Performers:
Lauren Uchalik as your shining MC
Scott Fischer
Mike Bobbitt
Ed Buehner
Marty Smith
Garri Madera
Chillian Thomas
Mike Evitts
Allyson Hood
Lee Smith
Jeffrey Conolly
Thor Review
The summer movie season is finally underway and Thor is a worthy jumpoff. It’s an entertaining popcorn flick, bookended by some absolutely fantastic action sequences in Asgard and weighed down regrettably by a “Thor loses his powers and then gets them back” storyline in the middle. It’s not enough to ruin the film though, as the situation is played for laughs pretty well.
Doctor Who- Season 6- Episode 3- Curse of the Black Spot Review
DOCTOR WHO SEASON 6 REVIEWS- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Episode 3 was a romp, mateys! But getting a standalone romp after the first two mind-bendy/revolutionary episodes kind of feels like getting a swell handy after two nights of sex that was…well mind-bendy and revolutionary. That, though, is certainly Arrr-guble. (That’s the last time I do that, I swear.) Check out my spoiler filled review below…
Yo-ho-Spoilers! Or does nobody actually say that?
THE GOOD
*PIRATES- Pirates are just cool, and this is exactly what makes Doctor Who such a great show. It’s the only show that can give you aliens one week, then straight up pirates the next. Plus, Amy Pond dressed like a pirate gives Rory and Amy more role-play props (as seen in the Christmas Special).
*Siren* The Siren/Mermaid/Doctor-that-made-House’s-Bed-side-manner-seem-amazing was a pretty effective monster. It wasn’t Silence good, but it was still pretty cool.I especially like the idea that it wasn’t really inherently good or evil. It was just there, abandoned, and it was trying to continue its work.
THE BAD
* GREED – The whole “I can’t give up the treasure” thing bugged me. It’s not bad, really, but its not good either. Its very, well, traditional.
*UNDERUTILIZED PIRATES- As cool as the pirates are…they didn’t really do much. They ran in fear. They acted greedy (see above) but that was it. As cool as the story was it’s a little odd. They visited pirates but couldn’t have sword fights, never fired a cannon, and didn’t look for treasure. There’s not really anything bad about that, but its a bit like visiting the star wars universe and spending the whole time watching that chess game in which you’re suppose to let the wookie win.
THE UGLY
*Rory’s Almost Death- The first season of Heroes, I watched it like crazy. I was the biggest fan, but mid third season, I stopped watching. Why? Because people kept dying and getting resurrected. When Rory started “dying” at the end of this episode, I didn’t feel sad, I felt annoyed. This again!? Fortunately, this wasn’t the case, but still…
*NO RIVER OR CANTON- Moffat’s best problem is that he introduces such brilliant characters that you feel a loss when they aren’t around. I know they can’t be there every episode, but seriously.
BOLD PREDICTIONS
*LADY IN THE WALL- The Lady in the wall is opening a version of the “crack from season 5, a whole in time and place. My bold prediction. What the heck, let’s go crazy. It’s the same girl, Amy’s child, but as an adult.
FINAL SUMMARY
It is what it is…an adequate episode. It wasn’t bad, but after the last two weeks of jaw-droppers it just kind of fell flat. I’m really excited for next week, as the episode is written by my favorite author Neil Gaiman. I’ve been waiting two years for this!
Introducing: Jeff Conolly
Hey OFFTHEMIKE fans. Jeff Conolly here. You may remember me from the interview Mike did with me on this site. I just wanted to introduce myself as I am going to be one of the new and official contributors here on OFFTHEMIKE.COM. You may know me from doing stand up around Michigan, or perhaps my podcast Nerd Comic Rising.
So what will I be doing here? I will be syndicating some things from my own site, such as my podcast and my Doctor Who Episode Reviews.
Additionally, I will be providing original content, such as “THE LATE NIGHT WRAP UP” Where I showcase all the cool Late Night Comedy things you may have missed because your bedtime is before Conan.
You’ll be seeing a lot of me soon. Until then, Keep it Real Offthemikers!
The Painted Lady: May 5, 2011
The Painted Lady: Open Mic.
Mike vs. Kobe vs. The Game With No Name
A couple of years ago I joined Bobbitt on a trip down to Missouri for a weekend of shows. The journey was memorable for several reasons: spawning a still-running dispute over whose idea it was to go see In Bruges (mine), the discovery of a podcast deconstructing the 1987 triumph Masters of The Universe , the crowning of Mike as the King of The Ozarks and seeing the movie Doomsday , a relentless turd crusade starring Rhona Mitra.
My interview with artist and all around cool chick Katie Cook!
One of the greatest things I’ve done as a comedian is the celebrity roast of Darth Vader. While we ended up raising money for a good cause, I also ended up becoming friends with some pretty awesome people in the Star Wars community. One of those friends is the great Katie Cook. She’s a staple of the convention circuit and her artwork has been used quite a bit by Lucasfilm.
Here’s what I think is particularly awesome. She’s local! Katie is a CCS graduate and has been out to see me perform. I was self conscious about having somewhat of a potty mouth on stage in front of her because her art is so adorable. Well, it turns out she’s not only heard an adult word or two in her life, but she’s been known to use them! I’m still hoping that she and her husband can get together with me and Christine sometime, because he’s pretty damn cool too!
Comedian Trevor Smith
Trevor Smith is a pretty fantastic comedian and he works hard at it. In fact, he’s been working hard at perfecting his craft for a long time now. He started as a comedian on the other side of the state performing in clubs, bars and cutting his teeth in colleges. Recently he’s moved to the Detroit area and is already making a pretty big impact.
Instantly likable on stage, it’s hard not to like Trevor off stage too. He’s not only a genuinely good guy, but he’s also a super fan of the craft of comedy. Also, a talented artist, Trevor first flew into my radar when he sent me the caricature I use on this site and for just about every piece of marketing I create.
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.
Hey Kids…Twitter!
Kobe here. Let’s cut right to the chase: I love Twitter. I was a dyed-in-wool, take-no-prisoners Twitter basher for a long time (I don’t need to know what Johnny Tweetdeck is doing every second of the day) but I’ve since become an ardent convert. Turns out it isn’t a relentless onslaught of ZOMG JUSTIN BIEBER hysteria; there are plenty of interesting and entertaining people on there, I just needed to look. I wouldn’t be surprised if we all follow a lot of the same comedians and entertainers: Paul F. Tompkins, Louis CK, Sarah Silverman and so on; the big boppers. But I’m always on the look out for the hidden gems. I’ll share some of mine and you can share some of yours. In no particular order…
@beatonna.In no particular order except for this one, I should say, as Kate Beaton’s Twitter is by far my favorite. She’s the cartoonist responsible for Hark, A Vagrant! an absolutely terrific webcomic. Her Twitter is one-part humorous observations and one-part cartoon strip, as she regularly posts impromptu single-panel comics to it.
@jenny_wade. Jenny Wade is best known (possibly only known) for her role as District Attorney Liz Traynor on the short-lived TV show The Good Guys. This is the textbook definition of a hidden gem, as I would never in a million years have thought to follow her, but a retweet of something she wrote got me to mosey over and check out her twitter, which is one of the funniest out there.
@neiltyson. Another retweet revelation. I’d seen Neil deGrasse Tyson as a guest on the Colbert Report a couple of times and thought he was amusing, and now enjoy his tweets. He’s an astrophysicist and tweets mostly to point out scientific inaccuracies in news reporting or to put scientific theory and factoids in layman’s terms. Funny plus I learn shit.
@Marylandmudflap. I have no idea who the fellow behind MarylandMudFlap is, but I do know he’s hilarious. Receive it!
And of course Michael Lynn Bobbitt can be found @offthemike.
Have a follow suggestion? Some fount of hilarity and entertainment that not enough people know about? Post it in the comments below!
Off the Mike 