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Stand-up
The man who invented jackass comedy is still kicking, and has been on tour performing standup comedy for about two years. True to form, his standup act is very strange. It’s funny in the same vein as his 
patently asinine antics, thanks to an unfathomably weird delivery. The subject matter of his act is fairly unoriginal (“Things were better when I was a did, before texting.”) Still, Green's honest chaotic mania lets you know he's genuine, even if it’s unsophisticated.
For all his weird "alien inhabiting a human body" shtick — which he's still unofficially doing at 42 years old — there are a few surprising and impressive nuggets of cerebral philosophy to be found in his routine. A bit about how robot servants and texting will start to reverse evolution recalls the existential backdrop of Wall-E. And his rant about how married people shouldn't have Facebook has roots in Judeo-Christian ethics, despite being intentionally buried in overtly obnoxious profanity.
We asked Green what it was like moving from his online talk show on The Tom Green Channel to the world of standup comedy. "The transition to standup was real good. I did it for a while as a teenager and loved it, but stopped doing it when I started the original Tom Green Show. There are some similarities between standup and what I was doing on the show. After doing the show for a decade, you really get into the rhythm of understanding what it is that my audience likes, what kind of weird things make people laugh. You have to work hard to come up with ideas, they generally don't write themselves — not the good ones, anyway. So you have to get into the work ethic. But I always loved getting on stage and performing, so it was pretty seamless."
Last night, Kyle Kinane, Portland's Ian Karmel, NYC's Rolo Perez and Philly's own Aaron Hertzog absolutely killed it at Helium. Feature act Karmel (Portlandia) nearly stole the show with his riotous bits about being terrified of shark attacks, but Kinane — who's been on John Oliver's NY Standup Show, Conan, Live at Gotham and others — won the audience over with weirdly hilarious stories about drunk-dialing a cab to take him to the drive-thru at Wendy's, and the time he saw a crazy guy eating pancakes out of a plastic shopping bag on an airplane.
Kinane is undoubtedly — if not already — one of the next huge names in standup comedy. His acclaimed comedy album Death of the Party is available on Amazon and iTunes. "I'm just lucky they're actually paying me to do comedy," says Kinane. "I don't know where I'll be in three years and that's exciting to me. I just want to keep writing, keep coming up with new material."
The whole crew will perform again tonight and tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. For tickets ($21-$33), visit heliumcomedy.com.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
This Friday, First Person Arts fave R. Eric Thomas (pictured) will co-host the Gayborhood's most popular alternative 
comedy show, Camp Tabu at, you guessed it, Tabu Lounge and Sports Bar (200 S. 12th St.). Event organizer Alejandro Morales always features a different comedian at each show to co-host and do a longer feature set later in the evening. Thomas — a playwright, teaching artist and standup dramedian — has been touted as one of Philly's most talented LGBTQ storytellers. His one-man show Will You Accept This Friend Request? premiered during November's First Person Festival to a sold-out run.
Also appearing with Morales and Thomas this Friday will be Chip Chantry, Aaron Hertzog, Mike Logan, LaTice, TJ Hurley, Stephen Harman and Natalie Levant. If you haven't checked out Camp Tabu yet, it's only $5 and comes with a drink ticket. Morales boasts a regular audience count of 50-75 people. "It's really exciting," he says, "because it's a chance for young comedians to come and do a show in front of a real crowd that isn't filled with other comedians."
By the by, Natalie Levant has been making splashes, and has a funny video from her set across the river at Sarcasm comedy club in Cherry Hill. "I'm broke, I'm post-post-post-post-post-post menopausal, and I hate kids and old people. I'm a poor, dried-up bitch. What am I doing here? Well that's easy, I'm disgracing my family."
Check out her vid below ...
Every week, Al Harris brings you the week's top five comedy shows.
Every week, Al Harris brings you the week's top five comedy shows.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
Tonight, on the second floor of Manayunk's Grape Room, a select group of Philly comics will perform in 
Fighting Burrito Comedy Showcase (named after organizer Nicole Yates' Fantasy Football team). The evening will be headlined by James Hesky, now in his third year as a Philly comedian to be reckoned with. You should check out his podcast, Cheapodcast, co-hosted by fellow Philly joke giant Darry Charles, which soon celebrates its one-year anniversary.
Yates, is hosting the show, and she had a few hilarious things to say about her lineup:
Jim Grammond — “Jim's standup is smart, silly and funny all at once. He gets his ideas when his tattoos whisper to him in his sleep.”
Carolyn Busa — “Carolyn crafts jokes that zig, zag and scratch; that itch you while being awesome and loving owls.”
Following a sold-out show at Helium Comedy Club, Gary Gulman of Last Comic Standing fame finds himself somewhere between the in-your-face crudeness of Chris Rock and the “kids say the darndest things” innocence of Bill Cosby. And, to my own surprise, that isn’t necessarily such a bad thing.
Gulman’s hourlong act was a hodgepodge of jokes ranging from the comedic absurdities of today’s economic climate (“Everything on the bottom rack of the cart is free,” says Gulman) to explaining why Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz is “a bitch.”
Yet what made Gulman’s act so entertaining was not the handful of scurrilous quips thrown out, but the refreshing stray from the norm by not relying on cliché lines about sex or racial boundaries to pluck laughs from the audience. Glancing back at the crowd, most seemed more than content wiping away tears from laughing at jokes about Blockbuster being “filth” or, my personal favorite, an all-too-true rant about the wonders of shopping malls.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
You probably know Gary Gulman, appearing tonight and tomorrow at Helium Comedy Club, from his third place win on season two of Last Comic Standing or as a performer on Dane Cook's Tourgasm (easy hipsters, just because you hate D.C. doesn't me he didn't have some outstanding comedians in his entourage). This week, I shot the shoot with him about his favorite comedians, Donald Trump and why he likes to hide in bushes.
City Paper: What was it like being a guest of Philly-native podcaster-extraordinaire Todd Glass?
Gary Gulman: It’s very similar to hanging around with Todd Glass at his house or backstage before the 
show. He does real funny things and plays silly games. Once he shoved a whole box of white Tic Tacs in his mouth and started [spitting them out] and complaining about losing his teeth. I did a show with him one time when his mom was there. He pushed [her] into the Green Room where we were all gathered before the show, and said in a high voice, “Hi, I’m Todd’s mom, who wants to sleep with me?" His whole life is like an extended performance art piece. I laugh so hard around him. [When we were on] Last Comic Standing, some people were put off by this guy who’s "always on." But there’s no off switch. He’s so much fun, he takes over any show he’s on. Not in an obnoxious, aggressive way. He brings his own headspace and attitude. I went to the Patrice O’Neal memorial service in NYC, and it was the most unique funeral you’ll ever be at, because there were comedians speaking in tribute to him. As sad as it was, there were huge laughs, insults and ripping, touching and heartbreaking. I felt really lucky that these were my colleagues.
CP: Are you a big reader? What kind of books do you like?
GG: I try to read fifty books a year. This year I’m on pace for about thirty-five or so. I like to read nonfiction — Malcolm Gladwell, Michael Lewis — or sports books. I use the library to save money by listening to a lot of books on CD while I’m driving.
CP: Are you happy that all these GOP candidates are snubbing the Donald Trump debate?
It’s safe to say that standup comedy is designed to be one of the most frightening, humbling activities out there. Just take a moment to consider the scene:
Your name is called. You walk onto stage, alone, into the spotlight and adjust the mic. The audience is full of people you don’t know, who don’t know you, who are expecting to be thoroughly entertained. Chances are they’ve seen several souls get up there, and under the inherent pressure, crumble. They are notoriously unforgiving of mediocre jokes, sensitive to visible signs of nervousness and, unless you can do something to change it, dead silent. As is the irony of the craft, your only goal as the standup comedian is to make these creatures laugh. Then, next week, you should probably go at it again.
To continue returning the following week, you must really crave the craft of standup, and to really crave it, you must be nuts. One group in Philadelphia bonds over their insanity. In fact, they practice it.
The Temple University Comedy Club has been meeting since the beginning of this year to simplify the craft of standup and sharpen strategies. They are encouraged to figure out what “works” and “what doesn’t;” something gauged only through practice. As president of TU Comedy, Alex Grubard, has been telling his team since day one, “There is nothing natural about it … it’s something you have to practice and practice, get up on stage as much as you can, and practice.”
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.
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