Out in San Francisco right now, the night after a Laughing Liberally show / Drinking Liberally party part of the Young Dems Convention out here. We did the "show" at a bar with no lights, no stage and a weak mic. When will I learn???
The gathering was mostly a party. A beefed up Drinking Liberally that brought together people from around the country who were in town for the Young Democrats of America's annual convention.
The plan was to have me and comic Katie Halper do some time in the middle of the party. It was a good plan. And the venue was beautiful... for drinking. Not necessarily for doing comedy. Yet, as one of my role models oft repeats: "You don't go to a gig with the venue you want; you go with the venue you have." But sometimes, you really just need the body armor.
I'd estimate somewhere between 50 and 80 folks there, which is a good sized crowd, but we had three big problems.
1) bad sound. At least we had sound, actually. But it was a tiny, tiny amp which couldn't compete with the background music and noise of other conversations at the bar from down on the first floor (sound travels up!)
2) no lights. This is especially a problem for us darker-hued types. I was basically unintentionally camoflauged
3) no stage. Being at the same level as your audience is a no no. As a comic, I deserve to feel superior to them. Physically looking down on them allows me to morally look down on them as well. This was impossible last night
All these elements, when in place, say "hey, look at me. listen to me. I'm important." Without them, you're just another person talking at a bar with a slightly louder voice.
Props to Katie Halper who took the bullet like a trooper and drop-in comic Chris Brannon from Tacoma, Wash.
For the folks in the crowd who could hear and enjoy the show, thanks. And be sure to tell your friends in the back the funny bits on the way home.
peace
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Comedy
Nick Zaino at the Globe wrote a great feature on me and political comic Peter Dutton. Peter runs a weekly show at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway in Somerville, Mass. Tonight 10pm. Tomorrow I'm in NYC at The Tank with fellow comics Katie Halper, Bob Wiltfong (Daily Show) and A. Whitney Brown (SNL).
I seem to be on an altruistic promotion extravaganza, but trust me, I don't recommend comedy lightly. People of Boston, please roll out this weekend to see The Walsh Brothers show at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway in Davis Square. These guys are original and funny and fun, and if you don't like the show, I'll give you a free, autographed copy of my book. Buy tickets now
Dates: Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26
Times: 7:30 pm on Friday; 7:30 pm and 9:30 pm on Saturday
Prices: $15
Discounts: students ($7), seniors (10%), groups of 10+ (10%)
Comedy Show by The Walsh Bros. – stand-up and sketch -- these performers have received accolades for their risk-taking and fresh writing –
Their extended run of "The Great & Secret Comedy Show" at ImprovBoston - was deemed "Best spot to laugh last (and Best)" by The Boston Phoenix and "Best Late-Night Entertainment" by The Improper Bostonian.
Also to appear on this show will be special musical guest The Mustn’t Grumble.
Age appropriateness: 14+
Length of program: 90 minutes
A few weeks ago, I got to headline a show at The Tank in NYC. It was the opening event for The Principles Project Conference that weekend. Sharing the stage with me was one of the most original acts I've seen in a while. His name is Chris Alonzo and he's really funny. See his show April 6. The Tank NYC
Chris was actually nice enough to say nice things about me in his blog. Awww what a good fella.
Next time I'm in the Rotten Apple, I'll try to get Chris on the record for a podcast interview. Yeah, that would be the hotness.
But seriously, the show is called "Baby Elephants in the River Nile" and is described as...
A lunatic’s-eye view of electoral politics, BABY ELEPHANTS IN THE RIVER NILE examines the elections of 2000 and 2004 and the ways in which they were influenced by Egyptian Gods, the author’s cat, and George W. Bush’s desire to blow up the moon. History spins on its head, reality comes unglued, and no area of the political spectrum is safe from ridicule. This adventurous dark comedy monologue, featuring original music and puppetry, is the latest from author Chris Alonzo, hailed by NYTheatre.com as “a writer of uncommon genius.”At the show a few weeks ago, he just did a 15 minute excerpt and launched into some of the most absurd and hilarious readings I'd seen in a while. There was an animatronic giraffe in the act, and it worked. Unfortunately, I'll be helping my mom unpack in Tacoma, Washington on April 6, so make up for my absence, and see the show your damn self. I expect a report in triplicate.
Every year for the past eleven, the Harvard Black Men's Forum, an undergraduate student organization, has put on an event called The Celebration of Black Women. This year, they asked me to emcee, and it was a blast. For starters, I got to meet singer Jennifer Hudson and Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and they both thought I was hilarious
The theme of this year's celebration was "Boundless Women: Agents of Empowerment," and the program was hot. The entire event is an ode to black mothers, sisters, daughters and friends who often go unrecognized or straight up dissed (see: most any hip hop song).
Beginning with an invocation from Rev. Karen Cummings of Cambridge, the program featured, songs and poetry by current students, a scholarship awarded to a black female high school senior (Brenda Douyon this year), awards to seven senior women, keynote by Maxine Waters and two songs by Jennifer Hudson (American Idol finalist last year who was basically robbed on a wack vote).
Maxine Waters was most definitely the highlight. Her speech focused on several themes including supporting competition, but not to the point of destruction as well as acknowledging women's roles in the Civil Rights Movement. I especially loved her call to arms on the Social Security debate, reminding kids that a lot of them might make a killing from private accounts as they work on Wall Street but asking them not to do so at the expense of their people. Living longer, as they do, black women could be extra screwed by this social security monkey business.
Jennifer Hudson proved why she made it as far as she did in the American Idol finals, and from my point of view, I'm like Fantasia who??? She really just killed it, and after pressure from the crowd for an encore, she brought up senior Zackary Raynor for a "Circle of Life" duet. Awwwww. So cute.
So thanks to the BMF for having me, and great job on the Celebration.Wow! Last night I had one of the greatest shows of my life opening for singer/songwriter Mieka Pauley at Cambridge's Club Passim. We were nervous about our ability to bring a crowd, but we ended up having to turn some of them away!
I did about 30 minutes of comedy in three parts: headline news, some featured readings from my book, and I closed with my Take Back America standup set which seems to really capture a lot of people's feelings.
Mieka played for about an hour with band members Tyler Wood and Nate Edgar, and blew the crowd away, even getting invited back for an encore.
Thanks to Mieka for having me on the show and Jeremy, the house manager at Passim, for taking care of us, and all the people who paid to see us and the snow for coming after the show started and Bush for inspiring so much of my comedy.
Football scores, eye blinks and cookie recipes. For years, scientists, historians, economists, statisticians and others have all developed their own special method of predicting the winner in a presidential election. But this reporter has stumbled across perhaps the most consistent and reliable predictor yet: counting votes.
Now, each method does have its pros and cons.
For 17 straight elections, the outcome of the final Washington Redskins pre-election home game has predicted the president. If they win, so does the incumbent. Either way, Native Americans lose.
One scientist has analyzed presidential debates since 1960 for the answers, but not by listening to the candidates' words. Boston College psych professor Joseph Tecce says the more a candidate blinks, the less likely he is to win. In the latest debates, the presidential results were mixed, but on the VP side, Edwards far outblinked Cheney. Of course, when taking into account the fact that Dick Cheney is dead, it's remarkable he's able to blink at all, much less run the country.
In a completely different direction, we can look for guidance from more traditional sources: the nation's ovens. Family Circle magazine's Cookie Cook-Off has accurately called the last four elections. This year, Laura Bush's chocolate chip cookies beat Teresa Heinz's pumpkin spice by a landslide. However, the results may have been impacted by the fact that Laura Bush and her evangelical followers spend a lot more time at home preparing snack packs for the Rapture than their science-burdened counterparts.
Finally, there's our nation's oldest prediction model. Election after election, our research shows that counting votes for candidates is the most reliable technique. Voting actually pre-dates football, televised debates and cookies. Out of 53 presidential elections, this method has failed only twice: a remarkable record by any standard.
So after all the passes are thrown, cookies baked, blinks analyzed and votes cast, in the end, we just have to wait and see what the Surpreme Court decides.
Thanks to an incredible publicist over at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway Theatre I was interviewed this morning on the local Fox Sunday Morning News show anchored by Molly Line. It was awesome! See for yourself
I arrived at about 8:30 this morning and was met by one of the coolest news staffs around, I'm sure. Terry Wood is the show's producer, and had talked with me in advance about things I'd want to discuss. I got 3 minutes thanks to him, and that's an eternity in TV land.
Jennifer, the intern, hooked me up with the green room, water and the bathroom location -- CRITICAL! Molly Line gets a big shoutout for the on-air interview and saying my name right! Thank you, thank you, thank you to the entire Fox25 crew.
Yo people, it's happening, I've got a book signing at Howard Univ. bookstore this Wednesday at 4pm and will be performing standup later that night at Lulu's on 22nd & M. Both events are free!!! Tell everybody. FREE COMEDY. Details follow:
Wednesday Oct 20
Booksigning for "Better Than Crying: Poking Fun at Politics, the Press
& Pop Culture"
Howard University Bookstore
4pm - 5pm
2225 Georgia Ave N.W.
Ian Salmon's Standup Comedy Show
@ Lulu's Mardi Gras
9pm
22nd & M Streets, N.W.
NO COVER
About Baratunde
- 2002 Finalist HBO Comedy Talent Search
- 2004 Participant in Boston Comedy Festival
- August 2004 Comic-in-Residence at Boston's "Comedy Studio"
- Published author
- creator of awesome blog at www.goodcrimethink.com
- No discoverable criminal record
- thinking american