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Comedy
It's an unusually busy weekend for laughs in Philadelphia. There are a number of options, but staying home isn't one of them!
FRIDAY:
The N Crowd (pictured) — These Philly regulars killed it at Philly Comedy Month, and they're doing their mix of short-form improv games tonight — and every Friday — at 8 p.m. at The Actors Center (257 N. Third St., $12-$15, phillyncrowd.com.
Comedysportz — The Adrienne Theater (2030 Sansom St.) stalwarts will be doing "The Blue Show" in addition to their regular improv-charged competition at 7:30 p.m. "The Blue Show" — at 10 p.m. — is exactly what it sounds like: Not family friendly. Vulgar. X-rated. Don't bring the kids. $12, comedysportzphilly.com.
PHIT — Stand-up Comedy: Children's Story @ 8 p.m: Top local comics tell stories from their youth, featuring Doogie Horner, Juliet Hope Wayne, James Hesky, Mary Radzinski, Carl Boccuti, Johnny Goodtimes and Chip Chantry. The Theme Show Presents: "Independence Day" at 10 p.m.: Philly comedians perform fresh material based on the theme. Hosted by Steve Swan (Bare Hug, Mayor Karen) and Pat Foy (Camp Woods). $10-$12, Shubin Theater, 407 Bainbridge St., phillyimprovtheater.com.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
The third episode of Down The Show — produced by Abigale Bruley and a team of Philly comedians — 
opens with an introduction by Kids in the Hall funnyman Kevin McDonald. The first sketch features a hilarious '80s-beer-commercial-style music video, in which the brewskies are swapped out for milk. Babes and studs frolic around in the sand and surf, guzzling quarts of 2 percent. Other noteworthy sketches include a commercial for the "My Talking Henry Rollins" doll, which has already made splashes on Philebrity and the Fuck Yeah Henry Rollins Tumblr, and the life doldrums of a baby standup comedian in "Baby Louie."
The centerpiece of the episode is a particularly entertaining sketch called "The Future Of Discourse (pictured above)," which stars members of former Philly sketch group The Sixth Borough Corey Cohen and Jason Messina (the sketch was written by Cohen). Two dudes at an office restroom are yakin' about their latest gadgets, and the dialogue is positively gibberish ... yet eerily familiar.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
Last night, Canadian-born standup comedy legend Norm MacDonald performed for a jam-packed, 
sold-out show at Helium. He did his usual ultra-conversational, "laid-back uncle" style of banter on topics like cannibalism and the out-of-control adult film industry (he seemed to do a good half-hour on each). His 2011 DVD, Me Doing Standup was an instant classic, and Norm did the same type of observational material in which he always finds the mundane in the bizarre — or vice versa.
MacDonald generally baffles me, because his punchlines make so much sense that they almost seem obvious. But he has a way of putting it; a style of delivery that is uniquely his own. When you buy a ticket to see Norm MacDonald, you're not really paying to hear jokes, you're paying to spend time with his personality. This is not to say that his writing isn't sharp. It just always seems ... funnier than it should be.
If you're uninitiated, check out the video below from his special, in which he puzzles over why serial killers always seem to bury their victims in a "shallow grave."
MacDonald always sells out in Philly, and this weekend is no exception. Helium even had to a Sunday show at 7 p.m. Head over to heliumcomedy.com for tix. While you're there, pick out a night of Philly's Phunniest to come support local comedians. The seventh annual contest will be running throughout the summer.
(ryan.carey@citypaper.net) (@slackerDIYtoday)
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
It's no surprise many Philly comedy fans are also fans of independent pro-wrestling. One such local 
promotion is known for blurring the line between sports-entertainment and comedy with post-vaudevillian characters and a flair for over-the-top theatrical silliness that earned it an international fan base. In the world of Chikara, anything can happen: Time can freeze. Dudes can use magic to hypnotize their foe. It's like Harry Potter with hurricanranas. The spirited family-friendly outfit picked up a bit where Extreme Championship Wrestling left off, but traded in the violence and vulgarity for whimsical costumes, rosters full of both humans and insectoids, and high-flying action that tributes both Mexican "lucha libre" and Japanese wrestling traditions.
Depending on your point-of-view, you can say that Chikara's charm is that it doesn't take itself too seriously — or you could say it takes itself SO SERIOUSLY that their commitment to any schtick or crazy storyline makes a spectator feel like an eleven-year-old kid again. Either way, Chikara is the pro-wrestling equivalent of a live-action comic book unfolding before your eyes — there's even a Chikara web comic that builds the mythology and back-stories of various Chikara characters.
As we told you in this week’s Agenda, you can check out their Internet pay-per-view Chikarasaurus Rex: How To Hatch a Dinosaur tomorrow at the Troc. In the meantime, enjoy my chat with Chikara's senior official Bryce Remsburg, who LOL readers may recognize as a founding, balding member of Philly sketch-comedy group Secret Pants.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
Last night, Philadelphia's own Feeko Brothers performed the first of their two-night run of “Crotch The 
Throne.” This latest batch of sketches is among their funniest, staying true to the Feekos' biggest strengths: absurdity and salesmanship. They will pitch you a truly inane premise, and then sell it with so much conviction that, half the time, they end screaming at each other or at you. This formula would spill over the top or grow weary with a less-talented duo, but these Temple film grads are such compelling performers that they truly take you "in it" with them each and every time.
And it can be an alarming journey!
The Feekos' chops expand beyond selling you premise after ridiculous premise. Their writing decisions are so strong they seem to create the in-the-moment phenomena of improv theater with the razor conceptuality of modern sketch greats. Billy Bob (the skinny Feeko) teaches sketch-comedy writing at Philly Improv Theater, and both the bros are standups while they're not Feeking to high heavens.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
We had a fun chat with internet-sensation/Conan-regular Reggie Watts about eating pot brownies on live TV, his Thom Yorke impression and how he feels about being a psychedelic comedian. He’ll be performing his unique brand of improvisational music-comedy tomorrow night at the Troc (click here for tickets).
City Paper: What's your favorite question to be asked in an interview?
Reggie Watts: Uh, maybe "Where are you right now?"
CP: Noted. Least favorite?
RW: "How would you describe your act?" I mean, I know it's a necessary question, but ...
CP: How do you like coming to Philly?
RW: I've been there a few times … to the clubs back in the day when the whole neo-soul thing was going on, and The Roots and everything. I played with Soulive at the TLA and got booed off the stage by the audience, which is fun. I've tried ... a Philly cheesesteak ... and thought, "I might be having a heart attack."
CP: You've said the root of your show is about being in the moment with absurdity. Would you call your style "psychedelic comedy"?
RW: Yeah, I've actually started using that exact phrase. I've been thinking about that idea, and about all the guys I know who do that kind of "out there" comedy, like Jon Dore and Rory Scovel. It's cool that the term is already out there.
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 Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles. Today: Ryan chats with local comedic storyteller Hillary Rea.
City Paper: Are you a teacher like most Philly comedians?
Hillary Rea: I teach acting to elementary-school kids [at the Arden], and I also teach at the 
Kimmel Center. I do classes there for school groups that come on field trips.
CP: How did you get into Storytelling?
HR: Last summer, I did this artist's residency at Elsewhere in Greensboro, N.C. This crazy old lady, who was a hoarder, used to live amongst her horded belongings from 1940 to 2000, and then died. Her grandson graduated from Penn and went down to her house and decided to turn it into an artists’ studio and gallery. It's a residency where you get a month to go live at this place and work on your art. [I went] last June] … thinking, "I'm not an artist, this is gonna be so weird, everyone's gonna be running around naked ... " The project I ended up doing … I began writing down some of my stories. Eventually I was like, "Now I get it, this is what I do." I spent this last year working on those stories, adding jokes in there when I could or re-working them for performance and things like that. I think there are some storytellers who make a living as comedic public speakers, so I'm trying to find a way to get that somehow into my life.
CP: You got to open for Michael Showalter. How'd you get that sweet gig?
HR: I saw an ad in City Paper that he was coming [on his book tour] that said "Michael Showalter + TBA". I saw that and thought, "Oh that's cool, I wonder how I can try to open for him." My boyfriend was like, "Send him a tweet!" [I tweeted that I wanted to open for him] … and right away he was like, "Send me your reel!" So I did but I never heard back from him. Then I went to his book signing at Penn, and I went up to get my book signed and I had this turmoil, wondering whether I should say something. I'm not really a pushy person, and I get kinda nervous around people. But I decided to say something. I told him, "Hey I tweeted you my video ... " And he immediately remembered. He cut me off, "Oh, I completely forgot to watch your video. Why don't you just come open for me?" But the show was in like two hours! So, luckily, I already had a bunch of shows that week so I just told two of the stories that I was working on at the time, and that gave me a lot of confidence. So if there's anyone you wanna open for, just send them a tweet!
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
The second annual F Harold Comedy Festival starts next week at Walnut Street Theatre Studio 5. It 
will feature six evenings of comedy from many of Philadelphia's best improv, sketch and standup artists. Compared to Philadelphia Comedy Month, which consists of three one-week mini-fests inviting both local and out-of-town talent, the F Harold is a Philly-only venture belonging entirely to members of the local scene.
In addition to many of our hometown 'prov faves like Hey Rube (Tuesday), The N Crowd (Wednesday), Beirdo (Thursday), Iron Lung (Friday), Hate Speech Committee (Saturday), and Nielson (Sunday), there will be smatterings of local standups, sketch groups and brand new Phimprovisers making their stage debut.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
Matt Ferguson (aka Mattstache) has been making silly videos with his high school buddy for a decade. A month or two ago, he uploaded one that hit half-a-million views in two days. The particularly hairy Rutgers professor had quite a full beard, and thought it'd be fun to incorporate the incremental removal of said beard into one of his silly lip-syncs. The result was a video so ridiculously goofy that Huffpost, CBS Newsblog and a number of heavy tweeters took notice. Singing along to David Guetta's "Turn Me On" (feat. Nicki Minaj), Ferguson recorded six different "heads" of his in choreographed lip-synch, each head with a slightly different facial-hair situation and a different persona.
"For the next video, we're thinking about doing some side content with the individual personas, because the specific personalities seem to be what people really like about the video."
Ferguson isn't your typical YouTube fame-seeker. A professor of American studies, he is also the assistant director of student life at Rutgers New Brunswick. A generally silly guy, Ferg's partner in crime is fellow Cherokee High School grad Brian Bennet, who now has a video production company in Hollywood called Dynasty Films. You may be familiar with the chilling time-lapse segments in Breaking Bad? Those are Dynasty Films' handy work. Mattstache's video isn’t quite as dramatic as that, but what it lack in heaviness it makes up for in facial hair! Check it out below:
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