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fartingfool posted:I like Louis CK and I just finished watching Live at the Beacon Theater, but I'm concerned about the manufactured controversy surrounding him stealing content from David Cross. Can you not tell by that guy's overacting, wording, and tone that this is a parody video? As far as the joke goes, it was likely that CK had Cross' joke in the back of his mind somewhere and didn't realize where it came from 12 years previous. Just like the case for most "joke stealing." CK even went into this during the Dane Cook episode of his show where he admitted that it was likely that Cook wasn't even conscious that he "stole" the joke but had instead heard it and didn't remember it as a joke someone else told. There's a huge difference between this situation (and even the CK/Cook situation which was overblown to begin with) and something like Carlos Mencia.
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Dec 16, 2011 02:07
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M1TCH3LL posted:Since this seems to be American-centric, I'm curious as to what the American comedy fans here think about British comedians. Obviously, the easy name to pull out is Ricky Gervais who seems to be more revered in America than in the UK right now. But then you have comedians like David Cross and Louis CK singing the praises of Daniel Kitson, considered by many to be the best comedian in the country, as well as Stewart Lee who IS the best comedian in the country. I think a huge problem is just lack of exposure. I'd like to think I keep up on British comedians, but the reality is that most British comedians I know are either ones who have already crossed the pond and are known for being "the British one" like, say, Jon Oliver, or the slightly high profile ones that I would see on popular sitcoms or on panel shows like QI, Would I Lie To You, etc. And those cases, I have to go out of my way 90% of the time to see this material since it's not widely available to Americans, and if I want to see more of them outside of that it's very difficult to do. I think it's much easier for the British to know our slightly more underground standups because they're still fairly prominent in media that makes it over there, even if its just getting bit parts in our sitcoms or movies. Either that or it seems like British comedians don't tend to tour the US as prominently as US comedians do abroad. When I go to something like NYCF, it's still mainly American comedians. From what I hear, things like the Edinburgh festival draw much more international performers. I only recently heard of Kitson because he was promoting his (excellent) theater piece in NYC and he wound up a surprise stand-up guest on a show I go to often. And when I went looking for more of his stuff, it's really hard to find. And even though I know who Stewart Lee is and have enjoyed his material here and there, outside of crawling Youtube for low-quality, short clips, how can I see more of him? Import his Region 2 DVDs that won't work in my computer? While if I wanted to hear the newest Patton Oswalt comedy CD, I could download it from a ton of different sources, see him when he comes touring through to promote it, see him on Comedy Central, or hell, I could listen to it for free on Spotify. It really is a shame and I hope it's something that continues to improve as the comedy resurgence continues. feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Jan 24, 2012 |
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Jan 24, 2012 20:04
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jimcunningham posted:Not real crazy about Gervais. I'd never liked British humor, but then I found out British humor isn't just The Office and Keeping Up Appearances. I love John Oliver and Stewart Lee. Never heard of Kitson, but excited to. Have you tried, say, Peep Show? It seems to be extremely palatable to most Americans I know.
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Jan 25, 2012 06:03
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DangerDummy! posted:Ricky Gervais as a stand-up reminds a bit of Kevin James. Ricky's material is a little too precious for my liking, and Kevin's is incredibly pedestrian. They are both excellent performers, though. Between Ricky's HBO sets and "Sweat the Small Stuff" (I think?), I laugh a lot in spite of the weak writing and have a great time watching them. Yeah, I remember seeing a special of his and being blown away by how much he shirked my low expectations. The guy's got talent, but hey, in his position I'd probably take the millions too.
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Jan 27, 2012 19:14
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COUNTIN THE BILLIES posted:I still don't think this will become a thing. It really only works for established acts like Louis C.K. I completely agree, but if it works for enough established acts then maybe there's a hole in the market through those traditional distribution channels that more up-and-coming comedians can fill.
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Mar 20, 2012 16:35
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indigi posted:If by "it really only works for established acts" you mean "the only two people to do it that I personally know of to this point in time have been established acts" then sure. Seems really silly to completely write off a brand new distribution model based on no evidence. Looking inside of the stand-up world, you're right. However, looking outside of that there has been plenty of precedent set for this not working. Just look at the webcomic crowd after Scott McCloud tried to popularize micropayments.
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Mar 21, 2012 05:04
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indigi posted:There's a huge difference between comedy albums which have always cost money and webcomics which have always been free. Getting people to pay for things they have never paid for and are actually used to not paying for is a much taller order than asking people to buy things they've always bought in a somewhat different way. That's why most podcasts have failed getting people to pay for regular content in anything other than a freemium/donation model. Well I think the difference is that the faster growing base of people absorbing comedy today aren't used to paying for comedy albums, because they're young and grew up in a world where stand-up wasn't something to buy on CD or even DVD. Clips on Youtube are the biggest source out there for most people, then comedy specials on TV and on Netflix (which doesn't feel like paying for one specific thing), then there's podcasts featuring favorite stand-ups and more recently Spotify and Pandora that have access to tons of comedy albums - not to mention piracy. That plus the fact that a lot of standups are featured on fan-favorite television shows as well means that they're much closer to the same level. I'm 25 and I've bought probably two comedy albums in my life, not because I'm pirating but because there are so many other ways to get this material most of the time. If I want some stand-up for free, it's as easy as looking at a webcomic. Yours is the sort of thinking that caught the film studios off guard when broadband access exploded - they easily could have looked at what happened to the music industry and compensated accordingly, but they weren't forward thinking. There isn't a direct parallel there because we're talking about micropayments for unestablished acts, but I think yours is a faulty line of logic. feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Mar 21, 2012 |
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Mar 21, 2012 21:43
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indigi posted:I wasn't arguing against micropayments at all, I think they're a fantastic idea. You're the one who asserted that this venture could fail because it did for webcomics. You didn't address my actual point, which was that the audience for comedy specials/albums have traditionally paid for them despite how easy it may be to procure the same (or similar) content for free via youtube, file sharing, catching sets on Conan/Letterman etc., while the audience for webcomics and podcasts have overwhelmingly never had to pay for anything, and it takes a while to train consumers to spend money on something that was universally free until very very recently - that's the key difference. It's difficult to compare two products that are so different in terms of audience, distribution, marketability, and history. Sorry, I guess I didn't word things well. I wasn't saying you were against micropayments, I was arguing against micropayments. And I did address your actual point, because I'm saying the market has changed. An audience traditionally paying for something doesn't mean they'll continue to do so as new channels of distribution present themselves. There have always been comics available for free, just like there's always been comedians available to see on TV or hear on the radio, but that doesn't mean that comics didn't also come from an industry where tons of people paid for them and then the market changed. I agree that the markets are very different, I just think its very backward-thinking to assume that because people have traditionally paid for something they'll continue to do so despite changes in the market landscape. I think the argument against micropayments for webcomics is the same one as the argument against micropayments for untested stand-ups who lack means of built-in advertising. That being said, there are successful pay-webcomics out there, just like there will be a handful of stand-ups that its successful for - but if I have a buddy who is doing the stand-up circuit in Chicago like a few hundred others, micropayments won't do anything for him.
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Mar 22, 2012 15:20
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Anyone have any idea when Todd Barry's special is going to air? I saw the taping in the fall, seems weird that I haven't heard from it since.
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Apr 29, 2012 15:04
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poo poo, why can't Spotify tell me about all this new poo poo itself? I have some serious catching up to do.
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May 23, 2012 06:58
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DannoMack posted:Talking Funny is great because everything Ricky Gervais says is wrong and eventually you see Louis start to defend his idiot opinions out of pity. I read it more as Ricky playing the devil's advocate at every turn, often toward an unbalanced opinion.
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Jul 9, 2012 15:34
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quadrophrenic posted:And I don't care who you are, you can't draw any conclusions whatsoever about anything after watching 10 amateur 5-minute sets. Especially because she didn't seem to have any actual reasoning behind why she picked particular comics from both genders, nor evidence that they were of comprable style/fanbase/talent/etc. I tend to like comics that don't focus their act around their own gender, race, or sexuality, but I don't think any gender, race, or sexuality tend to do that, but if I looked up random standup on Youtube I'd probably come up with some incredibly skewed results. Because much of Youtube is filled with lowest common denominator videos and viewers.
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Jul 10, 2012 20:15
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quadrophrenic posted:So.... Tosh.0 is probably gonna get canceled, huh There's no such thing as bad publicity. "Tosh.0? Didn't I hear something about him recently? Oh wow, this is like America's Funniest Home Videos, but for Youtube! Honey this is great come watch!"
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Jul 11, 2012 17:43
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Exactly what I expected and hoped for. Not necessarily the funniest set I've ever heard, but probably the best in recent memory by a good margin. Really plays the whole thing up in the perfect way. It only took one or two jokes until the entire audience was on board.
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Oct 6, 2012 07:44
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Uh those statues are made of gold why doesn't he just melt them down and sell it
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Oct 9, 2012 01:48
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Dick Holden posted:I saw this on Facebook, something the comedy club back home is doing. http://imgur.com/QK3z5 Wait, what are they actually doing? Going up there and performing their sets? Doing impressions? Showing videos?
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Oct 24, 2012 00:43
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Yeah, commercial acting work doesn't pay what it used to in NYC. What I commonly hear is that you move to NYC to get good, then you move to LA to get work.
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Nov 18, 2012 07:06
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Analytic Engine posted:I'm decided to visit NYC for New Years eve to see some comedy, does anyone have suggestions for special events outside of just hitting up the big clubs? I don't know anyone there so I'll be on my own & using CouchSurfing. This really isn't a good plan. New Years Eve in NYC is a bit of a shitshow in general and isn't really the day to come and do anything but drink and pay out ridiculous amounts of money to get into anywhere and have it be extraordinarily crowded. I checked both UCB theaters and they're closed for NYE, looking at Caroline's and they have some big NYE event that costs $100 for some mediocre comics and a party, Comedy Cellar has a NYE event that costs $80+ two drink minimum for people that any other day would cost $10 to see, and I'm sure the situation elsewhere isn't much better. There might be a good indie comedy show somewhere, but I wouldn't count on it, or I wouldn't count on it not being sold out already. It would be better to go literally any other time than NYE to see comedy. feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Dec 23, 2012 |
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Dec 23, 2012 00:59
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Pete's special is really fun so far. And Pete's all about fun.
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May 13, 2013 04:07
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The_Rob posted:I'm going to the hot tub with Kurt and Kristin at the Virgil tomorrow. I see Dana Gould and Eliza skinner will be there so that should be a lot of fun. I am very jealous it's no longer in New York 
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May 20, 2013 02:26
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The_Rob posted:I mean really you can't go wrong. 5 bucks and a ton of great comedians. I'm not sure if it's exactly the same format as the NYC show was, but I always appreciated that they let it be a little more loose than just a straight standup show here. It tended to book the weirder acts, whether that was comedic retro-future DJs or creepy fake-German brother-sister hip hop bands or magicians or even going all out variety and just getting a choir coming through town. And I loved how most of the time Kurt and Kristen didn't just use it for a practice ground for their standup but really tried to do something new and fun every week. I have to say, Wyatt Cenac's straight standup showcase is no substitute
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May 21, 2013 05:47
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The problem I have with the Kroll Show is that it feels like enjoying it requires pop culture knowledge of things that I just don't pay attention to or care about, like celebrity gossip and reality TV shows. And if I don't have any knowledge of Annoying Celebrity X then Kroll's parody of them won't be funny social parody to me, it'll just be a really annoying person that I'm watching do a really annoying thing and I'll end up annoyed rather than amused. The same goes for Jeselnek: I don't pay attention to the things he talks about outside of his show because they bore or annoy me, I don't want to hear about them on his show either. Inside Amy is great, though. There's an occasional dud, but some of the bits are funnier than any other sketch show on TV outside of Key & Peele. Edit: On another note, does anybody have any favorite slightly lesser-known comedy albums that are on Spotify? I've already gone through the big ones and I want more free comedy. feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Jun 6, 2013 |
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Jun 6, 2013 00:54
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Outside of Comedy Cellar and UCB, where do NYC people to to see good stand-up? I see Wyatt's show occasionally and Hannibal's show when I want to feel like a sardine, as well as a handful of open mics, but I'm really not a club guy. I'd rather go to an open mic with indie comics having interesting material that's not always hitting than see some hacky populist stuff at Eastville or the equivalent. What are my other options, where am I missing?
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Jun 9, 2013 05:32
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As far as I can tell, the closest thing America has to the British panel scene is, strangely enough, the podcasting community. Hell, Doug Loves Movies is essentially a poorly organized panel show as is.
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Jun 29, 2013 18:33
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The_Rob posted:I haven't heard his new album yet, even though I was at his album release party. But every time I have seen him do stand up he is great. So I would recommend just checking it out. Oh snap, this post just made me remember I have a ticket to his Brooklyn show tonight. Thanks for making me not miss it!
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Aug 27, 2013 06:31
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The Berzerker posted:Did anyone watch the Pete Holmes show? I won't have cable for another couple of weeks and TBS' site won't let me either, but I am hoping it was good. It was enjoyable, but being a half-hour definitely made it feel a bit too breezy. The sketch was well-produced but it was released on the internet last week, and his monologue was refreshingly different from every other talk show's. I think he described it well when he said: Pete Holes in Rolling Stone posted:It's got a playhouse – an after school clubhouse feel. A "late night happy place" if you will. I'd say it was successful overall in that it felt very Pete Holmes-y.
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Oct 30, 2013 04:01
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I've been listening to the Put Your Hands Together podcast, which is a fantastic source of stand-up from up-and-comers. How has this been going on for almost a year and this is the first I've heard of it? Is it just me or is Cameron Esposito everywhere these days? She's fantastic.
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Nov 20, 2013 23:30
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Super pumped about a few of those. Lots of indie darlings and podcast favs.
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Feb 12, 2014 06:07
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The best daily listings: http://bestnewyorkcomedy.com/
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Sep 16, 2014 16:22
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El Gallinero Gros posted:There are very few things funnier than a comedian ripping somebody in the audience who deserves it. I remember Patton Oswalt doing a "7 split with the Melvins where it's him ripping apart somebody on a phone call during his set. It's glorious. I loved Louie ripping into an audience member who kept being disruptive during the taping of Live at the Beacon. Hilarious stuff, really on point, tore the guy a new rear end in a top hat, and ended that section by saying "And now I'm going to take a drink of water for the edit so I can cut that whole bit out because you don't deserve a reward for being an rear end in a top hat." And sure enough that whole section was cut.
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Sep 22, 2014 16:49
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Yeah, Splitsider had a pretty good rundown of every critic trashing the show. Shame, I really thought he was going to go for something subversive with the whole multicam and Seinfeld-alike thing. Bummer
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Oct 6, 2014 17:18
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Illinois Smith posted:I like Daniel Kitson and Stewart Lee, someone recommend me more British standups plz I've only ever seen one set of his, but I quite liked Simon Amstell's standup.
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Oct 24, 2014 20:21
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rear end Catchcum posted:Aparna just recorded an album. Super bummed I missed it, saw it last night on her Twitter
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Jun 3, 2015 20:46
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The_Rob posted:I think I prefer Hot Tub a little bit more though. LA is amazing for comedy right now. Screw you for stealing Hot Tub from NY 
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Jul 1, 2015 17:40
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What's y'all's best comedy albums and specials of the year? I've seriously fallen behind.
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Oct 23, 2015 18:24
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What happened to the PFT special? I didn't even know it existed until that post, and I love me some PFT. Also, yeah, gotta agree with the more negative opinions of Bill Burr in here. I'm aware that he's a brilliant comic, but I can't stand the misogyny and his general worldview, ironic or not. He just comes off like a selfish libertarian rear end in a top hat, even through the lens of irony. Jeselnik completely works for me though, because for Burr the targets always seem wrong and for Jeselnik they always seem right. Aside, maybe, from the shark party victim. But his awareness surrounding it made that really work in the special. To me, Burr makes me uncomfortable in the same way that some of Carlin's more conservative 90s stuff makes me uncomfortable. That history will not look back kindly on it.
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Oct 23, 2015 20:23
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Patton Oswalt's books are both read by him. Zombie Spaceship Wasteland is fun, but only one section of it is great (and boy is it great!), but Silver Screen Fiend is really fantastic and is really strengthened by his reading.
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Apr 1, 2016 18:33
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Oh hey, it's Zero Fucks Boyd.
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May 13, 2016 17:54
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Why has Todd forsaken New York? I admittedly haven't been Eagle-eyed about it, but I don't think I've ever seen him have a New York date the 5 years I've lived here. Closest is DC and Philly
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May 24, 2016 19:42
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Analytic Engine posted:Does anyone have reccomendations for UCB NY shows? Maybe more experimental standup, but regular stuff is also good. The Sunday night improv/sketch/standup jam at UCBeast is pretty great for experimental stuff. Lasers in the Jungle is pretty solid. Will be curious to hear if anyone has favorites, the Beast standup shows don't have the most distinctive identities in my experience.
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Aug 24, 2016 17:03
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