June 14: Nardwuar the Human Serviette

Our run of stand-up comic-free shows comes to an end with a real departure for What's So Funny? tonight. Our guest tonight isn't a comedian of any kind, although he's always made me laugh. It's the infamous Nardwuar the Human Serviette. He's from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, but he's known throughout the land as the most distinctive, fill-in-the-blank interview voice of his generation, or any other. I believe the world can be divided into two groups: those that get him and those that don't. Among those he's interviewed that get him are the likes of David Cross, N.E.R.D., and Kurt Cobain. Among those that don't are celebs like Ernest Angley, Alice Cooper and Mikhail Gorbachev.

No one does as much research going into an interview as Nardwuar. David Cross called it "thorough, in-depth and unnecessary research." He usually imparts gifts to his subjects, something I've never done. Also, what I've written here is about the extent of my research. Boy, is he going to be disappointed on the other side of the mic. But my pace is, er, less frantic so we'll fill the hour.

Nardwuar is going to bring in some clips of interviews with people such as Snoop Doggedy-Dog (that's it, right?) and the late hippie Timothy Leary and then we'll break off into discussion and get to know the story behind the interviews. We'll also play some of his beloved rock'n'roll music from his band The Evaporators. Like I say, a departure for us but it'll be fun. The Evaporators, by the way, are playing with Andrew W.K. on Tuesday, June 23, at Neptoon Records on Main St. at 4 p.m. and at the Biltmore on Kingsway at 8 p.m.

Russell Peters, Coverboy

My cover story on Russell Peters for the Georgia Straight came out today. He's playing GM Place on Monday and Tuesday. Man, I thought it was amazing when he played the Orpheum Theatre four nights in a row a couple years ago. But two nights at a hockey arena? Unheard of.

Comedy nerds (as opposed to bandwagon jumpers) remember seeing him when he was a club comic not all that long ago. Okay, eight years ago, but still. He's come a long way, baby.

While the story is about 1700 words, it still couldn't house all the quotes I got in our phone conversation. Nor all the quotes from Mark Breslin, the founder of Yuk Yuk's, who's known Russell since the kid took up stand-up comedy about twenty years ago. So I'll sweep up the editing room floor and you can hear the rest of the quotes in their own voices. On a couple of occasions there are repeat quotes from the story, but for the most part I've edited out whatever made it into the story.

Check out the actual story, though, too, won't you? The on-line version has extra quotes in a sidebar, too.

Meanwhile, here's Russell on various other topics:


And here's what didn't make it into the story from Yuk Yuk's founder and CEO, Mark Breslin:

June 7: Bronx Cheer

It's one of those special nights on What's So Funny? tonight when we have guests we've never met before and never seen live. Oh, but we've heard great things about Bronx Cheer for a while now. In our defence, we did go to check out there show last week... and there was no show. But I've been enjoying their deadpan web series, With Friends Like These, over at their home base, so I feel like I know them. Plus they've got a bunch of shorts, including the epic, Moustache Wolf, which you can view here:

SHORT - Moustache Wolf from bronx cheer on Vimeo.

To learn more about the duo, Conor Holler and Craig Anderson, tune in tonight at 11. I know I will.

The Dane Cook Experience

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Dane Cook interview excerpt

I spoke to everybody's favourite Dane Cook this morning. He's a morning guy, calling me at 7:45. I'm not. But that's okay. I was told we'd speak for 10-15 minutes. That's good to know ahead of time because I need to know how to pace the conversation. I've got to hit on all the important questions and move on from them quickly. The important questions include some basic information questions a writer needs for the story, as well as bigger questions. So it's a tight dance.

However, we spoke for 28 minutes. Still not a lot of time. This is a new thing for Cook. He only recently started talking to the press. So his answers weren't as spontaneous as they could be. But at least he gave well thought-out responses. The thing was, they were also fairly long. And with my time constraint, there was no room for a deeper discussion on any one topic. And the story had to be more of a general news story as it was for the Province. You can read it here.

I'd love to get him on my radio show, where he (and I) could relax and really get into some depth over the course of an hour. So Dane, if you're out there... Hey, I can wish.

In one part, you'll hear him chastise me gently. We had been talking about when I first saw him live. It was part of the first ever Just For Laughs tour and was at Richard's on Richards, a local rock club. He guessed that was ten years ago. Sounds about right. I mentioned that I thought his style then was similar to the way it is now, and I was wondering if it was always that way. By that point, remember, he was already ten years into his career. He basically told me to do my homework. But in his response, he seemed to be talking about the subjects he covers. I didn't catch it at the time, and anyway had to move on to other topics. But I meant more his delivery and style. (I think I'm right!)

There has been some skepticism, I've read, about Cook's age. I never talked to him about it, but looking at it now, something doesn't add up. His Wikipedia entry says he was born in March of 1972, making him 37. He said he started doing stand-up at the age of 19, but he also says he's been doing it for twenty years. Does that make him 39 or is he counting earlier years of amateur comedy? Then, when discussing his opening act, Al Del Bene, he says they've known each other since they were both 14 in junior high school. Then he says they're still together 26-27 years later. Hmm, 14 plus 26 is 40. Hey, Wikipedia isn't always right, I know.

Anyway, here's another crudely edited 9.5-minute excerpt for you. Cook talks about his new relationship with the press, the evolution of his act, the backlash to his career, his reaction to being booted off the stage at the Yuk Yuk's here in 2006, charges of plagiarism leveled against him, and his inner drive. Yes, I know my levels are higher than his. That's just the way my recorder works and I don't know how to fix it:

The Buck stops at the Tonight Show

After 17 years, the Jay Leno era has ended. At least as far as the Tonight Show is concerned. He'll be back in the fall with a new nightly primetime series.

I was a huge fan of Leno back when he was a standup and appearing monthly on David Letterman's old Late Night series. It's hard to believe all these years later, but those appearances were must-see TV. Any serious fan of comedy wouldn't miss them.

What happened? I think not only did he alter his style somewhat for the venerable chat show, but the style, either way, didn't mesh with the show. Too grating, perhaps. Too whiny. I wasn't a fan.

So now it's Conan O'Brien's turn. His tenure begins tonight. Can't say I'm a big fan of his, either. His recorded comedy segments where he goes in the field are unbelievably great, I'll grant you. But I just can't take his mugging and constant interruptions. Still, I'll give him a shot. Hell, I keep giving Jimmy Fallon a shot and Conan is about a million times better than Fallon.

Anyway, I noticed with great interest that Conan's new stand-up comedy booker for the Tonight Show will be J.P. Buck. Buck has a bit of a local angle. He helped out Will Davis a couple years at the Vancouver comedy festival.

I interviewed Buck for a story I wrote in Vancouver magazine back in 2005. You can read the whole thing here. But as always there were tons of quotes I simply couldn't squeeze in so I dug 'em up for the blog. Here's the new Tonight Show comedy booker talking about, among other things, the level of talent here in Vancouver. But first, he gives us his resumé:

“I’m a freelance producer. I started out working for various networks in Los Angeles. I did a show for Fox. It was called 30 Seconds to Fame, which was a variety show. It didn’t last too long. It was kinda like a Gong Show. But I’ve always had a love for comedy. It’s been what I’ve always wanted to do. I saw Bill Cosby at the age of 11. I saw him live at Radio City Music Hall. I even heckled him at one point. And he actually responded to me, but I soon realized what I had done. I just slumped under my chair. But I’ve always loved comedy. That gave me my first foray into actually going out and scouting. And after that my next job was booking talent for Star Search. The Arsenio one, which was on CBS. And then I did two years of syndicated programs, two of which were for the Showtime at the Apollo people. And after that I moved over to the US Comedy Arts Festival, which is run by HBO, and went over there to run their talent department... geared towards finding the best up-and-coming and also current comedians and sketch troupes and theatre shows.”

“In every one of these jobs I’ve been travelling around the country and going to one-horse towns and see their best comedians. I would have open calls, I’d set up showcases. So over my travels I’ve seen probably about 8000 comedians.”

“I’m looking for comedic ability. My job is not to close the door to somebody because of the way they look. That comes further down the line in terms of the networks. I’m looking for the next comic genius. That’s what I’m expected to do. Further down the road they can become writers, they can become stars on sitcoms. I think that if you’ve got enough personality, it certainly gets you over the hump. There are plenty of leading men out there on TV nowadays that aren’t that good-looking. I think men get away with it moreso than women.”

Now the part about the relative quality of Vancouver comics in the greater North American market:

“I was scouting for the US Comedy Arts Festival. I’d chosen my cities originally. The cities I wanted to go to and the cities where I knew had the best comics. We were based in New York. We were going to New York, LA, Chicago, San Fransisco, Seattle, Austin Texas, and Atlanta and Toronto. Those are the cities that we had mapped out that we were going to go see. So in my discussions with my various scouts around the country, I got referred to Will Davis and got in a conversation with him. And he said, ‘I would love to show you my guys up here.’ And I said, ‘Well, great. I’d love to have you come down to Seattle and see the guys there.’ And so he came down to Seattle and then picked me up and we drove back up to Vancouver, and he put up three shows for me of, like, 36 guys, maybe. And I was really, really impressed with the depth of talent there and just the variety of performers, of material, and how original a lot of the comics were. Because usually whenever I go to a city, I’ll maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll find two or three out of thirty that I’m impressed with. And when I came back from Vancouver, I probably had on my list at least eleven guys that I had no fear of recommending for the festival. And actually two of them got in, which is still a great rate.”

“We were lucky to get one out of every city that we went to. So two out of Vancouver was great.”

I asked Buck if Vancouver was an untapped market:

“Absolutely. Ever since I’ve been there I’ve just been singing its praises to everybody down here. I’m just telling everyone how amazing the talent is up there and how much people are missing out on. I think there’s maybe been a bias. I don’t know enough about Canadian culture enough to say that there’s an east coast bias. But I think Toronto, Montreal, those cities are getting so overworked. But I think the years that Vancouver’s been neglected by the rest of the country I think has been beneficial because it’s created this community of comics that... It fosters an environment where they can write their own material, think differently, work on their sets and their skills, and become much better comics for it, and not get overexposed too soon.”

He even offers an assessment of us, the Vancouver audience, and how we've helped the comics without even knowing it:

“Another great thing about Vancouver is that Vancouver has possibly one of the most discerning, and also toughest crowds, I’ve ever seen. You’ve got these amazing comics on stage... And it’s funny, if you see these comics in other cities, I think you’d get audiences that are flocking to them. But the toughness of winning the crowds over makes the comics work even that much harder here.”

I suggested, maybe ignorantly in hindsight, that Vancouver's scene was better than Seattle's just because we're just one of three major markets in the country, while the U.S. has so many:

“I agree [Vancouver’s better than Seattle]... Boston used to be a mecca for comedy. San Francisco was that as well. But I think both of those cities had their moments and now they kind of need to recharge. And at that moment while they’re down, Vancouver’s the one that’s come up. I don’t want to forecast anything that’s horrible but I think what you’ll see is you’ll see all these Vancouver comedians that come up, become big and move on, and then there’ll maybe be like a little bit of a lull of years before the next wave comes. But I definitely think right now that there’s such a wealth of comics. The audiences are almost spoiled.”

“The only style I can maybe put it under is unapologetic. That’s the beauty of the comics that were out there -- they weren’t all of the same mould. I think maybe when you go to some of these other cities like Boston or San Francisco or LA or New York, there are comics that are so successful that they kind of almost unfortunately influence all the other ones. But I think everybody in Vancouver is working so hard they’ve had time to kind of form their own styles.”

Buck ended up taking both Simon King and Dave Nystrom to the HBO Festival in Aspen:

“That was kinda why we took both of them because there was a little bit of something for everybody that came to our festival. Like, here’s a sample of one guy from Vancouver; here’s another style from Vancouver.”

“That’s something that we’re really trying to make sure we have. What we’re doing is having one group of shows called Rising Stars, which is the guys we’re thinking that over the next few years will do really well. Right now we’re looking at different groups, and in each one of those groups, we want to have one Vancouver guy. There are plenty of comics that deserve to be on it. We want to find a way to kinda get them in to almost every type of show that we have. We have these TV sets that we’re doing where guys will do five minutes of TV-clean material for the industry people that are coming in. We’ll also try to get them to host other shows so whenever people from LA and out of town are driven to see these big names, they’re also getting a taste of what Vancouver is. We want to make sure that the Vancouver comedians are sprinkled throughout the festival.”

“What helps to draw people up there are some of the American names. We’re trying to say to the LA and New York executives and industry and agents and managers, ‘Come on up here and see Leno perform on this show, see Jake Johannsen perform here, Jim Gaffigan. And Zach Galifianakis is a huge Vancouver name that will attract attention. But on top of that, while you’re there we’re hoping that we can kind of influence them with all the great Vancouver comics and say, ‘Hey, this is actually a comedy Mecca and you should come here a lot more often.’”

Interesting that at the time Buck thought Galifianakis was a Vancouverite. Maybe that informed his opinion of the scene. Zach was filming up here and playing all the local rooms.

“Believe me, you can say that about comics in just about any city outside of New York, LA, Toronto and Montreal. Because none of those comics understand what goes into getting a deal or getting on a show or getting in a film or being able to perform standup on Comedy Now or any of those shows. It comes with experiencing, unfortunately, rejection or having someone from the industry tell you what the industry’s looking for. Because a lot of times it doesn’t always go to the funniest person, unfortunately.”

“It certainly helps to be in LA of all the US cities. But you don’t want to come here too early. You want to be able to come here so that people can see you and they know who you are, but at the same time if you come here too soon, if they see you too early, and you don’t do well, they’re going to write you off and never want to see you again. That’s the unfortunate thing. A lot of guys in the States make the mistake of ‘Okay, I’m the biggest fish in this pond so it’s my turn to go to LA’. And they go to LA maybe after performing stand-up for two years, which is the wrong thing to do. You almost want it to come to the point where you’ve got an agent or manager calling you to come to LA: ‘We need you here because I’ve got stuff that I want you to do.’”

“Vancouver’s such a perfect city for us to hold this festival. You want to get the people coming from LA and there’s no sense in flying all the way to Montreal when you can just go to Vancouver and see these comics.”

“I definitely see it becoming a major player, absolutely. And I think the timing is perfect because I think there’s been a lull over the past few years. Unfortunately it’s hard to sustain a festival for so long. I think people maybe are looking for something different. I definitely think it can become one of the top international festivals. We’ve definitely booked some great international acts this year. So I’m excited about that, too.”

And some advice for all comics:

“The worst thing a comic can do for himself when he’s peforming in front of a bunch of people from the industry is to actually comment on how bad the crowd is. You’ve probably seen it a lot where comics will be like, ‘Wow, you guys aren’t getting this stuff.’ If they could just plow through. It’s a lot easier said than done, but if they can make it through that often can speak volumes about them.”

So will this lofty impression of the city's talent translate to a Tonight Show appearance for one (or some) of them? It should, but we'll have to wait and see.

May 31: Nathan Clark

Wow, a whole week without a blog entry. Were you concerned about me? I had nothing to say this week, I guess. I'm not on hiatus, so keep checking back.

And the show marches on. Tonight we've got a newbie on. Not a newbie to the scene, but to What's So Funny? Nathan Clark isn't the garrulous sort who seeks out the spotlight, so it took some convincing to get him on. But he is funny. He's also a mainstay on the mainstage of the Vancouver TheatreSports League, an urbane member of Urban Improv, and one of the Canadians in Canadian Content.

Join us. It'll be fun. Kevin will be back, too, so if there are any calls they'll get on the air smoothly this week.

Maybe.

(Phone and station info are all there somewhere in the right column.)

May 24: Eric Fell & Shaun Stewart; more new podcasts

A few weeks ago we had the Urban Improv gang in for the show. Seven of 'em, two of which were Eric Fell and Shaun Stewart. We didn't get a chance to talk to any one of them in detail, so we invited them back. These two fellers have lots on the go. Along with their Monday night Justice Pals show at Chivana, they have a Justice Pals podcast, and host Behind the Scenes on the internet. Oh, and they also have taken over the monthly Anzabonanza pub quiz. If I know them at all, there's a good chance most of the questions will be about Star Wars and/or comic books. We'll find out more tonight.

***

I hope you're all caught up on the podcasts because there are eight more to whet your whistle. Check these ones out when you get a chance:

Drew McCreadie & Ian Boothby from May 4, 2008:


Kristeen von Hagen & Laurie Elliott from May 25, 2008:


Jack Showers from August 10, 2008:


Paul Anthony from September 28, 2008:


Jane Stanton from December 7, 2008:


Richard Kiss from December 14, 2008:


Riel Hahn from February 15, 2009:

Maron & Gaffigan

Hey comedy nerds, got a great clip for you. Two of my favourites sitting around talking about comedy, kids and other stuff.

Marc Maron is a host on Break Room Live (and former guest on What's So Funny?). He's also full of existential angst, self-hatred, brilliant and really funny. Jim Gaffigan is a comedic force. And a pale one. He's in films (Away We Go hits the theatres soon), sells out theatres all over the place and has hit CDs and DVDs. Of course, any self-respecting comedy nerd already knows that.

There's some great stuff here. The Caroline and Costaki they reference are Canadian comedian Caroline Rhea and her hubby Costaki Economopoulos ("the biggest name in comedy"), who recently created a human. Maron is a single, childless man while Gaffigan is a father of three. Maron has been putting off visiting the baby because, well, he's not interested in kids. Gaffigan says he should. They discuss.

As a father of one (in fact, my wife was pregnant with ours when we first saw Maron in concert), I'm gonna side with Maron on this one. While my child is endlessly interesting and fun to me, I could care less about other people's kids. I mean, some of them are cool, but I don't need to meet them or interact with them. And since many are far from cool, why risk it? I can wait until they're more fully-formed human beings.

Gaffigan spoke of how great it is to be a parent, even with all the worrying. It reminded me of what Louis CK told me just five days before my son was born. CK crystalized the parental conundrum for me. It's must-reading for anyone who doesn't get having kids:

Here's the thing about it: It sucks on paper. If you write down things you're going to have to do and the way your life is going to change, there's just no way to justify it. It's the dumbest thing in the world to do.

But it doesn't matter because you'll be happy to do all of it. There's nothing going to be imposed on you. You're going to completely, voluntarily change your life in a way that if you could look in the future and see it from now, you would say, "Why the fuck would somebody do that to themselves?" But that's how powerful a force it is to have a kid. And it isn't like, "Oh, but they're so wonderful" and you're paid off for every hard moment with them giving you a daisy and saying "I love you, papa" -- although that happens, and it's pretty great. It's just that it's so important to you. It's such a big deal to have a kid that it just changes your motivations. It changes everything.

You can read the whole interview with CK here. While we're at it, here's one I did with Gaffigan, too. And let's not forget Maron, who I first interviewed in February of 2004.

Now here's the Break Room chat:

Podcasts, we've got podcasts...

We're slowly but surely catching up on the old shows and turning them into podcasts. It won't be too long before the podcast will be uploaded the week of the show. But for now, enjoy eight new/old podcast/shows:

Todd Allen from April 27, 2008:


Torben Rolfsen from August 17, 2008:


Graham Clark from September 21, 2008:


Seth Perry from January 11, 2009:


Maz Jobrani from February 1, 2009:


Sugar Sammy from February 8, 2009:


Damonde Tschritter from February 22, 2009:


David C. Jones from March 1, 2009:


And as always, you can listen to these over at the Comedy Couch and at iTunes. Your call.

Jay Mohr

I interviewed Jay Mohr last week. It was a two-parter just because he started out on his cell phone as he and his wife were driving up from Los Angeles to San Jose. He kept cutting out. After a couple of call backs, we decided he'd call back that evening, which he did. The first part of the interview was awkward because of the communication problems, but at night he cut loose. The interview was more conversational, which is just as well for me.

We spoke for a total of about 45 minutes. That full 45 minutes will eventually make it into print (or its online equivalent) via transcription, but I've crudely edited it down to 12 minutes for your listening pleasure. I realize 12 minutes is still a long time to spend listening to anything on the internet, so I'll give you a rundown on the topics covered:

• Jay talks about calling our humble town "Hongcouver"
• Russell Peters
• Riffing as Norm Macdonald on male nurses, sausage curls and wiener dogs
• The origin of his Christopher Walkin impersonation
• His Rickles impression
• What Danny Gans means to him
• His knowledge of hockey
• SNL gigglers and Jimmy Fallon
• First false ending
• Thank God for Canada
• Canada in World War II
• Second false ending
• The problem with kids
• One last weiner dog

Here's the clip:


My story on Jay will run in the Georgia Straight on Thursday, ahead of his May 23 visit to the River Rock theatre. His opening act will be Tom Segura.

By the way, I just finished reading Jay's book, Gasping for Airtime: Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live and really enjoyed it. If you haven't picked it up already, you should. It's a light, breezy, catty, self-absorbed read. Right up my alley.

ADDENDUM: The Mohr story came out today. You can read it here.

May 17: Leland Klassen

It was four years ago almost to the day that Leland Klassen last visited us: May 15, 2005, to be exact. Tempus fugit, baby. I missed the giant-handed freak, so I invited him back to catch up. We set the date for tonight and then I remembered I'd be out of town. D'oh! Thankfully Colleen Brow came to the rescue and agreed to guest host for me. So I'll be listening along with you. It's a shame for me because I was looking forward to seeing Leland again. For a while I'd see him all over the place. I ran into him at Sun Peaks and we chatted in the hotel swimming pool. Then on another vacation, we stopped in a mall in Swift Current (world travellers that we are) and spot a poster for comedy starring none other than the omnipresent comic, Leland Klassen. But that was a couple years ago now. I'll miss the big fella this time around.

Leland is a Christian comedian. What's that mean, you ask? Well, it means he works clean. That's about it from what I can tell. Mind you, I've only ever seen him perform in clubs and rooms, not church halls. He plays all over the continent. After leaving our studio, Klassen heads out on the road to Virginia, Maryland, New Mexico, Indiana, Saskatchewan, Ohio, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina and Ontario. And that only gets him through June.

I'm sorry I won't get to be there tonight. But on the other hand, I'm looking forward to listening to the show.

Dual Citizenship Tour ramblings

I saw Lewis Black's Dual Citizenship tour on Friday night. My review of the show is up at the Georgia Straight now. It's hard to squeeze all one's thoughts about a show into 400-odd words, so I'll ramble on a bit more now.

I really, really like Kathleen Madigan, who opened for her ex-beau Black. I'd love to see her in an extended set here sometime. Don't know if that'll happen, though, because, like many American comics who are good enough to sell out theatres across the United States, she doesn't have a high profile up north. If Paula Poundstone struggles to sell tickets, I imagine Madigan might, too. Hell, there were plenty of empty seats at Black's show, too, but that might be because they opted to perform two nights instead of one. But who knows? I could be wrong. It would be great if Will Davis brought her up for the Bleeding Media Conglomerate Comedy Festival this fall.

I guess we can't call Madigan the warm-up act because she did her 20 minutes or so, then there was a 15-minute intermission. So much for warming up the crowd. But I'm betting she was there more to allow the stragglers to arrive without missing any of the headliner. I would have preferred she just went an extra 15 – she's more than capable – without an intermission.

I liked his opening act the first two times I saw him, John Bowman, too, but he couldn't get across the border this time because of a 6-year-old DUI charge. Still, Madigan is a step up.

I mentioned Black's relaxed style in the review. That, for me, was a pleasant change. I liked the contrast. When he yelled, it meant something.

He got in some gloating at our expense, both geographically and politically. His tourbus took him from Toronto to Thunder Bay where, "THERE'S FUCKING NOTHING!" and on to Manitoba, where it's much of the same – plus they were coming off the worst winter on record. At minus-30 to -40 degrees for five or six months, "at what point do you not kill yourself?"

And he noted that our prime minister, Stephen Harper, referred to the H1N1 virus as "the Mexican flu" more than once, which is postively Bush-like. He said it was the first time in 20 years of coming to Canada that he's sensed jealousy from us.

The bulk of his act was personal in nature, as I mentioned in the review. And I much preferred it to the political, where he advocated for the legalization of marijuana and alternative energy, although I liked his line about the wonders of his iPhone: "I can download 3 million vaginas in a minute into this. Don't tell me we can't have alternative energy", even though it's nothing more than a variation on "If they can put a man on the moon...".

It was my third time seeing him in concert and this time was my favourite. A combination of a more introspective Black and a fantastic opening act made all the difference.

ADDENDUM: If you're wondering why I didn't review Flight of the Conchords, they were deemed to be a music act so you'll find it in the music section in this week's Straight. Or you can read it here.

To air or not to air? That was the question

A few days ago I posted a video interview with Eddie Brill, talking about the network debut of Joe Wong. In that same conversation, we also discussed the airing, 16 years after the fact, of a stand-up set by the legendary Bill Hicks. Back in 1993, the year before his death, Hicks appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, but his set famously never made it to air. A few months ago, Letterman tried to rectify the situation by inviting Hicks's mother, Mary, to the show and finally airing that long-ago set.

To my ears, Letterman sounded sincere in expressing regret. Others more cynical than myself (and there are a few out there) thought it to be exploitative – they were doing it for selfish reasons, among them ratings and a tie-in to an upcoming biopic to be made of Hicks starring Russell Crowe. Bollocks, says I.

First off, here's the clip:



Here's Eddie Brill, who has booked comedy on the Late Show for twelve years, on the topic. Since Dave isn't going to grant me an interview, his comedic right-hand man is the next best thing. He joins us in the What's So Funny? Skype Studio from Manhattan:

May 10: Rachael Des Lauriers (repeat)

Happy Mother's Day, mothers of the world.

In celebration of the special day we dug through the What's So Funny? vaults in search of the biggest mother of them all to be a guest on the show. We needed look no further than November 27, 2005. That was the night we had Rachael Des Lauriers on, a mother three times over. Rachael hasn't been performing much these days. Maybe this will spur her on to get back up on the stage and start giving birth to new jokes instead of more humans.

So if you happen to be near a radio or computer tonight around 11, do give a listen to this classic episode.

The role of the critic

Came across a very interesting article in the New Zealand Herald today. In it, comic Rhys Darby takes comedy reviewers to task for giving away the punchlines in their reviews.

Darby, who plays the manager on Flight of the Conchords, called the practice "rude" and "lazy" and the reviewers plagiarists.

Let's see. Rude? Not unless their fans are, too, for repeating a good bit by a comic they like. You can talk all you want about why a comic is funny, but unless you can illustrate by way of example, you're not going to win any converts over.

Lazy? It depends on the review and reviewer, I'd think. If all they did was itemize the gags without any other insight, then I'd agree with Darby. But if they use one or two or three punchlines, with the precise wording the comic used while providing ample context, to demonstrate how and why the comedy worked, I wouldn't call them lazy at all.

Plagiarists? Uh, hardly. Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own. Just like I did there with the dictionary definition. If the critic is citing the comedian, it can't be plagiarism.

But the subject is a fascinating one. Many times, it's the editors who demand specific examples of the jokes. My own rule of thumb is that unless I've got the wording exactly right, I won't quote a joke. And I don't want to give away too much. I don't think citing – at most – three jokes from a headliner is egregious. Presumably they have more than a handful of jokes in a set. The goal is to take a representative sample and also, if you can, show why it works or doesn't work for you.

Key words: "for you". It should never be forgotten, by either the critic, the comic or the crowd, that a review is just one person's opinion. It may be a slightly more informed opinion, but an opinion none the same. When I see a show that does nothing for me, but I'm sitting around hundreds of people who are all laughing hysterically, I feel it's incumbent upon me to mention that so the reader can think, "Hmm, it doesn't sound like it was a very good show. On the other hand, everyone else seemed to love it, so maybe the answer is somewhere in between." And then they can decide for themselves whether to check out that artist the next chance they get or not.

Check out this quote from Darby:

"There is a way to review live comedy and that's not the way. If I don't stand up and say it no one will. Comedians won't say it because they'll end up getting a bad review, or they'll be too scared."

I can't speak for other critics, but there's no way anything personal should ever get in the way of a professional review. Whether I like or dislike a comic personally has no effect whatsoever on what I think of their act. If someone wants to criticise me (and they have), I totally get it. Anyone who puts himself out there in the public eye, whether it be standup or critic, has to expect that not everyone's going to love what they do. Of course, I'll defend myself if I think they're wrong about what I do, but I appreciate the fact they're open with me about their opinions.

Here's an example. I once gave a stinky review to Brad Garrett. He then went on the Tonight Show and quoted from my review, and went on to make fun of me. I actually thought that was way funnier than his act. But if he comes to town again, I'd love to see him. He's a naturally funny guy and I've liked him for a long time. There was nothing personal about my review of his show. (See my rebuttal to his Tonight Show appearance here.)

Similarly I gave a less than positive review to one standup show by David Cross, while, at the same time, giving him kind words about his sketch show. He took me to task in a blog he wrote. Okay, he disagreed with me. Big whup. I like David Cross and have liked his standup. If he comes again, I'd hope I like his new show.

What's your opinion on what Darby said? Or Cross or Garrett, for that matter? Are they just overly-sensitive artists? Or do they have a point? What do you like to see in a comedy review?

Anybody? You there, in the back...

A Star is Born

Move over, Susan Boyle. There's a new improbable star in town. Or at least on-line.

You've seen the clip, if you didn't see the show. And if you haven't seen either, here it is for you. I'm talking about a Boston-based comic named Joe Wong who made his American network television debut on The Late Show with David Letterman three weeks ago. His appearance was the comedic equivalent of Susan Boyle's turn on Britain's Supposedly Got Talent, I thought. In both performers you have someone who breaks the mould. Rightly or wrongly, your expectations are shattered. Wong, an immigrant from China, walks on the stage and immediately reminds me of Andy Kaufman's Foreign Man character – only this ain't no character. And he knows how to tell a punchline.

Here's Wong's spot:



Pretty funny stuff. Does it bode well for other unknown comics to get a shot on the venerable late-night institution? I invited the man responsible for Wong's appearance, Late Show comedy booker Eddie Brill, into the What's So Funny? Skype Studio in Manhattan to talk about the Wong phenomenon.

In the mood lighting, Eddie looks pretty sinister, but he's a pussycat, as you'll hear. Also worth remembering when viewing: objects on the screen may appear larger than their actual size.

We also talked about Letterman's decision to run the late Bill Hicks' set 15 years after his death. We'll run that clip tomorrow. Or the next day. But soon.

The Great Unknowns

I’ve never been one to play favourites. Even as a kid I hated the concept of “best friend”. I liked all my friends and didn’t want to rank them in any kind of order, or set one above the rest.

So when someone asks who my favourite comic is, I can’t say. There are plenty I really like for various reasons.

That being said, it’s always fun to read lists of everyone else’s favourites, even if it’s only so you can sit back and complain about who missed the cut. There are three such lists kicking around I want to compare. Each one lists what they consider to be the top 100 stand-up comics of all time. The compilers are Comedy Central, Britain’s Channel 4, and the political blog Crooks and Liars.

You might think there would be lots of crossover. Afterall, it’s not a list of their personal favourites, but who they deem to be the best. But there are only 22 comics who make it onto all three lists. Here they are, with their average ranking (rounded up or down to the nearest whole number) in parentheses:

Dick Gregory (64)
Jackie Mason (63)
George Burns (61)
Andrew Dice Clay (59)
Denis Leary (54)
Bill Cosby (42)
Bob Newhart (41)
Eddie Izzard (40)
Roseanne Barr (39)
Steven Wright (36)
Joan Rivers (36)
Bob Hope (33)
Steve Martin (27)
Jerry Seinfeld (25)
George Carlin (23)
Robin Williams (22)
Bill Hicks (19)
Eddie Murphy (14)
Lenny Bruce (11)
Chris Rock (10)
Woody Allen (7)
Richard Pryor (2)

Is that the definitive list then? It’s a good one, although I’d quibble with a few. I personally don’t see how Andrew Dice Clay makes it on to any list of the greatest. Most successful, perhaps, but not greatest.

More stats from the compilation: Forty-eight comics make it on to two lists. The most prominent, in my opinion, of these are Dave Chappelle, Andy Kaufman, Mitch Hedberg, Albert Brooks, Jack Benny, Jon Stewart, Sam Kinison, Don Rickles, Ellen DeGeneres, Billy Crystal, Bill Maher, Jim Carrey, Dana Carvey, Paula Poundstone, David Cross, Larry Miller, Lewis Black, Henny Youngman, and Billy Connolly. How those people got left off one of the lists is anybody’s guess.

What’s really interesting is noting the comedians to only make one list. Interesting both on who should have been on more lists, and those who surprised me by even making one. Comedy Central had 30 singles, Crooks and Liars had 27 and Channel 4 had a staggering 75. It's almost as if Britain were an island unto itself.

Of those that probably should have been on at least a couple of lists, but only made one, consider these acts: Louis CK, Norm Macdonald, Dom Irrera, Dave Attel, Wanda Sykes, Phyllis Diller, Demetri Martin, Emo Phillips, Sarah Silverman, and David Steinberg.

One thing that really stands out is how nation-centric they are. The two American lists are filled with mostly Americans and the one British list is filled with mostly British (check out their top 10: 1. Billy Connolly 2. Peter Kay 3. Eddie Izzard 4. Richard Pryor 5. Harry Hill 6. Bill Hicks 7. Bill Bailey 8. Victoria Wood 9. Chris Rock 10. Ross Noble. I’m ashamed to admit I’m not familiar with half of their top ten comics of all time!).

Which got me to thinking, it’s generally considered that Canada produces some of the best comedians in show business, right? Everyone talks about it. But who gets mentioned? People like Mike Myers, the cast of SCTV and Kids in the Hall, Jim Carrey, Martin Short, Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie, Norm Macdonald, Will Sasso, Samantha Bee and Jason Jones. In other words, very few stand-up comics.

In the three top-100 lists, a grand total of five Canadians made the grade. Six, if you include the Canadian-born American Mort Sahl. Comedy Central had Jim Carrey (36), Howie Mandel (82) and Norm Macdonald (83), Crooks and Liars had Carrey (36), David Steinberg (65) and Cheech & Chong (67) (Chong is Canadian and the duo met and formed in Vancouver). Channel 4 had nary a Canuck.

Deserved? Maybe. But Comedy Central includes comics such as Gallagher, Janeane Garofalo, Andrew Dice Clay, George Wallace, Paul Rodriguez, Pat Cooper, and Eddie Griffin. Channel 4 includes people like Dave Allen, Ed Byrne, Tommy Tiernan, Omid Djalili, and Ben Elton. Crooks and Liars includes Gilbert Gottfried, David Brenner, Shecky Greene, Jamie Foxx, Johnny Yune, Alan King, Totie Fields, Phylliss Yvonne Stickney and Rick Aviles.

No knock on any of them, but I’d put Brent Butt, Stewart Francis (left), Jon Dore, Mike MacDonald, Derek Edwards, Bonnie McFarlane, Irwin Barker, Mike Wilmott, Elvira Kurt (right), Shaun Majumder, Caroline Rhea, Russell Peters, Harland Williams, Ian Bagg, John Wing, Sugar Sammy, David Pryde, Jeremy Hotz, Ron James, and Pete Johansson up against any of them. And those are the ones just off the top of my head.

If I liked lists, I'd make my own top 100 stand-up comics of all time that included its share of Canadians. But I don't. Someone should though. So I could go through and critique it.

May 3: Membership drive

No guest scheduled for tonight. The mother station, CFRO, is winding up its semi-annual membership drive. So we'll play lots of comedy clips and do the old PBS thing where we ask you, the listener, to call in and become a member in order to keep the station going and the program on the air. If you have some extra cash kicking around and want to donate it to the station, you can find all the payment options at the co-op website. That's all I'll say here.

Comedy Workshop

We interrupt this blog to bring you a special news bulletin:

Comedy Workshop Intensive

With Roman Danylo

Star of CTV’s “Comedy Inc”

This course is perfect for people interested in learning about several different disciplines of comedy. It’s also ideal for those already proficient at one discipline but have always wanted to try some of the other genres of live comedy. In this course you’ll learn elements of…

ü Improv

ü Stand-up

ü Sketch Comedy

ü The Business of Comedy

Saturday May 16^th 12-4pm

and Sunday May 17^th 12-4pm

$150 plus GST

for the two day course (8hrs total)

At Chivana Restaurant and Lounge: 2340 West 4^th Ave

To sign up call: 604-733-0330 or E-mail: chivana@telus.net

Roman has been performing professionally for the past 20 years. He is one of only a handful of comedians to have performed in the prestigious Aspen’s HBO Comedy Festival and Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival in the same year. In Hollywood he starred in the UPN Series “Off Limits” and has been featured on NBC’s “Late Friday”. Roman hosted a talk show pilot produced by fellow Canadian David Steinberg, and appeared in a sketch review show with Martin Short. Roman recently guest hosted several episodes of CBC Radios “The Debaters” and has appeared or starred in several Canadian TV Series including CTV’s “Corner Gas”, CBC’s “Comics”, “Made in Canada”, CTV’s “Comedy Now”, “Just For Laughs” and many more. In 2004 Roman won a Leo Award for his performance in CBC’s “Western Alienation Comedy Hour” and has been nominated twice for a Gemini for performance in “Comedy Inc.” Roman recently hosted a Gala at the “Winnipeg Comedy Festival” on CBC and performed his second gala set for “The Halifax Comedy Festival” also on CBC. Roman enjoys water sports, raisins and some humans.