|
|
|
LOL WITH IT: Q&A with comedian Christopher Titus
Ryan chats with actor and standup comedian Christopher Titus, who's playing Helium Comedy Club through Sunday.
LOL WITH IT: Q&A with comedian Christopher Titus
Ryan chats with actor and standup comedian Christopher Titus, who's performing this weekend at Helium Comedy Club.
City Paper: You're not known as a very political comic, but I understand you're doing more of that these days?
Christopher Titus: Here’s what bothers me about political comics. They give me their opinion, but I don’t know why. I don’t know who they are enough to care. I did two pseudo-political shows: Neverlution 
and The [Fifth Annual] End of the World Tour. And by the way, there are forty-seven minutes at the end of the End of the World Tour that Comedy Central lost. They film a ninety-minute show and then they cut into a sixty-minute program. One day I called them and asked about the unused portion of the show, and they said they just kinda let it go, they lost it. So I made them find it [and they said] I could release it on my own. I’ve had so many deals over the years. I decided I’m gonna own all my specials. Now I know why Prince painted "slave" on his face.
CP: Tell me about your podcast?
CT: There are so many comedy podcasts, and [Mark] Maron does it the best. It’s a weird outlet for me to be current all the time. A friend of mine was a DJ on the East Coast. I would send him a two-minute bit called the "Armageddon Update." I stopped after a while and started the podcast a year ago [and it] has taken off. You can say so many things on a podcast that you can’t say anywhere else.
CP: How do you like playing Philly?
CT: I’ve played Philly twice. Helium's ... the kind of club a comic loves. It’s sorta underground and it has a low ceiling. The laughter just rolls at you. The people are right on top of you. Bill Burr always recommended this city. I like playing the East Coast. Out in Idaho, they'll be polite, but on the East Coast, everybody expects you to be on top of your game.
CP: Who were your big influences growing up?
CT: When I was five, I used to go to sleep listening to Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, and George Carlin records. When I started doing comedy, Dana Carvey, Robin Williams ... Patton Oswalt's Werewolves and Lollipops really inspired me, too. Also, [Greg] Proops is one of the smartest, funniest comics on the planet. When I started comedy, my first time on stage, Greg was on a team called Proops and Brakeman. I have some attitudes on what I think is good comedy and what I don't, it’s all based on writing. You can’t fake laughter. In comedy, I always wanna be smart. I never wanna go cheap. I’m not cynical enough to think I can’t get better every time. When I heard Werewolves and Lollipops, I knew I had to step my game up.
Comedy’s gone through so many ups and downs. There’s gonna be a whole wave of music comics coming back. Someone will do a hip magic-comedy show. What we're hearing now is the same sex jokes and assholes that I heard in the '80s but they’re just repackaging it with a sardonic wink. Patton and Andy Kindler aside, there's a new group of guys who go up there and say, “I’m gonna fuck my grandma!" Really dude? Just like music: Lady Gaga is just doing Madonna and all these other people but she’s wearing a meat dress ...
Fri.-Sat., Nov. 11-12, 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., $25, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., 215-496-9001, heliumcomedy.com.
- Activism
- Arts
- Arts Events
- Books
- Dance
- First Person Fest
- Last Chance
- Museum
- On the Fringe
- Philly Artists
- The Curator
- Theater
- Visual Art
- Arts News
- Artist Profile
- Arts Preview
- Street Art
- Been There, Done That
- Big Ups
- Comedy
- LOL With It
- Stand-up
- Critical Mass
- DVD
- Events
- Friday Fill-in
- Ice Cubes
- In Memoriam
- Interview
- Just Do It
- Just Opened
- Kaleidoscopic
- LGBTQ
- Art Phag
- Mailbag
- Movies
- Film Fest
- Movie Review
- On set
- Scenester
- screening
- trailer!
- Music
- 10 Track Mind
- Album
- Album Review
- Concert Review
- DJs
- Local Support
- Now Hear This
- One Track Mind
- Philly Bands
- Show
- Somebody Else Was There
- Song
- The Showdown
- concert photos
- jazz
- DJ Nights Blogged
- Night Watch
- Now See This
- Poetic License
- Printed Matter
- Radio
- Shopping
- Coveted
- Fashion
- What We Heart
- TV
- 24
- Idol Hands
- Mad Men
- ProjRun
- True Blood
- Useless Lost Recaps
- Couch Potato
- Shore Trash
- Turned ONN
- TopMod
- Video Games
- Free Online Game
- PSP
- PlayStation 2
- The 1-Upper
- Wii
- Web Junk
- CAGE MATCH
- Free Online Toy
- Weekend Omnibus
- Win
