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!
Monday, August 31, 2009
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!
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!
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!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Come see the Feral Chihuahuas this weekend!
It's show #3 of our big summer season - "Introduction to Western Civilization"
We're packing together sketches of historical significance with new films, audience participation, crazy new bits and a possible return of a great hit from the April Fool's Day show - "George 'the' Bastard Reads Notices".
I've got a lot of roles in this show too, probably penance for not being able to be in the last show (I'll be writing and in films, but I won't be on stage for the season finale).
Visit Feralton at the Asheville Arts Center (308 Merrimon Ave) the Friday and Saturday at 8pm to find out
We're packing together sketches of historical significance with new films, audience participation, crazy new bits and a possible return of a great hit from the April Fool's Day show - "George 'the' Bastard Reads Notices".
I've got a lot of roles in this show too, probably penance for not being able to be in the last show (I'll be writing and in films, but I won't be on stage for the season finale).
Visit Feralton at the Asheville Arts Center (308 Merrimon Ave) the Friday and Saturday at 8pm to find out
- Can Emily Dickinson impress her poetry teacher?
- Did Nirvana write the plot for porn?
- Can you take financial advice from a man with bad hair?
- What can the French New Wave do for you?
- What did Hamlet really do to Ophelia?
- Whose feet did I give a thorough rubbing to this week?
Recent bastardries - it's been quite the time!
It's been a while, and things have been motoring along in the world of the Bastard.
The Feral Chihuahuas went to Ohio to the Shadowbox Sketch Comedy festival. Shadowbox is quite the entity, and if you happen to be near Columbus, you need to check them out! It's like a commune with a theatre - the gang there do everything from writing to performing to cooking. We were treated like royalty, and if you've been to a Feral Chihuahuas show you know that we don't just bring the funny, but we love to entertain and we were the party planners for the late night gazebo sessions at the hotel. I have no idea how we weren't kicked out of the rather nice Marriot Courtyard.
For Day #1 we got a tour of the facility at Shadowbox and worked through our material on the stage. In typical Chihuahuas fashion we were something like 87 minutes longer than we thought we were, so cuts had to be made. I was hoping we'd cut everything I was in but Facescroll so I wouldn't have to change costume at all, but I ended up in two of our pieces so there was one piece of rapid costume changes.
Performance went well - the audience at Shadowbox were there to LAUGH!!! All six of the groups got at least one great reaction, and our set went really well. The only role I had that was meant to get a lot of laughs was as Postings in Facescroll, and it suits me pretty well, I just have to deliver lines in a silly voice, no acting required.
A few of the Shadowbox people came and joined us at the hotel late at night - yay for 3am drinking and philosophising with fellow funny people, particularly the guys from Laughter League, Cell Camp and the Indicators. Here's some samples of these groups...
Laughter League's "You-scan-it" sketch. Although the idea has been kind of done before, the cap is brilliant!
Most of the sketches that I really liked by Cell Camp aren't on their YouTube, but I wish they'd done this one live - "Can I fart in here"?
The Indicators also don't have their funniest stuff online - they were the first group I got to know (because their table was between ours and the buffet).
Far less hungover than I had any right to be, I emerged for Wednesday's festivities. The plan for Wednesday's show was to highlight the "best of the fest", although I wasn't sure about them breaking up sketches into smaller parts to thread through the show, it might have been a better idea to give each group two sketches, one long and one short. For us, they picked "Gangster Rap for the Hearing Impaired" so I had a whole day to watch and hang out. I ended up being picked for one of the few lines in the Garrett Morris sketch, so I suddenly had something to do. In the sketch, a lot of us had to play kids - Joe from Laughter League and I both had beanies, "just in case" (hey Joe, if you're reading, did the picture of us come out?).
Wednesday night's show was a blast - a lot of audience members came to both shows, so at the end I had a few crowd people come up and say they liked Face Scroll (and one person who confused me for someone in Cell Camp - with great apologies to whomever in Cell Camp looks or sounds like me). I got to see almost all of the show from the little back corral area, and Shadowbox's lighting and mic effects really helped a few of the sketches. Drew and Tommy stretched Gangsta Rap out for an eternity!
There was some pretty nice press around the event too. Metromix Columbus pointed out that the Feral Chihuahuas took the risks and got the rewards. Columbus Dispatch gave us much love, with reviews of the shows on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Staggered back to the hotel late at night to see that the Laughter League had commandeered the pool, so joined in. This was followed by more drinking and merriment, and a fairly sombre drive back to Asheville on Thursday.
Shadowbox! Can't thank you enough for amazing organization of a terrific festival. I want to go back!
The Feral Chihuahuas went to Ohio to the Shadowbox Sketch Comedy festival. Shadowbox is quite the entity, and if you happen to be near Columbus, you need to check them out! It's like a commune with a theatre - the gang there do everything from writing to performing to cooking. We were treated like royalty, and if you've been to a Feral Chihuahuas show you know that we don't just bring the funny, but we love to entertain and we were the party planners for the late night gazebo sessions at the hotel. I have no idea how we weren't kicked out of the rather nice Marriot Courtyard.
For Day #1 we got a tour of the facility at Shadowbox and worked through our material on the stage. In typical Chihuahuas fashion we were something like 87 minutes longer than we thought we were, so cuts had to be made. I was hoping we'd cut everything I was in but Facescroll so I wouldn't have to change costume at all, but I ended up in two of our pieces so there was one piece of rapid costume changes.
Performance went well - the audience at Shadowbox were there to LAUGH!!! All six of the groups got at least one great reaction, and our set went really well. The only role I had that was meant to get a lot of laughs was as Postings in Facescroll, and it suits me pretty well, I just have to deliver lines in a silly voice, no acting required.
A few of the Shadowbox people came and joined us at the hotel late at night - yay for 3am drinking and philosophising with fellow funny people, particularly the guys from Laughter League, Cell Camp and the Indicators. Here's some samples of these groups...
Laughter League's "You-scan-it" sketch. Although the idea has been kind of done before, the cap is brilliant!
Most of the sketches that I really liked by Cell Camp aren't on their YouTube, but I wish they'd done this one live - "Can I fart in here"?
The Indicators also don't have their funniest stuff online - they were the first group I got to know (because their table was between ours and the buffet).
Far less hungover than I had any right to be, I emerged for Wednesday's festivities. The plan for Wednesday's show was to highlight the "best of the fest", although I wasn't sure about them breaking up sketches into smaller parts to thread through the show, it might have been a better idea to give each group two sketches, one long and one short. For us, they picked "Gangster Rap for the Hearing Impaired" so I had a whole day to watch and hang out. I ended up being picked for one of the few lines in the Garrett Morris sketch, so I suddenly had something to do. In the sketch, a lot of us had to play kids - Joe from Laughter League and I both had beanies, "just in case" (hey Joe, if you're reading, did the picture of us come out?).
Wednesday night's show was a blast - a lot of audience members came to both shows, so at the end I had a few crowd people come up and say they liked Face Scroll (and one person who confused me for someone in Cell Camp - with great apologies to whomever in Cell Camp looks or sounds like me). I got to see almost all of the show from the little back corral area, and Shadowbox's lighting and mic effects really helped a few of the sketches. Drew and Tommy stretched Gangsta Rap out for an eternity!
There was some pretty nice press around the event too. Metromix Columbus pointed out that the Feral Chihuahuas took the risks and got the rewards. Columbus Dispatch gave us much love, with reviews of the shows on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Staggered back to the hotel late at night to see that the Laughter League had commandeered the pool, so joined in. This was followed by more drinking and merriment, and a fairly sombre drive back to Asheville on Thursday.
Shadowbox! Can't thank you enough for amazing organization of a terrific festival. I want to go back!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Feral Chihuahuas tonight and tomorrow
The Feral Chihuahuas are back with Show #2 of the summer series - Social Patchworking Sorcery. I'm looking forward to this in a big way. For a start, I get to play a waiter. I play a lot of waiters, although I have never been a waiter. I think enough of the rest of the Chihuahuas have been waiters, and want to see what my take on it is.
Second, there's going to be a really great film/sketch tie-in. I haven't seen the film parts yet, but the film/sketch tie-in excites me. Sarah wrote the script and I got my grotty fingers into it, and it's my favorite three-parter in a long long time.
Third, I will be wearing the pants I wore in "Vending Love". I don't get to wear them very often, and that is a shame. So come see what it's all about. Downtown Asheville is going to be a noisy, overcrowded mess, so drop $10 on an evening with friends, laughs, and easy-to-find parking. It's at the Asheville Arts Center, 308 Merrimon Ave.
Second, there's going to be a really great film/sketch tie-in. I haven't seen the film parts yet, but the film/sketch tie-in excites me. Sarah wrote the script and I got my grotty fingers into it, and it's my favorite three-parter in a long long time.
Third, I will be wearing the pants I wore in "Vending Love". I don't get to wear them very often, and that is a shame. So come see what it's all about. Downtown Asheville is going to be a noisy, overcrowded mess, so drop $10 on an evening with friends, laughs, and easy-to-find parking. It's at the Asheville Arts Center, 308 Merrimon Ave.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Mountain Expressionism
Well I'm back from my four day trip to an undisclosed location. Not sure if I've changed the world, but I may just have made it a funnier place. I did a little blog maintenance when I got back, I finally got around to modifying Shad Marsh's blog (VOTE FOR HIM!!). As official stand-up comedian of the Marsh For Mayor campaign, I will be coming up with jokes and offensive stances to further sink his perilous ship. I've added Nathan Adams' page of intriguing art and performance in Asheville. I'm a big fan of Nathan and was hoping to use him in a stand-up night that originally fell through but may be back on (look for details in September).
And what a nice surprise to come back to - the Mountain Xpress was teasing us that there was going to be an article on comedy in Asheville, including a little picture from our season-ender last year.
The full article is great, and the press version has some really nice reprints of pictures including some from our season-opener just over a week ago! The next set of Feral Chihuahuas shows are this upcoming weekend - Friday and Saturday nights at the Asheville Arts Center. I'll have some new stand-up, and we're finally working the films into the sketches, so come out and see a series of firsts.
Buy tickets online now!
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