Month: June 2006

In 2006, Alonzo Bodden was the unknown winner of NBC’s Last Comic Standing, and here is what he had to say about the aftermath of that (this is all before he came back in 2007 to be a judge on the show). Ant, who never came close to winning on the second or third editions of LCS, somehow seemed to get more TV work than Bodden. What’s that about? "I guess it’s because Ant’s more of a Hollywood guy. Ant will talk s–t. Ant will stir up trouble, whereas I won’t. Ant will play the game. He used the show to play a bitchy gay guy, and then VH1 hired him to play a bitchy gay guy (for Celebrity Fit Club and other programs). Ant can change his level of gay. The most fascinating thing in the world. He can be less gay and more gay." What should viewers make of LCS? "There’s no way viewers know this, but how do I put it? Creative editing. What they’ll do is take segments and put them together to make it look like an argument was going on, or they’ll make someone look like they had an attitude. Like they made Tammy (Pescatelli) look like a bitch. She wasn’t. They just caught her when she was mad." Also: "It’s kind of like a regular election. It’s about popularity." I’d opened for...

You don’t need to be from Boston to appreciate When Stand Up Stood Out, the film by comedian Fran Solomita about the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Boston was, in fact, the Hub of the comedy world (or so it seemed). Think of Boston comedy in that era as something akin to Seattle music in the early 1990s. So, actually, this movie makes even more sense for outsiders, who probably don’t know or don’t appreciate what these locals with the funny accents and bitterly honest takes on society did for stand-up comedy. Sure, it’s quite nostalgic for those who, like Solomita, lived through the era. Simply put, though, this film is required viewing. Watch Comedian to see the mindset of stand-ups, then watch When Stand Up Stood Out for a history lesson on what it was (and still is) like to practice the art. The archival footage alone is priceless, capturing early sets by Lenny Clarke, Bobcat Goldthwait, Kevin Meaney, Steven Wright, Paula Poundstone and others. Solomita said they got more than 100 hours of similar magic from the Ding Ho, Stitches and the old Comedy Connection. That footage needs to be saved by someone, somewhere, so future generations can learn why comedy matters. The DVD also includes a seven-minute conversation with Dane Cook — who wasn’t part of this generation — about how the older guard inspired...