Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with standup

Are there any storytelling shows in Adelaide or Melbourne?

chinese_fashion — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:51:32 -0800

Are there storytelling/live reading shows in Adelaide or Melbourne, similar to The Moth in NYC/LA? I write and tell short stories in NYC, mostly through The Moth, though I've gotten stuff onto This American Life and done a number of smaller shows here like The Liar Show, Risk!, and Seth Lind's Told.

Are there any opportunities to do something similar in Australia, by any chance? There's a growing storytelling scene here in New York, sort of like standup mixed with essay-writing ... wondering if there might be something similar Down Under.

A few of my stories deal directly with aspects of Aussie culture, too, as I lived there for about a year. Here's a few samples:

'Roo Shooter
Foreign Soil
Now or Never

I'm leaving for Australia tomorrow morning for a 2-week holiday, spending one week in Adelaide and another in Melbourne. And if possible, I'd love to try some of these out down there. Is there any chance for something like that to happen? If so, would you mind putting me in touch with the right folks?

Thanks so much ...

This Duck Walks Into a Bar...

netbros — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:28:59 -0800

What are your recommended stand-up comedy albums or DVDs? I'm not concerned about explicit language or topic... just funny. Back in the 70s and 80s I used to watch a lot of comedy, particularly on HBO specials, but I've kinda fallen out of touch recently, especially regarding contemporary comedians. But yucks are yucks, whether 60 or 6 years ago. What are your favorite recorded stand-up routines, and who is doing the best comedy these days? Thanks for the laughs.

How are the duke boys gonna get outta this little pickle?

Old Man Wilson — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:29:49 -0800

Good presidential stand-up? I'm hosting a comedy program on the radio tonight, and I'm hoping to play some presidential humour tonight - I haven't decided whether or not to stick with Bush era routines, so I'm pretty much open to anything...

I know Patton Oswalt has some pretty solid stuff on his two records - where else should I be looking?

Thanks!

Anyone remember a comedian doing a "badly dubbed" sketch about godzila trampling the city?

mefiskiing — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:13:48 -0800

In the mid eighty's there was a comedian that did a piece on godzilla. Basically he acted like a badly dubbed godzilla film with mouth movements out of sync with voice saying "look out" "godzilla's going to trample the city again". Anyone know who he was or remember the sketch?

Looking for sarcastic stand-up comedians

madman — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:46:54 -0800

I need recommendations to find deeply sarcastic and satirical stand-up comedians. I am looking for stand-up comedians who excel at sarcastic and satirical comedy; even better if it's delivered in a deadpan manner. I would also prefer people who stay away from the tired "black/white", "men/women" material.

The second part of my question is for some research I'm doing into how to become a good stand-up comedian. (I'm from a country where stand-up comedy tends to be the loud slapstick "ha-ha" variety; something I'm not very fond of.)

So what I want to know is: do stand-up comedians usually tend to be very funny in real life off the stage? Or are there also people who are not always "on" and just work hard on their material, turning into comedians on stage? Essentially, does being a good stand-up comedian mean that you can make just about anyone laugh anywhere?

Another Stand-up Comedian Post...

coolin86 — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:05:51 -0800

Based on the current influx of questions about stand-up comedians, I've been reminded of a question that has been plaguing me for a while. But unfortunately, I don't have much information. - Male. 40+ yrs old. Dressed plainly. - Opened for Lewis Black at the Univ. of Connecticut in the Fall/Winter of 2006 or 2007 - Shtick was borderline psychotic. Like he was extremely angry and ready to snap. Genuinely scared me a little at the beginning. He never really left this personality. - Worked the crowd a little and even left the stage to walk through the crowd. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Has anyone heard of a stand-up comic named David Jerusalem? The tricky part is that I might be misremembering the name.

Kattullus — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:57:35 -0800

Back in the late 90s, I think in the winter of 1997-8, I saw a stand-up comedian on Conan O'Brien that blew me away but I've never been able to track him down since. I think his name was David Jerusalem. He made jokes about the Olympics and having been a heroin addict. He didn't perform in front of a mic but was interviewed by Conan. I've been trying to find information about this guy for years without success, does my description ring any bells for you? It could have been later than 1998, possibly even as late as 2000. Here's what little I remember of his jokes (note: this isn't verbatim):

He didn't think much of olympic athletes, running around with poles and jumping over other poles. He compared them unfavorably to junkies who jogged down to the corner for their fix. He also said he missed one thing about being a junkie which was that back then all of his hobbies fit into a little box (at which point the comic did a "box-opening" mime).

Anyone know this comic?

Sit Down, Stand Up

Christ, what an asshole — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:50:39 -0800

Who are some great comedians I've probably never heard of that I can watch on youtube?

Kindly Leave The Stage

RokkitNite — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:51:47 -0800

What are the best strategies to help a performer roll with the punches? Okay, so I've been doing a mix of performance poetry, stand-up, compering and music for over two years now, and I've reached the stage when I realise that this is something that I want to 'do', and want to do well. I love it, and find it a really satisfying challenge, but until recently I've always had the mental get-out that I'm just 'dabbling'. Now, my gigging schedule has increased to a level where I can't dig my toe in the carpet and hide behind new boy status anymore.

Basically, I'd like ways of remaining stoical whilst still learning from my mistakes in the face of bad gigs, po-faced audiences and general incompetence. What are good strategies for maintaining my self-confidence without closing off that all important negative feedback?

I understand intellectually that gigging can be a bit like being in an unhealthy relationship - sometimes the audience heap praise on you, sometimes they're cold and aloof, sometimes they're downright hostile. It'd be nice if there was a way to take it less personally while still maintaining a serious, professional focus on improving rapport. My schadenfreude wouldn't say no to a few 'the time I died on stage' anecdotes, either, if you think communal shame might help.

MetaHelp: I need your google-fu!

myodometer — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 14:55:00 -0800

Does Ricky Gervais have an opening act when he does his stand-up sets? My girlfriend was awesome enough to have bought me tickets to see Ricky Gervais on one of the two nights that he's going to be doing his new stand-up set in Los Angeles this summer. Unfortunately, we had already booked a flight to the east coast for that same night, scheduled to leave at 11:55PM.

His show is listed as starting at 7:30, and I'm assuming that the fun likely won't be starting until at least 8 - but does anyone know if he has an opening act before he comes on? I've been scouring Google and can't seem to find an answer.

Worst case, I'll just rebook my flight for the next morning.

Hilarity on silver discs

graytona — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:21:25 -0800

Please recommend some of your favorite standup comedy DVDs. Lesser known is good, but not outrageously obscure. I'm looking to broaden my standup horizons with some new DVDs. My wikipediamanship brings up many names, but none of the personal recommendations I'm looking for.

All-time favorites: Mitch Hedberg, Dane Cook, Russell Peters, David Cross. British humour is great.

What makes you laugh on DVD?

I need to see the funny again!

Hey, Cupcake! — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:29:58 -0800

Does anyone have video (VHS, DVD, anything) of Tom Kenny's standup routines? I remember seeing him probably three times on Comedy Central (or maybe the MTV special listed on wikipedia.org) ages ago, before he was The Voice of Spongebob, and laughing until I cried. In particular, I think he had a bit on watching the L.A. riots on TV, including the looting of stores, and a bit on how dumb the contestants were on Wheel of Fortune contrasting with how smart they were on Jeopardy.

I would really, really, really like to see these or any of his other standup material again. I was hoping this would be easier to find now that he's got that whole Spongebob thing going, but no dice -- YouTube has a few Mr Show clips, okay, great ... but I need his own stuff -- it was killer. Any help welcome! Maybe someone knows him or his agent, or has some old tapes they would rent out to me? Mr. Show, while hilarious, is not what I'm searching for.

tell me a story and make it funny

grumblebee — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 10:40:50 -0800

Please recommend standup commedians to someone who dislikes gags but loves storytelling. Because life is short, I generally tell people that I hate standup comedy. And I’ve half convinced myself this is true. But then I remember the joy I felt, as a teenager, listening to Bill Cosby and Woody Allen tell funny stories. Alas, as I got older, most standup I heard was a collection of jokes or gags. For whatever reason, I don’t respond to shows like this -- even if the jokes are really, really funny. In such cases, I laugh at first, but as the jokes go on and on, I get bored. My brain yearns for narrative.

I’m interested in any recommendations for storytelling comedians. Bonus points for performances that I can actually see: they’ve been recorded or the performer is in my area (NYC).

Go ahead and suggest anything, put I prefer personal stories (“When I was a kid...”) to non-personal ones (“This Republican senator was on vacation...”), and I’m not a big fan of the scatological stuff. I’d rather laugh at failed relationships than fart jokes.

How do I work an audience?

RokkitNite — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 14:39:59 -0800

How do I make the audience like me? I occasionally do stand-up routines interspersed with performance poetry, and I want to become a master of working the audience. I'm confident writing material, but I'm not so sure about getting a crowd on-side, maximizing laughs, winning over a reluctant audience, neutralising hecklers without losing control of the performance, etc.
Are there any techniques used by hucksters, preachers, pop-psych gurus, etc, that I could exploit to (benignly) captivate an audience? Are there any psychology/sociology texts par excellence on audience/crowd psychology that I should be reading?

Best Bill Hicks album?

ColdChef — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 19:34:45 -0800

I'm afraid I bought the wrong Bill Hicks album. After hearing bits and pieces of Bill Hicks's performances, I decided to buy a full album. Upon recommendation of the CD store geek, I bought "Rant in E Minor" and was severely underwhelmed. Is there a better CD to start with, or is this truly the pinnacle of Hicksian wit?

Who was this stand-up comedian?

icontemplate — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 12:11:59 -0800

Several years ago, about 1989-90, a friend of mine lent me a cassette featuring a stand-up comedian [more inside] I have no clue who the comedian is anymore, and my google-fu has let me down once more. He sounds like a southerner, along the lines of the Blue Collar comedy guys, but I'm definitely sure it's not one of them.

I remember some of his act fairly clearly, just not in order:

- He has a bit where he uses a talking calculator (which he says he took from Ray Charles, but don't worry, he gave him a Rubik's cube.) In the bit, he asks it questions, like "What do you say after hit a golf ball?" and then he presses "4." "What do you tell kids not to do?" "2 POINT", "How many times do you have to tell 'em" "5 TIMES" and so forth. He later does a duet with it, "singing" Tea for Two.

- There's another bit where he and a friend argues over how to pronounce the city name "Louisville." He thinks its LouiSville, his friend thinks it LouiEville. He then asks someone at the restaurant, "Slowly, how do you pronounce the name of this place?" "B-u-r-g-e-r-K-i-n-g."

- Somewhere he talks about the Revolutionary War, and says the French wore red so you wouldn't see blood on their pants. He says he would've worn brown pants in that case.

That's all I can remember right now. Any clue who that comedian was?

Free comedy downloads similar to David Cross?

thebwit — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 07:39:41 -0800

My commute to work is roughly 1 hour each way. Now the morning drive isn't so bad because all the radio stations have good talk shows on them. I prefer talk to music since all radio stations play the same 40 songs over and over again. So the drive home kinda sucks. I recently borrowed two standup comedy cd's of David Cross from a friend, and these are perfect for the drive home. Are there any sites that have something similar for free to download and put on my ipod? More specifically stand up routines. I don't want the stuff like Adam Sandler (too much music), but more like 1 hour long shows that got ported over to CD. Any suggestions?

Standup comedy resources online

kenaman — Wed, 07 Jul 2004 01:13:20 -0800

Decent links to standup comedy resources and advice from anyone who has tried it please. I have agreed to do some standup in the next month having never done it before. Thanks..