LOL WITH IT: Chatting with WitOut.net's Aaron Hertzog

WitOut.net's Aaron Hertzog and his small staff of malnourished friendship slaves just released a comprehensive list of Philly's 2011 Halloween comedy destinations. This week, over a small repast of scones and soda, I had a brief chat with him about this and the other work he does for his around-the-clock local-comedy website.

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LOL WITH IT: Chatting with WitOut.net's Aaron Hertzog

POSTED: Friday, October 28, 2011, 12:00 PM

Filed Under: Comedy LOL With It

Every Friday, Ryan Carey takes a look at who and what's giving Philly the giggles.

This week, over a small repast of scones and soda, I had a brief chat with Aaron Hertzog about his Philly comedy website, WitOut.net.

City Paper: How long has WitOut.net been in operation?

Aaron Hertzog: It's probably about a year old. I think it was late winter or early spring that Luke Giordano launched it. And I took it over when he left for L.A. in May or June. Luke did all the page design. I just followed the template. I'm basically the editor, I do most of the writeups and sometimes people contribute.

CP: I hear rumors about an upcoming WitOut.net comedy awards.

AH: We don't have a date yet, but we just figured out how to do the whole voting process. We want to keep the voting insular: a "for us by us" thing for Philly comedy. The original idea, when Rob Baniewicz first proposed it to me, was, for example, when Philly comedy groups and performers are applying for festivals in other cities, they’d be able to add a little flair to their resumes if they've won a WitOut.net award. People will [be able to} nominate their favorite performers, shows, sketches, etc ... Then, based on those nominations, we'll make simpler surveys for voting on the website.

CP: Will there be an actual award show or will this be online-only?

AH: We're trying to find a venue and make it fun, or try to do a formal thing. We're still figuring it out. Cost will be a factor since we have no budget.

CP: WitOut.net covers everything Philly comedy, right? Not just standup?

AH: We try to cover everything, I will write about standup, improv, sketch and storytelling. I also did some plays and such. Updating the calendar is so tedious. There's a page for weekly open-mics. I hope people look at it. I hope at least one person is looking for something to do and finds this site helpful.

CP: You’re a well-respected Philly standup. But you've also branched out recently, correct?

AH: I took an improv class for the first time a little over a year ago. Philadelphia Improv Theater (PHIT) had a yearlong intensive that happened during Spring Break so college kids would have time to do it. It ended up being just a bunch of unemployed people. I figured it'd probably be fun and help out with my writing process. Being a comedy nerd, I knew a lot of writers and performers have had an improv-comedy background. I found from doing it that it does help more with writing than thinking on my feet; to get in the mindset of building on ideas and taking things from step A to B to C. I took another one this year, a level two. After that, I auditioned for the PHIT house teams, just for the experience of it. I made it onto Hey Rube.

CP: Are you soliciting local comedy nerds to help out with WitOut.net?

AH: Yes! If any comedians or fans of Philly comedy want to contribute content, please email me at aaron.hertzog@gmail.com.

Heads up: If you're looking for comedy-centric Halloween events, Hertzog and his small staff of malnourished friendship slaves just released a comprehensive list of Philly’s 2011 Halloween comedy destinations on WitOut.net.

Have a Philly comedy tip? Email Ryan at ryan.carey@citypaper.net.

(@slackerDIYtoday)

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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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