September 19, 2006

Dave & Chase go to Bumbershoot

This blog has been a long time in coming. Spinning my wheels waiting for my move to the new part of my life and with luck, the rest of my time in this world. The taste of Santa Fe has finally lost its allure and its time to go, as scary a prospect as moving somewhere to try and do something is, at least it no longer seems impossible; to be a paid comic. So, this is my last month in New Mexico and it began, after so many months of being barley able to function and playing the new Super Mario game (which is friggin sweet BTW) way too much, with a nice big reminder of why I absolutely must leave for the citys on the west coast.

On the 1st of September I flew up to Portland to attend my friend Shandas wedding and see my grandfather, who of late has been refusing to eat and move which tends to be the first sign of wanting to die; exhausted after some 89 years of life. As an added bonus my friend Dave had e-mailed me before I got on the plane to let me know that he had got us two free passes to go to Seattles gigantic Bumbershoot festival the day after I arrived and to top it off, we were going to see and meet the one and only Dana Gould.

This part needs some explanation; Dave is Danas webmaster and has been for a few years now and all though they have talked and e-mailed they had never actually met but when Dana decided to perform at Bumbershoot, he let Dave know and hooked him (us) up with passes. Dave and I have been fans of Danas since the beginning of his comedy carrier, I mean I used to perform his bits for friends in highschool for gods sake and he is truly one of those comics that has made it in the ways that every comic hopes for, getting paid to write, performing on stage anywhere he wants and producing one of the best shows ever, The Simpsons.

So we arrive in Seattle, which was gorgeous by the way (the smell of the sea on a sunny day is really wonderful), we parked the car and started hiking towards all of the glowing and noisy things on the horizon. It was packed never seen so many hot teenage gir.. I mean people, I mean fully clothed definitely of age people. So immediately we were lost and time was quickly becoming a factor. The tickets were at will call (or so we thought) and we of course went to the wrong entrance so we doubled back to where the line was for tickets and this was a long long long line. We now had about 45 minutes max to get in to see Danas opening act and on top of this was the additional pressure that if the show filled up, regardless of having two tickets or no, we would not get in. This was a dark time trying to keep positive and ignore the growing thirst and need to pee. After a half hour in line we got up front only to find out that our tickets werent in the will call line (silly us) they were in the press and performers will call line up the street two clocks. Oh, thats just fucking great!!! So we hoof it up and get in the new line almost as long as the last line but moving 3 times as slow as said line and desperately lacking in shade. So, things get tense as we attempt to rationalize that we will only miss the opening act. Then Dave notices the huge Show Full sign by the door and now we are just speechless, waiting in line just because, convinced that we were gonna miss the show and miss meeting Dana. But even this misery had its amazing moments which would turn out to be the tiny tip of iceberg awesome. Hey, thats Todd Berry.

Dave noticed comedian Todd Berry standing near the entrance talking with some people and texting on his phone. He is a great comedian and that was a bit of a thrill seeing him in the real world, then Zach Galifianakis walks by making small talk with Todd.

Zach, fresh from The Comedians of Comedy tour has made a great name for himself as our generations Andy Kaufman and of all the comics working today, his shtick is truly original. So, this raised our spirits and we finally made it to the front and got our tickets. Dave inquired if we were on the VIP list for Dana (which would mean that we would get in even if the show was full) and sure enough (thank you Satan.. and Dana) we were. It said Dave + one and we were escorted in, given backstage stickers for our shirts and taken to our reserved seats and as if this was good enough, Dana had only been on stage for a minute or so. To hear the actual show (and me laughing a lot) that we attended go here - http://www.danagould.com/audio.html

So after the show we went back to the green room and in walks Dana Gould. Dave Norman! he says pointing to Dave. This is my friend Chase. I shook his hand and said Its an honor to meet you. Oh, stop. He said shaking his head and squinting. So then basically the day turned into Were with Gould, as he took us to the Roller-Derby of all places. A comic friend of his was one of the announcers and so we sat there, watched girls in roller-skates push each other down and Dave and Dana talked shop about the website and about the death of comedian Drake Sather (by Drake). It is truly hard to put this into words. Talking to someone you truly admire while watching a roller-derby.. surreal is a good way to put it. From there Dana took us to lunch at a Italian sports bar (dont ask cuz I dont know either) in this mall that was in the middle of the festival and we sat there and ate and talked to him about his kids and other comics and the Simpsons, etc. It was so great to listen to him talk about the Simpsons like it was just another office job or how he and his wife cant agree on a name for their next daughter. Dave and were continuously attempting to be clever while not embarrassing our selves and we pulled it off, taking turns making Dana laugh.. this was fun. The most hysterical thing though was that no matter what, being a man always kicks in. In the middle of sentences he would point out hot girls walking by. We were girl watching with Dana Gould. Well, you know its just that Im working on this new script now about.. Oh, damn! Look at her! There ought to be a law. Oh wait, there is. So after lunch which Dana paid for (thanks again) we all had to pee (the surreal kicks up a notch at this point) so there we are in the restroom pissing in unison while a father was waiting for his son to finish in the stall. The kid was making fart noises which was amusing in and of it self but then Dana decides to tell him that were behind him all the way or something like that. One thing is clear about Dana, he is always on and its great. So, at this point we were now headed to a show called R.Kellys Trapped in the Closet Live! which isnt what it sounds like.. ok, it kinda is. For those of you who dont know about this (and I didnt until Dana explained it to me) its a live improv comedy show where they get comedians to watch R.Kellys bizarre extended music video soap-opera called Trapped in the Closet (not to be confused with South Park episode with the same name) and then comment on it. Now, if you havent seen this masterwork of ridiculousness you can wath all the episodes for free on good old Youtube here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUzGovNBycQ

I highly recommend you watch all 12 episodes.. theyre really short and so funny (funny mostly cuz youre not sure that they were intended to be funny).

So After getting lost in the crowd for a bit we made it over to the theater, stoped for a moment to talk to comedian Arj Barker and take some pictures with fans.

Dana then took us backstage to the coveted and much talked about greenroom. Immediately after walking in the door there sat Morgan Murphy..

..Paul F. Tompkins..

..Paul Scheer..

..Rob Huebel & Aziz Ansari.

I stood near the door (subconsciously I suppose I was waiting to get kicked out) and Dave and Dana took seats in from of me. Dana did the whole This is Dave and this Chase.. theyre with me. We met everyone in the room and Aziz begins to explain the show to Dana (who was the ginnie pig of the show in that he was gonna be the guy on stage who had never seen it before. Dave makes his way to the fridge where precious beer was found and he passes me one, which I needed at this point to keep calm. This was an amazing room to be in. The entire cast of Best Week Ever in one room with so many other great comics.. and in walks John Hodgman..

The Daily Shows newest resident expert. Now I was really getting nervous. John offers Dana a disc with a show on it that his wife thinks Danas wife will like (all these reminders that they are just ordinary people kept happening) and talk continues about the show and everyones part in it. John makes his way to the beer and I move closer to the door where Maria Bamford is now standing.

This was now getting extremely thrilling as Maria is hot off the Comedians of Comedy tour (with Zach & Patton) and I consider her the finest female comic working today and one of the best comics period. Her and I talked for a while about the show and her tour and I told her my Gene Hackman/bathroom story which made her laugh. It started to kick in at this point that being there with Dana meant that no one would wonder why we were there; we were just accepted and that was very cool. So I notice a familiar voice in the hallway and turn to look.. Its David Cross! OMG its David Cross! As if this wasnt enough killer rad comics in one room one of the Comics I admire most in the world is in the hallway.

I leaned forward casually to Dave and whispered David Cross is in the hall. To which Dave responded Cool. he was pulling off calm way better then me. So I continued to make small talk with Maria as David Cross enters and is followed by who he was talking to; Matt Walsh of the Daily Show and Upright Citizens Brigade.

I cant help but stare at Matt and David as they pass between me and Maria to which she puts her hand up to her mouth and whispers to me Famous people.

Now there is a lot of talking going on and some people start to leave the greenroom which opens a chair next to Cross, so I took a seat. I must admit I found him very intimidating and I was really trying hard not to stare at him. He and Matt talked shop for a while and as David got up to leave I realized that I had to say something to him so I put my nervous sweaty hand and said Hey uh I just wanted to say hello Im a big fan. He shook my hand and immediately pulled it away saying hey man, that wasnt fun for me buddy! he then proceeded to wipe his hand off with a napkin and offer me a cookie; it was weird. So, I was pretty embarrassed at this point and as he started to leave he turned back briefly and nodded and kinda said than.. s ma.. and went out the door. At this point Horatio Sanz from Saturday Night Live had entered and made his way to the couch. When he came in it was so rad cuz Dave called out ..Horatio Sanz! like the official announcer for the room.

Dave began asking Matt about his co-star Besser.. So is Besser here? to which Matt replied Yes, is it more of a thrill that he is here then me? which was the funniest thing he could have possibly said. I then asked him point blank.. So, Upright Citizens Brigade the movie??? He badly dodged the question and eventually gave us a Well, something may be in the wind. To which Dave and I were most pleased.

At this point the show was about to go on and we were taken to our seats.

The show that they all made fun of is again here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUzGovNBycQ

After the show we returned to the green room and talked about how strange it all was. At this point I noticed that Slovin & Allen were also there as well as if things couldnt get any cooler.

So everyone slowly made there way out save Doug Benson who was very nice and eating his pre-show meal.

Horatio actually asked Dave if they had met before which was pretty cool and I made a solid wise-crack that had John and Dana in stitches I was real happy about that.

So we say our goodbyes to Dana and thank him for everything. Then when he was out of ear shot Dave and I began jumping around like kids on pixy-sticks and Dr. Pepper. This was truly one of those life-affirming experiences. All I want to do is be funny. All I want to do is make people laugh until I cant function anymore. Thank Dave, Thank Dana and Thank the Comedy Gods in their infinite wisdom for showing me into that room.

Did not stop smiling until the next day at Shandas wedding but then only briefly then it was right back to grinning like a fool.

To be continued

Posted by chase at 12:18 AM | Comments (0)

May 30, 2006

He Shall Know Your Ways as if Born to Them

Well, I had my second open-mic stand-up appearance last night at Laff’s Comedy Club and to say it went well would be an extraordinary understatement. I knew that it would be easier (if only a little) as far as the stage freight was concerned but I had no idea how much better it would go in terms of my ability to interact and adjust according to audience response. I’m getting ahead of myself though; let me begin with the first noticeable difference from the last time I did it. For almost three weeks before my first open-mic I was sick, unable to sleep, nightmares when I did, terrible stomach aches, and the last few days before the big night my body decided to add vomiting to that symptoms list. This time around, there was none of that at all. I kept waiting to be scared and sick but it never came and instead I couldn’t wait to do it again. I didn’t even get nervous until the day of. The other big difference is that I was much less prepared this time around, not for lack of trying. I wrote 10 bits, 4 of those were well over 3 minutes each and open-mics are always 5 minutes standard unless you are the emcee, so you could say I over did the joke writing but I did not decide on the final set until the day of and I had only one successful run-threw again, on the day of. I feel that part of my problem the first time was trying too hard to memorize exactly what I was going to say, this only added to my tremendous anxiety. This time around I wanted to see if I could wing some of it based on an outline (that I had written on my left hand by the way), and well.. it worked really well. The other thing I was able to do this time was interact with the audience and react to their reactions or (lack of). A great example of this was when I did my stem cell soup bit, which at first went over ok but the punch line (which I did fuck up a bit) fell flat and for some reason I decided that it was the audience’s fault and made an “over your heads” gesture that got a big laugh. It was great, I implied that it was their fault that they didn’t get a joke that I had in fact messed up and not only did they take the blame but they laughed too. This happened again when I talked about Santa Fe being weird. The reaction from the crowd was that they knew what I was talking and so I added “..it’s fuckin’ weird!” and that went over very well. Of course the last and best example of this was when I was heckled. It reminded me of the “Heckler Rule” comedian Ngaio had told me when we met.. “If you’re gonna heckle, make sure it’s funny.” The woman’s comment was very funny and since it was the first time that I have been heckled, I decided to point that out and it was my biggest laugh of the night. Afterwards I received much praise and advice from the other comedians there and one of the other open-mic’ers actually asked me for some advice about his act. And I was told by the emcee of the evening that, “Whatever you do don’t stop doing this.”

I won’t stop. I can’t. It’s the best I’ve ever felt; holding that microphone. I can feel the compulsion building even now.

BTW – clips of the evening are here - click me

Posted by chase at 07:18 AM | Comments (0)