MEG AND ROB: Dan Henkle, Relationship Expert

(From their recent live show "These Modern Worlds")

RELATED: Meg & Rob set to perform at Welcome To The Terrordome Friday the 18th at The M Room (15 W. Girard Ave).
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RECAP: 'The Colbert Report' in Philadelphia, 4/16

We’re into the home stretch of ‘The Colbert Report’s coverage from Philadelphia and Wednesday’s show had a few surprises.

The show began with the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders having the audience spell out “T-R-U-T-H” and then dancing to the opening song. It’s really amazing what they have been able to pull off this week as far as guests and other local flavor considering that this is still just a comedy show.

More great stuff from Ben Franklin as the sidekick. Tonight’s proverb: “men and melons are hard to know”. A befuddled Colbert’s reply: “I guess melons were a bigger deal back in your day.”

After some Pope talk, onwards to talks of the Democratic debate held at the National Constitution Center Wednesday evening that was supposedly really freakin’ horrible and then Colbert addresses Bruce Springsteen’s endorsement of Obama. There were some boos from the crowd for this, is it because Springsteen is from Jersey? (An astute reader by the name of BEN observed that they were saying "BRUUUCE" and not booing. Duh. Our bad.) Colbert pointed out that while Springsteen has cred with blue-collar workers, “the bulk of his cred is now held in the cred vault of his twelve thousand square foot mansion. I believe he lives in Shadycred Acres. It’s a gated community.”

Then, more video Colbert out on the town. This time he’s at the National Constitution Center to take a tour. The guy giving the tour looked genuinely annoyed at Colbert pretending to be really dumb. Do these guys forget that it’s a comedy show when they go on? When they come across an exhibit of books stacked almost to the ceiling, Colbert remarks: “It looks like DNA made out of books. The building blocks of boring.”

The show ended with an interview with our great governor Ed Rendell. Rendell is supporting Clinton and is a “strategic expert behind the scenes” as well. He seemed to be a lot more relaxed and off-the-cuff than the other political guests during the week. When Colbert asked if he’ll have a Christmas wish list of Clinton is elected, Rendell simply replied “absolutely, I won’t lie to you.” Perfect place to finish the interview, no?

Thursday night: the last show of the week with very special guest Senator Hillary Clinton.
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INTERVIEW: Secret Pants

Secret Pants are one of the longest-running sketch groups in Philadelphia and this week is a busy one for them. On Wednesday they are hosting the Helium College Comedy Competition (full lineup) and on Friday they’ll be performing at Welcome To The Terrordome along with Meg & Rob, Rowan & Hastings, The Sixth Borough and Animosity Pierre at The M Room. Comic Vs. Audience recently caught up with Bryce Remsburg and Paul Joseph to talk about the upcoming shows, their history and professional wrestling.

How did Secret Pants originally form?

Bryce Remsburg: Originally there was a college class in the spring of 2004 at Temple. About six or seven or us met in the class and we were goofing off and hanging out all day. And at the end of the semester we said “hey, we enjoyed doing this, let’s keep it going.” So we met after the last day of the last class and we talked about stuff we like: The State, Kids In The Hall, stuff like that is what we had in common. So we decided to form a comedy troupe. The core people brought in some of there friends and we started meeting every Wednesday, which is what we still do four years later. The original working number was 15 or 16 people, which was completely unmanageable. Then once we started doing sketches, we came up with 13. And now we are down to eight or nine.

What are the advantages and disadvantages to such a large group?

BR: That’s the big disadvantage.

Paul Joseph: How hard it is to get everyone in the same room?

BR: And voting on things, all day we are emailing each other at work.

PJ: Yeah and when you have eight people to try to reach agreement with, it’s eight more people you get to disagree with first. And if there’s six point of contention to any argument, most people are not going to agree on all of those points, so eventually someone will have to settle on something that they don’t want to settle for. But that’s good, it’s healthy because we’ve gone this far and we don’t hate each other. Sometimes we think we do, but we don’t really.

BR: And we’ve got it down. After four years we know everyone’s strengths and weaknesses.

What was your comedy background before Secret Pants?

BR: Um, I took a class at Temple. (laughs) And I like watching [comedy].

PJ: I spent a lot of my adolescence indoors watching Comedy Central.

BR: Brian Kelly and Paul spent some time at the UCB in New York.

PJ: [We] both took classes at the UCB separately. Sketch writing is something that that needs to be worked on and workshopped, but not taught. And that’s what you’ll get there, they’ll teach you a few key things and then say “go get ‘em tiger” and that helps.

Secret Pants' latest video: “The Franklin Pleaser”
Bryce, you officiate pro wrestling?

I do. About six years ago a school opened up in Allentown that is now in Philly so I checked it out and thought it was pretty cool. I don’t wrestle because I’m not big and I’m kind of a pussy, but I do referee down at the New Alhambra in South Philly and I’ve been really lucky, I’ve been to Europe five times, California, Florida, I’m leaving for Indianapolis Friday morning. I’ve seen a lot of the world on someone else’s dime so it’s cool.

PJ: Wrestling is huge in Indiana and by proxy we are also huge in Indiana. Bryce was also in a Japanese wrestling magazine once.

BR: Yeah, and there’s a professional wrestler wearing a Secret Pants t-shirt on WWE.com.

PJ: Really?

BR: Yeah this guy Colt Cabana. I gave him a shirt once three years ago and he’s since moved to the big leagues.


So he likes you guys?

BR: Yeah, yeah. At the beginning I would sell t-shirts at wrestling shows just to get the word out. I’d give out stickers and pins and a lot of our press and website hits came from wrestling fans from the start.

PJ: We were doing a live performance at The Trocadero Balcony and these dudes showed up from Indiana, wearing Secret Pants shirts waiting in line before we showed up. That was pretty awesome.

BR: And they are a rabid fan base, so some of that has trickled down.

A Secret Pants classic: “Movie Trailer #1”
So let’s talk about the Welcome To The Terrordome show. Why did you want to put together a show with five sketch groups?

BR: Basically we think in large part to things like Die, Actor, Die and especially Bedtime Stories that just over the last couple of months there’s a great scene and a lot of funny people that no one knows about. So if all of these groups are on the same page and they’re all friends, which we are, we’re worth more as a group than we are individually. So we think all of these people are funny, we enjoy spending time and drinking with them, so let’s try something on a grand stage. There’s a bunch of improv groups and there’s a bunch of stand-up guys and there’s nothing wrong with that, but the sketch scene is really slept on and with a few things and some publicity it’s ready to bust out.

PJ: And it seems that there are younger groups coming in. We’re hosting a college competition at Helium and there are three or four sketch groups there and it’s great that we’re seeing them because the more the merrier. The whole thing is worth more than the sum of the parts.

Do you think there’s a certain style to sketch comedy in Philadelphia?

PJ: What I’m going to say is in having seen, I’m not speaking at all to improv, but I’ve seen enough sketch in New York and as a general rule, and this isn’t across the board, but per capita it’s not as good. And the reason it’s not as good as because you don’t have to work as hard. Philly hates you if you’re a performer.

BR: “Impress me, impress me.”

PJ: Yeah, “do something I’m going to like and I’m not going to give you anything unless you do.” Where in New York people will go out ready to laugh at pretty much whatever it is, so you can see a concept that will fucking tank here go over swimmingly in New York City. Because people want to laugh there. People going to see comedy in Philadelphia maybe went out begrudgingly and if you get them to laugh at anything it means you did a phenomenal fucking job.

BR: Yeah, half the battle is someone in Philly knows there’s sketch comedy. Seriously.

PJ: Right and if it’s not somebody that got dragged out…we actually had one show where a guy who was a comedy fan and purposely came out to see us was heckling during an entire routine. They don’t do that in New York City for a sketch group! No, it’s a theater audience, but here…this was at the Shubin Theatre, our second show there. This gentleman was visiting back home, looked through comedy listings, came and gave us a hard time. So on a per capita basis, sketch in New York isn’t as good because you can get away with more and people will laugh at you more and better and harder if they already think you are funny.


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TONIGHT: Helium College Comedy Competition

Tonight the Helium Comedy Club (2031 Sansom St.) will hold the College Comedy Competition featuring ten stand-up comics and four sketch groups of college students who will strive for their respective crowns. The night is hosted and judged by local group Secret Pants (new interview up!) and Animosity Pierre will also be performing. A crisp ten dollar bill will get you in. Set to compete are:

Stand-up:
Pat House - Temple University
Ryan Carey - Drexel Univesity
Katie Decker (won New Jersey's Funniest Female 2007) - Gloucester County College
Thomas Wilkerson - Philadelphia Community College
Steve Mohima - Temple
Jimmy Viola - Temple
Gordon Baker-Bone - Farleigh Dickinson
Steve Gerben (won Philly's Phunniest 2007) - Drexel
Adam Levine - Drexel
Brian Merusi - University of the Sciences

Sketch:
Bloomers - UPenn
Boy Meets Tractor - Swarthmore
Lighted Fools - Haverford/Bryn Mawr
Everyone Looks Better in a Paper Bag - Temple
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RECAP: 'The Colbert Report' in Philadelphia, 4/15

We’re back with more coverage of ‘The Colbert Report’ TV taping in Philadelphia in lieu of the Pennsylvania primary in less than a week.

Local hip-hop group The Roots opened the show with a shredding punk rock version of the theme song. With John Legend last night and The Roots tonight, is the show going to have a musical guest every night? Who’s lined up for the rest of the week? Hall & Oates? The Hooters?

Thankfully, Ben Franklin is back again as a sidekick of sorts on the side stage and thankfully he is quickly disregarded for talking silly.

The popular running segment ‘The Word’ returns. Tonight it was “tradition”.

Says Colbert: “Personally I love being condescended to. And so do the wonderful people of Pennsylvania.” And with that he produces a jersey of all four major Philly sports teams. Thundering applause.

Stephen Colbert the comedian works very hard to make sure he never breaks the character of Stephen Colbert the conservative political pundit. The whole show is based off of this premise. So you just have to love how Colbert can’t help but to grin at some of the jokes, in a way of saying “this one is pretty damn funny”. As he compared Clinton telling the tale of her father teaching her how to shoot a gun to Dick Cheney having a similar story, he couldn’t help smiling at the punchline: “only his [gun story] ends with shooting his father in the face.”

Time for a video segment! Colbert hits the streets to find out what Philadelphia is really about. He visits the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Why not the hidden secrets like Johnny Brenda’s or that one DJ night that no one has heard about?

Back to the steps of the Art Museum, but the show is smart enough to skewer the cliché of running up the steps. And no mentions of cheese steaks still.

Good Michelle Obama interview, but a little bland. Colbert took the opportunity to continue to plead for Barack to come on the show, we’ll see if it works.

After the last commercial break, The Roots closed it out with a Hendrix-esque version of the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ before smashing their guitars. And that’s it. No word yet on who the guests will be for Wednesday’s show (Clinton is set for the finale on Thursday).

RELATED:
Fantasy Philadelphia Guest if Stephen Had a Show in 1991
Mayor Nutter and Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation welcome ‘The Colbert Report’ to Philadelphia
Colbert on Larry King
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THE MINISTRY OF SECRET JOKES

Late last night we received an anonymous email that contained the two images below. The jokes have been redacted to the point that they are not funny at all.

Included was the message:

THERE ARE NO SECRET JOKES. IF THERE WERE SECRET JOKES, YOU CAN BET THEY WOULD BE PRETTY FUNNY--BUT YOU WOULD BE BETTING YOUR LIFE (AND YOU WOULD LOSE). WE KNOW YOU DID IT. STOP ROLLING YOUR EYES. WE DIDN'T WRITE THIS. SETTLE DOWN. START A FAMILY. OBEY YOUR THIRST.

MINISTRYOFSECRETJOKES.COM
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Eagles and Patton Oswalt Fans take note

Got some Eagles gear, a few free days, a yearning to be an extra in a movie and a love of Patton Oswalt. Comedy Central Insider has details on how you can help the cause:

The film is directed by former Onion editor Rob Siegel (he also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Darren Aronofsky film The Wrestler). Extras are needed to play Philadelphia Eagles fans, so if you have Eagles gear, so much the better.

It is not a paying gig (the film is being independently financed on a shoestring), but it includes beer and food, and Staten Island.

We need to fill up a sports bar in Staten Island this Wednesday and Thursday with rowdy football fans for a big scene.

Can you make it to the set to perform as an extra, for one or both days? We need people there from 9:30 am until 7 pm. We need the most people on Wednesday, but if you can make it both days, that's great. Please bring your friends too. Everyone is welcome!

This Wednesday and Thursday, from 9:30 am to 7 pm
Free lunch and dinner will be provided, and some free beers

Sharkey's Sports Bar
1221 Bay Street (between Hylan Blvd. and Maryland Ave.)
Staten Island, NY 10305
phone: 718-390-0339

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RECAP: 'The Colbert Report' in Philadelphia, 4/14

Finally the time has come for 'The Colbert Report' to report (hard “t”) from Philadelphia. And being that Comic Vs. Audience is a comedy blog for Philadelphia and The Colbert Report is a comedy TV show in Philadelphia this week, it makes sense to recap the show from the comfort of our own living room.

The set has always been important to 'The Colbert Report' and this live show was no different. There was a red, white and blue motif with a portrait of native son Bill Cosby and, to prove that he was in Pennsylvania, there was a map of the state behind Colbert.

The show opened with John Legend singing the national anthem with Colbert backing him up. We aren’t sure why you need the national anthem at a TV taping, but I guess if you can get John Legend, you do it.

For true Philadelphia flavor, Ben Franklin helmed the side map area spouting off silly proverbs such as “If your head is wax, don’t walk in the sun.”

Why Philadelphia, Mr. Colbert? “Pennsylvania will have a decisive voice in whether it be for the first time a woman or an elitist secret Muslim.” After a quick wrap-up of the Democratic race so far, Colbert addressed the recent Obama controversy with the best line of the night: “You don’t cling to your gun because you are bitter. You shoot your gun because you are bitter. Then you cling to it because it’s so nice and warm.”

After this wrap-up, Colbert got local by addressing Philadelphia’s violence problem and the five gun laws that Mayor Nutter signed last week. When the crowd applauded at this point, Colbert said, “Do you hear them? Do you hear them cheering guns?”

Then out came Nutter, waving and bowing so much that it took him quite some time to make it over to the desk. He’s a savvy, congenial guy, but we imagine he doesn’t have too much experience on late-night comedy shows.

When Colbert asked Nutter why he signed the laws, he replied, “because we don’t like people getting shot in Philadelphia.” Zing! Nutter is endorsing Clinton and as he stated his case for her being the most qualified candidate there was a single audible chuckle from an audience member.

And then Nutter was off. With Hardball’s Chris Matthews as the main guest, they really had to cram him in there.

Matthews is a native of Philadelphia, which earned him some applause right off the bat. When Colbert asked him how the candidates can please Pennsylvania, Matthews replied that they should “tell them that they’re not bitter.” Colbert replied that he doesn’t think people of Pennsylvania are bitter “and I’ve licked a few”. Matthews continued by saying that he thought Clinton had eight points over Obama, but now it was probably around ten.

Next, Colbert brought up the rumor that Matthews may be running for Arlen Specter’s Congressional seat in 2010 and proceeded to try to prod him into making an announcement that night. “Did you ever want to be something your whole life?" Matthews said. "Some kids wanted to be a fireman; I want to be a Senator. But I have to deal with these things as they come.” Not exactly an announcement, oh well.

The crowd was amped throughout, which was no surprise considering how lucky they probably felt to get in and Colbert had them eating out of his hand. After a brief discussion on ward bosses (they failed to mention that Obama recently told local ward bosses he won't give them street money), Colbert remarked that he was the ward boss for America’s youth. “Let me ask you something. Would you vote the way I told you to?” Thundering applause. “Then why won’t the candidates coming here?”

And that was it. The guest for Tuesday’s show include The Roots and potential first lady Michelle Obama. And, Colbert also promised that he would learn how to pronounce “Schuylkill”. We don’t want to predict anything, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that we could see Obama and Clinton on by the end of the week. Matthews brought up Clinton coming on later in the week, but it’s hard to tell if Colbert was bluffing or covering up with his “we like to surprise people with our guests” reply. Either way, the show is suspiciously not announcing any guests for the Wednesday and Thursday shows.

UPDATE: Clinton confirmed as a guest for Thursday's show! Turns out Matthews did spill the beans yesterday. Still nothing from Obama though.

The Daily Pennsylvanian is all over the story with an article here and another on Nutter's appearance here

More here as it develops!
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Chris Rock and Steven Wright do each other's material

From Comedy Central's Night Of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert for Autism Education

This was definitely the highlight of the night, which was often not that funny except for how loose it all felt because it was live.
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THIS WEEK: The Colbert Report in Philadelphia

In case you didn't know, The Colbert Report will invade our fair city of Philadelphia this week for coverage of the upcoming Democracy primary on April 22nd (don't forget). All shows will be live to tape at the Zellerbach Center on the University of Pennsylvania campus (3680 Walnut St). It's the first time the show has been out of their NYC studio:

"It's like doing the show all over again," said Colbert. "It's like October 2005 because it's a new set, new graphics, coming up with a new opening every night, trying to give everything special touches."

Special guests include John Legend (who will sing the "Star Spangled Banner"), Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (endorsing Clinton), Governor Ed Rendell (endorsing Clinton), Chris Matthews (Philly native; sez Colbert: “doesn't have half as hard a ball as I swing.”), Congressman Patrick J. Murphy (endorsing Obama) and rap group the Roots (new album out the 29th!). UPDATE: Potential first lady Michelle Obama to appear on Tuesday's show

Colbert has recently been immersing himself in Philadelphia culture including a segment on the show where he reveals the ingredients in a cheese steak. And a staff member, "Avery", has discussed Philadelphia fashion, Philadelphia slang and the best place for cheese steaks. For the record, we have no idea what the Philadelphia Tuxedo is.

But golly, we love our cheese steaks!

Tickets were announced during a show last month and were reportedly all snatched up by the late airing of that episode. On Craigslist, people are willing to pay upwards of $125 for a ticket even though they are supposedly non-transferable. If you are really desperate, Comedy Central Insider's got info on your last chance at standby:

Individuals may sign up for standby tickets at 10am in front of the theater the day of the taping. Sorry, we are not able to guarantee entry. Standby ticket holders will then be able to leave and return back at 6:15pm. Standbys are only let in if there is room after general ticket holders. Everyone attending must be at least 18 years old and have a valid government issued photo ID.

Hey, Mr. Colbert, have anything else to say about Philadelphia?

Well, first of all, Philadelphia's an easy place to go, and it's got plenty to talk about. It's got Founding Fathers, it's got Ben Franklin, it's got the Liberty Bell, it's got Independence Hall ... It's got plenty of fodder for my character. And ... it's the closest city in Pennsylvania to New York. It's an easy trip. And the cheesesteaks.

"Plus, it's just across the river from Camden, New Jersey!"

UPDATE: Hey, I've been to the Arden Theater...

My wife performed down there. It's not completely unknown space to me. And my character's happy to claim he grew up there.

More later as we're pretty sure this is one of those "developing" stories.
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KIDS IN THE HALL: Controversial Opening

The Kids in the Hall plan for their national tour...and decide on a controversial opening.

Don't forget they'll be at the Keswick Theatre on April 30th!

RELATED: The Onion AV Club interviews the kids
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Your assassination-free comedy news of the week

Pictured: President Garfield getting assassinated

The Flight of the Conchords are coming to the Tower Theatre on May 5th and tickets go on-sale tomorrow at 10AM. Their debut album will be released on April 22nd via Sub Pop Records.

Artie Lange quits The Howard Stern show and Punchline Magazine has posted the audio. No word on the official Howard Stern website yet.

"The Daily Show" correspondent and creepy guy on Curb Your Enthusiasm and in The Ten, Rob Corddry, will play press secretary Ari Fleischer in Oliver Stone's upcoming biopic W.

A bunch of NYC comics went down to the New Orleans Comedy and Arts Festival. Recaps here and here.

During the recent WFMU marathon, the guys at the Seven Second Delay show (praised here) were waterboarded for pledges. They were suspended by the FCC for the next two shows, not because of this, but because host Andy Breckman said a naughty four letter word on-air. So: waterboarding ok, swearing, not.

Bob Odenkirk will play Mike Birbiglia's older brother in his pilot "Mike Birbiglia's Secret Public Journal". In the same article there's a brief mention of The State's Ken Marino starring in "Outnumbered", a new pilot for Fox.

So I guess it's pilot season? Odenkirk's other new show, "David's Situation", will be filming live in front of a studio audience in May.

Totally random list of the Top 50 Comedy Sketches of All Time. Ok.

The Onion's A.V. Club interview Kids In The Hall. All five of them!

If you're really desperate to see The Colbert Report here next week, here's what you can do. And don't forget your daily dose of cheese steaks at the Liberty Bell with the Rocky theme in your head! Because that's what we all do, right? Seriously, we love cheese steaks so much sometimes we wear them as hats. And every morning we jump out of bed to the bold chimes of the Liberty Bell to run up the Art Museum stairs! We also work in meat factories and enjoy flying our kites in thunderstorms. You know, Philly stuff.
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