Third Beat

I happened to be in NYC this past weekend and caught just a sliver of the New York Clown Theatre Festival at the adorable Brick Theatre in Brooklyn (seriously, I had no idea it was SO tiny).

The three-week festival started Friday, and Gothamist has a great recap of the opening-night insanity and a preview of what’s to come. But of course it took no time for someone in the comments to pipe up with “I fuckin hate clowns”.

God bless America.

People, I implore you. Give it a shot. It’s not what you think it is.

Especially if you’re a creator of other forms of comedy, go see at least one show during the festival. These performers are armed with strong characters, strong points of view, wicked-fast improv muscles, and crowd interaction skills that rival that of even the best road comics. All that, and often done without even speaking.

Let your too-cool-for-school guards down for five minutes, and you might actually be impressed by it all.

Full lineup can be found here: http://www.bricktheater.com/clown

My picks:

Morro & Jasp Do Pubert:
The duo from here in Toronto have made a huge name for themselves on the Fringe circuit, and deserve every one of the five stars in the reviews they get. (Sept. 9th @ 8:30pm; Sept. 10th @ 9pm; Sept. 12th @ 9pm)

Neon Lights
My friends Jeff Seal and Chris Manley shed their noses to channel an old-timey vaudeville duo. Wackiness ensues! (Sept. 8th @ 8pm; Sept. 13th @ 9pm; Sept. 18th @ 8pm; Sept. 22 @ 7pm)

FERDINAND THE MAGNIFICENT!
For those who like a little “whaaaat?” in their viewing experience. (Sept. 9th @ 7pm; Sept. 11th @ 10pm, Sept. 12th @ 5pm, Sept. 13th @ 7pm)

The 2010 NYCF has announced at least part of their lineup for this November, and tickets go on sale this morning at 11:00.

Big names include Joel McHale, Brian Regan, Gabriel Iglesias, Aziz Ansari, and Louis CK’s much anticipated Carnegie Hall debut.

For the full up-to-date lineup, visit their website.

Still to be announced? Shows at Caroline’s, and perhaps a few panels at the Paley Centre.

And if you’re in the mood for counterprogramming, I hear Comix is bringing Greg Proops in that weekend. I have a feeling I’ll have some tough scheduling choices to make again this year!

While I’m on a plane to Winnipeg tomorrow, many of you are headed to Just For Laughs in Montreal. Some, presumably, for the first time.

I know my absence is soul-crushing to most of you (just play along). So as my legacy to all the n00b Press and Industry types, please enjoy these 10 handy tips I’ve learned during my five previous visits to Montreal.

10) Just buy tickets for shows you care about seeing, particularly if you’re Press. I know, it hurts your ego more than it does your wallet. But trust me: the Montreal fest is historically stingy with tickets and you won’t find out you’ve been denied something until they call you at 5pm the day-of. If they call you at all.

9) Industry, if you go the freebie route to get into the clubs, hide your laminate as soon as you get inside. Some of them take the “standing room” thing very seriously, and I have been yelled at for daring to step outside my assigned square foot of floorspace.

8 ) Ladies, wear flats at all times. You will walk more than you realize, because that 20 year old development assistant you befriended at the 10 To Watch reception swears the venue is “just around the corner!”. 2 miles later…

7) Skip the Midnight Party on Friday. Are you here to dance or are you here to schmooze? You can’t do both. By all means, put in an appearance, but all the cool old folks are hanging out at the Hyatt bar.

6) Don’t wait ’til Saturday night to try to have a conversation with someone. The Hyatt bar gets downright retarded. Chances are you will not get to them.

5) If you qualify for transportation from the airport, put down the damn Blackberry and get to know your van-mates. Confined spaces make for fantastic candid conversations.

4) If you get comp’d for a gala at the St-Denis, and you’re given tickets in the front 2/3 of the hall, realize that because it’s TV, you can’t leave. Even to pee. Just chill at the back of the theatre and they’ll fill your empty seats close to showtime with an appreciative set of suburbanites. You’ll be free to linger at the back and get the hell out of there whenever you please.

3) Get to Andy Kindler’s State of the Industry EARLY. It’s always packed.

2) Don’t fly out first thing Sunday morning. If you’ve experienced Just For Laughs correctly, you will be in no state to do so.

1) Read my reviews of Noel Fielding’s and Mike Birbiglia’s shows from last week in Toronto so you know what to expect! (Which ties into the bonus schmooze lesson of “make everything about YOU”.)

Have fun, kids! I’ll be keeping abreast of the tweeted and blogged festivities from my spot on the beach, trying not to weep into my Palm Pre.

This was my night to be on the run — hitting up 3 shows, or, perhaps more accurately 1 show and 2 chunks.

I was shocked to learn before departing for the 8pm Double Threat show at Yuk Yuk’s that it was not sold out. What? This was a double bill of Todd Barry and Noel Fielding, for cryin’ out loud. Easily one of the best shows of the whole Festival. Thankfully, there were only a few empty chairs by showtime, otherwise I’d have some strong words for my fellow Torontonians.

Todd Barry rocks out his half hour at Saturday's Double Threat show.

The couple I spoke with in line had no idea who they’d be seeing, so I did my best to school them whilst picking my jaw up off the sidewalk. Turns out, they weren’t alone in their random choice. It seemed that almost half the crowd was a blank slate, with the other half being fans of Fielding.

Montreal’s Derek Seguin got the show off to a killer start, even when endangering the audience’s goodwill with a cutting Leafs slam. Todd Barry went up next and was his regular kick-ass self. Unfortunately I had to miss Fielding’s set, a hiccup in my schedule that hurt just a little bit more after becoming a newly-converted fangirl at Comedy Bar the night before. But I wouldn’t leave until hearing the piercing female screams that accompanied Fielding’s ascent onto the stage.

A harrowing cab ride later (really, a cellphone AND pager while driving?) I slid through the stage door of Massey Hall just in time to witness early show host Brad Garret exit and greet a hoard of flashbulbs and autograph seekers. From what I saw, he accommodated everyone. Thumbs up.

Unfortunately I had to take my place in the house before the anticipated arrival of last year’s gala host Sarah Silverman, in town this summer to shoot a movie. She reportedly hung out in the dressing rooms all night, as evidenced via Jimmy Carr.

When host Louis CK walked onstage to host, it seemed the ovation in the hall surprised even him. When someone like Louis gets such a deafening welcome, it kinda gives you faith in the tastes of the comedy-consuming public.

I would be there only long enough to see Louis deliver his opening set, which was 100% new-to-me (I last saw his full show in November). I will never forget the image of his female masturbation impression. And probably neither will the stagehand who had to deliver a new mic after Louis broke the first by dropping it on the ground as part of the bit.

Upon his surprisingly sweet introduction of Todd Barry, I had to tear myself away.

It hurt so very much to abandon the Massey Hall lineup (which also included Mike Wilmot, Mike Birbiglia, Jimmy Carr, and Tommy Tiernan) to haul my ass uptown and see Chris Hardwick host Best of the Fest. The schedule for Best of the Fest made it logistically impossible to attend any other nights without wiping out my entire evening, so a hard choice had to be made.

But oh, it was worth it. I’ve quickly fallen in love with the Nerdist podcast and wanted desperately to see Hardwick this week, and he didn’t disappoint. Someone please bring him back up here to headline. I beg you.

The mystery lineup included Mark Little, Maryellen Hooper, Michael Mittermeier, and Sebastian Maniscalco. Not too shabby at all! If even a few of these names had appeared on the JFL website as teasers, perhaps it would have been a sell-out.

Well, that’s it — I’m beat! A great time was had this week, and I’m as exhausted as I typically am when I hit the Montreal edition. I’d say that’s a success.

Luckily for us, the concept of “truth in comedy” is a foreign one to Noel Fielding.

In front of his second of three packed houses at Toronto’s intimate Comedy Bar, the uber-popular Mighty Boosh star wove fantastical tales out of small granules of reality. He took us on adventures though having a flamingo as a roommate after a zoological “adoption” program gone awry, the inner dialogue of a fly trapped indoors, and his relationship with his freaky neighbor dubbed “Monkey Edwards”. It all starts innocent enough, but before you know it you realize Fielding has sneakily led you down a dark path of make-believe.

He brought with him a hat, a fedora with ears, which he removed at the top of the set but would revisit multiple times in a Jekyll-and-Hyde manner. When he put it on his head, he was transformed into a creepy, gravelly-voiced “rapist” character, which he’d have no recollection of upon removing it.

“This is all tightly scripted, I’ll have you know,” he said, after one round of the clearly improvised weirdness.

But the prepared (or semi-prepared?) material didn’t get unleashed until a lengthy – and necessary – chunk of improv with his audience. The fervor of his fans was contagious to even a jaded comedy blogger like yours truly. They came bearing gifts including Bounty chocolate bars and a detailed hand-made likeness of his Boosh character which Fielding decided was “a voodoo doll”. Gifts were reciprocated with hugs and kisses, which only served to further frenzy the mostly-female crowd. (Thankfully, none got to the point of rushing the stage, which reportedly happened at Thursday’s show.)

I’ve been to Comedy Bar over 100 times, and I can say I’ve never seen a member of the audience come armed with a bristol-board sign to get a performer’s attention. In fact, I’ve never seen a Comedy Bar audience anything like this. I walked in to see a twisting lineup of fans in platform heels and fishnets and gallons of liquid eyeliner… I didn’t need my media pass around my neck to identify me as an outsider. And the screams when the lights went down were deafening.

I can’t say I blame them. He’s as funny as he is charismatic.

If you don’t have a ticket to his final performance tonight, you’re out of luck, but he will be sharing the bill with Todd Barry at the 8pm Double Threat show at Yuk Yuk’s.

Commence Noel Fielding eye candy, after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

On paper, those of us who attended the 9:30 Alternative Show on Thursday night got shorted. Those early-show people got the surprise bonus additions of Noel Fielding and Chris Hardwick! Damn them! Plus, they got a set from Pat Thornton which, by all accounts was absolutely killer. Sigh.

It’s hard to feel too sorry for ourselves, though, because the lineup as-is was damn stellar.

Andy Kindler approached the mic to commence hosting duties and assured us he “got here at 3 in the afternoon to work on that.” Good to know the festival is still ensuring veteran comics are capable of the most basic aspects of their jobs, a practice David Cross told us about at a gala last year.

We learned a lot through the evening. That Mark Forward is a weird and hilarious individual. That Kindler does a startlingly accurate Todd Barry impression. That at least one member of the audience would happily let Todd Barry crash on his sofa for a while. That TJ Miller can do precisely one magic trick, and that there is such a thing as a “double-sided closed sign”. The man everyone came to see – Patton Oswalt – taught us about the uselessness of moderate fame, the only valid reason for being opposed to gay marriage, and what it’s like to audition for a Kate Hudson rom-com.

Sure, the Winter Garden Theatre lacks the intimacy of its Montreal counterpart (hosted by Kindler every year at the Cabaret), and it was hard to fathom that the shows weren’t sell-outs. But at the end of the day, it was an alt-comedy nerd’s dream come true.

Kindler and Oswalt have jetted out of town already, but Barry can still be seen Saturday night at Yuk Yuk’s and Massey Hall gala hosted by his arch nemesis Louis CK.