Link reblogged from Dan Harmon Poops with 12,384 notes
Dan Harmon Poops: HEY, DID I MISS ANYTHING? →
Kids:
A few hours ago, I landed in Los Angeles, turned on my phone, and confirmed what you already know. Sony Pictures Television is replacing me as showrunner on Community, with two seasoned fellows that I’m sure are quite nice - actually, I have it on good authority they’re quite nice, because…
Source: danharmon
Link reblogged from Comedy Nerds United! with 6 notes
Comedy Nerds United!: Open Mic Diaries #7: The Return →
I haven’t done comedy in about five months. I moved home, to Cape Cod, tail firmly betwixt legs. I was broke, deep in student debt, and working as a dishwasher to barely make rent.
It was time to go back.
Since, I’ve begun the slow crawl out of debt, have a job at a newspaper (shove it,…
Source: comedynerdsunited
FRACT: REZ meets MYST meets TRON…I’m fairly sure I’ve visited this universe before that night I had all the nightmares after accidentally swallowing glowstick juice.
So the internet is going to build the Enterprise.
The whole ship - over the next 20 years. All I can say is - thank goodness SOMEONE is taking life seriously for a change!
or follow them @BTEDan
Tube Tube.
NIfty new web series, featuring Ian Smith (@iansmithcomedy) - a colleague and, as yesterdays gig proved, a no-nonsense hard man with hecklers. See what you think of this neat little show.
London Comedy Diary - Special Edition: Hand Jester Comedy.
Since I came back to stand-up out of the wilderness (wearing my camel-hair loin cloth of professional jealousy), there’s been one promoter that has done more to offer me stage time, stretch my boundaries and improve my profile than I think I’ve ever managed to. Hand Jester Comedy - headed my Wade McElwain and Donna Harle - have been responsible for the bulk of my gig footage and subsequent uploads. They have an unusually positive attitude towards furthering the quality of stand-up in London and generally just being jolly nice people.
However, despite very professional levels of marketing and great line-ups - they are not getting the audience numbers they deserve. If ANYONE actually reads this blog and genuinely cares about good, performer centric and/or emerging London comedy - please add them on Facebook and Twitter.
LICENSED FOOLS
Wednesdays at The Junction (Hysteria), 578 Kingsland Road
So this is the first time I’d gigged on their flagship night - a relaxed atmosphere of old and new material for established acts and what acts they were!. Audience turnout wasn’t fantastic so the night turned into a bit more of a workshop than usual but with such an excellent, supportive, vibe that it didn’t matter. Met some great comics and caught up with some old friends on this one so I’ll just say a quick word about who was making with the funnies that night.
Mark Diamond 
What a start! Knowing I was going on after Mark made me quite nervous because he was test flying new material (as were most of us) but seemed very much in command it. Some really cracking and gently surreal material about the interrelationships of computer keys. Hope I bump into him again soon, meanwhile - follow him here.
ME!
I’m going to go ahead and assume that, if you’re reading this, you’re already familiar with my many and varied attempts at self-promotion. Needless to say - I’m still getting a questionable kick out of tramping it up at the moment.
Hils Barker
I knew Hils a bit from back in the day (as well as from her winning turn at last weekends film screening) and I’ve always loved her stuff. I find her very reassuring as she’s very much a proper comic with a career and things but who seems to have the same tendency I do of having almost too many ideas at once when she hits the stage. She’s got great energy and lovely, fresh, material about her time in occupy London and middle class raves. She’s only got a bloody website and everything aswell!
Oliver Noakes
Had good natter with Oliver in the bar before the gig and he’s by far one of the more comedy literate guys I’ve run across in a good long while. Very assured and emphatic delivery with a slightly haunted quality. Had a slightly shorter one than I think he’d planned for but I really hope out paths cross again soon as I want more.
Rick Kiesewetter
I don’t think I’ve caught Ricks act before but then I got the impression that this was very much a whole new act anyway. His presence was pretty compelling and unusual - I respect anyone who opens with gag about Ozu. Not so much splitting the room as performing lazer surgery on it to find the one person who gets it (in this case - me! </boasting>). Great stuff! Find him here.
Gregory Akerman
Ah Greg! This is anther example of why these particular nights have been so fun for me because doing them has led to me becoming friends with this lovely chap. A very artistically committed and understated comic - Gregory weaves almost whispered semi-tragic stories that slowly crank the tension till laughter is the only sane recourse. Look at him go!
Aisling Bea
What an absolute treat this was! I think I’ve half-seen her a couple of times before as I remembered some of her material but she had my full attention this time and I think she’s got it in her to go very far, very quickly. Terrific vocal characterisation (trained actress dontcha know!), whimsical storytelling of a high order and weapons grade anti-pretentiousness. She’s up for the Amused Moose award so if you can, get on down and support her tomorrow night. She has a musical finale that’s worth the ticket price.
HEADLINER - Toby Muresianu
Gotta say - I was feeling pretty exhausted by the time Toby went on and knowing he was doing a full set made me worry I’d be able to stay alert. Turns out - wasn’t an issue. Good, solid, observational stuff - refreshingly lite on the expected ‘I’m American - you guys are Brittish…what’s up with that?’ schtick. When it came, it was arch and with self-reference. Talked about how he comes from an engineering background which I loved hearing considering my own engineering heritage. Favourite comedy slash/engineering comparison; “At least with engineering you don’t have to memorise a whole bunch of the math and then get in a car and drive for hours to go do math in front of people who don’t understand math”. He’s not in town for long so catch him while you can.
Peace
Sci-FI London 48 hour film competition - THE RESULTS!
So despite being shortlisted, our film - The Correct Angle - didn’t go through to the final 10 which the judges…well, judged! I’m in no way sad about this though as the competition was stiffer than a stone in a stiff south-westerly wind.
So I thought it would be nice to give you all - the fine men and women of the internet - the three winning films, as well as my own personal favourites to watch with your eyes.
Enjoy!
3RD PLACE
2ND PLACE
WINNER!!!
…and now as my personal selection:
DEAD AIR
RISING TIDE
and the very charming SPECTRUM SHIFT…is nowhere to be found on the internet - which is annoying. I’ll post it as soon as I can find it. Well done everyone!
Being Tommy Tiernan: A night of endorsed plagiarism
So recently I got to do a night with a difference. The very nice Jonathan Hearn runs a gig near Chancery Lane at the Plum Tree called Jester Jesters and they’ve recently gotten into the habit of doing more themed comedy nights (for details of their proposed 12 hour open mic marathon click here).
Anyway - they were running a plagiarism night where you were given carte blanche to do material that belongs to your heroes. It’s funny how some people interpret this I think, as some people simply got up - said who they were doing - and just sort of did it. However, I think that if you’re going to do a tribute act - you’ve got to make sure you’ve got the same essential beats down, even if you want to play it your way rather than theirs.
I can remember seeing Spamalot a few years ago and having similar thoughts. It occurred to me the performers in that show were between a rock and a hard place. They ether do their lines EXACTLY the way they were done in the film and just get accused of regurgitation or they do it their own way…and therefore do it wrong. Intonation and timing are such delicate things - there is, for example, a very particular way in which you have to say “Are you suggesting coconuts migrate!?” (1:02) in order to make it funny.
So I decided the only way to do my chosen piece was to simply do it as close to the original performance as I could - meaning doing a slightly ropey accent. This, I suppose, makes it more of an acting exercise than it is a stand-up one but then neither discipline is mutually exclusive.
Anyway - here it is:
(Please note - I got a couple of bits wrong, left out a bit that I wasn’t convinced I could ‘sell’ correctly and tacked on an ending which is from later on in the same set)
…and, if you’re interested, here’s the original.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Being a tramp on the Mayors Pay-roll
So I was contacted by the kids over at SKIP theatre and they said they were working on a street performance that was intended (in a light-hearted way) to raise awareness about alternative means of transport during the oncoming Olympic clusterf*ck. They wanted me to play the role of a homeless guy who’s hanging around this sort of bus shelter thing they’ve erected (which shows off a bunch of whimsical transport options - like zip-lines and things - that the public can vote on) and my job was to sort of take the piss out of it - while engaging people in conversation about transport…as a tramp.
While it was great fun - It was probably one of the more problematic gigs I’ve done for a while. For a kick-off, I’m not sure the mayors office should have let me off the lead with…you know, being a tramp and everything - I really went to town with it.
(I am actually made up to look a wreck in the photo by the way - I don’t look like THAT much of wreck)
I felt a certain weight of responsibility though because I didn’t want to be accused of playing a genuine social problem for laughs but then I started to find myself slipping into genuine anger. In trying to engage people in the street - I found myself running up against peoples capacity to just ignore repeated pleas for earnest communication. In fact - I only spoke to a handful of people all day because almost no one was willing to stop and talk. I’m not sure if that’s because they just couldn’t be arsed with street-theatre wackiness or if it’s because they thought I was, genuinely, a homeless guy who was going to hassle them for change. I think I flatter myself to think it was the latter - all I know is, the more people ignore you, the more the desire to fuck with them or effect them rises inside you like a tide of indignant heartburn.
However, the one thing I didn’t expect was how much I enjoyed it. I mean, not to sound like a total middle class tourist - but sitting on the tube, looking like a car-crash gave me this weird kind of freedom. I could look at people and they’d shy away (even more so than they would normally) and as I passed a busker at Tottenham Court Road I stood and danced in front him for a bit - getting into his saxophone solo and everyone just sort of looked at me like ‘Oh look, it’s a good natured bum’. It’s weird - it confers on you the status of a wandering London jester. I think that’s what most people would prefer to believe of London’s homeless - that it’s a case of being footloose and fancy free, rather than being - say, like this:
The Correct Angle: My contribution to the Sci-Fi London 48 hour film competition UPDATE!!
So I posted a while back about doing this film and I’m pleased to announce that we’ve been shortlisted for the competition!
Aces on toast.
The Drunk Show: Hand Jester Comedy
The premise is simple you go onstage, you come off, you get sloshed on the house and then you go back on. Here’s me getting messy (and doing quite old stuff as a result!).
Also, I’ve realised that - in this video - I’m a bit guilty of some of the bad habits I had a go at in this previous post so now feel a bit of a Pecksniff.
Comedy at the Leatherhead theatre
I’ve been helping to run a comedy night in Leatherhead for a couple of months now and I’m starting to get the hang of what it means to actually run a night again - as opposed to just turning up, muttering to myself for a bit, blurting out some nonsense and then escaping into the night to go drinking and kid myself into thinking I’ve done a nights work.
Anyway, last month we had an absolute corker!
Rosie Wilby
First up was Rosie, who I booked as I wanted to start a classily as possible. In my experience - provincial gigs with two intervals and three acts have a tendency to go from the audience being a bit cagey, then loose and then a tad rambunctious. The corresponding act-types to throw at them then are someone witty/clever, followed by likeability and polish and then finish them off with a crowd control specialist - a rowdy stag and hen vetren. To that effect, I thought Rosie would be a dead cert to open and I wasn’t wrong. She did brilliantly.
Christian Steel
I caught Christian’s act a while back and made a note to get him one day when I was running my own night again. I was very pleased to have him for this one as his quick-fire ‘don’t let ‘em breath’ approach really knocked Leatherhead for six -with one bloke even coming up to me and saying that he was’ The funniest thing he’s seen in years’ BOOKING WIN!!
Vince Atta
As bizarre as it may sound - I actually took a massive risk here. I’d never seen Vinces act in person before which - if I’m booking someone to headline - is a serious personal no-no. However, he came highly recommended and also…I just had a feeling about him. My faith was totally rewarded when he hit the stage. It wasn’t easy either - the crowd had got very chatty and were still quite punch drunk from Christian so Vince really had his work cut out for him. He did a full half hour and by the end - there was no doubt about who was running that room.
I’m very much looking forward to the next one as we’ve got some more really lovely acts.
(Though why I’m suddenly called Agnus is beyond be)
Big thanks to David at David Alcorn Photography for the use of his ace pictures.
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