As promised from the Guest Editor page, Chris Porter is this week’s Last Guest Editor Standing. Comments below!

Doug Stanhope

http://www.rooftopcomedy.com/watch/Our_generation_is_tough

There is a book by Daniel Quinn titled The Story of B. I’m pretty sure the main character is following Doug Stanhope. He is the future of comedy.

Bill Burr

http://www.rooftopcomedy.com/watch/Tight5iveBillBurrInterview

Bill Burr is amazing. He’s got balls like Genghis Khan. This is the only clip they have. His epic clip on YouTube from a horrible Philly theater gig is one of the greatest I’ve ever seen.

John Doelling

http://www.rooftopcomedy.com/watch/TanningSalonTragedy

John Doelling is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met both on and off stage. I can’t wait for the world to be introduced to him. It will be a glorious day.

Matt Braunger

http://www.rooftopcomedy.com/watch/CuteButDeadly

I thought I had the ’08 Rooftop festival all wrapped up til this man came on stage. He, and this bit, instantly became of my favorites. I still remember sitting in the balcony, tears of laughter streaming down my face, hearing Vince Morris ruin the next comic’s intro repeating the line “THE HUMANE SOCIETY CALLED HIM A DICK!”

Sam Tripoli

http://www.rooftopcomedy.com/watch/New_war_alternatives

Sam will be huge someday, mark my words. He and I hang out a lot in LA. He’s constantly challenging me to be better, and hopefully I do the same for him.

Andi Smith

http://www.rooftopcomedy.com/watch/WorkingOnAPornSite

To say Andi Smith is one of the funniest female comics is unfair. The plain fact is that she is one of the funniest comics out there. She is funnier than you. She is definitely too funny to make porn sites.

Posted: May 28th, 2009 under Guest Editors.
Comments: none

Guest interview by Jason Tanamor of Zoiks! Online.

Mitch Fatel is the muffin man.
By Jason Tanamor

“I just love being creative. Whether it’s writing an article for Playboy, answering interview questions, writing a sitcom or a Tonight Show correspondence piece, anything that involves creating something that wasn’t there a few moments ago, I embrace.”

This is what Mitch Fatel, comedian and all around good guy, says about whatever it is he’s doing. Zoiks! Online had the chance to sit down with him for a quick Q&A.

Question – At what age did you start your comedy career?
Fatel – I started doing comedy when I was 15 years old. I used to go on stage in my pajamas and say that I had to get up early for school the next day. That was the funniest thing I said, after that it was all downhill and fast. After my first show ever I asked my mom how I did and she said, ‘Let’s face it Mitch, you died.’ So, of course, with support like that, how could you not continue to pursue a career? Actually the next CD or DVD I put out is going to have audio footage of some shows I did when I was 15. We thought the tapes were lost but my friend just found them in his barn upstate where I had stored them years ago. They are truly “the lost tapes.”
Read the rest of the interview, after the jump!

Posted: May 28th, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
Comments: 12

New Siskel and Negro everybody! This comes hot on the heels of the announcement that Siskel (Kevin Avery) and Negro (W. Kamau Bell, who will also be performing), and Katherine P. McMurphy will be onsite at this year’s 2009 Aspen RooftopComedy Festival where they’ll be recording episodes!

Posted: May 28th, 2009 under Cool stuff from Rooftop Comedy.
Comments: none

As mentioned last week, we will be giving out the Best Comedy Twitter award at our Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival (among other awards) on June 13th.

This is just a friendly reminder that voting is happening now! @ us at our RooftopComedy Twitter to vote on your favorite funny Twitter! Here’s the list of nominees, if you missed it the first time:

Aziz Ansari – @azizansari
Doug Benson – @DougBenson
Jason Sweeney – @sween
John Hodgman – @hodgman
Joshua Green Allen – @fireland
Merlin Mann – @hotdogsladies
Paul F. Tompkins – @PFTompkins
Rob Corddry – @robcorddry
Rob Huebel – @robhuebel
Scott Simpson – @scottsimpson

You guys have until June 1st to vote! So jump on it (like Tonto).

Posted: May 26th, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
Comments: 1

Sara Faith Alterman is our Guest Editor this week. You might remember her judging handiwork from the Boston Regional Rival Match-Up from this year’s National College Comedy Competition, among other rad things that involve literary manipulation.

Mike Birbiglia – The deaf leading the blind
Birbiglia kills me anyway, and the added visual of an adorable ASL interpreter? So fantastically awkward but endearing.

Hal Sparks – Waiting for my sexual peak
I picked this simply because I want to bang him. There. I said it.

Jamie Kilstein – Sarah Palin
I first saw Jamie at the 2009 AltCom! Alternative Comedy Festival, and was blown away by his mastery of stream of consciousness. Jamie’s got this rare ability to make his rants seem completely off-the-cuff, even though they’re, in fact, really well-crafted. I could watch him throw the same pseudo-tantrum a million times, and still get riled up.

Somebody’s in the Doghouse – Koko the Gorilla
This sketch features a sexed-up gorilla. The end.

Mary Mack – Happily ever after
I can’t stop watching her. The combination of her little-girl voice, midwestern accent, spacey “aw, shucks” sensibility, and razor sharp punch lines is mesmerizing.

Zach Sherwin – Five minutes of napkins
Sherwin won the 2009 Boston Phoenix Readers’ Poll for Best Local Comedian, so I can’t leave him out. Performing as “MC Mr. Napkins,” Sherwin combines his obsessions with hip-hop, comedy, and linguistics into raps that are both smart and hysterical. It’s thinking man’s comedy for the straight up gangsta.

Posted: May 21st, 2009 under Guest Editors.
Comments: none

Guest Post from Keith Alberstadt.

I was recently invited to participate in Byron Allen’s new project entitled “comedy.tv”. It was a big surprise to get the call, especially since in my emails to the producers, I kept calling him Brian Allen. I felt like my mom, who calls comics things like Kathy Mandarin (Kathleen Madigan), Jack Jergensen (Jake Johannsen), and Bill Saguine (possibly Conan O’Brien).

The only bad thing about this whole experience was the timing. I got the invite Thursday last week and had to be in LA Sunday. A trip cross country, connecting in Detroit, sitting in the middle seat between two middle-aged women who laugh out loud at the in-flight movie “Bridal Wars”. . . All of these things are tolerable. What’s not is finding a reasonably-priced plane ticket with only two days notice.

The best rate I could find was $410 which I paid for with 10,000 shares of GM stock. But it was well worth it.

Forty-two comics doing six minutes each. Of course not everyone stuck to six minutes, because there’s still a mentality of “hey, I’m killing so that red light in the back of the room can suck it”. But overall it was amazing. Events like this are fun because it’s like a comedy convention. Comics from all over can catch up on what they’re doing, where they’ve been, and which comedy condos have been de-loused lately.

I wish we had more time to hang out. But the time that was spent was awesome. I can’t wait to see the finished project.

Posted: May 21st, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
Comments: 2

Let it be known that RooftopComedy is now from this day forward, Rooftop Comedy.

Posted: May 21st, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
Comments: none

With our annual RooftopComedy Awards, we recognize comedians and those in online comedy who are doing exciting, innovative and, yes, hilarious things. This year, we’d like to thank those who are cracking us up daily, often hourly, via Twitter.

Who do you think should take the 2009 title of “Best Comedy Twitter”? Vote for your favorite nominee, listed below, by tweeting their name to @RooftopComedy from 5/26 noon PDT through 6/1 noon PDT. All Twitter users are eligible to vote but only once – so vote wisely!

Winners will be announced at the Aspen RooftopComedy Festival in Aspen, CO on June 13th and, of course, on Twitter shortly thereafter! Make sure to follow RooftopComedy to get the announcement.

Nominees:
Aziz Ansari – @azizansari
Doug Benson – @DougBenson
Jason Sweeney – @sween
John Hodgman – @hodgman
Joshua Green Allen – @fireland
Merlin Mann – @hotdogsladies
Paul F. Tompkins – @PFTompkins
Rob Corddry – @robcorddry
Rob Huebel – @robhuebel
Scott Simpson – @scottsimpson

Nominees – get ready to fight for your title! Let your followers know to vote for you by sending your name to @RooftopComedy during the voting window!

Posted: May 20th, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
Comments: 195

This is it. We are coming up on the season finale of this year’s National College Comedy Competition, with an impending showdown between the funniest four stand-up teams and funny films vying to be the national champions of chuckle. They are:

Stand-Up Teams
UC Berkeley
University of Minnesota
Emerson College
University of Florida

Funny Films
It’s been a year
Danny and the Page
Obamarama
A Cartoon by Jesse Fernandez

Posted: May 19th, 2009 under National College Comedy Competition.
Comments: 1

You might remember Robert Buscemi from our inaugural Aspen RooftopComedy Festival. Or you might remember the one time he won best stand-up of Chicago, or that one time he was gracious enough to extend his presence on ye olde RooftopBlog. All these memories with Robert, we should have a retrospective clip show about it. Here’s a new memory to add, his Guest Editor picks.

Kyle Kinane – De ja vu
Kyle is super-natural and unpretentious, but a wickedly precise, utterly original wordsmith. One of my all-time faves.

Erin Foley – My mother’s wild imagination
Erin is cool as a cucumber, and blew me away at the 2008 Rooftop Aspen Fest with her smoothness and creativity.

Matt Braunger – Cute but deadly
Saw this one on Letterman too. I love the detail–you can tell Braunger researched it. One of the most talented performers I know.

Tig Notaro – No moleste
No one touches Notaro for cool, weird, hipster chic. She destroyed me at the 2008 Rooftop Fest — her sweater/shirt combo alone suggest ninja-level absurdism.

Nick Vatterot – CD skipping
Vatterot is one of the most prolific, experimental, revered comics I know. His energy and inventiveness are ridic.

Andi Smith – Trapped in a mine
Andi’s another comic I saw kill at the 2008 Rooftop Aspen Fest. Home Perm ROCKS. She’s a hilariously brazen smart-ass, but balances cynicism with performing chops and superb writing.

Posted: May 14th, 2009 under Guest Editors.
Comments: none