The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Filmmaker Todd Phillips talked with me the other day (actually, last Friday) about comedy and his latest film, School For Scoundrels, which opens today. What made you laugh as a kid?"For me it was all about Eddie Murphy’s Raw. and it was all about Stripes and Blues Brothers. Those are …
Bobby Slayton admits he doesn’t often perform here, but there’s a couple of good reasons why he’ll be doing stand-up around New England this weekend. “I’m coming to see the (Rolling) Stones, I’m trying to pay for this million-dollar (expletive) house. I’ve got, my old man lives in Mashpee. And …
Christian Finnegan, of all of the people VH1 has brought onto Best Week Ever, is perhaps the best Best Week Ever commenter. Concise. Right on point. I’ve had the chance to talk to him twice this year, once in January when he appeared at the Comedy Studio (we hung out …
Local 20-year-old Dan Boulger — let me repeat that — 20-year-old Dan Boulger took home the top prize and an estimated $7,000 as winner of the 2006 Boston Comedy Festival stand-up comedy contest! Boulger told me afterward that the only gig he has lined up so far is a date …
Bill Burr deserves to break big. He absolutely destroyed last night at the “30 Years of Emerson Comedy” show at the Cutler Majestic. Several times during his 11-minute set, audience members around me were saying things like, “This guy is AMAZING!” Tore the roof off the joint. Anyhow. Like I …
The eighth and final preliminary competition in the Boston Comedy Festival stand-up contest, and for once, all is right with the world. And by that, I mean it’s not going to be difficult to predict who advances to the semifinals. And by that, I mean read the recap. Prelim 8 …
Prelims 7-8 of the Boston Comedy Festival contest had Rich Ceisler hosting and doing plenty of time both up front and between acts. At one point during Prelim 7, Ceisler decided to rip the Herald. “If it happened today, it’s news to us,” he said. Hey, Ceisler. Here’s something happening …
If you thought prelim 5 of the contest proved tough to judge, what to make of prelim 6, which had comics all over the map from good to bad to ugly? Well, let’s attempt a recap! Prelim 6 (in order of appearance) 1) Dana Eagle: The old I may look …
What do comedy contests and criticism offer to the stand-up comedian? Validation. Feedback. Two things most comics desperately desire. Or, another way to look at it: Am I funny? Why did they think I wasn’t as funny as that other comic? At the Boston Comedy Festival, the annual stand-up contest …
Prelim 4 is when everything you thought you knew about the Boston Comedy Festival contest went out the window and onto the bricks and cobblestones below. A much stronger field of contenders — perhaps five or six of the 12 comics could’ve landed the two semifinalist slots. And yet. Well…let’s …