Long time Rooftop favorite Jarrod Harris made his late night television debut on Lopez Tonight last night. Highlights include an impression of his thugged out Alaskan neighbor, a genius idea for outsmarting creditors, and a wild impression of a Vietnamese lounge singer.
Watch more clips from Jarrod on his Rooftop page
Posted: July 29th, 2011 under News'n'stuff.
Comments: 32
Rooftop Comedy is thrilled to help produce the Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy from August 3-7th in Lucy’s hometown, Jamestown, NY. In addition to 100th birthday celebrations and I Love Lucy tributes, the festival will present a lineup of stand-up legends, like Joan Rivers and Paula Poundstone, and rising stars including Nate Bargatze, Christina Pazsitzky, Costaki Econompoulos, Lamont Price, Jamie Ward, and Justin Schlegel. Schedule info and tickets are available at LucyComedyFest.com.
With Lucy Fest just around the corner, we’ll be publishing interviews with some of the featured comics. Jamie Ward is one of Atlanta’s hottest comics, performing regularly at the renowned Laughing Skull Lounge, and has shared the stage with Natasha Leggero, Ronn White, and more. Winner at this year’s Port City Top Comic Contest, Jamie’s comedy is sharp, witty, with just a speck of niceness.
Rooftop Comedy: How would you describe Lucy’s influence on comedy? Why are you excited to participate in Lucy Fest?
Jamie Ward: Lucy’s influence can only be described as legendary. She was an absolute comedy genius. My sister and I grew up watching old episodes of I Love Lucy, that in my opinion are still hilarious. There are not many “classic” comedy shows that stand the test of time as well.
RT: It’s Lucy’s 100th birthday – what gift would you like to get her?
JW: I’d gather people together to celebrate laughter. I think this Lucy Fest is the most fitting tribute/gift you could give someone. In the short time I’ve been doing comedy, I’ve come to realize there is no greater feeling than sharing laughter with others. There is no object you could give her as a gift that would be more enjoyable.
RT: The Festival will host an attempt to set the Guinness World Record of the most amount of people dressed like Lucy Ricardo. Are you going to participate?
JW: I’d love to participate. I’m going to be pretty busy my short stay, so I’ll have to see if it fits in.
RT: How would you like your own 100th birthday to be celebrated?
JW: For my 100th birthday, I wish for the coherency to perform somewhere, and just enough people who care that I’m alive to share it with.
RT: As Lucy and Desi had hoped, the Lucy-Desi Center has announced a long-term plan to develop a center for comedy including a Comedy Hall of Fame. Who would you propose as the first three inductees?
JW: This is such a hard question. There are so many amazing options so the only way to answer that is pick the three that I look to the most. Steve Martin, Mel Brooks, Bill Hicks.
RT: Any other shows or events that you have this summer that you’d like to share with us?
JW: I’m going to be performing at one of my favorite alternative comedy spots in Atlanta. I’m a special guest on the stand-up showcase at the Basement Theatre on the 28th of July.
Posted: July 27th, 2011 under Cool stuff from Rooftop Comedy, Interview, Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy, Ruminations, theorizations and stuff, Shows.
Comments: 26
Rooftop Comedy is proud to announce the debut album from Adam Newman – Not for Horses. Recorded live at Atlanta’s Laughing Skull Lounge in April 2011, Not for Horses is now available for sale on iTunes, Rooftopcomedy.com, and Amazon.
While some people might block a late night zucchini experience from their memory forever, Adam relishes the humor of such odd experiences. Rooftop’s Managing Label Producer Dominic Del Bene says, “Adam has done a great job of pointing out the extraordinary in the ordinary. He has the gift that all great comics have – he takes unique, personal experiences and makes them universal. It’s a privilege to release a record by such a talented comic before everybody in the world knows who he is.” Adam’s life proves to be a terrific source of material, inspiring his dead-on observational style.
Recorded live in his home state of Georgia, Not For Horses showcases his signature brand of quick, witty comedy that has taken him everywhere from the prestigious Just For Laughs Festival in Chicago to the New York Comedy Festival to The Tyra Banks Show. Named one of 2010’s Comics to Watch by Comedy Central and an Andy Kaufman Award Finalist, Adam delivers on his first comedy album and you’ll never be able to look at pickles the same way.
Read a review of Not for Horses from Laugh Spin
Read Ed Palencia’s review on Comedy Reviews
Watch clips from Adam Newman
Visit Adam Newman’s website for upcoming show schedule.
Posted: July 26th, 2011 under Cool stuff from Rooftop Comedy, Press Releases, Punchline Magazine, Reviews, rooftop comedy productions.
Comments: 6
Rooftop Comedy is thrilled to help produce the Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy from August 3-7th in Lucy’s hometown, Jamestown, NY. In addition to 100th birthday celebrations and I Love Lucy tributes, the festival will present a lineup of stand-up legends, like Joan Rivers and Paula Poundstone, and rising stars including Nate Bargatze, Christina Pazsitzky, Costaki Econompoulos, Lamont Price, Jamie Ward, and Justin Schlegel. Schedule info and tickets are available now.
With Lucy Fest just around the corner, we’ll be publishing interviews with some of the featured comics. You’ve probably seen Christina Pazsitzky on the E! show “Chelsea Lately” and NBC’s ‘Last Comic Standing”. Christina’s sharp and brutally honest comedy makes her one of the hottest acts out there. Look out for Christina’s debut comedy album later this year.
Rooftop Comedy: How would you describe Lucy’s influence on comedy? Why are you excited to participate in Lucy Fest?
Christina Pazsitzky: Lucy is the OG Gangster of comedy. I don’t think there is a more beloved female comedian in history. Lucy was daring. She played a housewife who wanted more and went out and got it. She ignored the limitations of her time. I think that’s what any great comedian does. She also had a thing for Latin guys, which I can relate to. I’m excited to be in Lucy Fest because I hear there will be free hot dogs and beer. That and I love the idea of being a part of the celebration of one of my all time favorite comedians.
RT: It’s Lucy’s 100th birthday – what gift would you like to get her?
CP: She was such a badass. I know she liked to smoke, so a carton of Pall Malls (That’s the brand I imagine she’d like for some reason) and a martini. Oh, and a mink coat. I heard somewhere that she liked mink coats.
RT: The Festival will host an attempt to set the Guinness World Record of the most amount of people dressed like Lucy Ricardo. Are you going to participate?
CP: Not unless they changed the official Lucy costume to sweatpants and a pit-stained t-shirt.
RT: How would you like your own 100th birthday to be celebrated?
CP: I book a cruise with all my friends and family called “My Last Cruise”. We all drink tons and eat buffet, then at the end of the week, I get catapulted into the ocean.
RT: As Lucy and Desi had hoped, the Lucy-Desi Center has announced a long-term plan to develop a center for comedy including a Comedy Hall of Fame. Who would you propose as the first three inductees?
CP: Well, let’s start with Lucy if that’s not a given. Then, Richard Pryor, Roseanne Barr, and Sarah Palin – only if we’re accepting unintentional comedians.
RT: Any other shows or events that you have this summer that you’d like to share with us?
CP: I have a cool podcast called “Your Mom’s House” that you can download on iTunes under “Deathsquad”. I’m also releasing a CD with Rooftop Comedy very soon! It’s tentatively titled “It’s Hard Being a Person”.
Posted: July 25th, 2011 under Cool stuff from Rooftop Comedy, Interview, Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy.
Comments: 41
The Best Medicine is a weekly podcast featuring Rooftop favorite Dan Gabriel and fellow funny comic Robert Duchaine. The podcast is aimed to “dispense advice to help our fellow man navigate through a turbulent world,” and boy, does it. With stories of life on the road, an impressive cast of guests, and hard hitting advice, BM will have you BM’ing yourself into hysterics. This week’s guest is comedian and former Golden State Warrior mascot Sadiki Fuller! Have a look!
Subscribe to the Best Medicine podcast on iTunes.
Posted: July 25th, 2011 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
Comments: 32
From Ed Palencia, The Comedy Reviews Blog:
“I’ve listened to a few comedy albums this year from comedians who weren’t ready. They had some good ideas and starting points, but still… Just because someone has a buddy with an MP3 recorder doesn’t mean you should start in on artwork for your CD just yet. If you’re not ready, you’ll find yourself in the middle of the schoolyard with a tangle of jump rope around your feet.”
“But if you are ready…oh man, it’s a beautiful thing. Which brings me to the topic at hand: Adam Newman’s album, Not for Horses. To put it simply, Adam Newman was ready.”
Read the rest of Ed’s review on the Comedy Review site.
Pick up “Not for Horses” on Amazon
Posted: July 22nd, 2011 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
Comments: 40
Hello Reiders!
I like how my standard opening has gone from being ironic to heartfelt through the power of repetition. In some ways it upsets me, but then I calm down, and think about how much I love you all, then I feel better.
A couple weeks ago I co-produced my first show! Underbelly, the show I mentioned in last month’s blog post, finally had its New York premier, and it went damn fine. The whole premise is “Stand-Up Comedians Doing Everything but Stand-Up” –which I can happily say we more than delivered. Throughout the show there was a magic show, several skits, songs, dancing, puppets, myself topless covered in “cocaine”, and comic Nick Vatterott doing something with milk jugs that though I did not quite understand, left me full of pleasures and smiles. The show was pretty packed, we had a cake decorated like one of the performers “taking a shit in an ice cream sundae” and overall I was well pleased. Other comics are coming up to me pretty frequently with ideas, asking how to get on Underbelly –if I had any regret, it was waiting this long to put on a show.
It was a good highlight, which provided some wonderful perspective for a somewhat crushing low. Back in March I had my first audition for the Comic Strip, a respected New York comedy club, and after the second lottery I received my second audition spot, which I performed at last Tuesday night. The format was different: the audition itself was a show, complete with live judging, a proper host (Sherrod Small), a packed crowd, and an admittedly forced degree of severity and drama added to the show to make it interesting. “The judges are going to be mean, they’re going to try to rip you apart on stage, but it’s part of the show, don’t worry about it,” was what we were told before performing. My last audition went well enough; one of my jokes really connected, the other fell a little flat after rushing through it upon getting the light early. This was considerably worse. After waiting a couple hours, first for the show to start then for the long judging rounds to finish, I finally had my time to perform –for a minute and a half. Before me, each comic had their full time, the three to five minutes we were told we could perform, everyone getting five and some good feedback from the crowd. I got through one bit and the set-up for another before being audibly buzzed and forced to stop. “Maybe this kind of stuff will work downtown, but it would never work here. You’re too alt to work here.” “You didn’t even tell jokes, that’s the problem, you sat up there for five minutes and never told a joke.” And so on. One of the judges stood up for me a bit, arguing that I didn’t even have the time to get anywhere, that I was doing something different and no one knew what to expect, and we didn’t find out what I was even going to do. “He was trying something new and different, I don’t see why we can’t have a comic like this work here.” The crowd responded well to that, before the booker interrupted and pointed out that they weren’t laughing, that’s why acts like mine wouldn’t be booked. Finally I asked, “Please, I just have to know: did I get passed or not?”
Afterwards, the booker talked with me, this time friendly and complimentary. He thanked me for being a good sport, and told me that he liked that I was different, that I shouldn’t let go of that, that if this were an alternative room he’d book me in a heartbeat, and that he likes the weirder stuff but it just doesn’t work for this room. Great. The whole thing’s given me a lot to think about. I know what I’m doing is strange, isn’t stand-up in a conventional sense, and I understood going in that what I planned to do isn’t what they prefer. But to not even be given the time to do anything, to be cut off before I even had a chance to show what it is that I do, that was rough. At least when I look at it I can’t say I had a bad set –I just didn’t have a set. Matters were slightly complicated when my roommate followed me, riffed with the judges beautifully and got both passed to work at the club and received management in the same night. It’s not always fun to have one of your worst nights in comedy a few minutes before one of your closest friends has his best. But in all honesty, though of course it hurts a bit to see someone else get opportunities you didn’t, I can’t be anything but proud for him. The timing, perhaps, stings a little, but it’s good to see someone talented get what’s coming to them. I hope that’s some kind of maturity.
In summary: it was a miserable experience. It left me doubting my material in a club setting, feeling embarrassed, a bit angry, and further frustrated from the booker’s positive comments and the suspicion that the harsh treatment was only for the sake of the show, which is a wonderful way to treat my only opportunity in a year. But oddly, I feel confident about it all. It was one of the worst experiences I could’ve had in that setting, and that’s made performing far easier since then. I performed the first two jokes twice at shows last night, to great reception, and have been taking a lot more risks with what I choose to perform –why not? It couldn’t be much worse than that. Somehow, it’s made comedy and writing new material go a lot smoother this last week. After that night, amid the support and nice words from my friends, I heard plenty of stories about the amazing comics the venue has ignored and rejected in the past. Here’s hoping I can be one of them.
Posted: July 21st, 2011 under BIG CITY, LITTLE REID, Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
Comments: 51
10 years and eight movies later, the Harry Potter saga is over. I did some research and found out that the series did, in fact, make about 14 gagillionjillion dollars.
But most importantly, Hermoine turned out really, really hot.
Though some saw it as a cash crab, WB and the filmmakers decided to split the second film in half in order to get as much of the book in the film as possible, which is something I very much welcome. Sure, they get way more money now, but also, we get two very good films. Someday, when they get released as one movie, it’ll be an epic 4.5 hours of movie watching. Also, an epic 4.5 hour erection over Hermoine. Seriously, have you seen her lately. Talk about a curse. On my wiener.
You’ve probably seen the film or heard about it, but for those who don’t have erections about Hermoine, in this film, Harry faces Voldemort for the final time. But before that, he must destroy all the Horcruxes. There are seven total, all containing a part of Voldemort’s soul. Luckily, one of those isn’t Hermoine. Because she is hot and I’d hate for her to have to die.
It’s a 130 minute film, about 100 of those being action. It is truly fantastic how it all comes together. Neville Longbottom who, if I can say so, truly grew into his very British face to become kind of hot (but not hot like Hermoine. I mean, I like girls. Not boys. Not boys named Neville. Stop it, erection!), shows up in a big way as the de facto leader of the Hogwarts students while our group of three have been searching for Horcruxes. When they arrive, they devise a plan to take over the school from Snape, who is now running it after killing Dumbledore. Also, Hermoine is there. And hot and stuff. She even has boobs now. And an age that is legal.
Alan Rickman as Snape is the best part of this entire series. The guy truly can play evil and be kind at the same time. When Harry learns what Snape has done for him, it is truly heartbreaking for both characters. Rickman shines through this film, which is very hard to do with the likes of Michael Gambon as Dumbledore, Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort and Emma Watson as the super fucking hot Hermoine.
It is obvious, I loved the film. You should definitely see it. It is truly an accomplishment that these films remained this good over the decade they were in production. It’s a lesson in storytelling and love that author JK Rowling turned over her baby, the Harry Potter saga, to these filmmakers, to bring into fruition. Of course, you can always have the argument that the book is better, but that is a ridiculous argument. Books and movies are completely different media outlets. Books have the time to explore indefinite side stories and characters. Movies have about 2.5 hours, if they are lucky. Movies have to sacrifice and Steve Kloves, who adapted all of them, did the best job possible. There will always be things left out that I wish weren’t (for example, the way Voldemort meets his demise in the books is way cooler than in the movie), but those are pointless arguments.
Besides, books are stupid. Unless they have photos of Hermoine in them. Hot photos. So, so hot.
Posted: July 20th, 2011 under Movie Reviews, News'n'stuff, Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
Comments: 43
Take a few minutes out of your Tuesday to check out Stuckey & Murray’s newest music video “Internet Feedback”, recorded live on June 18th at Mercury Lounge in NYC and featuring John Foti on accordion and Nina Mozes on flute.
“Internet Feedback” is a song made up of real comments from real people. S & M took their favorite comments from their Youtube videos and this is the result. They’re 100% real and please comment on their song about comments. So meta!
Download “Internet Feedback” on iTunes. It’s on their new album Stuckey & Murray Sing the Songs of Stuckey & Murray.
Posted: July 19th, 2011 under Cool stuff from Rooftop Comedy, rooftop comedy productions.
Comments: 36
Today is my last day at Rooftop Comedy. I’ve been here for three years, and this has been a wonderful job and a wonderful experience for me. I’m not big on goodbyes, because they are too sad and they make me cry, and crying is for the final season of Friday Night Lights. But I am big on thank yous so here we go!
Big thanks to everyone I’ve worked with, and all the great comics I got to watch on my computer screen. And a big thanks to my boss Colin who put me in the position to have conversations like this, and get paid for it. Looking back on my time here, I think it sums it all up:
2:07:20 PM Chris: ok, so i have them all in a FCP project timeline
2:07:38 PM Chris: i guess we just need to wait for colin to make some final whatever on the order and VO?
2:07:55 PM Emily Heller: okay… do you have the order listed anywhere other than in fcp?
2:08:27 PM Chris: well i just separated them by those categories
2:08:30 PM Chris: in order
2:08:35 PM Chris: which is alphabetical
2:09:45 PM Emily Heller: were you able to get the fart/poo jokes inbetween the fart section and the poo section?
2:10:02 PM Chris: yes
2:10:11 PM Emily Heller: sweet
2:12:40 PM Chris: wait
2:12:46 PM Chris: what is the order again?
2:13:02 PM Chris: bathroom, fart, barf, pee, poo, jizz, gross?
2:13:09 PM Chris: butt
2:13:11 PM Chris: where’s that?
2:15:30 PM Chris: bathroom, period, dick, dick/butt, butt,
2:16:24 PM Emily Heller: and then poo pee jizz fart?
2:16:29 PM Chris: yes
2:16:32 PM Chris: yeah
Posted: July 15th, 2011 under Cool stuff from Rooftop Comedy, News'n'stuff.
Comments: 45
