|
|
|
Comedy
Every Thursday, Al Harris rounds up the week's top five comedy shows. This week: Get offended by Dov Davidoff, roasted by Lisa Lampanelli and pick a fight with homeboy Joe DeRosa about chicken nugget sauce.
Hailing from Englishtown, N.J., comedian Dov Davidoff will deliver his brash and offensive brand of observational humor to the Philly masses this weekend at Helium. He’s a familiar face on the late-night-talk-show comedy circuit, plus he’s a series regular on NBC’s Raines with Jeff Goldblum. He also had a role in Invincible alongside Mark Wahlberg.
Thu., Feb. 23, 8 p.m., Fri.-Sat., Feb. 24-25, 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., $16-$33, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., 215-496-9001, heliumcomedy.com.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers who and what's giving Philly the giggles.
Ted Alexandro has been a professional comedian for twenty years. But similar to comedians I’ve interviewed in the past — like Greg Fitzsimmons or Louis Katz — he has remained a relatively obscure "comic's comic" due to the fact that his standup consists of strong writing and zero schtick. He will be performing two shows tonight and two shows tomorrow at Helium.
City Paper: You’ve done almost all the late-night shows. Which is your favorite?
Ted Alexandro: Letterman is the one I grew up with so he kinda has a special place in my heart. That said, there are a lot of funny guys now and they’re all pretty distinct. Craig Ferguson is doing some unique stuff. Jimmy Fallon kinda hit his stride; he’s doing different stuff with the viral videos.
CP: Have you ever come close to getting a sitcom deal?
TA: I’ve never gotten that far along. I’ve had pitch meetings, and I’ve had things get to the point where it looks like we have a deal, but then it falls through. The positive thing for any comedian is that standup is your bread and butter. Most of my career has been based off my standup work as opposed to going to auditions. Thank God I’m not an actor, I don’t think I could pay the bills.
CP: You initially wanted to be a teacher?
TA: I was a music teacher for five years. That was more out of pragmatism. Getting out of college, I knew I wanted to be in the arts. I was a music major initially — I used to play jazz piano — so I thought I’d be a musician. I had always done acting throughout college: drama club, community acting, etc. I didn’t have a notion for comedy till I joined a sketch group in college, and that’s when the idea came to reality that I could give comedy a try. I don’t know that I thought too far ahead, but I know I loved comedy. It seemed to be a good fit for all the things I liked to do — writing, being on stage and being funny.
CP: Was there a gig where you knew … this is happening?
TA: There were a lot of them over the years. Obviously the TV spots are big affirmations. Conan was my first television booking. It sorta legitimizes you. There are a lot of small ones, too. One time I did a gig on a boat, not even a cruise ship, just a boat that goes around New York Harbor. I was sorta new … [and] the first couple of comedians bombed, it wasn’t looking good for me. But somehow I was able to turn the room around. It was one of those nights where I kinda realized it. There are a lot of those seemingly desperate situations where you manage to salvage things or make it fun. I think that’s where most comedians earn their bones.
CP: Who do you think will be the Republican nominee?
TA: They say what they have to say to get elected, but these are not people who understand the needs and concerns of the electorate. People are living in 
need of homes and employment. The highest percentage ever of college graduates are having trouble finding jobs. Who do I think will emerge from the Republicans? You hear something different every week. Romney seems to be the one whose name keeps rising to the to top, but who knows?
CP: Drugs/alcohol?
TA: I’ve never been too big on either. I’ve gone through my stages drinking a lot. Drugs never appealed to me. I think when I was younger I was afraid of them. I tried pot a small handful of times, but I didn’t love it. I think I’ve always been kinda focused and disciplined and didn’t really want to get caught up in things that would be a distraction from what I like to do. I’d like to live a healthy life.
CP: Do you have kids?
TA: No, I’m single. Never got married. Never had kids. I’m from a big family, so I see myself having kids some day. I like kids a lot. When the right woman comes along I’ll be open to it.
CP: Are you bringing a feature act with you to Helium?
TA: Yes, Joe Mande. He's a very funny guy. Over the years we’ve crossed paths a lot in New York. He’s a very funny dude.
Fri.-Sat., Feb. 17-18, 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., $21-$33, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., 215-496-9001, heliumcomedyclub.com.
Have a comedy event you'd like featured in an upcoming LOL With It? Email the author at ryan.carey@citypaper.net or tweet him @slackerDIYtoday.
Philly-based sketch comedy troupe Camp Woods just upped their game with a brilliantly conceived video on Funny or Die. What happens when you take one of Southern hip-hop's most outlandish personalities, shoot him into space and force him to watch crappy movies? That's right, you get Mystery Science André 3000.
(al.harris@citypaper.net) (@journalismo)
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
David James has been entertaining Philly for seven years. He was Helium Comedy Club’s first-ever Philly's Phunniest in 2006, and today he frequents standup stages all over town.
City Paper: What's the difference between working Helium and 
working Laff House?
David James: At Helium, the audience is usually there to see a specific comic. They'll go out to see someone they recognize from TV or a movie. Or maybe they heard someone funny promoting on the radio. Either that or big name comics like DL Hughley or Bill Burr. The Laff House, it's not no-names, but it's not A-list names. So when [people go there], they go to see a comedy show.
CP: Is there any good way to promote the idea of just going out to see a comedy show when the comedians aren't famous?
DJ: Not really, the thing about comedy clubs is that they don't have to give a shit about you as a comic until you can put butts in seats. You can be getting standing ovations every night, but if you're not selling tickets because people don't know who you are, it doesn't matter. There are guys who will sell out shows because they've been on TV or movies. Then you go to the show and you're like, “This guy's not really a comic, he's just on the stage." … I'm not saying they can't grow into a good comic, but you're not really supposed to be in front of 300 people if you've been doing comedy for nine months. If Will Farrell or Mike Meyers … tried to do standup for an hour, they would eat shit, because it's different and they're not used to it. … I read an article about how Mike Meyers tried doing standup, and he had no idea how hard it was, and he was like, "Fuck this, I'm not doing this anymore!"
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
Two weeks ago, Todd Glass, Philly's most beloved comedy export since Bill Cosby, went on WTF with 
Marc Maron to tell the world he's gay. But not in those words, exactly. The 45-year-old comedian seemed to struggle with the "g" word, and I don't blame him. If there's one working sector that's particularly exposed to the filth of humanity's worst instincts, it's comedians. Still, Glass was sure-footed about why he wanted to come out: a two-fold purpose to be more honest with his friends who already "know," and to support young people who might be suffering in the closet.
"I watched those [Republican] debates and I was going out of my mind, because it seems like we're going backwards. We'll live to see the day when they're embarrassed about what they're saying. It's not going to happen in fifty years, it's going to happen in ten years. They're gonna have to show their grandchildren this footage and it's gonna be mortifying."
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, Philly improv troupe Iron Lung celebrates its one-year birthday show at the Arts Parlor. Says 
founding member Maureen Costello, "It's hard to believe that one year ago we were standing in a back alley behind Tabu warming up for our inaugural show. We had this certain air of naiveté to performing where there were no bad shows, no critics, and no doubt about what we were doing. Nothing deterred us that night, not even the passerby who gawked at us playing an imaginary knife game ... in an alley ... in the Gayborhood. We were Philadelphia's own West Side Story!"
In a short amount of time, the members of Iron Lung seem to have coalesced a legendary rapport. Corin Wells claims, "I feel like I've known these crazy kids since the womb ... a very large, multi-ethnic womb." Kevin Pettit boasts, "We are friends first and improv teammates second."
In the style of long-form improv, known as Evente, they take a suggestion from the audience (start thinking, folks!) and act out a scene on the spot. The group chooses one character to be fleshed-out with a series of three mini-scenes, and the whole process is repeated twice. Once the three main characters have been developed, we see a large scene three times from each character's point-of-view — we learn how the event affects their future. (Yes, there's quite a bit of time travel involved!)
The troupe is currently under the direction of Amie Roe (of the Amie and Kristen Show, who will also be performing tonight.) "They asked me if I wanted to work with the group, because Evente is a signature piece of the Magnet Theater in New York where … I perform regularly," says Amie. "Iron lung are a bunch of smarties — they have good improv instincts, which is something that's hard to teach. Evente` shows off their ability to create and develop very engaging characters."
Fri., Jan. 27, 8 p.m., $5, Arts Parlor, 1170 S. Broad St., ironlungimprov.com.
Every week, Al Harris brings you the week's top five comedy shows.
- 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
