josh rencher – The Comedy Bureau

Morning Debriefing 2/20/11

February 20, 2011

blake griffin, britney spears, comedy, comedy crawl, dunk contest, frolic, jake's, josh rencher, la, lauri roggenkamp, michael rayner, morning debriefing, neil hamburger, open mic run, steve hernandez

1) Though he has a penchant for provoking, it’s still amazing that Neil Hamburger (@Neil_Hamburger) proves that you can get heckled on Twitter and that, sometimes, the best way to deal with them is to let the heckler put their own foot in their own damn mouth. After a few tweets along the lines of: “I apologize to @BritneySpears and her fans. Feeling guilty after meeting her kids in line at local free clinic. #MentalIllness #Malnutrition,” Neil Hamburger’s Twitter feed filled with some, perhaps, ill-conceived “heckles” tweeted at him that he thankfully retweeted and are, now, featured here.

“Stop running your mouth you fucking ugly loser. You’re irrelavent. Don’t take it out on Brit, bitch!”

“wow @Neil_Hamburger….i never thought someone could be as ignorant and unsophisticated as you are. karma is a bitch…be ready for it.”

“FEMME FATALE will come for your ass you sad failed comedian. NOBODY knows who you are. LMAO”

“Sorry. mean people like @Neil_Hamburger aren’t amazing. Open ur eyes people. People like him is the reason why there’s so much hate…”

“Using Britney, her mental illness, and her kids for publicity, are we? Hope it makes you sleep better at night, sir.”

“America’s #1 Funnyman? HAHAHA You gotta be kidding. You’re such a nobody, look in the mirror… You fucking failed abortion.”

“You’re such a fail. Trying to become famous making fun of people who will always be more succesfull than you’ll ever be”

“Haha, dumb fuck. You’ll never be as succesful as Britney. Go DIE ignorant, motherfucker. FAILED COMEDIAN.”

“HEY!! BACK OFF BRITNEY SPEARS!!! BRITNEY IS THE QUEEN!! YOU ARE AN IGNORANT PERSON!!! I AM A BRITNEY & MJ FAN!!!”

“your second name is so unfortunate Lol, get ran over by a bus plz.”

“You can only wish your career is as successful as Britney’s.”

“could you please stop retweeting people who are sarcastically responding to you? it’s really annoying”

2) Josh Rencher’s Frolic is back from yet another hiatus, which I guess would make it Frolic 3.0? Mar. 2nd. 9PM FREE at Far Bar in Little Tokyo. What’s Frolic? Well, I wrote about it right here. Check back at the Comedy Bureau next week for more details.

3) The birth of a new open mic that could possibly fill in a void that the comedy community has been somewhat feeling on Mondays: Jake’s 38 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA. Sign-up (lottery) 7:30PM/Starts 8PM. First 15 spots are 5 min. paired with 3 min. work-ins throughout the show. Hosted by the gracious Steve Hernandez.

4) Again, in case you don’t like scrolling down, Tip of the Hat 2/19: Lauri Roggenkamp

5) Tonight’s COMEDY CRAWL-even if it isn’t a 3 day weekend….
Jeff Garlin’s Combo Platter @ UCB Theatre 6PM $2 (stand by only)
Comedy Without a Cause @ Boardner’s 7PM FREE
Sunday Funnies @ Zoey’s (in Ventura) 7PM $5
ASSSSCAT @ UCB Theatre 7:30PM FREE
Comedy Barre @ Barre Vermont 8PM FREE/2 drink min.
An Evening with Ted Leo @ Center for the Arts Eagle Rock 8PM $10
Big Ten Comedy All Stars @ Hollywood Improv 8PM $14/2 item min.
French Toast @ Taix 8:30PM FREE
Powerviolence Comedy Night @ 6470 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood 8:30PM FREE
Top Story Weekly @ iO West 9PM $5
Matt Mira & Thomas Lennon Present ONESTAR @ UCB Theatre 9:30PM $5 (stand by only)
Race Riot @ Hollywood Improv 10PM $14/2 item min.

6) OPEN MIC RUN
PALMS 8572 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA/Starts 6PM
SUNSET GRILL 7439 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM/one item min.
SAL’S COMEDY HOLE 7356 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 6PM/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

7) Recently: Blake Griffin dunked over a car in his victory at the NBA Dunk Contest last night, but can he spin a cheeseburger on an umbrella like Michael Rayner (and also be funny while doing it?) Didn’t think so.

8) I went though nearly an hour of straight bombing yesterday just to have a good 7 min. set. In that time, I yelled at myself in my car while stuck in traffic, questioned myself in my intentions as a comedian, and depressed the few people that bothered to listen to me and not the person dancing outside in the rain. Sometimes, that’s what you need to do to prepare for a show.

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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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THE COMEDY BUREAU

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.

Report 00073

THE COMEDY BUREAU