Sacramento Comedy Scene

Keith Lowell Jensen: Comedy with a deadline!

2011-04-18T21:17:09Z

By Amy Serna

Keith Lowell Jensen has 21 days and counting.

But by the time you read this he will have even less time than that to get strangers to pledge $2,250 for his new project.

His new live stand-up comedy CD and DVD called “Cats Made of Rabbits” is a project that will only be funded if he raises that much money before the “expiration date.”

But back in the day, before this stand-up comedian, from Sacramento, California was filming a comedy DVD, he found his love for comedy when he worked as a promoter for the Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation.

“Mike noticed that I always watched him really carefully when he was MC'ing the shows and so he just shoved me on stage one night and I did his material,” Jensen explained over the phone. “I didn't do my own material. But I just fell in love with it. I kept doing it and each time I would come up with a couple of jokes of my own, to mix in with his and in no time at all I was off and running.”

Once Jensen was “off and running” he developed a unique comedy style.

“I'd like to think that's it's fairly intelligent and honest, those are the two words that I'm most flattered to hear people use when they describe my comedy,” Jensen said.

Jensen is using an online program to fund his latest live comedy CD and DVD, “Cat's Made of Rabbits.” Kickstarter, an online program where any artist from around the world can start their own creative project, is a new way to fund projects online, so it has the ability to spread quickly and virally around the web. But there is a catch. Kickstarter lives by the “all-or-nothing” mentality. If the artist does not raise their intended money goal by the expiration date, they see no money. In Jensen's case if all $2,250 is not pledged by Friday, May 6 at 8:00 P.M. EDT.

“If I reached that last date and we haven’t met our goal then no one's credit cards gets charged, Jensen said. “Everyone keeps their money.”

Despite the pressure to make his goal, one of the reasons that Jensen decided to choose Kickstarter was for the cover art work of the CD and DVD, which is a painting, taken from an animal rights show by Jacquelyn Bond. It is a creative piece of art work that shows naked bodies with rabbits heads applying make up.

“I had two labels that were looking at possibly releasing the album and the bigger one, the one that's actually a corporate label, and soon as they saw it they were like, 'No, no, no, absolutely not,” said Jensen over the phone while laughing. “It was kind of like being able to use that album cover is my consolation prize for not signing with a big label.”

Although Jensen has an urgent time limit, he views Kickstarter as a tool to help independent artists get their projects out there.

“It's one more amazing way where the internet and social networking are powering individuals,” Jensen explained.

Although he is not signed with a major label, he had help from an independent label that is based in Citrus Heights California called, Apprehensive Films. His newest project,“Cats Made of Rabbits” was filmed and recorded live in California at an independent comedy club, the Sacramento Comedy Spot.

“And the truth is from watching other people's Kickstarters, you raise a lot more in the last week when the urgency really is there,” Jensen added. “So the fact that we're so on track now is actually a really good sign.”

And remember what you pay is what you get. Just $1 is the minimum amount to pledge and the sky is the limit on the maximum. Here are how some of the different dollar amounts vary:

* $1 or more Jensen will send his “undying love and gratitude.”

* $5 or more, an autographed photo of Jensen's colon.

* $10 or more you can choose been Jensen's 2009 comedy CD “To the Moon” or “Funnier Than God” a CD from a sketch group called “I Can't Believe It's Not Comedy.”

* $15 or more lands you the “Cats Made of Rabbits” CD.

* $25 or more, the “Cats Made of Rabbits” DVD.

* $35 or more gets you the “Cat's Made Of Rabbits” DVD and CD.

* $45 or more, the “Cats Made of Rabbits” CD, DVD, and a copy of “To The Moon” CD

* $100 or more lands you the “super package” which includes “Cats Made of Rabbits” CD, DVD, the Double Plus Good Box set, one autographed promotional poster, and 2 VIP passes to any of Jensen's live shows this year.

* $500 or more, includes 2 copies of “Cats Made of Rabbits” on CD and DVD, one Double Plus Good Box set, one autographed promotional poster, and 4 VIP passes to any of Jensen's live shows this year. But if someone does pledge this much Jensen, who doesn't “ really enjoy intoxication” promises to get drunk on camera just for you.

* $1,500 or more! This large sum includes; “Cats Made of Rabbits” CD, DVD, one Double Plus Good Box set, one autographed promotional poster, 2 VIP passes to any of Jensen's live shows this year, and Jensen will perform a show for you at the venue of your choice.

Jensen not only hopes to raise the set goal but hopes to raise beyond that to help fund advertising and a comedy tour. Help make Keith's dream a reality by visiting:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larrybrand/cats-made-of-rabbits-live-comedy-cd-dvd

Amy Serna is a contributing writer for AmericasComedy.Com, (formerly SacramentoComedy.Com), the official guide to the Sacramento comedy scene. This website is dedicated to comedian interviews, comedy news, comedian biographies and videos for your convenience. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@AmericasComedy.Com.

Jeff Dunham: No Strings Attached

2011-01-11T01:49:35Z

By Amy Serna

It might seem hard to imagine making a successful career with puppets, but that is exactly what stand-up comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham has accomplished.

His fame, however, wasn’t handed to him from the get-go. Dunham has been working with dummies ever since he was a kid, but now the puppets he brought to life have quickly become classic comic icons.

Forbes magazine didn’t name Dunham the highest-paid comedian (along with popular comics Chelsea Handler and Dane Cook) in the United States for nothing. In the past year, the puppeteer earned up to $22.5 million, and Pollstar named him the top touring comedian for the second year in a row.

Dunham’s “Very Special Christmas Special” was the highest-rated show, making Comedy Central history, and his videos on YouTube have received more than half a billion hits (yes, billion with a “B”). While he toured the United States last year in stadium-sized venues, he made more than $38 million in ticket sales.

Dunham is definitely not your average stand-up comic. He uses the personalities and voices of five famous puppets to tell the jokes. As far as the audience is concerned, he is just the “straight man,” and his puppets are the comedians.

There is “Walter,” the grumpy old man; “Bubba J,” the NASCAR-loving redneck; “Peanut,” the crazy animal; “Jose Jalapeno,” the jalapeno from Mexico; and America’s favorite, “Achmed,” the dead terrorist. But keep in mind that Dunham’s puppets are no dummies to fame.

“The ‘Achmed’ sketch is the fourth-most-watched online video ever,” Time Magazine reported. “It's been viewed nearly 200 million times, more even than footage of style-deprived singer Susan Boyle.”

“You really are dead,” Dunham informs Achmed in his 2007 Comedy Central’s Spark of Insanity. “Are you sure?...I just got my flu shot….Wait, if I am dead, that means I get my 72 virgins,” Achmed says, excited. But he soon becomes very confused as he scans the audience and says, “Are you my virgins?”

It seemed that after almost every line from Achmed, a roar of laughter could be heard from the audience as Dunham and his puppet interacted with each other.

Dunham began ventriloquism at age 8, when his parents bought him a Mortimer Snerd dummy for Christmas. Soon after he checked out a how-to book at his local Dallas library, he tried to get as much exposure with ventriloquism as possible.

The New York Times reported that “Dunham trotted out his dummy for whoever would hire him, or at least tolerate it: doing an oral book report on Hansel and Gretel in third grade or retelling Bible stories at church; performing at Six Flags as a summer job, or at fund-raisers for the Christian summer camp his mom sent him to.”

Jeff graduated from Baylor University and moved to Los Angeles to begin his road to comedic fame. He landed a performing spot on both “The Tonight Show” and “Late Night” with David Letterman.

Before long, he landed his first hit Comedy Central special in 2006, called “Arguing With Myself.” Since his fame began to shine brightly, he has made numerous cameo roles in television and movies, including appearances on the TV show “30 Rock” and movie “Dinner For Schmucks.”

In late 2010, Dunham released his autobiography, All By My Selves: Walter, Peanut, Achmed and Me, which made the New York Times Bestseller list.

AmericasComedy.Com had the opportunity to ask Dunham about his puppeteer adventures so far:

When you do radio interviews, do you bring your puppets with you?
“Yes I do. Sound guys or radio jocks will almost regularly put a mic in the character's face, forgetting for a moment or two that they're a bit misguided. Pretty funny stuff.”

You have achieved so much in your 48 years, what is still on your professional "bucket list" that you haven't accomplished yet?
“I want to be in the next Star Trek movie with Achmed as the villain and Walter as a Spock descendant. Just kidding. But that would be cool.”

“Honestly, it's just a journey and planning of doing bigger and better business in any arena where expansion and improvement can build and enhance the other areas of work. I wouldn't say I've conquered any area, but more that we've done really well in a few select areas and it makes me want to make the lesser and new areas be equally as successful.”

“I hope in the near future that we can do a couple of films and bring the characters to life on the big screen, plus continue to expand our presence world wide. Talk of China is on the table, so at this point we're just having fun filling the dance card.”

You have focused on the comedy in your performances so much. How much of your material do you write yourself and do you have a writing staff?
“I write a good share of my own material. When a good joke is written by someone else, I buy it and use it.”

You have been called the world's greatest ventriloquist. What's your reaction to Terry Fator's success?
“I think a few folks that are good performers as ventriloquists have caused a resurgence in the acceptance of vent as a legitimate form of entertainment, and that there are a couple of generations right now who up until the past couple of years, had never seen a good ventriloquist. The one thing I pride myself on, is I'm trying to put a fresh patina on and old, tired and sad art and make it hip and fun again.”

Catch Dunham’s second time performing at Arco Area in Sacramento, Thursday February 3rd. For more information on tickets visit: Click here for TicketMaster's Jeff Dunham tickets.

Photo Credits: RichardMcLaren

Sacramento comedian performs on Late Show with David Letterman

2010-11-18T17:07:35Z

What do Jay-Z, Jim Carrey, Jake Gyllenhaal and Sacramento comedian Mike E. Winfield have in common? They are all scheduled to appear this week on CBS's “Late Show With David Letterman.”

"It was an AMAZING experience," Winfield said when asked to describe his recent appearance.

Winfield is no stranger to performing his unique brand of standup on television. He’s been featured on Showtime’s “Comics Without Borders,” hosted by Russell Peters, “Comicview” on BET, “Comics Unleashed” with Byron Allen, “Last Comic Standing” on NBC and “Live at Gotham” on Comedy Central.

Quite the resume for a man who, until recently was a grocery clerk working at the local supermarket chain.

At AmericasComedy.Com, we have always been a Winfield fan. Our first comedian interview dates back to August 2009 where we predicted great things for the toothy star. Shortly thereafter, he was booked on Comedy Central's "Live at Gotham" in New York.

We caught up with Winfield at the Ambassador Suites, somewhere deep in the midwest as he was finishing a national college tour and getting ready to fly into New York to tape his Letterman performance. He asked that we hold publication of this interview until he was done taping because, "I can only imagine if Sean 'Puff Daddy' comes into town, I'll get bumped."

And that is exactly what happened. Well, almost. There were these 33 miners rescued from a mine after 2 months, and Chilean miner, Edison Pena bumped Winfield to talk about life underground, his sanitation issues and the guy who got on his nerves. It took another 3 weeks to get back on the Letterman schedule.

Now, with his performance officially "in the can," you will be able to watch it Friday on your local CBS station. Actor Billy Bob Thornton is also on the bill.

During our interview, we asked Winfield about his career.

Mike, your family has always been very important to you and a major part of your act. Now that you are traveling and performing extensively, how is that effecting you?

"The family aspect is always there. We are very close knit and everyone is very supportive. It's working, but it's just weird being gone so much of the time. I'm writing new jokes regularly, but I'm not really writing family stuff because most of my material is based on my experiences."

Your career has been a bit cylindrical over the last few years yet recently you have been working non-stop. Are you hitting your stride?

"It's a good time right now. I have been working and traveling between the (San Francisco) Bay Area and L.A., and I have new management. I'm working with Barry Katz from New Wave. Barry has produced ‘Last Comic Standing’ as well as working with artists like Dane Cook and, for a time, Dave Chappelle. So, yeah. It's an exciting time for me.

My last tour was nothing but college campuses. I would be the only one on the bill, and I was the host, feature and headliner all rolled up into one. I would be up there for about an hour and a half, and that allowed me time to work out some of my new material and learn how to control the crowd. So, in addition to the new opportunities, there is a real growth happening right now."

You once did a TV pilot with comedian Bobby Lee of MadTV fame. Do you have any plans to do more on TV or in movies?

"I did the pilot called 'The Bobby Lee Project’ in 2007-2008. I've done a self-titled pilot right now with a guy named Travis Kurtz for Comedy Central, and it's actually been completed. It's a great-looking show, and I want to be able to distribute some clips via YouTube right after my Letterman appearance so people who ask themselves, 'Who is this guy?' after watching me on the show can do an Internet search and find these clips online."

So what is the format of the show?

"It's really cool. It's like a sketch show but I play myself in every sketch (laughs). There are so many scenarios but they seem to love me when I am just being myself."

So, what is the best show you have done in the last year? (This interview took place before the David Letterman taping).

"It was at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. We were in a basement with ceilings so low my afro was just inches from hitting the ceiling. There were only about 45 people in the audience, which is all it took to pack out the place. I think I went for a full 90 minutes and it was such a wonderful intimate setting that I had a lot of fun."

You work very hard at your profession and you are extremely goal oriented. You have the David Letterman show, a Comedy Central pilot that is completed and you are touring. What's next?

"I do have some things lining up. I want to do a half-hour comedy special. But I really want to put some muscle into doing an 'out-of-the-box' special rather than the traditional hour. I am not a fan of the standard Comedy Central comedy special format. I want to so something that hasn't been done, like doing a show outdoors or on a beach. Just something where there is a crowd and I am performing."

How are you going to leverage your performance on David Letterman?

This coming Monday is going to kick off a week of one of the biggest promotions of my life! I plan on hitting the phones and calling all of my contacts. This is one of the biggest opportunities I can be blessed with.

We will leave you with a quote from Winfield's interview last year:

"When I asked Mike what his ultimate goal was, he said simply, “I want to spread my joy and my goodness to the world through my performance. I want people to come away smiling and happily feeling the joy that I feel…. That, a sitcom and a couple of movies and I will be happy."

Catch him while you can Sacramento, Mike E. Winfield is about to become a superstar.

Steven Bloom is the founder/publisher of AmericasComedy.Com, (formerly SacramentoComedy.Com), the official guide to the Sacramento comedy scene. This website is dedicated to comedy news, comedian interviews, comedian biographies and videos. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@AmericasComedy.Com.

How do you handle a heckler? Riff 'em

2010-10-29T22:50:09Z

In the Youtube age when everything can be viewed from the comfort of your lap top, there are still compelling reasons to see live stand-up comedy. The number one reason is the spontaneity of a live show and the energy of the audience. One of the most spontaneous has to be when a comic deals with a heckler.

For some, a heckler is not a favored species. It often involves way too much ego and or alcohol. However, there is a different side to that story. One from the comic's viewpoint.

"There is a special energy that circulates around the room when it happens. The chance that it could go bad and the quality of the comic's wit make it exciting. What if the comic could keep this up for most of the show? Comics call this riffing." says Joe Klocek, A San Francisco based comic and master riffer. He does just that on his shows. As proof of his ability to turn a potentially awkward situation into memorable gold, check out Youtube.com/joeklocek. Klocek invites a heckler on stage to match his wits, one on one.

If you're a comic, you want to have this skill. In fact, anyone who has to do public speaking could benefit from the ability to turn anything into instant laughter. You're in luck. Klocek is bringing his Riffing Workshop to the Sacramento, Comedy Spot, 1050 20th St. in the MARRS building in Mid-Town, Saturday, Nov. 6th. from 1 to 4 PM.

Klocek will demonstrate the tricks and techniques he and other comics use to mine gold from the moment. Check more of him out at www.standupjoe.com and email him through the website if you would like more information!

Steven Bloom is the founder/publisher of AmericasComedy.Com, (formerly SacramentoComedy.Com), the official guide to the Sacramento comedy scene. This website is dedicated to comedian interviews, comedian biographies and videos, and consolidation all of the Sacramento comedy events into a single comedy calendar for your convenience. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@AmericasComedy.Com.

Robin Williams works it out in Sacramento

2010-10-19T01:59:58Z

Most famous comedians, when they want to work out their new material before a big tour, will make a clandestine appearance at a local comedy club or do an unannounced ‘guest set’ at a comedy showcase. Not if you are Robin Williams.

Williams took over Sacramento’s Crest Theater last night and shared his workout with 950 loyal fans, who paid $50 each to watch the comedy great perfect his “Weapons of Self-Destruction” material before debuting his tour in Australia and New Zealand on November 4. William’s proceeds were donated to the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Service.

Greeted with the first of three standing ovations as he walked onto the stage, Williams quipped, "Getting a standing ovation before I start is like having an orgasm before sex." Thus opened an hour and 45-minute, nonstop set of political, sexual and drug-related humor that was short on vulgarity and extra long on Williams' own brand of manic, rapid-fire delivery, enhanced by the fact that wearing a wireless lapel mic allowed him to use his entire body to create his stories and characters.

Pacing the large stage and downing multiple bottles of water, Williams created an intimate setting with the audience. Throughout the show, one was aware that this was a unique and almost surreal setting. This was a show performed on HBO, in stadiums and auditoriums throughout the country to sold-out crowds, and we were sitting not 100 feet away, watching this master craftsman work his magic. The laughter was continual and genuine throughout the night.

The only indications that this was a workout were some new jokes about Sacramento, some Aussie references and occasionally commenting on a joke as "too soon" or "not yet." Until Williams focused attention on them, you hardly noticed the four writers sitting next to the stage, gauging audience reactions.

Thank you Robin for bringing your act here. It was obvious that you got to spend your Sunday night with 950 of your most loyal fans. Come back soon!!

Steven Bloom is the founder/publisher of AmericasComedy.Com, (formerly SacramentoComedy.Com), the official guide to the Sacramento comedy scene. This website is dedicated to comedian interviews, comedian biographies and videos, and consolidation all of the Sacramento comedy events into a single comedy calendar for your convenience. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@AmericasComedy.Com.

Darren Carter -- Free Show at CSUS this Thursday

2010-09-16T16:09:57Z

By Jennifer A. Gordon

Be ready to receive an infusion of laughter. L.A. comedian Darren Carter, “the Party Starter,” is coming to town. He’ll be performing at Serna Plaza at Sacramento State’s University Union from 7:30-9 p.m.Thursday, Sept. 16. All ages are welcome. No alcohol will be sold or permitted at the venue. The show is free.

Beat
Energy, fun, hip hop and razor-sharp wit, Carter’s act has beat. His musicality pervades his comedy and gives it rhythm and punch. And, Carter’s the only comedian with a theme song, written by a rapper fan of his, Big Fluff Nickolantern.

Grown-ups like him, too
A favorite among college students, Carter has a solid following among the adult crowd, too. When I told a ‘mature’ gentlemen with three young sons that I wrote for AmericasComedy.Com, he asked gleefully, “Do you know Darren Carter, ‘the Party Starter?’ ”

Fatherhood
Carter is a dad. He loves his son, and fatherhood provides fodder for jokes and pervades his comedy. He’s in awe of his wife’s devotion to raising their son “24/7,” while he’s on the road. This makes Carter even more lovable. His comedy is very grounded in “real life” and, because of this, it strikes a universal chord.

“Orange Armenian Baby-Man”
Carter’s new animated YouTube video, “Orange Armenian Baby-Man,” is fabulous. He and his 2-year old son (soon to be 3) watch it together. Carter said his son likes the part where the baby makes his own hip-hop sounds. Also, he said his son is terrified of the part in the video where the baby is running around with the umbilical cord still attached.

Social Media savoir-faire
Carter is social media savvy, and he has a fabulous webmaster. Even so, Carter has to check his website frequently, as English is his Cambodian web guru’s second language. For example, “Where is Phoenix, Az?” And, sometimes, cultural differences in graphic design appear. Rainbow colors, for example, simply do not work for a virile, heterosexual man. Carter said he wouldn’t be surprised if he went to his website one day and saw a tiny penis for the cursor. That would never do!

More Carter goodies coming soon
There’ll be another “Darren Cartoon” coming out in October. And . . . Carter and fellow comedian “Dangerous Dick” produce “The Dick and Darren Comedy Podcast,” which is surprisingly classy, intriguing, entertaining, fun and, in some cases, inspiring. Carter and “Dangerous Dick” will be co-producing these podcasts more frequently in the near future.

“The Dick and Darren Comedy Podcast” brings the audience into the green room, where comedians interplay and relax in online radio format. For example, their 15th show with Kyle Cease was incredibly inspirational, as Cease shared his insights into success, the world of comedy and changing our approach to ask different questions for different results. “Dangerous Dick” is masterful at navigating and guiding the show’s stars.

The openers
Opening for Carter Thursday night will be Leo Flowers and David Lew. Flowers has also opened for such stars as Bill Burr, Mo’Nique and Mitch Fatel. Lew has shared the stage with Kyle Cease, Craig Robinson from “Knocked Up” and “The Office,” Darren Carter and Manny Maldonado.

Come on out
Carter said he cannot wait to meet you. Come out to Serna Plaza at Sacramento State’s University Union from 7:30-9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16. All ages are welcome, and it's free fun. This comedy show is sponsored by the University Union UNIQUE Programs. Parking is free after 6:30 p.m. on the top floor of Parking Structure III.

Arabs Gone Wild at Sacramento Punchline Comedy Club

2010-09-15T16:48:59Z

By Jennifer A. Gordon

The comedy troupe, "Arabs Gone Wild," will be performing at "The Punch Line Comedy Club" in Sacramento this Thurs., Sept. 14 at 7:30 p.m. If you haven't seen them before, you're in for a fabulously entertaining evening. More of a party than a performance, "Arabs Gone Wild's" material is fresh, edgy, smart and surprising.

Just who are these "Arabs Gone Wild?" Dean Obeidallah, Maysoon Zayid, and Aron Kader.

Recently, AmericasComedy.Com had the joy of chatting briefly with Obeidallah, as he was packing his suitcase to visit our "City of Trees."

"Arabs Gone Wild" was part of "Live Nation Comedy Tour," filling 1400 seats in Washington, D.C. and selling out an 1100-seat theater in San Francisco this summer.

"'Arabs Gone Wild' is comedy for everyone. It's not 'Arab 101.' It's not 'Arabian Idol.' It's real comedy."

The core of their show remains the same wherever they're performing, says Obeidallah. "Arabs Gone Wild" is "comedy that can cross over." In fact, their first show was in Cairo about a year ago.

Obeidallah, a New Jersey native, used to be a lawyer and said that being a litigator and a comedian are more similar than you'd think, except that "comedy is a lot more fun."

Zayid is an actress, a comedian and an activist. In a BBC interview, she described herself as a "Palestinian Muslim virgin with cerebral palsy from New Jersey." She spends three months each year in Palestine, where she runs "Maysoon's Kids," a scholarship and wellness program for disabled and wounded refugee children and orphans.

Kader is the offspring of a Palestinian father and a Mormon mother, whom he likes to thank for giving him so many reasons to be a comedian. He's know for his political and social humor, as well as his uncanny ability to do impressions.

"Arabs Gone Wild" is on an 8-city tour and will be in Sacramento for only one night at "The Punchline Comedy Club" this Thurs., Sept.14 at 7:30. Do whatever it takes to get there.

Jennifer A. Gordon is a contributing writer for AmericasComedy.Com, (formerly SacramentoComedy.Com), the official guide to the Sacramento comedy scene. This website is dedicated to comedian interviews, comedian biographies and videos, and consolidation all of the Sacramento comedy events into a single Sacramento comedy calendar for your convenience. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@AmericasComedy.Com.

Paul Rodriguez - The original Latin King of Comedy at Tommy T's this weekend!

2010-09-03T01:35:27Z

By Jennifer A. Gordon
Revered as the original Latin “King of Comedy,” Paul Rodriguez has done just about everything there is to do over the last 33 years of his comedy career.

Philanthropist, actor, producer and comedian, Rodriguez has had starring roles and guest appearances in more than 40 films, as well as in countless television series and comedy specials . . . and more.

Now, catch Rodriguez’s show with opening act Dennis Gaxiola at Tommy T’s in Rancho Cordova at 8 and 10 p.m. this Friday and Saturday.

Rodriguez’s first big break
Rodriguez’s first big break came while doing comedy warmups for Norman Lear's show "Gloria."

Lear ultimately wrote and developed a weekly series for Paul entitled "A.K.A. Pablo," which is now enshrined at the Smithsonian and holds the honor of being the first television show about a Mexican-American family on mainstream American television.

A concerned citizen of the world
As part owner of the world-famous Laugh Factory, Rodriguez has participated in the club’s annual free Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for the underprivileged for more than 25 years. And, he teaches at the Laugh Factory’s comedy camp for at-risk children.

Rodriguez's family members are farmers in the Central Valley. Rodriguez was recently honored with the Humanitarian of the Year award by the City of Fresno for his tireless work on behalf of water conservation.

As chairman of the California Latino Water Coalition, Rodriguez has been the driving force behind the recently signed water bond measure that will have a great impact on the citizens of California.

“My family is blessed,” Rodriquez said. “We were able to dig some wells over the water. It's very salty, but it still keeps the trees up and going. Without water, nothing happens.”

“Mis Videos Locos with Paul Rodriguez”
Rodriguez has a new television show, “Mis Videos Locos with Paul Rodriguez,” which debuted in July on Tr3s:MTV (pronounced “tresMTV"). Imagine videos of people from all around the world engaging in the wildest and, often, the stupidest behavior, but with (thanks to green-screen technology) Rodriguez joining in with his lively antics, sharp wit and commentary.

“I’m Not Like That No More”
Rodriquez stars in the low-budget, independent comedy, “I’m not Like That no More,” with “Last Comic Standing” winner Felipe Esparza.

“‘I’m not Like That no More’ is really one of the funniest things that I've ever been a part of,” Rodriguez said. “It's funnier than ‘Born in East L.A.’ It's really a funny movie. Somebody should find the money and release this movie because . . . he (Esparza) captures lightning in a bottle. It might get a little too coarse for adults, but the kids really get it. And they just enjoy it.”

When Rodriguez and Esparza went to the screening, the projector system broke down 20 or 30 minutes before the end of the movie. Up until that point, the audience was getting the gist and was really enjoying the film. Confused, people were saying, “Well, this is ridiculous! Is this the way it ends?”

“It was a disaster,” Rodriguez said.

Felipe Esparza, a hard guy to follow
“I took Felipe to Las Vegas, and he opened for me. He was a hard guy to follow, which is OK with me. I've never told anybody to keep it down for me. This kid is really going to go all the way. He's so talented. He's fresh. And, he knew his material. He's not common. He comes out of left field. I expect big things from him . . . I think Hollywood is going to beat a path to his door, as they should, because he has this deadpan delivery. It's hard to pinpoint to what kind of style he has, because he created this with his own style, which is really the hardest thing to do, to stand out and be unique. He has done it. If he were a horse, I'd bet on him.”

Showcasing upcoming talent Manny Maldonado
Like Rodney Dangerfield and Vince Vaughn, Rodriguez likes to showcase young, upcoming talent. One of the comedians he believes in is Manny Maldonado, a Los Angeles comic who got his start in the small, rural Central California town of Modesto.

“I really see talent in that boy,” Rodrigues said. “There's a certain energy that is not common, you know. A quick wit. Robin Williams was the same manic kind of attitude. I think there's a market for that.”

“Comedy Rehab” and Dennis Gaxiola
Rodriquez’s latest stand-up comedy concert, “Comedy Rehab,” finds the Latin King of Comedy returning to Santa Fe, N.M., where he got his start in comedy, to perform and introduce a crew of up-and-coming Latino comics.

Dennis Gaxiola, who performed in “Comedy Rehab” with Rodriguez, is another up-and-coming comedian in whom Rodriguez believes. Gaxiola will be Rodriguez’s opening act at Tommy T’s in this weekend.

“Dennis’ material is really intelligent,” Rodriguez said. “He's one of these guys I've always had belief in to the point that, in 'Rehab,' we've gotten a lot of comments. We just got our first payment. It's going slowly, but it's doing well . . . I wanted him to be more prominent on it, but I couldn't convince the producer until towards the end, when he said, ‘Boy, this guy is really going to be something.’ So now, David Valdés is trying to work with him privately. Something's going to happen. He's overdue. But, then again, if you think about it, there's a lot of people who are overdue.

“I've always thought that comedians are like popcorn. Some pop fast, and some take awhile, and some never pop at all.”

A high-pitched, distinctive kind of voice
Rodriguez has also lent his voice to several popular animated series and movies, including “King of the Hill,” “Dora the Explorer,” “The Proud Family” and “Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.”

“Voiceover work is a blessing because it pays well, and it's a relatively small amount of time you work,” he said. “I'll take all the voiceover work that I can. I don't really change my voice too much. I wouldn't go for that. But once they hire me, they say I have of a high pitched, distinctive kind of voice, and I'm glad for that. I'll take all those jobs I can get.”

Comedy camp
At-risk students create comedy from real life at The Laugh Factory's comedy camp with volunteer comedians, such as Chris Tucker, Jamie Foxx, Shawn Wayans, Rob Schneider, Paul Rodriguez, Bob Saget and others.

At “Comedy Camp,” the children find a safe place to relax, learn the craft and discover the pleasures of performing, as well as laughter's healing powers.

Saturday trips to the Sunset Strip's unorthodox classroom focus on improving self esteem and facing life's hardships.

“Comedy Camp has really paid off,” Rodriguez said. “It's been going on for the last 23 years. CBS did a special on it. One of the most rewarding things about Comedy Camp is when you see the kids from the first classes have all grown up. These kids come from foster homes and really sad lives, but they blossom. We have a couple of pastors now. We have a bunch of nurses. Schoolteachers. We have a lot of successful young men and women who came out of South Central Los Angeles. Of course, we have a lot of sadness, too. One young man was a cancer victim and he passed away last year, but you know these kids become a part of your life. You keep up with them. All the great comics who have become their teachers feel the connection through these kids. As you grow old and they grow up, they continue to remember you. It's like adopting a whole bunch of children.”

His first love
Rodriguez’s first love will always be live stand-up.

“Everything I do, the talk show, the videos . . . everything I do, I do for one reason – so that my name will have some kind of resonance in the public so I can do comedy live,” he said. “I really jones for that. I enjoy being in front of an audience. I like being here. I'm like that kind of guy who hopes that his parachute opens. I like the adrenalin, the danger, the possibility of falling on your face, or the probability of having a great show and coming up with another angle. Doing stand-up live is the best. Even if I didn't really need the money, I would continue to do it. It's like Leno certainly doesn't need the money, but he does it. He does it every night because there is no other drug, there is no other place, where you can get that feeling of that moment. It's like actors who do television and actors who do theater. Theater is a real act because, right then and there, there's no telling the audience to get amnesia and start over. There's no doing that. You’ve got to do it light, you’ve got to do it funny, you’ve got to do it through good and bad times. And that's alive, that's stage, that's the best.”

A 401(k) plan
Rodriguez suspects that "people who laugh a lot, live longer.” Laughter, according to Rodriguez, is the perfect 401(k) plan.

“If you have the ability to laugh at yourself, or if you have the ability to laugh at each other, it's a 410K plan. You can always depend on it. They can take your house, you can go through a marriage, lose your money, you can do all those things, but as long as you have a sense of wonder – that's what I want to have my kids inherit – and a certainty that you can always laugh at ‘it,’ no matter what ‘it’ is.”

One thing left
In spite of Rodriguez’s television shows, movies, live performances and myriad other creative endeavors, there is one thing he hasn’t done . . . yet.

He has always wanted to do a play on Broadway, as well as a new talk show and some other opportunities. We’ll see what emerges for Rodriguez.

“Mis Videos Locos with Paul Rodriguez” airs at 7 p.m. every Thursday on Tr3s: MTV.

Jennifer A. Gordon is a contributing writer for AmericasComedy.Com, formerly SacramentoComedy.Com, the official guide to the Sacramento comedy scene. This website is dedicated to comedian interviews, comedian biographies and videos, and consolidation all of the Sacramento comedy events into a single comedy calendar for your convenience. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@AmericasComedy.Com.

'Last Comic Standing' finalist Laurie Kilmartin comes to Punchline Aug. 13 and 14

2010-08-13T21:46:42Z

No one ever accused comedian and writer Laurie Kilmartin of being being "Mommy Dearest," but then again, she hasn't received her "Mother of the Year" award yet either.

But the good news is that you can watch Kilmartin’s piercing insight and bald sarcasm at The Sacramento Punchline, where she will regale you into joyful delirium on Aug. 13 and 14.

A seasoned comedian and writer, Kilmartin is back in Los Angeles for a while (or, at least, until the lease on her apartment expires) after being voted off as one of the top-10 finalists of “Last Comic Standing’s” season seven.

Not to worry, however. Kilmartin, a noted and sought-after comedy writer who moved to back to California from New York to write for the now-canceled "Bonnie Hunt Show," vowed to continue to advance her 20+ years as a stand-up performer and writer.

Kilmartin, who launched her stand-up career in the Bay Area and then moved to New York, is unstoppable. She continues to write and perform, in spite of the pressures of single parenthood.

Her act has changed considerably over the last three years. An unplanned pregnancy, a dark sense of humor and an absent baby-daddy tend to color her stand-up material. Sometimes, she brings her son, William, on the road with her. At other times, she doesn’t. She’s convinced that, someday, William will have an even darker sense of humor and tell jokes about his mommy.

"He has been exposed to my negativity and seems to not give a damn. He seems okay. I'll tell him they're just jokes, Mommy is being a comedian at work. He'll be okay,” Kilmartin said.

"When I travel alone, it's nice to completely escape and just be by myself like I was in the ’80s and ’90s, where I was just this lazy douchebag on the road who just did what I wanted to do and then did a show at night. Although, when I do bring him on the road, it's very tiring, but we have a good time and he gets to see different parts of the country. So one's good and the other is good, too.”

Kilmartin has performed at the Montreal, Aspen and Edinburgh comedy festivals. She has done stand-up on “Comedy Central,” “Jimmy Kimmel” and “Showtime,” and appeared on “Best Week Ever,” “The Today Show,” “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” “The Rachel Maddow Show,” “Fox & Friends” and “Oprah.” As if that isn’t enough, Punchline Magazine called Kilmartin’s CD, “Five Minutes to Myself,” one of the “Top Ten Comedy CDs of 2009.”

As a writer, Kilmartin was on the staff of the “The Late Late Show,” “Tough Crowd” and “The Bonnie Hunt Show.”She also coauthored Sherri Shepherd’s memoir, “Permission Slips.”

Recently, we had the good fortune to chat with Laurie.

I'm finding a niche of people who want to know more about the comic and listen to the non-performance riffing than just watch a comedy special.
“It's so neat that there is a market for that now. It seemed that comedy was dead for a little while. And, then, all of a sudden the Internet caught up. Whatever it was doing for music, it caught up with stand-up in the past couple years really quickly. Live comedy is like a million times better than what you see on TV and YouTube, you know. It's just like the electricity of being there, being in the room with somebody makes all the difference really.”

What made you go to New York?
“You know, I got to see new faces in Montreal in 1998. There, I met a woman who would become my agent for a little while. She said, 'Why don't you come to New York?' I visited it, and I loved it! I was only going to stay for a year, and I ended up staying for 10 years. It's really a hard city to leave. I still am kind of sick inside that I am not there right now. The comedy scene was amazing there. It was like Noah's ark, there's like, not two of every race, but a hundred thousand of every race in a housing project. It's just amazing. I love it!”

Have you ever thought about doing television, movies, that type of thing?
“I have a really hard time auditioning. I get very angry at auditions, because I don't like being judged, which is probably the wrong attitude to have if you're trying to have an acting career. Maybe I can try to mature and see if there's anything open for me along those lines, but I feel more comfortable doing stand-up and writing. You just go out less vulnerable than you are when you are running around to auditions and memorizing copy that probably isn't that funny. You know it's not funny, but you're supposed to be a comedian so that you're supposed to make it funny. It's hard. I have a hard time with that whole process.”

You found a niche in early 2000 in writing. You did some dynamite writing. Is that something you enjoy more than stand-up?
“Thanks. No, I don't enjoy writing more than stand-up. I had a great time writing on ‘Tough Crowd,’ but I was writing for comics about a show starring stand-ups. It just was part of my world. Since then, writing jobs have been a little disappointing. I have not had as much fun on a job as I had on ‘Tough Crowd,’ but it's a decent way to make a living, and it's hard to turn down that kind of money if you have the offer. But I do prefer stand-up.”

So, your son is 3 years old?
“Yes, my son is three. That whole pregnancy and having a baby, that really knocks you down. Not to say that the comic dads aren't decimated by that experience, as well, but if you're the one who's having the baby, it's just really frickin' hard to bounce back immediately and get right back into stand-up, roadwork and stuff. So, that was a nice reason to take another writing job.

Your comedy is pretty dark when it comes to motherhood and your son. Do you have a plan to explain to him as he's growing up that Mommy's a comic and she didn't mean it?
“Yeah. Someone brought that up on stage recently, saying, ‘The first time I saw this woman, she had 20 minutes of abortion jokes, and she was pregnant at the time.’ Actually, I remember that time. When I was pregnant, I was openly debating, via jokes, whether I was going to have the baby and keep him and all that stuff. So I think that, since in utero, he has been exposed to my negativity and seems to not give a damn. He seems okay. I'll tell him they're just jokes, Mommy being a comedian at work. He'll be okay.”

You just released a new CD called "5 Minutes To Myself." Are you doing all-new material now, or are you just kind of gradually fine-tuning your set?
“I'm like, ‘Wow, if I don't need this chunk anymore, I will be so happy.’ That's my attitude toward stuff. Since ‘Last Comic Standing,’ I went to New York for to and a half months and worked on a lot of new material that I was not allowed to perform, but it's ready to go. I'm excited and feeling very creative and full of ideas. I will have a significant portion of new material at the Punchline that's not on my CD.”

Do you sell your CDs when you are on the road?
“Yeah, I guess so. I have a bunch. I should get rid of them. I hate that, but I'll bring some. Usually, what I try to do is hide. You will actually have to find me to get the CD. I can't really sit there as people are leaving and make eye contact. I feel like, ‘My job was to make you laugh, and now I'm done.’ But if you want a CD, you can go through a series of trap doors and hidden rooms and find me, and I'll sell one to you.”

Is “Last Comic Standing” as highly manipulated with the editing as we've been told?
“I'm not really sure. They do edit. My set that got me picked for the ‘Top Ten’ was me telling 2.5 jokes. Other people’s full sets were shown. That's a way to manipulate because you're seeing someone else doing 2.5 minutes and me doing a minute and a half, and one of the jokes doesn't have a punchline. Anytime they're going to edit the stuff that a comedian does, that's manipulation. What the comic's intention was and what you're showing are two different things. Part of comedy is the rhythm of the set, and if it just seems jumbled and half-broken, it doesn't feel funny.

The other thing that's really horrific is that people get angry with you if you're still in the competition and they don't like you. If you saw me in a club and you didn't like me, you'd be like, ‘Whatever.’ But you wouldn't hate me and go online and say that I suck. You just wouldn't be that invested in it. The emotions that a comic’s success bring out in people are kind of scary. It's like, ‘Well, could you just direct that anger toward BP or Goldman Sachs and not at a fucking comic who is telling a joke?’ I mean, what are we supposed to do, turn down an opportunity to be on primetime television when we're asked?”

Are you big on social media?
“I like Facebook. I like the immediate commentary and to find out if someone likes a joke. It's very addicting. Yeah, I like Facebook a lot.”

Steven Bloom is the founder of AmericasComedy.Com, formerly SacramentoComedy.Com, the official guide to the Sacramento comedy scene. This website is dedicated to comedian interviews, comedian biographies and videos, and consolidation all of the Sacramento comedy events into a single comedy calendar for your convenience. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@AmericasComedy.Com.

Cedric The Entertainer Arrives In Sacramento

2010-07-27T22:38:43Z

A SacramentoComedy.Com Interview

Comedian Cedric The Entertainer is one of the hardest-working men in the entertainment business. Perhaps you love him from his roles in "Barbershop," "Be Cool" or "The Original Kings Of Comedy." You may have became a fan of his voiceover roles in "Madagascar," "Charlotte's Web" or "The Proud Family." Maybe it was his starring role in the hit "Johnson Family Vacation." Any way you look at it, Cedric IS "The Entertainer."

Even with his success as an actor, producer and director, Cedric The Entertainer is coming to Sacramento's Memorial Auditorium and going back to his roots of stand up comedy.

We spoke to Cedric, (Mr. Entertainer?), by phone as he was recovering from a minor surgery performed last week.

Have you worked in the Sacramento area before?
Yeah, I was in Sacramento about three years ago at one the local clubs and then at, I think, the same venue that I am playing on Thursday, so it's been a while.

Fantastic! I know that you rescheduled from Saturday, and you tweeted out that you had some minor surgery.
Yeah, I had a little hernia I had to take care of.

Everything's OK now?
Yeah, I'm ready to get back at it, you know, I'm up moving around and doing 110 crunches a day, so I'm good. (chuckling).

Cedric, you are truly a complete package as an entertainer. You act in comedies and dramas, animated movies and plays on Broadway. You also write, direct and produce. What gives you the most satisfaction?C
I started with stand-up, and I think that probably ranks pretty high up there with the opportunity to get immediate reaction to your thoughts and commentary. Having that audience response so immediately is one of the greatest satisfactions.

I also enjoyed directing my first movie, and I look forward to seeing what people think about that when it comes out.

Have you decided on a title yet? I heard it was a toss-up between "Chicago Pulaski Jones" and "Dance Foo Fighting."
We decided that the title is "Dance Foo - The Legend of Pulaski Jones" (laughs).

So, nobody won, but you just compromised!
Yeah, (chuckling), at least that's settled.

Most people don't know that before you were Cedric "The Entertainer" you were Cedric "The Insurance Salesman." What was the big step you took that put you on the stage?
I started stand-up almost the same week that I started at State Farm (Insurance), and it was kind of weird that I felt like my life was calling at the same time I found the best job that I had ever had since getting out of college. But I worked for State Farm for over two years before I decided that I could do comedy full time, and so I just built my initial career around St. Louis then got an opportunity to tour on a national tour with the Funny Bones comedy clubs, and that's when I decided to go for it. It was a relatively short period for most comedians. I know a lot of guys that put their 13 or 14 years into their careers before they got a real break.

I always knew I was a performer. My mother was a schoolteacher and was all about the education in our household, and I remember trying to convince her to let me go to a performing arts school where I could sing in talent shows and stuff like that. I have always had a knack for it. But I didn't really try to act until I was out of college.

The story about how you got your "The Entertainer" moniker was that you wanted to charge more money so you had to do more time.
Yeah, (chuckling). You know comedy is all about time. The opener does 10 minutes, the feature act does 30 minutes and the headliner does an hour, so when I started, I wanted the money for at least the 30 minute guy.

I didn't have a lot of material, so I would sing songs, do poetry, paint pictures. I would do whatever I had to do. They said I was entertaining, and the guy (MC) kept calling me a comedian, and I said, "No, don't call me a comedian, call me an entertainer." So, he introduced me as Cedric "The Entertainer," I had a good show, the name stuck and that's what it's been.

You have a daughter who's 6 years old and a son who's 9 years old. You have done a lot of animated shows and movies including; "Charlotte's Web," "Madagascar" and "The Pride Family" doing voiceovers, and you worked with Oprah Winfrey. How do your kids react to watching and hearing their dad?
They do get more excited about the other people in the films, though I do love telling the story that my son had no idea who Oprah was. When I was doing "Charlotte's Web," we (Oprah and I) were in the studio together at the time, and I said to my son, "This is Oprah Winfrey," and he goes "And you do what? Do you know that my dad is Cedric The Entertainer?" (laughing) and I told him, "There you go son, that's telling her!"

You've worked with so many of the greats in comedy, sports, actors and even politicians. Who have you most enjoyed working with?
I guess I'd have to say that I have had the most fun working on the "Barbershop" movie with Ice Cube, who is a very interesting character to work with. We had great laughs with Jim Carrey on "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," and also in "Be Cool" with John Travolta. He was actually a very cool dude too. He liked to sing old Motown songs on the set, and we had a good time.

Is there anyone who you still want to work with on projects that you haven't yet?
Yeah, even though I kind of got to work with him while doing voice work on "Dr. Doolittle 2," I still would like to do something with Eddie Murphy. Something big like a comedy where there's a lot of comedic minds there and we're all having a great time. I also have the opportunity to work with Tom Hanks in his latest movie, "Larry Crowne" so that's a big deal. Eddie Murphy will probably be someone on the top of that list that I would want to have the opportunity to be around and laugh, do something funny and create something special and unique with.

Is there any one project that you have worked on that you look back and say, "I wish I hadn't done that?"
No, not really where I wish that I hadn't done it. "The Honeymooners" was something that I really enjoyed, and it was a big brand. We had another idea that we were going to do when we started off, and then the studio got involved and changed it and made it something else. It was one of those things where I wish we could have done our original ideas. It would have been a lot funnier and more true to the characters that Mike Epps and I were going to bring to it. At one point it didn't turn out that way. It was such a big franchise and we would have had the opportunity to make so many more and add to it's success. Sometimes you just look back on it and say, "Man, that was really disappointing!"

The bigger the budget the less control you have?
The less power you have. You don't have the say in the overall direction of the movie. We had a new executive come in on the movie and change the movie into something he thought would make sense. He was trying to make a name for himself at the studio. You had to deal with the politics of that and that's what was going on. You end up falling prey to studio politics.

I heard that you were interested in doing more TV. Do you have anything in the works?
We are developing a couple of different things. The title of one project is "Anger Management" based on the Adam Sandler, Jack Nicholson movie. It's a sitcom, so it would be about me as an anger management therapist who actually has anger issues of his very own. It is set in Brooklyn, New York, and I am looking forward to doing that. It is still in early development though.

I'm also developing a reality show where I show up and kick in on people's family reunions where I try to convince the families to try to eat better. We thought it would be fun to go to family reunions, Superbowl parties and anytime people are gathered together, eating wings and drinking beer and I'm like, "Alright fool, can we change this out and try something different?"

You're one of the hardest-working people in the business. Do you have any thoughts of taking a break or retiring anytime soon and just kicking back and enjoying life?
I've always kind of set my eye on being 50 years old and being able to downshift a little bit. I have about four or five years left for that. Yeah, I'm definitely planning on being able to slow down and travel and enjoy life and just do the fun things before I'm just old and gotta do it on a cruise ship. I just want to be able to still cause some debauchery and trouble, maybe get on the news!

Cedric The Entertainer is appearing at 8 p.m. at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium, 1515 J St. Tickets Here.

If you enjoyed this interview and would like to have all of the SacramentoComedy.Com features, interviews, news and reviews delivered to your iPhone, iTouch or iPad, download the SacComedy App at iTunes.

Steven Bloom is the founder of AmericasComedy.Com, the official guide to the Sacramento comedy scene. This website is dedicated to comedian interviews, comedian biographies and videos, and consolidation all of the Sacramento comedy events into a single comedy calendar for your convenience. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@AmericasComedy.Com.

Howie Mandel - The Real Deal

2010-07-23T22:47:32Z

Thursday night, venerable comedian and OCD-stricken performer Howie Mandel appeared at the California State Fair on the Main Stage.

After a less-than-tasteful and off-color opening act, Mandel took the stage with a rapid-fire delivery and a huge smile. Almost immediately, it was obvious that he has not lost his comedic edge even after appearing as a dramatic actor (“St. Elsewhere”), voiceover actor (“Bobby's World,” “Muppet Babies” and “Gremlins”) and talk show host and judge (“Deal or No Deal,” “America's Got Talent”).

The fair provided a delightful interpreter for the deaf, Sharon Ramsey, who was addressed multiple times by Mandel as he used words and expressions just to see how they were signed. Female body parts, flatulence and butts were all topics requiring careful signing by Ramsey, who good-naturedly added to the fun rather than distracted.

Using his frenetic pacing and ADHD-like changes in subjects, Mandel was able to keep the audience wondering just where he was going to go next. Topics included the stage set up over the lagoon, his practical jokes that got him banned from his doctor’s office and conversing with the audience about hedgehogs, parrots and the strangest objects fished from a patient's orifice in the ER.

"So, what do you want to do now?" was the segue phrase used by Mandel in making his transitions throughout his 40-minute performance.

At the end, a "hidden video" that Mandel had filmed in a Los Angeles beauty salon where he posed as a hair washer was shown on the big screens. When he returned to the stage, Mandel admitted that he didn't have a big finish to his set so he just said goodbye and walked off the stage. It was an inauspicious ending to an otherwise delightful show.

If you enjoyed this review and would like to have all of the SacramentoComedy.Com features, interviews, news and reviews delivered to your iPhone, iTouch or iPad, download the SacComedy App at iTunes.

Steven Bloom is the founder of SacramentoComedy.Com, the official guide to the Sacramento comedy scene. This website is dedicated to comedian interviews, comedian biographies and videos, and consolidation all of the Sacramento comedy events into a single comedy calendar for your convenience. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com.

Doug Benson - "Super High Me" Star - Back in Sac

2010-07-22T23:29:12Z

Comedian Doug Benson smokes pot. That fact is well documented in his stand-up routine and his 2007 documentary "Super High Me."

In the movie, Benson eagerly offers himself up as a test subject to document the effects of smoking massive amounts of marijuana for 30 days. In his stand-up act, it appears that his experiment is still unofficially continuing.

Playing mid-week to a full house at the Sacramento Punchline, Benson began his set with his eyes half closed and a stoner grin. He immediately showed the audience his notes that he claimed to need so he didn't meander through his material.

However, as the evening wore on, you began to wonder if the "stoner" persona was just a well-played brand. Whether just branding, real or both, the audience loved the mellow comic and his drug-related jokes.

When not making silly pot jokes, his material included McDonald's McGriddle breakfast, farting in an airplane and vocalizing "Internet speak" such as J/K (just kidding) and WTF (what the f___?). Somehow, these references all became silly pot jokes as well.

Eventually, he spoke about one of the things he enjoys that doesn't directly relate to marijuana. Movies. Benson hosts a very popular podcast on iTunes called simply, "Doug Loves Movies."

Benson, 46, has been a comedian and actor since the early ‘80s and admits to taking normal things in life and adding pot references.

"I took the documentary 'Super Size Me' and made it 'Super High Me.' I took 'The Vagina Monologues' and made it 'The Marijuana-Logues' on Broadway."

The show was hosted by Los Angeles comedian Rob F. Martinez, who did an amazing job in warming up the audience. A responsibility of a host is to try to quell any loud or obnoxious hecklers in the audience before the other acts begin. This night included a drunk group of birthday celebrants with a harmonica, and Martinez handled the group with diplomacy and professionalism. The group was later removed at Benson's request to a loud ovation by the audience but the harmonica served as a funny "call back" many times for Benson.

The feature act, Graham Elwood, who appeard in "Super High Me," tours consistently with Benson. Elwood claims he doesn't get high other than the "contact" high from being so close to Benson on tour.

His portion of the show was high-energy and very funny. At the end of his set however, all of his best punchlines were being sold on the back of T-shirts after the show in the lobby. This leads to the question: "What came first, the joke or the merchandise?

Mind Your "Lady Business"

2010-07-19T20:25:34Z

Headling July 24th For One Night Only!

"Lady Business," the name of the newest, and to our knowledge only, all-female improv troupe in the Sacramento area is quite the misnomer. These six very funny girls certainly aren't "ladies" in the conservative, Emily Post kind of way.

We were able to meet up with this troupe of very sexy, very funny ladies as they were practicing together at the Sacramento Comedy Spot in mid-town in preparation for their fourth consecutive monthly appearance there on July 24th.

Improv-ers all, Micaela Smith, Mel Gelbart, Becca Costello, Brittany Birrer Stacy Beckley and Lisa Spivak constitute this hilarious and ribald troupe that presents a point of view that women can relate to and men can only fantasize about. The July 24th show will also feature Tiffany Shultz who is standing in for Beckley who is unavailable.

Using the long form improv style as their vehicle, the women break down their 40 minute show into two main categories. During the first half, the women each do monologues and group montages and in the second, they utilize the audience for ideas and concepts for them to create from.

The women are all veterans in improvisation and regular players at the Sacramento Comedy Spot. Birrer and Shultz are also full time members of the long running improv troupe, Anti-Cooperation League and many of the other members are regulars in the Comedy Spot's Wednesday HAROLD night show and are all currently competing in the 3 on 3 competition at the mid town venue.

"We swear a lot but so far have not done any masturbation sketches," Gelbart replied to our questions of what constituted a women's point of view. "Not stupid boy humor," added Shultz.

Plan on attending this show at the Sacramento Comedy Spot, Saturday, July 24th at 8:00 PM. Admission is only $5 or you can attend both Lady Business and the Anti-Cooperation League's 9:00 PM show for only $10.

f you enjoyed this interview and would like to have all of the SacramentoComedy.Com features, interviews, news and reviews delivered to your iPhone, iTouch or iPad, download the SacComedy App at iTunes.

And The Winner Is....

2010-07-18T02:41:04Z

By Danielle Mandella

Five-year veteran Sean Peabody took home First Place at Friday night's NorCal Lightning Comedy Challenge at Tre Restaurant and Lounge. Peabody won the room instantly with a universally relatable and undeniably hilarious account of life with teen children who believe that music did not exist before the iPod. His high energy and teddy-bear sensibility had the crowd eating out of his hand in the second round when he announced, to no surprise, "I LOVE FOOD! And so do you!" He was right. The audience loves food and the judges love Sean Peabody.

Second and third place were decided via coin-toss at the judges table, with Second Place going to Ellis Rodriguez and Third Place to Mike Betancourt. Rodriguez took the stage with a clear and auspicious plan: win the ladies, win the house. Mission accomplished, Ellis. Betancourt took quite the opposite approach of charismatic alienation. The only way to feel offended by Betancourt is if you didn't feel like a target to Sacramento's own version of Joe Rogan.

Other notable performances include Mikhail "The White Russian." With a widely cross-cultural perspective and effortless audience-report, Mikhail is one Russian you shouldn't feel guilty about keeping an eye on. In fact, I encourage it. Veteran comic Rick Pulido also showed off his muy grande cajones by stepping outside of conventional stand-up during the first round to attempt the commitment-driven character of Robot Prop Comedian. The late Andy Kaufman would be proud, Rick... Come to think of it, Tony Clifton has been making appearances recently... And Pulido was wearing sunglasses... Nah! Couldn't be.

Congratulations to all the winners! The Inaugural NorCal Lightning Comedy Competition hosted by Jennifer Rutherford was sponsored by Good Times Events and The Cool Crowd. Special thanks to Tre Restaurant and Lounge and the secret panel of judges who shall remain nameless.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to have all of the SacramentoComedy.Com features, interviews, news and reviews delivered to your iPhone, iTouch or iPad, download the SacComedy App at iTunes.

Danielle Mandella is a frequent contributor of SacramentoComedy.Com, the official guide to the Sacramento comedy scene and an all around funny lady! This website is dedicated to comedian interviews, comedian biographies and videos, and consolidation all of the Sacramento comedy events into a single comedy calendar for your convenience.

Photos by Aljohn Tabion

Bring It: NorCal Comedy Lightning Challenge Hits Sacramento!

2010-07-16T20:47:04Z

by Danielle Mandalla

Tre Restaurant and Lounge will host the inaugural NorCal Comedy Lightning Challenge on Friday, June 16th at 6pm. I recently sat down with creator and host, Jennifer Rutherford at Tre Nightclub to discuss the show, where the excitement was palpable even weeks before the event. “It’s going to be an absolute kick ass show!” exclaims Rutherford.

The show’s eight competitors - (in no particular order) Mike Betancourt, Rick Pulido, Khulani Malone, Mikhail "The White Russian", Matt Byrd, Nate Darling, Ellis Rodriguez and Sean Peabody - were selected by a secret panel of anonymous judges. “I have nothing to do with that selection,” Jennifer says. “All eight of them, I have to say, are wonderful comedians as well as people." SacramentoComedy.Com Chief Editor Steven Bloom agrees, “These are eight of the top Feature-level comedians in Sacramento. I’ve seen them all. It’ll be hard.”

Especially hard with a cash prize at stake for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place says Jennifer, “Thanks to the generous donations of lots of local sweethearts.” *

Competitors will be given four minutes in each of two Lightning Rounds. No glorified introductions. No obligatory host-driven transitions. Just comedy; fast, furious and funny. So grab a date, leave the umbrella at home, and check out Jennifer Rutherford’s NorCal Comedy Lighting Challenge!

Doors open at 6pm. Show starts at 7pm. $5 cover charge.

* Event sponsors include SacramentoComedy.Com, Good Times Events and The Cool Crowd

Danielle is a frequent contributor of SacramentoComedy.Com, the official guide to the Sacramento comedy scene and an all around funny lady! This website is dedicated to comedian interviews, comedian biographies and videos, and consolidation all of the Sacramento comedy events into a single comedy calendar for your convenience.

Felipe Esparza - What's Up, Fool?

2010-06-19T17:42:35Z

A SacramentoComedy.Com Interview

If you listen to comedian Felipe Esparza, you'll hear a cross between Cheech Marin from Cheech and Chong and your funniest "homeboy." They both have the East L.A. accent and down to earth sense of humor that comes from growing up in the barrio.

"I'm not a tough guy, but I can beat up everyone at Trader Joe's, but at Food-for-Less I shut up," he said. "They don‘t have aisles, they have alleys."

Sacramento Comedy spoke to Esparza recently just after his advance to the semi-final rounds of NBC's Last Comic Standing, Season 7.

"The next step is to have a big battle between the semi-finalists in New York and Los Angeles," Esparza said. We asked him if he anticipated any drive-by shootings in the heated East Coast/West Coast face-off.

"Naw, everyone is telling me to leave my Blackberry at home, though."

Apparently, one of Esparza's best friends is comedian Gabriel Iglesias, who has the distinction of being the first and only comedian kicked off the "Last Comic Standing" show in the fourth season for smuggling a cell phone into the comic's sequestered quarters so he could text his girlfriend.

"Gabriel will always represent 'Last Comic Standing' to me," he exclaimed.

The friendship between Esparza and Iglesias goes back to 1998 and we suspected that there was more to the story.

"I was running a one nighter room in Montebello called 'Gotham' and Gabriel showed up one night. He wanted to meet me but at 20 years old, he was too scared or shy so he sent some kid over," he said. "'Gabriel really thinks you're funny Felipe. He wants to do some time on stage' (the kid said).

"I just told him to tell Gabe that if he wants to perform, he needs to get his scared ass over here and ask me himself. Gabriel did get up that night, did a lot of voices and killed."

Esparza just finished a movie called, "I'm Not Like That No More" that co-stars comedy great, Paul Rodriquez as Esparza's dad.

"We shot the movie in 9 days. It's based on my stand up comedy and most of the plot comes from my CD called What's Up Fool?

"I play the lead and throughout the movie, everyone will freeze while I narrate what's going on in my head," he said. "Then the story continues almost like (the movie) 'Ferris Bueller.' It's pretty cool!"

"Then, I even got to make out with my co-star, Deborah Baker Jr.," he said. "She's a hot blond! My first sex scene!! What???"

He laughed, then paused like he was contemplating his 'next' sex scene.

The movie will premier at the New York Latino Film Festival in July. To see more information and view a short trailer, you can go to www.imnotlikethatnomore.com.

Esparza, who grew up in the Latino neighborhood of Boyle Heights in East LA and now hails from Echo Park, first performed on stage at a coffee shop in LA called The Natural Fudge, where the comics were required to buy food in order to get a chance to perform.

Along the way, Esparza got to perform and hang out with the likes of Alonzo Bodden, the "Last Comic Standing" winner of Season 3, and Freddy Soto, while eating his way to fame.

From there, Esparza began appearing at venues throughout the LA area including The Laugh Factory in Hollywood, which had a Latino-themed show on Mondays.

"Were you always this funny or did you have to work for it?" - we wanted to know.

"Back then my style was really 'deadpan' like Steven Wright. I'd talk real slow and try to enunciate but that was a really hard style in those rooms," he said. "One room I used to work also was a biker bar. We used to have the same crowd every week so we had to come up with different jokes every week and as I got better with my comedy, the crowd got better with their heckling! It was a rough room.

"I got my first TV credit in 1996 on Showtime's "Latino Laugh Festival" with Paul Rodriquez. You should have seen my hair back then, I was a 'thug.' But then I grew it out because the cops were profiling bald Hispanic people," he said. "My first (head shot) is still on the wall at the Comedy Store right next to Gilbert Iglesias' who's dressed in a sweater."

Esparza's star just keeps shining brighter. His TV credits include: ABC's "Comics Unleashed," Showtime's "Comics Without Borders," BET‘s "Comic View," and "One Mic Stand," and Galavision's "Que Locos" (where he holds the title of most appearances by any comedian) and now his opportunity to shine on NBC's "Last Comic Standing."

Some of his one-liners we had to include:

"The war in Iraq is still going on and Mexico wants to help, but they need a ride."

"I went to a ghetto haunted house and it was $10 to get in and $15 to get out."

You can follow Esparza's appearances at comedy clubs, comedy festivals, television and theaters at his Official Facebook Fan Page.

You can also listen to (and buy) Esparza's latest acclaimed CD, "Rebound Material" at Amazon and iTunes.

Comedian Henry Cho "I Reckon So!"

2010-05-26T03:43:20Z

A SacramentoComedy.Com Interview

Henry Cho's fairytale career began in 1986 when, as a student at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, he entered a "Funniest Person in America" contest sponsored by the Showtime network.

Cho, who is a full-blooded Korean, but raised in the heart of the South, walked onto the stage and in his deepest, most Southern drawl stated, "So, I'm from the South. So I guess that makes me South Korean." It was a juxtaposition "hook" that launched his career.

"It was my first joke, so I had to explain who I was," he said. And that hook has served him well. The late Steve Allen, first host of the original "Tonight Show" and a huge supporter of Cho's, once commented that there were very few original jokes left and Cho had at least 12 of them.

"I just happened to hear about (the competition) and called to see if I could go on stage," he said. "I was on the waiting list and somebody canceled so I got the last spot. I was the last to go on and received a standing ovation. That was on Monday and the club owner immediately offered me a job for Wednesday. By Friday, I dropped out of college to do stand up full time."

Cho also had another hook that set him apart from most all other comedians. He only does "clean" comedy. Can a mainstream comedian be funny and clean at the same time? Cho thinks so.

"I pride myself on never using a cuss word on stage. Ever." Cho brags. "I headline in Las Vegas every year, and this summer I am performing on an Alaskan cruise. Not too many comedians can pull that off. Funny thing is, my show doesn't change for Vegas.

"My show is an adult comedy show, but it isn't offensive. Your kids could listen to it, even though I hope they wouldn't 'get' most of it. But I get a lot of fan mail from soccer moms saying 'I love having your CD because I can listen to it with my kids in the car.'"

That clean act is partially responsible for his early success. A quickly rising comedian named Jerry Seinfeld was performing in Atlanta and looking for an opener that would perform totally clean. Cho was the perfect candidate and toured extensively with Seinfeld.

"So, when Jerry moved to Los Angeles, he told (Gary) Shandling and Leno and these guys that I was funny so I ended up working with the top 10 comedians in the nation in my first two or three years doing stand up."

Have there been any hardships or "hell gigs" along the way?

"Well, in 1989 or 1990, Tim Allen, myself, Seinfeld, Larry Miller and Dennis Wolfberg were hired to do the White Mountain Cooler Tour. We traveled around the country and had to do eight venues. One stop was in Jacksonville, Miss., and unfortunately the comedy club there had closed two weeks before so they put us at a place called The Docks. It was actually a dock and people would come off of their boats and there was only four tables so everyone had to just stand around. That's not even the worst part. We had to do four nights there, one show a night and it was exactly the same people each night. By the end, we were just chatting with the audience asking things like, 'How's was your job interview, Bob?'"

Cho moved to Los Angeles in 1989 and then to Tennessee five years later.

"Everything was great and my career was on the upswing, but it was just making me somebody I didn't like. I'm not an L.A. kind of guy. I just have a different moral compass, so I moved back to Tennessee to buy a farm. I commuted every week for two years after that, while I was hosting 'Friday Night Videos' for NBC, I would just commute."

Even though Cho appears on television and in movies, including the 1996 movie "Material Girls" with Hillary Duff, Cho has lived and owned a farm in Tennessee raising Black Angus cattle with his wife and three kids since 1994. Since it was a working ranch, we asked him if he raised anything else.

"Nope, kid's and cattle. That's enough!"

Cho works on the road about eight to 10 days a month and shares his child-raising and family duties with his wife.

"I take time off through the holidays and the summer so we can hang out with my boys."

"There's no down-side to my life," he said. "If my television show (currently being marketed) doesn't get picked up then it's no big deal because I get to stay in Nashville and do what I do. I have a blessed life."

It is also a good thing that being a comedian doesn't have an age requirement.

"My wife asked me how long I am planning to be a comedian and I just told her that George Burns was performing until he was 100."

Since Cho has performed with many great comedians, we asked him if he would give us some quick thoughts about some famous people he knows. He agreed.

Bill Envall: "One of my best friends! His son is one of my godsons. Great mentor."

Jeff Foxworthy: "Another great mentor and dear friend. I have so many stories with him about working back in the day before the 'Blue Collar Tour.'"

Tim Allen: "Tim and I go way back from our time on the road. I see him occasionally."

Phil Nee (the only other Korean comedian performing nationally when Cho was beginning his career): "I hear that he isn't doing comedy anymore. Some of the young Asian comedians nowadays find that between Phil and I we have done almost every Korean joke there is, so it's hard for them to find their own version."

Craig Ferguson (co-Producer of Cho's comedy pilot): "Most producers of television shows just put their names on there like a vanity plate. Craig went to the meeting with Paramount with me, the meeting at CBS with me, and is a class act."

Jerry Seinfeld: "Seinfeld set me on the right track. He told me, when I had been doing comedy for less than a year, 'People are going to throw all kinds of stuff at you, they may want to give you shows with a stand up theme, but don't stop doing stand up because very few people can do it as well as you can do it."

Cho admits that he made a decision early on that he would choose to be successful over being famous.

"You know, I stay right under the radar and I get all the great perks that go along with where I am. But when opportunities arise, like doing a television show, my wife and I talk about and pray about how that exposure affects the entire family and our lifestyle. Early on, I wanted to be an actor, but it just isn't conducive to my raising a family. I can't go away for six weeks to do a movie in Australia, no matter how much they pay me."

With over three television pilot scripts to his credit, Cho is a member of both the Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild.

"Today, it is hard to get a show that is created by the lead actor. Shows like 'Rosanne,' Tim Allen's show 'Home Improvement' and even Ray Ramono's 'Everybody Loves Raymond' were 'based on the stand up of..." and not created by the comedians themselves. To be able to get a "co-created by" gives you the control over the show, which is what I have to have. I want to control what my show is going to be."

What can the audience expect to see next month at the Cache Creek Casino?

"I usually know what kind of show that I want to do when I get up on stage, but it often doesn't work out that way. I have a God-given talent for thinking fast and ad-libbing on the fly, and so a percentage of my act is "riffing" with the audience and I usually have a question-and-answer segment that I do toward the end of my show. I like to interact with the people and know what they think."

Cho will appear Friday, June 18 at Cache Creek Casino. Follow this link for more information about Cache Creek Casino Entertainment. Must be 21 or over. Admission is free with a Cache Creek card or $20 at the door. A Cache Creek card is free and can be obtained at the Customer Service desk on the day of the show.

Ralphie May At The Crest Theater

2010-05-15T17:14:45Z

Ralphie May had a message to deliver Thursday at the Crest Theater for those who are haters, lovers, racists, gay or homophobes.

Embrace it. Own it.

After an entertaining 20-minute warm-up by Tennessee comedian Billy Wayne Davis, May strode onstage to Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire." That was the beginning of a two-hour stream of consciousness that could have offended just about anyone. No problem; May owned it.

He peppered his show with references to Sacramento, from the expected Schwarzenegger imitation, "Welcome to Kal E Fonya," to talking about getting "stoned as a biblical whore" in Capitol Park and having a squirrel come up and ask for a hit.

"The K Street bums all look like wizards to me," May declared, "the way they dress and such. The only way to tell them apart from real wizards is that wizards don't have dogs."

May mocked all races. His jokes weren't meant to hurt but to point out stereotypes and the humor in each of them. "The blacks in this country can no longer complain about being kept down by 'The Man,' " he said. "With Obama in office, now they are 'The Man.' So, now, they have to start tipping 20 percent just like the rest of us."

He talked about the absurdity of hate, pointing out that gay men and rednecks share a hatred of sleeves. He added that to eliminate gays, heterosexual sex should be outlawed. "Isn't that obvious?" he asked. "Everyone knows that it takes two straight people to make a homosexual."

Additional targets included Tiger Woods and Muslims.

"Nike won't take away Tiger's endorsement deal. Their motto is 'Just Do It' and 'Swoosh!' " Of Muslims, May said, "Do you really want 72 nagging virgins waiting for you in heaven?"

May explained his reasons for smoking pot but not drinking alcohol with a story about his first drinking party in the woods of Tennessee. He said one of his friends passed out and then told of the unprintable but hilarious things that he saw happen to him. In contrast, May said, "When I smoked pot for the first time, all I remember was eating the most delicious pancakes in the world."

His humor is like that of many comedy greats who pushed the status quo -- Lenny Bruce, Sam Kinison, Doug Stanhope and Richard Pryor. It earned him certain bragging rights. May was the first comedian in more than 10 years to receive a standing ovation on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno.

Well done, Ralphie. Well done.

Photos by: Erin Haight

Steven Bloom is the founder of SacramentoComedy.Com, the official guide to the Sacramento comedy scene. This website is dedicated to comedian interviews, comedian biographies and videos, and consolidation all of theSacramento comedy events into a single comedy calendar for your convenience. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com.

Comedian Ralphie May Is Living The Dream

2010-05-10T03:44:52Z

A SacramentoComedy.Com Interview

You may not think that the name “Ralphie” is something you would call a390-pound man. But, in the case of comedian Ralphie May, it's just fine. May, 38, who was named one of the "Top 10 Comics To Watch" in 2008 by“Variety Magazine,” was given that nickname as a young boy growing up deep in the heart of the south.

May, who will be performing his two-hour show Thursday at The Crest Theatre, likes to tell people that his shows are about two hours in length for a reason.

"My average fan works for about $20 per hour, if they are lucky enough to have a job," he chuckled, "and then factoring in insurance, taxes and such, they're maybe bringing home $15 per hour. If my tickets are just under $30, it took them about two hours of their life to make the money to come see my show. Why shouldn't I give them two hours too? That way I am not any better than anyone else."

Born in Chattanooga, Tenn., Ralphie didn't have it easy. Like so many famous comedians, May knew he wanted to be a stand-up comedian by the time he was 9. He performed at talent shows at 13, and before he could establish himself as a serious performer at 16, May was involved in a life-changing automobile accident.

"I broke 14 bones in 64 different places and was in a coma for 10 days," he explained. "Yeah, it still hurts! Now, whenever it gets cold or it's about to rain, I think I'm gonna die."

But can May usually turn any personal challenge into part of his act?

"Without a doubt. More importantly, it has provided me with empathy. I think that that is a necessary trait to being a great communicator, and to be a great stand-up you need empathy for others. Put yourself in different people's positions, that way you can see the angle from inside the joke rather than from the outside."

May learned his craft by performing at open mics and showcases throughout the southern states. Was that “southern” environment different from, say Los Angeles, Chicago or New York?

"Oh yeah, without a doubt. There was a lot less competition. I started doing stand-up in 1989 in Arkansas. I was only 17, attending both high school and college at the same time. I was doing open mics and showcases when I won a radio talent show and got the opportunity to open for Sam Kinison. It was on Sam's advice that I moved to Houston to pursue my career." He then added,

"When I performed in Houston, I realized that it wasn't really a 'southern' town. It's a Texas town and has a different feel. It's a melting pot and one of the most diverse cities in the world. It was great just being a kid from Arkansas to be around so many different types of people.

"What was weird, though, was that when I got there, I was still only 18, (and) the white clubs wouldn't really work me that much. I started my stand up at mostly 'urban clubs' like the Comedy Showcase and the Hip-Hop Comedy Club, opening for people like Steve Harvey. It was crazy."

One of May's most recognizable physical features is his weight. From a top weight of almost 800 pounds, May has had gastric bypass surgery and is committed to diet and exercise to keep his weight under 400 pounds.

"I'm half the man I used to be..." May sang as I pointed out that he has lost more than another person in body weight.

May appeared on the VH1 reality fitness show “Celebrity Fit Club” during its first season. During the two months he appeared on the show, May lost 78 pounds of fat, 18 inches around his waist and gained 24 pounds of muscle.

Those impressive numbers came with a certain amount of physical damage, however.

"I tore two tendons in my foot, and I gave myself an eight-inch hernia, but still it was great. It hurt, and the subsequent surgeries weren't fun, but it really helped me and gave me a lot of new (nutritional) information that I never had before. As soon as my foot heals up, I am going to hit it again and lose more weight in 2010."

May had stated when he was hovering around the 600-pound mark that there were two goals he had had regarding his weight loss. Riding a bike with his wife (then girlfriend) and going surfing. We asked how he was doing on attaining those goals.

"I ride a bike with my wife at our home in Memphis Nashville, and I am about 150 pounds away from surfing."

May and Lahna Turner, his wife of five years, both perform stand-up. They have homes in both Los Angeles and Memphis Nashville. I wondered whether he stays home to take care of their two young children, a daughter, age two and a half, and a son, almost 1, when his wife was working and he wasn't.

"We have a nanny, and she usually goes with Lahna because our son is still breast feeding. But most of the time, we like to tour together."

May and Turner's senses of humor didn't stop when they had kids. Their daughter's name is April June May, and their son is August James May. We wondered whether those names corresponded to the months that they were born.

"No, August was born in June, and April was born in September."

Does having a family and two young kids affect your material now? Does it keep you from being as edgy as you have been? I guess what we are asking is, are you making diaper jokes now?

"NO! If anything, I am probably edgier now. People always ask me if I am going to be a family comic now and tone down my rhetoric and my bullshit. But I'm like, 'Why?' First of all, I can't do family jokes like Mr. Cosby. Mr. Cosby has been doing that family shit for fucking 40 years. He's covered every fucking angle on jokes that deal with the family. When a comic is talking about family, if you don't think you are ripping off a joke that Cosby has done over the years, then you have to be retarded. Bill did it all."

May exploded in popularity in 2003 after taking a highly protested and controversial second place behind winner Dat Phan on NBC's freshman season of "Last Comic Standing."

Many people believed May was ripped off for the title win because he and fellow comedians Rich Vos and Dave Mordal were very mean to Phan when they were all cooped up in the “comic house.”

May laughed. "I don't think that Dat Phan robbed me of anything. NBC picked the winner. You can spin it anyway you want to. You can say that the people picked the winner, but what they were shown was at NBC's discretion. NBC chose to show Rich and I busting Dat Phan's balls, but we busted everybody's balls because we're ball busters. That's what we do. But Rich is one of the sweetest people on the fucking planet.

"Dat Phan kept on wearing the same fucking clothes over and over and over again. Rich finally asked him, 'Don't you have any other clothes?' and Dat, very meekly said, 'No, I don't.' Rich was mortified and just said 'Holy shit! Are you serious?' and then Rich passed the hat and we all pitched in and collected $100 and bought Dat Phan a new set of clothes. Nobody ever said that, and NBC never showed that. It would have made great TV, but nobody shared it because they wanted to control the outcome.

“I was told by Jay Mohr, (the MC for the first season) that if I didn't get a standing ovation each week that NBC would throw me out. They didn't know what to do with me. You never see anyone at 650 pounds on TV. But, in trying to finagle the competition, they actually did me a favor. They galvanized my fans to be loyal and fight for me and become active and motivated and buy my albums to prove everybody wrong. And it worked. That is why my first album, 'Girth of A Nation' went platinum."

We wanted to know how the opportunity to do “Last Comic Standing” came about.

"I had worked with Jay Mohr at ESPN Sports, writing and producing his show, 'Mohr Sports' in 2002, and Jay said, 'I've got this show called 'Comic House' I'm working on, and you should do it.' Then, 15 months later, I was working in Honolulu at The Laugh Factory when he called me on a Thursday. He said, 'Dude, I need you to audition for this show called “Last Comic Standing” on Saturday.' Hey! I'm working, I told him. You don't need me to audition, you know my work. But he told me that everything had to be above board with no favorites because NBC was involved.

"I looked up the cost of the flight back to Los Angeles, and it was over $800, and I didn't have it. I was broke. My girlfriend said, 'I believe in you, and I think you can do this. You should just go and do it.' So when I told her I didn't have the money, she just said, 'I'm not going to let you miss this
opportunity just because you don't have the money. Here, put it on my Dad's credit card.' Now, her rent was $900 a month, and she just spent almost an entire month’s rent on a charge card because she believed in me. The funny thing also was that her parents hated my guts!"

You married that woman, right?

"Yes, she is one hell of a woman. I would be worthless if I didn't have her in my life. I would be a piece of shit. She had my best interests and believed in me when no one else would, including me. She's amazing!"

That belief paid off. After his "Last Comic Standing" participation ended, May appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and was the first comedian in more than 10 years to receive a standing ovation. He also appeared on most every late night show to rave reviews.

May has released three comedy albums to date, with his most recent, “Ralphie May: Austin-Tatious,” released on DVD and CD in May 2009. It was recorded live to a sold-out crowd at the Paramount Theater in Austin, and May is due to appear with Neil Patrick Harris and Amy Sedaris in the new movie, "Best and The Brightest," later this year.

But you don't have to wait. Watch May perform live May 13 at The Crest Theatre . Showtime is at 7:30 and tickets are $29.75

Editor's Note: The Sacramento Press editorial department made changes to this article after publication.

Conan O'Brien Tour Rocks Sacramento

2010-05-08T18:31:57Z

A capacity crowd filled the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium with screams Thursday night as the lights went down on the Sacramento leg of Conan O’Brien’s Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television Tour. For more than two hours, Team Coco kept the crowd thoroughly entertained and gave the impression that Sacramento was the only stop on its tour, not one of 30.

In the band's opener, Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up," three of the musicians, including trombone player Richie "La Bamba" Rosenberg, marched into the audience as they played, bringing the crowd to a frenzy.

A short movie clip showed O'Brien fat and depressed over the very public end of his late-night talk show. Then, members of the audience jumped to their feet as the star of the show made his entrance.

Throughout the show, there were many references to Sacramento, making it feel personal. In addition to the expected Schwarzenegger references, which elicited boos, O'Brien and sidekick Andy Richter talked about Mayor Kevin Johnson: "Sacramento is the only place where you have a weight-lifting governor and a basketball-star mayor." On local shopping; "I have a new job. I'm going to be the new assistant manager at the Arden Fair Banana Republic." And, referring to Davis hamburger joint Murder Burger, now Redrum Burger, Richter said, "the greatest hamburger at the greatest restaurant named for 'man's ultimate sin before God.' " Other local references included Pancake Circus, Lavender Heights and a skit by Triumph, The Insult Comic Dog, about hamburger restaurant Squeeze Inn.

The night included jokes and ad libs that allowed O'Brien's comedic timing to shine. There was music, too, with O'Brien and his backup singers, The Coquettes, performing "Polk Salad Annie" and "My Own Show Again," sung to the tune of "On The Road Again."

O'Brien and crew didn't disappoint Team Coco's fans. In addition to Richter and members of the old "Tonight Show" band, the evening included "The Masturbating Bear," who, for copyright reasons, was transformed into the "Self Pleasuring Panda"; and a Chuck Norris, "Walker, Texas Ranger" film clip skit.

O'Brien used his typical self-deprecating humor, joking about how he resembled cartoon character Jimmy Neutron and actress Tilda Swinson. He also did a bit about the "Eight Stages of Depression for a Talk Show Host," complete with a slide show presentation on the big screen.

There was a slightly ribald but very funny set by former "Tonight Show" writer and stand-up comedian Deon Cole, and a not very funny sketch entitled "What I've Learned, by Andy Richter."

At the end of the show, the roaring crowd demanded an encore. They got one, courtesy of O'Brien, The Coquettes, The Legally Prohibited Band, Richter, The Self Pleasuring Panda and a huge, inflatable bat borrowed from Meatloaf's "Bat Out Of Hell" tour. Oversized beach balls were tossed into the crowd, and to the delight of everyone, the evening ended with O'Brien running into the crowd, slapping hands and hugging his screaming fans.

If you enjoyed this interview and would like to have all of the SacramentoComedy.Comfeatures, interviews, news and reviews delivered to your iPhone, download the SacComedy App at iTunes.

Kevin Pollak Is Ridiculously Talented!

2010-05-03T15:39:39Z

A SacramentoComedy.Com Interview

From his start telling jokes at family Passover dinners at age 10, to catching hell for doing impressions of his high school coach, Kevin Pollak was meant to perform.

Comedy

"I was born in San Francisco but moved to San Jose when I was young. When I began performing, it was in venues that were designed for music. There were no comedy clubs then in San Jose. I would go on between the bands breaks when nobody really wanted to listen. When I moved to San Francisco, I was amazed that people loved going to see comedy and would actually pay to see it!"

Entering the San Francisco comedy scene in the late '70's, Pollak was the youngest performer in the San Francisco Comedy Competition in 1977 and finished in the semifinals. In 1982, he took second place behind Jim Samuels and placed ahead of Sacramento's Jack Gallagher.

Pollak is famous for his spot-on impersonations of Christopher Walken and William Shatner. We asked which one he preferred and whether there were some voices he would like to do but hasn't mastered.

"Yeah, there is no contest in that they both (Walken and Shatner) serve me incredibly well, so no, I really couldn't pick one over the other. I'm asked quite often if there are people that I can't do and the answer to that is that there are always going to be people outside my wheelhouse. But the truth is, it's like being asked 'Why can't you hit the curve ball?' Why is that? I don't know, but I hit the one down the pipe out of the park. How do you talk about the things that you can't do other than to say that you can't do them?" He added, "I'll play with a voice and if it falls into place I'll do it. If it doesn't, I let it go as easily as a glass of water. It's not something that I dwell on."

Acting

Pollak has appeared in more than 60 feature movies ("with four or five being really good ones"). He has called stand-up comedy his first love, what "feeds the beast." We asked him to elaborate.

"I think the reason that stand up is so powerful for the performer and why many try to recreate that 'high' using drugs or alcohol is that there's nothing else in the performer's life that matches that ridiculous energy of the live performance and the immediate, instant response, either good or bad, to your own thoughts or musings. It's a magical thing.

"When I started off in movies, all that was gone. If you did something funny during a shot, the crew was not allowed to laugh for fear of ruining the take. In terms of the acting, it was always fairly frustrating. So, as much as I love acting, it is that desire for that live experience that draws me to stand up. That need just doesn't stop when I do movies."

Pollak has worked with some of the greatest actors and under some of the finest directors.

"My first really large role in a large, dramatic movie was working with Barry Levinson in 'Avalon.' For a comedian who had no formal training, this was a bizarrely huge opportunity. Because Barry had just won awards for his last film 'Rain Man,' everyone in Hollywood was watching 'Avalon' to see what he would do next. Because of that, I got the opportunity to audition for more serious acting roles."

"The next giant movie was 'A Few Good Men,' which was like being brought up to the majors. This juggernaut studio movie where I am one of the leads and everyone else in the film is ridiculously famous and I'm not. After that was the goal line that you cross as an actor between auditioning and getting offers. And that was 52 movies ago."

One of the films Pollak is most remembered for is "The Usual Suspects." We asked him about that experience.

"It was 'lightning in a bottle' like I have never experienced. In terms of an utterly unknown writer and director, Christopher McQuarrie and Bryan Singer, it was amazing. McQuarrie went on to win an Academy Award for best screenplay and Singer went on to 'X-Men' and other great movies. But at the time, they were just these young punks that hadn't done anything and the cast was relatively unknown, other than Gabriel Byrne. We debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, which was otherworldly. It was another milestone. That same year, I was offered the role in 'Casino' by the great master director Martin Scorsese. Then, of course, there were a few more."

We asked how Pollak chose his parts and whether there was one he liked best.

"I like working," he deadpanned. "It's really about the script. I long for great scripts."

Kevin Pollak Chat Show (KPCS)

"Kevin Pollak's Chat Show" debuted in April 2009 and has become an award-winning entry in the rapidly growing field of Internet-only entertainment.

"Just last month we won a 'Streamy Award" and that was a big thing as it is the highest award to having original content online," he said. "That was pretty awesome."

The show has featured Seth MacFarlane, Kevin Smith, Matthew Perry, Jim Gaffigan, Joe Montegna, Bobby Slayton, Adam Carolla and many more.

"We book this show ourselves, without a marketing department or a publicity department. I don't deal with agents. I just reach through to friends and friends of friends. It's an every week process that is sometimes easy and sometimes not. We have been incredibly fortunate in that we have had FIVE Academy Award winners and Grammy winners and some of the greatest comedians alive on our show.

"We also have had captains of industry such as Tesla Motors founder and CEO, Elon Musk."

We asked why he chose an "Internet-only" format.

"The Internet is the ultimate 'if you build it, they will come' model. It not only allows complete creative freedom, it also means that you can't force your audience to watch anything. You have to just put it up there and wait for the results. There is no big, splashy advertising campaign like a network television or broadcast television in general would have. It took awhile to get used to the 'be patient' aspect of letting the audience find you, which is part and parcel to the original content online process."

Did he consider putting the show on broadcast television?

"No, I designed it to be Internet only. That is how I could do two hours of Seth MacFarlane, and Eddie Izzard holds the record at two hours and 30 minutes. There isn't a network that is going to give me that much time. We are averaging 90 minutes to two hours with every guest. It is a real conversation as opposed to a talk show with commercial breaks.

"So, here we are a year later and we are up to about 68,000 live viewers every Sunday afternoon and over a million and a half have seen our show. Amazon just 'knighted' us by being our partner in offering the show in downloads, DVDs and Video on Demand. So, that is unbelievably and insanely rewarding and exciting and validating our 'if you build it they will come' strategy."

One of the games Pollak plays with his guests is "The Larry King Game." Guests are asked to imitate talk show host King, tell something revealing (and usually humiliating) about King and then take a call from someone in a little known town.

We asked him to demonstrate using a theme suggested by the local comedy troupe "The Real Funny Housewives of Rio Linda."

(In his best Larry King voice): "I just had sex with the real funny housewives! ...Rio Linda, you're on the air!"

"That was invented by my partner in life and crime, my better half and head writer on the show, Jaime Fox (Pollak spelled the name to make it obvious she wasn't the African-American Oscar winner). She also came up with the Twitter game. If you go to the website kevinpollakchatshow.com, these are actual interactive games you can play on the site. But we also have our guests play them each week."

Vamped Out

Pollak's newest venture on the Internet premiered April 12 as a six-episode series called "Vamped Out." It features a real-life vampire who also is an actor who keeps getting turned down for vampire roles. Pollak is the creator, executive producer, writer, director and has a featured role as well. It runs on Mondays on Babelgum.com.

"This level of creative freedom and control I have never experienced in decades of writing, producing and acting in movies or television. Suddenly, it was opened up to me in original content through the Web."

How did the concept develop?

"Jaime and I were meeting some friends for lunch, one of which is a very talented character actor like myself, named Jason Antoon. We sat down bemoaning this billboard that we saw driving to lunch advertising the TV show 'Vampire Diaries.'

" 'Can you fucking believe that there is another vampire TV show?' Then Jason asked, 'Can you imagine being a vampire right now and you can't get hired to do any of these movies or TV shows because you are not skinny or pale or handsome?' Jaime thought that it would be a good bit for my comedy act, but I immediately thought of it as a Web series. I had not thought prior to that moment about a Web series but it just sort of came out of me. Before I knew it, it was too late and Jason and I were in my living room writing episodes for the show. Babelgum.com was one of the first places we pitched it and they gave us all of the freedom to produce it as we needed."

SacramentoComedy.Com Viewer Questions:

Christopher Hampl wanted to know if Pollak had done his 'Columbo' impression for Peter Falk, the actor who played the role in the television series.

"I did that impression one night on the 'Tonight Show,' sitting on the couch next to Johnny Carson. Peter say me on television doing that and the next time we met, he referenced that by saying, (using his best Columbo voice), 'How do you do that with your eye? Me, I understand, but how doyou do it?' "

Svitlana Kurylo asked if there was were an actor or comedian with whom he wanted to work.

"Oh yeah, I can't really answer that. There is an endless list of people I would love to work with. I think Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio are as good as it gets, in terms of their generation. I would certainly kill to work with either of them, but there are so many others. I have been insanely lucky to work with many of the most brilliant people; there are hundreds more, I assure you."

Kurylo also asked if Pollak ever got stage fright or was starstruck.

"Stage fright, never have. Like a lot of comedians, some get nervous every time but the rest of us were just born to do this. We suffer from what I call 'Hey, look at me' disease.

"Star struck? Definitely. Just like a normal human being, I am blown away by any actor or actress that I see or meet in person whose work that I admire. I am no different than anyone else."

Walter Kawamoto asked if Pollak was upset when another actor was cast as Captain Kirk in the "Star Trek" movies.

(Sarcastically):"Yeah, I cried for a couple of days. I have a good group of friends, so I was able to lean on them. Especially when I saw the ridiculously young and handsome guy they hired, I was really thrown for a loop."

Remy Gervais wanted to know if he had a favorite role.

"Not really. If there had to be one that I enjoyed doing, that nobody saw, it would be the sequel to the movie 'The Whole Nine Yards' called 'The Whole Ten Yards.' I was in makeup for three and a half hours to get into prosthetic makeup to play the role of the father of the character I played in the original. I played a 70-year-old Hungarian mobster. That was probably the most fun comedically that I have had portraying a character in movies. And about 17 people have seen it." he added.

Pollak will appear this Saturday at Cache Creek Casino. Follow this link for tickets and reservations. Must be 21 or over.

If you enjoyed this interview and would like to have all of the SacramentoComedy.Comfeatures, interviews, news and reviews delivered to your iPhone, download the SacComedy App at iTunes.

With A Name Like Ahmed Ahmed...

2010-04-30T19:27:51Z

A SacramentoComedy.Com Interview

With a name like Ahmed Ahmed, in this day and age, you might think that it could lead to some mishaps with law enforcement agencies. If so, you'd be correct. Ahmed's family came to America when he was just a month old, and he grew up in Riverside, right in the epicenter of Southern California, so misconceptions aren’t uncommon but, in retrospect, the name has served him well.

We caught up with Ahmed by phone in New York, having just completed his first appearance at the Tribeca Film Festival, premiering 'Just Like Us,' his freshman directorial debut earlier in the week. We decided to start off by asking, (very politely), about his name.

"Ahmed Ahmed is my 'God-given' name. It is the name that my parents gave me. Today, as a comic, it sets me apart in the U.S., but it has also helped me a great deal overseas. My new movie, 'Just Like Us,' was filmed in four countries in the Middle East, and I doubt that it would have gone over as well if my name was Steve Jones."

With his current successes both here and abroad, we wondered whether Ahmed was recognized more here in the United States or in the Middle East.

"It's not like famous American movie directors or big comedy clubs are calling every day or I am stopped on the street here,” he said. “In the Middle East, it is a little different. In most Middle Eastern countries, if I am in a restaurant or an area where my demographic (18-24) hangs out, then I am often recognized."

Ahmed's career in the entertainment business began when he was 19 and moved to Hollywood to make it as an actor. He spent a year attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and studied with acting coaches Cliff Osmond, Ivana Chubbuck and Sandy Marshall.

After getting myriad small parts playing the stereotypical terrorist, cab driver or Middle Eastern prince, Ahmed's agent suggested he change his name. That agent was promptly let go. Then, working as a personal trainer and waiter while studying his craft, Ahmed decided to try stand-up comedy.

After doing comedy for a few years, one key turning point in his career was being taken in by Mitzi Shore, the legendary owner of The Comedy Store in Hollywood right around 1999-2000.

"A many great comedians had come out of the Comedy Store to do extraordinary things with their careers,” Ahmed said. “David Letterman and Jay Leno started there. Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Sam Kinison, Howie Mandel, Michael Keaton, Paul Rodriguez and Jim Carrey performed there. A lot of comedians became who they are today thanks to being 'taken in' by Mitzi. She would embrace them in such a way, almost guiding like a mother hen.

"Mitzi also had an epiphany that something bad was going to happen in the Middle East and that Arab comedians were going to be necessary to break down stereotypes. That was her prophesy. We didn't know what she was talking about. We just wanted to tell jokes. Then 9/11 happened, and she gave us a platform to exercise our talent. And this was at a time when comedy clubs didn't want Arab comedians. That has changed over time, but it was because of Mitzi that it happened."

So, has the stigma of being of Arab descent eased up since 9/11?

"Well, yes and no. There was a lot of backlash after (9/11). I have been arrested or detained half a dozen times because of my name. It's an awful position to be put in. As an American, paying taxes, you play by the rules and be a decent human being, and society lets you be. Suddenly, that's taken away from you. You are sitting in a cell with 12 other people who are brown.

"There was one time in Las Vegas I was arrested and was put into jail. It was very unfortunate. But just telling the story is brilliant. I talked about it on the 'Wild West Comedy Tour' (with Vince Vaughn). I was placed in this holding cell for about 12 hours. You have to know that in that cell were the cast members of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.' After about eight hours, this Mexican gang-banger walks up and say, ‘Hey homie, you arrested cause you're like Arab and shit?’ I told him, 'yeah.'

“(He went on to ask), ‘Do they think you are a terrorist and shit?" I told him, 'yeah, but just for the record, I'm not.' Then he says, ‘Hey, just blow this place up and get us the fuck outta here!’ And everybody in the cell just started laughing. Then I just thought that maybe this was God's way of lightening up the situation, because I was breaking down at that point. Why the hell am I in jail? I am just an American guy with an Arab name. So, either this gang-banger was definitely God-sent or it was just His way of telling me, 'Ahmed, write some new material!’"

Do you think that the bridge of understanding that is taking place between the United States. and the Middle East countries and the Muslim world would be happening today if it weren't for 9/11?

"Probably not as much. As much as I hate to say it, tragedy in its darkest moments eventually ends up shedding light on a situation. It's interesting that you bring that up. Jane Rosenthal and Robert DeNiro are the co-founders of the Tribeca Film Festival. Their whole reason for creating the festival was because of 9/11. When the city was at its lowest point, DeNiro and Rosenthall were wondering how they could give back to the city, how they could make a positive impact out of this negative. Now, nine years later, there are Arab and Muslim films being shown at the festival."

The film "Just Like Us," filmed documentary-style in four Middle Eastern countries, was Ahmed's first time producing and directing a movie. We wanted to know how his debut at the Tribeca Film Festival went.

"The support that Tribeca extended us has been great! We got our world premier on Saturday night, and it was sold out. It was a full red-carpet event. Vince Vaughn, who is a good friend of mine, flew in to support the film. For the 'after-party comedy show' featuring the comedians that appeared in the movie, Robert DeNiro showed up. I was hosting this show and watching him laugh so hard he had to wipe the tears from his eyes. After, he came over and provided a photo op. He was overly kind, offered his congratulations and told me the he watched the show with his wife and that he really liked it."

One question that came to mind while we were talking about the making of his movie was what inspired him to do it.

"I would come back from a doing a comedy tour overseas, and my friends would ask me if I was performing for the troops. They, and many people here, don't know that people from the Middle Eastern countries and Muslims have a sense of humor and like to laugh. Each country has different customs around it, like, in some countries, entertainment is designed for the whole family so you are often performing in front of young kids. I also learned a great deal about this format of filmmaking doing the 'Wild West Comedy Tour' with Vince Vaughn. I also had a great producer in Peter Billingsly. Yes, the same Peter Billingsly that played Ralphie and is famous for shooting his eye out in the movie ‘A Christmas Story,’" he answered to my unasked question.

We also wondered if there were any critics to the new group of Arab-Americans who use comedy to poke fun at themselves and the Muslim stereotypes.

"I never used to put my clips up on YouTube, but now I just let it go. If you Google "Ahmed Ahmed Dubai," you will see a clip of a joke that I do. I got slammed on that one. There are over 450 comments. I sometimes write them down and read them from stage. So, yes, I am often a target for my type of humor."

You will get the chance to experience Ahmed's humor May 6-9 at the Sacramento Punchline Comedy Club.

If you enjoyed this interview and would like to have all of the SacramentoComedy.Com features, interviews, news and reviews delivered to your iPhone, download the SacComedy App at iTunes.

Debbie Campo Hosts "Laugh Your Way To Love!" at the Sacramento Punchline

2010-04-27T02:46:09Z

What do you get when you mix alcohol, a singles mixer and a comedy show? You get to find out for yourself this Wednesday night at the Sacramento Punchline.

Comedian Debbie Campo is the Founder/MC/Matchmaker of “Laugh Your Way to Love,” the hybrid mashup of stand-up comedy meets “The Dating Game" meets the singles mixer.

Campo explained that "the doors at the Sacramento Punchline will open at 7 p.m., and we encourage the single people to come early to have a cocktail and meet with us and the other singles. We (comedians) mingle with everyone who comes early, facilitate introductions and see if we can spot some compatibilities early. At 8 p.m., everyone gets to see a very funny comedy show featuring headliner Sal Calanni and co-features, Maggie Newcomb and Jason Armenio. Throughout the show we are chatting with the audience members and getting to know them better."

What happens after the show?

"In the last part of the show, we do audience interaction and have a short 'Dating Game' segment where we match single women and single men up from willing participants. Then, after the show, we continue to mingle, exchange info and…well, occasionally, 'hook up!'"

Have there been any successful matches?

"There have been a couple of them that have been great, but one in particular is a standout. In one of our first shows, we matched a couple where he lives in Los Angeles and she lives in San Francisco. They write me all the time and tell me that they are having a good time. She was one of the women that we pulled onstage, a very cute British girl who announced that she 'wasn't wearing any panties' at the time. No wonder she got the guy!" she laughed.

What about us non-single folk. Will we be out of place?

"No, by wrapping this around the comedy show, we want to make sure that even if they don't meet someone or are not in the market to meet anyone new, that you come away having a great night of being entertained by a spectacular comedy show. So, even if you are a married couple or bringing your date, you find a cozy, loving and fun environment."

Campo, who was twice married and now single, came up with the idea as a unique way to meet more eligible men while performing her stand up. We wondered how that was working for her.

"Everyone hooks up but me!" she exclaimed. "I saw it as a way to 'fish' for single men using a large net rather than a pole, but everyone seems to hook up but me. Every young comedian wants to do these shows because they invariably end up getting dates. Alas, I seem to just be the matchmaker."

Campo is originally from Philadelphia, grew up in Las Vegas and has performed coast to coast over the last six years. She has performed with the “3 Blonde Moms” comedy troupe and performs with three other male comedians as the baby boomer-themed, “Not Dead Yet” tour.

For tickets, visit the Punchline Ticket site.

If you enjoyed this interview and would like to have all of the SacramentoComedy.Com features, interviews, news and reviews delivered to your iPhone, iTouch or iPad, then download the free SacComedy App at iTunes.

Steven Bloom is the founder of SacramentoComedy.Com, the Official Guide to Sacramento Comedy. This website is dedicated to comedian interviews,comedian bios, videos and consolidating all of the Sacramento comedy events to a single comedy calendar site. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com

Joe Rogan is Dirty, Raunchy and Intellectual

2010-04-24T23:44:04Z

By Mikhail Chernyavsky

By the amount of Mohawks and Affliction shirts sported by audience members at the Punch Line Comedy Club Friday night, a spectator could only assume a five-minute bout in the octagon was about to commence. And, you wouldn’t be too far off.

Joe Rogan took to the stage of a sold out audience – cheering and whistling him on – for what would be two hours of dirty, raunchy, intellectual and simply hilarious stand up comedy.

Now, intellectual is not exactly what you would expect from a man who is best known for hosting a reality game show that had contestants wolfing down the sexual organs of animals. It is easy to say this Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) commentator is nothing more than a meathead.

Yet, it was Rogan’s meathead approach with which he captured the audience and was able to slip in those bits of education.

Rogan talked about how he was told to buy stock in Apple, Inc., but has “no idea what the hell a stock is.” Then, spurred the audience to question what these abstract things in our lives really are.

It is as if everyone is playing a game of follow the leader, he said. But, no one knows where they are going.

Noting Rogan’s intelligent messages in his stand up isn’t to say the night was a highbrow evening at the theatre. It got very dirty as well.

Rogan also covered topics from current events – such as the Larry King divorce scandal and how Tiger Woods didn’t simply cheat but was “attacked by sluts” – to the proper ways of male masturbation – if a man masturbates with his knuckles facing upward then ladies be wary because that man is insane.

For some, Rogan’s two hours of comedy proved a bit too long, as a small few left early. Rogan himself acknowledged his long performance.

“This show should have ended 10 minutes ago,” Rogan said at the one and a half hour mark.

It was the energy of the audience that kept him going he noted, explaining that no comic ever knows how a set will go. However, Friday night, the audience drove Rogan and stayed with him no matter if he went raunchy or intellectually dark and cynical.

In the end Rogan thanked the audience and left with the same booming cheering with which he came up to the stage.

As the lights came up and people began to leave, Rogan came out to greet some fans that stuck around. He took photos, signed autographs, and showed off and compared tattoos with fans.

Having MMA fighters and Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas in your audience at a sold out show that was booked one-week prior must lend credibility to Rogan.

His Comedy Central special “Talking Monkeys in Space” is available on DVD, but is no suitable substitute to seeing Rogan’s raw energy on stage.

If you enjoyed this interview and would like to have all of the SacramentoComedy.Com features, interviews, news and reviews delivered to your iPhone, download the SacComedy App at iTunes.

Mikhail Chernyavsky is a contributing author for SacramentoComedy.Com, the Official Guide to Sacramento Comedy. This website is dedicated to comedian interviews, comedian bios, videos and consolidating all of the Sacramento comedy events to a single comedy calendar site. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com

Will Durst is Lt. Governor of the State of Confusion

2010-04-23T17:35:01Z

Will Durst is very smart and very, very funny.

The five-time Emmy nominee is bringing his one-man show, "Lieutenant Governor of the State of Confusion" to Sacramento's Crest Theatre on May 8.

Durst, one of the country's best-known political humorists, has been compared to Will Rogers, Mort Sahl and Dick Gregory. Described as a "bipartisan basher," Durst seems to leave no stone unturned in exploring the political landscape for nuggets of humor, often of the "I can't believe they did that" variety.

"Sacramento is a 'company town' and I speak of 'company' business," he said.

Though Durst lives in one of the state's most liberal cities, San Francisco, he doesn't limit his material to state politics.

"I am almost done 'de-Bushing' my act," he said. "There are a few vestigial shadows that pop up in my act but it is mostly reformed. It has only taken about 16 months."

We wanted to know if it was easier or harder now that Obama and the Democrats are in office.

"It's a little harder," Durst said. "I have to admit that even though I am an equal-opportunity basher, I probably align a little more strongly with Obama. It's easier to take out Bush and his ilk because their statements are such 'black and white' and they couch things in terms of 'good and evil.' Whereas liberals ... even the term 'liberal' means "accepting of other viewpoints" .. deal in shades of gray, so it is harder to nail them down on a ridiculous statement."

"Fortunately, we still have the 'Tea Party-ers,' or 'Tea Baggers,' and the Republicans saying that 'all government is bad' and 'all government is wrong' and ironically, they are their own best argument."

Rush Limbaugh came up as the antithesis to what Durst was doing. Having been a commentator on TV and radio, wasn't he the 'liberal voice' that would offset Limbaugh?

"I am kind of the hybrid. I am the social liberal but economic conservative that seems to be all the rage these days. It's hard to be a moderate because you tend to piss off both sides. You piss off the liberals when you pick on them and the conservatives can't abide one bad thing said about them before they start flipping out. So you are taken under the wing of nobody."

One thing Durst is, is well read. When asked how he keeps up to date, he responded with a list of newspapers, magazines and TV news shows that he follows every day. It makes you wonder when he has time to write, for Durst is a prolific writer and columnist.

"I watch CNN, MSNBC, sometimes I'll turn on Fox News, I read the (San Francisco) Chronicle, New York Times, USA Today, I subscribe to the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal. I read NewsWeek, MacWorld, The Economist, and Progressive magazine, which I write a column for every other week."

How do you not make the audience feel dumb or uninformed for either not knowing about or allowing the stupid stuff that is going on?

"I realize that the common person has a job, a family and, hopefully, some hobbies. They just don't have a lot of time to read like I do. I like to say on stage that 'I watch the national news so you don't have to.' I know some political comics like me who are 'lefty-commie-pinko-yellow-red-bastards' that will yell at their audience if they aren't aware of a story on Page 16 of The New York Times, of the front section, below the fold. You can't yell at the audience for that. It is your job to give it to them so they can understand it. I try to couch it in terms that they will understand it as fast as possible. I make sure that the punchline for the previous joke is a setup for the next joke."

Otto von Bismarck was quoted as saying "Laws and sausage are two things you do not want to see being made. ... The making of laws, like the making of sausages, is not a pretty sight." For more than a year, Durst shared a radio microphone with the consummate sausage maker himself; Willie Brown. What was that like?

"What Willie is all about is the politics of the possible. Willie was the ultimate facilitator, conciliator, liaison and go-between guy. He forged compromises, probably sometimes used a heavy hand and other times, a velvet glove. But he was all about the possible. That's how, even with a Republican majority in the California Legislature, he was still renominated as the speaker of the House."

So, what is your opinion of the Tea Party movement?

"You mean the rabid, old white people? A study was done and showed that the movement was made up of old, rich white guys. Who knew? And there doesn't seem to be anyone in charge, except maybe for the unfortunately named Dick Armey, who seems to have assembled one."

What does the future hold for you?

"The future is good for me. There will never be a dearth of political comedy. I have 535 writers that work for me. That's how many members of Congress there are," he said, sensing that I didn't understand the reference.

Durst "quit his day job" in April 1981, when he got a lucrative gig at Laughs Unlimited in Old Sacramento. It has been nothing but sky since then.

For tickets, visit www.thecrest.com.

If you enjoyed this interview and would like to have all of the SacramentoComedy.Com features, interviews, news and reviews delivered to your iPhone, download the SacComedy App at iTunes.

-The Comedy Guy

Steven Bloom is the founder of SacramentoComedy.Com, the Official Guide to Sacramento Comedy. This website is dedicated to comedian interviews, comedian bios, videos and consolidating all of the Sacramento comedy events to a single comedy calendar site. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com

Jennifer Coolidge is Sexy Funny!

2010-04-20T02:28:23Z

A SacramentoComedy.Com Interview

Jennifer Coolidge is beautiful. Whether you wish she was your best friend's mother, your manicurist/advocate, your messed-up friend or just your date for the evening depends not only your age, but what movie or TV show you saw her in last.

Coolidge, who has been a leading character actress for more than 20, years is tackling a new segment of her creativity – that of a stand-up comedian.

We met in the green room at Tommy T's Comedy Club in Rancho Cordova before her final show for the weekend. Looking just like I and a million other boys and men imagined her a decade ago when she played Stifler's mom in the ‘American Pie’ movies, Coolidge is a striking beauty.

One of the things that became apparent within the first minutes of our conversation is that Coolidge, for all of her fame, is very down-to-earth and gracious. And funny. When her co-star, Jason Dudey, phoned their agent before the show and got voice mail, Coolidge took the phone and, with an impish grin and in her best diva voice, began to complain that someone threw out her fancy coffee drink and she insisted that she wasn't going to be able to go on without it.

What made you decide to become a comedic actress?

"I was trying to do the dramatic thing early on in acting class but no one was responding to that. The minute I took the comedy route, it seemed to take off."

"I used to imitate everyone in my acting classes, and there was a girl that would cry doing every scene. It didn't matter that the scene didn't call for crying, she would cry nonetheless. One of my friends, an actor named John, saw me do my imitation of her and announced that he thought I was in the wrong class and took me to Gotham City Improv in New York City to audition.

"When I started out, I wasn't very good. In improv class you had to do "space work," and all I could think of to do was to stir a pot, no matter what the scene was. ‘Yeah, the golfing was good today…’ (Coolidge stirred her imaginary pot)."

Didn't you also perform with the Groundlings Improv group in Los Angeles?

"I was in that group (Gotham City Improv) for about a year, then I went to Los Angeles for a vacation and visited the L.A. Groundlings. I happened to catch Julia Sweeny, Kathy Griffin and a number of incredibly talented people in a show that week, and the weird thing was that the women happened to dominate this show. I had never seen that before," she said incredulously. "It just blew me away!

"Now I had seen Catherine O'Hara on SCTV and Gilda Ratner on SNL, but this was live. I was only two feet away from them and somehow seeing girls live, being better than the guys, changed my life.

"The Groundlings were great, and I was there with Kathy Griffin, Lisa Kudrow, Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, Will Forte, Ana Gasteyer (and) Cheri Oteri. It was an incredible group of people!”

Because the Groundlings is considered the “Harvard” of improv, this is where Lorne Michaels came to recruit new members for NBC’s ‘Saturday Night Live’ in the mid-’90s. Though many of her troupe-mates were cast in SNL, Coolidge, unfortunately, was not. “What was that like?” we asked.

“He (Michaels) flew a lot of us in for the audition, and I had one of the best auditions of my life. But, for whatever reason, Loren didn’t choose me, and I went back with my tail between my legs,” she recalled. “I felt that because ‘Saturday Night Live’ didn’t want me, Even though I had already done an episode of ‘Seinfeld,’ I felt wasn’t going to amount to much career-wise. I had resigned myself to that when, shortly after that, Christopher Guest was in the audience. He was looking for people for his movie ‘Best In Show.’ I think that when I resigned myself to just being myself I became more attractive to the opportunities around me. Then the good things started happening.”

How is your stand-up comedy career going?

“I’m really enjoying myself,” she said, smiling. “I am still developing my act and persona on stage. I tell (true) stories about my life which are funny, but I am never sure if the people have come to see Paulette from the ‘Legally Blonde’ movies or the MILF from the ‘American Pie’ movies. I am still exploring how far I can go outside of those preconceived stereotypes in my act without offending anyone while developing myself as Jennifer Coolidge – Stand-Up Comedian.”

At this point, it was time for me to get a picture with Jennifer so she could get on stage and share herself with the crowd. As I watched her go, all I could think of was how I just got to put my arm around Stifler’s mom. My life is now complete!

The Comedy Guy

Steven Bloom is the founder of SacramentoComedy.Com, the Official Guide to Sacramento Comedy. This website is dedicated to comedian interviews, comedian bios, videos and consolidating all of the Sacramento comedy events to a single calendar site. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com

Laughter - The Breast Medicine!

2010-04-07T00:59:48Z

A SacramentoComedy.Com Interview

What do you call four male comics packed into a pink van, touring the country for four months performing stand-up comedy and raising funds and awareness for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure?

I guess you could say that we are just "boobs for boobs," laughed Brendan T. Gleason, one of the four comics coming to the Sacramento Punchline April 14. "We thought about naming the tour that, but decided that the subject deserved a little more serious demeanor."

Gleason, Law Smith, Nick Hoff and pretty pink van owner Kevin Richards are on the last legs of this 57-show tour. After Sacramento (performance No. 55), there are two performances in Fresno, and then the tour is complete.

"It will be a nice sense of accomplishment to finally present the check to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure when we get done," Gleason said.

The troupe is donating 30 percent of its earnings to Komen for the Cure and had promised a guaranteed minimum of $10,000. "We are well over that now at about $16,000 to date," Gleason said.

Gleason also said that all of the performers are looking forward to some relaxation time after more than three months on the road.

"This is our second tour together. We performed a 43-performance tour last spring," Gleason explained when asked if traveling in such close quarters tended to put a strain on their relationships. "Luckily, the four of us are good enough friends to get over our disagreements quickly.”

"Our comic outlooks and styles might be very different on stage, but we are very similar in temperament. Plus, Nick's wife is traveling with us on this tour, so we have to behave ourselves!"

What prompted the four guys (and a gal) to paint up a van and take up this noble cause? Had breast cancer touched the members?

"Law, Nick and I are all comics from the Los Angeles area, and we met performing at the same venues. Nick met Kevin at the Seattle Comedy Festival and became fast friends. So, when we went looking for the fourth for last year’s Walk of Shame tour, we immediately turned to Nick. Plus, he had the van!" Gleason said.

"After our tour last year, we just decided to do it again and see if we could do something to help someone else along the way. Breast cancer can strike at any age, and the women who come to our shows generally don't get checked. Awareness is extremely important, and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure was a perfect fit," Gleason said.

The irony of it all is that Richard's mom was bragging to her doctor about the wonderful things her son was doing with the Pink Ribbon Tour when the doctor persuaded her to have a mammogram of her own. The results came back positive that she has had breast cancer for up to five years and was immediately referred for treatment. She is in remission now, and the comics, performing in Seattle over the Easter weekend, got to spend some time with her.

"This is the awareness that we hope comes from our tour,” Gleason said. “We want everyone to laugh and have a great time but walk away knowing that knowledge helps in catching this disease early while it can be treated.

"Every single show has been fantastic, and people have left loving the show and loving the night. That's all we can ask for: that whoever shows up gets the best show we can do. We are proud to have done it every single time out."

What's next for the merry men?

"Well, Kevin is going to take the tour bus back to Seattle after dropping us off, and we all have some feature work lined up after a week or two of rest,” Gleason said. “Nick is going to take six months with his wife and tour the country doing comedy. The four of us are planning on meeting up in certain cities at the same time so we can do some shows for the local Komen for the Cure offices in Boise and Aspen in the next couple months."

Click here for reservations and to buy tickets.

If you can't make it to the show, you can donate directly to the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The Comedy Guy

Steven Bloom is the founder of SacramentoComedy.Com, the Official Guide to Sacramento Comedy. This website is dedicated to interviews, comedian bios, videos and consolidating all of the Sacramento comedy events to a single calendar site. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com

Darren Carter - That Ginger's Crazy!

2010-03-26T04:07:48Z

An American Comedy.Com Interview

When you meet Darren Carter for the first time, you notice that there is something different about him. Your eyes focus on his short red hair and his engaging smile, and then it hits you. This man looks happy!

I was fortunate enough to meet up with Darren recently for breakfast, having just completing one of his many radio interviews to promote his weekend show at Pepperbellys Comedy Theater in Fairfield, Calif. It's just not natural for a comedian to be awake before noon, but for the next three and a half hours, Carter and comedian David Lew recited story after story about life on the road.

Carter, a freckle-faced, red-headed, pasty-skinned youngster, was raised in a predominately Latino area of Fresno, Calif. As he points out in his act, put a pair of dark rimmed glasses on the redhead, and he was quickly dubbed "the Rooster," and the name followed him throughout his childhood. It was there that Carter learned to rap, break dance and use comedy as his method of acceptance into the neighborhood. He knew early on that intimidation just wasn't going to work! "Hey homie, whatcha gonna do, peck me to death?"

He also knew that making people laugh was what he was meant to do. "I gave a humorous speech in my speech and debate class in school and got so many laughs, it gave me goose bumps! I am very lucky that I have never had to get a 'real' job since then."

"In the early days, living in San Jose, Calif., and doing as many shows as possible, I would gauge my level of success based on how many roommates I would have. I started off with four roommates, and then the next year I was down to only three. That alone meant that I was becoming more successful."

However, things seem to going in the opposite direction lately. After Carter got successful enough to live without roommates, he fell in love, married and now has a 2-year-old son.

"I met my wife at the Improv in Hollywood. She was sitting in the back of the room where the comics sit, and she waved like she knew me. We exchanged some witty banter, well, at least I thought I was witty, and though she was only visiting southern California, we dated for only 10 months and then got married. We will be celebrating our 13th anniversary this summer!"

"We were a little nervous when my wife got pregnant. I am a redhead, and my wife is Armenian. We were afraid that the baby would come out angry with an orange unibrow!" Carter joked."

For the last 20 years, Carter has been constantly working on the road, on television and at the movies. His credits include "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," a featured role with John Travolta in the movie "Be Cool," his own Showtime Comedy Special and hundreds of headlining gigs at comedy clubs, theaters and college campuses throughout the country.

Carter's uniqueness is personified by the fact that he is one of the only comics performing today with his very own theme song.

"It's awesome, man! There's a rapper, Big Fluff Nickolantern who has been of fan of my comedy since he was in eighth grade. He found me through MySpace and wrote this song about me and my comedy. It's phenomenal! I have used it for my CD and Showtime specials."

Carter's vocal range is extensive and a mainstay of his high-energy show. Whether impersonating his Latino "homies" or doing his urban rendition of "I like my women like I like..." routine, he is silly, fun and irreverent. Known for his 'spot-on' imitation of Snoop Dogg, he attracted the attention of Snoop's family members and was invited to perform at their annual family reunion for four years running.

Another perk of his vocal capabilities was doing the voice of "Useless Dave" and four other characters on extreme sport idol Tony Hawk's popular video game "American Wasteland" in 2005.

"I have never actually heard it, though. I am not very good at video games, and my characters don't appear until the more advanced levels!"

Crisscrossing the country, always being on the road gets lonely for many comics, but not Carter.

“I use Twitter extensively. I take pictures of things I see in my travels that appear funny to me and post them for my fans.”

If you are not already following him, you can start by going to Twitter.com/DarrenCarter.

"In the old days, you tended to get lonely when you were working on the road. This way, I am able to keep a conversation going with my fans, and besides, I am always seeing things that I think are funny, and I just want to share them."

When I asked him about his current projects, Carter was excited that his newest CD, called "That Ginger's Crazy!," is now available on iTunes and CDBaby. It is 26 hilarious tracks of pure Carter madness.

Check him out at his website, DarrenCarter.Com, and get to one of his shows. Trust me, that ginger's crazy!

The Comedy Guy

Suzanne Westenhoefer - Funny AND Lesbian

2010-03-15T01:56:37Z

"Does sexuality matter in the comedy business?" I asked Suzanne Westenhoefer, who has been credited as the first lesbian comic to come "out" in mainstream comedy.

"I started my career as a lesbian before I was a comic," she said, "and started as an activist before I was a lesbian. I was one of those people in high school who would get into arguments with the sociology teacher and stand up for the 'misfits,' of which I was one of." Making a stand was what seemed to drive her forward.

Westenhoefer did not always identify as a lesbian, however. Early on she felt that she was out of the mainstream but it didn't occur to her that she was gay until she was 19. "It was such a shock when it occurred to me, and then I thought, 'Oh! Totally awesome!' and that led to 'Oh, my God, I'm gay and we're not equal to other people! Where's the protest marches?'"

After college, Westenhoefer went to New York to pursue an acting career. "Did you always want to be an actress?" we wanted to know.

"I never wanted to be anything else. Ask my mother or my sisters and they will tell you that. I went from walking and talking to wanting to be an entertainer. I was that kid that would sing a song or do something funny at family gatherings. I remember early on performing and getting really positive responses." She added, "I have always wanted to sing and act and tell jokes and be the center of attention for as long as I can remember."

As strong as the "entertainer" urge was, it wasn't clear to her that comedy would be how it would manifest. "My mom knew, however. She just recently pointed out that as a child I would memorize bits and pieces of comedy albums like George Carlin, Lily Tomlin or Robert Klein and then I would add lines to their bits to make it 'more.' "

In 1990, Westenhoefer was in New York, tending bar, performing at some small comedy clubs and talking about being a lesbian in her act.

"The first time I ever got up on the comedy stage was July of 1990. I had entered a comedy contest and I was doing it openly queer and there was nobody doing it in any of the straight clubs at the time. I really thought I was bad ass."

Six months later, in January 1991, Westenhoefer was approached by the producers of the "Sally Jessie Raphael Show" to appear in a segment called "Lesbians Who Don't Look Like Lesbians," which in the early 90's was still a pretty shocking subject. Though she didn't do an act on the program, she was introduced as the first openly lesbian comic.

When it was pointed out that a title like that would never fly today, Westenhoefer responded, "We were breaking the stereotype back then so we weren't offended. Today, nobody would ever do it, but back then, we were saying, 'This is how we grow, this is how we change minds, this is OK." Westenhoefer continued, "It was historical. Look at us 19 years later, still talking about it."

After being introduced as the "openly lesbian comic," Westenhoefer was inundated with mail and requests from comedy clubs and talk shows. She appeared on shows such as "Geraldo" and "Ricki Lake."

"Today, it wouldn't be much of a story, but again, 19 years ago it was insanity that someone would say that they're gay, joke about it, laugh about it and say, 'Too bad for you that you're not. That's why I am so special.' "

"Is your act directed toward the gay and lesbian community," we asked.

"Not at all," Westenhoefer she answered. "If a Caucasian watches a black comedian like Chris Rock, we can still laugh our asses off even though his jokes talk about life as a black man. A black person may identify with the joke premise, but it is still universally funny."

We asked her if she thought society was coming closer to a sexuality-neutral world.

"Equality is going at a snail's pace. It is for the blacks, Asians and other minorities but being a 'straight white male' is still the accepted norm in this country and still the ruler. Nowhere in the world is there a perfect gender or color equality. We still are fallible human beings that are scared of things that are not like us." But Westenhoefer said she does see signs of change especially in the realm of religion. "Even though the church tends to propagate an 'us and them' stance, I do shows all over the country attended by hundreds of gays, where after the show, they hug and tell each other, 'See you at church tomorrow.' So there are some changes being made."

Westenhoefer was asked how she felt when Ellen Degeneres "came out" and why everyone thought it was such a controversial move when Westenhoefer had done it so many years before.

"The path we took was very different. Ellen's coming out was much more of a risk as she already had a very successful career that was at stake when she announced that she was gay. Comics like Kate Clinton and I did the 'scary, brave thing' by telling everyone in the beginning of our career, but we didn't risk an established career and power base. We didn't put anyone's job on the line. What Kate and I did allowed Ellen to do what she did, which allowed Rosie [O'Donnell] and so many others, which ultimately led to Wanda Sykes getting her own show without much fanfare."

Westenhoefer married her longtime partner, Jennifer Houston, in California in 2008 and includes her in much of her act onstage. We wondered if that bothered Houston.

"Anyone who knows me as intimately as she does absolutely has to know that there is no assumption of privacy," she said with a laugh.

"I think if you are going to be involved in my life, especially at that level, it doesn't take much to know that you have no privacy. So, those that are close to me, including my family and friends, aren't afraid that I would say something totally inappropriate. The only ones close to me that would have a right to protest would be my family and my first partner during the first year because they didn't know that this was a possibility early on."

Westenhoefer will appear March 19 at 8 p.m. at the Center for Spiritual Awareness, 1275 Starboard Road, West Sacramento. For more information, call 916-374-9177.

The Comedy Guy

Steven Bloom is the founder of SacramentoComedy.Com, the Official Guide to Sacramento Comedy. This website is dedicated to interviews, comedian bios, videos and consolidating all of the Sacramento comedy events to a single site. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com

Dat Phan - From Homeless to Headliner

2010-03-11T06:03:22Z

A SacramentoComedy.Com Interview

From homeless to headliner, Dat Phan knows what it means to work hard to achieve your goals. His story is another "American dream" come true for someone willing to put it all out there.

Phan, the youngest of 10 kids, started in Saigon, Vietnam, and landed in the ghettos of San Diego with his mother. There were times when they slept on bus benches.

"I credit my mom for keeping me out of gangs as a child,” Phan said. “My babysitter was Cox Cable, and it kept me off the streets."

It was during this period that he was inspired by the celebrities he watched on TV.

"It was during the time that Michael Jackson was still black and awesome!"

This all was happening as the ghetto violence surged around him, and it propelled him to get out by any means and not look back.

"When you grow up poor, you have to either work really hard to try and get where you want to be, or you'll just stay put," he said.

Even though Phan took a drama class while in high school, he admits to being shy and introverted until after he graduated and enrolled in Grossmont Junior College in San Diego. After leaving school at 21, he decided to make his mark in the comedy world.

For the next seven years, Phan worked tirelessly at his trade as a starving artist, driving from one gig to the next, taking odd jobs, (he was once robbed at gunpoint while working as a doorman at the Improv in Irvine, Calif.), sleeping in his car or on friends’ couches.

All that time, he was working on his writing, graphing and charting each sentence and keeping his notebook with him because, as he said, "I was too poor for a laptop, and the notebook was all I had."

"I'm still am very obsessed with my techniques as I am writing my material. I analyze where the beats are, the wording and how many syllables," he continued. "Movies are never done without storyboards, timelines, formulas and equations. They are engineered for success. James Cameron didn't make Avatar without a plan!"

In 2003, while no longer homeless, but renting a space so small that there was only room to sleep under his desk, he continued to pursue any opportunity that presented itself.

While living on cheap ramen and generic Red Bull, Phan scraped together enough money to send a demo in to NBC for an experimental reality show they were looking at. That experiment was the inauguration of "Last Comic Standing."

After auditioning in person, he was chosen by the talent scouts for "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" to be a part of the show, beating 2,000 other comics.

On the show, his obsession with verbal technique brought him ridicule from other comedians, as the nation watched more experienced comics like Ralphie May, Rich Vos and Dave Mordal verbally abuse and taunt Phan for his inexperience and his "Zen-like" approach to comedy.

Through it all, Phan kept his cool, and his technique proved them all wrong as he took the top prize in the show, beating each one of them week by week until he was crowned "Last Comic Standing."

"Was the meanness depicted on the show accurate?” we wondered.

"If you are going to throw a steak (development deal), into the middle of a pack of wolves (comics) that are hungry, you are going to turn a lot of comedians into animals,” Phan said. “Stick all of them all in the same cage (house) for a month, and you get the madness that is a reality show."

With the national primetime exposure the show provided, Phan landed a part in the Kim Basinger movie, "Cellular," did voiceover work for "Family Guy" and began touring the country.

"That's my movie claim to fame right now. Five minutes as the only Asian character in a movie full of Caucasians!"

Phan went on to be named by the Smithsonian as one of the "Top Ten Most Influential Vietnamese-Americans" and frequently assists Stanford University's The Jade River Campaign, which provides research and assistance to Asian victims of hepatitis B and liver cancer. Phan's mother suffers from a form of the disease.

"How's life today?" we asked.

"Well, I am in a relationship now so my life is a lot more boring than before,” Phan replied. “I used to be the guy out on the hunt for girls – now I just hunt for Girl Scout cookies. How does it define you when you are trolling supermarkets for Girl Scouts like you are looking for your crack cocaine dealer?"

“Do you know ‘Flight of the Conchords?’ ” he responded when asked about his next projects. "I am trying to add the guitar to my act to accent the Asian material that I do."

Going back to his technical and perfectionist outlook, Phan said, "If you look at music theory and comedy theory, they have a tendency to contradict each other on beats, counts and callbacks. Because of this, I am working with a team of people to get this right. It's fun, and it has refreshed my enthusiasm for writing comedy as well."

Will he be performing music at this Sacramento appearance?

"Not this time,” Phan said. “It just isn't ready. I will, however, be slipping in some new comedy material. I am constantly trying to keep my act fresh."

Phan has a DVD he recently released called "Dat Phan Live" and his first R-rated CD called "You Touch, You Buy!" Both are available on Phan's website: www.DatPhan.Com.

Dat Phan will be appearing at the Sacramento Punchline this week, from Thursday through Sunday for five shows.

The Comedy Guy

Steven Bloom (a.k.a. The Comedy Guy) is the founder of SacramentoComedy.Com, the Official Guide to Sacramento Comedy. This Sacramento comedy website is dedicated to interviews, comedian bios, videos and consolidating all of the Sacramento comedy events to a single site. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com

Paula Poundstone - Simply Brilliant!

2010-03-08T09:20:11Z

Paula Poundstone is funny, smart, quick and has a profound friendliness about her.

A steady flow of excited audience members streamed through the doors of the beautiful Crest Theater Saturday night to see Poundstone perform, filling the theater to it's maximum capacity. All walks of life and lifestyles seemed to be well-represented, making it clear that she has a very broad appeal.

It became apparent just how much anticipation the audience had for this night when General Manager Sid Garcia-Heberger came onstage and asked that all cell phones be turned off for the performance and the crowd applauded. How could Poundstone follow that? Simple. She just jumped right in.

"So, were you all clapping because you hate cell phones in general?" she queried as her opening line. This was to be the first of many times that she reached out to the collective and individual audience members to pose a question and then another and then a follow-up until everyone realized that this is Poundstone doing what she does best, incorporating the audience into her act.

The honesty that she shared with her audience when she said things like, "I really don't like sex," or, "I am OCD, and I can't stop talking. Luckily, I found a job where that works to my advantage!" made audience member feel like she wants to know more about them.

That opinion was strongest while watching her stay in the lobby for more than an hour after her performance to sign her book and CDs, pose for pictures and greet each and every person with, "Hey! How ya doing?" It felt like she really wanted to know.

During the almost three-hour show, (including a 20-minute intermission), Poundstone's famous ability of ad-libbing with the audience amounted to about a third of her show, while the rest of her material was topical and fresh. She had no hard-and-fast roadmap for the night, but the destination definitely wasn't as important as the wonderful meandering means of getting there.

Poundstone covered so many topics, often segueing them right from her conversations with the audience, that no one ever knew what was coming next. She started with a few digs about Sacramento politics and referenced her earlier days when she performed comedy at the historical Laughs Unlimited in Old Sac (the term "sac" was discussed at length with all of the testosterone-laden references intact), She also discussed her three children and the uniqueness of each of them, the F-word, health care, CNN and more.

During her audience participation segments, Poundstone was able to find, at random, a state worker who writes regulations and proposals, a professor who teaches writing at UC Davis to artists and the business manager of a local magazine (from whence the "Sac" references were born). Each one provided unintentional fodder for Poundstone's quick wit and unique interrogation skills.

At times she resembled a parent dragging information from a child. "And then what happened?" she asked, followed by, "What made you do that?" and finally, "What were you thinking as you were making that decision?"

Each question usually dragged out less-than-voluntarily, elicited laughter from those in the crowd and a secret desire that she not turn her laser-focused questions on them. However, the "business manager," the "state regulations writer" and "Dr. Andy" will forever be included in the audience's recollections of this performance

So captivated and in-tune was the audience that when an intermission was announced, one audience member felt so comfortable that she shouted out that Poundstone "ought to join us in the lobby." Surprisingly, she did just that. This led many to wonder whether they were watching Poundstone perform her act or if she just having an intimate conversation with them.

A special acknowledgment goes to Garcia-Hedberger and The Crest Theater for continuing to bring big-name comedy to Sacramento. In the last six months, The Crest has been the venue of choice for Lisa Lampinelli, Bob Saget and the locally produced Coexist? Comedy Tour. Continuing that trend, it was announced that San Francisco-based political humorist Will Durst will be appearing May 8.

Steven Bloom is the founder of SacramentoComedy.Com, the Official Guide to Sacramento Comedy. This website is dedicated to interviews, comedian bios, videos and consolidating all of the Sacramento comedy events to a single site. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com

Doug Stanhope - Rogue Comic Appearing at Marilyn's on K

2010-03-05T03:44:01Z

A Sacramento Comedy.Com Interview

Getting to the essence of veteran comedian Doug Stanhope is both easy and difficult at the same time. He's so simple, yet so complex. Because of that, he is also completely controversial. Actually, to say that Stanhope is "controversial " is a vast understatement.

Many people only know Stanhope through his short-lived hosting of "The Man Show" with Joe Rogan and his participation in the late-night, titillating "Girls Gone Wild" infomercials, which he said was only for the money.

Stanhope's true fans know him as an outspoken, uncensored, honest and libertarian comic who looks at the world and questions aloud how we have turned a blind eye to how we are manipulated on a daily basis by the government and the media.

When Sacramentocomedy.com spoke to Stanhope by phone, he was home at his small two-bedroom house in the teeming metropolis of Bizbee, Ariz., with a population of maybe 6,000 people, hanging out with his dogs and his long-term girlfriend "Bingo." Don't make the mistake of calling their relationship a marriage, Stanhope tells the world, ’cause "why would anyone would want to invite the government to share in the blessed union?

"If you could invent marriage today, would you say, 'Hey, let's invite the government to get involved!' or not?" he mused in one of his libertarian rants.

We asked Stanhope, who is appearing at Marilyn's on K March 12, why he is performing at such a small venue when he can draw a much larger crowd anywhere.

"Many comedy club audiences are like seat fillers for ‘Dancing With The Stars.’ They are both benign and banal. You might as well do comedy for your pets. My audience is a giant 'sausage festival' with would-be school shooters. That's why rock-and-roll clubs are fun. They allow for a kind of chaos and an audience that doesn't just sit with hands folded with a tablecloth and a candle. It feels real and alive."

So against the status quo, he has become both a curmudgeon and a contrarian. His anger took root in 2008 by planning to run for President under the Libertarian Party though he later decided against it and gave his support first to Libertarian candidate Ron Paul and then finally to Barack Obama.

"I would have had to count the income from all my appearances as fundraising and the campaign rules are so complex that if I made one simple mistake, the cost in fees were outrageous! And, I am not smart enough to not make mistakes!"

His confessions of "I'm not really that bright" and "I experience periods of self-loathing" put him into a class of comic that is both brilliant and to any exploitative, commercial or corporate type with a need to control him, a bomb just waiting to go off.

Stanhope, who began performing standup in Las Vegas in 1990, said that it has been an adventure. Starting as a "road comic" going from one gig to another fueled by drugs and booze, often sleeping in the car, propelled him forward.

Through the trek, we asked him how prevalent the drugs and alcohol were then and now.

"Honestly, alcohol is the Abbott to my Costello," he responded. It was reported that in 2006 he took ecstasy on opening night at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, that was handed to him by a member of the audience. He got rave, 5-star reviews.

Fans love him for his edgy, outspoken rants. So edgy in fact, Stanhope was booed off a stage in Ireland after stating that "Irish women were too ugly to rape," and in the United Kingdom for making derogatory statements about the Royal Family. The British GQ Magazine wrote an eight-page feature asking the question: "Is This America's Most Depraved Man?"

Though Stanhope eschews rehearsed, memorized and overly produced comedy passed off as spontaneous, he has done Showtime and Comedy Central specials, has appearances on stage and TV, produced numerous successful CDs and DVDs and appeared the comedy documentary, "The Aristocrats," where he held a young child and proceeded to tell one of the dirtiest industry jokes.

Love him or hate him, Stanhope is going to bring it March 12th to Marilyn's on K, 908 K St., Sacramento, CA 95814 at 7:00 PM. You can get more information or buy tickets (it is expected to sell out early) by clicking here.

The Comedy Guy

Steven Bloom is the founder of SacramentoComedy.Com, the Official Guide to Sacramento Comedy. This website is dedicated to interviews, comedian bios, videos and consolidating all of the Sacramento comedy events to a single site. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com

Bill Engvall - Slam Dunks Arco Arena

2010-03-01T06:52:30Z

The Sacramento Kings could take a lesson from comedian Bill Engvall on how to fill Arco Arena. Be funny. Not just funny, but really funny. In that regard, Engvall was an MVP on Saturday.

Engvall, best known for his partnership with Ron White, Larry The Cable Guy and Jeff Foxworthy in the "Blue Collar Comedy" tour, showed off his vast comic chops in his solo, almost sold-out show. Watching the seats fill up, Engvall's mass appeal was obvious. The demographics ranged from grandparents to grandkids, with every stage in between represented. So, it was no surprise that Engvall's most offensive term was "douche bag," used it to describe one of his very famous "Here's your sign" victims. The phrase refers to people who ask really stupid questions.

Engvall, who had no warm-up act, strode onto the stage in a Sacramento Kings jersey and began 90 minutes of storytelling. Each story contained enough jokes and observations to keep the show moving. His stories included a man at the airport caught with a rock, a copper wire and a wad of gum stored where no one wants to search; why reaching the age of 80 means you no longer have to filter what you say, (you just don't care); and the exploits of his 53-year-old buddy dating a hot 24-year-old and the obvious humor (and physical pain) associated with that.

I could relate to most of his material. Engvall spent a lot of time talking about his marriage of 27 years to wife Gail and the obvious differences in the way males and females approach life. Some of the issues included vacations, renaissance faires and one that elicited a jab in the ribs from my wife, taking a walk. Throughout it all, Engvall never missed an opportunity to tell the crowd how much he loves his wife and family.

The evening was enjoyable but as this was my first time at a comedy show at Arco, I had a few observations. First, $12 to park my car to attend? What are my alternatives? The second was that, as I am used to watching comedians in a more intimate club setting, I had hoped that there would be cameras and JumboTrons so I could see Engvall's facial expressions as he hit his punchlines. That would have made the crowd feel more a part of the live aspect. On a positive note, the sound was perfect and the seats were comfortable.

Engvall, after genuinely thanking the crowd for coming, announced at the end of his show that he had just signed a deal to host a TV game show and will be going back on tour with Foxworthy and Larry The Cable Guy soon. That elicited a cheer from the crowd reminiscent of a slam dunk at a Kings game.

The Comedy Guy

Steven Bloom is the founder of SacramentoComedy.Com, the Official Guide to Sacramento Comedy. This web site is dedicated to interviews, comedian bios, videos and consolidatiing all of the Sacramento comedy events to a single site. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com

Mitch Fatel: Women Are Magical Creatures!

2010-02-25T03:46:54Z

A SacramentoComedy.Com Interview

When Mitch Fatel was growing up, it seemed that there were only two things he wanted to do: explore the magic of women and make people laugh. He seems to be doing just fine on both counts!

SacramentoComedy.Com caught up with Fatel by phone while he was on a recent layover returning from a very successful series of shows at the Tempe Improv.

Fatel, when asked about living on the East Coast, commented that he felt silly telling people that he lives in New York because he's traveling more than 46 weeks this year. "I spend less time in New York than I do anywhere else."

Fatel started doing stand-up at the age of 15. He joined a comedy class for adults that his mother had to convince them to let him audition for. It is rumored that he used to have his parents drive him to gigs and he would appear in his pajamas and tell the crowd that he had to get up early for school the next day. That lasted only two years before he had that inevitable "bad show." Fatel was "devastated" and didn't get back up on stage until he was 21.

During those nonperforming years, around 19 or 20 years old, Fatel began to work as an intern for Howard Stern. What must have seemed like a candy store to a hormonally charged man, it helped shape Fatel's craving for all things sexual.

"I was very young, and I didn't know much about the world then." When asked about his friendship with former Stern cast member "Stuttering" John Melendez, he said, "John and I were friends, and I got him an audition for the show on Stern. They liked him and he got the job"

The conversation inevitably moved to Fatel's characterization on stage as the innocent, lost boy/child who just wants women to share their soft breasts and gorgeous vaginas with him. Online and in person he propositions his (female) fans and asks them to please send naked pictures to him. For anyone who watches his YouTube clips knows, his show is filled with bits about women's bodies, sexual acts and, ultimately, being wanted.

When asked when he developed this stage persona, he replied, "I never really consider it anything I developed. As soon as I got on stage he was 'there.' Its just who I am. I think it is more really 'me' than the person off stage. I think that the person I am off stage has conformed to societal values and what you are supposed to do and how you are supposed to act, but the person on the stage is more the person that I really am deep inside."

Like most boys, Fatel developed his love for the softer sex at an early age.

"When I was a kid, I absolutely worshiped women. I thought they were magical creatures. My whole life was spent trying to get them to like me."

As sex is the singular theme to Fatel's show, it makes one wonder if this was always the case.

"When I got older and I had been doing this [act] for a while, I wrote other bits that had less to do with girls and vaginas. Ultimately, I felt that I was doing it for other people because the truth of the matter is what I do is very distinct. I wanted to stick to doing what I think is right, and it's what I like writing about. I think it's what every guy feels, and girls too. I always want to concentrate on that part."

When Fatel was asked about the difference between being a male "pig" verses being just a little "piggy," he said that that comparison was very telling. "I don't think women mind if you're a pig, it depends on where you are coming from. If it's a cute pig, it's likable. If it's gross, it looks disgusting. I think it looks disgusting. I think being a "piggy" is better than being a pig.

"How does being, as most women I have spoken to characterize you, 'such a cutie' help you in your sex life?" we wanted to know.

"I do see only one girl right now who I think it's going to work who lets me have sex with other women just as long as she is in the room and can participate. I think that is the greatest compromise I have ever had," Fatel said. "I think that is one concession that I don't have a problem making. She is a very special girl, and I plan on hanging on to her. She understands that, being a guy, you are attracted to other women, and she has no problem with it as long as she is a part of it. That is a great addition to my life."

After hearing the collective jealous groan from every man out there, Fatel went on to say that it wasn't always this "magical" before this girlfriend.

"It's always been harder to get the girl. It's easier to get the introduction, but once they start dating you then they get upset about the material once they are your girlfriend, and they don't like it when you make jokes about them onstage."

"But what about the groupies?" we inquired?

"Well, I don't get groupies like rock stars get groupies," he replied. "Rock star groupies just want to have sex all night. My groupies just want to cuddle me all night and feed me soup, which is really OK as long as I can touch their breasts while they are doing it."

Career-wise, Fatel, continues to tour extensively and promote his latest DVD, "Mitch Fatel is Magical." When asked about other creative outlets, he replied that he is in the process of pitching some shows to some networks later this month.

"I have always had an interest in that, and I finally have an idea that I think will work for me. But the short answer is no. I got into this [business] to be a stand-up comic. I have wanted to do stand up since I was 5 years old. I have never really had any aspirations to do anything other than that. The only reason that I am interested in TV or movies is that it can further along my career. The art of stand up is a fantastic art, and it is something that gives me more pleasure than anything I have ever done, and as long as I can make a living at it, I feel very blessed."

We asked some of Fatel's fans on Facebook and Twitter to pose some questions of their own.

Fan Remy asked, "Knowing that you think small breasts have more personality, what constitutes small breasts to you?" She later commented that hers have plenty of personality, to which Fatel replied, "Anything that doesn't fit in my mouth makes it big."

Fan Stephanie, a local comedian, wanted to know which performers Fatel admires.

His reply was delivered quite passionately. "The people I admire are Jerry Seinfeld, still to this day, for being so good at what he does. Steve Martin was my original inspiration to do stand-up comedy when I was a kid. I was 6 or 7 when his albums came out, and I remember thinking that this guy is getting paid for acting goofy on stage, and I was always goofy in school and got in trouble. I thought that if I can act like him and get paid instead of getting in trouble, then that is what I wanted to do for a living. So, he was my original inspiration for doing stand-up comedy.

"From there, Howard Stern, David Letterman and Jake Johannsen were all very important parts of my upbringing. Sam Kinison and Gilbert Gottfried were new and unique comics that all had their own unique voices. They taught me that I could have my own voice as well. Now that I am older, it's funny that my favorite is so different from me. It's Brian Regan. He's my favorite because he is so opposite of what I am. I appreciate that. Also, to this day, I still listen to, respect and miss [the late] Mitch Hedberg."

Mitch Fatel will be performing live at the Punchline Comedy Club in Sacramento Feb. 25-28. At the Sunday show, SacramentoComedy.com will be hosting a group event that everyone is welcome to register for and attend.

The Comedy Guy

Paula Poundstone - Wait, Wait.. OK, Tell Me!

2010-02-14T01:38:12Z

A Sacramento Comedy.Com Interview

Steven Bloom, aka, The Comedy Guy, spoke with Paula by phone recently at her home in Santa Monica. Traveling almost every week of the year, the amazing part is that she was at home.

When asked if Poundstone enjoyed all of the extensive travel, she just replied that because she spends so little time at each location, that she calls herself, "a lazy traveler," and that she mostly works or sleeps in the hotel room. In the old days when she would perform at comedy clubs and be there four of five nights, Poundstone used to go exploring. She even reminisced about the Sacramento Railroad Museum when she performed at the historic Laughs Unlimited in Old Sac.

One of the more amazing facts about Poundstone is that she wrote her first book "There's Nothing In This Book That I Wanted To Say" long hand. With a pen. No computer. "It took me 8 years to write it that way." Poundstone is currently working on another book but using a computer for this one. "I am now writing on a computer but I can't tell you that it is going any faster" ".. and I am distracted by the computer!"

When asked about her use of social media to keep up with her fan base, (Poundstone is on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube), she replied "It's a tremendous amount of work and that is where half of my time is spent now. There has to be a way to finesse this where you do just enough that works and then you stop there, but I haven't been able to do that." When discussing Twitter, she commented that she prides herself that she has never tweeted that "I'm in the shower.."

Poundstone, who began her comedy career at 19 in Boston often jumped on a Greyhound bus in those early years to tour cities to see what their open mics were like. In the 80's she moved to San Francisco where she befriended and performed with Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg and the like. "One of my early road jobs was performing in Sacramento at Laughs Unlimited."

Paula excused herself from the interview and took a moment to help her oldest daughter with some questions. Poundstone is a single mother of three.

When we resumed the interview, it was pointed out that Poundstone is very much a trailblazer for women. First woman to win a Cable ACE award for her HBO Special, first woman to be invited to perform at the White House Correspondence Dinner, first time Harvard University ever allowed their name to be used in the title of a television show (her second one hour special for HBO, "Paula Poundstone Goes to Harvard") and it was quipped that she was the first person to ever be sent to Alcoholics Anonymous on television, a reference to her very public arrest in 2001 for child endangerment and misdemeanor child injury.

"I don't know if I was the first, but I certainly opened the floodgates to the televised "rehab" show which has made us all better in so many ways. How could it not?" she quipped. As public as this event was, Poundstone has never shied away from including those events in her large base of material that she draws from. She has incorporated it into her stand up, radio and television appearances (NPR and David Letterman) and has comparing these events with the trials and tribulations of other greats like Joan of Arc, Abraham Lincoln and Sitting Bull in her book. When asked if she still includes it in her act today, she says that "every now and then" but most of her material is what she is thinking about at the time when she is on stage. "My material is mostly autobiographical, but I tend to keep it mostly current," she explained. "At the time, I talked about it a lot but you move on just like you would if you were talking to a friend on the phone."

That brought up the fact that many people have commented that her act is like her having a conversation with a friend while she is on stage. When asked, she said that "I like it that way. On a good day when the stars are all aligned, it's like a really good cocktail party."

One thing that very few people know about Ms. Poundstone is that she has c0-authored not one, but three high school math textbooks with her old high school math teacher. "What was that like?" we asked.

"She kept complaining that I wasn't "timely" enough in her school-marmish way." she joked. She explained that originally, she was just going to write a few stories interspersed between some math problems but it got turned around until she was expected to write a story for each problem. "We did books for three levels; fifth [grade], sixth and seventh [grades] and eight and ninth [grades].

Poundstone is known as an avid reader, (she is the national spokesperson for the Friends of Libraries USA), so we asked her what she was currently reading. "Actually, for the first time in my life I am reading more than one thing at one time. I am reading "The Hobbit" with my daughter. We were almost done around Christmas break, then I found a book about (convicted financier) Bernie Madoff that trumped it. I am reading that now and I am stuck on the last 100 pages of "Guns, Germs and Steel" for almost five years now. I am also in the middle of an article on [Secretary of Defense] Robert Gates."

We asked Poundstone if she would mind answering some of her Sacramento fan's questions that were submitted on Twitter and Facebook prior to our interview, she graciously agreed.

A devoted Poundstone fan, Cinde Dolphin asked if she minded playing the straight man to Garrison Keillor on the show 'Prairie Home Companion" heard on Public Radio? "It is SO much fun! Garrison is a national treasure!" she proclaimed. "It is always a delight to be on that show."

Another fan, Kris Vera-Phillips wanted to know how you come up with the "predictions" on the NPR show "Wait, Wait.. Don't Tell Me?" Poundstone replied, "I am not great at that, or writing the "bluff story" which I belly ache about every time. My favorite parts are where you don't have to any preparation at all, other than I do read newspapers. Any time they ask a question and I get to just blurt my best [answer]. The more time they give me for preparation, the more it eats on the inside of my brain!"

When asked about her role as the national spokesperson for the Friends of Libraries (FOLUSA) she said that she enjoys raising awareness and raising funds about the importance of libraries and how contrary to popular belief that they are operated on public funds only.

Paula Poundstone will be appearing at The Crest Theater on Saturday March 6th. More information and tickets are available on The Crest Theater website at www.TheCrest.Com

The Comedy Guy

Steven Bloom is the founder of SacramentoComedy.Com, the Official Guide to Sacramento Comedy. This web site is dedicated to interviews, comedian bios, videos and consolidatiing all of the Sacramento comedy events calendar to a single site. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com

My Parachute Is A Bowling Ball!

2010-02-05T00:33:51Z

Whenever I hear descriptive terms like "good clean fun" or "fun for the entire family", and the word "Disneyland" isn't included in the sentence, in my mind I think "boring!" Put the words "comedy" and "competition" in the same sentence and I just think of a "Yo Mamma so fat..." argument on the asphalt. But not anymore!

Welcome to Sacramento Comedy Sportz, a very nice and intimate venue tucked away in an industrial area behind Arby's on Arden one driveway east of Howe. The sign, like the venue is small and tucked away, so if you weren't looking for it, you may only come across it when looking for carpet next door.

So, what makes this comedy venue so different? It's not comedy about sports, it's comedy played as a sport! Two teams compete for audience points and laughs by making up scenes based on audience suggestions. Fast action improv comedy similar to the hit show "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" No two shows are ever the same. The material is family friendly so all ages are welcome.

I had heard about "short form improv" before but other than watching (and enjoying, I might add) the above mentioned TV show, I doubted that the quick witted talent and fun loving energy could be translated to a live show in Sacramento. I was wrong.

From the moment the Referee (Chris "The Hottie" Crotty) came out in his stripped outfit complete with a whistle, duck call and timer around his neck instructing the audience on how to "warm up" their clapping skills, running down the rules and the fouls, I found myself responding as enthusiastically as any novice comedy first timer would, (in comparison to the jaded comedy snob that I've been told I've become), without feeling silly for shouting that I was one of "Tonight's Loyal fans!" at the top of my lungs.

The games are silly fun. I found myself rooting for the Red Team (they won, but just barely) and hoping that the ref would choose my shouted contribution to use in one of the "games." All eight team members and Crotty were quick, talented and were just cheesy enough to remind you that they were playing to entertain us but also were having fun doing it. On the sustained laugh meter, it was the equivalent of a 90 minute headliner show at the more traditional stand up comedy clubs in Sacramento.

So, if you think, like I once thought, that you can't have "good clean fun" or "fun for the entire family" without being boring, then you are surely mistaken. I encourage you to come out and watch them in action. I know you will be leaving wondering how one of the players got that he was skydiving with a bowling ball for a parachute while enjoying the sport with Abe Lincoln when all the cast members used for communication was their bodies and gibberish for vocal inflections.

Want to experience Sacramento Comedy Sportz as a group? Leave me a comment below or send and email to Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com and we will let you know when our group outing will be!

Sacramento Comedy Sportz is located at 2230 Arden Way, Suite A, Sacramento, CA. (Remember, behind Arby's). The shows are every Friday and Saturday night at 8 PM and tickets run from $8 - $12.

Lavell Crawford - The Biggest Comic Standing

2010-01-26T16:21:46Z

Lavell Crawford is one of the biggest comics standing. No, really. He's big!

I got a chance to talk to Crawford as he was preparing to leave his southern California home for a series of shows in Sacramento and the Bay Area.

Much of Crawford's act focuses on his childhood, his weight and about people's misconception of larger size people. "I just talk about the adversity and funny things about being a big guy." My mom was like a mother and father. She did a lot of funny things and a lot of contradictory things... I was a chunky kid and she would tell me that I couldn't fit into my school clothes but then told me I had to clean my plate! When I hurt my leg, she would give me a cookie instead of putting a bandaid on it."

But he insists that he works out and the doctors have given him a clean bill of health. "There is such thing as 'healthy fat'" he states.

Crawford, who has been performing for 20 years, began his career in St. Louis when a woman he knew would laugh hard at his jokes. "I told her that I was going to go on stage and make everyone laugh and she didn't believe me and outright dared me." Crawford promptly called 'The Funny Farm' and waited for over two months to get on the list. "I made a deal with God that if I make just one person laugh, then I am going to make this my career."

Well, God and the crowd both agreed that Crawford is a very funny man and that dare has led to a stellar career.

Over the last 20 years Crawford has amassed an enviable resume. Racking up multiple appearances on shows like; Def Comedy Jam and BET's Comic View in the early 90's, followed by Steve Harvey's Big Time and Jamie Foxx's Laffapalooza. He is also a regular on Chelsea Handler's E! television show, Chelsea Lately.

Then came the career boosting NBC's Last Comic Standing in 2005. Crawford finished in second place when he was narrowly beaten by Season 5 winner Jon Reep, from Hickory, North Carolina. When asked if it was hard to make the cross over from "urban" comedy where he got his start to the more tame routines required on Last Comic Standing, he replied that "laughter is universal" and explained that he just "talks about my problems and everyday things. People just listen to you more when you just talk to them."

"Having the global exposure of a show like Last Comic Standing also allowed me to have more control over my career. I don't have to work for a plate of chicken fingers anymore!"

What parts of the country does Crawford like to play? "Well, the south is great. New York is fast paced and I like that but I love coming to Sacramento and the bay area to perform. The Sacramento comedy scene is full of people that are real and come out to have fun and just have a good time and I like that."

You can see Lavell perform this week, January 28 - 31st at the Sacramento Punchline 2100 Arden Way, Sacramento, CA. Tickets are $20-$25. The show is open to anyone 18 or older.

Steven Bloom is the publisher of SacramentoComedy.Com, the Official Guide to Sacramento comedy. This web site is dedicated to interviews, comedian bios, videos and consolidatiing all of the Sacramento comedy events to a single site. You can send your questions directly to Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com

A Night with Michael McDonald

2009-11-21T19:16:31Z

Michael McDonald is a very funny man. And a great storyteller.Just ask the 1200+ people who came out to see him Thursday night at the Sacramento State UNIQUE event in the Grand Ballroom. It was standing room only!

Many people remember McDonald's signature character "Stuart," a strange little boy with the body of a full-grown man from his many years on "MADtv." Now McDonald is simply... well, Michael McDonald, a storyteller extraordinaire.

Right from the beginning, when "Last Comic Standing" alumni Jason Downs opened the show, everyone was ready to laugh. Downs, a San Francisco comic, delivered jokes about Sarah Silverman, a bong trade show in Las Vegas and masturbating in front of a laptop and racing to finish before the battery goes dead. All wonderful material for the college-age audience.

McDonald began by asking everyone to consider this evening we were sharing with him "like a date." Well, it wasn't an interactive date, but it was a very enjoyable evening listening to his stories.

The audience learned that McDonald and his roommates used to pull practical jokes on the pizza delivery guy. He told stories about the "Octomom" and his adventure with his physical therapist that ended up in a homophobic entanglement.

The crowning moment that the audience waited so patiently for: "Stuart" came out in a very funny story about how McDonald had to do numerous takes of a scene because, as the sound man insisted after the third attempt, "every time you flexed your leg, your knee cracking was picked up by the dialogue mics."

All told, it was an enjoyable evening of comedy. Not the rolling-on-the-floor-laughing kind that keeps you grasping for breath, but the fun of seeing a seasoned actor using his stories, his voice and his physicality to tell stories and make you laugh.

Was it a successful date? The laughter of the audience confirmed that it was.

I would also like to take this forum to personally acknowledge Zenia Diokno and her UNIQUE staff for putting on show after show of the highest quality - for free. So on behalf of all 1200+ people in attendance and those reading this... Thank You!

Steven Bloom is the founder of SacramentoComedy.Com, the Official Guide to Sacramento Comedy. This Web site is dedicated to interviews, comedian bios, videos and consolidating all of the Sacramento comedy events to a single site. You can send your questions directly to The Comedy Guy at Steven@SacramentoComedy.Com

Photos taken by Nallelie Vega

Hecklers - You Suck!

2009-10-12T18:25:45Z

This week's "Ask The Comedy Guy" question is:

"How does a comedian handle a heckler from the audience?"

Thank you for that question! As most of you know, The Comedy Guy is one of the most easy going people in Sacramento. But nothing gets my ire up like this behavior at a live comedy performance. So, if you read my angry hit piece; "The Things That I Hate" on the SacramentoComedy.Com website, then you know this is one of my personal vexations.

I came to see the professional comedian, not you, the drunk audience member wanting to be part of the act. Laugh, respond only when spoken to and keep your comments quietly to yourself. Unless you have a good 15 minutes of solid, well rehearsed, stand up material, you probably aren’t a better comedy writer than the guy or gal on stage.

When you are shot down or torn up by the person on stage, don’t think you are “adding great material to their act”. You aren’t. You are only showing everyone around you are a social misfit out on a day pass. I doubt that you shout out at the movie screen, (Rocky Horror Picture Show fans are an exception). I pay very good money to be entertained by the professional on the stage. Sit down and Shut The F*** Up!

Fortunately, (or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint), most experienced comedians have a pocket full of ways to handle hecklers.

First, ignore them. An occasional misappropriated comment from the audience might just be a slip in protocol. Next, they might nicely make a joke "Hey, I don't come and harass you at your job at Burger King" to call the offending party out. Finally, if the comic has the training and experience, they flat outright challenge the heckler, turning the crowd against them.

One of the funniest and least mean spirited example of this is by San Francisco comedian, Joe Klocek. He brought the heckler on stage and, well you can see the result by clicking here. By the way, Klocek will be headlining at the Sacramento Punchline later this month. You can check him and all of the Sacramento comedy events, headliners and Sacramento comedy clubs in the Sacramento area at our website.

Keep laughing until next week!

The Comedy Guy

So You Think You Can...Joke?

2009-10-06T00:01:54Z

Hey Mr. Comedy Guy,

I think I am pretty funny. I would like to try my hand at stand up comedy. Where can I go as a beginner?
-Richard "I know I am funnier than you" Joaks

Thank you for this week's question Dick, this is a nice segue into the world of Comedy Showcases and Open Mics. I am glad to answer your question as it is asked of me often. First, let's define the difference between these two types of shows because even though they are often done at the same time, they really are different.

A comedy open mic means that anyone who has a mind to, can come to the venue, register about an hour or so in advance (it is usually on a first-come, first-served basis), then go up on stage and do about five minutes of material.

A comedy showcase is a bit more selective. Yes, there are still many newbie and wannabe comics, as this is a perfect training environment and proving ground for things like timing, stage presence and character development, but the comics that perform generally have some experience under their belt and were invited back to perform.

So, if you want to perform for your friends and family, here is my advice:

Come prepared! - You need a solid five minutes of good material (as there is the possiblility that there may not be any uproarious laughter and applause to fill in the time). Write it down. Don't try to make conversation with the audience ("riff") until you know what you are doing (and then, only sparingly). If you don't have a "strong five minutes", don't come up until you do. Simple. Five minutes. Got it?
Practice - In front of a mirror. In front of your friends, family and strangers. Use your water bottle or hairbrush for your mike. Decide which hand you will hold it in as you deliver your material. Make sure you know your material (solid five, remember?) inside and out. It is not good form to giggle and say.. "Ah, let me start over".
Timing is everything - Keep your set to the agreed upon length. If you are killing the room, they will ask you to come back again, (and the audience will come back to see you!) so save some of your killer material for next time.

Do you want to watch? What about attending these shows as an audience member? If you love the audition shows on "America's Got Talent" and "So You Think You Can Dance," and like picking the next great star, then you are perfect spectator for these shows.

Just so your expectations are inline with the experience, here is what you can expect:

You will see some terrible comics! Yes, even though I am one of the greatest supporters of new talent and encourage anyone who feels that draw to the stage to go up and try it, there are people that will make you wonder, "What were they thinking? How could they allow themselves to be such a train wreck!"
You will see some wonderful comics! I have had the opportunity to see Sacramento Comics Mike E. Winfield, Tapan Triveti, Tom McClain, Keith Lowell Jensen (and many more, too numerous to list here) in the very beginning of their careers perform at showcases and open mics. You could see then that they were very talented and that not only would they go far, but you would pay to see them perform again in a longer format.
You might see a big star! Well-seasoned and famous comics often will use a showcase to come up and perfect new material. You never know who is going to show up!

Where can you find these venues? Glad you asked! Our Sacramento Comedy Clubs & Venues page and Sacramento Comedy Calendar of Events give you most of the information you need. If we have missed any, please let us know so we can add them. Showcases and Open Mics are invaluable to rounding out a vibrant comedy environment, so please support them!

If you would like to experience an open mic with a group, there is an Sacramento Comedy Meetup Group outing to the Showcase/Open Mic at Laughs Unlimited (one of the oldest established comedy rooms in the US!) this Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 8:00 PM. Please join us Tuesday.

Keep those questions coming!

Until next week,

The Comedy Guy

Meet "The Comedy Guy"

2009-10-01T23:08:40Z

Did you realize that Sacramento is a comedy Mecca?

Oh, trust me, you fortunate ones, it is.

Within a microphone's throw of downtown Sacramento, you can find three major comedy clubs, two improv shows, a few smaller weekday venues and, for the aspiring comic or those of you wondering if you have the chops, some open mics and showcases to satisfy your comedy appetite.

Because we report on the Sacramento comedy scene each and every day, we are constantly immersed and amazed at how much quality comedy is made available to you.

In the last 60 days alone, Jerry Seinfeld, DL Hughley, Tim Meadows, Josh Blue, Gallagher and Ralphie May Jo Koy, Darren Carter and so many more headlined Sacramento. Local comedian Keith Lowell Jensen had his first CD released at the Punchline while local up-and-coming superstar Mike E. Winfield headlined the local clubs and the coolest improv house, The Sacramento Comedy Spot, continued to create laughs and giggles with their weekly improv, sketch, stand up and open mic nights.

The next 60 days will bring Jamie Foxx and Dane Cook to Arco Arena and Lisa Lampinelli (such a dirty girl!) and Bob Saget (such a dirty man!) to the Crest Theater downtown.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I want you to get up and go. Get out of the house. Smile. Laugh and have a great time. And I am going to show you how.

Each week, I will answer questions from you, the great readers of the Sacramento Press, the comedy lovers, the beautiful people, and help you navigate through our very wonderfully lush comedy landscape. I will help you pick the right show and venue, fit it into your budget, and address issues like hecklers, rude waitstaff, sitting in the front row, finding a group to attend with and the different levels of "edge-iness" you might be comfortable with.

Trust me. I know comedy.

The Comedy Guy