Comedy And Music

I love comedy. I like music. I sometimes make fun of music and musicians, but it's purely in a comical way. I don't have any actual ill feelings towards music or musicians. I listen to music and truly enjoy it, and I have a good amount of musician friends who, almost unanimously, are fun, nice, hard working people. Any faux or hyperbolic dislike I put forth towards music and musicians is truly for comical purposes and really just stems from a "red-headed stepchild" feeling I get as a comic when compared to other artists--particularly musicians.

Recently I was at a show that...well wasn't the best show I've ever done. "Ambush" comedy at its finest (worst). "Ambush" meaning that it was a room full of people that thought they were at a bar and grill to have some food, some drinks, and maybe some good times with their friends, but wait, I'm actually here to tell you jokes! I know you want to have a conversation with someone you've known for years, but I'd prefer you to have a conversation with me, a slightly drunk stranger, for about 20 minutes. Oh yeah, and just so you know, I'll be the only one talking during this conversation, and if you try to talk during it, I'll get angry and possibly make fun of your most obvious physical flaw. Now I'm not condoning heckling. If at any normally run and put together comedy show you decide to forcefully interject yourself into the proceedings, you should be removed from the show. And possibly executed. In public. As a warning to others. But I digress. However, in this extreme situation, I sympathize with the show patrons. Especially when the show was apparently an "Ambush" to the manager of the bar and grill as well. Pro tip: A venue not knowing they are hosting a show on show date is bad. Now, while I didn't really need to talk for 20 minutes to a group of people who not only couldn't care less I was performing but who I sympathized with not caring that I was performing, I also needed the $20 I was getting paid. I figured, "Hey, just go out there and get through this. It's probably going to suck, but it will be over soon. Maybe if you have some fun with it, you might actually have a good time. Either way, eye on the cash and then we can go home." I was happy for a second and then I questioned my life choices when I realized that's probably the mentality of every hooker across the country with a strange dick in their mouth right now. Sooo...to tie back to the original point, which seems like a light-year of words away at this point, there was also a guy playing cover songs on an acoustic guitar in the same bar and grill in a different section. I joked with the crowd, "If anyone is enjoying the show, thank you, you are cool people. If anyone saw the guy downstairs playing cover songs on his acoustic guitar and made the conscious choice to leave and come upstairs to watch comedy instead, you are the coolest people ever! See here's the thing. If you're a comic, you spend years honing your act, finding your voice, writing tons and tons of unique, honest, and heartfelt material--most of it shitty--just to distill it down to a half hour--or eventually an hour--of sharp, funny jokes. And after years of honing and perfecting, if you're lucky enough and market yourself well, you may get to tell jokes in a bar to a bunch of people who don't give a fuck. But if you're a musician. And you learn a few covers. You'll get your dick sucked A LOT."

But again, just jokes. And while I like musicians being musicians and comics being comics, I do like the rare and beautiful instances where we can all come together. I did describe my feelings as that of being a "red-headed stepchild" in the arts community, and while it's not a stellar feeling, the wording does carry with it the connotation that we are, as artists, a family. Awww. My favorite examples of the mash-up?

Zach Galifianakis does a great chunk in his shows where he spouts clever one-liners while perched in front of a piano. While the one-liners could probably stand alone, the piano accompaniment gives it a certain well paced timing that I think accentuates the funny.

Bill Hicks used music in his CD "Rant in E-Minor" in a more subtle, but still enjoyable way. The CD is around an hour of fairly ordinary (and I mean that in the style of the CD as a comedy album not in Bill's material which is astronomically above ordinary) stand-up comedy. However, the ends to some of the jokes are highlighted by melodic riffings and music is used throughout as kind a post-production segways from point to point. It's subtle but interesting. It fits well and doesn't distract from the powerful comedic material that Hicks puts forward. When something is so subtle and downplayed, it can be nice, however it then begs the question after listening to it, "was it necessary." While not a huge component of a great comedy album, the music really adds something--even if it's slight--to the overall composition. (I'll post one of my favorite examples below, but feel free to check out the full album HERE if you have the time. Yay, internet!)

However, I think the best use of music with comedy comes from the great Doug Stanhope. On Stanhope's album "Something To Take The Edge Off," Doug does a full length set with a guitar accompaniment the entire time. There are a few reasons this rises above the previous examples for me. First, it's during his whole set. While I think Galifianakis' piano chunk is great, it's still a part of his act. Other comics, like Demetri Martin, have similar chunks with pianos and other instruments. They are funny (at least in the two examples of Zach and Demetri), but it's still a specific gimmick for that particular part of the show. Stanhope essentially put his entire act to music. Crazy! And in this case, very good. Also, Galifianakis, Martin, and even Hicks were/are musicians. They play the music used in their acts. Doug Stanhope had a live guitar player on stage the entire time playing along to his musings. To me, this is what's great about it. Not just music and comedy, but two guys together playing and feeding off each other and putting on a great show. It's not just a comedy and music mash-up, but a synergy similar to watching a full band performance. And if you get the chance to listen to the full album, which is great, you will see that the two performers work together great. The music fades, almost indistinguishably, to the background during the set-up and crescendos as the punchline hits. The melodic sound of the music stays relatively constant throughout the performance, but the guitar player does well to occasionally change the tone of his tune as the material sees fit. I don't know the full history of the pair up, but even if unpracticed, I have to imagine the guitarist was at least familiar with Stanhope's act. If not, hey, even more impressive. A truly great comedy album. Inventive for sure, but with no lack of just truly hilarious bits from a truly hilarious comic.

I so enjoyed this album when I first heard it, it made me want to embark on a similar comedic expedition. So, music friends, what do you think? I'll do time, you play music? We'll practice a little, rock the show, I'll get drunk, go home, pass out--and you can go get your dick sucked. Art!