LOL WITH IT: Bedtime Stories final show this Sunday

Q&A with Bedtime Stories creator Gregg Gethard (pronounced Geth-erd) about his last show.

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LOL WITH IT: Bedtime Stories final show this Sunday

POSTED: Friday, May 20, 2011, 3:00 PM

Filed Under: Comedy LOL With It

Ryan Carey chats with Bedtime Stories creator Gregg Gethard (pronounced Geth-erd) about his last show.

Critical Mass: Take me back to the beginning...

Gregg Gethard: I've always been pretty interested in comedy. I said in my appearance on Carmen Sandiego in 8th grade that I wanted to be a comedian. I've always been kind-of a class clown. I did some comedy in college at the open-mic night. I did some weird fake interpretive dance routines to amuse my friends. I wanted to pursue it after college, but I got caught up in the crazy world of journalism. And I had to concentrate on that because I really loved my career. Concurrently, my little brother Chris started doing some things at the UCB theater in NY and became a sort of star on the rise. He hosted a show up there called "Nights of our Lives," every month they come up with a theme, and all the stories had to tie in to that theme. He had a theme called "the most embarrassing night of my life", and he knew I'd be good for that because most of my nights are embarrassing in some fashion. So that was the first time I ever really did comedy. I told a story about an unfortunate incident of flatulence during, a, uh... physical act. It went over really well and I got bit by the comedy bug so I started trying to do things down here in Philly. I met Greg Maughan who was starting up the Philly Improv Theatre. I told him I want to start doing a show down here, and he was gracious enough to let me. We started doing not just storytelling, but ANYTHING about the theme. It just really clicked with a lot of performers who were all coming together around the same time. And it found an audience. Four and a half years later, it's coming to an end.

CM: When did the venue change occur?

GG: It stayed with PHIT at the Shubin for a year and a half, the impetus for moving is that the theater was no longer big enough to hold the audience. It holds around 45 and it got too packed. Connie's was re-opening, and you can fit like a hundred in there. So we took the show over there and it was one of those things where, I couldn't believe how many people were coming to this thing. A lot of it was my friends and performers' friends, but there became an actual audience for it too. And a lot of the people in the audience ended up forming their own groups and now they do the show. It had like a snowball affect, becoming one of the biggest draws in Philly. We've been averaging around 50 or 60 people. The Carmen Sandiego night (featuring the blond-dreads guy from Rockapella) got something like 90 people.

CM: Any over-arching life-lessons from running Bedtime Stories?

GG: The show has taught me so much about myself and what I'm capable of doing. For instance, I'm a good Catholic boy and it just kinda hit me that one of the reasons why I'm doing this show is that I can really help other people. So every month we do a different charity. I donate whatever we make at the door, and we pass around a bucket and people can put in whatever they want to that bucket. After the Haiti earthquake, we raised $500 for relief efforts.

CM: You're handing the show over to Rob Baniewicz of Meg and Rob fame, correct?

GG: Yes. I haven't talked to Rob about exactly what he's doing, but on top of being one of the funniest people I know, he's been someone I've kinda used as a consigliere for the show. He's helped me outbehind the scenes and talked me through a lot of stuff. Meg and Rob were one of the first groups to do the show. I couldn't think of anyone better to take it. I've always said that if Bedtime Stories is a basketball team, I'm just the point-garde. It's a team effort though, and Rob is the best person to continue in that way.

CM: Do you have any favorite Bedtime Stories memories?

GG: There have been a few shows where everyone who performed hit a home-run. The first one that got a lot of notice was a tribute to The Wire. I managed to get Ptolemy Slocuman, an actor who was on The Wire, to come and talk about being on the show, which coincided with The Wire's series finally. And then last year we did an ICP show called Gathering of the Juggalos. We did a tribute to Queen, which was maybe the best show we've ever done. It was just really wierd, there were like six different people dressed as Freddy Mercury during the night. We also did a show about the Jersey Shore about 3 years before MTV thought of the idea.

CM: Tell me about your final episode.

GG: The last show is this Sunday at 8 p.m., $5 at Connie's Ric Rac and the topic is called "Welcome to the Promised Land". I didn't want to do anything dark, I wanted to do something, to end of kind of an uplifting note. I picked that because I wanted the show to be a celebration, not just of the show, but kind of about life. You know, I think life is good, but I think it can get better for a lot of people. It also works out nicely because it's on May 22, and apparently the Rapture is going to be on May 21st. So it very well could be a comedy show during the Rapture, which could end up being a lot of fun. Hell, half the performers might not be there, because they might be going to heaven the night before.

Sun., May 22, 8 p.m., $5, Connie's Ric Rac, 1132 S. Ninth St., conniesricrac.com.

__________________________________

Rob Baniewicz will be taking the themes back to the Philly Improv Theatre for a few months with the new "THEME SHOW". The first three dates are as follows:

First, or My First Time - July 8th

True Crime/Law & Order - July 29th

The Arts/Art School - August 26th

Says Baniewicz, "I'm still looking to book acts so if anyone wants to write a routine/sketch/tell a story about the theme, please contact me."

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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