I Interview my Mom!
For my birthday I thought it would be fun to interview the person who brought me into this world – my mom! Sometimes I feel ripped off because other comedians seem to use comedy to cope with parent issues. I don’t have any. My parents were perfect. My dad worked had to provide his family not only with everything we needed, but pretty much everything we wanted too. I found my interest in sci-fi and fantasy through my dad and as a kid I was seeing Star Wars opening weekend and going to hobby shops/comic book stores. It’s in directly through my dad, that my friendship with Gwar began.
My incredibly perfect parents.
My mom is a super mom. She’s the mom that all of my friends were jealous of. When she had me and my brother, she quit work to raise us full time. During the years that my brother and I were in the same Middle Schools and High Schools, she volunteered at the school clinic and was known to be the cool mom who let kids come in and lay down for an hour if they had a headache…or a test they didn’t study for.
Her way of raising me and my brother, who by the way is also pretty spectacular in himself even though he and I are just about polar opposites, was not only to love us unconditionally, but to also trust us until we gave her a reason not to. I’m glad to say that my brother and I both turned out fine. Neither of us do drugs, whore around or light homeless people on fire. Sure, we got into the mischief that young boys tend to get into and I’d be a fool to think my mom didn’t know, but we both always made sure that we never got into so much trouble that it would disappoint our parents or make them stop trusting us.
So, when I interviewed Nate Fridson, who also comes from a very solid family, I touched on wondering where we get our motivation to do comedy. I firmly do believe there is something a little unhealthy about wanting to make a group of strangers like us night after night. For me, I think it’s because I miss that feeling of being the most important person in the world that my mom gave me as a kid. I’m like a junky searching for that high that he on the first go around. I’m hoping having an audience love me enough will make me feel like that unconditional love I had from my mom as a kid.
I’ve always been lucky. I come from a supportive family. Even to this day, I schedule myself in Holly, near where my brother Brian lives with his family, so my brother can come out and see me for his birthday. My wife Christine is super supportive and works hard in order for me to pursue my dreams. As I sit here on the morning of my birthday transcribing this interview, I realize that I’ve always had it pretty lucky and that’s the best birthday present there is.
My mom and I sat down over a game of Scrabble and I interviewed her not only to have a chance to talk about me a little bit, but also to distract her so that I could win a few games because usually she destroys me! Read the rest of this entry
5 Hour Energy Drink
In case you missed it, here’s the commercial I recently did for 5 Hour Energy Drink.
While standing in the hardware store in costume waiting for the lights and camera to be set for the next shot, a customer asked me where something was. I had no idea what the thing was that he was asking for and I told him so. He looked at me like I was the worst employee ever. I explained that I was in the commercial. He continued to look at my with disbelief. It wasn’t until he walked away that I realized he must have thought that the store was showcasing their worst employee in a television commercial. I wanted to run after him and tell him that I wasn’t really an employee and that I’m really a comedian, but instead I pulled out my notebook and started writing a bit about it.
The crew for this thing was pretty fantastic and detail focused. The colors in each shot were important. No labels of real life things are showing. The angle I held the “hero” bottle and opened it at the :24 second mark had to be perfect. It was a pretty fascinating experience.
And for the record, I’ve used 5 Hour Energy Drink and it’s good….particularly the Pomegranate.
Oh yeah…and to nerd out even further, I love it that my first shot is a subtle version of the famous Chief Brody Jaws shot!
Kung Fu Panda 2 Review
This weekend I took my kids (3 and 5 year old boys) to see Kung Fu Panda 2, which, as the TV ads think is very important to remind me, stars Jack Black as the lead character Po.
In this sequel, Po and the Furious Five must defend China against the evil peacock Lord Shen, his secret weapon, and his army of wolves. Po is a kung fu master straight from the beginning of the movie, and while he bumbles through parts of his adventure, his character has changed grown up a little since the first movie. Of course, though, Po must learn a valuable lesson about himself and kung fu in order to save the day. It’s not the most original plot, following the first one’s formula pretty closely, but it’s a fun movie to take the kids to.
Evil, thou art a peacock.
The movie delivers on beautiful animation, cool action sequences, including a fun chase scene through the city, and the usual over-the-top kung fu fights, including plenty of Furious Five action. Of course, it’s a comedy, and there are some good laughs in there, too (thankfully, a few less easy fat jokes than the last one). The flashback sequences deliver some handsome stylized 2D animation, which I liked as a device to show kids the difference between present day andPo’s memories.
Several jokes are recycled from the first movie, though not as many as you might expect from a kids’ animated movie trying to stick to a formula. It seems pretty obvious, too, that they’re setting the franchise up for another sequel at the end of this one. It’s also worth sitting through the credits, there is no Skeletor-type post credits moment, but the entire sequence is shown against a pretty cool changing art backdrop.
Jack Black is in this movie!
Overall I enjoyed it, and my boys loved it. I had a hard time keeping my enthusiastic 3 year old in his seat during the fight scenes. If you or your kids liked the original, I recommend seeing the Kung Fu Panda 2.
Book Review: Tina Fey’s “Bossypants”
Tina Fey writes like a person I’d love to sit down and talk with. She’s silly. She’s self aware. She’s lyrical. She’s amazing.
Bossypants chronicles Fey’s life in show business from her humble beginnings as the night box office manager at a youth theatre to being the creator and star of “30 Rock”. It’s not only a great look at show business and following your dream, but it’s a great look at show business and following your dreams through the eyes of a woman.
I guess how a few weeks ago when I pondered the notion of white privilege, I overlooked until my friend Germaine pointed it out, that there’s also a great deal of male privilege in the world. While I don’t necessarily think of Tina Fey as the funny lady who created a great television show, she and most of entertainment apparently does. I don’t agree with all of the ideas she presents in the book, but then again as a dude, I probably have little evidence to support my disagreement.
There are a lot of great chapters for navigated not just show business, but life. The chapter titled I Don’t Care If You Like It was particularly valuable to me. She used Seasame Street logic to explain how to get ahead in career by going “over, under or through obstacles”. Bossypants has a whole slew of life lessons in between the jokes. Like the show she’s created, the comedy comes at you in pretty quick succession. Fey’s a strong writer of sketch, television and now you can add books to that list.
Whether it be talking about the preparation that goes into shooting magazine covers, breast feeding, or her concerns with portraying Sarah Palin, Fey writes with unabashed candidness that’s so completely endearing.* The book is thoughtful, but never afraid to embrace potty humor like in the way she describes babies. “They’re more than just adorable little creatures on whom you can blame your farts.”
One of my favorite written comedy devices is the use of footnotes. Douglas Adams was a master at them when he wrote the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. Here, Tina Fey uses them just as effectively and hilariously.** I strongly recommend reading this book to everyone. It doesn’t matter if your a fan of Fey’s work or not, it’s just a really well written book about getting ahead in business, juggling responsibilities and rising above adversity.
* Of course I’m just assuming that because I’m taking Fey at her word. Maybe she’s like a WWE Superstar’s book where later we find out that she wasn’t a well adjusted famous person at all, but a pain pill popping adrenaline junky with a great ghost writer. Fey and Poehler would make a great tag team. Ooh, they could have a match against Wiig and Rudolph!
** I’m not nearly as good at it, but then again this is a first (only) draft and I’m not sweating it.
Hey Kids…Podcasts! Part 4
So Mike, Dennis, and Kobe already listed some of their favorite podcasts and now it’s my turn!
There’s a lot that the other dudes already covered that are my favorites (such as Nerdist, or WTF, and Tell ‘Em Steve-Dave) so I won’t talk about those (even though they are ones I listen to religiously)
The Film Vault: This show branched off of the Adam Carolla show (kinda, it’s not really a spinoff, but if podcasts did have spinoffs its kinda like that). It’s a podcast about movies (duh) where they spend the first part talking about the movies they saw throughout the week (which they call Flick-fessions) then they spend the second half counting down the top 5 something in movies (such as top 5 80s action movies, top 5 sex scenes, etc). What makes this show especially great is that the two host are so very different. The one is your more average obsessed movie nerd, while the other is your more artsy hipsterish (and sometimes demented) movie nerd. There answers are wildly different, and it’s a great show.
I Should Be Writing: I actually haven’t listened to this show for a long time, but it’s worth including because it’s what my podcast, Nerd Comic Rising, is loosely based on. In it Mur Lafferty started as a completely unpublished science fiction and fantasy author. She talked about the difficulties and challenges of writing, interviewed pros, and chronicled her experience. If you are an aspiring author, I encourage you to go back in the archives and start listening at episode one. You get to follow an author from an unknown to being a well liked published author and its pretty darn cool.
Radio Free Skaro: It’s no mystery to a lot of you that I’m a huge Who nerd (being that I write Doctor Who Reviews for this site) and this is my favorite Whocast. Three dudes from Canada break down each new episode, talk Who news, and in the off season do commentaries on old episodes. Again what makes this great is the differences in the hosts, since one likes almost everything, one likes almost nothing, and one is in the middle. If you’re a Who fan, you will really dig it.
Doug Loves Movies: This is so awesome! I can’t believe I’m the one who gets to talk about it. I love this show. It’s not quite a movie podcast, more like an entertaining comedy game show led by Doug Benson. All the game show “contestants” are Actors and Comedians. It’s a great show, and if you aren’t listening to it, you should! It’s very entertaining and if you love comedy you’ll love this.
Hollywood Babylon: I used to be a big fan of Kevin Smith’s first podcast Smodcast, but over time it got less funny or interesting to me. One of his 8000000 new podcasts (the dude is the Jude Law of Podcasts) is this one and I love it. He is with the impressionist Ralph Garman, and they talk about Hollywood News and stuff. Their banter can get really really funny and again its the differences between them that make the show great. Kevin Smith is now a big stoner teddy bear who loves everyone and everything. Ralph Garman is an impression doing Hate Machine who throw most his hate at Chelsea Handler (the funniest moment of the show was when Kevin had just come back from being on her show). It’s a great podcast, but one you might want to start at episode one with to make sure you get all the inside jokes.
Hey Kids… Podcasts! Part 3
Mike and Kobe have recommended their favorite podcasts in previous posts, but I’d like to bring your attention to a few shows myself. These are fairly popular shows that feature more non-professional performers. Please note, all these podcasts are explicit and probably not for listening to while the kids are around.
The Geekshow Podcast: Recorded in Salt Lake City, the Geekshow features a large and sometimes changing cast of panelists who discuss the latest in comics, movies, TV and other pop culture topics. The panel will be the first to remind you not to take your fandom too seriously, they certainly don’t. The show features local Salt Lake City morning radio personality Kerry Jackson, and a couple professional movie (Jimmy and Jeff) and television (Scott) critics. The real reasons to listen, though, are the two regular guys on the show, Lee and Shannon. Check out an episode or two and you’ll see what I mean. This show is definitely NSFW and hilarious.
Tell ‘Em, Steve-Dave!: Yes, these guys have been in a few movies, but they are far from professional actors. The cast of this podcast include Walt Flanagan and Bryan Johnson, who have been featured in most Kevin Smith movies, and their co-host, Brian Quinn. These guys are funny. Having been friends for many years, these guys know how to push each others’ buttons, and do, to great comic effect. It’s a fun show, definitely worth listening to for the banter, bickering and wide range of topics they discuss.
The Panels on Pages POP! Cast: The POP! Cast was born from the Panels on Pages website, a geek review site, and the online community it has spawned. Join Lee, Jason and Jason, and sometimes Jose or any of their other cohorts as they discuss comics, movies, toys and general geek nonsense. These guys are another group that doesn’t take themselves or their fandom too seriously. Listen in as they discuss any number of topics, including semi-regular games of “FMK” (Fuck, Marry, Kill). Additionally, they have a whole weekly schedule of related podcasts they drop into their iTunes feed, on more specific topics like movies or pro wrestling.
The Mediocre Show: Broadcasting from Philadelphia,PA, the Mediocre show has been around since before podcasting was cool. Hosted by Eric Tomorrow, the show has had a few different co-hosts, but has hit its stride with its current cast, including Eric’s wife, Hope, and Tha Mike, formerly of the Awful Show. There is a reason these guys have gathered such a rabidly loyal fan base. They include their listeners in the show, and interact with them regularly, never acting like they think they are better than them. The show is also a fun listen, often discussing current events, pop culture, making fun of Myspace “musicians” and expounding on their deep love of barbecue. Usually clocking in at 2+ hours an episode, prepare to kill some time laughing with the Mediocre Show.
Nice Tweets: End of The World Edition
Last weekend some crazy religious wacko said the world was supposed to end. I can sadly identify with the nutty conviction that caused some to give up their life savings up only to find themselves land-locked and broke come 6:01 on Saturday.
So Sure! Their lives were ruined, but we got some great tweets out of the deal. So here’s my favorites!
My Contribution (@jconolly) “What!? It isn’t the end of the world!? * sheepishly stops murder spree *”
And now, the best:
#5. @nickkroll “Rapture is no big deal. My world ends every year when McDonalds stops serving the Mcrib.”
#4. @sethmcfarlane “So… Jesus has to work just one day in 2,000 years and he doesn’t show up. This is why the Chinese are beating us.”
#3. @allisonhaislip “T-Minus 4 hours till the rapture, and I’m watching a care bear shoot a tshirt out of a cannon. #priorities”
#2. @TheDanCurrie “Well. I survived Y2k, Snowpocalypse, and the Rapture. Guess I’m a badass.”
#1. @danielmaier “People are making Rapture jokes like there’s no tomorrow.”
Captain America Movie Toy Line Review
Fuck Yeah!
It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I’m a Captain America nut. He’s been my favorite super hero since before I could read the comics I picked up every week from my Grandpa’s book store. Imagine my elation when I heard they were finally going to make a proper big budget movie starring my hero, directed geek demigod by Joss Whedon. Of course, big super hero summer movie means dedicated toy line.
The Captain America toy line from Hasbro follows the model Hasbro set up when they made Iron Man 2 toys last year, two separate lines of 3-3/4” action figures, one based on the movie, and one based on the comic book version of Cap. The movie line has yet to hit stores, but last week the comic series started popping up on shelves at retailers everywhere. So far only the first four basic and three deluxe figures are out, along with a few vehicles and role play items.
These figures are nice. Like the Hasbro Marvel Universe and Iron Man lines, they boast excellent articulation and beautiful likenesses of the characters. The toys combine collect-ability and playability very well, with multiple cool accessories.
So far I have picked up the Winter Soldier and Battlefield Captain America figures, and am very please with both. The Winter Soldier comes with three guns, and has holsters for both of his hand guns. He also comes with a winged rocket pack, adding a cool play option for kids. Battlefield Captain America comes with two guns, his old-style triangular shield, and a removable helmet. The shield can easily fit on his arm, or on his back for carrying. Both are lovely figures, with very nice sculpting and detail, making them very true to their comic book likenesses. Some of the other figures have gimmicky shields, which collectors and purists won’t be happy with, but add a playability factor for kids.
Battlefield Captain America
Winter Soldier
The deluxe figures come with accessories for added play value, but aren’t patently goofy like so many other lines can be. There is a Parachute Cap, one with a winged jet pack, and a Fortress Assault Cap. The Fortress Assault version is the goofy one of the bunch, with Cap in red armor and carrying a missile launcher.
Deluxe Wave 1
Future waves include characters that have been overlooked by Hasbro in the Marvel Universe collection, including Crossbones, U.S. Agent, the Red Skull and Hydra soldiers. One can only assume they were holding them back, knowing they would be making this line for the Captain America movie.
Crossbones
U.S. Agent
A few minor complaints, though – the paint apps can be a bit spotty, so you need to look the figures over before buying to make sure you get a good one. Also, The gimmicky shields are a bit silly on some of the figures, I would prefer U.S. Agent and Heroic Age Cap with their standard shields to display in my collection.
Heroic Age Cap
Ultimate Cap
The role play items or kids are pretty cool, too. They include a shield that shoots little disks, a standard Frisbee-like shield, a mask, and a full costume.
Overall, I love this toy line. Yes, it has its goofy kid stuff in it, but mostly it is very collector friendly. I will be buying many of the figures, and am especially looking forward to Crossbones, who I was never able to get the Marvel Legends version of. My kids will also probably talk me into picking up many of the role play items for them. This is definitely the best movie tie-in line this summer, easily besting the Thor and Green Lantern lines. Hopefully, the line sells well, and we will see more comic characters pop up, like Batroc the Leaper (I can dream, can’t I?).
Michigan’s Funniest Comedian – Mike Green
Mike Green is the funniest friend I have. And I feel so fortunate that I am able to call him my friend. Mike Green on stage is simply amazing. Mike Green off stage is just as amazing, but in an incredibly dark sort of way. Taking a road trip with Mike Green is like watching a marathon of the British Office. He shares these incredibly dark and personal stories that wind up ending in a laugh. That laugh serves as such a relief too! Sometimes he’ll tag the story with a side note that brings you right back down again. He’s engaging. He’s kind. He’s thoughtful. Between Mike Green and Bill Bushart, I consider myself lucky to have had these two guys who have been around a lot longer than I have to help guide me along the way both professionally and personally. I hope you like this interview I did with the great Mike Green.
One of my inspirations for wanting to create my website is yours. I remember when I was starting off in comedy, I went to your site and there were things to do there, like the quiz on how to be a comic.
I like my website. It’s become more of a hobby. Even if it’s just to make it look decent, I like to work on it at least once a week.
How do you manage your time?
I’m horrible at it. That’s my shortcoming in stand up, my ability to manage my career, have a family and do all that. This taught me to be organized and I just muddle through.
You’re easily my funniest friend, but do you think it’s that inability to be organized and manage things is the reason you’re not also my most famous friend?
I know exactly what you’re saying. I love Steve Iott and John Bowman. I think Heywood Banks is brilliant. When you see these guys and how hilarious they are, you have to wonder how come everyone doesn’t know how good they are? Why aren’t they super famous?
Read the rest of this entry
Doctor Who – Season 6 – Episode 5 – The Rebel Flesh Review
DOCTOR WHO SEASON 6 REVIEWS- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
This weeks part one of a two parter was a romp that hit a checklist of Sci-Fi clichés, took doctor who back toward its roots, and did what it most needed to do, occupy space while using very little of the budget (the cash gained from these two episodes’ limitations is what allowed our heroes to play around in Utah and what not). All that being said, its rather hard to judge the first episode of a two-parter, especially a more traditional one like this. It’s a bit like shutting the movie “12 Monkeys” off at the halfway point and saying, “Well, what do you think?” All that won’t stop me from trying though, so look below for my spoiler filled review.
“Yes spoilers are insane and they’re about to get ‘insanerer.”
THE GOOD
*THE ‘GANGERS – The concept, albeit no where near a new one, was pretty cool and fairly well executed. The actors had a difficult job of playing themselves and their bizzaro clayface selfs, but they all did a good job. The effects (except for the snake one, and we’ll get to that later) were simple but freaky. Even though this was a more traditional Who episode, it definitely played well to the creepy of the new series.
* THE DOCTORGANGER – As much as the ending was telegraphed the length the Pretenders would walk away (500 miles, if you don’t get that joke) it was still pretty damn cool way to end the episode. I get to spend all week thinking about how this can be handled, or mishandled. What’s especially great about it is that it flipped everything on its head. The Doctor was all for the Gangers and the Normies to kiss and make up, but how will he feel about another Doctor calling the shots, or another Doctor that feels he has just as much right to the Tardis? This puts his own morals under fire, or rather, under acid, and it will be interesting and fun to watch next week.
THE BAD
* Why Can’t We All Just Get Along – It’s petty, but I’m growing kind of sick of the didactic “why does war have to happen” episodes when it all goes to hell because one psycho-lady can’t handle the concept of talking before filling the objects-that-are-supposed-to-represent-the-middle-east-or-some-such-nonsense full of lead. We get it. We humans; we stupid, we fight each other. I guess I’m only so mad because its so similar to last years hungry earth saga. Couldn’t we just watch Rory fake die again (please, no, Stephen Moffat, that was a joke).
THE UGLY
The Snake-Ganger thing looked horrible. Find whoever made that CGI and sack him!
BOLD PREDICTIONS
* GANGERS WON’T FEEL SO H.G. WELL – They spent a lot of needless time having the one normie sneeze a lot. I’m guessing in the end all the gangers will die from the common cold. I don’t want this to happen, again, it’s horribly cliché, but such is life. Clearly they have to have them all die in some sort of inevitable way anyways, otherwise the presence of the gangers (especially the one that looks like Matt Smith) presents to many problems.
FINAL SUMMARY
Like I said, it’s hard to review part one, but thus far I’m along for the ride.
YouTube Channels You Should Be Watching
These are nothing new, or hard to find, but they’re some of my favorite things on the internet, and on YouTube for sure. Maybe you’ve seen them or heard of them, but maybe not.
Muppets Studio
The Muppets, some of my childhood heroes, are on the internets.
Check out Bohemian Rhapsody:
BriTANick
Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher are funny dudes. Check out their videos and sketches on their YouTube Channel.
One of my favorites, Academy Award Winning Movie:
Anybody else have any favorites?
Comedy Condos
The Cuyahoga Falls Condo.
My all time favorite condo experience was staying in Mishiwaka at the condo with Costaki Economopoulos and Tony Deyo while we played the old Funny Bone there. It was a great week. There was some sort of big football thing on and Costaki insisted on introducing me to the game via gambling. While that may seem like a sucker bet, since I know absolutely nothing about the game, he was really clear in explaining point spreads and odds and I actually won our little wager. It was something like a five dollar bet. I’m not a gambler. In fact, even though I go to Vegas every year, I always break even because I never gamble at all. I just never got bit by that bug.
What was fun about that week was, if my memory serves me correctly, that was the first time the three of us had ever met and we’re all still fairly close friends to this day. In comedy, close friend often means that we all have each other’s phone numbers and sometimes call one another for gigs or when we’re in the same town! Costaki brought me on the road with him last year for a mini-tour, which was a blast and Tony and I have had lunch while he’s been in Detroit. The funny thing about that week was that we all discovered that we were all super nerds about very different things. At the time, Tony was still doing something for high school marching bands and was laying out intricate formations and things like that. Costaki is a huge online poker nerd and would have multiple games going on at once. I, of course, was playing my PSP. My big regret from that week was that I was staying with Costaki one of the sharpest joke writers, a regular contributor to the Bob & Tim Show and I felt a strange need to beat the game Jeanne D’Arc. Granted, it was a great game!
Jeff Comedy Jam Promo
Jeff Conolly again here. I have a show coming up where me and five other guys named Jeff are performing called the Jeff Comedy Jam. It should be a really fun night, and it’s especially big because it’s the first show I’ve ever run by myself. I’d love it if a bunch of OfftheMikers could show up! It’s June 10th at Laff Tracks in Novi. You can go to the Facebook event here.
Here’s a promo video my wife helped me make (she was especially enthusiastic about the ending).
Off the Mike 