Will Rant for Change, photo by Steve Stearns
Matthew Filipowicz has been steadily building his comedy empire, with roots stemming back to Omaha, Nebraska. From the age of 17, Filipowicz has been churning out politically-charged comedy, culminating with his present project, the MatthewFilipowicz show, a politically-tinged podcast that features political news, interviews and comedy. For the January 2012 issue of RE:COM, Filipowicz interviewed comedian Lee Camp. In turn, we talked to Filipowicz about his own work.
RE) How do you perceive your comedy's
evolution since you first began [in Omaha, Nebraska, at age 17]?
Since
then, my dick and fart jokes have gotten a lot more sophisticated. I wasn’t
really into politics when I was 17. But, growing up in a red state, surrounded
by, well, I guess “goobers” would be the correct term, you essentially have two
choices. You can do nothing, and become one of the goobers. Or you can choose
to be the opposite of them. I chose the opposite and got the hell out of
Nebraska when I graduated from high school.
My
comedy always had some elements of politics and I guess you could say more
specifically social justice, but, I really got heavily into politics when George
W. Bush stole the election in 2000. I was also living in Brooklyn, NY on 9/11, and
got to witness firsthand all the mayhem, chaos and fear.
In
2007, I got a job doing daily political Web animations for a company called
Headzup. I wrote, voiced and animated about five 30- to 45-second satirical
cartoons a week. That job led me into being heavily involved in the liberal
netroots community.
RE) What are some
appearances/festivals/projects you've taken part in?
My
work has been featured on CNN, NPR, HBO, PBS, the BBC, Ain’t It Cool News, New
York Times, Wall Street Journal, Der Spiegel, the Nation, Mother Jones, and the
Atlantic.
RE) When was the Matthew Filipowicz
Show created, and what has its evolution been since then? Can you briefly
describe the show to a new listener?
When
I was working for Headzup, I began to be a regular commentator for a liberal
radio show called Ring of Fire, which is hosted by Mike Papantonio and Robert
Kennedy, Jr. I loved getting to talk and joke about political stories. When the
economy crashed, Headzup ceased its day-to-day operations, and I needed to look
for a new project. Thus, I launched the creatively titled Matthew Filipowicz
Show. Thankfully, no one had taken the name.
The
Matthew Filipowicz Show is a liberal talk show that features political news,
interviews and comedy. The news part is pretty self-explanatory. For the
interviews we’ve have some of the biggest names in liberal politics. Cenk Uygur,
Jeremy Scahill, Alan Grayson, Dahlia Lithwick, Markos Moulitsas and a ton more.
As far as the comedy on the show, I have a team of eight or so
writer/performers who come on and essentially play crazy right wingers,
responding to the big stories of the day.
RE) The Occupy protests have been
spreading nationwide over the last month, with comedians joining the ranks of
protesters, to comment on the issues through their art. How have you been
involved in this particular dialogue?
I
have. I go down to Occupy Boston several times a week. When I was in Chicago
for a friend’s wedding I did what everyone does on vacation… I went to the
local occupation. I’ve been covering the Occupy movement extensively on my
show. We have protesters from various Occupy movements on quite a bit.
As
far as the comedy side, we’ve had a ton of sketches on the show that deal with
the Occupy movement. Like, a billionaire’s reaction to Occupy Wall Street is to
Occupy the Dollar Store. We’ve had Rahm Emanuel’s “spokesperson” on to respond
to the mass arrests at Occupy Chicago.
RE) Have you played an active role in
protest in the past?
Yeah.
I’ve been to quite a few in my day. The RNC in New York. The RNC in St. Paul. Recently,
up in Wisconsin when Scott Walker went out of his mind.
RE) What past instances of political
protest have lent themselves to comedic commentary, in your time in
comedy?
A
famous one would be when the Daily Show did a whole episode for the 9/11 first
responders, and that galvanized enough political shame that Republicans, who
were blocking healthcare for these heroes, had to relent.
RE) Please speak briefly on how modern
day satire fits in with the current political climate. What is its relation to
comedy's role in past political grievances?
Many
people will tell you, correctly, that comedy serves as a check to power. From
Jonathan Swift to the Daily Show, comedians are able to draw attention to the
hypocrisy and absurdities in politics that other forms of media can’t or won’t.
But,
personally, I don’t just see myself on the sidelines, you know, just dropping
commentary from a safe distance. I see comedy as a gateway drug to issue
advocacy. The first one’s free, it makes you laugh and then you’re hooked. Whatever
someone’s cause is, be it women’s rights, economic justice, LGBT issues, Net
Neutrality, whatever it is, comedy can be a great way to introduce people to
it. I’ve made several comedic videos for progressive groups like MoveOn, the
ACLU, Vote Vets, various unions and the Center for Media and Democracy that
they used to draw attention to their current campaigns.
RE) In which direction do you think the
dialogue needs to move? What are your suggestions for molding the protests into
effective plans of action and
change?
As
far as dialogue, I’d say there needs to be more of it. People need to realize
that politics isn’t just going to vote every two or four years. That, whether
you realize it or not, politics really is in most everything that you do on a
day to day basis. The great thing about the Occupy movement is that people have
woken up to the fact that our current economic and political systems are badly
and horribly broken, and it’s going to take people in the streets demanding
change for a long time for anything to get done to fix it.
RE) What's next on your agenda?
Growing
the show. We’re in preliminary talks about getting it on the actual radio. I’m also
going to be launching Laughing Liberally Boston in the next couple of months.
***
Photos and Interview by Erin Nekervis, see all photos from this shoot here.
Foz the Hook opens the show every Wednesday
night at Cole's Comedy Open Mic, at Cole's Bar in Chicago’s Logan Square. The
venue was voted the 2011 Best Comedy Open Mic in Chicago by Chicago Magazine. The band is pianist
and Cole's regular Bjorn Skaptason, drummer Patrick Stonehouse and, until very
recently, Dan Stone, who headed to San Francisco last month to marry the love
of his life.
Piano-man Bjorn Skaptason, whose daytime
gig as an Abraham Lincoln expert have piqued the interests of many historians,
is slowly solidifying Foz’s place as a Wednesday night comedy mainstay.
RE) First
of all, who is "Foz”? How did he develop such rico suave?
Foz the Hook is the stage name I made up for
myself at the age of 15 for the first band I was ever in, Bobby and theChuxx. I am still in that band. We are completing our nineteenth album right now. The
idea of Foz is embodied in the photograph where Foz is dressed to the nines,and drinking out of a paper sack. Foz is suave, but the targets of his adoration are a bit hazy and cannot be
predicted.
RE) I think of "Foz" as equal parts
Johnny Cash, James Bond, Richard Cheese and that Dos Equis guy - a "must
meet" individual that exceeds the most discerning criteria. Is that about
right?
Yes. Foz is all of those people. But I
think he is also Dr. Teeth from The Muppet Show meets Nick Bottom from A
Midsummer Night’s Dream.
RE)
Foz's suit(s) are cool. Is there one suit specific to Foz or will any suits do?
Foz wants to bring back the double-breasted
suit. I have a charcoal one that I like. It is also time for men to reinvest in
tie hardware. I saw [Chicago comedian] Marty DeRosa in a gallant tie clip just
last night. It made him funnier, I think. A suit shows that a man is interested
in grown-up fun, like drinking gin martinis and having torrid affairs. Who
wouldn’t wear a suit?
RE) FtH
galvanizes the crowd at Cole's before the open mic begins. When was FtH's first
time opening open mic?
There used to be a terrific open mic for
music and comedy at the late and lamented Logan Square bar, The Winds. I used to play piano and sing
whatever there. When [Chicago comedians] Cameron Esposito and Adam Burke
started the comedy open mic at Cole’s, I signed up and played some FtH songs as
a comic. Cameron asked if I could warm up the crowd – “sure.” Patrick
Stonehouse volunteered to play drums shortly after, and Dan Stone, who performs
as Leon “Cuttlefish” Strokes, joined us on bass soon after that. Then we made
our album Gin-Soaked Yankee and Other
Disgraces (http://fozthehook.bandcamp.com/).
RE)
What was the initial response from the Cole’s audience?
The crowds at Cole’s comedy shows have
always responded enthusiastically to our band. Crowds at music shows are a bit
harder to read. I am not sure that people at rock shows are in tune with
getting comedy out of their bands, but crowds at comedy shows seem thrilled to
get music with their jokes.
RE)
The Foz have good stage chemistry with Adam and Cameron. Did that take a while
to develop?
No time at all. Adam and Cameron both are
pure comedy pros. Whether they are interacting with the band or with audience
members, they listen and react with quick-witted, imaginative improv that
appears natural and engaging to the audience. Well, it actually is natural and
engaging, so there’s that. They also run a very welcoming and positive room. Cole’s
open mic is no cutting session, and hopefully the band helps to establish that
vibe that at this show anything goes, and everyone is encouraged to try to do
something that they don’t know if they can pull off. They are always celebrated
for doing so.
RE)
Chicago Comedian Danny Kallas is known to show up at open mics carrying his
ideas and set lists in a large plastic grocery store bag. Writer JK Rowling
keeps her notes and literary ideas in an old refrigerator box. How about you?
Do you have a treasure trove of ideas in a box on top of your piano?
The bag must work for Danny, because he
does a great show. I played some sets with him at The Big Sleazy [downtown
Chicago] showcase. He killed. FtH stuff all gets typed up and properly
organized in my “FtH” directory, and then backed up somewhere. You need that
kind of organization with a band. But, a lot of good songs start out as
wads of cocktail napkins that I find in my pockets the morning after a show
leads to closing the bars. I like to retain those as keepsakes.
RE)
Has Foz ever put his name down on the Wednesday list at Cole's?
Yes. That is how the act got started. But
if you mean, “Does Foz do standup?,” the answer is no. Foz does bits, and tells
bizarre stories between – or within – songs. I think that’s how the act works best.
RE) At what age did you first approach the
piano? Any formal training?
Sixteen – about a year after I joined a
band where my job was to play keyboards. My trombone teacher gave me piano
lessons every week after my instruction in brass. I studied Jazz for a year at
the University of Kansas, and ironically, my piano skills developed while my
trombone skills tanked. I changed majors to acting, much to the relief of the
music faculty.
RE)
I've heard it said that the funniest song in FtH's current repertoire is With Drunk Astronauts. True?
Not for me to say. I am enormously amused
by all of our songs. With Drunk
Astronauts has an anthemic quality that makes it very fun for us to play,
and also makes it fun for the crowd to sing along. That is why it is a good
number for a big show-closer. It also serves the purpose of getting the crowd
excited and involved in the show. Hopefully, by the time we close our set, the
crowd will have shouted and sung and participated enough that the hosts will
have an easier time drawing the audience out of that weird passive attitude
that often settles over a quiet room.
RE)
So, Iceland -- ever been?
Never been to Iceland. My name, Bjorn
Skaptason, is Icelandic, and sounds exotic – or as exotic as people who live on
volcanic glaciers and eat lots of herring can be – but I am from Kansas. I
imagine that Bjork would think I’m weird.
RE) I
imagine that Foz would think Bjork is weird, too, but worth writing a Haiku
about.
Reykjavik
redhead
My
Electronica Mama
Enunciates
big.
RE)
As a Lincoln scholar and knower of historiography Americana, have you ever been
on Antiques Roadshow? Do people ever show up at Cole's with objects needing
your expertise?
I have never been on Antiques Roadshow. Sometimes
the firm I work for consults for that show, and others similar to it. People
have not brought Lincolniana to Cole’s open mic, but if you pay careful
attention, you will see a good deal of Lincoln kitsch gracing the walls of
Cole’s. The bar’s owner Coleman Brice acquired some of that stuff from me.
RE)
Would Abraham Lincoln enjoy FtH?
Mr. Lincoln was a big fan of FtH. Secretary
of the Navy Gideon Welles recorded in his personal diary that Lincoln was
absent-mindedly whistling Cheeze Jesus while he signed the Emancipation
Proclamation. He made up his own little dance to Vibrating Chicken Stomp, and
forced Mary Todd Lincoln to dance to it with him at state dinners. True story: We
were the band for the performance of Our
American Cousin at Ford’s Theater the night John Wilkes Booth murdered the
president. When the assassin jumped on stage and shouted “sic semper tyrannis!”
I thought that was the cue for the Sondheim medley and counted off the zippy Send in the Clowns dance number. It was
embarrassing at the time, but we laugh about it now.
RE)
Where'd you meet that drummer guy Patrick Stonehouse? What does Patrick know
about Abraham Lincoln?
Patrick helped out at the bar when Coleman
first opened the joint. We drank a lot and talked about music. When Patrick
first heard the FtH songs performed solo he heard drum parts in his head. He
actually hears drum parts in his head to everything. I once saw him play drums
to an ATM machine. It was pretty good. Anyway, after seeing a solo performance
of some of the songs, he offered to play along. I said “sure.” He said “Maybe I
will, then.” I said “Well, why don’t you?” He said, “oh yeah, dare me.” I did. Patrick’s
command over the subject of the life and administration of the sixteenth
president is neither greater nor lesser than one would expect of a
percussionist who hands out needles for a living and speaks Russian because he
lived in Swaziland for a year.
RE)
Now that Cupid’s bow has done its thing on Dan, are you and Patrick having some
fun auditioning new musicians to play the bass portions in Foz?
Yes, Olde Leon fell for a
wonderful lady, and he moved to San Francisco. Patrick and Foz are playing with
all sorts of talented folks as we chart the next iteration of FtH. Three
different bass men have filled-in since Dan left, and each of them nailed their
sets. We have guests scheduled to handle the bass parts through the holidays. We’ve
also played with an enchanting Ukulele lady, who promises to bring a big
accordion and a second voice to the mix. We’ll be working with an alto sax
player during the holidays, and last night I met a bag piper. How can you not
have bagpipes? Answer that, if you can.
RE)
When not working on the next big song, I imagine Foz would be relaxing aboard
his sailboat in Marina del Rey. True?
I imagine that, too, but alas, you will
more likely find him scratching a romantic haiku on a whisky-stained bar napkin
in a pathetic attempt to catch the eye of a middle-aged bartender named June.
RE) I
have what appears to be a letter written by a Union soldier on US Armed forces
stationary. Could I make an appointment at the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop to have
you look it over to assess authenticity?
Of course! Abraham Lincoln Book Shop
specializes in Lincolniana and the Civil War, and stuff like that. We are in
the River North neighborhood [in Chicago], and we keep regular retail hours. Give
us a call to schedule a meeting to get a letter authenticated – and you might
want to bring your checkbook. These martinis and tie clips don’t pay for
themselves, you know.
***
May 2011
Am I A Nerd?
By Daniel Shar
My good friend David recently called me a “gay nerd.”
Usually I’m impervious to name-calling, but this really struck a chord with me, as it spoke to my insecurities. I mean, I know I’m not gay, but am I a nerd? There are many ways to define a nerd, but the most stereotypical criteria involved are a love for things like science fiction or comic books, and a lack of love from the opposite sex.
If we’re judging strictly off the former, I am actually the anti-nerd. Beyond Darth Vader’s heavy breathing and the recommended usage of the Force (whatever that is), I don’t catch most Star Wars references thrown my way. Furthermore, if you told me to plan a dinner party for all of those who surround Batman, Spider-Man, and Superman in their respective hometowns (which I always mix up), the guest list I would bring back to you would be shorter than my attention span for the Star Wars franchise.
If we’re judging by the opposite sex thing, however, I’m usually the biggest nerd in the room. At 22 years old, I have had neither a real romantic relationship nor any form of sex. With zero religious beliefs and no plastic bubble surrounding my being, I’d say that this is a fairly impressive feat; a feat I could not have pulled off without the perfect storm of unreasonably high standards, near-constant sobriety, and a general awkwardness.
In the spring of 2010, three of my female friends launched an intense marketing campaign. I was the product; their high school pal Mandy was the target audience. Tradition, if not science, would dictate that this was mine if I wanted it. Surely there could be no way for me to screw this up. Well, the reality is I am even less proficient with women than I am with not setting up my stories in such a manner that the ending is apparent after the first 327 words.
While Mandy’s girlfriends were selling me to her, my guy friends were doing just the opposite -- assuring me that she was a definite no-go. Accordingly, my interest in this girl was very low from the start, while her interest in me was allegedly very high. I can’t verify that, but I can verify what happened once we met.
Within five minutes of entering our home and interrupting another perfectly good round of “Dude, There’s Nothing on TV,” Mandy clearly and decidedly shifted her focus from me to one of my roommates. Within 36 hours, she was brushing the taste of his testicles off of her tongue, while he attempted to shower away the shame of drunkenly hooking up with a girl who -- we had all agreed -- resembled a troll in both appearance and demeanor.
If I had been remotely interested in this girl, this would have been an incredibly disheartening experience. She apparently found me so unappealing that it only took five minutes to destroy the foundation her friends had laid for me.
Then my roommate got laid for me.
It’s important to note that I have never been the least bit upset by this, however, because there is no such thing as being robbed of a burden, and I think it’s safe to say that having a Lord of the Rings character on a quest for your nuts qualifies as a burden.
This is an example of an instance in which I am content to have not had sex.
Actually, let me rephrase that. This is an instance in which I am absolutely thrilled to have escaped with virginity intact. Throughout my life, I have had many such unwanted close calls. There was Angela, the large, grabby goth girl I worked with at Spencer’s Gifts; Chrissy, the former college friend who couldn’t take a hint that I got all her hints and just wasn’t interested; Sinnamon, the prostitute ordered for me at my high school senior beach week by a classmate I barely knew.
I’ve also had situations that seemed full of potential but stopped unfortunately short of becoming sexual. And by that I mean the experiences I’ve had with all three of the girls I’ve ever been romantically interested in and actually found the balls to pursue.
Yeah, you heard me right -- all three. To put that in perspective: that’s probably about as many superhero neighbors as you’d find on my dinner party guest list. Which means my nerdiness is equal to my non-nerdiness. In my opinion, this cancels out. So, am I a nerd? Technically, I don’t think I can be defined as one, no. Take that, David.
I’ll tell you what I am, though: a nerdgin.
I tried to do an experiment to back up this point. I told Wallace to give me an album that appeals to his unique tastes as a musician who's been playing and listening to music for 22 years, but something that he views as being universally good. He gave me Beck's 1996 album “Odelay,” which reached #16 on the Billboard music charts.
I have hours upon hours of stand-up comedy albums that I listen and re-listen to again and again as a lover of comedy. I feel like I listen to comedy the same way a normal person might listen to music. Suffice it to say, while I'm not on the same level of experience that Wallace is with music, I'm definitely well above average in my experience with stand-up comedy. I suggested Patton Oswalt's “Werewolves and Lollipops.” When I heard that album in my early 20’s I thought it was the funniest thing I had ever heard. It was so specific to things that I would talk about with my friends, yet I couldn't imagine anyone not liking it.
I decided to give the two albums to my sister, who is 23 years old. She, for the most part, enjoys pop music, listing her two favorite things to listen to right now as “Dave Matthews -- Live in Central Park” and O.A.R.'s live album, while also saying she likes Vampire Weekend and Bloc Party and likes to listen to hip-hop to warm-up for soccer games. She doesn't own any comedy albums and her favorite stand-up comedy special is the only special she can think of, which is Bill Cosby's Himself. She watches Chelsea Handler's show on E! and also likes The Office and Parks and Recreation. By all accounts my sister would be a good example of someone with a mainstream aesthetic. She's eclectic, but does not dig into music or comedy the same way a musician or comedian would and has more experience listening to music than listening to stand-up comedy.
I gave her both albums and told her to listen to them all the way through once, and then I asked her what she thought of them. She enjoyed “Odelay,” saying that she liked three or four songs but, “...some of it was just noise and I don't know if I would listen to the album every couple of days or whatever.”
But, when I asked her about Oswalt's “Werewolves and Lollipops” she said she loved it, saying, “I will always remember the KFC thing. I thought that was really funny. It was that he was talking about normal, everyday things and it was very relatable...I could see sitting down with him and he would just say these things to me. He was very funny.”
The most interesting thing is that, even though she felt like he was talking about “normal, everyday things,” some of the specific, crowd-tailored references to political scholar and activist Noam Chomsky or This Mortal Coil's “It'll End in Tears” didn't impact her ability to find it funny. She found him to be funny, which transcended the specifics of his relative references.
In the end, funny was funny. And even though Oswalt made references that went over her head, it didn't impact the fact that she found the album to be overall funny and relatable. On the other hand, she struggled to enjoy some of the musical “references” that Beck made on Odelay that appealed to Wallace. She thought they were noise. Oswalt's “noise” went over her head but didn't impact her ability to enjoy it all.
December 2010
In the last few years, technology leaps have allowed for a veritable explosion of audio content on the Internet, making podcasting the new blogging seemingly overnight. If you're a comedy nerd, you probably know the big guys: WTF (see our cover story, Issue 2, December 2010), Comedy Death-Ray Radio (Issue 2, December 2010), Comedy and Everything Else, Never Not Funny, Doug Loves Movies... We here at RE:COM are also listening to some of the newer 'casts on the scene, those that happen to be documenting the beginning of the next wave of comedy superstars.
Below we introduce you to some of our favorite podcasts, including Chicago Open MIC, The Comedy Nerds, The Gentlemen Scumbags, The Morning After, The Pros of Everything, Red Bar Radio, Winners and Losers, Wood Sugars and You, Me, Them, Everybody.
Hosts IAN ELLIS (age 28) and MAGGIE EDNIE (age 27) explore the open mic scene in Chicago, interviewing new comedians and showcasing their material. Chicago Open MIC also features roundtable discussions with new comedians and live recording of new rooms.The show’s been running since June 2010.
Frequency and length of podcast: The average episode is about 1 hour. I try to shoot for a 45 minute interview followed by 15 minutes of material from the artist. Bonus episodes run between 1-3 hours.
Influences: My largest influence is Marc Maron and his podcast WTF. My interviewing style is also influenced by the Actor’s Studio. I learned as much from Marc about what to do as I did about what not to do. I try to keep my show free of annoying advertisements and preambles. At the end of the day my goal is to make my guest the star of the show.
Upcoming plans: My goal when I started was to build a show that showcased local artists and myself to a larger audience than we get at live shows. I thought I would pick up 2-3 listeners with every episode and I was shooting for 100 subscribers by the end of the year. In just a few short months we have picked up almost 2,000 subscribers. Currently my goal is to hit 3,000 before the end of 2010 and 10,000 by the end of 2011.
I have been lucky enough to sponsor several local shows with Chicago Open MIC merchandise, and live recording of their shows, and I plan to do much more of that in the future.
After the new year I would like to organize a field trip to Madison for myself and several other comedians to explore their open mic scene. If that trip goes well I am going to try and organize a small tour and take a Chicago Open MIC showcase on the road. I am also interested in helping several comics put out their own CDs.
On a personal note I may be moving to L.A. in the next year or so. Because I am leaving I intend to leave the podcast in Maggie’s hands, and hope that she will pass it along when that time comes as well. I hope that this podcast becomes part of Chicago’s legacy in the world of comedy.
We are a website and weekly podcast dedicated to the love of comedy. Actually the infatuation, obsession and lust of comedy. Improv, sketch and stand-up comedy veterans Dustin D’Addato and Dan McInerney examine different aspects of comedy from the perspective of both viewers and performers. No subject is off limits and no stone is left unturned (and no cliche is left untyped.) We were nominated for best website at the 2010 ECNY awards.
DUSTIN D’ADDATO (age 34) is a New York based comedy writer, performer and director. He has appeared on VH1 and at countless comedy festivals across the country. He can be seen regularly performing sketch comedy with his group, The Resistance. Improv with his group, the Khickercast Project and stand-up all by himself. Dustin has also written and directed several comedy projects for NBC Universal and is an award-winning playwright. DAN McINERNEY (age 32) is a New York based comedy writer and performer. He has appeared in the Onion News Network and in commercials for Comedy Central and Firebrand.com. Along with his current sketch comedy group “Secret Hospital”, and his former sketch group “Skeeger,” Dan has performed at The Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater, Comix, and Caroline’s Comedy Club, among others.
The Comedy Nerds Podcast, running two and a half years, is a weekly audio podcast dedicated the love of comedy. Each week we discuss, debate and dissect a different aspect of the world of comedy. We bring on industry professionals who are in the comedy trenches to join in on the discussion and offer their own unique perspective. Plus we catch up with the latest comedy news. We release a new episode everyone Monday. The episodes range from 45 minutes to an hour. Influences: The Sound Of Young America has probably been our biggest influence and most recently Marc Maron’s WTF podcast. We try to keep the show loose and spontaneous, like Tom Shapling’s “The Best Show on WFMU.”
Favorite episodes: We had an amazing time talking with Kevin Allison about the art of comedy storytelling and his time with the State. He had such amazing insight about the comedy world. It was fun to debate the intricacies of comedy with a performer we grew up admiring. But admittedly the episode where we reviewed the 30 Rock XXX Adult Parody was kind of a blast as well. Not to mention all of our live episodes where listeners get to join in on the discussion.
Upcoming plans: We are really excited about doing more live streaming episodes. The listeners always take us down roads we never would have thought of and it makes the episode so much fun. We are planning a very special episode looking at the history of “very special” episodes in sitcoms. Plus, we have a bunch of guests lined up from all over TV and the comedy clubs.
Huge pieces of shit, MIKE BURNS (age 35) and MIKE BRIDENSTINE (age 31), discuss their “Biggest Scumbag Moments of The Week,” their “Crybaby Sissyboy Moments,” taste test a new food product in “Shove It In Your Mouth Hole,” discuss style in “Fashion Corner,” and try to learn what women think of men from various lady mags in their segment, “Bone Patrol.” They also delve into the scummier side of current sports topics in their segment “Visitor’s Locker Room,” a name they’re blatantly ripping off from Chicago’s “Visitor’s Locker Room” and if those dirty micks have a problem with it they can fly their asses across the country and handle it Biggie v. 2 Pac style.
Period of time podcast has been airing: 2 months Frequency and length of podcast: One jam-packed hour of party and bullshit.
The Morning After...Podcast features humorous, insightful conversations between me, JAKE WEISMAN (age 27), my co-host ELI OLSBERG (also a standup comedian in LA) and a variety of porn stars, people working in the pornography industry and other comedians. We always end the podcast with the obvious question: Do you prefer cats or dogs? The show’s been running since April 2010, and an hourlong episode is posted once per week. Influences: WTF podcast is our benchmark. It’s always an interesting, relatively laid-back conversation where you learn about the guest(s) without shouting and theatrics. We tried to combine WTF’s structure with the idea that it would be the opposite tone of Howard Stern’s show, because we wanted to treat pornography in a more human way and talk to our guests as people with interesting stories and unique perspectives rather than basic sex objects.
Favorite episodes: This is truly Sophie’s choice, minus the Holocaust part. There really are too many favorites, but I will say that episode #22 with adult entertainment lawyer Michael Fattorosi and comedian Robert Yasumura was an incredible episode. The episode came out right after the most recent HIV scare in the porn industry, and our guests debated the legal and moral issues involved in making condoms mandatory in the business, among many other things. The episode had a lot of information I had never been privy to before, and the feedback on the episode from our listeners (via Twitter, Facebook and email) was great, because people felt they actually learned things and wanted to continue engaging in the discussion after the episode was over.
Upcoming plans: We made a funny video at the LA Exxxotica Expo with our friend Dave Ross (also a comedian in LA) that’s on our YouTube page, and we recently recorded a really fun episode in front of a live audience with a bunch of podcast alumni at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood. Ideally, we’d love to do some episodes/events at colleges, with students who are interested in learning about the industry. And yes, we have many exciting/fascinating/well-known guests (both people in the porn industry as well as comedians) lined up to do the show in the next few months, but people will have to tune in to find out who they are! Yes, I know that’s a cheap trick, but I am trying to be professional here, so cut me some slack.
Hosts FLOPPY BOB and CHRIS “TERP” TREW bring in people from all aspects of popular culture, as long as they’re the best of the best. “We get people from anywhere, from reality TV to athletes, some who are retired and some currently playing. Everyone’s welcome to be on the show, even if you’re not even someone who everyone knows. It’s all about having fun,” said Floppy Bob.
“We just want to get really good guests on there and do something the Internet hasn’t seen, and guests doing things that they might not have done before, like Brad Pitt doing a freestyle rap battle with Terp. I’m more hard-hitting, personal with interviews, kind of a mix of Howard Stern and Andy Kaufmann.”
They like to bring on people with differing backgrounds and opinions, and get them talking, to take a stand on something. “Even if you want to talk to us about Tupperware, we’ll tell you the blue is stronger than the pink one. Everyone has their own opinion, but if they’re going to come on the show and disagree with us, they’re going to have to come on strong.”
Influences: “I like to find the weirdest, quirkiest thing to listen to even if I don’t have an interest in what they’re talking about, because maybe it’ll give me an interest. … When I watch interviews with Johnny Carson or on the radio with Howard Stern, I always think, ‘Why don’t you ask the person a question that no one else is going to ask? I just want to ask good questions and get into the nitty gritty with people that come on the show.”
It’s recorded over Blog Talk Radio, a free service. “You can do it off your telephone. You can rant and rave about how Obama’s not doing a good job or how the Giants should lose the World Series because everyone would go nuts — like me. No one’s trying to get rich and famous and make millions of dollars. It’s just all about the love of doing the show.” He’s self-taught when it comes to the technology part. “I’m better at it now than I was about two years ago, but I love to learn. I’m probably going to be like Rodney Dangerfield in ‘Back to School’ — and hopefully I’ll have the limo, too.”
Upcoming plans: “It’s all about having fun. We’ll have everything from comedy sketches on the show to rap battles. … I just want to be able to entertain people. We’re doing it for free but I wouldn’t mind getting paid. I don’t want to be a millionaire, I want to be a thousandaire.”
Red Bar Radio is a comedy talk radio show that “makes fun of everybody.” Host Mike David, along with comedian friends, harshly judge pop-culture and give their hilarious spin on everything around them. Red Bar Radio was created by host MIKE DAVID (age 28) in 2003, and is now one of the most popular comedy podcasts on the net, consistently ranking in the Top 5 on PodcastAlley and the Top 50 on iTunes. Red Bar Radio airs live every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 2-3 hours per episode.
Influences: Adam Carolla, Opie and Anthony, Ron & Fez
HANK THOMPSON (age 31) invites Chicago comedians to this uncensored freeform comedy talk radio. The show’s been airing since September 2010. The show runs about an hour and is posted weekly. Influences: It’s cliché but Howard Stern is an influence. Talent, drive, persistence — all important factors, but mostly he succeeds because he’s authentic. It’s a quality that earns him great loyalty from his fans. Authenticity is something everyone should strive for. I’m also inspired by all the mediocrity out there, because I know at the very least I can be slightly better than mediocre.
Upcoming plans: I hope to build listenership, gain exposure and continue having fun. Maybe add a fourth microphone. Eventually I’d like to join one of the nascent podcast networks. Podcasts don’t have to be solitary swimmers. Just like our aquatic brethren there’s a lot to be gained by forming a school, such as safety from whales.
Wood Sugars is a trio of filmmakers, writers and performers. In March 2010 we got together with Jeremiah Watkins of Prank-Machine.com, who has a background in radio, and turned our original podcast (in which we just got drunk and told stories) into a segmented radio and sketch show. It’s called “Inside the Barrel” because of our logo, which is a barrel. ELIAZ RODRIGUEZ (age 26), DONNY RODRIGUEZ (age 27), JEFF PHILLIPS (age 27) and JEREMIAH WATKINS (age 28) host the show, which has been airing since April 2010. “In each episode we interview a comedic guest and have them act in our sketches and bits. It’s like an audio version of a Conan O’Brien talk show mixed with SNL of the ‘90s. We also feature bands, filmmakers and local businesses in each episode. It’s the most over-produced podcast in the world.” They produce two to four one-hour episodes per month.
Also, the You, Me, Them, Everybody Chicago Music Podcast and the You, Me, Them, Everybody D.C. Music Podcast
YMTE is a “culture” based podcast. I interview people I find interesting (mostly comics and musicians) or I do the show with my co-host Esmeralda Leon. Occasionally I’ll do ‘on-location’ interviews like at the Pitchfork Music Fest. It’s a mix between “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson”, “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross and Studs Terkel’s old radio show. The common thread is all the hosts drink or have substance abuse problems.
BRANDON WETHERBEE (age 28) has been airing the show for two years and a handful of months.
YMTE is an interview show, sometimes long-form and indepth about the person on the show and sometimes it’s done like a late night show, three guests with musical and stand-up performances. There is an average of three YMTE shows a week. Most are an hour long. Some are as short as 15 minutes.
Influences: Studs Terkel, Ben Hecht, Terry Gross and Craig Ferguson are the idols but that’s not funny. I apologize. My new inspiration is “The Magic Hour” talk show, hosted by Magic Johnson.
Favorite episodes: My favorite live show episode featured Nathan Rabin (author of “My Year of Flops,” “The Big Rewind” and a critic at The Onion’s AV Club), comic James Fritz (“Deflated”) and Jon Langford (The Mekons, a shitload more). The audience liked all the performers and my monologue didn’t totally eat shit. My favorite long form interview was with Chad Briggs. It went over an hour and not one thought was completed.
Upcoming plans: YMTE Live! starts at the Looking Glass Lounge in Washington, D.C. on December 2. It’s a weekly talk show. YMTE Live! continues on the last Monday of every month at the Hungry Brain in Chicago. YMTE also books every Monday and Tuesday at the Hungry Brain in Chicago. YMTE will begin a film and comedy and whatever I feel like weekly series on Wednesday night at Chief Ike’s in Washington, D.C. on December 8.
This winter YMTE Live! will also begin in New York City and Baltimore. I’m doing this because it’s very expensive to drink every night and pay full price. Also, I like wearing ill-fitting suits.
WitStream, started by Michael Ian Black, is a one-off of Twitter where funny folks have to audition to be featured. Founders of the site follow your Twitter stream for awhile and see if you've got the chops to be a WitStream contributor. Meet some of the featured player-Tweeters below.
Jerry Thomas is a writer and “sometime comedian” originally from Milwaukee, did his time in Los Angeles, and now resides in Alexandria, Va.
Q: How long have you been using Twitter?
I first signed on in March of 2008, but I didn't really get active on it until about August of last year.
Q: How often do you tweet?
Maybe five or six times a day, on the average.
Q: In what ways do you use Twitter? (ie, connect with fans, stream of consciousness, craft one liners, react to current events)
I pretty much reflexively think of jokes over the course of the day (an old habit), and Twitter gives me an outlet to share that. I don't know if it's fair to call the people who follow me “fans,” but I do have a following, and I've connected with some interesting people.
Twitter also gives me some quick feedback on how strong a given joke might be. If a line gets I big reaction, I know I've touched some kind of nerve, and that's good to know.
I do react to current events from time to time, but I don't make a big effort to be topical. I might be more popular if I did, but I mostly just aim at putting together a good joke, whether it’s topical or not.
One of the nice side effects of this is that I've collected quite a pile of jokes over the months. It makes me happy to look at the stack. I don't quite know what to do with it, but it's nice to have, and it keeps growing.
Q: How did you get involved with WitStream? Have you found it's helped your career?
I just got a note from them out of the blue asking if I'd like to participate, and I was happy to join, especially because I admire so many of the contributors there, and it’s nice to belong to such a great group. If it’s going to help my career (such as it is) I guess time will tell. For now, I'm in it for fun, and that's more than enough reward.
Eli Braden is a comedian/writer/musician living in Los Angeles. His new album of funny songs, "The New King of Music-Based Comedy" is available now wherever music is sold or stolen.
Q: How long have you been using Twitter?
I first registered an account in early 2009, when EVERYBODY started doing it.I'd resisted before then, because the concept seemed completely inane.
I started tweeting in earnest in mid-2009, when I realized all my favorite comedians were just using it as a joke forum, and I finally saw what a brilliant medium it can be.
Q: How often do you tweet?
At least once a day, often 5-15 times (not counting direct communication with people). 95% of my tweets are jokes (or attempts at jokes!). I occasionally promote shows I'm doing or downloads/CDs I have available, but I try very hard not to "over-tweet".
Q: In what ways do you use Twitter? (ie, connect with fans, stream of consciousness, craft one liners, react to current events)
I very specifically use it to make jokes of all kinds. Commenting on current events is always fun; lately I've been re-tweeting a lot of inane celebrity tweets with my own (hopefully) humorous comment added to it. It's tough to cram much info into a 140-character limit, though - so one must learn ECONOMY OF WORDS very quickly.
One of the coolest aspects of Twitter is the service FAVSTAR, which allows you to see how many people are "favoritting" (or "starring") your tweets - and who they are. If a lot of people star a particular tweet, I take that to mean it's pretty good. It's instant feedback - which is fantastic because no matter how funny you are, it's difficult to create good comedy in a vacuum.
Q: How did you get involved with WitStream? Have you found it's helped your career?
Lisa Cohen contacted me and asked if I'd like to have my tweets featured on the site. I instantly loved the idea and was psyched to have been asked. In my experience, if Michael Ian Black is involved with something, you know it's good.
Aside from making me infinitesimally better as a joke-writer, I've also met a lot of people via Twitter that I've gone on to work with at different levels, and also gained a lot of (for lack of a better word) "fans" who like what I tweet and have subsequently checked out what I do comedically outside of Twitter.
When not doing photography, Sean Scott, of Portland, Ore., constructs pleasing sequences of words, a developing art form he calls “logography” or, more simply, “writing.” He does not expect it to catch on. During the day, he photographs strange objects. At night, he battles his wife for use of the MacBook. He neither confirms nor denies membership in the Priory of Sion.
Q: How long have you been using Twitter?
I signed up in 2007 but I didn’t use it regularly until last year. I’d taken a couple stabs at it, but didn’t really get what it was about for a while. One of the first ways that I found to use Twitter was as a way of recording goofy quotes from my wife, which evolved into my #shitmywifesays hashtag, inspired of course by @shitmydadsays. These posts have been some of my most popular, though I have yet to be offered a sitcom.
I remember the first time I really felt like I was getting what Twitter was about. I was scrolling through a page with all sorts of comments from different people — jokes, news items, personal details, and I felt like the character Ozymandias from Watchmen, as he watched a huge wall of televisions tuned to different stations, scanning for overall patterns—getting a sense of the big picture that no one small picture could have given him.
Q: How often do you tweet?
Somewhat less often than I breathe. When I was working in tech support, I would post throughout the day. My day job has changed, but I at least check in on each break, as well as before and after work. Some people (like my wife) say I’m addicted to Twitter, but that’s like saying an alcoholic is addicted to his favorite bar. Sure, the bar may have a certain charm, but it’s the booze that keeps him coming back.
Q: In what ways do you use Twitter? (ie, connect with fans, stream of consciousness, craft one liners, react to current events)
All of those ways, in some sense. I don’t really have “fans” from outside Twitter the way Paul F. Tompkins or Peter Serafinowicz do, but some of my mutual followers are people that I met on other networks or even in “real life” (imagine that!) and it’s one more way to stay connected. I suppose I’ve gathered a number of fans on Twitter who like what I post, and it’s a nice way to communicate with people. I’ve stopped really paying attention to who starts following me on Twitter, so the people I notice are the ones who either re-tweet me or respond to me.
Stream of consciousness, crafting one-liners, and reacting to current events all describe what I like to do, as well as just noting things in my life — places I go, what I’m reading, etc. While some tweets certainly lean more toward one or the other of these roles, I don’t really draw firm distinctions. A current event can be the inspiration for a punny one-liner, a bad pun may be the jumping-off point for a serious observation about life. “Stream of consciousness” is an interesting phrase in this context, because what makes Twitter really rewarding for me is the sense that I’m joining in a collective stream of consciousness. Rather than just free-associating from one idea of mine to another, I am inspired by someone else’s line, and someone else in turn jumps off from mine.
There’s a rich tradition of pithy literary epigrams from writers as diverse as Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen, Nietzsche, George Bernard Shaw, E.M. Cioran, Wittgenstein, and James Thurber. Sometimes these have been plucked out of the context of longer works, others were written as standalone lines. In my more highfalutin moments, I aspire to be a part of that tradition, but I also know that inspiration has little to do with that kind of aspiration.
Recently, I’ve focused more on photography than writing. Twitter is a great way to share links to my photos, and to keep my verbal wit honed when I’m not working on longer writing projects.
Q: How did you get involved with WitStream? Have you found it's helped your career?
I hope I’m not betraying a confidence here, but I got a Twitter DM from Jason Mustian saying “WitSteam wants a piece of that ass. Congrats. (Remember though. Not on the first date)” So I gave Lisa Cohen a piece of this ass and it’s been Courvoisier, top-shelf caviar, and chocolate-dipped call girls ever since.
I don’t have a comedy/humor career as such, but I’ve made so many great contacts that when I finally get off my ass and move on to the next step, I can drop a line to novelists, TV people, journalists, comedians, photographers, and other cool people.
By Eric Fisher, Social Design, Facebook
In 2006, when I was just starting to get a feel for Web development, my first cousin Jesse Eisenberg (the actor) had come to me with a simple idea for site where people responded to a daily topic attempting to “one-up” him. He had bought the domain OneUpMe.com already, so I talked to him about the idea and then built the first version overnight.
Over the next two years, the site became only moderately popular among a small group of people, with no more than 30 posts per day. Despite a few improvements I made, I eventually had to shut the site down when I left school to take a design position at Apple.
At the beginning of 2010 I started working at Facebook and felt that, in conjunction with Jesse's starring role in The Social Network, it was a perfect opportunity to rewrite the site and use Facebook as the foundation. It relaunched at the beginning of August 2010 and since then has grown steadily to more than 3,500 users, with an average of more than 250 posts and 900 votes daily.
For me, the projects I create are never about the project so much as they are about the community. The best part of this game for me is how people who don't know each other can come together in the forum to discuss the game, people’s posts and the general philosophy. Using Facebook as the user base makes the site feel much more real and personal -- we show where people are from and where they work, so you can see creative directors in NYC interacting with waiters in Chicago or freelancers in Europe. Pretty fascinating to me. Over 25 percent of the site's traffic comes from 110 countries outside the U.S.
I develop and maintain the site entirely on my own, so I may enlist the help of a few friends as it grows. Maybe over time it'll expand and become a really smart and social gaming experience that builds relationships with people you may otherwise never get to interact with. For now it's just a hobby. :^)
Find Eric on Twitter @fishofthebay and fishofthebay.com
September 2010
Festival Report: Top Ten Reasons Comedy is Better than Music for Live Shows
I’ve been to a lot of music festivals and a lot of comedy festivals, and it was at Bumbershoot this year that I decided definitively that comedy is always more fun to watch when you are festing it up. Here’s why:
- You can actually hear and see the comics, as opposed to squinting at a tiny Lego-sized band performing that sounds as if a CD is being played from across a soccer field.
- Watching Doug Benson constantly being approached by people who want to get him high because they think he wants to (he does).
- Comics taking to Twitter to express their feelings about festivals- bands are too cool to do such things.
@joemande “Just told a very little girl in the front row that I was going to pretend she had Benjamin Button disease. #Bumbershoot #BadParents”
@chelseavperetti “Dear gang! How is everyone? I'm doing well camp is great. I love seeing stars and swimming but miss home. My cabin sucks. Bye”
@pattonoswalt “Clove cigarette? Really, Bumbershoot? Really, 2010?”
- There’s no ridiculous clapping for encores. A comic closes with his/her closer and then they are out- they don’t need you to beg them to keep performing.
- No one sums up how completely insane and otherworldly a festival is than a sharp-tongued comedian. We all need a reality check when we’re wearing face paint and consuming only beer and overpriced curly fries.
- Watching a podcast being recorded in front of a live audience is magical and perfectly captures what makes podcasts so damned compelling. Plus you can pretend like you live in the '40s and are attending an old-timey radio hour.
- A comedy stage is usually the only place at a festival where you can sit down.
- You don’t have to wait 45 minutes for the artists to decide the instruments are tuned up enough or the audience is psyched up and ready for the show.
- The Green Rooms are way more fun, way less dramatic, and filled with way less hair products.
- Seeing young, currently awesome artists like Chris Hardwick, Donald Glover, John Mulaney, Chelsea Peretti, and Kumail Nanjiani, rather than crusty legends that were amazing 30 years ago (ahem, Bob Dylan).
Emily Gordon is a therapist, freelance writer, and comedy producer, and doesn't find those three things to be incongruous. She is a contributor to several websites, including Lemondrop, TV.com, Guyspeak, and Premiere, and also writes for the manga Neko Ramen. She is also the proprietor of her own blog, Gynomite. Emily booked the weekly New York show Punch Up Your Life and worked in PR at the awesome comedy club Comix before her recent move to Los Angeles. She now has a tan.
