In case you were wondering I did learn how to use my VCR this weekend. The timer function is tricky, but does work. Anyway I managed to catch all three specials this weekend, and I got to say: pretty happy with 2/3rd's of it. Really enjoyed Nate Bargotze's special. He's a young guy, but has a subtle humor. Billy Gardell had an hour special called "halftime" (that may be incorrect, but something along that line). And finally there was Chris D'elia, let's not talk about Chris D'elia...
I can say a few things positive about D'elia's presents special. Technically speaking he had the marks of a decent comedian. He created a character persona for himself, he was lively/well animated, and he had an okay set-up bang rhythm. However, the man cannot write jokes. His finale joke was funny, but I honestly stopped watching in the middle of his performance because it was so bad. I came back later to finish it. For the most part D'elia's act was a clusterball of unfunny scenario stories and fart jokes. Fart jokes are risky, if you do a fart joke it better be funny, unfortunately for D'elia, he lacks that talent.
Nate Bargatze I liked a lot, and I'm glad because I was beginning to think these reviews would be entirely negative. Like I said Nate Bargatze was a young guy, around 28 maybe. He had a subtle humor to him, but the kind of subtly that made the audience want to listen. An odd thing about Bargatze I noticed was for some reason he was (or it looked like he was) wearing latex gloves for his entire performance. Anyway his best bits included a joke on Cambodia, and the 'white race card'. Here's a clip from his comedy central profile.
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| Nate Bargatze - Melting Pot | ||||
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Finally there was Billy Gardell. While I can't remember the exact title of his special (and neither can the rest of the internet). I believe it was called "Halftime". I have it taped but I'm too lazy to go back now. Anyway, what I saw here was 1 hour of solid stand up comedy. Thank God because after watching Nick Kroll's disaster I needed some. Gardell's set mainly focused on midlife, and new trends of the younger generation. It was a good take on societies changing habits from the perspective of the outdated, older generation. Here's a look at one of his bits, taking from the main theme of his act.
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| Billy Gardell - Get Out of the House | ||||
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I definitely encourage anyone who feels like a laugh to check out Gardell and Bargatz. Maybe skip D'elia until he puts out some new work. As for my travels into stand up comedy. I'd pretty much at the same place I was last week. I have a notecard full of open mic venues, but I still have to call to see if they actively hold them. As far as my act, I'm about half done with maybe 10 minutes of material. Half of it is finished jokes, the others are still in written idea form. I'm thinking of starting some type of stand up night on my university's campus. I'm involved in organizations now so I know the process of getting a room to use. The idea is actually not to pull off at all. I may be forced to do this if there really is not a way for amateur comedians to perform in my area. Next week I probably won't get to talk about the present's specials because I'll actually be at political conference in DC. I figure if the comedy thing doesn't work out I could always be a politician.
Iacono (Yah-Kuh-No)
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