing I do is take the six-year old to school, and then I go on the road. I have to somehow adjust myself so that my primetime hours are be 9 pm again. So I go fly to a fucking city, try to shake off the crazy exhaustion from the kids, do the show, go to another city, do a show, maybe go to a third city, do a show and then I usually come home Sundays and I’m a wreck. I’ve been up all night and I haven’t been sleeping. I try to catch up Sunday night on some sleep. And then Monday before I pick them up, I try to scramble to get the apartment picked up again, and get groceries. I also take the kids to gymnastics on Monday; that’s another part of the day. It’s a lot.

Who knew you’d be so domestic?
Yeah, I’m organized in terms that I have to do all these things. I have better days than others. There are some days where I’m cracking through it all. Then there are times on Sunday night where I’ll be up and if I go to bed I know I’ll have a good week, but I’m wound up, and I say, ‘Fuck it’ and I watch a stupid movie and I stay up all night. Then I’m really screwed for the week.

How would you describe the state of stand-up comedy?
I don’t know, I think it’s pretty good. I think that we’re all able to do these theaters is pretty good. There are some really funny people out there. It hasn’t grown that much lately as far as new people. But I don’t know. I have seen everyone. That new kid John Mulaney— I think he’s pretty special. He’s probably the next interesting guy from his generation. Harris Wittels, who just opened for me, and Ted Alexandro is a really funny guy. There’s a lot of exciting, new funny dudes. Then there’s a lot of comedy I hate but that’s always the case.

What kind of stuff do you hate?
It’s hard to say that… yeah, I don’t want to get into the shit I hate.

For more info, check out LouisCK.net. To check out when Chewed Up, Louis C.K.’s new Showtime special is airing, check out the network’s official site.

Todd Glass: ‘There’s humor in everything’

by Ben Kharakh

Todd Glass’s silly side has been on display on Comedy Central, Jimmy Kimmel, and Last Comic Standing, but when he wants to get serious he vents on his podcast Comedy and Everything Else. When Todd gets on mic with his co-hosts Jimmy Dore and Stefane Zamorano, he proves that his knack for explicating the absurd also makes him excellent at picking out and explaining what’s ridiculous about our modern world.

It’s a skill that will be on display at New York City’s Comix when Todd makes his first NYC appearance in nearly six years on Sept. 26 and 27.

You, Jimmy, and Stefane talk about and find the humor in a lot of stuff on the podcast, but is there anything you think that can’t be funny?

There’s humor in everything. The only people who think there’s not humor in everything are people who are lying in a public forum. You don’t want to be too extreme though. If you’re dad dies, for example, and all you do is laugh and make jokes, that’s probably not healthy. But if all you do is cry, that’s also not healthy. It’s better to have a mix. To feel sadness, but also try to find the humor in it. You might wonder what humor there is in it, but, believe me, when my dad died it was very sad. My stomach hurt so bad I threw up, but my brother and I also made jokes that were funny. I can’t remember them right now though. I think we may have done an impersonation of my aunts coming over and fighting over his clothes, for example.

Or, what about 9/11? Is that out of the question?

No, but it depends what you’re making fun of. No one makes fun of the people who died. There’s nothing funny about that. The jokes are about how 9/11 was dealt with or how someone who didn’t know anyone there might act like a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend was a close acquaintance just so they can be depressed and become the center of attention. I can’t imagine a comedian going onstage and saying, “Hey, how about these people who died in 9/11 and now there’s someone without a father! Isn’t it funny that someone lost their husband or wife?!”

In Team America there was a song about AIDS. I once heard someone say, “Team America? Didn’t they make fun of AIDS?” Well, no, they made fun of people’s portrayal of AIDS. No one’s making fun of people dieing due to a disease, but instead poking fun at how it’s portrayed in the media.

So what’s the key to pulling something like that off?

As long as it’s funnier than it is twisted, preachy, or demented, it’s alright. With the good comics, it is funnier than it is whatever else. I wouldn’t like them if they were just the other way. I think you owe it to an audience to do just what you would do in social circumstances. I wouldn’t make a joke if I just met some people about AIDS. They don’t know what’s really in my heart. I don’t know if every comedian I like follows that formula, I imagine they don’t.

AIDS might just be too strong of a topic even as an example, though. But the reason you might feel more comfortable with friends making a joke about something like that is because they know how you really feel. I can make jokes about my brother, for example, that you can’t make because he knows that I love him. If I just met someone at a party and they told me their dad died, I wouldn’t say a month later to them, “Hey, is your dad still dead?” But my friend said that to me once and I spit my drink out. My friend knows how I really feel and it was really funny, so I was able to laugh at that joke, and it’s hilarious!

If I make a twisted joke, I make sure to put a joke before hand that illustrates my real belief because it shows them where it’s coming from. Sometimes comedians don’t do that and they say, “It’s just a joke!” but how is the audience to know that? It could be your persona, though. Really, it’s different for everybody. One of my favorite comics is Sarah Silverman and some people know that what she does is like a character, so they either get it or they don’t. I don’t think you could really make fun of racial stereotypes, though, unless you get how gross and wrong they are. I don’t know if I’m saying that right.

No, you are. What’s funny about it is how gross and disgusting it is, especially how gross and disgusting it is if someone actually agreed with it and laughed with the person as opposed to at them.

Exactly, and to tell that joke you have to get how gross and disgusting it is and, indirectly, you are saying how gross and disgusting it is. I like to bring the audience along with me when I tell a joke that reveals my actual stance on things. I have a joke, for example, about how I told someone I was going to San Francisco and the guy tells me, “Don’t drop your keys!” And I go, “Really? Now I have to talk nicely and respectfully to this dumb guy when what I really want to say is `plefffffft’.” And then I go on to say, “Yeah, that’s what people do in San Francisco. They stand on the side of the road, wait until you drop your keys, and then they fuck you. Because they don’t have families, they don’t have lives, and they don’t have jobs.” Later in my act I make a more twisted joke because they know where I’m coming from.

Todd Glass GOES OFF on a heckler

It’s great how well you’re able to convey what’s absurd about a certain stance that someone may have on an issue. It’s also a good way to get someone to see how ridiculous something actually is.

Sometimes it’s the only way. Shows like The Daily Show and Real Time with Bill Maher are programs that can actually change people’s opinions. A 13 year old who watches Jon Stewart can actually end up thinking about and changing what they think is right or wrong. Those shows will change the opinions of America’s youth much more than Meet the Press.

I’ve always said that I’d love to do a show that does for social issues what Jon Stewart does for political issues. Social issues tend to charge me up more. I talk about them on the podcast. I’m obsessed with the way people raise children. When people defend hitting their kids, I think, “Am I wrong?” but then I realize, “No, I’m right and time will tell.” Sometimes people say, “Well, you think you’re right, I think I’m right, so I guess we’ll never know.” Nope! We will. Mark my words, in this lifetime everything I’m saying in this podcast will come to be seen as right.

Jimmy Carter used to say that we ought to start using solar power, and back then it was just his opinion. But what is it now? Fact. Thirty years ago a lot of people thought that a white and a black person shouldn’t marry. Plenty of people still think that, but they look a lot dumber now. I always think that I don’t want to look dumb when I’m telling my grandchildren my stance on issues. I want to be the grandparent that says, “We knew it was wrong,” as opposed to someone saying, “That’s just how it was back then.” What’s going on now that’s just gross and wrong? And time will be able to tell.

Have you been incorporating such commentary into your stand-up?

Well, on the podcast I talk about how I don’t think hitting your children is correct. I wouldn’t use spanking as a form of punishment. I do a joke about how when I say that people tell me, “Well, you can’t say that because you don’t have kids.” And I say, “If I told you I wasn’t going to hit my girlfriend or my wife, would you go, ‘You can’t say that, wait till you have a girlfriend.’” It makes people laugh, but it can also make people say, “Yeah, he’s right.” So, it’s creeping in.

When you’re growing as a comic, you may sometimes wonder, “Am I serious comic or a silly comic?” After George Carlin died, I watched a lot of his HBO specials again and I realized you don’t have to be one or the other. George Carlin would talk about political issues, social issues, or sometimes just be silly about the monotony of everyday life. I was happy to see that. One thing I hope is that if I talk about a social issue onstage is that it’s always funny.

Sometime people feel that being a political comic can be an excuse to not be funny, but with the best ones you don’t realize they’re being political. You can watch someone talk about something heavy and if they’re good enough you’ll never go, “Enough already!” Anyone can give an opinion and make it sort of funny. My uncle can give his opinion and flavor it with some humor. But when you give an opinion and leave people in hysterics, that’s magical.

Sounds like what you had in mind for Todd Glass Saves America, where you would expose societal ills through humor.

Definitely. The way I got my last pilot, Todd’s Coma, is that I filmed my own version of it very cheaply and then like seven years later I sold it to Happy Madison. So, at this point, I feel like if I don’t get a full-blown pilot out of it that I’m about a month away from just doing my own $10,000 pilot. Just shooting the concept of it. There’s some great things online, for example, that are great because people work with no boundaries.

Now, you may think I’m going to say you end up with 100 percent brilliance, but you don’t. You end up with a lot of awful crap, but you also end up with a lot of really great things. That’s the advantage of letting things breathe. Again, if you let some things breathe, they can get worse, but the flipside is the brilliance that can come out of it.

The problem is that sometimes when people give you a budget, they start to micromanage it and it gets ruined, but if someone came up to me and said, “Here’s a hundred thousand dollars, go make a show,” I imagine I could be do it and it’d be great. In fact, here’s an idea for a show.

Picture this. Cold opening, voice over: “For years the talents would tell the network, ‘If only they’d let us breath’ and the networks would say, ‘If only the talents would listen to what we have to say,’ Who’s right? Who’s wrong? When a sitcom fails, whose fault is it? We’ll never know…or maybe we will. On this show, we take old sitcoms, re-do them, but this time we let them breathe. Do we have a hit on our hands? If at the end of eight years we’ve made fifteen, how many would have worked and how many wouldn’t? Will we one day make a science out of what has up till now only been everybody’s opinion.”

So we take a show like Titus or Todd’s Coma and we let it breathe. I think if a show like that were on the air for ten years we’d have more hits than failures. I can just see that cold opening in my head, “For years….Will we ever know?…. Will we have just the talent saying, ‘If only?’ and the suits saying, ‘If only?’….Will we ever make a science out of it? Maybe we will on ‘You Think You’re So Fucking Smart.’”

If you’re in the New York area, check Todd out at Comix this weekend. For more info on Todd, check out his official site.

Video interview: A Tight Five with Phil Mazo

by Punchline Magazine

The name of Phil Mazo’s debut album — Pervert — is not just a clever title. The up and coming comic is just that. But he’s artful about it. Remember art is very subjective, as is opinions about rim jobs, just one of the many exciting topics we hit with Mazo in the latest episode of A Tight Five. Shot at Comix in New York and brought to you by Punchline Magazine and RooftopComedy, please enjoy. You may need a shower after viewing. NSFW!

Video interview: A Tight Five with Ted Alexandro

by Punchline Magazine

In this, our 11th installment of our weekly interview series, A Tight Five, we sit down at Comix comedy club with comedian Ted Alexandro, one of the most respected national names in stand-up. Sit back and check out Ted waxing philosophical about abortion, offending audience members and why Jesus, if given the chance, would work the balls. A Tight Five is co-produced by our friends at RooftopComedy. Check them out for tons of stand-up comedy clips.

Kevin Hart: A (comic) view from the top

by Dustin White

With a new hosting gig on BET’s Comic View: One Mic Stand, work on seven movies this year alone and his very own one hour Comedy Central special arriving next year, comedian Kevin Hart is a man you need to know now.

Comedian Kevin Hart is popping up everywhere these days. He’s appeared in over five films already this year, including Fool’s Gold with Kate Hudson and in Eddie Murphy’s Meet Dave. In addition to his big screen successes, Kevin scored a hosting gig on the revamped Comic View on BET, now called Comic View: One Mic Stand.

It’s hard to believe that 10 years ago this 29-year-old comedian was selling shoes in Philadelphia when he mustered up the courage to enter an amateur stand-up competition at the behest of some friends. Soon after catching comedy fever, he moved to New York City and quickly became a name to watch on the robust comedy scene there. He followed up his early scores with a strong showing at The Montreal Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in 2002, and the rest is history. Punchline Magazine recently spoke with Hart to get the scoop on his rise to the top.

You’ve appeared in over four movies in 2008 alone and have worked on another three. With two young children, how do you balance a busy career with being a father?
It’s hard; it’s definitely not an easy task. You have to have a family that understands how we support ourselves, and why we have the life we have. You try to include them in it. I try to include my wife as much as possible. When I’m gone I try to make sure I can bring my family out to enjoy the life I’m enjoying.

It’s about finding that medium. Everything has a happy medium and it’s just about finding it. I think once you do find that balance it becomes easy because your family not only loves and supports you, but they understand your work ethic— and that’s something that is very important to me. I’m a hard worker. I don’t half ass things. I want to be the best at everything. You can’t be the best if you don’t work for it.

You started stand-up at 18, a little over 10 years ago. How did you go from amateur nights to feature films?
I’ve had some good people in my corner. I’ve had some good comedian mentors: Colin Quinn, Patrice O’Neal, Jim Norton. Those are some funny guys who I came up with, and they kind of took me under their wing. When you’re constantly around successful people, it’s very hard not to pick up things and learn from them.

I remember when I was 22 years old at the Comedy Cellar in New York at 2 A.M. and Ray Romano walked in just to go up on stage. Even though he’s successful, he’s still coming by this late at night to do these spots. I mean that’s unbelievable. I mean so much history has come through the Comedy Cellar; so for me to be a part of it in any way, shape, or form was a blessing.

How’d you land the gig as the new host of Comic View: One Mic Stand?
I’ve had a relationship with BET for a while. I’ve been a part of their family and done things with them in the past. They wanted to change the look of their comedy show. BET’s Comic View was a little older and they wanted to liven it up and bring some youth to it. They offered it to me and I thought it was a great opportunity to host something new, to be the signature for something new.

They brought in a band and a younger, more vibrant host; and they’re bringing in younger, more vibrant comedians who are up and coming. And you’ve got some older veterans who have come by to do the show as well. It’s definitely good to be a part of it and to be on the front page of something new.

You’ve had a lot of success in a relatively short period of time. What has been the high point of your comedy career so far?
Probably hosting One Mic Stand. Also, I have an hour-long comedy special that’s airing on Comedy Central some time in 2009. Anything you do where you can put your face on it and people associate your name with comedy is an accomplishment.

You’re doing a lot of films now; do you prefer acting or stand-up?
I love acting. I can’t even explain it; it’s such a rush because I get to be myself on camera, or I get to be somebody I’ve dreamt of being in character. In Fool’s Gold I got to be the bad guy. But stand-up comedy, that’s you being you at all times.  That’s you creating your own audience. You grow a cult; you grow a following.

Chris Rock has a following— people that love him.  It has nothing to do with his movies. People love to see Chris Rock perform; people love to see Martin perform, or Eddie Murphy, or Richard Pryor. That’s what I’m trying to accomplish with my stand-up; that’s my goal. I want people to fall in love with my comedy the same way they fell in love with these other guys’ comedy.

You’re still a pretty young guy; do you feel your recent success has changed you?
I don’t feel like I’ve changed; I feel like I’ve matured. I feel like I’m a grown man.  That’s the name of my special, I’m a Grown Little Man. I have a family, I have a home, and I have people that I’m responsible for. My priorities are different. I put other people before myself. But as far as materialistic things or me thinking I’m better or putting people down, that’s never going to happen because this could all go away, and at the end of the day you still want the respect of your peers.

Is there anything you still want to accomplish?
In 2009 I’m starting my company K Hart Productions, which means I’ll be doing projects through my own production company. My goal is to have what Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller have, to have my own film company where companies go through me to make movies.

Anything else you want our readers to know?
Yeah, I have a new nickname: “Chocolate Drop.” My daughter saw a little piece of chocolate and said, “Daddy, that looks like you.”

Check out Kevin on Comic View: One Mic Stand on BET Tuesdays 10:30 pm EST. Find Kevin on MySpace here.

Column: ‘Comedy Matters’ w/ Patrice O’Neal, Paul Provenza, more

by Jeffrey Gurian

COMICS FLOCK TO MONTREAL

Like the salmon that spawn upstream, and the swallows that mysteriously return to Capistrano, each July the comedy industry flocks en masse to Montreal for the biggest comedy festival in the world, Just For Laughs.

Going strong in its 26th year, the shows, galas, and guest hosts were amazing!

Lou Wallach and Aileen Budow, top Exec’s at Comedy Central on the “step and repeat.”

And it only took them 26 years to figure out that they needed to plan daytime programming. This year they created something called “Just Comedy.” Thanks to Deborah Day, the Exec. Producer, and some familiar names like Lou Wallach, Sr. VP at Comedy Central, Jodi Lieberman from Thruline Ent., and Chris Mazzilli from Gotham Comedy Club, we were treated to two days of seminars by some real heavyweights in the industry.

We got to listen to comedy kings Ivan and Jason Reitman, and Judd Apatow,  writer, producer, and director, of the mega-hits 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, who not only performed stand-up comedy, (which I understand is how he started), but also did his own show called Apatow For Destruction with Seth Rogen.

In a separate event, he also received the well-deserved “Comedy Person Of The Year” Award.

For me this was one of the best JFL festivals I ever attended. Within minutes of arriving, Comedy Central powerhouse Aileen Budow was kind enough to take me personally to meet the people from Atom to give them my new short film, “Man Robs Bank With His Chin.”

HANGING WITH LARRY AND GEORGE

JFL always draws the best talent. Where else do you get to see Larry Miller and George Wallace on the same show? These two guys are the “gentlemen of comedy.” They both work clean, and they are masters, which is why they were aptly cast in the All Star Show.

Larry Miller and I backstage in Montreal.

I got to know them both pretty well as I interviewed them for a huge project I’m working on, which I will hopefully be able to reveal in my next column.

Larry, George, and Jerry Seinfeld are all best friends who started out together, back in the mid 70’s at Richie Tienken’s legendary New York club, The Comic Strip.

Larry is excited about doing more stand-up again like he used to, and getting back to his comedy roots. He’s been doing so many movies and other things over the years, but stand-up is still his great love, as he proved when he took the stage. The audience loves him.

I got to spend about eight hours with George. First we went to his rehearsal for the gala, just the two of us, and hung out backstage. Then we went out for dinner, and hung out some more until it was time to go back to perform at the gala. Then we hung out in his dressing room where he had a reunion of sorts with Larry Miller who he hadn’t seen in a while. Lastly we went out for a late celebratory dinner, after he killed on stage,  and hung with Jim Hess, George’s agent from Paradigm.  As you can see, a lot of hanging was done in Montreal.

George’s mastery of comedy allows him to walk out onstage not knowing exactly what he will do when he gets there, but since he’s on stage every night at his own show in Vegas, he’s as comfortable on stage as most of us are in our own living rooms.

George went out to Vegas for 30 days, and they wound up keeping him for five years and he’s still going strong, which proves the people of Vegas have good taste in comedy. If you’re out there, stop in at The Flamingo Hotel to check out his show.  He’s not known as The Godfather of Comedy for nothing!

George Wallace and I in George’s dressing room in Montreal.

I ran into my buddy Paul Provenza, who was there as the celeb judge of Joke-E-Oke, a comedy karaoke show produced by Barbara Romen, who had co-produced Paul’s show The Green Room at last year’s festival.

Paul dared me to use the photo I’m using of he and I, where it looks like my good friend Paul can’t even be bothered to look into the camera to take a photo with me, cause he’s too busy checking his e-mail! (See Paul, I told you I’d use it!)

My good friend Paul Provenza and I in Montreal.

The next photo is more like it, as in the middle of us reminiscing about how long we knew each other, he felt compelled to give me a kiss on the cheek.

The real Paul Provenza and I at The Hyatt in Montreal.

PATRICE TAKES MONTREAL

There’s only one Patrice. No last name is really needed referencing the name “Patrice” in an article on comedy, but I’ll use it anyway.

Patrice O’Neal was a huge hit in Montreal, not only from his stand-out performances on the Nasty Show, but even more for his one man show Positivity at the Ste. Catherine Theatre.  He actually got two rave newspaper write-ups while he was there, and created a real industry buzz for himself.

Patrice is a modern day philosopher, with a well thought out point of view regarding women; its taken him many years to achieve. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time, which makes me even prouder to announce that he has named me a regular co-host on his XM Radio show The Black Phillip Show.

The show also features co-host Dante Nero, and Patrice often refers to me warmly by the name “Master Pimp Level 12,” which coincidentally is the name my parents called me as a child.

The show is on sporadically on Saturday nights from 9-12, and we hope to get a regular spot in the XM or Sirius/XM  line-up very soon. I think he should have his own talk show on cable TV!

Patrice O’Neal and I at the XM radio station

GNN: ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO DANCE TO

I also got to do a whole hour on CJAD radio in Montreal with my best girls, Olga and Laurie, who host a show from the main hotel lobby each year. I almost missed it because I’m always so confused.

I was on my way to a party, which I erroneously thought was at the hotel, and when I stepped out of the elevator Olga and Laurie’s producer saw me and told me they wanted me to come on the air. I thought the show went till Saturday night, but it ended Friday night, and this was Friday night at 2 A.M.

So I missed the party, but I got the whole last hour of the show to myself, to talk about the launch of GNN (Gurian News Network) – All The News That’s Fit To Dance To,” and the debut of my first animated film Man Robs Bank With His Chin which I did with master animator Ace Salisbury.

You can see the film here on You Tube or on the  dedicated site for GNN at guriannewsnetwork.com.

DVD label for “Man Robs Bank With His Chin

I even got to tape something for The Tonight Show. They do a thing called “Pass The Mic,” where each comic tells a joke from their act, and passes the mic to another comic.

My joke was, “This girl once told me I was like an animal in bed. But it wasn’t a hip animal. It was like a ferret or something. Not a good self-esteem thing.”  The camera crew busted out laughing, but I guess Leno didn’t, cause it didn’t make the show!

‘COMEDY MATTERS’ IN VEGAS

I’ve been hearing so much about Vegas lately that I decided to check out the scene there and do a column about Vegas comedy and entertainment in general.

Driving into town, I noticed that my old buddy, musical superstar Michael Bolton was appearing at The Orleans hotel. Fortunately I had his number with me, and was able to hook up tickets for the show.  It was amazing as usual, as Michael is the consummate performer, and a real crowd pleaser.

Me and the hilarious Michael Bolton backstage in Vegas

What a lot of people don’t know is how funny Michael is. He is a serious Rodney Dangerfield freak, and ever since he found out that Rodney was the first major star I ever wrote for, he and I run Rodney lines whenever we get together.

I actually sent him some of the really old lines I wrote for Rodney back in the 80’s some of which he hadn’t heard.  Lines like “My wife likes to tell people she picked me out of six other guys. Unfortunately I was in a line-up at the time.”

And “All I get is fat girls. I went out with one girl who was so fat, I took her to the park, young lovers kept stopping to carve their initials in her legs.” I’m tellin’ ya, she was fat!  (Think in Rodney’s voice, which is the essence of Joke-E-Oke!)

Penn and Teller have their own theatre out there at The Rio Hotel. Penn produced the hit film The Aristocrats, that Paul Provenza directed. Penn and Teller are good friends with my pal Roger Dreyer from Fantasma Magic who produced a magic show at The Friars’ Club with me a few months ago.

Penn Gillette and I at The Rio hotel in Vegas

The show is funny and amazing and they are both so talented, but also the nicest guys. Teller, as you know, never speaks on stage, but is very happy to talk to his fans after the show, as they do a regular meet and greet in the lobby after each show.

I always respect that when a star takes the time to come and meet his fans. They take photos and sign autographs, and are very gracious, which is a show of gratitude to their audiences who have made them the stars that they are and deserve to be!

Me with the loquacious Teller in Vegas

‘COMEDY MATTERS’ QUICKIE

This item somehow got left out of last month’s column, so I’m sticking it in here, because I can.

Emmis Communications sponsored Project Sunshine’s fifth annual gala, at a black tie event at The Waldorf Astoria, honoring the president of the Emmis Radio Division, Rick Cummings.

Project Sunshine, is a beautiful charity founded by Joseph Weilgus that brings joy to sick children and their families, in countries all over the world as far away and as disparate as China and Israel.

I attended with the eminent Dr. Judy Kuriansky, better known as Dr. Judy, who you know from radio, TV and print, and the award to Rick was presented by Jeff Smulyan, CEO of Emmis who confirmed to me that Emmis is called Emmis, because it means “The Truth” in Yiddish.  Jeff is proud of his heritage and rightly so!

Hilary Cruz, Dr. Judy, Crystle Stewart, myself, and Riyo Mori at the Waldorf Astoria

Funkmaster Flex was the DJ, and both Miss USA 2008 Crystle Stewart, and Miss Universe 2008, Riyo Mori were there, along with Hilary Cruz, Miss Teen USA, to add their star power to the event.

ANN CURRY DOES COMEDY

It’s really amazing how the people you least expect to be funny can be really funny. Ann Curry is fantastic on Today with Matt Lauer, but I wouldn’t have had any inkling that she could be funny until I saw her perform at Carolines on Broadway.

A few weeks before, she had been preparing at The Comic Strip with my long-time favorite Gilbert Gottfried in a secret, hush-hush meeting videotaped by Today for a special on facing your fears.

From Left- Jeffrey, Ann Curry, publicist Ryan McCormick, Gilbert Gottfried, and Richie Tienken, owner of The Comic Strip

I guess Ann’s biggest fear was doing stand-up, but she was great. She says people come up to her on the street all the time, and leave telling each other how nice it was to meet Connie Chung!

She imitated her Mom’s Japanese accent perfectly, and the audience loved it.  She wasn’t sure how she did, but I assured her that she had great stage presence, and exhibited lots of confidence which is important in order for the audience to “buy you” as a comic.

I tried to convince her to do the Matt Lauer Roast this coming October, but even if she got up there, she would never be able to utter the filth that’s required to do that kind of a Roast. Ann, trust me, you were very funny.  Audiences don’t laugh just to be polite!

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN ROAST

Speaking of Roasts, (how’s that for an amazing segue?), Rick Newman of Catch A Rising Star fame, and Mark Krantz who produces the Friars’ Roasts got the great idea to do a national contest called “So You Think You Can Roast.”

Contestants compete to see who the funniest Roaster is, and the winner will be allowed to perform at the huge Matt Lauer Roast in October. There will be four smaller Roasts at The Friars Club, where the finalists will perform each month leading up to the main Roast in October.

The auditions were held at Chris Mazzilli’s Gotham Comedy Club, because Chris is always where the action is.

Comic Steven Scott, owner Chris Mazzilli, and comic Cory Kahaney at the auditions at Gotham

The first Roast was for my good pal Vinny (Big Pussy) Pastore. I never saw anyone so anxious to be roasted in my life. Even Donald Trump once asked me before his own Roast, “Do you think I can handle it?”  I said to him, “Donald, if anyone can, I think it will be you!”

Vinny was actually excited to hear people say horrible things about him. I guess it’s because on his radio show, The Wiseguy Show they roast each other all the time anyway.

His radio co-hosts Cha-Cha, and Joe Rigano both showed up to support Vinny. Cha-Cha not only roasted Vinny, and was hysterically funny, but he managed to get even more attention for himself by falling off the stage. Fortunately he wasn’t hurt, and his lovely wife Karen wasn’t there to see it!

Me and Vinny Pastore at The Friars holding the award he received

Vinny sent me an e-mail asking if I would be one of his Roasters, but they already had too many people. However if I was to Roast Vinny, I would have said things like, “Vinny takes playing a gangster so seriously,  when he puts his kids to bed, he sings them an alibi!”

Or, “I’ve known Vinny Pastore for many years now, and despite the way he looks, he’s really the nicest guy. Seriously, even before my family paid the ransom, … of the three guys that were holding me, he was definitely the nicest !!!

Anyway, remember until next time, … Comedy Matters!

Video interview: A Tight Five with Judy Gold

by Punchline Magazine

In our historic 10th episode of our weekly video series A Tight Five, we chat with the incredibly talented, incredibly versatile comedian Judy Gold. In the interview, Gold talks about being a divorced lesbian mother to two boys, how ugly male comics still get laid on the road and she even calls someone off camera “cunty.” Her long running one-woman show 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother — also a book — is playing in Atlanta through the 21st. As always, A Tight Five is co-brought to you by the fine folks at RooftopComedy.com and shot at Comix in New York City.

Want to see more episodes? Go here. Want to check Comix out in person? Check out Punchline Magazine’s 3rd anniversary show Oct. 7, featuring Greg Giraldo, Robert Kelly, Christian Finnegan and more! Get your tickets here before it sells out.

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