asterios kokkinos
geoffrey golden
rob asaro
adam daroff
eric larnick
jenni powell
rob morrisonasterios’ batman joke on npr’s marketplace
| written by geoffrey on 07/31/08 | 3 comments |
a clip of asterios performing stand-up at an LA comic book store made its way to npr’s marketplace. way to go, asterios! and way to go batman, for hopefully getting a sense of humor.
filed under comics, on the side, stand up
andy kaufman played a robot hero in a feature film
| written by geoffrey on 04/13/07 | leave a comment |
andy kaufman wasn’t in many movies, so his legacy on the silver screen can pretty much be summed up with this classic bomb called heartbeeps (1981). from the imdb:
val and aqua are two household servant robots who start feeling emotions for each other. after falling in love, they decide to escape from their servitude and attempt to start a family of their own.
it’s like AI: the love story, featuring a robot named catskill, who I assume is the comic relief in a film about goofy robots. how could they go wrong? they had andy kaufman, bernadette peters, a retarded premise, awkward special effects, a hilariously meticulous score by john williams, randy quaid…
filed under movies: 80s, stand up
emo philips vs. pee wee herman: does anybody win?
| written by dave on 02/13/07 | leave a comment |
emo philips: i wouldn’t want to be in a room with him, but the man makes me laugh.
pee wee herman: if i had a time machine and a knife… i would probably still go see dinosaurs, but i’d consider killing pee wee.
filed under stand up, tv kids shows: 90s
overtime in branson: the yakov smirnoff theatre
| written by asterios on 12/26/06 | 1 comment |
one of my favorite aspects of branson, mo culture is the yakov smirnoff theatre. i know that sounds insane, but it’s true: the former soviet comedian has successfully owned an operated an 1,800 seat theater in branson for the past 14 years. here’s some ad copy from his website @ www.yakov.com:
There ought to be a caution sign as you enter the Yakov Smirnoff Theatre in Branson, Missouri. It should read “Warning! Hold on to your seat ‘cause this guy is about to blow you away with dynamite comedy!”
yakov - it’s your theater. if you want that sign, you can go out and make it and hang it yourself. or have your assistant make it, i don’t know - i don’t have all the answers.
still, you gotta be impressed by a guy who’s run a successful theater since 1992 doing god knows how many shows a night. here’s where it gets epic: a mural yakov painted entitled “america’s heart” stood at 9/11’s ground zero from september 11th, 2002 to november of 2003.
he paid $100,000 out of his own pocket to create and hang it. the only reason it’s not up right now? it was torn down by freak windstorms. does this make yakov smirnoff the ballsiest comedian ever? yes.
and that’s why we’re giving our 2006 “Ballsy” award to yakov smirnoff. mr. smirnoff, if you’re ever in los angeles or new york city, please contact us and one of our writers will meet you, buy you lunch at tad’s steakhouse, and hand you the trophy.
your move, smirnoff.
filed under novelty, stand up
he’s steven wright, but i’m steven right-now
| written by dave on 11/15/06 | leave a comment |
back in my ole college days, i took one magical class in stand-up comedy (’cause that’s what people who don’t really wanna do anything with their lives study in college). i tried out a variety of personas, from bat-shit crazy to uncomfortable-to-watch groucho-marx-esque mental patientishness. none of them drew more than that kind of uncomfortable laughter you get corpse-side at a viewing.
obviously, i had to stop trying to be me, and start trying to be steven wright.
the final exam was a performance in front of a crowd of fifty or more. i moped up to the mic, slumped down on a stool, and monotoned, “good morning,” which was hilarious because it was really night time! whammo! oh boy, i was off to a great steven wrightian start.
“this week, i decided to let the good times roll. unfortunately, i live on the top of a hill and they never rolled back.”
the audience laughed, and not in a pitying or trying-to-escape-out-the-closest-exit way. they laughed because steven wright, even in diet cola dave casey form, is the funniest bastard in the world. so thank you, steven wright. your emotionless delivery and receding hairline have convinced me that it’s okay if i’m going bald and it’s okay if i live a life entirely devoid of emotion.
in fact, it’s friggin’ hysterical.
filed under stand up
the muppets meet tony clifton — awkward…
| written by geoffrey on 10/10/06 | 5 comments |
here are a few things to get us started:
1. there was a miss piggy variety show special.
2. tony clifton was a guest.
3. he bombed.
if you’re not a muppet, it’s nearly impossible to bomb on the muppet show. i mean, doug henning killed with the muppet audience. doug fucking henning. and tony bombs? it’s like defying a law of gravity.
but here’s the really interesting thing — tony doesn’t just bomb, he gets the muppets to react in a way that only andy kaufman could get them to do successfully. andy brings out awkward silent group tension with the muppets. normally, in tense moments, some muppet will make a joke, or have an unusual fidget — anything to destroy the fiercest enemy of all muppets, which is stillness. but the moments in which the muppets react to tony are so quiet, weird, and intense, you’d think you were watching an adult swim cartoon in slow motion.
but you’re not. these are the muppets. this is what they’re good at. in the john cleese episode, the monty python humor rubs off on them. in the peter sellers episode, the show became more quiet and subtle. and here, in this ridiculous variety show, the muppets even adapted to kaufman’s crazily, purposefully unfunny clifton by upping the ante, and having the muppets react pretty much as we do. no fidget is necessary, because that’s what the people who watch it are doing.
filed under muppets, stand up