LOL WITH IT: The Famous International Variety Show

Famous International Variety Show's James Hesky chats about his group's weekly standup sesh at Connie's Ric Rac.

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LOL WITH IT: The Famous International Variety Show

POSTED: Friday, May 13, 2011, 12:00 PM

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

Philly's standup comedy open-mic scene has achieved "booming" status within the past year or so. If you’re trying to get stage time, there's a spot for you to perform at least five nights a week. Setting up shop at Connie's Ric Rac (1132 S. Ninth St.) on Sundays at 7 p.m. is James Hesky, Darryl Charles and Mykal Carter Jackson, performing their Famous International Variety Show. James Hesky was kind enough to take some time out of his day to tell me the tale of the FIVS.

City Paper: So, what are the basics of the show?

James Hesky: We are open to all kinds of comedy — standup, sketch, music, and improv. Mykal Carter-Jackson started the show when he found a room at the Copabanana in University City and he approached Darryl about being a co-host. Darryl and I had been looking to start a room together, so Darryl asked Mykal if I could join in and that's how we got started. We decided to do the show at 7 p.m. so that we didn't interfere with Lickity Split, which was an important open mic for all of us and we wanted to give comics a chance to get to two mics on a Sunday or at least have the option of being done by 9:30 if they came to our mic.

CP: Why the change of venue?

JH: The Copabanana room was cool at first — our first show we had appearances from Bing Supernova from the Black Israelites — but we were in the basement and it was clear that they weren't really going to help us out much with promotion outside of doing some drink specials. Sometimes we would come downstairs and there would be outside furniture or some random umbrellas they were using from the weekend in the middle of the room. Then last fall we moved to Qba Lounge in Northern Liberties and briefly went under the Center City Comedy, LLC umbrella. We had a few good shows but there was a miscommunication and the venue owner was expecting a sold-out show within two or three weeks and so we parted ways.

CP: How did you guys end up at Connie’s?

JH: I had spoken with Connie's Manager Frank Tartaglia a few months earlier and he said they weren't ready to open on Sundays but just as we were finishing up with Qba, Frank emailed me to ask if we still were interested in running an open mic. Darryl, Mykal and I met with him and we agreed to wait until football season ended so we weren't competing with playoffs and a possible Eagles Super Bowl run (that was the hope for the city, at least).

CP: How's it been going?

JH: We've had about a dozen shows there, including hosting a couple rounds of the "one shining moment" March Madness comedy tournament, which completely filled the room for three straight weeks. Since then, things have been a little more subdued but we have developed into a fun room to work out new material in front of a supportive audience. We have a fairly regular group of younger comedians who come by, like Ian Fidance, Rick Rowboatin, Ken BDC and Alex Pezotta as well as some of the guys who are more established, like Mike Rainey and Luke Giordano. Recently, Roger C Snair (AKA Roger The Road Rager) has been showing up, and he may be one of the most fun people to watch perform. Also Frank Tartaglia has been getting up most weeks [to perform] and [he's] really doing some funny stuff.

For more information, visit conniesricrac.com.

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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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