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I've said it before but I absolutely hate Doug Benson. I think he actually makes other comics worse. There are a lot of CBB episodes with him where he just doesn't fit and play along with what's going on. Then there's The Benson Interruption, which I checked out because he gets some great comics on there but jesus, did I hate it. The premise is: What if there were comics I really loved and this comic I really hate just hosed with their sets? Seeing his face actually irritates me, I hate him so much. On the plus side, I just say Kyle Kinane at Helium in Portland and he's fantastic. My date took me to the show and she's a big fan but I had never heard of him. That's an oversight on my part and I plan on rectifying it.
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Jul 8, 2012 20:36
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| # ? May 22, 2024 04:36 |
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Are there any good movies/documentaries about standup? I have seen I Am Comic and Heckler.
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Jul 8, 2012 21:23
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Popelmon posted:Are there any good movies/documentaries about standup? I have seen I Am Comic and Heckler. Talking Funny is a great little hour-long HBO special that features Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Louis C.K., and Ricky Gervais shooting the poo poo. They get off topic a lot, but hit on some great points about the business as well. I could probably watch an episode of that format with different comics every week as a TV show. I'm pretty sure it's all up on YouTube. Comedian is also kind of interesting, especially if you respect Seinfeld. It's a documentary made when he decided to retire all of his old material and start fresh. There's some good bits of other comedians in there too, but a good chunk of the film also focuses on startup comic Orny Adams who I found insufferable.
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Jul 8, 2012 21:43
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Yeah, I liked Comedian, and I also liked that Orny came off as a bit desperate and defensive. I'd expect that most people who are starting out as comedians act that way and so it seems to me that as a representation of "newer comedian" he's a perfectly normal example. And in that way he provides contrast w/ Seinfeld - they're both doing exactly the same task, coming up with an hour. Of course the younger guy's more insecure, but it's cool to see that Seinfeld has pretty much the same insecurities, but knows pretty much exactly what to do about them. It's been a while since I watched the movie so I may just be making poo poo up, though!
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Jul 8, 2012 23:18
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Talking Funny is great because everything Ricky Gervais says is wrong and eventually you see Louis start to defend his idiot opinions out of pity. Oh and I liked Comedians of Comedy a lot, too.
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Jul 8, 2012 23:38
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Yeah, Talking Funny is great, but Ricky Gervais has no business being there (other than the fact that he set it up). Can never listen to "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" in the same way ever again. Think they've all said they'll do another one at some point.
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Jul 8, 2012 23:44
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Talking Funny was basically a documentary about Ricky Gervais learning how to do standup. But I like it because Gervais' laugh cracks me up every time. It was a weird documentary because it was 4 of the most successful standups of all time. I dunno maybe it's just because I like "alt comedy" (whatever that means anymore) more but I'm just more interested in standup comedians that are only moderately successful at most. Also how has nobody mentioned Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work yet? Shame on you all.
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Jul 9, 2012 00:00
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The Capm posted:What if there were comics I really loved and this comic I really hate just hosed with their sets? Ehhh... maybe the first few Benson Interruptions were like that but the latest ones have basically been live talk-show podcasts. Very few comics do TBI with the intention of burning actual material anymore, so most of them come on with one or two prepared jokes or a story or something. Also, angry at comedy!!! Speaking of the salacious Doug Benson, has anyone heard Smug Life yet? I think a comedy concept album is pretty ambitious but at the end of the day it's just an hour's worth of B-minus material done twice. The Cooked side is funnier by far, of course.
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Jul 9, 2012 00:01
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I think Benson is hilarious but I've just never liked his standup. Actually there are relatively few comedians whose standup I actually like, but there are a lot of comedians I like. I guess I just like podcasts/stage shows/improv more than standup.
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Jul 9, 2012 00:10
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quadrophrenic posted:at the end of the day it's just an hour's worth of B-minus material done twice. The Cooked side is funnier by far, of course.
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Jul 9, 2012 00:17
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GraPar posted:Yeah, Talking Funny is great, but Ricky Gervais has no business being there (other than the fact that he set it up). Can never listen to "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" in the same way ever again. Think they've all said they'll do another one at some point. I want them to do another one, it was really good. I think Gervias fit in well, he was more a moderator than anything and he was the "newest" of them to standup comedy which lends itself to being more questioning. But I'm a Gervais fan, so he doesn't annoy me as much as he annoys some. DannoMack posted:Talking Funny is great because everything Ricky Gervais says is wrong and eventually you see Louis start to defend his idiot opinions out of pity. Eh, I think the worst part was that he deferred a lot. He didn't defend his opinion that there's such a thing as a cheap laugh and he didn't defend his point about laughing at something ironically hard enough. If anything Seinfeld was the most contentious of the four, but less deferment from Gervais would have gotten a lot of interesting conversation going. That said, it's still loving hilarious and I'll still randomly get "sitting on a cock cause I'm gay" stuck in my head.
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Jul 9, 2012 00:29
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I saw Sarah Silverman live last Friday. She was...not good. I adored the Sarah Silverman Program and I thought Jesus is Magic was pretty solid but on Friday, it felt like she only had like 20 minutes written and had to stretch it out to 1+ hour. Disappointing to the point of being kind of depressing. As we were leaving, I heard some people saying it sucked. I felt bad because I generally like her and almost wanted to defend her, but I couldn't argue with them. They were right. I've heard people say that Amy Schumer does everything Silverman does but better. I have to agree. I've seen her twice and she was good both times.
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Jul 9, 2012 03:18
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Yeah, I saw Sarah Silverman in Detroit last winter and I'd have to agree. At pretty much halfway through the show she just decided to make it a question and answer with the audience, which didn't go so well since most people were probably drunk and who expects to have a q&a with a standup. At least the people who came to give audience members mics when they had a question were Tig Notaro and Todd Glass  I just remember the audience loving Glass and Notaro way more (especially Notaro's impressions) and Silverman seemed like she was pissed she wasn't getting much reaction so she started phoning it in and ended it early. I loved the Sarah Silverman program and her earlier standup but now it felt like she thought just being up on stage was enough.
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Jul 9, 2012 03:44
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A similar thing happened to me at the Doug Benson show I went to. Brendon Walsh came up first and KILLED, and then Doug came out, read from his loving twitter feed longer than he did any material, did a half assed LMG, and that was it. Really disappointing, as LA dudes don't seem to make it out here very often.
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Jul 9, 2012 04:15
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I went to an open mic tonight and it was free and very fun. Go to open mics and support people, basically everything about it is great.
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Jul 9, 2012 04:31
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quadrophrenic posted:Ehhh... maybe the first few Benson Interruptions were like that but the latest ones have basically been live talk-show podcasts. Very few comics do TBI with the intention of burning actual material anymore, so most of them come on with one or two prepared jokes or a story or something. Also, angry at comedy!!! Maybe strong annoyance is a better word but I think it's more or less OK to be angry at anything. I don't think anger is that strong a word. I'm not dedicating my life to defaming him. I'll also admit I haven't listened to any later TBIs but why would I after disliking other stuff I've seen him do? I'm pretty much happy he doesn't end up on CBB anymore so I can safely ignore him.
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Jul 9, 2012 05:06
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To be fair, the later TBIs suffer from the same basic problem that I have with Doug: overreliance on dumb gimmicky unfunny bits (he's been doing this Google Autocomplete bit on the last few that's just a chore to listen to)
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Jul 9, 2012 05:12
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DerbyTime!!! posted:I went to an open mic tonight and it was free and very fun. Go to open mics and support people, basically everything about it is great. Oh yeah, this reminds me. I went to an open mic a couple weeks ago, and did my first 5 minutes! It was terrifying and I was so nervous that I completely forgot a chunk, but I'm definitely going to do it again.
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Jul 9, 2012 05:19
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Beef Jerky Robot posted:Oh yeah, this reminds me. I went to an open mic a couple weeks ago, and did my first 5 minutes! It was terrifying and I was so nervous that I completely forgot a chunk, but I'm definitely going to do it again. This is a goal of mine for the summer. I live in Portland we have Helium, which is an amazingly warm open mic. I just need to get my material finalized. Bravo for having the courage.
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Jul 9, 2012 05:39
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DannoMack posted:Talking Funny is great because everything Ricky Gervais says is wrong and eventually you see Louis start to defend his idiot opinions out of pity. I read it more as Ricky playing the devil's advocate at every turn, often toward an unbalanced opinion.
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Jul 9, 2012 15:34
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feedmyleg posted:I read it more as Ricky playing the devil's advocate at every turn, often toward an unbalanced opinion. That's what I got from it too. Thanks for the recommendation! Talking Funny was fascinating (and very funny).
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Jul 9, 2012 15:35
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Some comedy documentaries I've enojoyed: Let America Laugh starring David Cross The Comedians of Comedy with Patton Oswalt, Zach Galifianakis, Brian Posehn and Maria Bamford Living with Ricky Gervais by Robin Ince https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LideSwXtEIk
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Jul 9, 2012 19:18
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Comedians of Comedy is more a tour documentary than anything. It's still really good though.
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Jul 9, 2012 21:31
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The Comedians of Comedy TV show is also really good. They did 6 half hour episodes that were really different in tone from the documentary. If it's on Netflix or Hulu or anything, you should watch it.
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Jul 9, 2012 22:02
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indigi posted:Last time I saw him he did 30 minutes of riffing up top. The first 3 tracks on his latest album are riffing. I really don't think he's cutting it out. I saw him do 10 full minutes riffing on this drunk girl who claimed she was friends with Prince. It might have been the best 10 minutes of my life. And then Sara Silverman came out and told me osama bin laden was dead.
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Jul 9, 2012 23:18
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The Capm posted:I live in Portland we have Helium, which is an amazingly warm open mic. Which, to be fair, might have even more entertainment value to it than an actual open mic set.
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Jul 10, 2012 00:15
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I don't know if anyone near Toronto is going to the just for laughs spinoff here (https://www.jfl42.com) but you can begin reserving seats on Thursday. LouisCK tix are guaranteed with your pass, but I would wager Patton Oswalt and Amy Schumer spots might go quick so make sure you login and reserve early.
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Jul 10, 2012 17:23
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The question of are women funny comes up a lot and I thought this article made some good points. Read, discuss. http://www.streetbonersandtvcarnage.com/blog/a-woman-explains-why-women-arent-funny/
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Jul 10, 2012 19:41
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rear end Catchcum posted:The question of are women funny comes up a lot and I thought this article made some good points. Read, discuss. Well, at least now I know one woman who isn't funny.
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Jul 10, 2012 19:51
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The only interesting thing that's come from this is Corolla saying that they have gender quotas in TV writing. I did not know that.
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Jul 10, 2012 19:57
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Yeah, that article is really stupid. Her thesis seems to be "Good comics don't just talk about themselves". Cosby much? Pryor? Rodney Dangerfield, Louis CK, Albert Brooks? All legendary comics, all had self-centered, introspective routines. And I don't care who you are, you can't draw any conclusions whatsoever about anything after watching 10 amateur 5-minute sets.
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Jul 10, 2012 19:57
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quadrophrenic posted:Yeah, that article is really stupid. Her thesis seems to be "Good comics don't just talk about themselves". Cosby much? Pryor? Rodney Dangerfield, Louis CK, Albert Brooks? All legendary comics, all had self-centered, introspective routines. In a society which constantly works to strip away women's person-hood, women talking about themselves and their identities isn't supposed to be funny or interesting because they're not supposed to be people but objects to be desired and possessed.
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Jul 10, 2012 20:03
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Al! posted:In a society which constantly works to strip away women's person-hood, women talking about themselves and their identities isn't supposed to be funny or interesting because they're not supposed to be people but objects to be desired and possessed. This seems pretty sad and true and sucks 
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Jul 10, 2012 20:10
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quadrophrenic posted:And I don't care who you are, you can't draw any conclusions whatsoever about anything after watching 10 amateur 5-minute sets. Especially because she didn't seem to have any actual reasoning behind why she picked particular comics from both genders, nor evidence that they were of comprable style/fanbase/talent/etc. I tend to like comics that don't focus their act around their own gender, race, or sexuality, but I don't think any gender, race, or sexuality tend to do that, but if I looked up random standup on Youtube I'd probably come up with some incredibly skewed results. Because much of Youtube is filled with lowest common denominator videos and viewers.
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Jul 10, 2012 20:15
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DerbyTime!!! posted:This seems pretty sad and true and sucks I notice that even the comedians the author referenced as funny male stand-ups mostly talk about themselves. Patton Oswalt, for instance, does a lot of material about himself and his family, especially lately. Does that mean that his material is less funny and less relatable? No, because our culture trains us to think about males as the protagonists, or subjects. Even if women's experiences were only relatable to "gay men and bachelorette parties" (which by the way, nice bit homophobia there) - which they're not, by the way, unless you live in Never Never Land - its patently ridiculous to refer to %50+ of the population is some niche group.
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Jul 10, 2012 20:54
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I took what she was saying as just solid advice to any comic, regardless of gender: Write uniquely. Don't write hack jokes with tired premises. Write something people haven't heard before. Give us something new, not tired, done, topics & premises. Maria Bamford has very specific, very unique jokes. Cosby has very clear, very well thought out stories/jokes that are in his voice and while the topics may have been broached before, he tells them in a new way. He tells a bit, you can be like, "That's a Cosby joke." Not, "Well, that could be anyone's bit."
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Jul 10, 2012 20:57
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rear end Catchcum posted:I took what she was saying as just solid advice to any comic, regardless of gender: Write uniquely. Don't write hack jokes with tired premises. Write something people haven't heard before. Give us something new, not tired, done, topics & premises. If that's the case then maybe she should take her own advice quote:Kyria Abrahams @KyriaAbrahams She has a whole twitter full of these gems.
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Jul 10, 2012 21:06
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rear end Catchcum posted:The question of are women funny comes up a lot and I thought this article made some good points. Read, discuss. What a load of garbage. I really hope she didn't get paid to write that tripe. Her rhetoric's so piss poor I don't see it getting even a C in a high school English class. And that's not even mentioning her attempts at humor. gently caress. rear end Catchcum posted:I took what she was saying as just solid advice to any comic, regardless of gender: Write uniquely. Don't write hack jokes with tired premises. Write something people haven't heard before. Give us something new, not tired, done, topics & premises. The most banal advice ever. Just wonderful.
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Jul 10, 2012 22:25
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My Advice TO COMics is to just get out there and make it happen. Just put it out there and make it happen. Be yourself, but not too much of yourself, get out there put in the hours and things will happen.
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Jul 10, 2012 23:36
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Any L.A. comedy fans here or comedians? I do open-mics, haven't in a few months, but going to get back into it soon.
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Jul 11, 2012 01:41
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