Comedy & Music
Before I get into it, let me first say that I’m grateful for every show that gives me a spot and I’m looking forward to all these upcoming events, but it doesn’t mean I’m without my doubts. I’m made of doubt….and angry boners and technically a little bit of lead left over from 5th grade when Kevin Nice “accidentally” stabbed me with a pencil and the nurse was able “to get most of the lead out” and then said, “good enough for me!” After that day I would sit in class and fantasize about becoming the world’s lamest super hero when I was inevitably exposed to radiation and became “#2”—the triple entendre of this name was lost on me, but now I enjoy the idea that I would give myself a losing/poo based monicker. I was disappointed to find out that radiation, like most things in life, just gives you cancer. None of this is important.
After looking at my schedule for January and February I realized I was doing 3 different comedy/music shows over the next couple of months.
The Hollows are a great alt-country band from Bloomington that I’m psyched to finally see live. Also, it’s for a good cause, but naturally my intentions are more selfish.
I’ve never done any before, but I have watched a few of them….go down. Most of them failed and for one simple reason: it was about being cool. Music is cool. Comedy is repeatedly pieing yourself in the face and, at it’s best, shining a light on the pie on all our faces. Additionally, I’m not convinced that they go together as well as everyone seems to think they do.
Tonight Only: Dylan Thomas & Flapjack Willy the Hobo Clown from Cleveland
” A night of existentially haunting readings and ridiculously big shoes.” - NY Times
“Thomas gets into your bones with his chilling poems about raging against death to the very last breath and Willy will change your whole outlook on the idiosyncrasies of pants. He’s not afraid to ask the big questions: What is that little pocket inside your bigger pocket for anyway?” - Old Timey Newspaper
I’ve never understood comics that tried to be cool. This is not to say I don’t love comedy that pushes the envelope—which always sounds like the most benign thing one can do—or is new and strange, but I’m talking about the cool guy on stage. That will always be gross to me. Apathetic demeanor, all the criticism in the world without any level of introspection and a heaping helping of condescension. Yeah, that’s good comedy:
“You guys don’t get it. I’m like the Schrödinger of dick jokes: Is my dick in the box? Or is it just a dead cat? What you guys don’t read much about existential philosophy? Awesome (rolls eyes).”
Luckily, this kind of comedy, the holier than thou type, doesn’t really fly that often. Or does, but with people basically just saying, “yeah, we ARE so right. Stupid other people. Mental high-five.” I never cared for comedy that had all the answers. Louis CK and Marc Maron are the only two comedians that have ever really changed my opinion on some ethos and that was because they showed their own failure and extrapolated from there; more than anything, they were human. However, unluckily, these kind of shows seem to bring out this “cool” kind of comic.
I hate myself for being on this show, but isn’t that the new artist? Selling out and being hypocritical but with a wink. Also, I have no clue if this is anti-hipster or part of the new, “Yeah, we are hipsters, deal with it!” movement: “We’re here, we’re ironic, you wouldn’t get it though. Do you have any Parliaments?”
Or sometimes, as was the case a couple of the times I saw a comedy/music show, a comic would be really funny, but the crowd was too concerned with being cool. There seems to be a cultural shift towards pseudo-authenticity, as well as apathy as a substitute for personality. People will expose that they cut their arms or do coke, but that’s chic, and they would never be open enough to laugh at something because it’s one of the most exposing/naked things one can do. Plus, no one looks cool slapping their knee. Either way, the failure is based in this sense of coolness and whatever false pretenses stem from that bullshit.
However, I was also privy to one comedy/music show that went well. I believe, and this is the most novice of opinions, it was for a very basic reason:
The majority of the crowd was there for the comedy, but enjoyed the idea of having music throughout the night. I really don’t think it works well billed as music with comedy, but rather comedy with music. This is not to downplay the role of music in the night, as I find both equally valid, but rather goes along with this basic principle: no one on their night out likes to be surprised with a comedy show:
“Oh, you thought you were going to watch the big football game at the sports bar with your buddies? Guess again, dick jokes!”
“Oh, you wanted to hit on girls at the coffeeshop? Nothing puts a woman in the mood like abortion-centric one liners and an A-Team of nihilists and broken spirits.”
This was never as reinforced in me then the time I did a show at a student lounge on IU’s campus unbeknownst to the students playing various arcade games and watching TV. When they shut off the lights for the show a student from the sudden darkness yelled out: “Hey, we’re trying to fucking play ping-pong!” Basically, I think it requires an open minded audience that are comedy fans first and foremost. Also, all of the comedians that seemed to do well were very conversational, but didn’t try to follow the energy of the music and whatever charades come with that. They found the most original way to step on a rake or the most post-modern take on slipping on marbles. They were strange, original and interesting, but it was comedy, not rock n’ roll comedy—whatever that is.
I really think this could be an awesome show because it’s billed the right way. These are people experimenting with their mediums and trying out new stuff. The audience knows what to expect and hopefully the surprise comes from the quality of the performers and the uniqueness of the show.
I’m hoping that I’m totally wrong and these things go great or that I’m right and they’re done this way. However, I over think everything in life and more than anyone else, I’m guilty of being a control freak and making unfair judgements from the start. One-on-one most people pleasantly surprise me, yet I still deny them the benefit of the doubt. I shuffle all the songs on my iPod and don’t give any thought going between the quite literal experience of Artie Shaw’s “Nightmare” to the light observations of Jim Gaffigan to building/driving sound of the Beta Band back to the circus of vice that is Dave Attell. So maybe it’s all the same. Good is good. Bad is bad. People laugh, people dance. I hope so, but I have my doubts.
