Tag Archives: stand up

“That Joke is Dumb–I’m Aware Of That”

16 Saturday May 2020

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When I watch videos of Mitch Hedberg I’m amazed. His appearances are always precarious—you sort of know that he would never succeed at anything else, and you feel like there’s no way this guy is going to make it through the set, but somehow he does. He’s like a clueless guy from the audience who grabs a flaming torch from the circus fire-eater and manages not to get burned. But I am grateful that he did, because his off-kilter humor really makes me laugh.

Thanks to YouTuber 0Bathgate66

Procedural Matters: Jim Gaffigan

01 Saturday Feb 2020

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I once heard someone describe Shakespeare’s lead actor, Richard Burbage, as the powerful impetus for Will’s complex characters. “Okay, Richard, you think you did well acting the jealous Moorish general, and the evil humpbacked King, and the young moon-y swashbuckler Prince?  Well how about a senile old King who goes insane in the middle of a thunderstorm? Take that!”

While not Shakespeare, I think the very funny Jim Gaffigan  must constantly challenge himself to come up with comedy about the most unlikely comedic subjects: horses, brain surgery, hiking, glasses. In this clip, he talks about… his colonoscopy. No, it’s hilarious.

Thanks to YouTuber Comedy Central Stand-Up

The Driving Instructor

13 Thursday Aug 2015

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The classic Bob Newhart piece done live, some 50 years after the release of his record The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart, which first contained the routine. Sorry for the abrupt ending, but at least it’s all there. Newhart’s timing is as impeccable as ever.

Thanks to YouTuber B. V. Dahlen

“The Foodist Way of Life is Berserkery…”

08 Wednesday Apr 2015

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Theodore Gottlieb, better known as Brother Theodore, was a Holocaust survivor whose entire family was wiped out at Dachau. He subsequently created a stand-up act that was one of the strangest and funniest comedy monologues I’ve ever experienced. He performed regularly in New York City in the 1980s at the 13th Street Theater, where I saw his show several times.

He billed himself as “Brother Theodore…Philosopher…Metaphysician…Podiatrist. ” (He once demanded of my date as to why she was going out with that comic book character next to her.) He lived on the Upper West Side of NYC, and if you were feeling a wave of insomnia, you could often catch him playing chess in the middle of the night at the local chess parlor.

He performed essentially the same show unchanged up until the age of 94. Yesterday’s post reminded me of this comedic genius. Click on the picture above to see the video.