Tag: Stand Up Comedy

This Guy Doing an Impression of Bill Burr Doing Jerry Seinfeld Jokes is Too Good

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As a longtime Bill Burr fan and someone that owned Jerry Seinfeld standup CDs back in the 90s when those were a real thing, I was pretty skeptical of this going in, but my god this guy nails it.

Stand up comedy has always been one of my favorite things to watch, not just because it’s a comedy show that makes you laugh, but because of the sheer level of talent it takes. It’s just downright impressive to watch anyone at the top of their field and comedy is no exception.

They say the No. 1 fear of the average person is public speaking. Now I’m not exactly a JFK level orator, but I’d say I’m more worried about my next flight crashing than I am about speaking in front a crowd. With that being said I can’t even fathom how good of a public speaker and storyteller you have to be to become a successful comic. I mean of course the jokes are important, but when you really drill down it’s not the jokes that make the difference. It’s the timing, the delivery, the ability to tell long, winding stories and then bring it back all while keeping a crowd engaged and entertained.

Jerry Seinfeld of course is a perfect example of that. I actually had tickets to see Seinfeld live for the first time in my life last year before ya know COVID shut down the entire goddamn world. His stand up act is considered squeaky clean by today’s standards and is a lot of observations on mundane parts of every day life. Except it’s not so much the content of the joke that kills, it’s the way he delivers the jokes with his timing and storytelling. That is some world class talent. I mean I can still recite his entire bit on sinks in airplane bathrooms or Halloween costumes as a kid.

Here’s to the world opening back up as soon it’s safe so we can all grab some drinks, sit down at a club, and just watch stand up comics go to work once again.

Dave Chappelle Delivers an A+, Raw, Uncomfortable, and Blistering 16 Minute Saturday Night Live Monologue

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“Did I trigger you?”

Dave Chappelle returned to SNL for the first time in four years, when he again was given the duties of being the first host following a presidential election. In 2016 Chappelle called for people to give the newly elected President Trump a chance during uncertainty. This time around though he wasted no time laying into EVERYONE.

A few weeks ago we all applauded Bill Burr for going on SNL and not changing a thing about his defiant brand of stand up, regardless of the audience. Well Chappelle walked out smoking a cigarette and proceeded to absolutely bulldoze the SNL audience with a raw, uncomfortable, and blistering 16 minute monologue.

“I’m sorry Lorne, I thought we were doing a comedy show,” Chappelle laughed to himself as the crowd fell uncomfortably quiet.

Chappelle joked about COVID, slavery, racism, sexism, classism and more as he dropped way more n-bombs than the typical Saturday Night Live crowd is used to hearing. If you’re a devout Chappelle fan like me then it was a classic takedown of the country as it currently stands. But you can hear a lot of hurt in his voice as he reveals the only way to make people listen to the issues he sees in our country today is by making them laugh about it.

“I can’t even tell something true unless it has a punchline behind it. You guys aren’t ready. You’re not ready for this. You don’t know how to survive yourselves.”

I applaud SNL for recognizing the moment and bringing in a first ballot Hall of Fame standup comedian to host at a point in time where it would have rang hollow to have anyone else sticking their head in the sand. Sure, SNL has always been pretty liberal in its skewering of some and lionizing of others, but Chappelle has always been able to just speak the truth regardless of politics.

As uncomfortable as he made that audience at 30 Rock, this was comedy at its absolute best: painfully honest.

Showtime Has a Must See Documentary About The Comedy Store Coming Out

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If you’re a fan of comedy even in the slightest then you know The Comedy Store is an institution; it is the mecca for standup comics. Walking in under those red lights and passing all the framed pictures in the hallway immortalizing dozens of Hall of Fame comedians that have performed there, it’s unlike any other club in the country.

The first time I visited LA a few years ago The Comedy Store was the No. 1 place I had to check out. Well that and In N’ Out.

But seriously this spot on Sunset Boulevard has been a launching pad for some of the funniest people to ever walk the planet. Name any famous comedian and it’s pretty much guaranteed they performed at The Comedy Store at some point. Just look at this murderer’s row of alumni:

This place is revered by comics to this day and is still frequented by huge names who do shows routinely just to work on material. Joe Rogan performs there pretty much every weekend and he just signed a $100 million contract with Spotify so it’s not like he needs the work.

I went to a show on a Saturday night that was stacked with huge names like Joe Rogan, Tom Green, Iliza Shlesinger, and Michael Rosenbaum. All that for a $20 ticket. So if you lived in the area you could go see some of the best comedians in the country every weekend for less than what I spend on a GrubHub order.

Now the first time I actually went to The Comedy Store was when I literally just stumbled in at like 1 AM on a weeknight. Whats great about this place is if theres not a big headline event, you can just walk in whenever, pay a small cover, and theres just comics working on material at all hours of the night. So we dropped in and just sat in the back with a couple of beers and laughed our asses off watching some guy I’d never even heard of. The talent there is just on another level.

So I am going to have to actually buy Showtime for the first time ever because this doc series is going to be must see TV.