Did you know that iconic, fashion-blogged, architectural shoe designer Jeffrey Campbell has put out some of his most iconic, glam, fabulous models in vegan versions this Summer, available exclusively on Convert? Well, now you do, you silly rascal! Thanks, J.C.!
Well, we’re all winners, because we all got to tell jokes and hang out at the 5th annual Bridgetown Comedy Festival, which was widely regarded as The Best Yet, but here are some of my random thoughts on the event:
My Shortest Attendance Of A Party, Ever: The promotional shindig for the Riot, LA’s alternative comedy festival- I got there at 1, I gave Pete Holmes a hug and watched Lachlan Patterson pretend to play the harp, the cops busted it at 1:10 and we were bringing our noise disturbance to the street.
Person Who Is The Best Partner For An Extended Interpretive Dance: Jono Zalay
Best Sex Talk: Jon Glaser
Most Multi-Talented: Mary Mack
Most Amazing Dancer Besides Me: Guy Branum. Way to play to the stereotype, baby.
Least Surprising Winner of a Trivia Contest Who Is Nonetheless Very Fun To Play With: TV Geek Paul Goebel.
Third Person To Get Engaged At or Near Bridgetown, That I Know Of: David Cope
Most Amazing, Most Giving, Most Funny, Most Worshipped: Maria Bamford
Dummy Most Likely To Have Her Badge And ID Stolen By Drunk Sluts At An Afterparty: Me
Best Combination Of Funny and Good Hugs: Tim Harmston
Hottest Person With A Fiftieth Birthday: Dwight Slade
Most Incredible Sensual Bird Mime: Kurt Braunholer
Funniest Person I Can’t Believe I Hadn’t Heard Of: Dave Hill. Smart, surreal, and very rock-and-roll- seriously, he’s amazing.
Most Talked About In Reverent Tones Of Adoration: James Adomian
Best Impression Of An Effeminate Southern Coin Collector: David Crowe
Show Which Had No Indication Of Being Well-Attended And Great: Hawthorne Lounge Portlandia Show, where we did comedy to the sounds of Guitar Wolf being played next door
Person Who Most Worried Me That He Would Fall Off The Large Thing He Had Climbed Onto, And Mar My Show With His Death: Patrick Keane
The Best Erotic Fiction About Star Trek And Mythology (lifetime award): Mike Drucker
Best Place To Meet Other Comics on a Delta Flight: The SLC-PDX leg from the Mormon-infested west coast hub. I met one comic I knew and three I didn’t, but whom I identified from their bitching about being asked to host shows.
The Most Disturbing Portrait of Dora The Explorer: Aparna Nancherla
Most Amazing After-Party DJ: April Richardson
Most Likely To Be Mistaken For Each Other: Whitmer Thomas and Christian Ricketts
Least Twinlike Brothers: The Walsh Brothers (FLIPPING HILARIOUS)
Most Adorable: Alex Gavlick
Most Excited Fans: Tim Heidecker
Most People Showing Up For His Show Who Were Sad That He Was Stuck In Yakima, WA: Joe Frice
Most Hilariously Upside-Down Show: The Closing Show at the Bagdad, where Doug Benson, Todd Barry, and Matt Braunger opened so that they could run to other shows
Simply Wonderful: Rory Scovel
Most Discussed Panel: The Humor Code, where scientific mind Myq Kaplan and Superstitious Wunderkind Pete Holmes discussed theories about what makes things funny, and Mary Mack was kept down by the Man who would not supply her with a microphone. Because The Man is afraid of The Truth!
Person Who I Stalked At The Coffeeshop The Most: Jake Barker
People I Most Wanted To See And Did Not Manage To See (aka The Bridgetown Curse): Janeane Garofalo and Claire Titelman.
Almost Too Fun To Hang Out With: Janine Brito
Strangest Internet Distinction: Bridgetown Comedy Festival has the odd distinction of becoming Twitter spam: bots are tweeting “BRIDGETOWN COMEDY FESTIVAL BLOG: THE WRAP-UP” today.
Hardest-Working Behind-The-Scenes (TIE): Volunteer Coordinator Charlene Conley, Logistics Manager Rylee Newton, Hospitality Manager Helen Vank, Transportation Coordinator Amanda Pants, and Organizer and COO Andy Wood. Thanks everybody!
As the clock ticks down for the fifth annual Bridgetown Comedy Festival, I am so excited I can barely keep from jumping out of my skin, but also keep in mind that I’ve had quite a lot of coffee.
The schedule is a behemoth of amazing possibilities- please start perusing it now. Please also note you can subscribe to the calendar on Google Calendar, a new feature for this year that’s pretty slick!
Anyone who is a fan of me personally will note that my shows are:
My first show is Friday the 13th! Spoooooky! I’ll be with the very funny Walsh Brothers, my new LA friend Brandon Vaughn, and Seattle professional art weirdo Emmett Montgomery!
Postscript: Everyone had a great set, and I was especially glad to enjoy Dave Child for the first time! This was a super show, even though Maria Bamford watched my set and made me super nervous! It’s just because she’s the most giving and wonderful human in the world, and also the funniest.
The Best of the Seattle International Comedy Competition- some legendary PNW heavy hitters, including Auggie Smith, Dax Jordan, and my LA BFF Eddie Pence, and Kyle Harbert, who kicked an amazing amount of ass his first competition.
Postscript: On the down side, at the opening of this show, I performed for 10 people, but it had filled out by the end. Auggie Smith’s new material on his marriage was hysterical. Eddie Pence pointed out that what we think are pets are animal slaves. Patrick Keane climbed set pieces and made me concerned not just that he would die, but that he would waste his time dying for a half-empty house.
Guess what all these comedians have in common! We’ve all been on Portlandia! Kristine Levine is a repeat performer, the very funny Alex Gavlick appears as Fred and Carrie’s son, Ian Karmel made waves first season, and Veronica Heath wore underwear on-camera! A nice picking of PNW talent!
Postscript: This was unexpectedly a PACKED show- one of the really good ideas implemented at Bridgetown this year was doing more theme shows, so that non-comedy nerd people could get a feel for who/what they were seeing- and people like television, so I got to do an AWESOME set PACKED with people! So good!
I’ll also be attending Baby Ketten Karaoke (LATE) on Thursday night at the Alibi, and Sunday night at Kelly’s Olympian, if you wanna sing with me and you don’t like sleep! Can’t wait to see you!
Postscript: (Why not) Kettens still hate Alibi, but John Brophy sanged me a song, and on Sunday night’s Ketten at Kelly’s I achieved some life goals:
1. Singing Marc Almond’s disco cover of Jacky, rather than the “classy” Scott Walker version
2. Improvising a routine to another singer’s “All That Jazz” from Chicago
3. Completing the trilogy of Cramps songs on the Baby Ketten book with “Garbageman.”
All in all, a magical weekend of fun!
So, I was in the third episode of Portlandia this season, and I’ll also be in the season finale. Pretty much everyone in Portland gets a turn to be on the show. While they’re shooting, people just line up at Powell’s Books downtown and wait to get picked up by the Craft Services bus. My first episode is available at Amazon.com here, because this world is modern. The most fun thing was asking Carrie about the time she called in to promote herself on the OPB show about comedy I was on, and how I gave her crap for it.
Postscript: Another fun show by the amazing Rick Taylor! He made this lil button for me, which made me feel famous:
HOLIDAY HULLABALOO 2011
“As a gay man and a comedian, I’ve always found it funny that those worlds—comedy and being gay—[couldn’t] intersect more,” explains Hullabaloo producer Rick Taylor. “So [my partner] and I created this show to bring the comedy community over to the drag community and introduce them.” The Holiday Hullabaloo that results is charming: Local comics like Derek Sheen and Barbara Holm (and her ukulele) perform 10-minute sets, holly-decked drag queens strut their stuff, and Taylor recites his annual rendition of “‘Twas the Night Before Gay Christmas” (“‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the gay bar/All the creatures were stirring because that’s how gays are/The condoms were hung by the vending machine with care/In hopes that leather Santa soon would be there/The twinks were dancing and wearing their Keds/While visions of sugar daddies danced in their heads…”). Best yet, the show benefits the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Abbey of St. Joan—those immensely compassionate, beautifully scary nuns who raise money to help homeless and queer youth, among other social service projects. (Another reason to love the Sisters—they draw the line at celibacy. We all have our limits.) Julia’s on Broadway, 8 pm, $20 adv/$25 DOS, 21+.
On Thursday, I will be doing a show in Seattle with adorable SF comedy finalist Solomon Georgio, funny ukelelist Barbara Holm, lovable weirdo Derek Sheen and gracious host Rick Taylor at the Holiday Hullabaloo, a benefit for the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. It’ll be a gay old time at the Jewelbox! Tickets can be purchased here!
Postscript: Oh, what a gay old time was had! Money was raised, drinks were drunk, and I got to perform with drag artists and comics, and in general it was the best time ever.
Sexy Jesus and Sexy Santa enjoy a duet- Kenny and James.
This amazing mural appeared in the green room.
Me and my favorite Pete had a great time.
After the madness of Halloween is over, I will be heading to Seattle for my first real public shot at humiliation in the form of the 31st Seattle Comedy Competition.
I’ll be competing with friends, peers, rockstars, heroes, a pretty Canadian, and, in a greater way, against myself. If I find myself with any amazing wisdom gleaned from the ego beatings, I will post it here. Remember, it’s an honor just to be nominated!