Spit Take Saturday: Carl Reiner

February 2, 2013
By Brown Paper Tickets

Welcome to Spit Take Saturday, courtesy of Brown Paper Tickets’ Comedy Doer Julie Seabaugh and her professional comedy criticism site The Spit Take. Julie’s goal with the site is to “elevate the public perception of stand-up comedy to that of a legitimate art form, and to enable comedy criticism be taken as seriously as that of theater, film, music, food, even video games. No a**-kissing. No bias. No mercy. Just honest, unfiltered, long-form reviews written by professional, knowledgeable comedy critics.”

Every week Julie will select an entry from the site to be included on our blog and hand-pick some related events happening that week that she feels all you comedy lovers out there will appreciate.

So, without further ado, let us introduce you to this week’s Spit Take Saturday!

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Carl Reiner has always been good in support. He was fantastic jumping along with Sid Caesar and Howard Morris as “The Three Haircuts” on “Your Show of Shows.” He was the quintessential straight man to Mel Brooks’s “2000 Year Old Man.” He created and produced a hit sitcom based on his own experiences, and then made Dick Van Dyke the star. He directed Steve Martin to his first box-office success in “The Jerk.” He’s been responsible for some of the most profoundly silly moments in comedy history. And he is no less generous in his retelling of these moments in his memoirs “My Anecdotal Life“and his latest, “I Remember Me.”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5MOiQ60mpE]
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Jen & Kerry: Publish a Book & Cross It Off Your Bucket List

January 28, 2013
By Brown Paper Tickets

This week we are honored to have a guest blog post written by nationally recognized authors Jennifer Worick and Kerry Colburn. Jen and Kerry are the authors of the writer’s blog The Business of Books, which helps new and established authors traverse the treacherous waters of the book publishing business.

For the last two years, Jen and Kerry have been hosting regular workshops here in Seattle, Washington that help authors with various aspects of the book business: to crafting compelling copy, to choosing a publisher, to submitting proposals and, finally, to selling your finished product. These workshops are excellent opportunities for authors overwhelmed with the process of getting published to get hands-on assistance from two successful veterans of the publishing business.

For this post, they offer some basic advice on how to get your book idea published. For more in-depth information, be sure to attend their workshop on Saturday, February 9 at Hotel 1000: 30 Days to a Winning Book Proposal.

So, without further ado, here’s Jen and Kerry:
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Spit Take Saturday: Todd Barry

January 26, 2013
By Brown Paper Tickets

So, without further ado, let us introduce you to this week’s Spit Take Saturday!

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Todd Barry is a sharp, precise joke writer. It speaks to his talent as a performer that he appears loose and not overly rehearsed, but if you follow his stuff from set-up to tag, it’s wonderfully efficient, high-percentage comedy. Zero fat. So why would a guy like that mount a seven-city tour doing two shows a night of nothing but crowd work? Turns out, because he’s very good at it.

Barry started his set for his second sold-out show at ImprovBoston’s 100-seat theater more understated than usual, speaking a couple of notches up from a whisper so the crowd had to lean in a little. The host introduced him by saying Barry wasn’t going to tell any jokes, “He’s just going to talk to you.” Barry acknowledged the premise and said, “It’s going to be an awful show. Terrible idea for a show.” He hyped the previous “Crowd Work” shows in Philly and New York and the early show, and then said he was due for a bad show and this was probably going to be it.He was vamping, catching a thread to establish his particular blend of mock arrogance, self-deprecation and sarcasm; and simultaneously getting himself and his audience in the flow. And he found a lot he could work with. Once on his feet, Barry started building a cast, addressing a woman in the front row who turned out to be an opera singer. “You do, like, the music version of what I do,” said Barry. “Most people don’t get it.” He picked a small group of five or six people and set them up like spinning plates, returning to them when the mood struck.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkVj6QCCWR0]
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Spit Take Saturday: Harland Williams

January 19, 2013
By Brown Paper Tickets

So, without further ado, let us introduce you to this week’s Spit Take Saturday!

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Silence is the worst thing a comedian can hear. A heckler can at least give them something to work through on stage or let them know that their audience hasn’t suffered a simultaneous brain hemorrhage during their act. Silence, however, feels like you’re trying to make Death itself laugh followed by his cold hand slapping across your face.

Harland Williams conducts a similar, interesting and sometimes entertaining experiment with his latest DVD special, “A Force of Nature.” Where Maria Bamford entertained a familial audience of two for her recent “the special special special!”, he has literally no one to bounce his material off of for his 53 minutes of stage time. The entire performance takes place on a flat hilltop in the Mojave Desert with nothing between him and those watching at home except for a couple of cameras, a constant wind and the occasional crow.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwDP3h496VI]
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Spit Take Saturday: T.J. Miller

January 12, 2013
By Brown Paper Tickets

So, without further ado, let us introduce you to this week’s Spit Take Saturday!

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T.J. Miller is loose and natural in pretty much everything he does, whether it’s a small part in a big movie like “Rock of Ages” or last year’s goofy faux-rap excursion “The Extended Play” EP. Lately the Denver-born, Chicago-bred standup has been hosting Comedy Central’s “Mash Up”, a half-hour experiment that goes beyond countless “Tosh.0” rip-offs to take legitimate chances with form and content.

But since he’s so prolific and straddles so many genres, it’s hard to find a project that encapsulates him. Each of the past few years has seen Miller building on his Hollywood bit parts and cross-country touring, and last November he enjoyed his first hour-long Comedy Central special with “No Real Reason”. His latest audio-only release, “Mash Up Audiofile”, is a companion piece to both that and his current Comedy Central gig, and while it shows off many of Miller’s best traits, it also feels like another sampler of his occasional brilliance padded with pleasant but inessential gimmicks.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIh-1ql_xKI]
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Comedy >

The Mid-Week Beat: Two Gallants, The Whigs & Gringo Star

January 9, 2013
By Brown Paper Tickets

Welcome to Brown Paper Tickets’ newest weekly, music-centric blog feature The Mid-Week Beat.

Every Wednesday, Brown Paper Tickets will be introducing you to bands and musical events from around the globe. In the future we’ll feature interviews with some of our favorite bands, record reviews of upcoming releases, music-related stories, previews of specific genres, suggestions of upcoming music festivals and much more. We hope this will become your weekly stop for all the music lovers in the Brown Paper Tickets universe so be sure to check back each week and discover your new favorite band, song, festival, venue or genre.

Here are three bands that we’ve been digging who have shows coming up next week in Washington, Louisiana and North Carolina.

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Formed in 2002, Two Gallants are a folk-rock duo from San Francisco, California. They took their name from a short story by James Joyce’s “Dubliners” and self-released two albums (now out-of-print) before signing to Alive Records for their “official” debut “The Throes.” In 2005, they signed with Saddle Creek Records, releasing two albums and one EP on the label.

Our featured song, “My Love Won’t Wait” comes from their fourth album “The Bloom and the Blight” which was released on September 4th, 2012. The album is their first record in five years and their first effort on Dave Matthews’ (of the Dave Matthews Band) label, ATO Records.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFk16-n-QKE?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

The band is currently on tour for “The Bloom and the Blight” and the tour kicks off in Bellingham, Washington on Tuesday, January 16 at the The Shakedown with fellow San Franciscans Future Twin. If you’re in the area, be sure to pick up tickets to see their, always memorable, live show.
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Music >

Spit Take Saturday: Gary Gulman

January 5, 2013
By Brown Paper Tickets

gary-gulman-inthiseconomy

So, without further ado, let us introduce you to this week’s Spit Take Saturday!

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Despite the title of his latest Comedy Central special, “In This Economy,” Gary Gulman doesn’t really have much to say about the financial state of our country. Money is very much on his mind throughout the special, but his jokes are more microeconomic than macroeconomic, focused primarily on his own one-man financial system. He starts out with a seemingly dated rant against Blockbuster Video, but that soon segues into an amusing bit about Netflix, which cleverly encapsulates the absurd minutiae of the video-streaming service. “In this economy, if you’re not watching a movie, you’re losing money,” Gulman says to explain his obsession with getting the most out of his monthly subscription fee, and he’s certainly not the only person to feel this way.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-jPTswNlwo]
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Comedy >

Tuesday Tease: Happy 2013 Everyone!

January 1, 2013
By Brown Paper Tickets

Well, we made it to 2013. The world didn’t end. We survived the holiday season in one piece and we’re looking ahead to a new year and all the possibilities that it holds for each of us. I hope all my friends in the burlesque world are taking some time to relax after all their holiday shows and making plans to make 2013 the best year in burlesque yet. This has been the Tuesday Tease’s inaugural year and it’s been going great. We’ve featured some great troupes, recognized a few legends, attended some amazing events and can’t wait for another glitter-tastic year of burlesque magic.

We’re taking the day off to recover from our own New Years’ festivities but will be back next week with a healthy serving of burly-action for 2013. In the meantime, we give you this. Happy New Year everyone!

Arts >

Spit Take Saturday: The Best Comedy Releases of 2012 – The year heartfelt comedy melted our steely tickers

December 29, 2012
By Brown Paper Tickets

notaro.jpeg.CROP.article250-medium Welcome to Spit Take Saturday, courtesy of Brown Paper Tickets’ Comedy Doer Julie Seabaugh and her professional comedy criticism site The Spit Take. Julie’s goal with the site is to “elevate the public perception of stand-up comedy to that of a legitimate art form, and to enable comedy criticism be taken as seriously as that of theater, film, music, food, even video games. No a**-kissing. No bias. No mercy. Just honest, unfiltered, long-form reviews written by professional, knowledgeable comedy critics.”

So, without further ado, let us introduce you to this week’s Spit Take Saturday!

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1. Tig Notaro, “Live”

There is a way to make everything funny. Everything. And there is no finer example of this concept than Tig Notaro’s accidental comedy gem—an album recorded from a set at Largo that the owner just so happened to tape. Having recently received a cancer diagnosis, Notaro is honest in a way that’s not only inspiring for other comedians, but for everyone hoping to face problems head on. Notaro does so with immeasurable grace and wit, letting the world know that comedy is her armor, and that truth in comedy isn’t just a catchy phrase, it’s a goddamn prerequisite.

Foodie Friday: A Foodie’s New Year!

December 28, 2012
By Brown Paper Tickets

This week our resident foodie Patrick is taking some time off with his family so I’m filling in. I, unfortunately, am not the well-spring of delicious recipes that Patrick is so I’ve decided to focus on Foodie friendly New Years Eve events coming up around the country on Monday, December 31.

I’m sure all of you are sick of cooking anyway after Christmas. New Years is a perfect time to relax, let someone else do the cooking, have a few cocktails (or “mock” tails) and reflect on another year gone by. On this list, we got seafood in Seattle, Bolivian cuisine in San Francisco, Asian barbecue in Chicago, craft beer in Houston, southern food in DC and a whiskey pairing dinner in the Big Apple. Plus, plenty more delicious events. For a full list of New Years Eve events in your neck of the woods, be sure to visit our website. Happy New Year everyone! We’ll see you in 2013.
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