LOL WITH IT: Your Philly-comedy New Year's resolution

POSTED: Friday, January 6, 2012, 2:00 PM

Filed Under: Comedy LOL With It

Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.

New Year's resolutions are generally supposed to be committed to before Jan. 1, but if I know my fellow rag-tag band of Philly comedy fans, you're all a week late on coming up with one, and most of you don't give a shit

Still, the time is nigh for Philly to take it's place on the cultural map of the country's various entertainment hotspots — Chicago has improv, New Orleans has jazz, NYC has Broadway and Arizona's Grand Canyon State Park has synchronized long-distance urination (I know you think I'm making this stuff up, but trust me, post-Katrina N'awlins STILL has jazz!).

Some day, Philly will be known for its independant comedy scene. But we can't do this simply with lots and lots of talented, hardworking local comedians — which we have in droves! More importantly, we need a city that cares about laughter. We need audience members. I've sat in entirely too many audiences as one of nine people, four of which were other comics, and the rest comedians' significant others. We need members of the general population willing to be entertained on a Thursday night — for like five bucks.

If you choose to accept, your mission for 2012 is this: Once a month, grab two friends and go to a local comedy show, even if you've never heard of the comedians. ESPECIALLY if you've never heard of the comedians. Dozens of skilled funny-people are working to entertain strangers who wouldn't know them from a jar of grommets. They're earning slightly less than an actual street performer because they're addicted to the craft and commited to the act. Do not be turned off by the phrase, "open mic." Big clubs aside, an independently run comedy open mic will typically have very few or no first-timers. And if the local regulars see a bunch of new friendly faces in the audiences, they'll want to reward you for coming out and hit you with some best-ofs in addition to the new stuff. Generally, these open mics should be called "Free Comedy Show."

And feel free to mix it up. One month, ya hit up the Ministry of Secret Jokes, the next month ya check out the silly long-form improv of Amie and Kristen (pictured top). Maybe check out some sketch comedy from Secret Pants or the Feeko Brothers (pictured below). By the way, Chip Chantry's variety show, "Hipsters Pretending To Make Fun of Hipsters" (or whatever it's called this month) is a great way to get a little bit of everything.

So scour that new-fangled Facebook timeline for a buddy who would least likely have a horrible time going out for some inexpensive, well-developed comedy (wow, your friends are some stodgy bastards, aren't they!). Click on the mutuals and blast a mass tweet — or whatever module you post-modern beasts are utilizing at present — and force yourselves to go have a good time once a month in 2012. Netflix and Redtube will still be there when you get home, I absolutely guarantee it.

(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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