Third Beat

PRODUCING GREAT COMEDY: THE SECRET SAUCE

Moderator: Tendo Nagenda (Vice President of Production, Mandate Pictures)

Panelists: Michael Aguilar and Kent Alterman (Co-Founders, Principals & Producers, Dos Tontos), Tom McNulty (Producer & President of Production, 21 Laps Entertainment), Todd Phillips (Director/Producer, The Hangover)

Big names, yes. But I’m not gullible enough to order an early wake-up call so I can attend a seminar promising the “secret sauce” of successful comedy, no matter how much cred the panelists have. Doesn’t the title seem like something you’re promised if you agree to sit through a timeshare presentation? If there was a formula to this stuff, wouldn’t we all be successful development execs and rich screenwriters?

I did arrive in time to receive the advice “there’s no script problem that’s ever been fixed by ignoring it”. Which is good advice. And the same advice I’ve been offered in intro writing classes. I realize I may have missed something of value, but considering the very vague subject of the session, I suspect i didn’t. Not the panelists’ fault by any stretch. It’s at this point at the conference that I started to wonder if these individuals’ experiences couldn’t be put within a better context for our benefit. Surely there are topics more specific, more related to their high profiles, that could spawn conversations we wouldn’t hear anywhere else? Some of the topics were simply too broad.

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BREAKING NEW GROUND: ADULT ANIMATION GROWS UP

Moderator: Athena Georgaklis (Manager, Original Production, Teletoon Canada)

Panelists: Tommy Blacha (Co-creator, Metalocalypse), Donick Cary (Creator, ‘Lil Bush: Resident of the United States), Vernon Chatman (Creator, Wonder Showzen, Xavier: Renegade Angel), Dino Stamatopoulos (Writer / Creator / Producer, Moral Orel), Nick Weidenfeld (Director of Program Development, Adult Swim), Dave Willis, Co-Creator (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)

Lots here about the creative and development process of animation, which surprisingly isn’t that different than any other comedy. Funny script first, worry about production of the visuals later.

Interesting insight #1: Nick Weidenfeld talked about how when Adult Swim was pushed up to 10pm to maximize ad revenues, they had literally nothing they could run in that hour. Cartoon Network is a kids station, after all, and Adult Swim tows a thin line of appropriate content. It was a struggle. And what happens when they inevitably begin airing at 9pm, Weidenfeld asked himself? He isn’t entirely sure.

Interesting insight #2: Dino Stamatopoulos “hates” Comedy Central, citing the stupidity of them making someone like Bob Odenkirk pitch instead of just letting him do a show. He says he would never do Moral Orel there, because “they would run it once and bury it so nobody else could do it.”

I hereby nominate Dino to be the moderator of next year’s development panel.

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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS OF SHOW: TAKING COMEDY GLOBAL

With Rob Clark, President of Worldwide Entertainment, Fremantle Media

If you want to make a reality or game show, and you’re thinking big – REALLY big – Clark’s presentation was for you. Fremantle is responsible for such international franchises as the Idols, the Got Talents, the Apprentices, etc.

Clark offered tips like how writing in trademark-able elements is a big part of what makes a show sell-able worldwide, instead of steal-able. Example: those three Xs on Got Talent.

I expected to see more people in attendance at this one, based on name recognition alone. This guy is definitely a “get” for the Conference. But perhaps the issue is that Fremantle Media specializes in reality shows, not comedy shows (and yes, I’m aware they were responsible for Thank God You’re Here… and my assessment that they don’t do comedy shows stands).

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2009 VARIETY’S “10 COMICS TO WATCH” PANEL

Moderator: Peter Debruge (Associate Features Editor & Film Critic, Daily Variety)
Panelists: Jon Dore, Kumail Nanjiani, Matt Braunger, Nick Kroll, Aubrey Plaza

This panel? Hella fun. How could it not be with these five on stage?

Depending on your perspective, moderator Peter Dubruge had an easy job or a difficult job. The comics took the ball and ran with it, passed it off, ran with it some more… lather, rinse, repeat.

Jon Dore took on the role of attention whore, because every group needs one. He made obscene gestures while the others were talking, spent a few minutes bringing up one of Aubrey Plaza’s Youtube videos on his PDA while she was talking, quietly slipped the Variety logo flag off the microphone and stuck it in his pocket, and took a seat in the audience to ask himself a question. The others took great pleasure in their mock resentment of him. I wondered how many people in the audience were mentally preparing a sitcom pitch based on this panel.

Silliness aside, a few questions did get answered seriously, even by Dore. The first two seasons of his Canadian series, the Jon Dore Television Show, will begin air on IFC in the US, and he admits having mixed feelings about it because “I’m not proud of every episode.”

Nick Kroll knows all about series’ pride. Regarding the epic failure of Cavemen, he said “the critics didn’t love it, but what I took solace in was that the viewers didn’t either.”

And the joke that you could just feel the guys bursting with pride over,

Kumail: “Hey, what show did you do last time you were at the Festival, Nick?”
Kroll: “I did the Jew Faces show!”

One question in the q&a came from a woman who books comedians for charity events, and asked if that’s something the panelists have had opportunity to do. The answers were a mixed bag of yes and no, with a few mentions of the positive vibe that fundraisers tend to have. Plaza was the last to answer, saying that comedy and charity work seems like a good match, because “a lot of us get into this partly because we want to make people happy.”

I trust she was being sincere — and if you know me, you know that’s exactly the kind of statement I like to hear. Yeah, I’m a big softie. But it actually elicited a few snickers from behind me (I hope the result of her deadpan delivery) and absolute silence from the rest of the panel. They wouldn’t touch that sentiment with a 10 foot pole – no nods, no half-smiles of acknowledgment, not a peep – just let it twitch and die in the middle of the stage before the subject was changed. What the hell, boys? Is it just us girls who perceive the goodness of this profession? Of all the envelope-pushing done on stage, this is the taboo subject? Phhtt, men.

The Alternative Show is one of those “sure things” of the festival, and with its midnight start time typically ends up capping off my week in Montreal. All the comics have gotten to know each other and are slightly loopy from the lack of sleep, and the paying audience usually only fills the main level, leaving the balcony for us laminate-clad folks who just didn’t get enough of host Andy Kindler at the State of the Industry address.

It became clear off the top that Kindler has a following in Montreal, something certainly not lost on him.

“This is a very vocal crowd and I don’t enjoy that,” he said.

Reggie Watts & Jon Dore double up at Saturday night's Alternative Show

“Maybe I’m old school, but I found that very distracting,” Kindler said.

If slapstick is included in the Alternative Show does that mean it’s cool now? I sure hope so. Josh Fadem fell down, got tangled in the mic cord, split his pants, got stuck while taking his sweater off, fell down some more… and did manage to get some jokes out in the process. Hooray for physical comedy, and a secondary hooray for having a special mic brought out for him to screw around with instead of causing problems with the normal one (is it wrong of me to notice these things?)

Aubrey Plaza, who is new at all this from having to learn standup for her role in Funny People, had some good stuff about old people on the internet, and New York City being “the only city where I’m afraid of having trash blown into my mouth.” During the week many were hailing her fast progress, but as should be expected there’s some work to do on the presentation side. Her awkward/blase/depressed tone works, but we could do without all the “umms” and then breaking that character by giving us a relatively chipper thanks/goodbye at the end.

Matt Besser brought out his Jason Yellow character (the no-armed deaf and blind comic) from North America’s Best Comic, one of my favourites from that show the night before. It was weird enough to work well, although Besser seemed to have forgotten about one of his characters traits. His “braille” setlist was taped to his leg so he could read it with his bare foot, but he kept looking down at it instead. But I think everyone was laughing too hard to care, so let’s move on.

Nick Kroll’s initial “what’s uuuuup Montreal!” gangsta schtick was hilarious unto itself even before he promised his set was “goona be a lot more Goldblum-y than that.” I can’t wait to see his newly pitched show about a bilingual hat called Fedora the Explorer.

And while I’m at it, allow me to burn one of Matt Braunger’s best lines: “Wild boys! Wild boys! Sorry, I have Duran Tourettes”. Runner up: “Since you guys have 15 sex shops for every 1 sex shop in this town…”

Marc Maron began the final set of the night with a tale about himself, Kindler, and Eugene Mirman getting lost while driving to a Target in the outskirts of Cincinatti — wherin we learn that he does a fantastic Kindler impression.

Maron moved onto a chunk very close to my heart, about his experience in Winnipeg a few months ago. “What the fuck is this? how many times can someone show me the windiest corner in North America?… I fought the urge to go up to people and say ‘you can just GO. Get on a bus or a plane or a train and just GO someplace where there’s coffee shops and black people…’” (I’m a former Winnipegger and did finally realize a few years ago that I could indeed just GO.)

He closed with a story about what must be the craziest woman he’s ever met on the road (I hope), who wanted him to help deliver a letter to the Governor at 1:30am because he’d saved her from Mormons. Or something like that. The crowd loved Marc, cementing my suspicion that everyone who loves Andy also loves him. A great way to bookend the evening.

Variety’s annual list of 10 Comics to Watch was revealed last night.

I imagine anyone reading this blog is already familiar with all 10 names. Many aren’t exactly bold choices, as it doesn’t take an industry genius to predict a career upswing for someone recently cast in a major network sitcom.

The list, linking to their Variety profiles:

Wyatt Cenac, photo by Sharilyn Johnson

Matt Braunger

Wyatt Cenac

John Dore

Donald Glover

Ken Jeong

Nick Kroll

Ellie Kemper

Aubrey Plaza

Kristen Schaal

(Really, do we need to be told at this point that Kristin Schaal’s future looks bright?)

One nice surprise is seeing Canadian Jon Dore’s name on this list. He’s fun to watch on stage, just as fun to watch on the quirky Jon Dore Television Program (airing on the Comedy Network up north), and I’ve never heard anyone say a bad thing about the guy. Should he choose to head southward, good things will happen for him.

The majority of these folks are expected to appear at Just For Laughs in Montreal next week at the Comedy Conference, and they’ll no doubt be last-minute additions at some of the club shows and galas.