Philosophy
Brothers, Sisters, and Transgendered Comedists Everywhere,
This weekend, I, the Irreverend Steve, come to you for advice. I am in need of pastoral counseling from my flock.
We stand a mere eight weeks from April 1, Saint Shecky's Day, the holiest day of the Comedist year. A mere eight days later, is my 40th birthday. Faithful readers may recall a post in which I asked for suggestions for a creative mid-life crisis.
Upon careful Comedist reflection, I came to realize that there was one and only one thing that I had to do...as a true believer, I would have to stand up for my Comedist faith and that standing up requires stand-up. So, in the next eight weeks, I will be honing, editing, and practicing my routine for an open mike night, most likely at Magooby's Joke House in Baltimore. I will post details as they become known, so that anyone who cares to attend can be prepared with their best heckle lines.
I know a number of playground regulars have experience doing stand up (Lyle Bateman, for example), and that the rest of you have stand-up comics you love, so any advice? Telling jokes in a classroom full of people you can fail for not laughing is probably easier than working a real room. So, what makes for good stand-up comedy? What do you really dislike, pitfalls to avoid?
I'll leave you with a couple jokes that I decided against putting in the routine:
Live, love, and laugh,
Irreverend Steve
- Groucho And Pure Jokes
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- Tying The Knot
Brothers, Sisters, and Transgendered Comedists Everywhere, This weekend our Playground playfriends Gwydion and Maura will be getting married. This week's Comedist post will thus be devoted to marriage. Please feel free to leave good wishes and marriage...
- Making Fun Of Vs. Joking Reference
Brothers, Sisters, and Transgendered Comedists Everywhere, This weekend we consider another moral question in comedy. There is no doubt that humor can be used as a weapon. Indeed, our own Comedist security squad, the Fast Action Response Team whose motto...
- Comic Marxists And Comic Platonists
Brothers, Sisters, and Transgendered Comedists Everywhere, This week was Groucho's birthday and it has led me to a place of Comedist meditation. I played an open mic at the Ragged Edge, a coffee house near campus, on Groucho's birthday Thursday...
Philosophy
A Comedist Request
Brothers, Sisters, and Transgendered Comedists Everywhere,
This weekend, I, the Irreverend Steve, come to you for advice. I am in need of pastoral counseling from my flock.
We stand a mere eight weeks from April 1, Saint Shecky's Day, the holiest day of the Comedist year. A mere eight days later, is my 40th birthday. Faithful readers may recall a post in which I asked for suggestions for a creative mid-life crisis.
Upon careful Comedist reflection, I came to realize that there was one and only one thing that I had to do...as a true believer, I would have to stand up for my Comedist faith and that standing up requires stand-up. So, in the next eight weeks, I will be honing, editing, and practicing my routine for an open mike night, most likely at Magooby's Joke House in Baltimore. I will post details as they become known, so that anyone who cares to attend can be prepared with their best heckle lines.
I know a number of playground regulars have experience doing stand up (Lyle Bateman, for example), and that the rest of you have stand-up comics you love, so any advice? Telling jokes in a classroom full of people you can fail for not laughing is probably easier than working a real room. So, what makes for good stand-up comedy? What do you really dislike, pitfalls to avoid?
I'll leave you with a couple jokes that I decided against putting in the routine:
People are cynical about politics these days. I can't really blame them. It seems like scandal after scandal after scandal. And half of them have nothing to do with governing. Dick Cheney has a hunting accident, Bill Clinton gets a blow job...I guess it goes to show that either way, they'll shoot a friend in the face. The only only difference is whether it's making love or making war.Still working on the A material...
Of course, when you put it in that way, it doesn't seem like a hard choice. After war, some people come home with post-traumatic stress disorder where they can't believe what they just did, feel remorse and depression. After sex, on the other hand, some people come home with post-alcohol stress disorder where they can't believe who they just did, feel remorse and depression.
Live, love, and laugh,
Irreverend Steve
- Groucho And Pure Jokes
My Fellow Comedists, I was unable to get this weekend's comedist post up in time, so let's do it today. This week marks the 50th anniversary of Groucho's last public performance. An aging Groucho was slipping into depression, so...
- Comedist Confessions
My Fellow Comedists, We just had Yom Kippur, the day when Jews around the world ask for forgiveness for their sins. (Leave it to the Jews to make the holiest day of the year a time set aside to feel guilty.) Catholics have confession and I was just listening...
- Tying The Knot
Brothers, Sisters, and Transgendered Comedists Everywhere, This weekend our Playground playfriends Gwydion and Maura will be getting married. This week's Comedist post will thus be devoted to marriage. Please feel free to leave good wishes and marriage...
- Making Fun Of Vs. Joking Reference
Brothers, Sisters, and Transgendered Comedists Everywhere, This weekend we consider another moral question in comedy. There is no doubt that humor can be used as a weapon. Indeed, our own Comedist security squad, the Fast Action Response Team whose motto...
- Comic Marxists And Comic Platonists
Brothers, Sisters, and Transgendered Comedists Everywhere, This week was Groucho's birthday and it has led me to a place of Comedist meditation. I played an open mic at the Ragged Edge, a coffee house near campus, on Groucho's birthday Thursday...