This past Sunday I performed at a great place in Queens, NY called The Creek and the Cave.
This is an amazing comedy theater that really helps up and coming, and in some cases totally professional, comedians develop their material. It is far from a “safe” place to perform, by which I mean the crowds and the comics are completely honest. When things aren’t good, no one pats you on the back. But when you write a good joke, this place does not hesitate to let you know. Because of this, it makes for a great place for comedians to work on things.
It’s also a fantastic place to go and see a free comedy show in New York. They make their money by having a great menu and an even better staff, and as a result they can offer free shows in their theater space.
I’ve seen many an amazing comedian at this place, including Colin Quinn, Judah Friedlander, and Myq Kaplan.
But they weren’t performing on Sunday, June 9th. I was.
My friend James Ferrarella booked me on his show, Froduce, for the third time since moving to the city. Truth be told, this is really the only show that books me at The Creek and the Cave, but I couldn’t be happier about it. It’s always an amazing experience!
For the past few months I’ve been trying to get a new video to send out to bookers/festivals/etc. Easier said than done. Sometimes there would be no audience at a show, or bad lighting, or I would end up doing mostly crowd work which (although enjoyable in the moment) doesn’t look very polished on video.
But finally, Froduce produced the perfect storm for a good set. I was in a good mood, the room was filled with a great audience, and for the first time in a while I felt prepared.
I’ve been doing stand up for just over 3 years now. In that time I have made alot of sacrafices, the biggest one being my free time. I write for hours every week and perform constantly in hopes that I’ll get better at comedy. Lots of times, this can lead to discouragement and feelings of “Why am I doing this?” or “Is this worth it?”.
But recently I’ve been doing pretty well. Things are starting to click that hadn’t before, and I finally feel like I have a reason to be doing this. I feel like I’m not just wasting my time. I’m figuring out ways to express my opinions while being both funny and entertaining. My set on Sunday really proved to me that my hard work has been paying off, and I’m not just spinning my wheels expecting to go somewhere.
Thankfully I had enough confidence in myself that night to set up my camera. You can watch my full set right here:
I’m incredibly proud of this set and hope that you all enjoyed watching it. If you could do me a favor, please share your favorite jokes from it. It’ll (hopefully) help more people become interested in my comedy. Here are the direct links to the individual videos:
It’s been a while since my last blog post. For those of you who actually enjoy reading these, I’m sorry. I’ve been very busy these last few months.
For starters I was doing some travelling in Europe with my girlfriend. I had never been to Europe before, but in one week we managed to see Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. It was nice to get out of New York for a while and just relax. In Europe, I wasn’t a comedian. I was just a tourist trying to see everything I could. It was a nice break from my life and it let me get out of my own head for a few days, which in turn helped me to write several pages worth of new material that I’ll hopefully be able to make funny over the next few weeks. So far I have one new bit that has been working well, of the 7 or so that I wrote down. If I can get it up to snuff before my next show, I’ll try to get a new video of it.
Ignoring Salzburg to write airplane jokes.
A few week’s ago I had a great set at a show at Karma Lounge in NYC. My friends, Katie Haller and Dave Neale, run a monthly show on the first Friday of the month (if you’re ever in the area), and I had one of my best sets of the past 3 years of doing stand up. Luckily, they had a camera rolling and I was able to get a couple of clips out of the show.
But that’s not what I came to tell you about.
I came to talk to you about one of my favorite composers, Igor Stravinsky. I guess that this week is the 100th anniversary of the first performance of his most famous work, The Rite of Spring. Coincidentally, I also started reading his autobiography, which he wrote about mid-way through his long career in 1936.
Although I am only about 40 pages into the book, I already feel like I’m getting a sense of who Stravinsky really was, at least at that stage of his life and career. The first section of the book focuses on art, and what helped him to develop as an artist early in his career.
For starters, Stravinsky studied under the great Russian composer, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who was considered to be one of “The Five” greatest composers of Russia. When Stravinsky, the student, first met Rimsky-Korsakov, the master (who was the father of one of his classmates), he was advised to have his work and development supervised with private lessons. Rimsky-Korsakov did not immediately praise the young Stravinsky, but he did recognize his talent. Stravinsky says, in his autobiography, that although he was disappointed in Rimsky-Korsakov’s apparent lack of enthusiasm, he was comforted by the fact that he had encouraged him to continue studying composition, implying that he had the potential to become a great composer.
This section of the book could easily have been written by a great comedian. Not everyone who attempts to be a comedian has the talent to do comedy. Few people have the raw talent and potential to begin doing comedy, and fewer still take the time to hone their craft and develop themselves as an artist. As a young comedian, it’s easy to get an inflated ego. You have one good set and suddenly you’re runnin’ these streets, you’re the king of the mountain! But you’re not. You’re just some lucky kid who had a lucky set. It doesn’t mean that you’ve become a great comedian, but it does mean that you have the raw, base materials that are needed to build yourself as a comedian.
No comedian is just handed a career. Even comics like Bo Burnham or Aziz Ansari, who both found success very young, only got to where they are now because someone gave them a chance. Someone saw that they had the base materials and potential and literally took a chance by offering them a stage to develop that potential into something real.
Not everyone has this potential. If you’re an aspiring artist (musician, comedian, painter, whatever!) and someone gives you the chance to develop your craft, it’s up to you to take it. Feel encouraged by the fact that someone is recognizing your talent, but let that encouragement fuel your development. An artist can only improve by moving forward.
You can also feel encouraged by the fact that not everyone is cut out for what you are trying to accomplish. Stravinsky had Rimsky-Korsakov’s stamp of approval, but not everyone who brought a score to the master composer received the same response.
The story was told of a young doctor who came to show him his compositions and ask for advice. Having learned that he was a doctor, Rimsky-Korsakov said: “Excellent. Continue to practice medicine.”
Another important point that Stravinsky makes, is that an artist needs to learn technique first. An artist must work within some sort of framework and not just have (as Stravinsky puts it) a technique in the void. I had a music teacher in high school who used to say, “You have to learn the rules before you can break them.” Every avant-garde composer started out by learning scales, harmony, and basic composition skills. Only after mastering the basics could they move on to develop their art as they wanted.
The same rule can be applied to comedians. I think I’ve said this before, but I am amazedwhen I talk to a fellow aspiring comic who doesn’t listen to comedy. What?! How?!
How can you expect to learn how to do comedy without consulting the masters? How can you expect to understand how comedy works without studying (yes, studying!) Bill Cosby, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Robert Klein, Rodney Dangerfield or any of the other true masters of comedy? As a beginning comedian in 2013, how can you expect to advance your art if you don’t watch what John Mulaney, Kyle Kinane, Hannibal Buress, or any of the other rising giants of comedy are doing?
I’m willing to bet that J.J. Abrams watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind before he made Star Trek. And I’m willing to bet that Cormac McCarthy was familiar with Hemmingway’s writing before he wrote Blood Meridian. The only way art can progress is if you study what’s been done, and then take it from there. Comedians who don’t study the old won’t be able to do anything new.
We’re lucky that Stravinsky’s art was music, as his work was some of the finest to come out of the 20th century.
Alexander Glazunov: The John Mulaney of turn of the century Russian music?
But I think that Stravinsky could have easily mastered the art of comedy. He had a real student mentality, and understood the importance of studying the old and new masters of music. Not only did he study the old masters, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky, but he was also excited to hear new work from the younger composer, Alexander Glazunov.
I think that might be the most important trait for any artist: always be learning.
I always assume that I know nothing, which allows me to be open to suggestions and new lessons. Of course you never want to steal from another comedian, but I think it’s necessary to study what’s been done already. How can you be an original if you don’t know what’s been done already?
If this blog serves any purpose, it’s to record my own thoughts as I evolve my art. It’s like a diary that I’m willing to share with the public. Some things I can figure out on my own, some things I need to study a master in order to understand. I had opinions a year ago that are the complete opposite of how I think today, and I’m sure that my opinions about the craft of comedy will continue to change and evolve.
When you have that student mentality, the only thing that won’t change is that you’ll always be changing. And it is from that constant change that your art will evolve. Hopefully. Maybe. We’ll see what I think a year from now.
Last night I got to see something I have been trying to see for a few years now. I got to see Bill Cosby perform live. Not only was it one of the best comedy shows I’ve ever been to, it was easily one of the most eye-opening comedy performances I’ve ever experienced.
Bill Cosby coming to New York City is a big deal. For some reason he rarely, if ever, performs in the city. According to the theaters website, it had been years since he last performed in New York City. Last night he (technically) broke that streak by performing at the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College in Flushing, Queens. This was a monumental event, because I think Cosby officially dethroned the current King (or Queen) of Flushing Comedy.
To get to the show, I had to travel quite a ways. Flushing is barely part of New York City. In fact, I think it’s barely part of the United States. I got on the 7 train and rode all the way to the last stop. Then I got on a bus and rode 14 stops to Queens College, in a part of Flushing where it’s hard to tell where NYC ends and Long Island begins. Was it worth the trip? You bet it was!
I went to the show with my girlfriend and my roommate, both of whom you might sort of know from my web series, The Worst Landlord. We found our seats way in the back of the auditorium and waited. The president of the college came out to introduce the evening’s entertainment. ”Is Bill Cosby back there?” he shouted to someone behind the curtain. ”Yes!” was shouted back. I don’t know what it was, but the way Bill Cosby shouted the word “yes” was immediately hilarious.
The president of Queens College then gave Cosby a sweatshirt with the school’s name and logo on it. ”Is this your place?” asked Cosby. ”Yeah, this is my place,” replied the president of Queens College. If he was trying not to smile he failed, and so did all of us in the audience. I don’t know how he did it, but Cosby managed to be funny before the performance even began.
Finally, the show started. Bill Cosby took his seat on stage. He had an elegant, leather chair with a black side table next to it. The side table had a box of tissues and a bottle of water. Everything sat on top of a nice oriental rug. It was like he had invited us into his living room.
I think that best describes Cosby’s style. He just talks to you like you’re a couple of old friends catching up in his living room. He took us through his childhood in the projects of Philadelphia, he took us through his teenage years spent in the navy and chasing girls, and he took us through his life as it is now as a 75 year old man.
I’m not exaggerating when I say that this was one of the best comedy shows I’ve ever been to! I expected him to be good, he’s Cosby after all, but I had no idea that he still had “it”. Any time Cosby makes a late night appearance, a lot of people say that people only laugh at him because he’s Cosby. Like he’s only coasting on his celebrity status. They couldn’t be more wrong.
Cosby excretes funny out of his pores. I don’t think he can help it, he’s just become a naturally hilarious person. Few can do this. Bill Cosby and Steve Martin are two of the only entertainers that come to mind who can just be funny. The room was full of senior citizens, little kids, and everything in between, and yet he made everyone laugh. His timing was impeccable! His ability to control a room is something to be marveled at and studied by psychologists. I don’t think there’s ever been a politician with the kind of public speaking ability that Bill Cosby has developed.
George Carlin passed away at age 71, after releasing comedy special after comedy special every single year. Bill Cosby is currently 75, and after seeing him last night I wouldn’t be surprised if he lived to be 175. He doesn’t have the catalog of George Carlin, but he does have the stage presence and mastery of the craft of comedy that can only be seen by a comedian who’s done it for so long.
I’ve heard the majority of Cosby’s albums and specials, and most of his set last night was made up of material I had never heard before. Occasionally he would do an older joke, but with new parts added to it. I think it’s incredible and inspiring that he never stopped working on his craft. He brought back a piece of material that he wrote when he was 49 (which I only know because the special was called 49) and he had added jokes to it over the course of the last 25 years. I know comedians who have been at it for 5 years and haven’t written anything new in 4.
Watching Bill Cosby taught me that I should never, ever stop working. I should never, ever feel like my work is done. I have jokes that I am very proud of and love telling, but I know that if I don’t do something to keep them fresh I will inevitably get tired of them. Cosby is far from being tired with performing, and I think it’s because he’s never gotten tired of writing. He’s never gotten tired of observing the world around him and developing his comedy.
Unlike George Carlin, Bill Cosby unfortunately doesn’t release a new special every year. I think this is because he doesn’t care about releasing the specials or the albums. I think he just loves performing. If you’re a comedian or just a comedy fan, you have to see Cosby while he’s still with us. You won’t regret it!
At the end of the show, the lights came on in the theater. I took out my cell phone and looked at the time. It was 9:45pm. The show had started at 8. Bill Cosby made an hour and 45 minutes feel like a minute and 45 seconds.
In conclusion, Bill Cosby is the funniest man alive.
If you haven’t read Steve Martin’s autobiographical account of his stand up career, wonderfully titled Born Standing Up, I highly recommend you pick it up. He has a really fascinating story to tell and a lot of priceless wisdom for aspiring comedians. There’s one quote that really stuck with me after reading this book:
“You’ll use everything you ever knew.” ~ Johnny Carson to Steve Martin (from Born Standing Up)
I love the fact that Steve Martin found a use for all of his different and seemingly useless talents. Magic, dance, and banjo all found their way into his comedy. He also managed to develop an act that included several different sub-genres of stand up comedy. The classic Vegas act, characters, story telling, sound effects, and several non-sequiturs and nonsensical bits. All very different styles of comedy and yet he made them all his own.
Recently I have had a pretty big revelation about my stand up. I’ve realized that it’s all been building up to the next step. Every joke I write serves two purposes. The first is to get the immediate reaction from the audience, hopefully laughter…that’s my usual goal. The second purpose is to make me slightly better at writing and performing so that I can write the next joke, which will hopefully be better than the last.
I think I’ve said this before, but when I’m asked what my best joke is, I usually say, “The next one.” It’s the most honest answer because I know that I haven’t written my best jokes yet. Chances are I won’t write them for another few years. That’s very daunting and intimidating, but it’s also a great motivator. It encourages me to write more and get on stage as often as I possibly can to get to that day when I start writing my best jokes.
I’ve started to seriously think about developing my “act”, even though I despise the word. Bill Hicks had a great quote about having an “act”:
“The act is something you fall back on if you can’t think of anything else to say.” – Bill Hicks (from his Principles of Comedy)
But the reality remains, comedians need to have something to say for the 5, 10, or 60 minutes they are on stage. I’ve started going through all of my material and piecing together one coherent story that I could do in 45 minutes. Right now it’s just a skeleton of what it will one day become, but I like the direction I’m going in. Essentially I’ve arranged my material to tell the story of how I moved to New York to pursue comedy, various things that have happened since making this move, and finally why I’m glad I took this risk and left my home state of New Hampshire.
It’s not all one story, like Mike Birbiglia managed to do with Sleepwalk With Me, but it is a coherent idea with a well defined beginning, middle, and end. This is another lesson I learned from Born Standing Up. It’s important to have a clear arc to your set.
The “act” I have right now is probably about 20 minutes worth of material which I would like to condense to about 10-15 minutes of really strong jokes, and then slowly add more material onto that. The goal is going to continue to find places for new material that fit into this planned beginning, middle, and end that I have in my head. This will be a challenge, but it’s a process that has already started working for me.
I have brought back some jokes that I wrote a year or two ago. Not full bits, but just one line jokes. I have plenty of bits that never hit the way I wanted them too, but still have that one line that I really liked. One of the first jokes I wrote when I moved to the city was that my hometown was so white (how white was it?), that the one black family we had was actually Asian. It worked for a little while, and it led into another joke I used to do about how New York City sure is different from New Hampshire (look, I’m not proud of it either, but that’s what was on my mind so that’s what I wrote about).
Fast forward a year and a half, and that joke about coming from a white, New Hampshire town has worked its way back into a new joke that I recently started doing about why it’s important to leave your hometown. It’s also a joke about racism and ignorance that I am immensely proud of. More specifically, it’s a joke about my personal relationship with race and diversity. It’s the kind of joke that proves to me that I am getting better and stronger as a comedian. It’s still a work in progress, but once I get it tightened up I have no doubt that it will be my closing joke. To me, it’s the perfect ending to the story arc I have in my head.
The point I am trying to make, is that comedy is cumulative. You’re going to use everything you ever knew. Maybe it won’t always be as obvious as taking an old joke and working it into a new joke. Maybe it’ll just be the unconscious act of progressing as a writer. I would never have been able to write a great, personal, non-racist joke about race if I didn’t start by writing basic set-up/punchline jokes.
I’m not a one-liner comedian. I don’t get any joy out of doing short, punchy jokes. I like to do longer bits that let me say a lot about something. This is not always easy. You need to have a condensed writing style in order to make the punchlines really hit. The more I write, the more I improve at this. Every new joke also lets me practice critiquing myself so that I can create the best possible joke that I can.
I’ve noticed that some jokes are meant to stay with me for a long time. I have a joke about reading the book, The Boys from Brazil, on the subway that I really enjoy telling (it’s funnier than I just made it sound).
I wrote that joke a few months ago, but it’s still one of my favorites and one that I enjoy reworking every time I tell it. But sometimes I’ll write a joke that really only needs to get me through a week or a couple of days. Topical jokes wear thin with me pretty quickly, but it’s still fun to be able to write a good joke that only lasts a short period of time. I can write a joke and then tell it once or twice, and then put it back on the shelf. That’s fine. The fact that I wrote something new is still helping me progress and learn how to do this.
In the end, every new joke will be built upon every old joke.
Comedy is cumulative. It’s all going to be on the test.
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