Tag Archives: comedy

Comedy, concert review, Fat Creeps, Local Music, Music

Review: Kylie and Mark’s Comedy Throw-Up @ Salem Cinema (2/21/13)

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I don’t know what it’s like to talk about comedians in this kind of format, in fact I’ve never really sat myself down to hear one or five in person. I am impressed by the way things went down on this evening. Host Andrew Durso cracked some wise cracks before introducing the comedians – some amateur, some quite reputable around the area. Reputable or not reputable, funny is funny, no matter which way you look at it. And creative, yeah, creative is creative. I give a lot of credit on the most basic level to the comedians for taking the stage. That is a feat. I found myself tearing up on a number of occasions. The variety of comedy, ranging from little skit type of things to brief one-liners, allowed for the versatility of the performers to shine through. I am not bullshitting you, I don’t know how to recap comedy…OK!

Each had their fine moments, never a dull moment, watching someone saying shit that a wide audience can agree is funny. Shout-outs to Gary Peterson, Ian Von Steffen, Riley Knispel, Matt Watson, Mark Gallagher, and Kylie Alexander. You done good.

Did I miss out on THE BFs? Potentially. Hey, it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t drive. I recall The BFs from the other night, hey BFs dude, Joey, I remembered, if you read this, I’m that dude who said yo nice shit at the Cambridge Elks. I must have missed you play on this night, as I would have been congratulatory on the successes of being on the stage and doing rock and roll. Your rock and roll is a good time; I do not see many bands like you these days. I have seen some popish punk in my time, not all of it very entertaining cuz I’m not much a pop-punk guy, but I can get more behind you than those others. Hope you know what I mean.

The Fat Creeps finished things off for the night. I took a seat near the front. Others preferred standing, slobbering around the stage, or not slobbering around the stage, but being around it, dancing even. I haven’t really seen this kind of locomotion at a Creeps show since five days prior at the Elks, when those Lowell guys were mosh pitting during “Daydreaming”. Well, set-wise, it is an exemplary performance, with the usual suspects and a surprise (for me, anyway) of the song that I remember being my favorite from when all I could associate with the Fat Creeps was their Bandcamp. The song is “Leave Her Alone”. They haven’t played that in a while, I mean you haven’t played that in a little bit, if one of the band members is reading this. That’s cool. New favorites such as “Going to the Party” and “He Comes in Loudly” and that other tune that draws a lot of clapping were most definitely in the mix and those other ones I really like. It is hard not to like the Fat Creeps; they are really nice people, but performers, top-notch. The kind that has you coming back for more. KLYAM has definitely indulged in this regard, but when heavenly performances are to be seen, you have to see them. I do like standing up better, just my own preference, so the next night at O’Briens would allow for some truly optimal conditions. I’ll let Chris take over describing that event. Though I could write now.

Good oldies Salem, see you at the next juncture.

Bill Hicks, Comedy

Bill Hicks – The Essential Collection

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Description From Amazon.com:
Bill Hicks’ extraordinary social commentary is as fresh and stunning today as it was in the 80’s and 90’s. He confronted mainstream beliefs and hypocrisy. Bill often engaged his audiences, encouraging them to travel with him and evolve. He described himself as “Chomsky with dick jokes.” Hicks’ career was short in span but powerful in impact. His rigorous touring schedule from the early 80’s into the early 90’s often tallied over 300 nights performing per year. Hicks appeared on Late Night with David Letterman eleven times during his career.

The Essential Collection is a 4 disc set (2 CD / 2 DVD) that encompasses Bill Hicks short but powerful career as a satirist, social critic and stand-up comedian. The 2 DVD discs feature over five hours of performance footage from Bill Hicks personal archives. The video content includes rare, never before seen performance footage of Bill from the early 80 s. Also included is the cult short film, NINJA BACHELOR PARTY (starring Bill Hicks, Kevin Booth and David Johndrow), interview footage with Bill, and a DVD photo gallery with pictures from Bill s personal archives. The 2 CD discs feature over two hours of Bill s best stand up material. Included are never before released performance pieces by Bill from a San Ramon, CA performance that was found in Bill s archives. The package also features liner notes from Henry Rollins, noted UK author Paul Outhwaite and UK journalist/tv personality, Clive Anderson. Also included in the package is a download card containing 11 original song recordings by Bill entitled, Lo-Fi Troubadour.

Entertainment, Femmes, Films, reviews

Zach Galifianakis Review

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Comedian: Zach Galifianakis
Location: UMASS Lowell, Campus Rec Center
Date: September 4, 2009
Grade: C+

Here’s Why: Well, unlike about 80-90% of the people in the audience (it was a rather large crowd of anticipating college students) I knew of Zach and his work before his breakthrough success in this summer’s comedy blockbuster,The Hangover. With that being said, my knowledge of his routine was quite minimal. I heard someone describe his act as “awkward comedy” and I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, the show was a bit plagued by poor audio. I’m not sure whether it was the university’s PA system or Zach’s ill-oratory skills. I tend to think the former, but either way people in the back (including me) put forth a valiant effort to comprehend what the comic was articulating. At various points in the show, kids shouted “FIX THE MIC! WE CAN’T HEAR YOU!” Zach merely shouted back and challenged the young men to come up front and confront him about it. This altercation between the funny man and the audience was a recurring episode throughout the evening. He simply employed the mishap as part of his show; a mitigated version of a Hicksian technique. Much of the show was Zach, as he usually performs, on the piano making bizarre, almost absurd, sometimes offensive one-liners. This was followed by brief, impromptu interviews with audience members (all college kids, mostly Lowell students) in which he poked fun at their majors or occupations. Here’s one jab that stood out to me: paraphrasing:
Zach: What year are you?
Girl (innocently): I’m in Sophomore
Zach: Yeah, I was in a Sophomore once too
The show ended with a projected video of Zach’s spoof of Whacko Jacko’s “Man In the Mirror,” which ended with our friend gaining a nice set of breasts!
Haha! Well, overall I thought it was decent; I thought it would have been better though. Some audience members, however, left right in the middle of the show, so I guess they detested it. Perhaps, he is better on recording. I’ll check it out sometime.

Chris