Comediculous

This weekend I managed to catch some of Louis Black doing his most recent HBO special (Red, White, and Screwed I think it was), then I saw Louis C.K. doing his raunchy stand-up on HBO (Louis C.K.:Shameless), and then I just caught Demetri Martin. Person. on Comedy Central.

I love watching stand-up comedians. I think most of the people I've seen are pretty funny, and I think all of them possess a certain bravery that we all wish we had. It's one thing to get up and read a script in front of people, or point at your PowerPoint slides, or read off a cue card. Try getting up in front of a random bunch of people and trying to make them laugh at what you think.

I've seen Howie Mandel, Louis Black, David Cross, Laura Kightlinger, Alonzo Bodden, and Dwayne Perkins live. Seeing stand-up life makes a difference, though in some of those cases when you see the comedian on a talk show or a Comedy Central or HBO special, you end up seeing the same act that they were working on when you saw them live. That's sort of funny when you see what they've changed (if you have the mental bandwidth to store that away), but I almost always find myself saying "oh, this is the routine we already saw." That's not a good attitude, but honesty is not always a bowl of cherries.

When I was at Thuc's bachelor party in Vegas I had brunch with Dwayne Perkins, who is a good friend of Thuc's. He's a really interesting guy. I found out the evening before that "You look hilarious" is not a humorous comment to pay to a professional comedian when he's getting ready to go clubbing in Vegas. Well, it may have been humorous to some, but it was not well-taken by said professional.

I should go see a show.