April 2011
5 posts
Get it into your body →
I really like this short piece by Kevin Mullaney. He’s talking about improv, but I think it applies equally to standup, writing, or any other creative pursuit that can feel difficult, uncomfortable, and just plain wrong the first few times we try it:
I’m learning to play guitar. It is a tough, slow process. […] The first time I try a chord on the guitar, it may physically hurt....
"Like music."
Bill Carter, writing in The War for Late Night about the years during which Johnny Carson secretly wrote jokes for Letterman:
The separation from the show that had been his life and utter preoccupation for thirty years had proved jarring for Carson. Friends reported that it had taken at least six months after he stepped down before Johnny could have a normal day — one in which he...
WatchIf you’re a fan of unsparingly personal, truthful comedy, check out Mike Lawrence’s set on John Oliver’s New York Standup Show. Mike’s material is utterly direct and honest, and impressively turns his strange and uncomfortable personal history into something funny and accessible. I was at this taping; the energy of the audience as they first tense up, then relax into the...
WatchSome clips of my set at at the Women in Comedy Festival were featured on the front page of Rooftop Comedy last week — this one, “Raffi Has OCD”, is my favorite.
This bit is actually a more or less verbatim version of a conversation my best friend Ben and I had while incredibly high our freshman year of college, which means I “wrote” it over ten years ago. But...