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Weekend Comedy Recap: The Magnificent Seven

This weekend was a busy weekend in comedy for me.  On Friday night I opened for Bill Maher (this is what I call eating a sandwich and tweeting a couple of funny jokes before sitting down to watch Bill Maher on HBO) and Saturday I was having an important industry meeting (this is what I call having a couple of beers with my friend John while telling him an Adam Carolla joke about microbrews, “are there any more ‘brews’ or is everything now a microbrew?” while he suggested to me having a podcast on craft beer – not a bad suggestion, based solely on the irritating trendiness potential of the topic).  So after that whirlwind of comedy (I was also asked to review a contract of a comedian friend on Saturday evening, giving my unpaid legal work gigs an early 1-0 advantage over unpaid comedy gigs in 2015) I moved on to Sunday where I actually had that lesser valued part of a growing stand up comedy career (after Twitter followers, Google analytics, numbers among millennials, etc.): a stand up comedy gig (and just like that unpaid comedy gigs pulled even with unpaid legal consultations for comedians at 1 a piece).

On Sunday night I was on a show at the Laughing Devil in Long Island City, the club where I recorded my Louis CK video and my best album, Keep My Enemies Closer. In other words I am only a Hells Angels’ stabbing a random black dude away from making that place world famous.  Well, to confess, this was my first gig of 2015 so I decided to try a batch of mew material for my 10 minutes set.  When I entered the showroom a minute before my set I noticed that there were 6 audience members.  I felt like Rain Man counting toothpicks I calculated the number so fast, but upon slowly fact checking my brilliant first impression it was indeed only 6 people.  But as much as it is a cliche for comedians to say, I had a great time with those six people (if you are not as good at math as I am, the title of this blog alludes to the fact that me performing would be added to the six audience to make it a “Magnificent Seven.”) and at least 5 of them seemed to enjoy my set.  about 8 of the 10.5 minutes I did was 2015 new and the biggest chunk, based off a blog I wrote, really killed (you would have thought there were 11-13 people laughing) so that was encouraging.  I can confidently say that two of the bits from last night will almost certainly make the cut for my next album recording this Spring/Summer (it will be album #5 and so far the two titles I am considering are Chinese Democracy or My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, assuming that neither is taken)

So that is it folks – the first comedy recap blog of 2015.  Now here’s hoping the hostel gig I have booked for February 1st is the gig that finally takes me to the next level. #Blessed #ComedyMogul

Epilogue: It was raining when I went to the gig so I brought an umbrella.  The rain had stopped by the time my set was done so I left my umbrella at the club. Assuming it is gone now the gig actually cost me $15 in a lost umbrella. #ComedyMogul

For more opinions, comedy and bridge burning check out the Righteous Prick Podcast on iTunes and/or STITCHER. New Every Tuesday so subscribe for free!

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Some new stand up clips with mediocre crowd response!

With Comedy Academy on the horizon I thought, why not share some videos that will not go viral. So here are two stand up clips from shows this fall that you may or may not enjoy as the small, apathetic crowds that witnessed and in some moments, interrupted these bits when they first occurred. Here ya go:

For more opinions, comedy and bridge burning check out the Righteous Prick Podcast on Podomatic, iTunes and NOW on STICHER. New Every Tuesday so subscribe on one or more platforms today – all for free!

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September JLComedy News

It is September and there is already bad news on my distraction front; the Yankees are tanking down the stretch (I don’t know how a horrible bullpen can be blamed on Alex Rodriguez, but I am sure the front-running masses of Yankee nation are trying to develop a theory); the Pittsburgh Steelers scored only 2 more points than me this Sunday to kick off what will probably be their worst season since the 1980s; and I finished Orange is the New Black on Netflix, a surprisingly enjoyable series that I found much more watchable than House of Cards, probably because of the lack of a syrupy Kevin Spacey southern accent (though I am going to give it another shot).  However, the 2013 plan of mine that started in April with the launch of my Louis CK parody video is now reaching its crescendo.  Here are some things I hope you will support, stay tuned for, etc. in the next couple of weeks:

  • Keep My Enemies Closer – my new album, officially coming out September 24th, but it may be out as early as 9-11 (Never Forget).  I have already been booked for interviews and reviews with some major comedy outlets and am hoping bigger things are still in the works.  Also will be appearing on various Sirius XM shows and Comedy 24-7 to promote it as well.
  • Dumb in the First Degree – My Discovery web series will finally go up this month.  The check already cleared so my mind is at ease, but this should be a nice boost for me as well (it is a 6 episode web series with me providing humorous legal analysis of criminals caught on camera).  Unlike a lot of hidden camera shows I actually drop some legal knowledge with my humor, rather than just wit.
  • 2 New Sketches – My two sketches (filming this week) are Heckler Seminar – an infomercial offering a class on helping stand up comedy audience members become better hecklers and Tim and Aaron – a mock-pilot of a CBS series about Tim Tebow and Aaron Hernandez.  I am confident Heckler will get several thousand views, but I have hopes that T & A could get into 6 or 7 digits of views.  Fingers crossed.
  • Weekly podcast and movie reviews and blogs will continue as usual.
  • Headlining the Joke Joint in St Paul, MN next week. Consult my calendar and tell any friends in the Twin Cities to go see me.

Let’s hope October is a celebration of a good September.

 

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The Aftermath… Greatest Comments on “Louis CK Tells the…

Yesterday I posted a video to the Internet.  It is over 100,000 views as of today. It took less than 24 hours for it to double my total YouTube views of four years.  So needless to say it was pretty cool to see it getting shared everywhere.  And thanks to the comedians who seemed to wholeheartedly embrace it and more importantly, understand it.  But if all the praise were universal that would be no fun, especially for me.  I like to stay humbled and I like to hear what the average Internet viewer thinks about content and about content providers. And thanks to YouTube, Laughspin, and Huffington Post I have a wealth of positive and thoughtful comments to keep me encouraged as I develop my next video (which may be another comedy video or involve an impression of Biggie, The Rock or President Obama). So before sharing with you my favorite ten comments from the last 24 hours, please enjoy (and share) the video:

So without further adieu here are my favorite unedited comments (thanks to all the people who posted nice compliments, but you did not make the cut):

HUFFINGTON POST:

1. Unfunny. I suppose that was the point, but many people like Louis CK. Had this been about Dane Cook, it’d be hilarious.

2. Boy he sucks. Go back to Elvis impersonations you wad.

3. Wow. Embarrassingly unfunny. Who did this guy blow to get this kind of publicity?

LAUGHSPIN (which primed the audience by titling the article “Comedians mocks Louis CK” completely buying in to what I made fun of – the non-judgmental hero worship of the comedy deity CK has been turned into)

1.The ravings of a jealous comedian addicted to the bitter aftertaste of sour grapes. This guy can only mock someone else’s success instead of getting off his lazy ass and creating something original and dare I say, humorous. Not worthy of your publication’s time or space.

And save the best for last… YOUTUBE

1. this is so awful. Impression was well done

2. this is like louis ck at his worst. comedy sucked, impression was good otherwise.

3. this would have been funny if someone as good as louis ck had written it for you

4. the only part missing in your impression was actually being funny

5. this is fucking cringeworthy

6. this is garbage

7. You captured the man’s voice effectively. (Sorry I had to include this – like a polite person got lost in a shitty dive bar known as YouTube)

8. imagine how much less funny this would be if it didn’t refer to Louis C.K

9. I am all about trying to make fun of anyone but this was painfully unfunny. This guy sucks

10. You could literally do this to any comedian, pretty stupid and pointless to hate on C.K.

11. Any time someone no one knows or has ever heard of tries to make a name by talking shit about someone who deserves everything he has because he’s earned it, it comes off as sour grapes.

12. GO SKATE INTO AN AIDS TREE YOU MOTHERFUCKER

So I take it as a badge of honor that the 10-15% of viewers who have responded negatively to the video do not understand satire, parody or the idea of an impression.  But most importantly they have proved the bigger point – that Louis CK has achieved an infallibility in their minds, which is what makes him ripe for parody.  So thanks to everyone else who got it – you are in the 80+ IQ club.  Everyone else – good luck with your lives and thanks for giving me a blog post for the day!

Now I just have to grasp the fact that any success that comes from this will be a result of YouTube, Twitter and Louis CK fans, three things I am always complaining about.

Dont forget to buy tickets to my new stand up album recording May 18th 9pm in New York City HERE

For more opinions, comedy and bridge burning check out the Righteous Prick Podcast on Podomatic or iTunes

 

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Minnesota Recap – Cold Weather, Warm Reception

My headlining stint was a rousing success at Joke Joint in Lilydale, MN (a few miles from St Paul – one of the twin cities, so Lilydale is like the chick that St Paul has sex with when Lilydale thinks it is actually having sex with Indianapolis).  Of course on this blog, the phrase “rousing success” is a relative term.  It means I had three really excellent shows, one decent one and one that was eh.

Joke Joint is a comedy condo club, meaning that you live in an apartment that the club owns or rents, versus a hotel.  But unlike most condos, the Joke Joint one was pretty damn cozy.  It features a full kitchen stocked with snacks (and tons of bottles of 5 Hour Energy – in case the headliner is a raging douchebag), a television and DVD player and two bedrooms – one for me and one for soon-to-be dead hookers.

Being a big walker and non-owner of a car I like when accommodations are near eating and shopping areas.  Well, the condo was a mere 1.7 miles from a Walmart/Panera Bread/etc. and considering that I once walked 4.1 miles each way in a suburb of Denver to see a movie each day, this was no problem.  Except that was Denver in springtime.  This was Minnesota in Winter (think Game of Thrones and how terrified those dues are of Winter).  Each walk would start with me having a penis and by the time I arrived at Panera Bread I was using the women’s bathroom and removing a finger dead from frost.

I managed to see one movie while in Minnesota.  The feature – a woman named Wendy – was given the unenviable task of chauffeuring me to and from the shows each night agreed to bring me along to the movie she was seeing with the two teenage daughters of a friend.  Of course this felt like some sort of set up.  I thought I was getting Silvio Berlusconi’d.  But something far more offensive was to happen. We went to see Hugo.

I was lukewarm on Hugo.  On the plus side it was directed by Mr. Eyebrows Martin Scorsese and has been receiving rave reviews.  On the downside I had no real fu*king interest in it.  But the critical mass was so good that I decided I wanted to see it.  Whoops.  Here in as concise a fashion as possible is my summary of Hugo:

  • Well acted
  • Boring
  • Really boring
  • Fell asleep boring (literally)
  • Nice looking movie
  • Takes place in Paris, every actor (both English and American so it was intentional) using British accents
  • Long
  • Too long
  • Never cared very much about the characters
  • Every revelation of past events that have led our characters to be the way they are fails to deliver as much significance – it is as if JJ Abrams decided to direct a boring family movie (and critics – please stop calling this a family film – no kid, let alone a kid from the ADD 21st century will enjoy this or have the patience for your ode to cinema)

But the point of this whole trip was not to see movies or experience shrinkage on an unprecedented level – it was to do comedy, or as I described it to the crowd to run a Ponzi scheme on myself.  And the crowds were really good.  The Thursday crowd and the two early Friday/Saturday crowds were great.  Enthusiastic, smart and great laughers.  The late show Friday was tough and featured a lot of Usain Bolts (this is what I call a person who sprints out of the showroom, for fear that even looking at me may force them to acknowledge my existence or buy a CD).  The Saturday late show was tough, but still a net positive.  Here is one of my favorite newer bits I dropped on the crowds:

So I managed to sell a few CDs, got a lot of laughs, avoided junk food at the airports (Midway one of the underrated airports in America – can’t beat Potbelly for airport food!), did not get arrested, did not die in a plane crash and immediately sent every penny I made to the credit card, phone and cable companies!  Comedy!  Thank you to the fellow comics, staff and audiences at Joke Joint.