My Stand-up 1

This I performed during the spring of my Freshman year at my dorm's coffee house. Me and two other people were the only stand-up comedians, I was the only female one. Coffee House is plagued with poets, generic angsty, faux-activist, wannabe poetry--oh, and a few good musicians, so we were the shining light in between poems discussing how bad the world is and depressing stuff.

I was taking a lot of classes at night during this time (yes, theatre majors have labs too) and I didn't want to memorize a whole new act. So I decided to write "poetry." Stereotypical poems that were friggin hillarious and parodied every other "poet". I signed up as a poet, I wore a scarf, and I kept a straight face. I spoke in my "empowered woman" voice. People thought I was doing poetry at the beginning, then they started listening to the poems. And they realized I was actually doing comedy and satirizing all of this free verse poets that would dominate coffee house.

Towards the end, they were cracking up. This was my best stand-up act of that year. And this was my first foray into anti-comedy.

Now, if you have read my post about modern comedy genres, you would know that this is anti-comedy that is a thinly veiled satire of politically correct beat free verse poets. Other than that, the poems were just funny.

This proves that anti-comedy can work, and can be used to convey different forms of comedy underneath it, satire being the most affective way, without blatantly telling people its a satire. Remember, anti-comedy is comedy without presenting itself as comedy. Did you enjoy it? What worked or didn't work? Leave comments!

SNL 2-5-2011 Review

Tonight was a great episode. We saw the returns of not only Dana Carvey, but Mike Myers and Jon Lovitz in cameos. Mike Myers appeared in the opening sketch, in which they did, what else, but Wayne's World. Wayne and Garth listed their Oscar predictions, and still couldn't get over the fact that a movie called "Winter's Bone" came out, and handled it in true Wayne and Garth fashion.

In the opening monologue, Dana Carvey sang about how his cast was the greatest cast ever, and Jon Lovitz made his appearance, joining in a duet.

We saw the return of several of Dana's characters, including Garth, the Church Lady, Mickey Rooney, and Regis Philbin. I would have loved to see his Paul McCartney impersonation though.

We also saw great performances from featured cast member, Paul Brittain, when he played James Franco during weekend update, lampooning on the fact that Franco does a lot of stuff (a lot of movies, General Hospital, hosting the Oscars, directing, etc). And he proceeded to to the next joke on update. Then, minutes later, Seth Meyers asked, "James, what are you doing?" Then cut to James Franco holding up cue cards. "I'm doing cue cards now!" Man, James Franco is busy.

Abby Elliot gave a great performance as Chloe Kardashian, and Anna Faris. As well, we saw a great performance from Jay Pharoah as Eddie Murphy (spot-on!) and Bobby Moynihan as Snooki. Bobby's Snooki always makes me laugh. However, I do think that Lorne Michaels is relying a lot on Kristin Wigg, and needs to put more attention on the new featured castmembers, as well as the newly promoted castmembers (Abby Elliot and Bobby Moynihan). All in all, great show. Russell Brand is hosting next week. I called my mom while in between commercials, my mom is a huge Dana Carvey fan, and I had to explain who Russell Brand is. Chris Brown is the musical guest--what the hell?

Oh, and Just Bieber appeared for some reason.. but he did do a funny parody of the movie "The Roomate" with Andy Sandberg, and was funny in the Church Lady sketch.

ISN'T THAT SPECIAL?

Dana Carvey Hosts SNL Tonight!

Dana Carvey is one of my favorite comedians. And tonight he is hosting Saturday Night Live. Usually, when a former castmember hosts, that means that the episode will be really strong and hilarious tonight. SNL has had a great season so far, and last weeks episode hosted by Jesse Eisenberg proves so.



Dana Carvey is an impersonator, stand-up comedian, and satirist.

He was born in 1955 in Minnesota.

He had small roles in several movies before being on SNL, including This is Spinal Tap. He joined SNL in 1986 and was credited for being one of the castmembers that got it out of its 80s slump.

Dana Carvey stayed on SNL until 1993. He hosted SNL several times in 1994, 1996, and 2000.

He went on to have a rocky movie career, starring as Garth in both Wayne's World movies. His last movie, Master of Disguise was a huge flop, however, he still had a strong performance.

He has had two HBO stand-up specials, one in 1995, and one in 2008. he also had his own show in 1996, the Dana Carvey show, which was in sketch format. Despite being well-responded, it didn't last long. The Dana Carvey show was credited with launching Rob Smigel's Ambiguously Gay Duo, and the careers of Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert.

His career lulled in the late 90s and early 2000s, not because of his quality of movies, but because of two reasons: one, he wanted to be with his kids when they grew up, and two, he suffered from Angina Pectoris, which was troubled even more when doctors operated on the wrong valve!

No that his kids are in their late teens, Dana's been making comeback, starting with his HBO special in 2008, his appearance on the MTV Movie awards that same year when Mike Myers hosted. He and Myers once again played Wayne and Garth in a sketch. Carvey did his infamous George HW Bush impersonation for a funny-or-die video, along with Fred Armisen playing Barack Obama, Will Ferrell playing George W Bush, Chevy Chase playing Gerald Ford, Jim Carey playing Ronald Regan, and Dan Akyroyd playing Jimmy Carter, and Maya Rudolph playing Michelle Obama.

Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion from Will Ferrell

SNL characters and impersonations

Dana Carvey's original characters include the Church Lady, weekend update commentator, the Grumpy Old Man, Garth Algar, from Wayne's World, and Hans from Hans and Franz. Another popular sketch is the "Chopping Brocolli" sketch.





Dana Carvey's infamous for his impersonations: George HW Bush, which won recognition from the real George Sr himself, Paul McCartney (one of my favorites), Johnny Carson, Mickey Rooney, Dan Rather, Jimmy Stewart, and Ross Perot, and many more. Probably the most epic moment showcasing these impersonations was during the 1992 Presidential election, in which Carvey portrayed both George HW Bush, and Ross Perot, during a debate with Clinton, using special effects.



As well, Dana Carvey plays guitar, piano, and drums, and uses them with his characters and his stand-up acts.

So look forward to a great episode tonight, at 11:30 Eastern.