Monday, August 31, 2009

Inglorious misspellings

Went to see "Inglourious Basterds" on the weekend. Brilliant from start to finish, and Christoph Waltz is the perfect villain!!!! The every syllable dripping sarcasm works through the whole film, and kudos to that first scene being stretched to breaking point to set the scene for what a prick he is going to be to everyone.

Tonight is the OxyMorons show at Razcals - if you're looking to laugh tonight I can't recommend this more highly. Come down and challenge the Bastard! It's an interesting venue, personally I love trying to win over the crowd who come not realising there's an improv show on. If I can get a laugh out of them, it's a victory. Takes me way back to two bad early stand-up experiences, both in Australia.

One was at a bar in Melbourne that ran comedy regularly, but most of the time it was just the comedians in the crowd. I was trying to do my set, and there were a bunch of guys playing pool who were way louder than the few actually listening. I was trying to time punchlines to after one of them making a shot, so at least there would be some reaction.

The other was in Hobart, Tasmania. A bar that had never done comedy before decided to try a comedy night, and it was a one-and-done situation. There weren't a lot of people there, but of the few who were there to listen to the comedy, two of them were kids writing a report for their High School (and since they had to have an adult with them - in bars in Australia anyone can come in provided they're with an adult), their mother was there sitting with them... and her knitting. She sat there alternating being appalled and pretending not to listen, and smacking the kids if they laughed - it didn't help that of the three comedians, I was doing the filthy stuff, we had one guy doing mostly drug-related material, and a goth kid doing monologues about being suicidal. To cap it off, the bar didn't turn off the jukebox - so particularly during the goth kid's set, he was getting drowned out by the singing.

I love me a hostile crowd! But I also love a bar full of people who want to laugh - so here's hoping tonight is more of the latter than the former. Bring it on, Razcals!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Back in Asheville and Back in Action!

Been gone for a while, didn't get any official performing in while I was gone, sadly, but now I'm back and ready to get back into it.

LAAFF is coming up over Labor Day weekend - it seems to be year on/year off that I do something at LAAFF and this is an "on" year. If you take the LaZoom shuttle bus to and from LAAFF, there's a chance that you'll get some Bastard or some Feral Chihuahuas entertainment while you're being shuttled.

The OxyMorons are still going strong at Razcals on Monday night - and karaoke comes straight after us! Come see the show and then challenge me to sing something. I'm a really terrible singer!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Come see the Feral Chihuahuas (but not the Bastard) this weekend

So last weekend I did just about the most disgusting thing I've ever done in the name of comedy, and it should be in a film at the Feral Chihuahuas shows this weekend. I have a prior commitment out of town, but Tommy, Andrew, Katie, Sarah, Drew and Adam will be bringing the funny to the Asheville Arts Center for one last time. I think the next Feral Chihuahuas show will be a Halloween Extravaganza, so don't miss this. There's also going to be the debut of the new Feral Chihuahuas t-shirt.

Asheville Arts Center, 8pm Friday and Saturday night, $10 - all new sketches, songs and films!

Buy your tickets to Feralton here.

Monday night I think was my best performance with the OxyMorons at Razcals. I was really happy with how things went at 35 Below earlier this summer, but overall I think last night was a truly great show. Eating cottage cheese with hot wax while Drew wrapped me in bacon, followed by a disaster of a Mexican-themed party with Sarah, continuing my unbeaten streak in Feudalism (Drew and I nailed "Film Noir"), and then some truly inspiring audience suggestions for "I like my men like I like my ..." rounded out an evening of laughs.

The OxyMorons are at Razcals every Monday at 8, with karaoke following at 10. I'm not always in the show, so check back here and I'll try to keep you updated on which shows I'm in, but it's always a good laugh and FREE!