"alternative" comedy article

[teengirlsquad]

heres an article from toronto's "alternative" paper...
its not anything too revolutionary but kind of interesting, it was on the front page so i'm excited to see toronto getting more into the alt/indie comedy scene...
everyone move to toronto

http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_06.02.05/arts/comedy.html

[tjamick]

Originally posted by teengirlsquad

everyone move to toronto



thats the plan.


























bitch

[Soma]

I'll be coming to toronto on July 1st for Billy Corgan. Hope some of your cool rubs off on me.


(y) cock.

[TomWopat]

Originally posted by Soma
I'll be coming to toronto on July 1st for Billy Corgan. Hope some of your cool rubs off on me.


(y) cock.

Yeah, because you'll lose all your cool seeing Billy Corgan.

OH SNAP.

[CptPlanet]

Ugh I wish people would stop calling it alternative or indie comedy. They're going to kill a good thing. It'll be just like indie music, where it starts out as a bunch of people who want to do something different than what everyone else is doing, but then people start calling them indie and they make it totally hip and then before long people start thinking that "indie" is synonymous with "automatically good" and fans stop caring about what's actually good and only like whatever sounds the trendiest and the indiest and before long it's cool to like the Arcade Fire and people are calling the White Stripes geniuses and everything is all topsy turvy and nothing's really good at all for like half a decade, indie or "mainstream".

How about we just stick with "hacks" and "not hacks" or "funny" and "not funny" or "original" and "not original"? What was wrong with that?

[CptPlanet]

Okay I guess that's sort of what he's saying but I said it angrier.

[3v3+Z]

"Alternative Comedy" in the early 80's was people like Bobcat Goldthwait, Pee-wee Herman, maybe Emo Philips (maybe he came a little later). People with some kind of GIMMICK. It was the alternative to people like Seinfeld & Leno who just stood there and talked. Today, "Alternative Comedy" is people who stand there and tell jokes without gimmicks in stark contrast to people like Jeff Foxworthy & Carrot Top.

Your thoughts?

[ComedySnobedy]

Comedy is so broad that i think it needs genres, but I hate the label Alternative. maybe we should just go by funny comedy (the stuff we like) and unfunny comedy (dane cook and others)

[teengirlsquad]

yes and the term "indie" makes me cringe even more ...

[ComedySnobedy]

Originally posted by ComedySnobedy
maybe we should just go by funny comedy (the stuff we like) and unfunny comedy (dane cook and others)

See what happens when you don't read CPT all the way through? you repeat him

[scotch-romanian]

Originally posted by teengirlsquad
yes and the term "indie" makes me cringe even more ... yeah, especially the second one... i mean, monkey brains? what was spielberg thinking?

[Officer Koon]

Labels are stupid and lazy, but the comedy scene in Toronto is pretty good. The last show I saw a couple of weeks ago was this sketch troupe called Bear Ninja Cowboy - they remind me a lot of Mr. Show and KITH.

[tjamick]

I assume you're affiliated with them?

[Officer Koon]

Nope, just enjoyed them. The Boiled Weiners, too.

[3v3+Z]

Originally posted by Officer Koon
Labels are stupid and lazy...
Agreed! Let's do away with labels entirely. No more pigeonholing different styles of music or comedy. No more separate sections in your local video store for "comedy", "drama", documentary", "gay porn", etc. No more "male" and "female". No more screen names. No more actual names. No more names of cities or states or streets or countries or apartment numbers or planets or galaxies. No more separating words into different languages. No more words, PERIOD. Starting... NOW!

[Officer Koon]

Originally posted by 3v3+Z
Agreed! Let's do away with labels entirely. No more pigeonholing different styles of music or comedy. No more separate sections in your local video store for "comedy", "drama", documentary", "gay porn", etc. No more "male" and "female". No more screen names. No more actual names. No more names of cities or states or streets or countries or apartment numbers or planets or galaxies. No more separating words into different languages. No more words, PERIOD. Starting... NOW!

God I admire you...you completely understood what I was trying to say without blowing it out of proportion. Truly you are a master of context. I love you...in the homosexual way.

[ME!!!!]

I label everything with my good old trusty label maker.
http://www.marketlabinc.com/images/groups/Three-Line-L_149.jpg

I try to make them very complex and specific to all humanities special attributes. Just so I don't piss off the PC crowd.

[teengirlsquad]

Originally posted by Officer Koon
Labels are stupid and lazy, but the comedy scene in Toronto is pretty good. The last show I saw a couple of weeks ago was this sketch troupe called Bear Ninja Cowboy - they remind me a lot of Mr. Show and KITH.

i found these guys on myspace a few weeks ago and im going to see them on saturday.. i hope you are right!

[apotatojudge]

Originally posted by ME!!!!
I label everything with my good old trusty label maker.
http://www.marketlabinc.com/images/groups/Three-Line-L_149.jpg

I try to make them very complex and specific to all humanities special attributes. Just so I don't piss off the PC crowd.

ME!!! is on his way to becoming one of my favorite posters.

[CptPlanet]

Originally posted by ME!!!!
I label everything with my good old trusty label maker.
http://www.marketlabinc.com/images/groups/Three-Line-L_149.jpg

I try to make them very complex and specific to all humanities special attributes. Just so I don't piss off the PC crowd.

http://img242.echo.cx/img242/5117/computer5qj.jpg

I use a PC to make all my labels and I am very pissed.

[ME!!!!]

Originally posted by CptPlanet
http://img242.echo.cx/img242/5117/computer5qj.jpg

I use a PC to make all my labels and I am very pissed.

I'm going to pretend I realized it worked on that many levels and proclaim myself a genius.

[apotatojudge]

Originally posted by CptPlanet
http://img242.echo.cx/img242/5117/computer5qj.jpg

I use a PC to make all my labels and I am very pissed.

Wait, nevermind - Seth's still TOPS!!

[apotatojudge]

(Two exclamation marks for Steve!)

[3v3+Z]

Originally posted by apotatojudge
(Two exclamation marks for Steve!)
THANKS for REMEMBERING!!http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/437828/1/istockphoto_Giant_Smiley___Big_Smile_437828.jpg

[aw!tte]

Ever get the feeling that "Alternative" or "Indie" are labels having more to do with obscurity than with content? The new guy (or girl) comic (or band/writer/painter/etc.) comes out with their unique take on the world, and no one notices at first. Then a cult forms, and they put out a CD and sell out the ChuckleBox in East Bumblefuck, and some agent sees them and pretty soon they're on Letterman's couch as the toast of Indie comedy (music/writing/art).

Only in the time it takes to walk from the wings to the couch some new kid has taken the mike at the ChuckleBox and is working a whole new voodoo.

(roll credits while Morrissey's "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" swells to drown out the studio audience's applause)

[aw!tte]

And but also, what kind of yutz writes an article about how he himself is an "Alternative Comic" on the scene? It's like he wrote an exceptionally long personals ad lauding his many edgy attractive qualities and the editors just said "Fuck it" and threw it on the front page.

[3v3+Z]

Originally posted by aw!tte
Ever get the feeling that "Alternative" or "Indie" are labels having more to do with obscurity than with content?
Isn't that supposed to be the case with words like that? I mean, by definition?

When I first started hearing the word "Alternative" thrown around as a label for a genre of music, I started thinking, "But what happens if it becomes POPULAR? The word kind of implies that it's something decidedly different from that which is popular! That cannot be the name of a music genre! That would mean you would have to call it something different depending on how many copies it sells! You CAN'T take ONE SONG and say, 'Well, yesterday this was Irish Folk-Metal, but today it's Avant-Polka'! Suck my bullshit COCK, you dum-dum heads! It doesn't WORK that way! END QUOTE!!" Yeah, so that's what I'd think to myself. All that.

Then "Grunge" came along, and people started rebelling against THAT label! WHAT? Why? I mean, we need some labels! Just be thankful that you're not stuck with one that makes as little sense as "Alternative"!

Oh, I actually left something out of that long-ass quote thing-deal that I thought to myself. Remember that, in the first paragraph? Oh yeah! You stopped reading this around the third sentence. No matter. I'll finish anyway. Using the word "Pop" as a genre of music... Yeah, that makes as little sense as using the word "Alternative" as a genre of music. Because -- and here's an interesting, little-known, fun-fact -- the word "Pop"... actually an abbreviation of the word "POPULAR"! I shit you not! I probably shouldn't say that on a public forum such as this one. The government does not want you to know about this and could very easily shut us down. But I THINK I've managed to evade their filters by using so much goddamn boldfaced and italicized shit in this post.

THE END! (Fina-fucking-LEE!!)

[ME!!!!]

word "Pop"... actually an abbreviation of the word "POPULAR"!

I'd contest that. The word pop as it is used today(and for sixty years) more refers to the verse-chorus-verse type of song structures. It doesn't have anything to do with whether or not it's popular. We use it because that was what was "Popular" during the 50's and 60's and it took on a definition of it's own.

They're two different words in any linguistic sense. You could easily call Miles Davis "popular" but it wouldn't make sense to call it "pop". On the same note, you'd be hard pressed to call The New Pornographers popular (I've gotten tired of quotes) on a scale large enough to qualify most definitions, but they most definatly make pop music.

[agent_PUNT]

everyone is right, and everyone is wrong.

there lets move on.

[ComedySnobedy]

Fuck you PUNT I have never been right. And just so I don't feel left out "..."

[JuanBallsac]

Rocky Dennis : You can label comedy. You can label music. But please don't label me.

[ME!!!!]

(Bean' Silly Impression)

Odly enough, he won a super model contract because the talent scouts had only seen him next to Cher! Ha ha, just kidding, she has a beautiful spirit and helps out kids alot.

[3v3+Z]

Originally posted by ME!!!!
I'd contest that.
Actually, no. That was pretty much just a statement of fact, really. So, no.
Originally posted by ME!!!!
The word pop as it is used today...
EXACTLY!! It's been abbreviated and bastardized. The original intent is lost. (LONG lost, to be sure.) That's the point I was trying to make.



Maybe I've mentioned this before, but I was thinking about how these labels get shortened to help separate them from their original meanings, and I started thinking about the fact that Country music is so different from what it once was. Maybe we should shorten that in some way. But to WHAT? I haven't the foggiest notion. If anyone can be of assistance, please submit your answers here (http://blowupthemoon.com/community/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2358). Thank you.

[ME!!!!]

Originally posted by 3v3+Z
EXACTLY!! It's been abbreviated and bastardized. The original intent is lost. (LONG lost, to be sure.) That's the point I was trying to make.


So your basically against the development of language? Are you angry that a word's meaning changed? I don't get how you're upset that pop doesn't mean popular.

[3v3+Z]

Originally posted by ME!!!!
So your basically against the development of language?
I'm against the bastardization of language. People misuse words all the time. A couple of often cited examples are "ironic" and "literally". The "development of language" should not include changing the definitions of words to something they DON'T mean due to popular usage. That should, in theory, include not using the word "pop" to describe something that isn't actually popular.

But, in the real world, that's a battle that was lost long ago. (Did anyone even bother fighting it?) The statute of limitations for questioning such nonsense expired well before I was born. I wish there were a better word for "Pop". I'm sure there is, but it's just not as POPULAR a word. The masses like stupid words as much as they like stupid music.

It would be stupid of me to try and claim I didn't know what people were talking about when they use the word "Pop". And I get stuck using it myself. But I don't have to like it.

[ME!!!!]

The "development of language" should not include changing the definitions of words to something they DON'T mean due to popular usage.

Well, that's pretty much how language developes. But I get what you're saying, you don't have to like it.

[JuanBallsac]

Originally posted by apotatojudge
ME!!! is on his way to becoming one of my favorite posters.

Way to create a fucking monster. And not in the Howie Mandel, Little Monsters, good way.

[Brain Stew]

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0001AW14C.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Some friends can be REAL MONSTERS.
Some monsters can be REAL FRIENDS.

Soooo true!!!

[ME!!!!]

What about real monster friends?
http://sweb.uky.edu/~cmitc0/Monsters.jpg

[3v3+Z]

HA! Hey, check THIS out:
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00009NHAG.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
"Dishes. Relationships. Wind. This guy breaks everything."

Wait, what were we talking about...?

[TomWopat]

http://www.chethams.org.uk/img/consul_the_chimp.jpg

[3v3+Z]

OH! Right! How could I forget? Anyway, here's another one [EDit: or TWO]:
http://coolcherrycream.com/monkees/images/monkees/group_jail_1.jpg
http://psycho-jello.com/monkees/byanyboy.jpg

[TomWopat]

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/6305038694.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

[3v3+Z]

Originally posted by TomWopat
(a picture)
Huh? What the fuck are you TALKING about? What's THAT got to do with anything?

[TomWopat]

Well, I wanted you to give me head.

But if you're gonna be like that...

[3v3+Z]

See how good I am at getting out of shit like that? I'd make a GREAT terrible girlfriend!

[aw!tte]

Originally posted by 3v3+Z
Maybe I've mentioned this before, but I was thinking about how these labels get shortened to help separate them from their original meanings, and I started thinking about the fact that Country music is so different from what it once was. Maybe we should shorten that in some way. But to WHAT? I haven't the foggiest notion.

"-'try music"?

As in "Hunny, pop that Foxworthy tape out the 8-Track; I cain't listen no more. No, not Larry the Cable Guy neither-- I needs to listen sumpin' differnt. Got some of that 'try music in the glove box? You knowse I love my 'try, cunt."

[aw!tte]

But still, back around to the point...

"Alternative" might be as short sighted a music/comedy label as "Modern" was a artistic/architectural label. Perhaps "Independant" is a better descriptor, but the point remains:

Can a comedian (artist/musician/writer/...) get POP-ular and still be "Independant"? And if not, is it because the "Indie" audience automatically shuns anoyone who was once poor/obscure but suddenly strikes it rich-- a sort of "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" vibe? Or is it because to be more widely popular, once must tone down and censor your once "Alternative" or "Indie" message (see also: Bill Hick's Tonight Show tribulations)?

Inquiring minds and all that. Just wondering about other people's take on this.

[ME!!!!]

I think the distinction is not just whether or not something is indie/alternative or popular, but there is also Cult followings that blur the line between. If you look at music, you have bands like Radiohead and Phish who's tickets can sell for $100+, and their cd's automatically go to #1 the day they are released. But most people are only vaguely familiar with them, if at all.

To be "poplular" implies that you are appealing to the lowest common denominator, but a band (or comic) can still be successful and not do that.

[aw!tte]

Originally posted by ME!!!!

To be "poplular" implies that you are appealing to the lowest common denominator, but a band (or comic) can still be successful and not do that.

This makes a ton of sense to me.

[ME!!!!]

Morrissey is succesful, but he doesn't appeal to the lowest common denominator, and most people wouldn't know who he is(at least in 'merica). Get it?

(If you weren't being sarcastic I apoligize.)

[3v3+Z]

Originally posted by aw!tte
(see also: Bill Hick's Tonight Show tribulations)
Are you referring to the fact that Hicks couldn't even get on "The Tonight Show", or are you referring to his infamous censored/un-aired final (would-be) appearance on Letterman?

[scotch-romanian]

Yeah, but Hicks didn't want to be on "The Tonight Show" after Leno took over; he said in an interview that it was as if the writers of Mad Magazine had started their own show (keep in mind, he passed away before Mad Magazine actually DID get its own show).

[aw!tte]

My bad-- I meant the unaired Late Night episode, not Leno's show.

And, no, I was not being sarcastic-- your definition of "popular" made real sense, ME!!!, not sarcastic sense.