INTERVIEW: Anton Shuford

Besides featuring weekends at Helium, local comic Anton Shuford has been working on a new web show called "Illanights" for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation's website Uwishunu.com ("you wish you knew"). We caught out with Anton in the end of 2007 at Helium to find out what it's all about. The first episode debuted this week.















What happens on the show? Where do you go?
Basically we'll go out to different bars in Philadelphia, different restaurants. And the camera follows me around and we'll see what kind of trouble we can get into, but pretty much we highlight different bars and clubs in the city.

How many episodes will you be doing?
We're going to be doing eight episodes. It's a web show, five minute episodes but because you have to go out and party, it takes all night to do it.

How did you get involved in the series?
The production guy saw me do comedy once and we formed a friendship and we played cards together a few times. He pitched the idea seperate from me, but he pitched the idea with me in mind so once the company seemed like they were going to go for it, he asked me if I wanted in and made sure I was on board.

How is it different than stand-up?
This is much easier than any stand-up you have to do because stand-up is an art or a skill that requires immediate response. This doesn't really require that, it's just you going out, you want to be funny, you want to meet people but you just got to be fun for this project. Where stand-up you have to be funny. [With the show] you just have to smile a lot and be friendly and that makes the show go. There is some hosting in the sense that I tell people where we're going, what we're doing and why we're here.

Are you trying to make jokes too?
You do some jokes, some timing, but because the show is a mass amount of film that has to be cut down and edited down, whether it's funny or not is really up to the editor, not up to me. Where as at the time it's really up to me to make things happen. The editors, they have to judge what they think is funny and want to use, it makes it a little more PC.

So you're not part of the editing process?
Maybe, I might be part of the editing, we'll see. I'm lobbying to be part of the editing.
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THIS WEEK AT HELIUM: Dana Gould

Thurs - 8:00PM
Fri - 8:00PM & 10:30 PM
Sat - 7:00PM, 9:15PM & 11:30PM
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VIDEO: The Ultimate Warrior Reads Transcripts from the Rush Limbaugh Radio Show

In 1990 the Ultimate Warrior was the World Wrestling Federation Champion, but in 2008 he's a political pundit that does college tours.

(By Gregg Gethard)
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Classic Bits: "Black Nationalist" by Richard Pryor

This week's classic bit comes from Pryor's 1978 album Big Ben The Blacksmith. The details on this record are very cloudy and the only thing on the internet I could dig up was from the wikipedia entry of Laff Records:

Pryor released only one album for Laff, Craps (After Hours), with his direct participation, then later signed a deal with the larger Stax label. Laff sued Pryor after Stax released That Nigger's Crazy in 1974; the case was settled when Laff gave Pryor his freedom in exchange for being allowed to compile albums from recordings they made with Pryor between 1969 and 1973.

In 2002 Richard Pryor and his wife/manager Jennifer Lee Pryor won the rights to all of Richard's Laff masters and raw tapes in a court case. The Pryors then gave free rein to Rhino Records to go through the tapes and make an anthology that included the entire Craps (After Hours) album and the best of other Laff releases. The results were released in 2005 on the 2-CD set Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (1966-1974).

This explains the cheesy album cover and horrible editing of this record. Often the audience laughs and applauds uproariously in places that don't seem right and certain parts of a bit are simply cut out. But even so, in this bit Pryor mocks six different characters as they discuss religion on television and not even the Black Nationalist is safe.

So at the risk of looking like someone else taking advantage of Richard Pryor, here it is. This is a vinyl rip, so please excuse the scratchiness.



In 1994 the album was re-released on compact disc by Polygram/Island and in 2005 Pryor sued the Universal Music Group claiming that they were selling 11 of his recordings without actually owning the rights.
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Our Top 5 Stand-Up Albums of 2007

We figured two weeks into the new year would be the perfect time to post our list of our five favorite stand-up albums of the year.

In case you didn't know, comedy is in a really great place right now. Websites like Superdeluxe and Funny Or Die are putting out quality videos, blogs like The Apiary are covering the underground scene for people that aren't lucky enough to live in the hot spots and A Special Thing started a great record label. And maybe more importantly, there isn't so much stand-up on television that it is becoming watered down.

This list could've been longer, but after five it became too arbitrary. So honorable mentions include: Steven Wright's I Still Have A Pony, Michael Ian Black's I Am A Wonderful Man, Jen Kirkman's Self Help, Jonah Ray's This Crazy Mixed Up Plumbing (technically an EP) and Flight of the Conchord's The Distant Future (also just an EP).

5. Mike Birbiglia - My Secret Public Journal Live (Comedy Central)

There aren't many good storytelling comedians around, but Mike Birbiglia is one of them. While his first two albums consisted of short, quick jokes, My Secret Public Journal Live is made up of longer first-person stories he started telling on the Bob & Tom radio show. Birbiglia can connect with his audience so well that by the time he says "before I tell you this part of the story, to remind you, that you're on my side", its kind of redundant.

4. Comedy Death Ray (Comedy Central)

It's a little unfair to put L.A.'s answer to Invite Them Up on here because it's a double-disc, but if you were to condense the best tracks down to one CD it would make the cut. My favorite tracks include: PFT (great stuff that wasn't on his album!), Todd Glass, Hard N Phirm, Neil Hamburger, Jimmy Pardo (razor scooter!), Nick Thune, Reno 911 and Andy Daly. The Andy Daly character is so hilarious that it's worth the price of this alone. It should be illegal to just post it on the internet because that would be spoiling the surprise.

3. Patton Oswalt - Werewolves & Lollipops (Sub Pop)

Because he talks about things that no one else does. Who else has material about the 20 birthdays you are allowed to celebrate, crazy chefs of four-star restaurants, or physics for poets and make it hilarious? Plus, "Wackity Schmackity Doo!" is one of the funniest things I've heard this year and the "Gatekeepers of Coolness" really struck a chord with me as there was a guy where I grew up that had the same effect on me. His name was Dr. Rock.

2. Michael Showalter - Sandwiches & Cats (Jdub)

The first time I listened to this album I didn't really get it. Perhaps I'm just not smart enough. I thought it was pretty good, but nothing really jumped out at me. But luckily I listened to it again and it hit me like a ton of bricks in my big, dumb head. Although not all stand-up, songs with his band The Dollies and studio bits are included, there's enough for it to make the list. There are subtle things here that most other albums lack, like the quiet delivery of "jumpy legs" on "Requip". A lesser comic would really play up that line in an attempt to get a big laugh, but for Showalter that's just the beginning.

1. Paul F. Tompkins - Impersonal (AST)

Because everything on here is funny. Lines like "here's how rich I am" and "I'll tell you this for free" get me every time. And because his peanut brittle bit is so incredibly obvious yet hilarious no matter how many times you hear it. And this is all material he doesn't do anymore!




And although we won't make lists for these, The Ten was the funniest movie of the year and Louis CK's Shameless was by far the best stand-up special of the year.
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VIDEO: Animosity Pierre at Bedtime Stories

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RECAP: Bedtime Stories, 1/9

This month's Bedtime Stories at the Shubin Theatre was a marathon affair with 16 acts of sketch, stand-up and monologues based around the theme of politics. Highlights:

- Roger Weaver started out the show with, of course, political jokes. He took shots at William Howard Taft, Ross Perot and finally as he got more contemporary, our wonderful current president. He stressed that we should go to the National Constitution Center although "the problem with the framers of the constitution is that they had such a pre-9/11 worldview".

- Matt Lally and David Terruso of Animosity Pierre performed a mayoral debate between Jim Jimelson (sp?) and Jim Jimelson with a shocking ending.

- Pat Kelly played a stay-at-home dad trying to do political humor like the late, great Bill Hicks.

- It was around this time that the host, Gregg Gethard, had ballots passed out. Being "major proponents of democracy", the audience was allowed to vote on what next month's theme would be: GIRLS GONE WILD, A TRIBUTE TO ALYCIA LANE or FUCK COMCAST. GIRLS GONE WILD won by a narrow margin.

- Chris Morganti as Dennis Miller moderated a 3rd party presidential debate between local stand-up comics John Kensil and Mike Rainey with some dead-on hilarious asides:

"Everyone here knows you guys have enough chance of winning this election as Paris Hilton has of discovering the Unified Field Theory, alright?"

"Bush refused to fund stem cell research, which made him look like some kind of Tyler Durden Neo-Luddite, right? But he also said that we are going to the moon. Which is great because we'll get there five years after the Chinese. Which is great because the first thing you want after a long journey is a number two combination plate with egg roll, right?"

- The Ultimate Warrior (Gregg Gethard), former WWF Intercontinental Champion and political pundit, read a transcript from a Rush Limbaugh's radio show as well as talked trash on "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig.

- Secret Pants performed a sketch about an unique way to bring people into a struggling town.

- A 7th grader from St. Rose of Lima in North Wales, Little Miss Jaime Fountaine, read her speech for re-election as class treasurer that detailed her successes, controversies and the backhanded politics of middle school government.

- Blaze Brewster discussed who would win the presidential election if decided by physical competition in the Thunderdome.

- Meg & Rob performed a sketch as a romantic couple that write signing statements for their date, just like President Bush does for congressional bills.

- Councilman Kent Haines read the minutes from last week's town council meeting where "allegations were made, feelings were hurt and several members of the town council were seen weeping."

- And Don Montrey, host of Die, Actor, Die! (next show is the 21st at The Khyber), told some jokes that he wrote for the political show This Is The Week That Is.

The show was awfully long at two and a half hours, but then again you're also getting a bang for your buck ($5). The next show is Wednesday, February 6th and the theme is GIRLS GONE WILD, A TRIBUTE TO ALYCIA LANE.

COMING UP LATER THIS WEEK:
- Video from Bedtime Stories at the Shubin Theatre
- An interview with local comic Anton Shuford
- The Top 5 Stand-Up Albums of 2007
- Dana Gould at Helium
- Another Classic Bit
- Maybe some more stuff!
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How To Beat Myspace Comedy

This post of Dan's is pretty great as well as this Doug Stanhope blog post which is he links to.
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BEDTIME STORIES: "Power is the Ultimate Aphrodisiac"

Bedtime Stories is a monthly comedy show at the Shubin Theatre where performers can do something, anything, around a topic. This month's topic is politics and going up on stage are:

Secret Pants
Meg and Rob
Animosity Pierre
Sixth Borough
Kent Haines
Don Montrey
Petey Celona
Mark Dames
Charles Rosen
and more

Wed. Jan 9th, Shubin Theatre (4th & Bainbridge), 8PM, $5
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Classic Bits: "You Can't Get Bitter" by Bill Hicks

Bill Hicks is one of my favorite comedians ever. Not only was he incredibly honest, brave and unique, but he could write a great joke. That's not a backhanded compliment. Rather, it's easy to spout unconventional ideas, but it's difficult to always make it funny. Bill could do that no matter if he was talking about far-out politics, conspiracies or amazing drug trips. But he also had jokes about the beach and how moths were always attracted to light.

This bit is from the 2002 compilation Love, Laughter and Truth.



Love, Laughter and Truth is a collection from Hicks' personal tapes that weren't intended for public consumption. In most of them, like this one, he isn't killing and sometimes the crowd is yelling out at him. At the beginning of this bit he starts slow and seems to dig himself a hole. But as he sets the scene and it becomes more descriptive and grotesque, the laughs and moans come rolling in. These aren't just standard punchlines but incredibly dense turnings of phrase until the applause at the end.
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A Small Piece of Steve Martin, Pt. I

A Small Piece of Steve Martin is a new reoccurring piece in which we analyze a passage from his book Born Standing Up.

Page 181:

"...and the laughs, rather than being the result of spontaneous combustion, now seemed to roll in like waves created far out at sea."

Often the reaction of a large theater audience doesn't sound like laughter but just a rush of energy. In a live recording you may only be able to pick out a few individual laughs, maybe because a guy was sitting close to a microphone. How powerful it must be to have the ability to create the same instantaneous response from thousands of people just from talking. And to have the ability to experience that moment of silence between saying that last word and the noise crashing towards you. And how depressing and draining it may become to have to do so every night.
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Conan's First Writers' Strike Show (Beards)

I didn't catch all of Late Night w/ Conan O'Brien last night, but what I saw from his monologue to the first guest (Bob Saget) was pretty good. He's obviously a funny guy and his ring spinning bit was conceptually hilarious as he was literally counting the seconds until the first guest. And the video of him in the office was great, but how many times can he go back to that?

You'd figure it will wear thin eventually. Perhaps this is all part of Roger A. Trevanti's plan to bring the stars over to their side: cut their legs from underneath them and wear them down. That and not letting them shave may crack them.

If there's any silver lining at all to this (and there really isn't, it sucks) it's that there's some spontaneity back on television. Conan can thrive in this type of environment because he can be goofier and more self-deprecating than the rest. I would love to see his show turn into awkward improv scenes (with Max?) and interviews with fake celebrities.

The NBC "bug" (small watermark with the channel's logo) during the show was downright creepy. It was the words AMERICAN GLADIATORS and the Olympic rings incorporated into the NBC logo. Maybe I don't watch enough television, but I've never seen a network do that. It's usually cable channels like TLC that put up annoying bugs to promote shows like Your House Is So Dirty Tues. 9/8C. It was a not-so-subtle reminder of what they've got in store for us if this strike doesn't end: physical competitions that no one cares about!

Hopefully the strike will end soon, as I don't want Letterman looking like Walt Whitman.
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