19 Wednesday Feb 2020
Posted in Comedy, Life, Performance, Writing
Tags
comedy, horseracing, horses, Jim Gaffigan, performance, stand up, writing
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Jim Gaffigan does ten minutes on horses–and yes, it’s funny as hell even to this city dweller.
More at Jim Gaffigan
01 Saturday Feb 2020
Posted in Comedy, Life, Performance, Writing
Tags
colonoscopy, comedy, Jim Gaffigan, performance, stand up, writing
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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
15 Friday Nov 2019
15 Thursday Aug 2019
Posted in Comedy, Life, Performance, Writing
Tags
comedy, performance, Rod Man, Rod Thompson, Self-service, stand up, WalMart, writing
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Always fun when a comedian identifies a shared pet peeve and is hilarious about it. Rod “Rod Man” Thompson hits the nail on the head with this bit.
Thanks to YouTuber Rod Man TV
13 Thursday Aug 2015
Posted in Comedy, Performance, Writing
Tags
acting, Bob Newhart, car, comedy, drving instructor, performance, stand up
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
08 Wednesday Apr 2015
Posted in Comedy, Life, Performance, Writing
Tags
acting, Brother Theodore, comedy, foodlum, monologue, performance, stand up, writing
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.
