Not the 2nd Part of "The Odyssey -- Face the Music"
Tried to go down to Rev. Jen's show in the East Village last night and see if I could do a few minutes, but the show's been moving around lately and I went to the wrong place. So, as long as I was in the area, I figured I'd finally make an appearance at Rififi to remind people I was extant and demonstrate my sociability (which would hopefully be operating at an adequate level -- I can't always control that).
I decided to go even though I was not in my freshest clothing. True, I wasn't wearing the stinky shit I had on the previous day but I was not daisy fresh. (Didn't have money to do a laundry 'til yesterday and then decided not to do it as I could save money and time by waiting at least another day. Took an extra-warm, soapy shower, though.) And I would be entering the den of the epitome of Rififi-hip, Eugene Mirman.
Plan was, if you don't remember, for me to start getting to know various comedy gatekeepers better by simply hanging out pleasantly without pressuring said gatekeeper about spots, etc. Y'see, uniquely among comedy scenes, the "happening" end of the New York comedy scene is about friendship. And though one of the standards of friendship here is comedic quality (and a comedic sympatico), in the absence of money, which is sorely lacking (Jon Oliver talks about this in the current Time Out New York), comics can ignore the the audience and do what they want with whom they want. (Predictably, this has drawn a satisfied, enthusiastic audience and fostered more creative comedy.)
Unfortunately, I made several mistakes a few years ago that nipped in the bud the friendships necessary for advancement in this corner of the comedy world. 1. I made a feeble joke in a promotional e-mail for a show I was doing about what was then the top show in NY alternative comedy, "Eating It at Luna Lounge". I had done Luna about 6 times but never did it again after that and, with neurotic, inappropriate overkill, the producers of that show effectively cut me out of everything else they were involved in, including much of the programming on Comedy Central and the Montreal Comedy Festival. 2. I was socially inept at a party thrown by one of the social leaders of the scene and resultant negative murmurs began to define me even with some people who already new me and new better. 3. I produced a weekly comedy show at Rififi.
Now, why, you may ask, would the third of those have any negative effect? Especially keeping in mind that Rififi is one of the top venues on the New York indie scene.
Well, when I asked Antonio, the then and current show coordinator there, about the possibility of doing a weekly show there, it was not yet effectively a comedy club, it was a failing bar that sometimes showed movies and presented music and had an owner (still does) who hated comedy. And I thought I would be doing the first comedy show there.
But there was one already -- Eugene Mirman's.
And because the place didn't know anything about scheduling comedy, they soon tried to put both our shows on the same night. Which created great friction with Eugene, who I didn't really know. He felt our show infringed upon his somehow. And since he had the help of Lisa Leingang, who was then working at NBC and had SNL people and their ilk coming down and had a following (derived in part from appearances at Luna Lounge -- see how these things work?), he seemed to feel, he had the hip show and ours was the nerdy one. (As it happens, a number of Eugene's current regulars and other indie stalwarts made their first Rififi appearances on my "unhip" show.)
Since then, Eugene has seen me as a lesser, un-cutting edge comedian, even though he has little or no idea what I do. And I think the only way to maybe get around that is to just be a guy; be the best me I can be. And be around. (Not just with him, of course. I don't have a Eugene fixation.)
So, I entered Rififi and saw a guy near the back room who reminded me of Zach Galifianakis. I thought maybe it was him for a second but it wasn't, so put down my bag and suddenly I heard someone loudly say, "ANDREW J. LEDERER."
It was not the guy I had thought was Zach Galifianakis. It was Zach Galifianakis.
Now, Zach and I have flirted with friendship. And he's also seen firsthand and heard otherhand about my periodic social imperfection. But he has always been a big fan of my comedy. In fact, he knows everything about me as a comedian that I wish Eugene and the others on this scene did.
So, I decided I would ask Zach to tell the gatekeepers in question that I'm "ok".
Didn't do it last night as many of the tastemakers in question were around. (Todd Barry, Demetri Martin, I think I saw Leo Allen . . . ) But during the time I was talking to Zach, Demetri Martin, who I don't really know, and Eugene both almost semi-included me in the conversation. (A good sign.)
I told Zach I had to talk to him about something but would be doing it by e-mail. He said why don't you do it now and I said, "I'm shy."
He laughed.
To Be Continued?
(Don't worry. I'll finish the other thing.)
I previously wrote about some of the issues addressed in today's post here.
__________________________________
8 February, 2007 @ 17:03 GMT
http://blogs.chortle.co.uk/andrewjlederer
I decided to go even though I was not in my freshest clothing. True, I wasn't wearing the stinky shit I had on the previous day but I was not daisy fresh. (Didn't have money to do a laundry 'til yesterday and then decided not to do it as I could save money and time by waiting at least another day. Took an extra-warm, soapy shower, though.) And I would be entering the den of the epitome of Rififi-hip, Eugene Mirman.
Plan was, if you don't remember, for me to start getting to know various comedy gatekeepers better by simply hanging out pleasantly without pressuring said gatekeeper about spots, etc. Y'see, uniquely among comedy scenes, the "happening" end of the New York comedy scene is about friendship. And though one of the standards of friendship here is comedic quality (and a comedic sympatico), in the absence of money, which is sorely lacking (Jon Oliver talks about this in the current Time Out New York), comics can ignore the the audience and do what they want with whom they want. (Predictably, this has drawn a satisfied, enthusiastic audience and fostered more creative comedy.)
Unfortunately, I made several mistakes a few years ago that nipped in the bud the friendships necessary for advancement in this corner of the comedy world. 1. I made a feeble joke in a promotional e-mail for a show I was doing about what was then the top show in NY alternative comedy, "Eating It at Luna Lounge". I had done Luna about 6 times but never did it again after that and, with neurotic, inappropriate overkill, the producers of that show effectively cut me out of everything else they were involved in, including much of the programming on Comedy Central and the Montreal Comedy Festival. 2. I was socially inept at a party thrown by one of the social leaders of the scene and resultant negative murmurs began to define me even with some people who already new me and new better. 3. I produced a weekly comedy show at Rififi.
Now, why, you may ask, would the third of those have any negative effect? Especially keeping in mind that Rififi is one of the top venues on the New York indie scene.
Well, when I asked Antonio, the then and current show coordinator there, about the possibility of doing a weekly show there, it was not yet effectively a comedy club, it was a failing bar that sometimes showed movies and presented music and had an owner (still does) who hated comedy. And I thought I would be doing the first comedy show there.
But there was one already -- Eugene Mirman's.
And because the place didn't know anything about scheduling comedy, they soon tried to put both our shows on the same night. Which created great friction with Eugene, who I didn't really know. He felt our show infringed upon his somehow. And since he had the help of Lisa Leingang, who was then working at NBC and had SNL people and their ilk coming down and had a following (derived in part from appearances at Luna Lounge -- see how these things work?), he seemed to feel, he had the hip show and ours was the nerdy one. (As it happens, a number of Eugene's current regulars and other indie stalwarts made their first Rififi appearances on my "unhip" show.)
Since then, Eugene has seen me as a lesser, un-cutting edge comedian, even though he has little or no idea what I do. And I think the only way to maybe get around that is to just be a guy; be the best me I can be. And be around. (Not just with him, of course. I don't have a Eugene fixation.)
So, I entered Rififi and saw a guy near the back room who reminded me of Zach Galifianakis. I thought maybe it was him for a second but it wasn't, so put down my bag and suddenly I heard someone loudly say, "ANDREW J. LEDERER."
It was not the guy I had thought was Zach Galifianakis. It was Zach Galifianakis.
Now, Zach and I have flirted with friendship. And he's also seen firsthand and heard otherhand about my periodic social imperfection. But he has always been a big fan of my comedy. In fact, he knows everything about me as a comedian that I wish Eugene and the others on this scene did.
So, I decided I would ask Zach to tell the gatekeepers in question that I'm "ok".
Didn't do it last night as many of the tastemakers in question were around. (Todd Barry, Demetri Martin, I think I saw Leo Allen . . . ) But during the time I was talking to Zach, Demetri Martin, who I don't really know, and Eugene both almost semi-included me in the conversation. (A good sign.)
I told Zach I had to talk to him about something but would be doing it by e-mail. He said why don't you do it now and I said, "I'm shy."
He laughed.
To Be Continued?
(Don't worry. I'll finish the other thing.)
I previously wrote about some of the issues addressed in today's post here.
__________________________________
8 February, 2007 @ 17:03 GMT
http://blogs.chortle.co.uk/andrewjlederer
posted by Andrew J. Lederer at 12:19 PM
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