Author Archives: Mike Bobbitt
Royal Oak video featuring me!
The video was produced by Scott Van de Vyver and is currently running on WROK: Channel 55 on Comcast in Oakland County. Thanks to my friend Richard Wilson for putting it in their programming!
How to be a good MC
I feel lucky that I’m in a position where I get to scout new talent for the Funny Business talent agency. Here are 11 tips and tricks of the trade.
When I started in comedy, if you lived in Michigan and you wanted to work for Funny Business there were two ways in. You could either hope for a recommendation from the go to person at that point in time or you could trek out to Grand Rapids and hope to dazzle Funny Business owner John Yoder in the three minutes of stage time you’d get on the open mic show at Dr. Grin’s.
My interview with Marc Maron!
They say you should never meet your heroes. I’ve found that to be untrue. When I was 18, I met and became friends with Dave Brockie, better known as Oderus Urungus lead singer of Gwar. He took me under his wing for a few years and helped direct me onto my journey as a professional entertainer.
As an adult, my hero is Marc Maron. He’s a master of his craft and a truly unique voice. He’s said in the past that young comics tell him that they want to be “real” and he responds by telling them to work on being funny first. Marc is both real and really funny.
Madison Recap with Marc Maron
Protesting in Madison, Wisconsin
My biggest fear driving home from my week in Madison, Wisconsin was Christine asking, “Did you have a good time?” I’d answer, “Of course! I was at one of my favorite clubs working with my absolute favorite comedian, who I feel like I got to become friends with, of course I had a good time!” Then she’d say, “Good, because that was your Make a Wish. I have some bad news for you.”
My interview with Mike Bobbitt!
Mike Bobbitt is arguably one of the funniest, if not the funniest comedian working in Detroit. In his eight years in the business he’s already performed in numerous comedy festivals and worked with some of the biggest names in the business.
The remarkable thing about Mike Bobbitt is that he’s able to walk the fine line between speaking to a very specific crowd while maintaining a level of accessibility to the masses.
Mike currently wrapped production on the television show that he and his wife wrote. I had a chance to talk to him while he was in Madison, Wisconsin.
Mike, let me start by saying you look really handsome.
Thank you!
You manage to be both cute and cuddly and ruggedly handsome at the same time. That’s quite a feat.
I appreciate that, but this is already starting off a little weird.
Mark Ridley: King of the Comedy Castle
Here’s my first interaction with Mark Ridley. My tenth show was the open mic at the Comedy Castle in March of the year I started. I didn’t get back on stage again there until eight months later. For months and months I was convinced I did something to upset Mark and that was why I wasn’t invited back. Finally in November I built up the courage to talk to him face to face. I told him my concern. He laughed and showed me the humongous list of people who call in every week to go on stage. He assured me that I was fine and then he put me on stage again that following week. From day one for me, Mark Ridley has been a class act!
Over the years he’s done so many things for me. He let me and photographer Trever Long shoot my most recent headshots inside the Castle. My Desperate Houseguys performed there a handful of times for special events. Last month we shot the opening sequence of Deadpan there with a full cast and crew along with thirty extras! Most importantly, he’s been a friend and a mentor. Mark is a straight shooter. It was a pleasure sitting down with him and talk about the business and the Laugh Detroit Comedy Festival which kicks off tomorrow with David Alan Grier.
Bill Bushart
Every comedian in Michigan knows who Bill Bushart is. He is the Godfather of our comedy scene. He’s mentored either officially or unofficially just about every one of us at one point in time or another. Not only is he a phenomenal comedian who takes charge of a room like no other, he’s also the Marketing Director at Joey’s Comedy Club in Livonia. There are two vastly different sides to Bill’s persona. There’s the on stage Pitbull who owns a comedy show and then there’s the St. Bernard who will make sure you are safe on your journey.
Photo by Trever Long
Off stage, Bill is the person I try to model myself after. When a newer guy comments that I’m considered one of the nicer people in the scene, I merely tell them that I’m just returning the favor that Bill did for me. And honestly, I wasn’t always this nice. I’d shit on newer guys and Bill would call me on it reminding me that he remembers when I sucked. Bill not only is a great comedian, but also a great human.
I sat down with Bill before one of the shows at Joey’s Comedy Club. If you only know him from his act, this look into the man behind “Uncle Billy” may surprise you. Now go pick up your hair.
WWLD: What Would Lynne Do?
Saturday night I performed at the beautiful Pix Theatre in Lapeer with my friend Lynne Koplitz. I’ve worked with Lynne a couple of times at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase and she’s always completely fantastic. The last time we were together in Ann Arbor, the people from the Pix asked her if she’d come back and do a show there. Craig, who runs the Pix, has a philosophy. Just because they’re in a small town, doesn’t mean the people should be deprived from great entertainment. You only have to look back as far as last month and you’ll see they were bringing in icons like Leon Redbone. It’s a nice theatre!
Quick Question…What Was Your First Time On Stage?
I popped a question to a bunch of my comedian friends. What was your first time on stage? We’ll start with mine. Mine was Club Bart in Ferndale, Michigan at an open mic show on February 6th, 2003. My comedy class graduation show was on the 18th at Joey’s Comedy Club in Livonia and I was so sick with the flu that I puked repeatedly on the way there and immediately after.
Sexy Picture!
Thank you Garri Madera for sneaking this picture last night at Joey’s.
Backstage at Joey's with Jeff Dwoskin.
Too Tsunami?
Gilbert Gottfried got fired by Aflac for jokes he made about Japan on his Twitter. How do you weigh in on this?
My personal feeling is that Gilbert is famous for controversial comedy, not just for doing cartoon voices. Aflac had to have known the risks in hiring him. While I think the timing for the jokes is poor, I think firing him may be overreacting.
Why Computers Can’t Make It as Stand-Up Comics
Check out this article from Live Science that was forwarded to me from my friend Laura. Turns out our messy and inconsistent minds make us better comedians. I’m glad my broken brain does something right!
Laura and I both worked in radio together and I’m sure at one point we both thought computers couldn’t take our DJing jobs. We were wrong!
This probably goes back to my snobby article, but I suppose a computer could analyze the biorhythms of an audience and regurgitate a “best of” act of other comedians’ acts. Maybe they could call it the MenC.A. 2000.
Can Heckling Be a Two Way Street?
My buddy posed a question to me yesterday morning. At first it sounded to me like he was asking why it was okay for a comedian to talk to someone in the audience, but it wasn’t okay for a person in the audience to talk to the comedian. My knee jerk response was that people pay to hear the comedian speak, the comedian never pays to listen to the audience member speak.
Off the Mike 