WTF with Marc Maron (it's a podcast)

Seinfeld's the Dave Brubeck of comedy.

yes and then everyone made shit soft jazz comedy records instead of challanging themselves.

Cosby = Louis Armstrong?

and Bob Hope is obv WC Handy.

Even the more broad, mainstream-friendly comics like Seinfeld and Foxworthy aren't complete wastes of time imo. There's enough comedy out there at this point that you can go from one thing to the other just like music without having to choose teams.

i don't pay attention to stand-up at all, but i have always liked comedian shop talk and behind the scenes hollywood stories, which is why i listen

― mizzell, Friday, November 4, 2011 11:08 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

u might like "making it" w/ riki lindhome. good stories of how ppl start out in the biz, etc. the one w/ ben schwartz is partic entertaining & he talks basically breathlessly for an hour+

Johnny Fever otm. Also there's a lot more variety once you actually start looking. Check out someone like, I dunno, Reggie Watts if observational's not your gig.

Also, the comics who closely follow Seinfeld in tone/content seem to be in it as much (or more) for the sitcom-down-the-road as for the standup. It's like Rock telling Maron about his ambition to be at the level of Richard Jeni or George Wallace; Rock truly loves standup, and never saw it as a necessary evil on his way to something bigger. Pryor's massive influence on comedy is inescapable; it's just not necessarily going to be found within a narrow swath of popular mainstream tv shows.

lol never spoke about sitcoms in my lack-of-caring-about-american-comedy

i feel like stand up may be the thing that closest resembles my love of wrestling tho. there isnt much else where you could have a weird passive aggresive dude like maron succeed in an entertaining way actively berating the audience and challanging people to dispise him or think about what a mess he has created. and maybe thats why i dislike most american stand up i see. everyone wants to be the next seinfeld (hogan) on top, you never see a guy try to be comedy's version of terry funk.

something something andy kaufman something something

I know. What I was addressing was the influence of Seinfeld vs. that of Pryor, and how it plays/played out in the culture. The comics who wanted to be like Seinfeld were naturally going to be more accessible in mainstream terms (because of the material and because of careerist aspirations) than comics heavily influenced by Pryor.

xxp

No-one really seems heavily influenced by Pryor though imo. You don't ever really find people doing updated versions of weird things like the Prison Play bit or whatever. Most you usually get is the 'oh shit that's gonna piss off cosby' influence.

I can't think of anyone now who's a direct descendent of Pryor's style, but the thing Pryor did was open the back door of stand-up and sneak all these individual freestyle comics in who took comedy in so many different directions. Seinfeld/Romano/Foxworthy/etc. are all traditionalists for the most part, the kind who could end up in Vegas if they wanted to and are welcome on late night tv. Other guys like Oswalt/Burress/Louis CK/etc. are the kind that will be revered one day like Pryor is now.

I've seen none of those dudes live cept Oswalt, but oh my, "revered one day like Pryor" is a tall order.

True. Some hyperbole/wishful thinking on my part.

You guys are peddling some strange analogies today.

Pryor's influence today is less about direct echoes of his work (although, that's a large part of it: Sykes, Rock, Morgan, CK, etc.) and more about how he allowed comics to do things they wouldn't have thought to do otherwise.

It's like how Miles Davis' style was so pervasive that trumpeters in symphony orchestras had to change their way of playing; they may not be playing like Miles, necessarily, but they're approaching the trumpet differently because of Miles.

Who is the Carrot Top of jazz?

^ that's what I was trying to say, but I'm stupid. xp

Other guys like Oswalt/Burress/Louis CK/etc. are the kind that will be revered one day like Pryor is now.

Maybe CK.

Who is the Carrot Top of jazz?

John Zorn

Kenny G?

lol @ "NOTHING is blacker than james brown." (when talking about crossover appeal back in the day vs now)

― this is unusual for batman. (Jordan), Friday, November 4, 2011 4:48 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

could james brown write a song so black even he could not riff on it

Seinfeld's the Dave Brubeck of comedy.

yes and then everyone made shit soft jazz comedy records instead of challanging themselves.

― a hoy hoy, Friday, November 4, 2011 12:53 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

super talented and unfairly maligned by cool ppl?

The only stand-up I've seen done live is George Carlin and Lewis Black. The Carlin show was absolutely sublime, just so thrilled I got a chance to see him in person.

I saw Bill Cosby live. The material wasn't as good as "Himself" (which is probably the best set of stand-up material ever put together in one place ever, so the comparison is almost unfair), but he worked the crowd in a way I will never forget. I don't remember any one punchline, but I was sore from laughing the next morning. He absolutely slayed the Houston Astrodome. When you can work a crowd of 62,000 people, brother, you know what you're doing.

Cosby = Louis Armstrong?

Maybe, except instead of getting all righteous (self-righteous?) in his old age, Louis Armstrong discovered the magic of laxatives.

And weed.

Rainn Wilson is a good guy. I'd kick it with him anytime. The WTF interview today wasn't eye-opening or anything, but wholly pleasant.

there will always be middle-of-the-roaders in comedy (and i happen to think seinfeld is a pretty great standup, even if his material is i dunno mild). its not like if he never existed everyone would be richard pryors

Cosby = Louis Armstrong?

Read this as Cosby = Louie Anderson -- really confused for a sec and tried REAL hard to make the comparison "work" in my head

Finally listened to the Stamatolpoulos episode - damn he's a cool dude.

Enjoyed Adam Scott, inoffensive, kinda quirky...the nicotine lozenge discussions were kinda funny.

does he discuss triangle face syndrome?

iirc, his answers were pretty obtuse.

he's pretty "acute" ;)

When he's in the kitchen finishing up the eggs benedicts I bet he helpfully says "I sauce all 'ese"

...cos he is pretty tan.

Letterman's ex on tomorrow

Merrill Markoe? If so, I'm sure he's going to ask nothing about her comedy writing, comedy performing or showbusiness development career, and define her solely through a romantic relationship she was in over twenty-three years ago.

Hopefully he'll get around to doing an episode with Andy Prieboy's girlfriend sometime.

^think maron was consciously wary of this crit & didnt try and dig too deep; i think theres a clear difference when marons talking to or abt someone he truly admires/respects vs you know a dane cook or w/e where hes gonna press/pry more

overall i thought this was a v good conversation, merrill seems p cool

Still haven't listened to Merrill's ep yet (will do that sometime today), but so happy that Mary Lynn Rajskub is on Monday's show!

dr. Steve episode had me crying like a girl - on the way to a job interview. hell, before the talk to dr. steve! just maron at the start. fucking hell this show can be rough. (luckily i pulled myself together, having turned up an hour early, at a pub on the corner.)

but yeah, WARNING if you haven't listened to it.

it basically hit me so quick that there was no point turning it off. usually maron rambling at the start leads you in, prepares you and you know if you need to save the actual interview for a later date. but it was maron who had me going!

I've been meaning to listen to that one, I love Dr Steve!

The Ralphie May episode was really good, he has a great attitude despite some of the shitty things that've happened. And Steven Wright was a
a delight, that whole conversation just made me grin like an idiot. What a sweet man.

I did not know about the Ralphie accident as a teen! Damn.

i think i make the mistake of trying to listen to them in order. i dont really know who 85% of the comedians are, so i don't know if it is going to be funny, sad, historical, political etc.

like the one w/ lettermans old head writer/girlfriend was terrific! Merrill Merkoe. Should google, her voice sounded familiar.

I like to listen in order too...I am still recovering from listening to Todd Hanson in the car, holy fuck

oh shit his story was too much.

dr. steve was on that level fyi.

there have been some good one lately for sure, but god damn, i couldn't get through five minutes of that bert kreisher dude.

I had to stop Stoller, his voice was too unbearably shrill for me. Also his whine just...nails on a chalkboard