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Comedy
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
Longtime local comedian Alex Pearlman has always been significantly more marginal than a lot of popular Philly-based comedy acts. This is perhaps due to his stream-of-consciousness, catharsis-oriented comedy that’s reminiscent of a young Marc Maron. When he came out publicly on stage in 2004, Philadelphia's comedy scene was much less LGBTQ-friendly than it is now. He's done a lot of stuff over the years that he’d mention with a self-deprecating eye-roll, but comedy is important to him. His love of the craft is infectious, and his use of the stage for a sort of two-way therapy session makes you realize that there's more to comedy than impersonal one-liners. On Wed., Jan. 25, you can see him at his free monthly showcase, Head First at The Dive (947 E. Passyunk Ave.) In the meantime, enjoy this chat I had with him as well as his YouTube video on Tycho Brahe.
City Paper: How would you say you've grown as a comedian over the years?
Alex Pearlman: Nobody wants to hear from you till your 30. I go back and look at my joke book from when I was 20, and it's all these hacky jokes about Bush and Michael J. Fox ... Wait till you have a friend that dies the same day another friend has a baby. Wait till you've been so broke that you can only afford one pack of Ramen a day. You need heartbreak, or to settle something in life. It was easy not to burn out early, because there weren't all that many mics. I didn't push for weekend work. I didn't do too many shows. I just wanted to do my five during the week and come back and work on my personality. It wasn't a strategy; I just sorta fell into it. I started a podcast with a rapper friend of mine [who] helped me refuel my comedy. He accused me [of being] “cocky and offensive." I read him a joke randomly out of my book, and it started: 'I was standing on the Empire State Building looking down at the world.' I realized he might be right.
More Pearlman after the jump »
Every week, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
Comedian Dave Hill is a Renaissance man, dabbling in a number of different persuasions. He’s written for The New York Times and Huffington Post, contributed to NPR's This American Life, played in the band Diamondsnake with Moby, and turned out numerous performances on Comedy Central, VH1 and Adult Swim. This year he adds another trade to his lengthy résumé: author of a new book, Tasteful Nudes: ...and Other Misguided Attempts at Personal Growth and Validation (St. Martin’s, May 22).
Tonight, the multi-tasker performs at Tin Angel. But before that, he chatted with me about how he stumbled into comedy, his favorite tunes and who he’s voting for in the Republican primaries.
Asking the non-musical question, I Love Being Me, Don’t You?, Sandra Bernhard had her fans eating out of her 
hand at the Painted Bride Wednesday night. On the rainy evening, she delivered on her promise to “make it sunny and bright,” opening with a kick-ass rendition of Neil Sedaka’s “Laughter in the Rain” that dripped with irony.
Taking on topics as diverse as her Mitral valve prolapse (and crush on her cardiologist) and raising her teenage daughter to name-dropping the only two people allowed to smoke in her apartment — Liza Minnelli and Chrissie Hynde, no less — Bernhard was revealing, unafraid to expose herself and her insecurities.
But Bernhard is also prone to puncture holes in “fakers,” and she memorably lacerated Tyra Banks, Cindy Crawford and Gywneth Paltrow for their lame product lines and self-aggrandizing sense of being. The comedian's irritation toward Bristol Palin and Jessica Simpson’s Fancy Nights fragrance may be expected, but these remarks still produced laughs because of her excellent delivery and amusing facial expressions. Her keen sense of comic timing was on display throughout the night; she never held the joke too long. All of her schtick stuck.
Backed by a trio of fine musicians, Bernhard’s musical numbers were the highlight of the show. She sang a few bars of Joni Mitchell’s “Ladies of the Canyon” and encouraged the audience to sing along to the 1973 Eurovision hit “Eres Tu,” which she performed in Spanish. While Bernard closed with REO Speedwagon’s “I Can’t Fight this Feeling,” it was her knockout encore — a medley of gun songs — that truly distinguished I Love Being Me, Don’t You? For it featured Bernhard in just a porkpie hat, t-shirt and stockings, strutting her stuff with panache. And everyone loving every minute of it.
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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.
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?
Every Friday, Philebrity Award-nominee Ryan Carey reports on who and what's giving Philly the tee-hee-hees.
Last night I enjoyed a mixed show of pro-wrestling joke-slingers and local comedians at Connie's Ric 
Rac for Delaware County comedy-booker Thomas H. Robinson III's 42nd birthday. To all you wrestling fans who missed out because you preferred to get your laughs from the Eagles, allow me to invoke a classic Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) chant: "YOU F*CKED UP! YOU F*CKED UP!"
In true style of independent Philly comedy, attendance was low but spirits were high. The show was hosted by ECW favorite — the lyrical miracle and the sexual intellectual — Joel [insert dirty limerick here] Gertner. Off-stage, Gertner was quieter, more laid back and — for what it's worth — way younger looking than I expected. On-stage, he was inappropriate, loud and hilarious as ever.
215 comedy favorites Benny Michaels and Jim Grammond ranted about their shortcomings in marriage, getting laughs for about ten minutes each. After that, the king of old-school and former ECW heavyweight champ Steve Corino amused us with tales of his, uh, exploits during his wrestling tours through Japan. Note: Stay away from any pay-for-companionship situations in that country.
Finally, we got to see hilarious local headliner Pat Barker (pictured). Barker, recently back from touring the West Coast, is hands down one of the funniest comedians we have in town. He gets big laughs with stories about how playing slots makes him a lame, degenerate gambler and how his Dad exaggerates when he reports on a McDonalds employee screwing up his order. Barker's consistently been one of the best Philly headliners for years now. Some comedians have more talent than skill, others vice versa. Pat Barker has that ideal combination of inner spark and outer polish that makes him a legit standout piercing through Philly's increasingly energetic comedy community.
(ryan.carey@citypaper.net) (@slackerDIYtoday)
Photo by Ryan Carey
Man Cave is a testosterone-laden Monday feature that highlights the weekend haps of a pop culture-loving Philly dude.
Parks and Recreation's Adam Scott (perhaps best known for his role as the über-successful jerk brother 
from Stepbrothers) was interviewed on WTF with Marc Maron. One of the topics they covered was Party Down, the 2009 Starz series that he starred in. They talked a lot about the show, so I decided to utilize my extended weekend to Netflix of season one. Scott plays a failed actor, the "straight man" amongst a dysfunctional catering service filled with Hollywood wannabes and has-beens. Like many critically acclaimed cable shows, the series is slow to get moving; the opening episodes are all premise. But once all the characters are in gear, laughs flow abundantly over the underlying context of the ultimate Hollywood nightmare.
Let's check out the rest of the ensemble:
Ken Marino as Ron Donald: This The State alum is the manager, working side-by-side with his L.A. catering misfits. He has perhaps the most modest life dream of all the crew: to open a soup and salad franchise — and even that's proving unlikely in modern Hollywood. He is all positive energy and customers-first. He is also the only person on the show who cares about the catering business.
Lizzy Caplan as Casey: You may have seen Caplan in Mean Girls, Cloverfield and True Blood. Here, she plays a frustrated standup comic who frequently complains about the not-very-funny side of show business and may or may not be an Adam Scott love interest.
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.
Philly Improv Theater's (PHIT) education director Mike Marbach created Sideshow Showcase, a new 
improv show at the Arts Parlor for those weekends when PHIT is not scheduled at the Shubin Theatre.
"The point [of the show] is to give people a chance to grow, rather than keep doing the exact same thing they always do,” says Marbach, who has experience directing the PHIT house team Asteroid. “I want to challenge the groups to step out of their comfort zones and try new things. Also, I want there to be a good opportunity for new groups to perform. I don't necessarily want peoples' first time on stage to be at a pressure-filled show where they might be getting judged — like PHIT’s Cage Match, or a high-profile festival show."
Marbach has set up the Arts Parlor (a large dance studio) with folding chairs and a performance area where teams can be blacked out. The Sideshow Showcase can seat around forty, plus standing room.
This week's show features Iron Lung, a witout.net nominee for best improv group, who will be debuting their new style of long-form that they've been developing under the tutelage of ImprovBoston's Steve Kleinedler. I'm not allowed to say what it is, but Iron Lung's Jesse Carpenter says it’s something that’s “never been done … in Philly."
Also on the performance slate is improv darlings Aaron Hertzog and Becca Trabin’s Get a Room, Temple’s resident improv troupe Fowl Play, and the debut of a brand new Philly improv team.
Tonight, 8 p.m., $5, Arts Parlor, 1170 S. Broad St.
(ryan.carey@citypaper.net) (@slackerDIYtoday)
Photo of previous Sideshow act Beirdo by Erin Pitts
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