eddie pepitone – Page 9 – The Comedy Bureau

Glad That “This Is Not Happening” Is Indeed Happening

February 17, 2011

ari shaffir, dana gould, eddie pepitone, eric abrams, hollywood improv, kevin christy, kyle kinane, storytelling, this is not happening, tig notaro

There has always been a “universal” quality about storytelling, especially the kind that is live, done in person. Any story has the potential to be captivating through unflinching honesty and keen craftsmanship even if its told behind a high school cafeteria.

The stand-up/storytelling series “This Is Not Happening” magnifies how amazingly hilarious stories can be when already tried-and-true comedians shed the veil of their act and spin quite the yarn in front of a packed house at the Hollywood Improv Main Room.

Whether it be Eddie Pepitone yelling about working for a legally blind man, Kyle Kinane working for a charming racist, or even Tig Notaro calling herself out on an intentionally drawn-out, bland story, each one of the comedians, who are already hilarious just telling jokes (i.e. former Simpsons writer Dana Gould), maintained a sense of being around a campfire telling stories as if we were all friends except there was around 200 of us, which made every twist and turn even bigger and subsequently more gratifying.

Many comics fear delving into storytelling as the long bouts of silence that can potentially come with doing so, but I would argue that many of those tense expectations that the audience has for someone to be funny and the performer has for the audience to laugh melt away as they’re just purely honest. Kevin Christy, with his hysterical story of how faithful he is to his wife, did this by being wonderfully unapologetic for how much of a “straight edge” he is and, as a result, left the audience laughing heartily between every turn.

Hosted efficiently and very enjoyably by Ari Shaffir and finely produced by Eric Abrams, This Is Not Happening takes the model of a storytelling show and betters it with a very sizable crowd and a theme, tying every comedian’s stories nice and neat into a package manifested in the image, on this particular show, (on the flyer above designed by aforementioned comic Kevin Christy) of a pile of feces in a hard hat. The delightful theme to inspire such an image was: Take This Job and Shove It. Feces in a hard hat is sort of revolting as an idea, but one that really is universal to the human experience, at least since construction jobs were developed, and hilarious in story form with dozens of people listening, making This Is Not Happening something that I’m quite glad “actually happens” and I have the privilege to see.

This is Not Happening frequently takes places at the Hollywood Improv. Check back at the Comedy Bureau for details on the next one.

Morning Debriefing 2/7/11

February 7, 2011

Uncategorized

alex sulkin, big trouble in little tokyo, blamblamblam, comedy, comedy crawl, eddie pepitone, greg proops, josh comers, la, morning debriefing, open mic run, patton oswalt, san kinison, Señor Fish, smartest man in the world, super bowl, tony sam

1) As the Comedy Bureau promised, we were on the beat of comedians tweeting during and about the horrible extravagance that the Super Bowl is and here, for your enjoyment, in case you’re a better human being than all of us and have not succumbed to Twitter, are the 5 MOST HILARIOUS TWEETS from yesterday’s Super Bowl tweeting blitz:

“@pattonoswalt Baby trauma, robot thumbs, abusive women – if these ads reflect the U.S.’s mood, we’re in an "asshole spiral.”-Patton Oswalt
“@eddiepepitone This football game pales in comparison to crying in the woods with other men about our dads.Go Steelers!”-Eddie Pepitone
“@TonySam76 Wait until you all realize that you have just been watching an extended Michael Bay trailer for Transformers 3 #superbowl”-Tony Sam
“@thesulk That Coke ad with the dragon could’ve fed Africa.”-Alex Sulkin
“@joshcomers These commercials are effective. I just joined al-Qaeda. #Superbowl”-Josh Comers

2) Greg Proops is taking his podcast Smartest Man in the World LIVE, but he’s taking it to the Comedy Central Stages in Hollywood on Feb. 16th where you can be a fortunate audience member for FREE!!! Details are right here, but as the flyer warns, THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF VOCABULARY.

3) Big Trouble in Little Tokyo @ Señor Fish is tomorrow where you can catch Hasan Minhaj and Sean Conroy AND there is the 3 #$#$@!! Year Anniversary of BLAMBLAMBLAM!!! @ R-bar in K-town (only a firm stone’s throw from downtown LA), so now that your Tues. is planned, ehem, you’re welcome.

4) Tonight’s COMEDY CRAWL-a “case of the mondays” is now a good thing
What’s Up Tiger Lily? @ Hollywood Studio Bar & Grill 8PM FREE
Comedy Night @ Cherry Pit 9PM FREE
Keep It Clean Comedy @ 1739 Public House 10PM FREE
Crash Test @ UCB Theatre 11PM $5

5) OPEN MIC RUN 2/7/11
CLUB 705 705 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA/7ishPM/10 min. stage time at least
TRIBAL CAFE 1651 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA (echo park)/8PM
GROUND ZERO CAFE 615 Childs Way, Los Angeles, CA (USC on campus nestled in between dorms near intersection of Figueroa and Exposition)/USC student Sign-up 9PM/Non Student Sign-up 9:15PM/Starts 9:30PM
HARLEM PLACE CAFE 124 W. 4th St. (in alley between Main and Spring St.)/Starts 9PM
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5 Cover/Free coffee & water.

6) Recently: The Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl sending tons of Pittsburgh Steelers T-shirts to Africa, which still won’t solve the big problems in Africa according to Sam Kinison.

7) I wonder if anyone who had their New Year Resolution as starting to perform stand up comedy is still around on the open mic circuit or if they rejoined normal society. Any sightings can be reported to thecomedybureau@gmail.com.

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Morning Debriefing 2/4/11

February 4, 2011

Uncategorized

comedy, comedy crawl, eddie pepitone, egypt, jake's, kenneth cole, la, meltdown, morning debriefing, open mic run, pasadena, set list, ultimate free and cheap la comedy list, wisepix

1) If you’re reading the Comedy Bureau on a regular basis, odds are that you’ve probably watched the spotlight video of “Meltdown” on Last Call w/Caron Daly, but you should probably just watch it again because it’s important.

2) SET LIST-not yours and not really someone else’s either. In fact, it’s a whole stand up show of random topics listed for comedians to do “on the spot”. I’ve personally done one of these and it was a blast and now producer/host Troy Conrad is having a Comedy Central Pilot taping down at the Comedy Central Stages for free on Feb. 15th, which could be “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” for stand up comedy.

3) Open mics fall and rise and this Monday there will be a new one: JAKE’S, 38 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA. Feb. 21st. Sign-up 7:30PM. Thanks to Steve Hernandez for putting up another spot.

4) The Ultimate Free & Cheap LA Comedy List 2/6-2/12. Thanks Wisepix.

5) Tonight’s COMEDY CRAWL–
Dead Authors @ UCB Theatre 6:30PM $5
Dan Cummins @ Hollywood Improv 8PM $18/2 item min.
Garfunkel & Oates Hour @ UCB Theatre 8PM $10 (stand by only)
Baron Vaughn @ Flappers-Claremont 8PM/10PM $15/2 item min.
Stood Up Friday Night: If I Ruled the World @ Moving Arts Theatre 10PM $5
Christina Pazitsky @ Flappers YooHoo Room 11PM $10/2 item min.

6) OPEN MIC RUN 2/4/11-
iCANDY 1708 E. Broadway, Long Beach, CA/Sign-up 6PM/Starts 7PM/$3 min. SILVERLAKE LOUNGE 2906 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA (Silverlake)/Sign-up (lottery) 6:30PM/Starts 7PM
MAX BLOOM’S 200 N. Malden Ave., Fullerton, CA/Starts 7PM
TRINITY CHURCH 1015 California Ave., Santa Monica, CA (in the basement), 8PM
GLENDALE DAYS INN 450 N. Pioneer Dr., Glendale, CA/Starts 8PM

7) Recently: Kenneth Cole made quite the ripple on the Internet with an insensitive tweet promoting their clothes at the expense of cheapening the mass violence in Egypt. Maybe they watched Eddie Pepitone’s Commercial Auditions and didn’t take the joke quite the right way….

8) Following people on Twitter has become a stressful decision. I forgot, is the world over yet?

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Comedians’ Guide To Twitter: Tweeting (#articlesnoonecaresabout)

January 14, 2011

Uncategorized

comedian's guide to twitter, comedy, eddie pepitone, jamie lee, jim hamilton, la, lizzy cooperman, matt knudsen, paul f tompkins, punchline magazine, tweeting, twitter

There is something about 140 characters that specifically attracts the comedian and people who want to turn their clever quips that they think are so funny to their friends and co-workers all to the social networking/micro-blogging site Twitter. Whether it be coming up with quick zingers, observing minutia, gleaning the absurdities of your own psyche, or simply promoting yourself, Twitter has almost become a necessary tool for those in the business of being funny.

As this is the unfortunate necessity, the following is the beginning in yet another continuing series on the Comedy Bureau of a crash course guide of sorts to Twitter for the comedian brand new to Twitter, so they can both navigate and understand the terse nature that borders on being an entirely separate language fostered in Twitter land.

TWEETING

As the device that drives the almost certifiable addiction that is Twitter, tweeting will seem inconsequential to you, at first, until someone brings it up in conversation, “Hey, that was a really funny tweet that you had,” which will cause you to tweet more and subsequently get more followers. However, you’ll probably end up going on some type of tweeting bend after seeing a promo on the side of a bus for some show perhaps called, “Episodes”, and then lose a significant portion of the 200 followers that you had because they were just robots anyway.

My advice, thusly, would be simply to be consistent (i.e. have a style/tweet jokes/promote yourself/don’t tweet at all) on Twitter and don’t overcrowd people’s feeds with more than 7-10 tweets-a-day. For the most part, the funniest people on Twitter seem to stick to those basic principles. ex. Jamie Lee (@thejamielee), Matt Knudsen (@matt_knudsen), Lizzy Cooperman (@lizzycooperman), and Jim Hamilton (@jim_hamilton).

Of course, there are exceptions to this; one of them being the one and only Eddie Pepitone (@eddiepepitone), who is so consistent and uproarious with everything that he tweets that I don’t mind that his constant updates of his “to do list”-1) Tamper with brakes on Al’s car so they fail on highway. 2) get wigs and cyanide ready. 3) make Tofu. Having just been nominated as one of the best comedians on Twitter by Punchline Magazine, He can get away with tweeting non-stop.

Another frequent phenomenon that has become popular amongst comedians is the advent of “live tweeting”, which is, in essence, a play-by-play commentary on any event in real time via Twitter. The best example of this came this past Christmas Eve when Paul F Tompkins (@pftompkins) live tweeted throughout the entire duration of the Pope’s televised Midnight Mass and subsequently got himself trending in the Greater Los Angeles area. Live tweeting can almost be compared to an extended bit of comedic material focused mostly on punchlines.

Again, those two examples both rely on consistency, as opposed to someone having 10 tweets about how they’re mad how the Lakers lost, then 5 more trying to figure out what exactly a “norror movie” (#norrormovies) is, then 25 more tweets spent in a “fight” with someone that you could call because you have their phone number, but choose not to because of the comfortably think anonymity of the Internet. Still, all of those tangents I just mentioned are actually quite entertaining, but just incredibly annoying to read all from the same person in the same day, often times within the span of 3 hours.

So, in conclusion, in regards to tweeting, pick your poison (as you’ll get addicted to it) and stick with it.

Jake Kroeger/@mfjakekroeger

THE COMEDY BUREAU/@thecomedybureau

Comedians’ Guide To Twitter: Tweeting (#articlesnoonecaresabout)

January 12, 2011

Uncategorized

comedian's guide to twitter, comedy, eddie pepitone, jamie lee, jim hamilton, la, lizzy cooperman, matt knudsen, paul f tompkins, punchline magazine, tweeting, twitter

TWEETING

So, in conclusion, in regards to tweeting, pick your poison (as you’ll get addicted to it) and stick with it.

Jake Kroeger/@mfjakekroeger

THE COMEDY BUREAU/@thecomedybureau

LA’s First “Fifty First Jokes”

Some people might think nearly fifty comedians telling one joke each one right after the other is more of a horrid open mic gone even worst than an actual show, much less a laugh riot. Yet, LA’s “Fifty First Jokes” never got close to being a “thunderdome of comedy”.

Instead, “Fifty First Jokes” was an amazing and constantly hilarious rollercoaster showcase of many of LA’s best and brightest amidst its vast comedy scene coming up with the comedian’s version of a new year resolution: a brand new joke. In fact, nearly any joke that any comedian tells can be seen as a resolution of sorts, which is why the entire to-capacity crowd at the Zephyr Theatre was on board laughing hysterically for the whole show through the jokes that killed to the “groaners” (that were still greeted with laughter) to even Maria Bamford mumbling on the floor in the character of an “angry comic”.

Started in NYC five years ago, producers/comics Margie Kment

and Rob O’Reilly (pictured at top) got permission to bring this format of a multitude of comics performing new material for approximately 90 seconds to LA and assembled a gorgeous stretch limo of a line-up that includes hilarious people from all different ilks such as BJ Novak of The Office

and Paul Scheer of Human Giant

all the way to one, Robert Buscemi,

a Chicago transplant that thankfully makes his comedy home here in LA, bringing his ingeniously absurd wit with him. Other such amazing performers that shouldn’t be missed wherever and whenever they’re performing that went up included: Rory Scovel (killed without doing a joke),

James Adomian,

Jamie Lee,

Kyle Kinane (had his back to the audience for the first 30 seconds),

Kumail Nanjiani,

Matt Knudsen (made up a hilarious joke with audience participation),

Eddie Pepitone,

The Walsh Brothers,

and Matt Braunger.

NY comedian Greg Barris,

who had just arrived in LA after doing the NY “Fifty First Jokes”, even popped in and helped bring the inaugural LA version to that rare point where everyone, both comics and real audience members combined, simply had a great time for the entire show.

Unfortunately, such a comedy production of this sort can only take place once a year, but waiting just under 365 days is definitely worth hearing “Fifty First Jokes”.

LA’s First “Fifty First Jokes”

Started in NYC five years ago, producers/comics Margie Kment

and Rob O’Reilly (pictured at top) got permission to bring this format of a multitude of comics performing new material for approximately 90 seconds to LA and assembled a gorgeous stretch limo of a line-up that includes hilarious people from all different ilks such as BJ Novak of The Office

and Paul Scheer of Human Giant

all the way to one, Robert Buscemi,

a Chicago transplant that thankfully makes his comedy home here in LA, bringing his ingeniously absurd wit with him. Other such amazing performers that shouldn’t be missed wherever and whenever they’re performing that went up included: Rory Scovel (killed without doing a joke),

James Adomian,

Jamie Lee,

Kyle Kinane (had his back to the audience for the first 30 seconds),

Kumail Nanjiani,

Matt Knudsen (made up a hilarious joke with audience participation),

Eddie Pepitone,

The Walsh Brothers,

and Matt Braunger.

NY comedian Greg Barris,

who had just arrived in LA after doing the NY “Fifty First Jokes”, even popped in and helped bring the inaugural LA version to that rare point where everyone, both comics and real audience members combined, simply had a great time for the entire show.

Unfortunately, such a comedy production of this sort can only take place once a year, but waiting just under 365 days is definitely worth hearing “Fifty First Jokes”.

Post Brunch Update 1/6/11

put together such a tightly-run show with a plethora of great comics (who are so funny that it doesn’t matter that they have “credits” even though they all do) comprising what could be four different amazing shows on their own that I was able to sit and watch and laugh with the packed room throughout for the entire duration (approximately 2 hours). As host (and as cliché as this sounds, it’s true) with the most Asterios Kokkinos said, “There’s no fat on this show.” Within one of the parts of LA that actually looks like a city and has the type of nightlife where people actually WALK around, Little Tokyo, the hip, though very retro Far Bar offered Rencher’s Frolic! that very intimate setting that live comedy demands to work. Thus I simply enjoyed a night of some of my absolute favorites comics in LA that are regularly featured here at the Comedy Bureau and more: Host Asterios Kokkinos,

and Eddie Pepitone.

None of those people should be missed wherever they’re performing, but certainly not at the Frolic show. Unfortunately, Frolic will be on hiatus until a date and location to be yet determined, but check back at the Comedy Bureau for details on the next one.

2) Forget about the N word being taken out of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and how he must be rolling in his grave LAUGHING and saying, “I told you so!” Go on tonight’s COMEDY CRAWL instead. Persona @ Hollywood Improv 8PM $5/free for comics, The Josh & Josh Show @ Bar Lubitsch 8:30PM FREE, Fifty First Jokes @ Zephyr Theatre 9:30PM $7 (stand-by only), How to Live with Chelsea Peretti @ UCB Theatre 9:30PM $5.

3) OPEN MIC RUN: SANDWICH SPOT 3101 Ocean Park, Santa Monica/Starts 7PM, COMEDY CRATE OPEN MIC 1061 S. La Brea, Ingelwood, CA/Sign-up 6:30PM/Starts 7PM, HOLLYWOOD HOTEL 1160 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA/Sign-up 7PM/Starts 7:30PM, CAFE ON 2ND 7 S. 2nd St., Alhambra, CA/Sign-up 7PM/Starts 7:30PM, 212 CAFE 212 Pier Ave., Santa Monica, CA/Starts 9PM, MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel, past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5/multiple sets allowed

4) Next Tues. Jan. 11th. Louis CK will be dropping his upcoming album “Hilarious”. You should go buy it. I don’t think I can make this anymore matter-of-fact than the last two sentences except for this next one. Just go and buy it.

5) If you suffer from not having enough Marc Maron in your smartphone like I do, there is now a WTF Podcast w/Marc Maron app available for the iPhone, iPod, and iPad that you can stream multitudes of episodes off of or even be able to call the show when it’s taping. It’s Marc Maron for only $0.99. You can’t really turn that down. Really.

6) My faith in people has just been partially restored (approximately 2%) Conan O’Brien just won a People’s Choice Awards for Best Talk Show Host as you can see here.

7) The Comedy Bureau “Tips Its Hat” today to DAN DOMINGUEZ-“@dandomingueznow And, Lo a pale rider, on a skeletal horse, and Hell followed with him, and behind Hell: Incredible savings! Over 30% off on all housewares!” Dan not only cheats the edges of absurdity with his comedy, but comprises one third of the force that is the Biggest Mistake Podcast (other 2/3 is Paul Jay and Jen Goldberg) and a major part of the “manly as f” site manosterone.com. Check back at the Comedy Bureau for show dates as you don’t want to miss whatever Dan is going to say next. Website. Twitter.

8) From the “You Should Have Been There” Lagoon: Richard Pryor on Love

9) Donate to the Comedy Bureau. This is day 4 without food, and by food, I mean sanity…. Also, day 4 is really day 78.

10) Only other that is stupider than asking to be heckled on stage is telling a crowd that they don’t deserve you and then stay silent for the rest of your 5 minutes.

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Post Brunch Update 1/6/11

1) It’s simply not enough to say that Frolic @ Far Bar is just a great show with a fantastic line-up of comics (which it is). With live comedy, running over 90 minutes, in my opinion, one enters extremely tricky territory as the audience tires, settles their check, and checks any pertinent e-mail/texts. Yet producer/comic Josh Rencher

put together such a tightly-run show with a plethora of great comics (who are so funny that it doesn’t matter that they have “credits” even though they all do) comprising what could be four different amazing shows on their own that I was able to sit and watch and laugh with the packed room throughout for the entire duration (approximately 2 hours). As host (and as cliché as this sounds, it’s true) with the most Asterios Kokkinos said, “There’s no fat on this show.” Within one of the parts of LA that actually looks like a city and has the type of nightlife where people actually WALK around, Little Tokyo, the hip, though very retro Far Bar offered Rencher’s Frolic! that very intimate setting that live comedy demands to work. Thus I simply enjoyed a night of some of my absolute favorites comics in LA that are regularly featured here at the Comedy Bureau and more: Host Asterios Kokkinos,

Brent Weinbach,

Zach Sherwin,

Kyle Kinane,

Melissa Villaseñor,

and Eddie Pepitone.

None of those people should be missed wherever they’re performing, but certainly not at the Frolic show. Unfortunately, Frolic will be on hiatus until a date and location to be yet determined, but check back at the Comedy Bureau for details on the next one.

6) My faith in people has just been partially restored (approximately 2%) Conan O’Brien just won a People’s Choice Awards for Best Talk Show Host as you can see here.

8) From the “You Should Have Been There” Lagoon: Richard Pryor on Love

9) Donate to the Comedy Bureau. This is day 4 without food, and by food, I mean sanity…. Also, day 4 is really day 78.

10) Only other that is stupider than asking to be heckled on stage is telling a crowd that they don’t deserve you and then stay silent for the rest of your 5 minutes.

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Post Brunch Update 1/1/11

1) “#Follow2011LAfunniest” represents the 13 funniest folks (2+0+11) in LA on Twitter. If you want your 2011 to be anything resembling an improvement from 2010, then you should read EVERYTHING these fine people write (oh yeah, you should go see them at a show… they’re pretty hilarious in real life too). #Follow2011LAfunniest Lizzy Cooperman (@lizzycooperman), Eddie Pepitone (@eddiepepitone), Kyle Kinane (@kylekinane), Paul Jay (@pauljaycomic), Andrés du Bouchet (@dubouchet), Matt Knudsen (@matt_knudsen), Matt Dwyer (@matt_dwyer), Tony Sam (@tonysam76), Ryan Stout (@stoutryan), Dave Ross (@davetotheross), Lauren Ashley Bishop (@sbellelauren), Robert Buscemi (@robertbuscemi), and Jamie Lee (@thejamielee).

2) 8PM’s about when you’ll regain consciousness today, I mean this evening and try to remember where you left jacket, your wallet, and, incidentally, your innocence. Just go on tonight’s COMEDY CRAWL and forget about it with Hipster New Year w/Eddie Pepitone @ Flappers Burbank 8PM/10PM $17/2 drink min.

3) OPEN MIC RUN: WESTSIDE COMEDY THEATRE 1323-A 3rd St., Santa Monica, CA (in alley between 3rd and 4th St.)/Sign-up (lottery) 6PM/Starts 6:30PM, SUNSET GRILL 7439 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM/one item min., MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5/multiple sets allowed

4) THE BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE TOKYO OPEN MIC is back for another round with none other than JACKIE KASHIAN and ANDY PETERS! Don’t miss out on some ass-kicking fun at Señor Fish (422 E. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA) this Tues. ¼. Sign-up 6:30PM. Starts 7PM.

5) The Comedy Bureau “Tips Its Hat” today to HASAN MINHAJ-“Law School Application” In his bio on his website, there is a line that reads “Today, Hasan enjoys writing biographies about himself in the third person.” Taking his observations about the world and himself throughout the country, Hasan is a comedic whirlwind that should be seen when you ever he’s going on stage. Such an occasion will happen on Mon. 1/3 at Keep It Clean @ 1739 Public House 10PM FREE and Tues. ¼ at Fresh Faces @ the Hollywood Laugh Factory 8PM $20/2 drink min. Here’s his website again along with his Twitter.

6) From the “You Should Have Been There” Lagoon: Lenny Bruce All Alone (yes, I know I’ve posted this before, but if we’re taking this “brand new year” thing seriously, this is one of the first things I want anyone/everyone to watch in comedy.)

7) Donate to the Comedy Bureau. You can start off the year (if you believe in that sort of thing) as a good person (again, if you’re into that sort of thing) if you do so.

8) New Year’s Resolution jokes here we come, including the joke-within-itself of considering starting in comedy as an acceptable resolution.

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Morning Debriefing 12/27/10

1) Hashtags. #whatthehellisthis? #whydoIcare? Partially as a necessity to promote one’s self as a performer and partially as an indulgence into one’s own belief in their own genius, being on Twitter for comedians, not only in LA, but around the world, seems like a natural occurrence. Many comedians indeed just promote their shows/videos/podcasts/etc. while others tweet absolutely everything they do while other others even go further and actually utilize Twitter as a sort of “open mic” for jokes that might actually might make it into their act. Taking that all into consideration, the newest and possibly most interesting “comedian trend” on Twitter is the “joke hashtag” where a random, arcane topic, such as “fat indie bands”, is preceded by the “#” symbol and has no spaces in between, which follows an attempt at that topic. Ex. “@blitzkroeger Rage Against the Blood Pressure Machine #fatindiebands”. If you like subjecting yourself to following 400 people on Twitter and reading EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEIR TWEETS, then you’ll notice that many comedians all the way from big time “names” like Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) to some excellent “no-name” writers spend a considerable amount of time coming up for more tweets to add to that “joke hashtag”, when they will most likely never in their entire lifetime on stage, ever use any of that. In fact, nearly all of these types of tweets are extremely pun based and I can hardly see anyone using them onstage ever, much less on tour/on the road where Twitter terminology is quite possibly a foreign language. Yet, as a comedian, I feel compelled, like it’s running laps during 6th grade P.E. to join in on the “joke hashtag” fest. As this keeps happening and my time to be productive/be the Comedy Bureau is eaten away at, I ask myself why do I succumb to this and I’ve concluded that joining in on these “joke hashtags” is the new form of “riffing” over dinner or while smoking outside that, above all else, keeps you sharp, thinking on your toes, and ready for something that isn’t in your element. As I’ve come to see the value in thinking what some more “#failedrockbandmovies” are, I would say to comics, perhaps join in on some “joke hashtags” to work out your brain for later when writing your own material and, sometimes (emphasis on sometimes) to actually have fun. #whatanovelconcept #articlesnoonecaresabout

2) For branding purposes only, I am maintaining the term “COMEDY CRAWL” for tonight even though there is only one show I would recommend. For tonight, go to Alonzo Bodden @ Comedy and Magic Club 8PM $15/2 drink min.

3) OPEN MIC RUN: SAL’S COMEDY HOLE 7356 Melrose Ave., Hollywood, CA/Starts 6PM/one item min., TRIBAL CAFE 1651 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA (Echo Park)/Starts 8:30PM, MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA/5PM to 11PM/$5/multiple sets allowed

4) It has been brought to my attention that people actually read the CHAIN OF COMMAND section of the Comedy Bureau and are curious as to the nature of the other members. Consigliere Joe Braza, Field Liaison Jeremy Paul, and Assistant to the Field Liaison Russell Corona are all dedicated members of the Comedy Bureau hand picked by me/the Bureau Director himself to ensure that I don’t go completely insane in trying to issue out the “debriefing” everyday. Also, they take care a lot of heavy lifting and any ancillary dirty work that I need done. In addition to all of that, they comprise of some of the funniest folks I know. To all those interested in contributing to the Comedy Bureau, before you find me, I’ll find you OR just e-mail thecomedybureau@gmail.com

5) It was asked of me several weeks ago that I list the “Pound for Pound” Open Mics in the Los Angeles area for every day of the week as I’m the guy whose willing to drive to such mythical places as Alhambra and Carson and even beyond for some stage time. The wait for this list is over… tomorrow and then everyone can see what’s the best place to actually try out material instead of risking doing so when booked.

6) TOMORROW is the premiere of Part 8 of the Big Trouble in Little Tokyo Open Mic. Don’t miss cheap food, cheap beer, cheap Tony Sam and Matt Knudsen, some cheap great laughs, and cheap “big trouble” at Señor Fish. Be at 422 E. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA at 6:30PM for sign-up and 7PM for the start. That is all.

7) The Comedy Bureau “Tips Its Hat” today to JAN DAVIDSON-“Interview with a Virgin” Being named one of the “Funniest Moms in America” by Nick at Nite might lead you to believe that Jan Davidson tells cute jokes about her kids, but you couldn’t be more mistaken. Jan is one of the more edgy, innovative, amazing performers amongst, not just mothers, but all comics that I’ve come across in my travels as the Comedy Bureau and certainly a joy to watch. Please check her myspace page and/or back at the Comedy Bureau for more on Jan and her next performance.

8) From the “You Should Have Been There” Lagoon: Eddie Pepitone heckles himself

9) Donate to the Comedy Bureau because I still don’t work for LA weekly or the LA times and don’t have a glass office, which this lovely minimalist inspired site might lead you to believe.

10) In reference to my act, I was just told by my dad that “being unable to get a girl” and “hating your mother” are not relatable topics of discussion. I must be out of touch with our “zeitgeist” as everyone is APPARENTLY successfully dating and are members of a fully functional, totally agreeable nuclear family unit. My apologies Comedy Community/Los Angeles/America.

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Morning Debriefing 12/27/10

8) From the “You Should Have Been There” Lagoon: Eddie Pepitone heckles himself

9) Donate to the Comedy Bureau because I still don’t work for LA weekly or the LA times and don’t have a glass office, which this lovely minimalist inspired site might lead you to believe.

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Daily Report 11/12/10

1) Holy Fuck! @ The Downtown Independent Theatre deservedly earned it’s name last night. Despite it being on a night that it isn’t usually scheduled on, the presence of the Downtown LA Artwalk, another live stand up comedy show also in Downtown LA, Holy Fuck! told the odds to go seriously FUCK themselves as an entire movie theatre (over 100 people) showed up to see some of LA’s heaviest hitters in comedy. In fact, show producer/awesome comedian/all around great guy Dave Ross proves that, if done correctly, you can make a great comedy show in a completely non-traditional comedy venue at the ultra-hip Downtown Independent Theatre. When Louis CK dropped in a few months ago, he pointed out the high ceilings, the deep stadium seating, and several other obstacles comedians would have to fight while perform and got HUGE LAUGHS will doing it. On this edition of Holy Fuck!, the huge crowd that told the artwalk to fuck off were almost spoiled with performances from cross-dressing/straight-man (you read that right)/host for the evening Rye Silverman, Zach Ames, Ed Salazar, Susan Burke, Howard Kremer, musical duo Limo Driver, Dave Ross, Laura Kightlinger, and the one and only (and the Comedy Bureau uses that phrase sparingly) Eddie Pepitone. OH, DID I MENTION IT’S FREE?!? It’s a completely free show that you should never miss on pain of kicking yourself in the face. Holy Fuck! is usually on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month. 9PM. HOLY FUCKING FREE! @ Downtown Independent Theatre 251 S. Main St. Stay tuned here for details.

2) Hopefully the COMEDY CRAWL will put the Artwalk to shame. We can start off to that goal tonight by going to Ron Lynch @ Flappers Yoo Hoo Room 7:30PM $10/2 drink min., then go to Jimmy Dore @ Flappers Claremont 8PM/10PM $15/2 drink min., then go to Race Riot @ The Hollywood Improv Lab 8PM $5, then go to Garfunkel & Oates Hour @ UCB Theatre $10 (stand by only), then go to 10 Comics in the Lounge @ Comedy and Magic Club 8:15PM $10, then go to Tremendosaur and Friends @ Tommy’s Place/USC 9PM FREE, then Stood Up Friday Night @ Moving Arts Theatre 10PM $5, then finish off with Hot Toddy @ iO West 10:30PM $5. Once again, you’re welcome.

3) OPEN MIC RUN: SILVERLAKE LOUNGE-sign up (lottery) at 6:30PM/starts at 7PM/2906 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA (Silverlake), iCANDY-sign up at 6PM/starts at 7PM/1708 E. Broadway, Long Beach, CA, GLENDALE DAYS INN-8PM/450 Pioneer Dr., Glendale, CA, NEWPORT BEACH RADISSON -9PM/4545 MacArthur Blvd., Newport Beach, CA/message host David Marley for sign-up, MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC-5PM to 11PM/$5 cover/7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel, past Big Mama’s & Big Papa’s)

4) The Ultimate Free & Cheap LA Comedy List strikes again for 11/14-11/20… in a for-the-good-of-mankind way. Thanks Wisepix.

5) The Comedy Bureau tips it’s non-existent/metaphorical Twitter hat today to Lizzy Cooperman. RT @lizzycoooperman You call him a bad dancer. I call him a handicapped centipede. #twoleftfeet. Follow her here.

6) It has been brought to the Comedy Bureau’s attention that actual people read and appreciate the reviews featured here. As this is the case, there will be a REVIEWS archive in case you were ever wondering which are the hot shows to check out in the vast decentralized amazing place that LA is AND you didn’t want to scroll and search through all these posts looking for it.

7) Whatever the Comedy Bureau is doing tonight in comedy, with comedy, or any other preposition related to comedy will be live tweeted here. Please follow.

8) If you like Morning Debriefings more than Daily Reports, donate to the Comedy Bureau as it needs to make money doing this in its spare time AKA pretty much every waking minute. Again, donate.

9) Doing comedy every night literally stretches time as two weeks ago seems like two months to me, which makes me feel better as it seems I’ve been doing this blog a lot longer than I actually have. Though, it also makes it seem like I’ve been alone a lot longer (i.e. years seem like epochs)

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Morning Debriefing 11/8/10

1) Tales of the Black Freighter @ R-Bar is what people should think of a LA comedy show, as opposed to what they might see at the Comedy Store and the Hollywood Improv on a given night. Located in the heart of K-town on 8th St., as opposed to the gentrified glitz of Wilshire Blvd., with several Mexican hole-in-the-walls and Korean BBQs, one walks into R-bar and is immediately transported into yet another state of mind with there being a password (that they will just give you) to enter the extremely intimate bar, an entirely dark wooded interior, and offerings of the Sazerac from the friendly, neighborly staff AND THEN, there’s a great comedy show. With Last Comic Standing Finalist James Adomian hosting and telling his version of Russian joke families, Eddie Pepitone, Karl Hess, Jimmy Dore, and Eric Andre gave the audience the complete fantastically opposite experience of a Hollywood comedy show. Details of the Tales of the Black Frieghter will come as the Comedy Bureau receives them, but there is another regularly scheduled, one-Tuesday-a-month live comedy show at R-bar (3331 W. 8th St., Los Angeles, CA) called Blamblamblam hosted by Matt Peters. Don’t miss the next one on this Tues. Nov. 9th at 9PM for FREE.

2) We still haven’t hit a night without a fantastic “Comedy Crawl” and tonight is certainly no exception. In fact, it’s going to one damn good night of comedy, that’s almost entirely free, on a daylight savings Monday that certainly needs it. Start off with some What’s Up Tiger Lily? @ Hollywood Studio Bar & Grill 8PM FREE, The Happy Tiki Comedy Show @ The Puka Bar 8:30PM FREE, Stand Up Comedy Night @ Old Towne Pub (66 N. Fair Oaks, Pasadena, CA) 10PM FREE, Keep It Clean @ 1739 Public House 10:30PM FREE, and finish it off with The Incubator @ UCB Theatre 11PM $5.

3) If anyone actually followed the live tweet of last night’s sojourn to Sushi King for the supposed midnight open mic, you would have found that they moved it to Tuesday. Personal sidenote: I don’t know how receptive Sushi King is to comedy if they ACTUALLY THOUGHT I was going to have sushi delivered from Hollywood to Long Beach after I showed up for a comedy open mic at midnight. Live tweeting tonight from Marty’s/The Open Mic at 5PM. Follow here.

4) If you are opting to stay at home tonight, you better be watching the return of Conan O’Brien on TV/the world having hope or at least having some great fun before it goes down in flames. 11PM on TBS.

5) RT @ Braunger LA comics! @sarahtiana is collecting merch for the troops. Drop off your CDs, records, etc at the Improv, Comedy Store, and the Icehouse.

6) I’ll say it again: Greater LA Open Mic Map. Greater LA Comedy Landscape. Both now with buttons and will be updated regularly. I wish paying my overdue parking ticket was this easy.

7) DON’T HAVE FEAR even though there will be some Big Trouble in Little Tokyo with the Big Trouble in Little Tokyo Open Mic kicking off and kicking hard tomorrow night Tues. Nov. 9th at 6:30PM. Please don’t be square/no show. Come to Señor Fish, 422 E. 1st. St., Los Angeles, CA (I apologize. You can be square, but please come down because it will be “that” much greater if you do)

8) I could give you a million very depressing reasons that no one really needs to hear about what I go through to run the Comedy Bureau, but, instead, I’m just going to say, if you are able and willing, please donate here.

9) Walking for 2 hours around Koreatown, horribly alone, might just be a great way to get material, though I’m pretty sure writing, “You ever been so alone that you wished you’ve been mugged just to remind you of your existence?” isn’t really all that funny. It sounds “forced”, but I’ll find that out for sure at an open mic tonight.

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Morning Debriefing 10/28/10

1) Despite showing up late, Beer in the Shower @ White Horse Inn Cocktail Lounge, catching Nick Vatterott and Jerry Rocha w/host Paul Danke was THE WAY to close out a Wednesday night especially if someone said about everything you’ve written a few hours earlier, “I don’t understand any of your fuckin’ shit, man. What the hell is going on your head? I can tell you don’t sleep. You should sleep and stop writing.” If only I skipped my screenwriter’s group, I would have caught the hilarity of Shawn Pearlman, Eddie Pepitone, and Fortune Feimster. Catch Beer in the Shower every Wednesday, 10PM @ White Horse.

2) Just because its miles outside of LA proper, doesn’t mean that there’s nothing funny about Long Beach. Comedians Chris Adams and Jerry Brandt prove that in spades and THEN SOME with their weekly podcast Drinking Buddies. This week, longtime LA comedy vet Don Barris and the hilarious Tim Babb talk everything from comedy to Disneyland to rape and, of course, drinking. See how everything connects here.

3) “Jesse Miller. Straight up.” –Andre Hyland. Every few weeks at the AMAZING Anna Lee Lawson Comedy Hour @ The Next Stage Theatre, Andre Hyland transforms into Jesse Miller and takes over with the Jesse Miller Talk Show (next one’s in November). Check out Jesse on a Trikke. Again, it’s straight up.

4) From the World Famous Comedy Garage, quintessential hipster LA comedian Paul Danke gives you some advice on Halloween costumes so you don’t look totally lame, unless you’re being ironic, well, then, you know what I mean…. Check it on Funny or Die here.

5) There will be a brand new open mic in town at Señor Fish in Little Tokyo starting Nov. 9th. Happy hour w/$3 beers & $2 fish tacos and more details coming soon.

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THE COMEDY BUREAU

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