Is There Such A Thing As A Bad Audience At A Comedy Show?

Absolutely. Some audiences are dumb and want Chinese jokes. I'll take it one step further - sometimes the HOST is terrible. Sometimes the Feng Shui is out of whack. Sometimes the comic before you killed by making fun of convenience store clerks from Southeast Asia.

This only means it is our job as comics to rectify the situation. More often than not this entails being "loose" which means either:

a) crowdwork
b) articulating your stream-of-consciousness as it happens
c) commenting on a joke from the previous comedian/host

What this does is it gives the audience and comedian common ground without the comedian selling out. The best way I can describe it is to be your own host because if the host did their job right the crowd would be pumped. So YOU have to get them psyched (Rob Lathan steez).

Speaking of getting psyched COME TO MY SHOW TOMORROW AT OCHI'S.

Here are the details:

Mo Diggs presents Claudia Cogan (featured in Time Out New York), Jamie Lee (one of the winners of NYUCF Emerging Comics Contest), Nick Turner (DC Comedy Festival), David Angelo (David Angelo Radio Show), Todd Montesi (Howard Stern) and Matt Nagin (New York Post). Musical guest Joe Yoga.

Date: Wednesday, May 27th
Time: 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Location: Ochi's Lounge (basement of Comix; 353 W. 14th St)
NO COVER/One Item Minimum

I Was Interviewed In Stand-Up Comedy 101

Comedian/open-mike expert Bad Slava interviewed me for his blog. Here's an excerpt:

Why did you start doing stand-up comedy?

I was sleeping with hookers and strippers, thinking, "What job can I have where this lifestyle is common to the point of cliche?"

Remembrance Of Video Past #64: Richard Marx, "Hazard"

We've all heard lite rock before but how about lite rock with A MURDER MYSTERY?! I saw ads for this song in 1992 asking the cryptic question "Who killed Mary?" I first heard this song in my parent's rental car in Florida. It has an ominous sound, like a bad police procedural with spooky synth noises.

Richard Marx plays this guy accused of murder but he maintains is innocence. In the beginning he is shown being teased as a child. Later he finds out his mom is an adulterer and burns a random person's house as a little kid. He eventually dates Mary, who is found dead in the river. It is up to the listener to decide if Marx's character killed Mary or not.

I'd like to think he did it because an easy listening song by a murderer is funnier than a power ballad sung by a cold blooded killer.