BREAKING: Sketch group Stella to play at the Keswick Theatre in November!

Sunday, November 30th, 7:30PM
Keswick Theatre, Glenside, PA
Tix $32.50 each, on-sale now!
Read more...

PLEASEEASAUR live at The Khyber, 9/23

Pleaseeasaur is a goofy song-costume-visual comedy onslaught that hit The Khyber's stage last Tuesday night. Imagine costumed characters singing and dancing in front of a visual projector about fake products like Bowl Noodle Hot (It's what the Japanese have loved for centuries), films like La Nights 2 (it's even hotter 'cause it's number 2!) and sometimes just the absurd ("Warning: These Cobras Are Totally Cool").

The band has a DVD, three albums (the most recent being 2006's The Amazing Adventures of Pleaseeasaur for Comedy Central Records) and numerous other tapes, but it's something that has to be experienced live. After a costume change behind the curtain, a stoner-type walks out in a ripped "King of The Remote Control" t-shirt. Time for some jokes about drinking and partying, right? Nope. Instead, the song is mostly an earnest list of things that you can do in your free time. Clip art images sync up with what the character is singing about, like "Threaten Some Kids", "Practice Your Home Run Swing", and the crowd's favorite: "Winning A Jazz Trophy". What?!

Creator J.P. Hasson has been doing it since the early 90s. During his high school years in the Seattle area, Hasson would mess around on his dad's Yamaha sequencer. "I would hang out and smoke pot in my parents' garage. I'd compose little MIDI things on it and then improv straight to tape." He continues: "I've always been a huge TV commercial and theme song junkie. When I would watch TV with my sisters, we would all watch the show and then I would watch them when the commercials came on. Just to see how they would react to certain things." That would explain the healthy amount of songs for fake companies like "No Prob Limo", "Pizza Brothers & Sons Inc.", and "Randy Normal Jeans". "They're real companies," Hasson says. "I own 117 companies. I figure if one can get off the ground..."

He's got a Philadelphia connection as well. J.P. first saw Philly's own Dead Milkmen at the age of 15. "Everyone classified them as a punk band, but I never thought they were a punk band. I just considered them a comedy-art band. So by self-classifying it as that, I got a lot more out of it as far as content and delivery." He became friends with the group and sent them his early Pleaseeasaur tapes, which they would listen to in their tour van and laugh at. When he got older, J.P. even moved to Philadelphia and was in a band with Dead Milkmen guitarist Joe Genaro ("Joe Jack Talcum").

What's next for Pleaseeasaur? There's a new DVD in the works, a West Coast tour with Joe Jack and he's done the theme song for a new Cartoon Network show. But J.P. will always enjoy performing live the most. It's also probably the key to his success as Pleaseeasaur has opened for stand-up comic Neil Hamburger and the indie rock bands Black Heart Procession, The Melvins, Man...or Astro Man?, Pinback and Presidents of the United States of America over the years. "I like doing records and DVDs, but I will and I do drive hundreds of thousands of miles to perform 40 minutes."
Read more...

BREAKING: Mike Birbiglia to perform at the Zellerbach Theatre 10/10, Tickets On-Sale Now!

Although the date announced previously, tickets are now available to see Mike Birbiglia at the Zellerbach Theatre on Penn's campus on Friday, October 10th.

Birbigs was last in Philadelphia this past November at Helium as a warm-up for his Comedy Central taping the next day in New York City. This time, he's got something different planned:

I’m doing an All-New show, plus some of the favorites from my two Comedy Central CDs, Two Drink Mike and My Secret Public Journal Live.

We will laugh, we will cry, but I will try to keep the focus on the laughing.

The new material consists mostly of long-form, narrative-based stories that makes up "Sleepwalk With Me", Birbiglia's new one-man Off-Broadway show that is set to debut in November (presented by Nathan Lane).

Over the years, Birbiglia's material has evolved from short bits (on his first two albums, Dog Years and Two Drink Mike) to longer stories (his latest album, My Secret Public Journal). He's always been funny, but the longer stories seem to connect more with his audience.

In a May interview on The Sound of Young America, Birbiglia talked about approaching stand-up comedy more as storytelling than just telling jokes, citing Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor as examples. In the longer stories of these comedians, there isn't quite as much reliance on a constant stream of laughter from short "bits" of comedy, rather, the laughter will come from jokes within a longer story. It's a more personal, almost monologue side to stand-up that can garner a stronger connection with the audience.

Birbiglia then went on to talk about "Sleepwalk With Me":

I have a sleepwalking disorder that's pretty serious and I actually almost died. It's a pretty intense story, but the first hundred times I told it, it did not receive laughter and then there was this tipping point where it started getting the most laughter out of anything that I tell. It's not on any album, but I get it requested a lot because it's a very long, involved, kind of epic story.

This year Birbiglia has been working on the material at UCB shows (recaps here and here) and a live recording from The Moth live show in New York City aired on the This American Life episode "Fear of Sleep". In the most gruesome of the stories from this recording, Birbiglia recounts jumping out of a hotel window to escape a missile attack that he was dreaming. He's vulnerable as he relates an event that is so out of his control, but he's self-effacing enough that the audience laughs instead of pities him.

And there's no doubt he'll have the crowd with him when he performs here in October.
Read more...

THIS WEEK: PHIT at the Shubin Theatre

It's time again for the Philly Improv Theater's week at the Shubin Theatre, 407 Bainbridge St., Philadelphia, PA 19147. For tickets, visit the Philly Improv Theater's website.



Wednesday, June 4
8 p.m. – Bedtime Stories: A Tribute To The Jersey Shore, $10. Sez the host Gregg Gethard:

From Sandy Hook to Cape May, New Jersey's coastline isn't just a place to go for a quick visit -- it's a different state of mind. The next installment of Bedtime Stories will investigate the in's and out's of going Down The Shore. Questions perhaps asked: What is the nutritional value of a zepolle? How many likenesses of dead gang members does the average boardwalk airbrush T-shirt stand produce per summer? How many post-prom sexual assaults occur at Seaside Heights motel rooms every spring? What are the best ways to cheat at mah jong at Atlantic City casinos?

Set to perform are:

Don Montrey
Secret Pants
Meg and Rob
Jamie Fountaine
Sixth Borough
John Kensil and friends
Two Of The Biggest Names in Entertainment

With music from Brooklyn's Emperor X!

Thursday, June 5
8 p.m. - TROIKA 2008 ROUND TWO Presented by PhillyImprov.com, in cooperation with the Philly Improv Theater, TROIKA pits three groups of three improvisers against each other. The groups choose their own format and the audience determines the winner. The winner of each of the three preliminary rounds goes on to battle in the Grand Championship in August. $10.
10 p.m. - CAGEMATCH: Angry People Building Things vs. The Merry Men. CAGEMATCH brings more competitive improv by pitting two groups against each other for 25-minute sets that can only use one audience suggestion. The audience decides the winner by secret ballot. $5.

Friday, June 6
8 p.m. – Lunchlady Doris with MakeOut Clinic, $10
10 p.m. – Sid Viscous with locals Industrial. $10. NYC's Sid Viscous are a house team at the People's Improv Theater. Will their stay in Philly prove to be as fruitful?

Saturday, June 7
8 p.m. – Sid Viscous with Lunchlady Doris, $10.
10 p.m. – Industrial with MakeOut Clinic, $10.

RELATED:
- Our past Bedtime Stories coverage including video, photos and interviews
- Interview with PHIT's founder Greg Maughan
- The wildly popular Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? tale by Bedtime Stories host Gregg Gethard
Read more...

TONIGHT: Die, Actor, Die at The Khyber

Tonight you've got plans: DIE ACTOR DIE ("It's a comedy show!") is at The Khyber (56 S. 2nd Street) with an interesting lineup. Kent Haines and Doogie Horner will be there with D.A.D. first-timers Anton Shuford, Jared Moskowitz, and musician Janice Rowland. It's all hosted by Don Montrey and starts at 8PM, 5

RELATED:
Doogie takes Literary Adventures and hosts The Ministry of Secret Jokes.
Kent's been filmed by us a few times.
Anton was the subject of our very first video in the very first post of this site (ugh, we cringe at the writing now).
Read more...

VIDEO: THE MINISTRY OF SECRET JOKES, 4/30

Ignoring the pleas of Doogie Horner of no recordings, we managed to covertly film the first Ministry of Secret Jokes show April 30th at Fergie's Pub in Center City. The night was full of funny stand-up comics, an Omniana battle between Pat Barker and Kent Haines, and more.

Next week we'll have some video of the battle and some more jokes, none of which are secret.
Read more...

RECAP: Todd Barry & Louis CK, 4/26

It was a rare night in the suburban Philadelphia town of Glenside. It's not every day that they get to see two of the country's best touring stand-up comics, Todd Barry and Louis CK.

The Keswick Theatre is a 1300-seat theater that without a balcony looks sort of like an auditorium. Alcohol was served in the lobby beforehand and the lines were long and lively.

After the opener, Todd Barry took the stage. As someone that records his albums in comedy clubs- his new one, From Heaven took place above a Chinese restaurant in Cambridge, Mass.- it was interesting to see him perform in a theater setting. And although the crowd was there for Louis C.K., Barry did well with his jokes about New York, Mick Jagger’s email address and performing in Alabama, amongst many others.

He seemed to enjoy combating with hecklers. Perhaps calling them “hecklers” isn't fair, they were more like guys in the audience yelling out stuff. As he went into a joke about giving food to the homeless, someone in the crowd yelled out “fuck that!” Barry gleefully made fun of the guy, which shut him up for a while. At some points there were multiple people yelling out, probably due to the alcohol served in the lobby before the show, but Barry coolly took care of them.

Last was, of course, the headliner Louis CK. Louis had been announcing the other acts from behind the curtain, so when it came time for him to perform he just walked out cold to loud applause. He had shaved off his beard for his work on Ricky Gervais' 'This Side of Truth'and right as he took the mic, the "fuck that!" guy yelled out asking why he cut it off. Because your mother asked me to, Louis replied, for when I am eating her out. Ok, good, he got that out of the way. There was more yelling out from the crowd later, but Louis easily shot down anything that came up. Witty remarks from the crowd included "you're lucky!" (yes, that was the name of his show, sir) and questions about why HBO cancelled the show (these people must not have known that that he's working on a new show for CBS). Someone yelled out "Billy Burr" at one point and Louis laughed. "You guys have such an institutional memory," he said. "Ben Franklin bombed here in 1762!"

Louis filmed a new HBO special, "Chewed Up", last month and its safe to assume that he performed some of that material Saturday night. His act mostly concerns his family but it is not "family-friendly". Instead, he's talks with piercing honesty about his relationship with his wife after two childbirths and the stress and struggle that come with those offspring. The anger and occasional resentment for his children that brews up has hit a nerve with audiences first with his HBO show "Lucky Louie" and then in his last stand-up special "Shameless" and there's more of that here. The difference now is that the extraneous topics have been cut out- nothing similar to his duck vaginas, Awesome Possum t-shirts or waiting in line material from the past. Instead he talks about mostly himself: how's he's getting fatter, how he doesn't really care about young women anymore as he gets older and his take on The N Word. The later is a far different viewpoint than fellow stand-up Chris Rock in his new act, who will also have a HBO stand-up special airing in the near future.

It all falls under the umbrella of a middle-aged guy that is really aware of where he is in his life, which seems to resonate with his audience. And while the way that he speaks of his daughters (aged 2 and 6) may be shocking to some, it rang true for that mostly middle-aged crowd at the Keswick Theater, when they weren't yelling anything out, that is.
Read more...

VIDEO: Animosity Pierre

Plundering The Archives: Animosity Pierre rappin' at the January edition of Die, Actor, Die at The Khyber. Totally Not Safe For Work.

Read more...

VIDEO: Comedy at an Art Show

What happens when four comics try to do comedy at an art show? Last month Doogie Horner, Andy Nolan, Chip Chantry and Steve Gerben performed at "Yummy", an art show about food during First Friday at the Nexus Gallery in Philadelphia.

Read more...

It's Coming...

Read more...

Kids In The Hall tour, will play Philadelphia

Via The Sound of Young America blog:

From the press release:

The 2008 tour, titled “Live As We’ll Ever Be”, represents a new era in the troupe’s collaboration, and is comprised of completely fresh material which simultaneously reflects who they are now and their patently off-kilter take on ordinary life. Favorite characters from the television series appear in entirely new situations, sharing the stage with new KITH personas which are destined for the same level of cult adoration. In a world where most entertainment tries to play it safe, “The Kids in the Hall” steadfastly refuse to follow the trend, preferring instead to slaughter sacred cows and look at the world – and each other – with refreshing honesty.

Join The Kathies, Headcrusher, the Sales Guys, Buddy Cole, and people you’ve never met before (but somehow recognize from your everyday life) on an adventure into the bizarre and side-splittingly funny.

Tour Dates as of March 7, 2008:

April 2008
4th – Merrillville, IN Star Plaza Theatre
5th – Milwaukee, WI Riverside
6th – Columbus, OH Mershon
9th – Austin, TX Paramount
10th – Austin, TX Paramount
17th – Boston, MA Wang Centre
18th – New York, NY Nokia Theatre
19th – New York, NY Nokia Theatre
20th – New York, NY Nokia Theatre
22nd – Houston, TX Verizon Theatre
23rd – Dallas, TX Nokia Theatre
24th - Kansas City, MO Uptown Theater
25th – Omaha, NE Civic Music Hall
30th – Philadelphia, PA Keswick Theatre

May 2008
1st – Providence, RI Providence PAC
2nd – Niagara Falls, NY Seneca Casino
4th – Baltimore, MD Lyric Opera House
8th – Anaheim, CA The Grove
9th – Los Angeles, CA The Orpheum
10th – San Francisco, CA War Memorial
11th – Portland, OR Arlene Schnitzer
15th – Seattle, WA WaMu Theatre
16th – Vancouver, BC Boulevard Casino
20th – St. Louis, MO The Pageant
21st – Nashville, TN Ryman TPAC
22nd – Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live
23rd – Clearwater, FL Ruth Eckerd Hall
24th – Atlanta, GA Cobb Energy Center
25th – Charleston, SC North Charleston PAC
30th – Detroit Royal Oak
31st – Cleveland, OH Playhouse Square

June 2008
1st – Green Bay, WI Weidner Center
Read more...

LIVE REVIEW: Chris Rock

Apparently, it’s time for Chris Rock to conquer stand-up comedy again. It’s been four years since his last HBO special “Never Scared” and for about the last year he’s been working on new material for another tour (dubbed “No Apologies”) and another run on HBO. Last week he was at the classy Academy of Music in Philadelphia for three shows.

Comic Mario Joyner started out the evening with a serviceable 20 minutes before pointing out the two turntables behind him and introducing…DJ Jazzy Jeff! Jazzy’s set with MC Skillz got the crowd amped up until Joyner returned to report, “ok, we’re going to take a 20 minute intermission now.”

The end of Jazzy’s set seemed like the perfect time to bring out Rock, but I’m going to assume he knows what he’s doing. And when he came out after a looooong twenty minutes break with his green “CR” logo on the screen, the crowd was again excited and on their feet. After all, it was Chris Rock.

Undoubtedly the audience was familiar with his stage persona: the pacing back and forth with the microphone in one hand and his other hand guiding the cord. And the sermon-like delivery that gets louder and faster as he gets his point across. But he’s not one to ride on reputation. As he told The New York Times recently, “Maybe for about three minutes after I walk onstage, they’re into my résumé. But after that it’s like, ‘What’s he got?’…”

So he makes sure he has good stuff and comes out right with it. He started out by talking about the upcoming election and quickly went through the candidates: John McCain (“Wasn’t McCain too old 10 years ago? I don’t want a president with a bucket list”), Hillary Clinton (“America is ready for a female president. But does it have to be that woman?), Barack Obama (“He’s cool, he doesn’t play up the black thing. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like he realizes that he’s the black candidate. He thinks he can win this thing fair and square”).

From there he went on to big ideas, broad themes and new rules that were relevant and unforced. Like the idea that there’s a difference between a job and a career, and the people with careers need to shut up about it to the people with jobs. Or on the only time that it’s ok for white people to say The N Word, which is destined to be a classic bit. There are plenty of comics that talk about race and gender relations and Rock is the best of them, but it’s his material on class that was most interesting. Like the rule that “the people with the most shit, get to say the least shit. And the people with the least shit get to say the most shit.” He also had some material about Walmart that was a change of pace for him.

While Rock can talk about broad themes, it’s the details that matter and make him funny. He’s got his delivery and timing perfected and not a word is wasted. His material can be silly when you least expect. And even when he talks about tired topics like steroids, Don Imus and prescription drugs, often he’s got a better take than any other comedian out there. He can do it all and he doesn’t overdo any of it.

He did an hour and a half, which will probably be around the length of next HBO special, and by the end the crowd was tired and satisfied. And even though he doesn’t quite manically prowl the stage in front of a 2900-seat theatre as he would for the Madison Square Garden, he puts on a great show. And he can still be powerful even if he doesn’t throw down the mic at the end like he used to.

Read more...

BILL COSBY: Wives, Adam & Eve and Turkey Bacon

There’s a scene in 2002’s documentary Comedian, about Jerry Seinfeld’s re-entrance into the world of stand-up comedy, where he’s sitting in a New York comedy club with Chris Rock. “I saw Bill Cosby three weeks ago,” Rock says.

“Really?”

“The best comedy show I ever saw in my life.”

Seinfeld’s mouth gapes, his eyes bug and he sincerely looks shocked.

“I took like 15 people,” Rock continues. “We had all seen him before. We only knew one bit. He did two and a half hours.”

They both laugh in disbelief.

“The best shit, Jerry,” Rock continues, ”I felt like a fucking fraud. What is this? What, I’m good? Who says I’m good? Who says any of us are good? Sixty-three and embracing it.”

“Did he have an opening act?”

“No.”

“So he took an intermission after…”

“No, he didn’t take an intermission.”

Again, Seinfeld looks shocked. “Two and a half hours straight?”

“Pow, pow, two and a half hours of killer shit,” Rock says. “Killer and it’s so much edgier now and mean. Oh, you’ve got to see it.”


Cosby’s seventy years old now and its been forty-five years since his debut comedy album. And even though he may be known to some for wearing his trademark sweaters on The Cosby Show, the pudding pops or, more recently, for his critical remarks towards African American families, he is, perhaps, a stand-up comedian before anything else.

And he’s still performing live. This past Sunday the 24th, he was at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey and he did two shows, three and seven.

In a way, he’s a monologist more than anything else. His act isn’t like most other stand-up acts in the traditional sense of setup-joke because it’s all so flowing and seamless. And, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone as relaxed and confident on stage. He wore a sweatshirt that said “HELLO FRIEND” in various colors and spent most of the show leaning back in a chair with his legs slightly spread - not exactly someone that is worried about what the audience thinks. Surprisingly, there were people in the front that talked to him between jokes, but it didn’t seem to bother him. Rather, he took the opportunity to engage and gently make fun of them. Like “I’m Bill Cosby, go ahead and try to be funny.” The interruption didn’t throw him off at all.


After one bit there was silence, and audience members yelled out topics for him to cover. “Teenagers!” one woman yelled.

“Do you think, if I wanted to go there…”

Instead, he talked about Adam and Eve, wives, turkey bacon, dentists and getting old. That last topic got me thinking about what Chris Rock said about embracing it. Cosby talked about how his wife was going to live to 188 “and still be looking good. Not me, I know I’m going to die. Because I get that feeling, when I walk, I feel people turning the lights out.” Even something so honest and piercing as this got a huge laugh, because at this point the audience was eating out of his hand.

It was the Cosby style. Totally clean and making fun of people (mostly his wife), yet not ever too mean-spirited. Like Richard Pryor, often it's him that's the idiot. Subtle phrases and turns of the story that relied on timing, pacing and the volume of his voice. And there’s no one else that is quite as good of a storyteller.

And yes, he really did five minutes on turkey bacon.

Later in Comedian, Seinfeld goes to see Cosby perform in Newark, New Jersey. Seinfeld is again incredulous that Cosby does two long theater shows in one night.

“Sure, sure, I love it,” Cosby replies. “I just love it.”
Read more...

VIDEO: Kent Haines at Die, Actor, Die

Live stand-up comedy from Kent Haines at last Monday's installment of Die, Actor, Die at The Khyber.

Read more...

Tim & Eric Awesome Tour Live Dates - April 23rd in Philly!

Apr 21: Cambridge, MA @ TT the Bears
Apr 22: New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom
Apr 23: Philadelphia, PA @ North Star Bar
Apr 24: Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle
Apr 27: Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
Apr 28: St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway
Apr 29: Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck
Apr 30: Austin, TX @ The Parish
May 2: Seattle, WA @ Neumo's
May 4: San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
May 5: Los Angeles, CA @ Echo Plex

Taken from Brooklyn Vegan
Read more...

VIDEO: Diz at Bedtime Stories

BEDTIME STORIES is a monthly show at the Shubin Theatre where performers do sketches, monologues, readings, or whatever else around one central topic. The topic for last month's show was dating and relationships. Luckily, pick-up artist Diz (aka Kent Haines) was there to give us a few pointers on how to get the ladies.

More video from the show later this week!
Read more...

Die, Actor, Die: Pat Barker

We end our Die, Actor, Die! week with the headliner of the evening, stand-up Pat Barker. It was difficult for me to decide what to include from Pat's set as it had a lot of solid stuff, so I made my mind up on his first 5+ minutes.

Thanks again to local comic Kent Haines for helping film this.

This week of video is something of an experiment here, so please email us at comicvsaudience at gmail dot com with your thoughts if you'd like.
Read more...

Die, Actor, Die!: Fred Siegel and The Funniest Waiter in Philadelphia

It's Thursday and we've got two Die, Actor, Die! videos for you. A twofer! A twofer Twohursday!

One of the great things about Die, Actor, Die! is that it's pretty open to whatever the performer wants to do. Here, Fred Siegel shares us a card trick and a few laughs too.

Also, the Funniest Waiter in Philadelphia was in attendance.




(If for some reason these clips don't load, hit refresh, Vimeo seems to be having a problem)

Tomorrow we seal it up with the stand-up comedy of Pat Barker.

Again, special thanks to local comic Kent Haines for helping film this.
Read more...

Die, Actor, Die!: Meg & Rob

Die, Actor, Die! week continues with sketch comedy from Meg & Rob. They performed two sketches that night and I (slightly) like this one more. I especially love how it isn't about much at all.

You'll be hearing and seeing a lot more of Meg & Rob in the future. They perform at Bedtime Stories and they recently performed their show "Reviving the Lecture Circuit" again.

Special thanks to local comic Kent Haines for helping film this.

Coming up tomorrow: Magic! Yes, magic!
Read more...

Die, Actor, Die!: Doogie Horner

I told ya there'd be funny stuff! Let's start off with the stand-up comedy of Doogie Horner.

Special thanks to local comic Kent Haines for helping film this.

Coming up tomorrow- sketch comedy from Meg & Rob.
Read more...