Comedy Clubs/Comics Discussion

[Jesse James]

I dunno if there's a topic on this or not, but whatever...  It's on my mind so I figured I'd pop a topic up for it either way.

I went to Pittsburgh's Improv tonight to catch Dave Attel's early show.  I saw Attel a few years ago for one of my birthdays actually, down at Pittsburgh's funnybone club, prior to the Improv's opening...  I loved his show, and pretty much knew his comedy.

Tonight he SMASHED my previous opinion by setting a new standard for funny.  Lots of new material, tons of great jokes and one-liners, and he mixed his best older stuff in too...  My top 3 (no order) have always been Attel, Lewis Black, and Dave Chappelle (Needless to say I'm a big Comedy Central fanatic), and I'm even moreso a fan of Attel after tonight.

I've yet to catch Black in person...  Every time he comes to Pittsburgh he's either sold out by the time I hear, or I just completely miss his show and find out about it later.  I'm vowing to catch it though.  I've not seen Chapelle either, but then again I can't say I've ever seen him listed as coming through town.

So are Comedy Clubs something you're into?  I consider this one of the best "dates" if you're looking to get you and your wife out of the house maybe, or if you're wanting to impress the new lady in your life with something fun to do.  It's pricey, but worth it.  I'm finding things like this much more enjoyable than going to clubs or bars like I used to do all the time...  Oh how age catches up to you!

[Ben]

Ron White was here last week, but since I'm the last person alive that hasn't seen Blue Collar Comedy Tour, I passed. I'm also not into comedians who nickname themselves after unappetizing food items.

The weird thing is it was at a 4,000 seat arena.

[Jesse James]

That Blue Collar thing is really taking off.  Why, i don't know, since I thought Foxworthy's redneck jokes had gone the way of Gallagher's act.

Whatever though...  It's not my thing.  I don't like Wanda Sykes either, so nights when she and that Blue Collar Comedy Tour take over Comedy Central, I'm thoroughly pissed off. 

And those nights are often.

I can't believe they dumped Tough Crowd but leave that other garbage on.  That show was a hit as far as I'm concerned.  Whatever though...  No channel's perfect.

[jokabofe]

I'd love to go see Dave Atell if he ever did a show near my house. The last comic I saw do standup was this unknown guy named Dave Chapelle. This was prol'ly back around 1990 - 91, somewhere around there. He played at this tiny little hole in the wall club in NYC for about 20 - 25 people, and was funny as hell.

[hansolo_506]

I enjoy humor done in the style of Steven Wright and Mitch Hedburg.

Hedburg really cracks me up:
"I have found out that a duck's opinion of me is based on whether or not I have bread."
"Escalators are never broken..they are just temporary stairs..pardon for the convenience."

And classic Wright:
"I just put a skylight in my living room.  The people in the apartment above me are really mad about it."
"I went out and bought some batteries..but they weren't included, so I had to buy them again."

[Jesse James]

I'm surprised you don't catch Attel much being that he's from New York and all Dave.  He's a great show if you can catch him...  I suppose he's everywhere BUT where he lives.

I've never seen Dave Chapelle listed as coming to this area myself...  Everyone else seems to come in from time to time, but I've just never seen Chapelle around.  That really sucks too since I'd love to see his show.

David Wright and Mitch Hedberg are great...  I had tickets for Hedberg when he was due here back when the Hurricane hit.  He hurt himself in Minnesota though, was there at the hospital, and missed his show here...  Which works out because I'd have missed his show anyway since I was stranded that night.

They're both good comics though, with similar styles of jokes but completely different deliveries.  I think I like Wright's better myself.

[SPIDERLEGS]

Bill Hicks was a genius.  Also:

Steven Wright, Lenny Bruce, Redd Foxx, Chris Rock, Greg Proops, Rita Rudner, Richard Pryor, Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, Robin Williams, Bobcat Goldthwait.

Any of you guys catch that "Last Comic Standing" reality TV show over the summer? The reality TV competition was lame, but some of the comics were funny as hell.

[D_B_B]

I just received a phone call from my co-worker. He got a voice mail from a friend of ours who is a stand up comedian.

The voice mail stated that Mitch Hedberg died today from an OD. I have not been able to find anything on it yet on the net except someone else asking about it as he heard it too over on the IMDB boards.

I truly hope this is not the case....but take it for what you will, our buddy has major ties to the comic world so I fear it may be true.

[The Collector]

That really sucks if it's true.

[D_B_B]

That really sucks if it's true.

It's on Stern's site, on Comedy Central now, a St. Paul Minn. newspaper ( where he was born ) has a thing up now, and the Baltimore Improv just took down all the info that was on there earlier about his performances tonight and the rest of the weekend.

Only things I still don't get are....his site still has nothing even though the last update was today ( the 31st ).  I know this changed since last night because last night it said the 27th ).

I'm still hoping this is a April Fool's hoax but I'm not holding my breathe anymore.

[Scott]

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5323039.html

[Ben]

How is this not on Google news or Yahoo? (Maybe I'm just missing it, but ? )

[Jesse James]

That's a shame...  I was to see him in Pittsburgh the night that everything flooded here last fall from the Hurricanes sweeping up this way.  I remember thinking at the time that I was more PO'd about missing the show (due to being stranded that night cuz of the floods) than anything.

Turned out he didn't make it to Pittsburgh anyway and cancelled late that evening because he fell and hurt himself out in Minnesota...  I'd heard it was something he did while on drugs or was using an excuse because of drugs...  Whatever.

Never got to see his show then...  He was to reschedule this year actually. 

[Jediknight760071]

I'm really sad about Mitch dying. He was by far my favorite comedian....his comedy brought to light the comic world, for me anyway, and I will never forget him.

[Cory Chaos]

I wasn't too familiar with Hedburg's work, personally. Ron White is on up there for me, especially after having seen "They Call Me Tater Salad". He's just ruthless, very opinionated and outspoken, just not as in your face as Lewis Black, whom my girlfriend loves. I've got both the "BCCT" movies on DVD, and the 2nd edition is loads better, although Ron White's work, you can't appreciate as much when it's made family friendly, lol.

Larry the Cable Guy, I bought his DVD on the cheap, as well. He's better off with the collective, IMO. His gimmick gets kind of stale. He broke character on his "Git-R-Done" DVD, which confirmed my suspicions, especially since he hales from the neutral accented Nebraska. Jeff Foxworthy, meh. Bill Ingvall is television sitcom material. Just too friendly, clean, and mainstream to really get me going.

Dave Chappelle is godly. If you haven't seen his older stuff, like his HBO special, "Killin' Em Softly", I'd highly recommend just flat out buying it.

Do you guys own any of these comics CD's by chance, or prefer actually seeing them? A good bit of Ron White's routine relys on physicality, although both hands are usually grasping a cigar and whiskey, even on stage.