Bridgetown PostMortem!

My brother and I got a cheap one-way ticket out of town, just for the rest.The Second Bridgetown Comedy Festival is over, and the only thing that happened is that hundreds of comics, fans, and locals had the BEST TIME EVER for four days.

Pictures of Portland comics, out-of-towners, famous people, and random stuff is in the Flickr Bridgetown pool here.

High points:

SHIRTLESS RANDY LIEDKE
VS.
THREE OF PORTLAND STRONGEST STRIPPERS- Liedke wins!

Brody Stevens called out a drunk “trustafarian” for peeing in the green room hallway. It was an amazing event, where ALL the comics converged on this guy and the situation. He eventually had someone go grab him from the bar next door. He was subject to questioning, audience beat down, and a good final judgment from Todd Glass.

The AMAZING Reggie Watts did shows on Friday and Saturday, and appeared on the Podcast Sounds of Young America, although seeing him in action is really a treat.

A guy yelled “Better be funny!” at Brody Stevens, and Jimmy Dore tore over and screamed “YOU’RE NOT FIT TO LICK THIS MAN’S BALLS!” or something very much to that effect.

Gabe Dinger says: David Koechner yelled at me from across the street to give me my notebooks that I left at the previous show, we met in the middle of the road and he said “How could I forget a name like Dang-gerr?” when I told him it was Dinger he said it was ok, no one gets his name right ether. Then we almost got hit by two cabs simultaneously. Lesson? Never ever under any circumstances correct David Koechner or you might die.

Veronica Heath says: Hanging out with Janeane backstage at the Hawthorne show where she educated me and we talked about botox, grapefruit juice, sweat, powells books, and the Bay Area. I’m so glad she wasn’t an asshole. Very down to earth, very nice, and much tinier in real life than I had imagined.

And everybody, local and out-of-town, has been talking non-stop about the hilarity of Dax Jordan’s Comedy Robot. I am heartbroken to have missed it. If I could only be at two places at once, you know? But I cannot.

It was awesome seeing my brother John have some great sets, and introducing him to my friends and associates. I hope one day we will do a double act that will make people very, very uncomfortable.

Many thanks to Andy Wood, Matt Braunger, the dozens of volunteers who all worked hard to keep things running on Festival Time, i.e. half-hour to one hour late, and a special thanks to LiveWire’s Courtenay Hameister, who gave us some awesome press and who took over special Twittering duties.

Action in Austin: LAFF Comedy Festival!

Friends and family- I am performing in Austin, TX at the LAFF festival on May 7th- it stands for Ladies Are Funny Festival, but I keep thinking it’s Ladies Are Fucking Funny- Tickets are now on sale!

Scratch PDX! A Mixed Media Show!

I am performing in a mixed media show called Scratch PDX on Saturday, April 18th at the Hipbone Studio at 9PM- co-hosted by one Jesse Alison! I am interested in trying a weirder set to an audience not specifically expecting comedy- it looks to be a varied evening of performers-

“Spent” an excerpt by Rick Huddle

“The Sky’s the Limit” Michael Philips

Virginia Jones

“Ritual of the Serpent God” Deviant Dance

“TISA” Teatro Neurotica

“Kallyope Yell” Tony Greiner

“Undine” an excerpt by Faith Helma

with music by Ben Kulp

hosted by Don Kern with special guest Jesse Alison! The fun starts at 9 PM at the Hipbone studio at 1847 E. Burnside- eight dollar cover includes all the arty pretension you can eat! Wear a beret! Have fun with it!

The Divine David

The Divine David teaches a makeup masterclass

Sometimes, I lie awake at night and worry that enough people have not enjoyed The Divine David, a trans terrorist/avant garde artiste/tastemaker created and performed by Manchester artist David Hoyle.

Emily Ryan and Her Trash Wig Party:

What’s that saying about lemons and lemonade? My New York sister turns dumpster wigs into a good time machine. I just wanted to post her flyer, and to remark that if Emily ever learns to play piano, Tori Amos had better watch her ass. Check out her money-saving blog here!

How To Comedy

Well, I’m about to be three years old- This May 25th is my third anniversary in stand-up. That’s not much in the world of comedy, but it’s as much as I’ve ever done. It has gotten me many things, such as being recognized at Montage and at Chaos Cafe. I was having a few sincere thoughts about it, and would like to offer you, dear reader, some completely unsolicited advice.
When I was new, I got laughs by accident. I got superstitious about it. The first time I had a good set at an open mike, I never wanted to go back and “ruin” it. A lot of new comics dwell on and overanalyze their first set, their second set, and it doesn’t really matter. They say, I bombed, or I killed, and neither one is true. You’re not good enough to bomb. You got lucky.

The first time a person gets up to do stand-up, it might be interesting, it might be funny, it might be good writing- but it won’t be great stand-up. There are too many microskills that need to be formed. You just have to do it again and again. The good news is that taking a microphone out of a stand 100 times makes you pretty slick at it.

Truly bombing is a gift- if you can survive a room hating you thoroughly, then you know that nothing can be worse than that, and you can get past it.
Where I am now: I can get laughs pretty consistently. It’s still like a magic trick, I don’t know quite how it’s done but I can do it.


Here is some of the best of the many pieces of advice that more skilled comics have given to me:
Don’t disengage between jokes, keep eye contact with the audience.
The longer the setup, the bigger the laugh needs to be at the punch.
Write a hundred jokes on a premise and cut down to what works.
Try to match the crowd’s energy. Don’t scream at a mellow room, or whisper to an excited, party room.
And my advice is: The first mistake every comic makes is: Talking too fast. Slow down.
The second mistake is different for everyone. You’ll figure it out.