Courting Comedy Officially Returns.

Hey folks, welcome back. I know, it seems just yesterday that the blog went on hiatus. One might assume the brief break was a presumptuous misstep, a short-sighted call for attention or a smoke screen for a holiday. Alas, as quickly as it returned, Courting Comedy was dead. 

In the midst of a lovely conversation at the Brainwash, the very fruits of my entertainment (a glass of Pabst Blue Ribbon) became the ultimate source of chaos. One false move and the amber nectar splashed a leaky, lethal injection onto my laptop. My laptop, the pride and joy, crux of my creative and professional endeavors, the keeper of my passwords and past words, was finished. To properly frame the predicament: not only would I cease to work, I would cease to eat; I would cease live.

I live on a diet of stale bread, student loans and spaghetti. My income is more modest than a rural mime. I planned to shuffle around town, shave my head, grow out my beard, write notes on napkins that I would never post for people who would never read them. My love of comedy would have melted away into bitterness and eventually I would watch the stage with dead, sunken, joyless eyes. Worse, it was my fault. Such mistakes, such regrets, such shame only enhance listless loneliness (different story, different day), and I was completely ready to give up. 

Thankfully, I’m blessed with some remarkable friends. One such compadre is David Cairns, a man I’ve admired from my baby steps at the House of Shields to the James Browning at Madrone Art Bar. Love is a depressingly shallow word for what I have for David, the George Harrison to my Monty Python. He saved my life (no exaggeration). Funny, yesterday he stated that he was a “business man” and that my work was his “investment”. Now I shall work even harder to warrant such generosity. Those who know gasp at that idea; I’m a tireless servant to San Francisco Bay Area comedy. Personally, any other life is a not a life worth living.

Thank you. Love you. Laugh you.

- O.J.

P.S. When you see David Cairns ( @davidcairns ), give him a big hug on behalf of Courting Comedy. 

Exclusive: Rory Scovel Interview (2/12/2012)

Last month, Sylvan Productions presented a night of stellar comedy at Vitus with Amy Miller, Sean Keane, Chris Garcia, Natasha Muse and highly touted, heavily hilarious Rory Scovel. Scovel took a few minutes to answer some aptly absurd questions. Enjoy.

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Exclusive: James Adomian Interview (2/12/2012)

James Adomian is talented beyond your knowledge and/or opinion. If you’ve never heard of him, you lose. If you’ve seen him on Last Comic Standing, you lose. If you’ve heard him on Comedy Bang Bang (nee Death Ray), you lose. If you’ve seen him on stage or screen, you lose. There is no polite way to inform you that you have missed out on a genuinely great comic mind. All that can be said is: catch up. One way to catch up is seeing him this Tuesday, at the Milk Bar, performing at the fiercely independent “Eric Show w/ Eric Barry”. Below is an exclusive interview with Mr. Adomian. If you read it, and fail to attend his rare appearance in the Bay Area this Tuesday, you lose.

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Product Review: Kelly McCarron’s “I’d Eat Them Both”

The night narrowly avoided calamity; Kelly was pulled over by an officer of the law en route to the show. Luckily the officer only issued a warning. “Wow, I learned something… I’m really pretty!” declares the sprightly comedian. Thus sets the tone for I’d Eat Them Both, a stand-up comedy album from Kelly McCarron, recorded live at the historic Purple Onion in San Francisco.

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The RunOff: Caitlin Gill (Part 1)

Many months back I interviewed Caitlin Gill for a piece featured on Antithesis Comedy. Much of the interview was trimmed out for brevity but I’ve lovingly transcribed a bit to present to you, the loyal readers. [P.S. I’m performing with Caitlin tomorrow at Vitus. I’m super excited for that fact alone. Added to that, one of my favorite comedians of all time (whom cannot be named for legal reasons) will be headlining the show. I’m incredibly blessed.]

[Interview!]

Courting Comedy: Is there any story behind your name?

Caitlin Gill: My mom said it was Robert Frost’s wife name, but I’ve never fact checked that. I just ran with it; could very well be true. It’s Celtic, I’m Scottish.

CC: Where are you originally from?

Gill: I grew up in Napa, the illustrious Napa Valley… I don’t know, I hated it. It’s beautiful but I hated it. It’s repressed and people are happy about it; they’re just so content, so smug and content.

CC: Have you preformed out there?

Gill: Uh-huh, yeah, it’s brutal. Napa has a really nice venue where good comics play. Things are getting different and better there since I left in the last 10 years…Good things have happened downtown and it more fun to be there… [It was] culturally empty beyond alcohol during my time spent there.

I’ve played [Napa] at a place called Downtown Joe’s, which is a shitty brew pub. (I’m not afraid to say it Downtown Joe’s)… And the bartender was somebody I went to high school with. I was there with my boyfriend at the time who was sleeping with somebody I went to high school with (that wasn’t me). [I think] my parents were there with Kaseem Bentley, so I think I watched my father insulted by Kaseem Bentley. I had a good set and people were admiring and polite but I felt like it didn’t go well. I knew [the audience] appreciated it and that always makes me think badly of people. Like really? [Be]cause I know that was mediocre. So it’s nice of you to compliment but you are either being insincere or wrong.

It was skin-crawly. And I tried to go back and do it again because James Fluty ran a nice room out there that other comics made great use of (and they had awesome posters and it was fun to be a part of) but it was like laying on glass. Being on stage [in Napa] is like laying on glass; an impressive spectacle but painful for the performer.

CC: Was that your first taste of performing in front of the people you grew up with; were you in theater or anything like that?

Gill: I was in theater in high school… I tried to perform stand-up in high school. I got my whole drama class to sit down and listen to my “debut”. But I really thought I could just walk up and perform stand-up; it didn’t occur me to write anything down. So it lasted about, seven seconds (which may be generous) and it definitely ended in tears. I did comedic theater after that and then went to college.

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Interview: Neal Brennan (SF Punch Line Tonight!)

Neal Brennan is a comedian, director, writer most noted for co-creating
Chappelle Show with Dave Chappelle. Brennan’s body of work also includes co-writing the movie Half Baked, directing the movie “The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard”, and most recently a podcast entitled “The Champs” with DJ Dougpound and Oakland’s own (and Courting Comedy favorite) Moshe Kasher. Neal Brennan will be at the San Francisco Punch Line for one night only; (11/1/2011, 8 PM, $15) and you should definitely attend. An exclusive interview after the jump.

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Courting Comedy: You’ve recently launched “The Champs” podcast with Moshe Kasher and DJ Dougpound. What’s your favorite aspect of doing the show?

Neal Brennan: My favorite part of the podcast is getting to give listeners/white people access to conversations with black dudes that they would otherwise never get to have or hear. I’m lucky that I have a lot of black friends who are legitimately interesting to talk to.  And I’m also happy to show how funny a guy like Blake Griffin is in the right environment.

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Nate Heller Interview [Full]

Due to a lack of interest from my intended publisher, I have decide to present to you the long awaited interview with Nate Heller, in its entirety. Nate Heller is a Bay Area musician, whose projects include the band She Beards. She Beards will be performing at Snob Theater @ Dark Room Theater on October 28th. 10 PM. $10. More information: Here. Thank you for your patience. Thank you Nate Heller for the interview.

[Note: This interview occurred Spring/Summer 2011]

Courting Comedy: What was the first instrument you learned to play, what’s your current instrument of choice and what’s an instrument you wish you knew how to play?

Nate Heller: Mom put me in piano lessons when I was about four or five years old, with our neighborhood teacher Amy (whose son Andrew happened to be my best friend at the time).  Shortly after that Andrew and I went into the Piedmont boys chorus a couple of days after school.  It was wretched.  I hated it so much that I often faked being sick to get out of going (I liked faking sick a lot as a kid).  This totally backfired when I feigned illness on the day that we got to perform the National Anthem at an A’s game.  I must have forgotten that it was happening cause I was a huge Ricky Henderson fan and would have given my undescended left testicle to meet him.

Currently guitar is my primary instrument (and voice I guess), although I own a banjo, a piano, and an accordion.  I can still play keyboard okay, but I’m pretty piss-poor at all the others.  It’s still fun to mess around on them anyway.  I guess I wish I spend more time
learning accordion, cause the one I have is a really beautiful one that my friend Gabe gave me a few years ago.  His dad gave it to him, and when we lived together I played around on it so much that he gave it to me for my birthday.

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Jabari B(ooks) Davis # 4 : “All The Fun”

After a brief hiatus, Courting Comedy presents another “Jabari B(ooks) Davis” (w/ @jabaridavis)

“Why Should White Guys Have all of the Fun?,” by Reginald Lewis is probably the most inspiring book that I have ever read. Its the story of a Black Business man doing things in a predominately White Male dominated field, that not even white men could accomplish. He became a billionaire by simply asking himself a question most Black people never consider asking themselves. 3 yrs ago I walked into the San Francisco Punchline on a Sunday, watched the whole show, and left with one question in my head, “Why Should White Guys Have all of The Fun?” My answer was that they shouldn’t. And thats when Jabari Davis and Associates was born. The book title that started a movement!

- Jabari Davis. You can see Jabari at the Purple Onion all weekend. Check out his Facebook and Twitter for all the information.

Interview: Nate Heller [Preview]

A couple of months ago I conducted a correspondence interview with musician Nate Heller. Nate is the current front man of band She Beards whom will be performing at Bottom of the Hill this Thursday (8/25) alongside Wave Array and Lucky Jesus. More information on that event is available: here.

Technically the interview is destined for “Antithesis Comedy” in the near future, but in the meantime we present a section as a preview of what’s to come. Also featured is a selection from She Beard’s latest EP. Enjoy after the jump.

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What was your first favorite band and what band shaped your current appreciation for music?

I’ve always loved music - family holidays usually saw us crowded around the piano with mom playing and everyone singing along.  Our mom and dad were pretty instrumental in us kids’ desire to be creative. Mom was especially encouraging (or forceful?).  She really wanted me to be able to read music and be able to sing, which I will reluctantly admit that piano lessons and boys chorus helped immensely with. 

But like most kids, I think I really started to become opinionated and devoted to bands around age eleven or twelve.  Weird Al was the first CD that I owned, but when puberty hit I started having more “serious” feelings about music. 

I had an unhealthy obsession with Smashing Pumpkins, but I also loved Green Day, Weezer and Jimi Hendrix.  This was also around the time that I convinced dad to buy me an electric guitar unbeknownst to mom, and soon she stopped insisting that I stay in piano lessons and I switched to guitar.

What defines you most: are you a musician, a producer, a songwriter, a hybrid or something else completely?

Wow, that’s a tough question.  I definitely don’t think of myself as a musician primarily.  Whenever I play music with really good musicians who are classically trained, or just practice a lot, I realize that my I just don’t have the chops they do.  I love to produce music and write songs, and I think my biggest strength as a producer and musician is being able to listen to a piece of music as a whole and add or subtract elements based on what the song needs. 

I guess I like to think that I am part of a newer generation of artists who can do everything themselves - It’s really easy to set up a studio in your house, compose a beat, add some instruments and write vocals these days.  Going into the studio even when I first started playing in bands was a much more expensive and time-consuming process.  Now, from my home studio, I am able to produce mashups, full band recordings, music for TV and film, etc. 

A few of the most recent things I’ve done that [illustrates] how diverse a home studio can be - I composed a really stupid intro song for Emily’s FCC radio show (in about ten minutes), I finished 25 tracks of music for a company that licenses songs for TV and film purposes, and I also produced a song for my extremely talented thirteen year old neice who had never been in a recording studio before.  It came out so good that I plan on recording a full album with her this summer.

How many bands have you been in?

I’ve been in hella bands. Is hella a number?  I’ll say around 7-8 bands that actually practiced regularly and/or played shows.

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