Comedy Speakeasy. Wednesdays at the Purple Onion!!

[irony]

I was there. Janine Brito went on last, so that could have been it. I voted for Toby and Sammy, and Dave Wiswell would have been my fourth choice, so I was fine with the results.

[Meen Bellpeppers]

I wasn't there, but Janine Brito should have placed. I'm not just saying that just because her name sounds like burrito, but that is definitely part of it.

[scamboogah]

I wasn't there, but Janine Brito should have placed. I'm not just saying that just because her name sounds like burrito, but that is definitely part of it.

Ya fake-ass doood....

[scamboogah]

Alright, the wheat is now chaff-less. If you like your wheat with chaff, this is not the show for you!! It has been separated. No Chaff!!!

SEMI-FINAL TIME starts tomorrow!!

August 19th:
Bryce Jones
Candy Churilla
Dan Wilson
Dave Thomason
Dave Wiswell
Duat Mai
Joey Devine
Kellen Erskine
Marcella Arguello
Ray Molina
Sammy Obeid

8PM, Purple Onion San Francisco. $10

If you miss this, there is a good chance you will die of shame and regret.

http://sfstandup.com/ball/

[scamboogah]

I said it was going to be epic, and I was not proven to be a liar. Recap time;

Hosting for the Semi-Finals was local legend Tony Sparks. He's a great host in that he gets the crowd going, doesn't do too much of his own material, makes it seem nice and fair by introducing each comic exactly the same way etc. He even beat back someone in the crowd who was getting mouthy toward the end of the show with total ease...

First up, 14 year old Wunderkind Bryce Jones. It's borderline uncomfortable to watch a kid that frigging young get up on a stage like the Purple Onion and throw around dick jokes and F-bombs with his proud parents sitting right there. But you can't deny he's got a few decent jokes, and even if he progresses at a snail's pace, he'll probably be headlining before he's old enough to vote.

Next, Marcella Arguello. She had a good set, but I've seen her do better. She got flustered towards the end and jokingly rushed through her closer, which still worked. Her strongest bit was responding to an old boyfriend who said that she doesn't 'move like a tall person', prompting her to wonder what a tall person should move like (Walking into rooms and dunking on people etc.). One of the early favorites for sure.

Joey Devine may have brought 50 friends and family members, so he could've taken a nap on stage and still gotten some love. Luckily for the rest of us, he told jokes instead. Good jokes, too, with punchlines and everything. Disgruntled Fonzie still makes me laugh like an idiot.

Dave Wiswell. His opener is one of the better brush-back pitches I've ever seen. Winning a crowd back in five minutes after it may be impossible, but Dave comes dangerously close to pulling it off.

Ray Molina. Completely solid and often hilarious. His delivery doesn't suit him well for competitions where you have to stick out amongst 12 other comics, but he's still got great stuff. The judges had him advancing, but the audience vote let him down.

Kellen Erskine. Annihilated. A rock solid five minutes of killer material. He's currently up near the top of the list of Bay Area comics that are going to become huge very soon. See him when you get the chance.

Dave Thomason. Just incredible energy, and really funny material. I honestly can't decide who my favorite local comic is right now between him and Brendan Lynch. If I had to describe his style, I'd say he's like if Patton Oswalt and Aziz Ansari mated, but it somehow wound up looking like Daniel Tosh.

Dan Wilson. Solid. Good stuff and a nice blend of likeability with an undercurrent of pissed off.

Sammy Obeid. Always a crowd favorite, competes with Joey Devine for the most instantly likeable comic on the bill. Solid stuff, and always a contender in competitions.

Duat Mai. Holy shit. The last two times I've seen him, he's been hammered, and both times, it's been the most entertaining thing I've seen all night. The last thing I would ever do would be to encourage someone to only perform shit-faced, but goddamned if it doesn't make him fucking hilarious. A highlight of the night for me, but I'm probably more likely to laugh at a train wreck than most people.

Candy Churilla. Strong, solid set. She could feature at any club in the country right now and make it look easy.

Results:

1st - Kellen Erskine
2nd - Dave Thomason
3rd - Marcella Arguello
4th - Joey Devine

Next week, Lynch v. Feldman v. Miles v. Heller steel cage grudge match. Be there!

[drieux]

Thanks for the recap and winners, Scammy.

My own thoughts, for what they're worth (nothing):

Kellen Erskine was great. The first few times I saw him I thought he might be a little over-rehearsed, but his interaction with the crowd last night was great. Definitely awesome.

Joey Devine always brings out the friends and family for the shows, but he also happens to be super-likable and funny. I've seen the guy perform a ton and his new bit about creepy pickup lines was brand-new for me and KILLED. He told me about it before the show and I thought his very first line was the topper, but he did it as he'd written it and it destroyed. Which is why Joey is headed to the finals and I got squashed the first night.

Dave Wiswell really worked that persona onstage last night, and it's even more fun to watch when you know he's a total sweetheart in person. Catch him when you can.

Marcella Arguello seemed to suffer from a problem that a few others did as well, most notably Sammy Obeid. They're both hilarious and great performers, but at this point it seems like the time for the set (7 minutes) threw them for a loop. Marcella had to rush through her closer, and Sammy just barreled into extra time after getting the light without remorse. Both will be fine in the future, of course, and other, lesser comics will call them names and be jealous (me) but it was noticeable. Sammy in particular went into Rocky-esque training in the weeks before the show, hitting as many open mics as he could every single night. They both have so much good material I guess it was tough to tighten it up to seven.

Duat Mai - ye gods, Duat. Somebody in the audience after his set yelled out, "DUAT the hell?!?!" and it was fucking perfect. The guy has always enjoyed a few beers while out performing, but ever since his triumphant first night of this competition the guy has been hitting them pretty hard, and I'd have to agree with Scammy - I don't WANT to suggest he only perform while blitzed, but it's pretty funny. And not in a "look at the drunk guy" way; he's still doing written, rehearsed material and his line about playing with fire as a kid is awesome. I just can't help but think about Patton Oswalt's bit about the open micer named Dr. Pepper on heroin while he's onstage, though.

Dave Thomason - seen him perform a bunch of times and still laugh out loud at something in his set every single time. He'll haunt your dreams.

Thanks again for the recap, Scammy. I was looking forward to chatting after the show until I got called away for the gayest emergency ever, our cat jumping out our 2nd story window and running off on the ledge. And she's still gone and we're putting up posters and stuff, so if anybody happens to be in the North Beach area and sees a small-ish chubby black cat running around, please let me know!

Sigh. What a life I've carved out for myself.

[scamboogah]

Alright, I promised I wasn't going to get angry, but I've told you people time and time again about the Bay Area Laugh Leader competition going on at the world famous Purple Onion each Wednesday. I've got half a mind to not even tell you that we're up to round 2 of the semi-finals with another ridiculous lineup;

Ben Feldman
Brendan Lynch
Emily Heller
Eric Cash
Joe Nguyen
Mark Zhang
Miles K
Sal Calanni
Toby Muresianu
Trevor Hill

Aww, I can't stay mad at you. What very few tickets left are available here;

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/70819

Doors at 7:30, show at 8pm
Purple Onion, SF

Sorry I yelled at you.

[Meen Bellpeppers]

That's a pretty kickass lineup.

[scamboogah]

Great show overall. All the comics totally brought it, and it was much more even than most nights. Honestly, just about any of the 10 comics that performed could've moved on. It was that close.

Briefly recapping;

Emily Heller - great stuff. Audience absolutely loved her.

Miles K - Did not repeat the German character from round one, but still did extremely well.

Brendan Lynch - Killer set as usual.

Sal Callani - Hadn't seen him before, and he really impressed. Dominating stage presence, and funny stuff.

Mark Zhang - First time seeing him as well. Rock solid. I know this is getting repetitive, but everyone had a really good 7 minutes tonight.

Eric Cash - Brought it with the highest energy set of the night. Despite having nearly no voice from doing a week in Canada (Edmonton), still managed to kill it.

Trevor Hill - Say it with me, rock solid, funny stuff.

Joe Nguyen - Maybe my favorite set of the night. Sometimes he sounds just like Aziz Ansari to me, but not in a way that makes you think he's doing it on purpose. Some really fantastic jokes, told with complete confidence. Enjoyed him a lot.

Toby Muresianu - Also really good.

Ben Feldman - As solid a set as I've ever seen him do, and that's not any sort of dig or anything. Really good.

And finally, performing a fuck-diculously hilarious 25 minute set while they tabulated the votes, none other than Brent Weinbach. The guy's a super genius, but you all knew that already.

I realize this is the worst recap ever written, but I can't overstate how even and good all the comics were tonight. I would not have been surprised by any result at all. Speaking of which, moving on;

1st - Eric Cash
2nd - Emily Heller
3rd - Brendan Lynch
4th - Sal Callani

Finals are next week, and I couldn't even begin to guess how this is going to play out. Cash and Erskine won the semi-final rounds, but I think there's just as good a chance that anyone in the final 8 could snatch this thing.

I said 'snatch'.

[irony]

This week was much stronger than last week. And Weinbach was amazing.

[scamboogah]

I wasn't able to make it to the finals, but for those interested, here's who won;

1st - Kellen Erskine. Not surprising as he's been destroying lately.
2nd - Emily Heller. So happy to see her place this high. She's great.
3rd - Dave Thomason. My pick to win, but he got beat out by two great comics, so it's all good.

Anyone who was there who wants to do a recap, be my guest.

[alterego_cat]

Does anyone know the results to last night's SF International Competition prelims?

[chad1229]

I took a bunch of codeine before the show, and here is how i remember it-

1st place- the black guy
2nd place- guy who does an impression of barack obama emceeing at a strip club
3rd- white guy with glasses
4th- tie between dave thomason and the high energy red-haired lady from the east coast
5th- dark haired white guy

Hope this helps

[alterego_cat]

I took a bunch of codeine before the show, and here is how i remember it-

1st place- the black guy
2nd place- guy who does an impression of barack obama emceeing at a strip club
3rd- white guy with glasses
4th- tie between dave thomason and the high energy red-haired lady from the east coast
5th- dark haired white guy

Hope this helps

Haha, very nice. So no upsets.