It's Magic!
You know.
Never believe it's not so.
--"Magic" by Pilot
The People's Republic of Komedy have changed the shape and nature of how stand-up comedy is viewed in Seattle...and how the rest of the world views the comedy that's coming out of Seattle.
There may be some who feel either left off that particular boat or capsized it its wake--and there are those who may have cause to feel that the voyages of their own seaworthy vessel are worthy of at least as much attention--but there's no denying what the PRoK have accomplished in the short amount of time they've been producing shows and influencing the direction of crop after crop of exciting new comedy talents.
They've taken raw materials, and with their hard work and artistic vision, they've sculpted a scene, nurtured an audience and they've opened eyes to the promise of Seattle comedy in the minds of the local media and comedy fans across the country.
And on this November night, the 28th Annual Seattle Comedy Competition was coming to the home of Laff*Hole, the PRoK's flagship show--Chop Suey on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Normally, Chop Suey is home to an extremely well booked calendar of indie-rock and dj'd shows--but once a week, on Wednesdays, Chop Suey becomes home to all things alt-comedy in Seattle.Laff*Hole at Chop Suey, Wednesdays at 10pm.
And here, the competition was...at Chop Suey...on Wednesday...
With a showtime of 9pm.
To quote a million hacky comics, evidently someone didn't get the memo...because at 9pm...there wasn't much of a crowd to see the sixteen hopefuls in Preliminary Week Two...
Perhaps this truly WOULD be a night of alt-comedy--as in "an alternative to comedy"--by simply having our competitors saying jokes in an empty room?
Or, then again, maybe we could just wait a half hour or so...
The 28th Annual Seattle International Comedy Competition
Preliminary Week Two--Night Two
November 7, 2007
Chop Suey, Seattle
Competitor Review-----
Full Reviews To Come, in the meantime, here are some quick takes to tide you over...
RANDY LIEDTKE--Being fairly new to stand-up and having a slow paced, dead pan style makes it harder for him than most to succeed in the bullet spot. He's so different. "Laugh at me, I'm funny." Earned encore point.
TONY BOSWELL--His material on pot did well. His Holiday Inn closer drew laughs all the way up until close. Still, somehow he barely got enough cheers for an encore point. It could be a long night.
BRIAN DOWELL--Brave of him to do a set about hating music and musicians in a club known for music and musicians. Made it work by showing shared knowledge of music and turning it on himself . Earned encore point.
RUBEN BARRON--He's trying to pump up a rather disinterested crowd by doing some magic that is funny in being somewhat unimpressive. Yet, by the end of the "balls" bit, he's won the crowd over. Earned encore point.
ANDY PETERS--"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!" Is Andy too much for this audience at this time? No--as they're even laughing at him laughing at himself. "Masturbate about Sue" got an applause break. Earned a big encore cheer and the point. Should be tough to beat based on what this rather thin crowd is proving to be like.
KEVIN RICHARDS--After Andy's insane energy, everyone seemed to start talking just as Kevin took the stage. However, by the time he got to the "used bow & arrow" part of his "second hand store" opening joke, he'd gotten their attention with little more than a good joke. He reformed the audience to get him on his energy level--nice work. Earned encore point.
ANDREW SLEIGHTER--Strong and compelling work at the beginning--for no technical reason on his part, he lost momentum with the audience. It was like they just checked out on their own. "I can't possibly be as unfunny as your novelty panties." Earned encore point--but it was such an odd audience reaction.
DT OWENS--Couldn't connect with this audience the same way that he did the previous show. His smart bomb joke got some boos. Got 'em back for his "Crazy 'Bout a Ford Truck" closer only to lose them on the "watermelon" topper. Tried to save it by going to another joke and went over his time and that's a penalty. There were still a couple of boos when Gabriel gave him a merciful encore point.
JEREMY GREENBERG--When he moved from general topics to more personal concerns, he got the audience's full attention. Got unnecessary "oohs" on "tooth fairy is hooker training" joke--and Jeremy tends to work best with audiences who don't mind having their buttons pushed far harder than that. He came close to not getting his encore point...but did, in fact, get it.
GENE RENFROE--Got his own unecessary "oohs" for his "starter brother" joke, but won them back with the "Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince" self-describer. Smart to close on his "car smelling like pot" bit. Earned encore point.
ALLYSON SMITH--Her brownie badges bit rocked. Her diary bit rocked. Her bit about the creepy guy taking high school photos rocked. Great set--would have done great during a normal Laff*Hole, too. Earned herself a big encore point cheer and the point that goes with it.
DEREK SHEEN--This crowd, growing larger and more Laff*Hole-y with every performer, LOVED his opening bit involving letters written to him by special needs kids that saw him do his open mic set. It was everything that Seattle loves about alt-comedy. Then, just as quickly, they shut down on his extended bit about the term "idiot-savant." Then, he got them all back for a sensitive swerve bit about condomless sex. This schizophrenic set got a huge applause break and an encore point.
NICK HOFF--STILL young looking. Eat THAT, Hoff! Got good laughs throughout, and even worked his way through some needless sensitivity moments midway through. Earned encore point.
JUSTIN MCCLURE--Justin goes so fast that he sometimes gets tripped over some tricky combinations of words. His delivery style totally reminds me of when Mitch Hedberg's last tour, when Mitch seemed like he was tweaking instead of being blunted... Risked a lot by doing Mexican Bankrobber bit...and he powered through this audience's sensitivity and sold the bit all the way until the end, and the power of that bit was undeniable. Was about to go dirty at the end, audience didn't like it. Veered away from it, didn't quite recover. Gabriel gave him a mercy point.
MARTHA MARION--Martha went one joke too far--as she had a great closer in her sexually inappropriate grandma...but then the inappropriately racist grandma topper didn't completely work with this oddly sensitive crowd. Still, her scattery energy would do well on normal Laff*Hole shows here (as they'd love the 70's retro pubic hair stuff) and she earned her encore point.
MARCUS--Opening with a joke about loving Pearl Jam in a Seattle rock venue could have been like wearing a t-shirt of your favorite band to a concert by that same band...something that seemed right but turned out to be considered uncool...but, this crowd wasn't as interested in being cool, the way I thought they'd be. Other than more sensitivity to a stray comment like calling "Umbrella" a "gay ass song"--this crowd truly warmed up to Marcus with his intense knowledge of the Bowie/Connelly/Oz classic "Labyrinth" movie. Big encore point cheer.
(THIS REPORT IS BEING POSTED IN SECTIONS. YOU COULD CONTINUE TO READ BELOW TO SEE WHO THE TOP FIVE PERFORMERS WERE FOR THIS NIGHT.)
While the scores were totaled up, the Chop Suey faithful were surprised with a special treat--a drop-in stall set performance by Invite Them Up co-founder Eugene Mirman. Eugene's been a strong influence on the new breed of comedians who are helping Seattle's comedy scene make a name for itself and it was good to see him work the Chop Suey stage. You'd think that there'd be some "comedy fatigue" setting in for the audience after such a long competition show, but Eugene not only kept and held their flagging attention...but he delivered a strong, confident set that was a definite highlight of the night.
Give Eugene his encore point. Despite getting into a bizarre conversation with an audience member that turned into a detailed depiction of cats raping people, no one could argue that he earned an encore point tonight.
With Eugene having put smiles on everyone's face, it was time for Gabriel came back to the stage to bring the top 5 competitors back to the stage. Would those smiles stay on everyone's faces? Well...you'd think that it would for at least five of them...but that wasn't true, tonight.
The top five for the night are...???
Fifth place--Martha Marion.
Fourth place--Allyson Smith.
Third place--Marcus.
Second place--Nick Hoff.
...and, the top performer for the night...
First place--Ruben Barron.
(L-R: Gabriel Rutledge, Nick Hoff, Martha Marion, Allyson Smith, Marcus. Not pictured: Ruben Barron)
Unfortunately--and perhaps this had something to do with the mathematical nightmare he was caught in the night before at Comedy Underground, but hopefully it was just because he had to pick someone up at the airport--Ruben Barron was not available to earn his props when he was announced as the nightly winner. It was weird--it was like "poof" and he'd disappeared. (Except that I saw him calmly walking across away from the club and through the Bank of America parking lot during the intermission, so it wasn't "poof" or anything like that.)
I'd never have guessed that a traditionally developed act like Ruben's would do so well in the home of Seattle's alt-comedy scene, which is also a trendy, hipster, indie rock bar in the heart of Seattle's gay community. But, his act has been battle tested to work with everyone...and he did close strong tonight. While I didn't have Ruben winning tonight, that wasn't the biggest surprise of the night.
Biggest surprise of the night, for me, was in Andy Peters not making the top five. I thought he'd nailed it--I even had him as a potential #1 finisher for the night. After two straight nights IN SEATTLE of not making the top five, he'd have to earn his way into a return to the semi-finals on the road, where anything can happen.
NEXT SHOW: THURSDAY NOVEMBER 8th, Preliminary Week Two-Show Three takes place at Paradise Village Bowl & Lounge in Tacoma--show time, 8pm.
LINKS:
SEE PHOTOS FROM THE ACTION AT SEATTLECOMEDY.NET'S FLICKR
OR GO TO THE OFFICIAL SICC WEBSITE
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