Comedy

1. I've realized that an animated podcast really is the perfect medium. Today I rememberd when all the students at NYU were required to invent a magazine. I thought up one that was about comedy--interviews with comedians about their craft, etc. (okay, much like Punchline, the online magazine). My idea didn't get picked and nothing became of it. Then I read What The Bleep Do We Know, which has nothing to do with comedy, but is laid out in a really cool way, and I thought it would be cool to do a book on comedy with all the sidebars and stuff like this book. But now I see that you can interview someone, keep the actual audio of the interview, and make it more fun to watch than just a documentary. The only thing is animation takes a really long time, so I am now trying to recruit animators and drawers to do a little here and there to help get the episodes out faster.

2. I started reading a book called Satiristas, which is a book of interviews with comedians about comedy. It's so good! Each interview is only a couple pages long, so you never get tired of a subject. I've only read about four interviews so far, but it's really fascinating stuff, even if I don't know who the comedian is.

3. I went to a comedy show today--not a standup or improv show. It was scripted, and there was a little audience involvement. It's called "The Annihilation Point." It was a corny sci-fi spoof. They basically take all the twists in all the sci-fi movies and combine it into an hour and a half long story. It was much better written than I expected. I could tell you some jokes, but most of it is in the delivery. Here's my favorite though:

Person 1: Explain a time paradox to our audience.
Person 2: Okay. It's like...say I have this red notebook. If I go back in time and paint the notebook blue, then what color would this notebook be?
Person 1: Blue.
Person 2: No!!! Purple!

There is some footage online. I think it's 2 years old. But it is the same actors: