RIVERS LANGLEY
The Republic was honored to interview several artists deeply involved in the East Alabama Theatre and Stand-Up/Performance scene. We send a special shoutout and congratulations to Auburn homeboy (now resident of Los Angeles) - the infinitely articulate Rivers Langley for his Top-10 citing in LA Weekly for his Stand-Up show.
[Full texts from Will York, as well as Republic record reviews of Captain Kudzu and Katie Martin online shortly.]
REPUBLIC INTERVIEW WITH
RIVERS LANGLEY
Republic: How long have you been involved in Stand-up, and what path led you here?
Rivers Langley: I went to Auburn University and I worked at the campus radio station, WEGL 91.1 FM, all four years I was there. By the time I graduated in the Fall of 2009, I was doing roughly ten hours of airtime per week up at WEGL. I was hosting the daily news show in addition to two long music shows on Sunday. I would also just hang out at the radio station during the day and if someone didn’t show up for their show, I’d jump on and fill time between classes. It was, by far, the best thing I did in college.
About a year after I graduated, I was working at Mellow Mushroom (English degrees, right?) with a guy named Ryan Oliver who had recently begun pursuing stand-up comedy. Ryan was driving back and forth to Birmingham and Atlanta regularly to go to open mics and shows. In talking to Ryan I realized “Oh, wow, you can just do that. If you’ve got gas money and ambition, you can just be a comedian. You don’t have to ask.” At the end of 2010, my friend Jonathan Mosman and I went to check out a comedy show that Ryan was doing at the Gnu’s Room down on South Gay Street. The comedy show was being produced and hosted by Anthony Dannar, a guy who I’d met during my time at WEGL. Anthony had recently graduated and moved up into real radio broadcasting, hosting the morning show at Tiger 93.9 FM at the time and producing comedy shows sponsored by the radio station. We went to the show at the Gnu’s Room and I saw people my own age doing comedy and doing it pretty well, all things considered. After the show, Mosman said “I think we should try this. You know that Anthony guy, right? Ask him if we can do five minutes on his next show.” I asked Anthony and he was nice enough to give me my first set ever the next month at Olde Auburn Ale House.
The first time I did stand-up, the feeling was electric. Also, I was drunk. I am not a drinker but I had to take five shots of Jack Daniel’s just to work up the courage to actually get on stage that first time. I had the mic cord wrapped around my hand and was gripping the mic at the top like Henry Rollins just to stop my hand from shaking. All my friends showed up to the show so it was definitely a friendly crowd. My first set went really well and as soon as I got that first big laugh, I realized that stand-up was the only thing I wanted to do.
I began doing Anthony’s shows every month and, in October of 2011, I began producing and hosting the Bellwether Variety Show out of the Big Blue Bagel. My original idea was to do comedy and music, like a low-rent SNL kind of thing. The Bagel was nice enough to give us a good beer special and we packed the place out every month.
In those first few months, I traveled all around the South doing open mics and shows. I went to Atlanta, Athens, Birmingham, Oxford and I noticed that the scenes are all almost exactly the same in every city and I got along with comics wherever I went. That’s what led me to the realization that comedy could be my way out of the Auburn. I was born in Auburn and I was a dedicated townie. Staying in Auburn forever was a notion that was very comforting for me. I was scared that if I left, I’d never be able to have as many great friends as I did in Auburn. However, after I started doing comedy, I realized that I had friends everywhere that I just hadn’t met yet because comedians are the same everywhere. I was able to step outside of myself for long enough to realize that my comfort in Auburn was the exact reason that I had to leave. So I did, on July 16, 2012. I hit the road for San Francisco, California. Why there? It was far enough away that I could never be tempted to drive back to Auburn “just for the weekend”. I was forcing myself to focus solely on stand-up comedy. Plus, I had a friend who was gonna let me live on his floor for free while I found a job and a place to live in SF.
I lived in San Francisco for two months and was doing comedy pretty much every night. I love the San Francisco comedy scene but the weather there is kind of a bummer. It’s cold and foggy in the summer and I just kept thinking to myself “This is supposed to be sunny California. If I’d wanted to move to Scotland, I would’ve moved to fucking Scotland.” While scouring Craigslist one day for decently-priced rentals in San Francisco (spoiler alert: there aren’t any), just for the hell of it, I clicked on L.A.’s Craigslist and noticed that the rent for cheap apartments was about half the price of San Francisco. I found a room and a roommate on Criagslist and rolled into Los Angeles for the first time ever on the day I moved there: September 6, 2012.
I fell in love with Los Angeles immediately and, three years later, the affair has yet to cool. Los Angeles is the largest assemblage of artists in one place in human history. To live in this city is to be surrounded by the most creative people in the world and a bunch of untalented gamblers with deep pockets who throw money at said creative types in hopes that one of them will be their rocket to the top. I also completely understand why this city drives people insane. L.A. is not a meritocracy. It never was and it never will be. People get things they don’t deserve all the time in show business and you just have to accept that. The people who can’t accept that are the ones who hate this city, and I get it. That said, if you set your expectations low enough, you can have a really great time here. I literally haven’t been bored in three years. Not once. I’m not exaggerating.
The Republic: What cities have you mostly performed in? Can you make any generalizations about the audiences there? What generalizations can you make about performing in the Auburn/Opelika area (bible belt, etc)?
Rivers: I will do a show absolutely anywhere that isn’t an active war zone. I’d probably do that too, if
asked. And I believe that, if the show is run with even the slightest bit of competence, I can be funny and get over pretty much everywhere as long as there’s a mic attached to speakers and at least some of the chairs are facing the same direction and there are people in them. That might sound cocky but you kind of have to labor under this delusion to do stand-up at all.
When I was performing in Auburn, I was usually doing so in my role as the host of the show at
Bellwether so I was pretty much running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to make sure the show ran smoothly so it’s a bit difficult to reflect on my performances during that time simply because they were buried somewhere in the middle of that beehive of anxiety that I’d put myself in. Generally though, the audiences that come to see comedy in Auburn are decent and my homecoming shows are always a ton of fun.
In my experience, Los Angeles has the hardest crowds of anywhere I’ve performed. The reason for this is pretty simple, I think. In this city, the supply of entertainment outweighs the demand so exponentially that any given audience you’re in front of is thinking about the seven things they turned down in order to come see you. Either that or they’re a bunch of performers themselves and they’re thinking “Fuck this guy. I’m funnier.” It the same reason that seeing a music show in L.A. is never as fun or as rowdy as it would be in other places. The laughs here are dialed-down so if you’re working on new jokes and you can get a titter out of an L.A. crowd, you’re definitely onto something. That’s gonna be a big laugh on the road. Doing comedy in L.A. is like training with weights on. Once you go other places, the weights come off and you find that you’re a much stronger comic than you realized simply because L.A. crowds are so tough.
This might surprise you to learn but my two favorite cities to perform in are San Francisco, CA and Huntsville, AL. They’re both great comedy towns because both places are filled with smart people; Huntsville has NASA and San Francisco has Silicon Valley. The crowds are smart and that makes all the difference in the world.
You've had some pretty amazing recent success (cited in LA Weekly as one of the Top-10 shows etc) - can you brag on yourself a little? Give us some name-dropping: who would be some persons of note who you have hosted, or who have come to watch your show?
Rivers: I had to follow Robin Williams at an open mic in a bar in San Francisco back in 2012 That was nerve-racking. There were 60+ comedians waiting to go on that night and Robin Williams walked in and bumped all of us. He had earned that right, obviously. But, to his credit, he only did 10 minutes. He could’ve run his next hour special and no one would’ve stopped him because he’s Robin Fuckin’ Williams but he knew that there were 60 comedians waiting to go on and so, when he hit the 8 minute mark, he turned to the host, my friend Andrew Moore, and said “Have I done 10 minutes yet?” Andrew says “You’ve done 8 but please keep going!” but Robin shook his head and said “No, I’ll just do one more”. He did one more joke and, of course, it destroyed. He left the stage and walked outside knowing that, if he’d stayed in the crowd, his presence would be distracting them while other comics were performing. My name was called next and my set went pretty well considering that half the people in the bar had followed Robin outside. When I was finished, I walked outside as well. I shook Robin Williams’s hand and told him that I thought that Death to Smoochy was a criminally underrated film. He said “Ooh, I don’t get a lot of love for that one! Thanks.” It was huge for me.
One of my favorite things to see is good, funny people who work really hard and get the recognition they deserve and you get to see it constantly in L.A. When I first got to L.A., I hopped on co-producing a show that was already going called “The End of the World Show”. We used to have Jerrod Carmichael and Ron Funches on our show all the time and now both of those guys are blowing up and I think it’s awesome.
I’ve done shows with Damon Wayans, Hannibal Buress, Kyle Kinane, Nick Kroll, Demitri Martin, Baron Vaughn, Jackie Kashian, Sara Schaefer, Roy Wood Jr., Laurie Kilmartin, Thai Rivera, Iliza Shlesinger, and even Yakov Smirnoff. I’m even proud to call a lot of these people friends (I don’t really know Damon Wayans or Yakov Smirnoff, they just kinda popped in on the show).
Plus, I’m lucky enough to be on the ground floor with so many crazy talented people out here who are just starting out like I am. People who are still in the open mic scene. So, even if I don’t ever “make it”, I’ll be close friends with a ton of people who absolutely will.
Republic: Tell us when you "felt you had arrived" (if you've felt this way, even a little) - on your own terms, on the LA scene.
Rivers: Well, I really love this country singer named Sturgill Simpson and he has this really great line: “Ain’t no point in gettin’ out of bed if you ain’t livin’ the dream”. That’s the truest thing I’ve ever heard. I mentioned earlier that tempering your expectations is the key to keeping your sanity and having fun in L.A. so, my only goal really was to get the hell out of Alabama and do tons of stand-up. I’ve met those two expectations and now everything else is cherries on top. I am an ambitious person but there’s a way to be ambitious and not be a dick and that’s my goal. I don’t know if I’ve been successful but I’ve tried really hard. So, in that sense, I’m absolutely living the dream.
Republic: Nevertheless, the life of the performer can be a tough row to hoe; was there any time at which you questioned your current choice of profession?
Rivers: This is really going to make me sound like an asshole but I have never questioned my current path. I’ve worked late at a shitty restaurant job and then sat through long shitty open mics for 3 minutes of bad stage time. Done it many times and it’s all been totally worth it. My only regret in life is that I didn’t start doing stand-up back when the idea first crossed my mind during a late night discussion with my roommate Rollie Harris back when we were 19 and delivering pizzas for Hungry Howie’s in Auburn. I should’ve driven to Atlanta the next day and picked up the mic. I’d be ten years into stand-up comedy now instead of four and a half but, whatever. There’s no going back now. Living the nightmare would have been never finding stand-up comedy at all and working some horrible job somewhere down South.
Republic: The stereotypical POV on stand-up comedians tends to be these closet-introverts, self-loathing clowns who live with their mommies, or can't have normal, grown-up relationships (whatever that is). Truth to that; or is that just the not-funny-people hating on those who happen to be funnier & maybe even having more fun than they are?
Rivers: That is the old stereotype, isn’t it? Improv performers are all happy-go-lucky actors with codependency issues and stand-ups are all sociopaths or narcissistic sad people. That’s what they say and I suppose it’s there if you’d like to see it but it’s not the rule, necessarily. I can’t speak about improv because it’s not what I do but in stand-up, like life, everyone is driven by different things. I often feel kind of at a deficit in the stand-up scene because I am a fairly even-keeled person. I’m pretty much totally sober (I will have one beer a month, usually) and I come from a loving household with two happily married parents and I had a wonderful childhood. There’s a lot of fucked-up, emotionally disturbed people in stand-up and I think that can be fuel for funny and, while it is potent, it’s not the only fuel. That said, even with the nice upbringing and everything, there is definitely something going with me and other people who want to stand in the middle of a crowded room and be the only one talking. There’s a hilarious quote from James Whistler that Greg Proops often cites on his podcast: “If other people are going to talk, conversation becomes impossible.” I think that sums up stand-up almost perfectly. I know that talking is my favorite thing to do and so if I can be the only one doing it, so much the better.
Republic: As far as your own performance goes, do you feel comic performance is more one of writing/the conceptions behind the 'jokes' - or more the actual person of the comedian, his/her own comedic presence; which place do you tend to lean on more when performing.
Rivers: Comics (especially new comics) will hate to hear this but your delivery is more important than your writing and your precious opinions. Don’t get me wrong, those things are very important but they take a back seat to your delivery and your stagecraft. There’s a reason Marx never lead a country and Lenin did: he had the brains and the gift-o-gab. The reason new comics hate to hear this is that, when you first start out, you are going to SUCK on stage for awhile. Even if your jokes are strong, being on stage at the beginning is like fumbling around in the dark looking for a light switch and you’re not going to find it for awhile. So, my advice is to try everything on stage all the time but ESPECIALLY at the beginning. I’m still trying to find new ways of doing things all the time.
There’s no wrong way to work, you just have to figure out what your style is and how to bring people in. My style is pretty deeply rooted back into my days of doing radio. I talk kinda fast, I try to speak clearly, and I don’t ever include the audience in the conversation if I don’t have to. I’ve seen people do brilliant crowd work, it’s just not what I do. I should work on it, though.
Republic: Tell us a little bit about your writing process.
Rivers: I used to have a notebook and I haven’t written in it in over a year. I have a weekly show at a comedy club in Santa Monica and it’s always packed out so I have the luxury now of being able to work out new stuff from memory at open mics all week and then road test material in front of a paying crowd on Friday nights. So, I tend to write from the stage now. I know most do not have that luxury and writing in the notebook is probably a smarter way to work, I’ve just found it easier for me personally to start with a story or an observation or whatever and kind of talk about it until it’s funny. I’ve used the analogy already but it is like walking around a dark room looking for the light switch. Once you find the turn in the joke or the story everything turns on and I can sometimes actually feel my brain tingling when I figure out the funny part of a joke.
Republic: The other common stereotype that exists is of the comedian as this sortof drug-fueled maniac who has to go out in a blaze of glory - somewhat reinforced by a decent number of comic heroes actually seeming to live, and pass on by in just such a manner. Does this still seem operational to you in your current environment?
Rivers: I can count on two hands the number of comedians I know in L.A. who are always fucked up on drugs and most of them are idiots who waste everyone’s time at open mics and we all just groan. None of their jokes are funny and none of them have cool stories. They’re fucking sad. I don’t mean to sound like a D.A.R.E. officer but if you want to make it in L.A., you have to be a pro. If you are thought of as being even slightly unreliable because of drug use or whatever, people will not book you on shows; you’re basically black balled in the comedy community. That is, of course, unless you’ve been in the movies and/or on TV and then you can show up as high as you want to a show and kinda fuck the whole thing up for everybody. Not attaching any names to that statement, unfortunately.
Republic: When working up material or considering your older material, do you find that you eventually tend to put humor into different specific categories? I.e. - do you find yourself thinking in terms of socially awkward jokes, sexually awkward jokes, stupid celebrities and politicians, homeland security/dick jokes or etc…?
Rivers: Again, there is no right way to do comedy. We’re all snowflakes. I’m sure some people have categories and it works great for them. I personally just have real stories that I tell and then try to link up to larger ideas. For instance, I was in an antique shop and I saw an old Playboy from 1963 with a hot lady on the cover and next to her it said “An Interview with Malcolm X”. So, I immediately recognized the dichotomy of having someone as smart and serious as Malcolm X saying very pertinent things in between pages and pages of boobs as being very funny. Then it just becomes an issue of “Well, where I can take it?” Sigmund Freud said something to the effect of “Comedy is making the sacred ridiculous and the ridiculous sacred”. Well, this falls into the ridiculous category, so let’s make it important. So, what I came up with is that the reason Americans used to be smarter and we’re dumber now is because we used to read interviews with smart people in between sessions of vigorous masturbation. We had the ability to do those two things at once and now we don’t bother reading anything by smart people because the internet has allowed us to just go straight to the porn. The joke ends with me making an appeal to Politico and the Huffinton Post to merge with YouPorn and Milfhunters.com so we can stop stupid wars and hang all the bankers up by their ankles and throw rotten eggs at them for stealing all of our money.
Republic: There seems to be more of a stronger presence of women comedians these days. We can think of almost as many female comics as males on the performance circuit - many of whom are not nearly as polite as their counterparts from earlier eras (Lucille Ball, genius as didn't have a mouth like Sarah Silverman; never told rape jokes like Amy Shumer or delved into such deeply personal subject matter as many contemporary women comics). Do you feel that the influx of a different breed of women into the comedic world has led to a slightly different take on comedy?
Rivers: As for broadening the humor, any new perspective is crucially needed. We need as many people with as many different backgrounds and voices as we can get. If the history of this country has taught us anything, it’s that things only get better when we let everyone into the party. Same goes for stand-up. I know that being a female comedian is WAY more difficult because, in addition to trying to get yourself over in a male-dominated environment, there’s also the little things that no one thinks about like having to ask people to walk you to your car and stuff like that (I’m alway thrilled to walk with someone to their car, by the way, so no one hesitate to ask me). I wish there were even more women in the comedy scene but I understand why the ratio of male to female is what it is and it’s because for years men have made it a disgusting, shitty, harsh environment and I don’t blame any woman for never wanting to step foot inside a comedy club. That said, I think it’s starting to turn around a little bit as the world becomes a little bit more evolved. We’ve taken the first step in a journey of 1,000 miles but people are at least sensitive to the reputation of sexism and homophobia that comedy has and there are those of us trying to make it better. Again, comedy has no rules and anything can be funny but, personally, when I veer off into those territories of race and gender, I try to start by at least realizing that I am a straight, cisgendered, white man who’s blinded by privilege and I have no real goddamn clue about anything.
Republic: Is there any subject matter you would not address on stage? If so, what?
Rivers: Anything can be funny if you set it up right. I just hope to one day have enough skill to take any topic, run it through the machine, and have it come out funny on the other end. That’s called “finding your voice” and I’m definitely not there yet.
Republic: Bill Burr discusses what he feels is something of a tendency for comedy to occur these days in less of a challenging environment, more of warm friendly "womb" of supportive comics all being somewhat kind and supportive of one another - in his opinion this has led to weaker comedy than that which comes out of a tougher, more bracing environment. Any thoughts on that?
Rivers: I mean, funny should be funny in any room. L.A.’s comedy scene is so huge that you can definitely just exist in these spaces that he’s talking about. Personally, I like to switch it up and go everywhere. I do shows in venues all around L.A. and L.A. county not just the indie shows, though I have to admit that those are always my favorites. The goal is to turn that “polite round of applause” into laughs just like the goal in shitty rooms is to turn heckles and whatever else into laughs. You should be able to roll with it. I think the implication here is that these rooms make people soft or whatever which is fucking stupid. I love Bill Burr, as I’ve said, and he is very deft at dealing with hecklers but hecklers are not a good thing. There is never a situation where a heckler has helped a comedy show. If I’m watching Karen Kilgariff or Maria Bamford, I’m gonna need everyone to shut the fuck up because they are in the presence of greatness. Your random outbursts of bullshit are never needed.
Honestly, I haven’t really had to deal with a lot of hecklers. That’s part of that whole thing where I don’t talk to the crowd. I’ve found that hecklers are like vampires, in most universes they have to be invited in. Don’t ask the crowd how they’re doing and they won’t tell you.
THE REPUBLIC INTERVIEWS
DAVE DETTMERING
Anyone who's checked out the Stand-Up scene in the Auburn area knows the burly redhead who manages to calmly helm both the Bellwether Variety Show as well as the Starving Artist Mic Night at Auburn's own Balcony Bar, as well as being a brilliant stand-up performer in his own right. The Republic was honored to spend a little time off-stage with Mr. Dettmering who shared a few thoughts about funny, crazy, safe-spaces for comics, & making grandma pee her underpants.
The Republic is familiar with the Bellwether Variety Show period of the Auburn comedy scene. Was there something pre-Bellwether?
Dettmering: Yeah. When I first started doing local stand-up, in 2011 Rivers Langley was involved in a show with Anthony Denar, this former firefighter/comedian; you should probably check in with Rivers more about the earlier history. But I saw a couple shows at the Ale House/Irish Bred Pub, and became a fan. So - I was at one of the shows at Bred Pub, and told the guys, you know, I’ve always been interested in maybe doing a little stand-up, and so, as comics always do, they said ‘just do it.' So - all I needed was just that one guy to say “you should just do it” - and I was up there. It didn't take much persuading. So then Bellwether started happening at Blue Bagel, and they would totally pack it out - music-comedy, very vaudevillian. The 1st show I put on at the Hound, we all showed up for our customary show at Blue Bagel, and Blue Bagel was closed that night. So we– had to find somewhere really quick that night and we just ran over. So that was our first night at the HOUND, and it was a great one.
In terms of taking over the show - when Rivers moved to LA a mutual friend of ours brought my name up. But I think it was actually to help me, cause at the time I was feeling kindof lost. I was 30-something, and up until comedy, I had never found anything that interested me enough. I'd never found anything that really grabbed me. So – I’d been on stage about 5 times. And either it was Rivers final joke, or else he thought - hey-this guy is old enough, and has nothing better to do- maybe he’ll keep it alive for awhile.
Republic: When did you know you had a calling?
Dettmering: Well, to over-share - as a young boy, one of my proudest moments was to make grandma pee her pants. I found that if I was really funny I could actually make that happen. So then I guess it became my goal for childhood. To make grandma pee her pants. And I guess my whole life has just sortof evolved out of that.
It’s the one thing, though - because I rarely agree w/Seinfeld, but that I agree with him on: everyone is funny when they are young. But I always performed, did plays & etc, but the moment I realized I wanted to go into comedy was after I stepped on stage in that format. It didn’t necessarily go well. It didn’t go horribly, but….I talked another buddy of mine into going up there for his first set as well, and after my first set I came outside & I was completely high from the experience, & I was like – hey, you were amazing, to my friend, and I was like so are you gonna do that again? And he was like HELL NO. And I didn’t do as well, but I was like – you’re never gonna get me back off stage.
Republic: How do you find that the different cities you perform in shapes your performance?
Dettmering: What happened in Auburn which is really nice is that we've evolved this small, pretty intimate and personable group of performers. I've always liked that since there were so few comics, such a small scene, we didn’t experience any of the infighting/cliquishness that other locations I've been to may have developed. If you go to other places, you can see that - and I still think that’s just really weird. In Auburn its just so small we just all want to help one another continue to do it. And I think that makes for a really nice environment to develop in.
But I also think people not attacking one another as much is also indicative of a younger generation. The younger generation of performers don’t tend to take this tactic with one another. People don’t rip their friends faces off. Like, if I try to play around with some of the younger performers, they don’t respond - cause they just think I am ‘being mean.' But I'm just teasing. I’m like – no, see this is a thing, like- I mess with you…! But they don't really get it.
Republic: There seems to be more of a stronger presence of women comedians these days. We can think of almost as many female comics as males on the performance circuit. Do you feel that this leads to a slightly different take on comedy? Humor possibly being mined from a more personal basis? I'm thinking about Amy Schumer having her lengthy riff about rape, or CK Louis talking about getting his dog to lick his balls. This super-personal mining of humor, the Too-Much-Information variety, versus the more external humor of say, Chris Rock, or Eddie Murphy. With the latter two, I will be laughing my ass off but never exactly feel I know them that well on a personal level. It's almost like the humor is blocking that internal person. It tends to be more observational, less personal…?
Dettmering: Well, I feel also feel like were’ talking about mainstream vs more alternative comedy – you’re kindof throwing a lot of rules that supposedly existed with mainstream comedy. I’ve only been doing it for around 4 years, but with Chris Rock I see it a little differently. So yes, he’s making all these more externalized jokes, talking about his community – but it's still relevant to who he is as a person. I still think its very personal. The more I listen to it I think they ARE telling you just as much about themselves – even if they’re not trying to. But still. Comedy becomes deeply personal, no matter how much you try to disguise or code it. There’s no avoiding it - it's gonna show up in your work. People are going to be able to see you.
Republic: So how about your process, do you write on daily basis? Sit down everyday, or etc?
Dave: Well, for me – I don’t write as much…I know that’s supposedly what everyone’s supposed to do, right? But for me, it’s hard for me to say – okay I’m going to sit down and say - this week I’m going to sit down, and write everyday for an hour.
Mostly what I do is – if I have something I think is funny – or, I see something, I just put it down in my phone. And then I try to work thru those ON STAGE, with the crowd. And see where it goes. Because you end up getting into these interesting places that you might not have without that feedback.
It’s the weirdest thing, but sometimes you write something, and then you get up onstage, and even before your laugh-break, people start laughing. And you’re like “I just said AND.” But – it’s the WAY you said AND. And so, it’s like I just like to see how people respond to it. Early on, I didn’t realize that’s where the laugh started.
I’ll just put it this way: Comedy is the only art you HAVE to practice in front of an audience. Music, you can learn all the chords, practice with your band - practice with your instrument, by yourself, in a garage. But comedy? You CAN’T practice by yourself. You HAVE to practice in the company of others.
Republic: So what you really have to get good at is getting agile with your audience - responding to their response.
Dave: And that’s the part I really like. So when I do bits I have to sit down and work off stories on my life. I have to write some, and then punch-it-up when you’re hosting, but - it’s all RIFF – somebody says a line and it reminds me of something I’ve heard that is funny. But like everything that River (Auburn comic River Morris, Dave's current partner) have been doing – at the beginning of open mics, it's just 5 minutes worth of total riffing. But it’s a nice exercise to just be on the spot, and have to do something.
Republic: When you are working things up, though, in retrospect, do you tend to think of bits or into categories? Like, there are the socially awkward jokes, the sexually awkward, stupid celebrities and politicians, dick jokes etc?
Dave: What I keep hearing over & over again is – you’re gonna do comedy until till you find out what is funny about YOU: I’m very neurotic, I think that’s pretty funny. But you have to figure – that’s also what’s really painful. Because you’re gonna find what is funny about YOU is often also what you don’t LIKE about you. Even if people find that entertaining its not something that you find is positive. So when I sit down to write I go – write the story – then you can edit. Lose this part, that part's too long. Use an economy of words, try to see where the funny parts are, but – then you go onstage. And everything is different. Sometimes I tape. Although it’s impossible to watch myself on stage. It’s just GRUELING….but there’s something abt just doing it on stage. After that it hits you where the dead parts are. So then the next time, you remember, and can drop the dead parts or etc.
Republic: So what do you do when ur up there and you feel it like tanking, tanking, tanking. Is there anything that you can do? Walk off stage?
Dave: Not for me. There's nothing I can do. Yeah, there are some people who are so good you see them deliberately putting themselves in that place, because - they’re good enough they’re almost turning the audience on themselves for the fun of it. Almost playing with the audience just to put themselves there, & walk back out again. I tend to steer IN to the fear, because – there’s something inherently interesting there...I know I’m not supposed to - its supposed to be horrifying, but there’s almost something freeing about just – sometimes there is something exhilarating about completely eating shit on stage. And if I start – I’m just gonna keep on going that way. It’s like Oh, ok, you want me to bomb? Then I’m gonna do it in spectacular fashion. I try not to do that anymore because sometimes that gets your shows cancelled (as in, he mentions, The Hound). But I don’t hate bombing as much as some people. Because I know some people who bomb, and then are like – well, I’m not gonna do comedy anymore. But I’m just like – I couldn’t do that. It hurts that night, but then the next day, its just - I'm ready to get back up there.
The Republic mentions the Bill Hicks set where he is completely deconstructing on stage.
Dave: Yeah, then there's also Bill Burr doing the entire set where he's just screaming at them and insulting them, but somehow gets the audience wanting him to do it.
Republic: So -easy questions – who are your favorite stand-up performers.
Dave: Ahhhh.... Kyle Kinane, Bill Hicks (everybody’s gonna say Bill Hicks), Bill Burr, Burr doesn’t give a shit - it’s his art, not giving a shit. I love Amy Schumer – getting to the people who say what you can’t say...
Republic: So what about Amy Schumer, by the way, the whole thing about women tackling some of these new topics:
Dave: Well women CAN tackle those things. I think because a lot of what we consider ‘taboo’ women CAN talk about, because a lot of those taboo things actually affect women. So – they’re the only ones who CAN talk about it—like rape & so on. I think they ARE the voice to be saying it. I’m glad those things are being said. As far as Amy Schumer goes, I like that even though she’s gotten very famous she doesn’t seem to be shying away from saying those kinds of things. But she’s solidified herself, really, she has made her own ticket. And yeah (on Trainwreck) - she wrote it too. So - she’s amazing. She made it to that level, still being herself, so…now she’s just GOLDEN.
As far as local comediennes, go, there is this Christy Synder, from Columbus – the 'complicated girl with bangs.' She, to me is one of the funniest people , I can’t say enough good things about her. I’m glad she’s been coming over from Columbus. Because that’s one of the things we DON’T have in this region - there’s just not a lot of ladies doing it. And to say “we just need more ladies” also sounds sexist. But I just like watching women comedians as well. I like watching up-and-coming comics even more than seeing professional comedians. So I really like to see any new voices.
The Republic mentions a really amazing moment at a recent Starving Artist Open Mic Night where a more serious, non-comedic performer, something of an older woman, stood up to read a “poem” which was a rather long entry related a very real moment in which she was having to cut her step-son down from the closet from a noose. And how crazy that moment was, in the middle of a more-or-less comedic show. And how Dave, as show host, had to mediate all these moments co-existing.
Dave: Yeah, I’m glad that she shared that – but I was really surprised at how respectful people were , and responsive. Because I didn’t really know how that was gonna play out. I also knew I had a comedian coming up after. So, I was also conscious of the fact that I had to try to transition from that back to jokes - without her making that her feel discounted. But I think it worked. So I was really glad she had been able to share that though, because it was this pretty incredible moment.
Republic: OK, so back to the whole concept of comedians sortof mining the darkness - do you ever fear if you became an incredibly emotionally healthy person – you’d no longer be funny?
Dave: Well, – it wouldn’t be MY comedy. Because, that’s the first type of funny thing, right? BROKEN THINGS are funny. Especially if they’re not YOUR broken things. So if people are talking about THEIR broken things then your forgetting about YOURS, or at least putting them into perspective. So – that’s like the first premise of comedy, on why people laugh: Someone falls down. But it wasn’t YOU that fell down. So - that’s funny. The 2nd premise is– somebody falls down, and that someone has some power over you. So then, THAT’ funny – because now you’ve taken the power out of them. You’ve taken the fear out of them. It’s silly now.
Something for people to understand who are very offended by comedy on a regular basis, however. I think what they’re missing is that what people are doing is satirical. We’re making fun of things that we’re scared of. So like - if people are making jokes about cancer, they’re not making jokes because they think cancer is funny. They’re making jokes to relieve you of your FEAR. To alleviate that feeling of powerlessness. Lets take the fear out of it – let’s LAUGH at it.
I remember listening to Wynton Marsalis once, on NPR – and he was talking about how, after Hurricane Katrina– people in the storm’s area make hurricane jokes all the time. And he always thought that was really unique. But then he went to Israel , and he was riding on a bus- and this guy got on the bus and went BOOM! And everybody laughed. So then he realized - that’s how people deal with things they don’t have any power over. They make jokes. And my understanding from people who have been in wars is that they do the same thing. You always try to laugh at things you can’t control. It takes the power out of it.
And Also – one final word of advice: if you’re really sensitive, don’t go to comedy shows.
It’s not YOUR safe space. It’s the ARTIST’S safe space.
So they need to shut the fuck up.
