“Joke Life” Ben Overzet’s new documentary about stand-up comedy (interview)

There’s a new documentary about stand-up comedy in the works and it’s called Joke Life. Director Ben Overzet has set out to follow the lives of three Denver comedians (Ben Roy, Sam Tallent, and Troy Baxley) in a film that explores what it’s like to be a modern-day comic. Having seen Ben Roy destroy upon a few different stages throughout Saint Louis, MO a few weeks ago, this film and its Kickstarter campaign sincerely caught my attention. Though the film stars Roy, Tallent, and Baxley, it also includes appearances from Doug Benson, Chris Gethard, T.J. Miller, Ben Kronberg, and Brendon Walsh. I contacted Overzet to get the full story on Joke Life, its Kickstarter campaign, and its direction. Read the rest of this entry

Recess with The Laugh Button: Connor Ratliff and Shannon O’Neill

It’s Thursday and that means another episode of Recess with The Laugh Button. Today’s guests are Connor Ratliff and Shannon O’Neill. A pair of great improv players from NY’s UCB Theatre. We talked about everything from Connor’s attempt at a 2014 Winter Olympic bid and the long-running improv group they are a part of called The Stepfathers. Take it away Ramin.

Julia Sweeney in her own words (audio)

Julia Sweeney is best known as the iconic androgynous character Pat on Saturday Night Live running from 1990 to 1994. What you may or may not know is that she’s also an extremely successful “monologist,” voiceover actress and writer for shows such as Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives to name only a few.

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Ms. Sweeney after a discussion about her new book “If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Mother’ (in stores now) with comedian Judy Gold at the wonderful 92Y in New York (visit www.92y.org for upcoming shows) and she told us some things we definitely didn’t know. Listen to the interview below to find out how she became good friends with Quentin Tarantino, how she flunked her first improv class, how she’s an independent film buff and much more. Read the rest of this entry

Recess with The Laugh Button: Eugene Mirman

Recess with The Laugh Button rolls on from Recess Arcade Bar in Austin, TX. This time around, we caught up with the one and only Eugene Mirman to talk about life, comedy, Star Talk with Neil DeGrasse Tyson and his latest stand-up special, An Evening of Comedy in a Fake Underground Laboratory.

The Sh*t Show, Chicago’s monthly stand-up comedy show (video)

On the last Friday of every month in Chicago, comedians Ever Mainard and Rasa Gierstikas co-host a free comedy showcase at The Shambles called The Shit Show. What is The Shit Show you ask? Well rather than us trying to have someone explain it to us, we decided to head on out there and check it out for ourselves. We also got some face time with the shows organizers to get a bit of insight. Chicago locals should get themselves out to The Shambles while the rest of us now have an event to check out the next time we find ourselves out in the Windy City.

Recess with The Laugh Button: Nick Turner

Welcome to Recess with The Laugh Button. What is that you say? Well it’s an interview series we taped live from Recess Arcade Bar in the heart of Austin, TX. Why there? Well because when we weren’t in the middle of recording interviews with comedians, it allowed us to challenge them at a bunch of different old school arcade games, that’s why! Our host and local Austin comedian Ramin Nazer talked to many funny people that day including Eugene Mirman, Big Jay Oakerson, Nate Bargatze, and Adam Cayton-Holland. For the next few weeks we’ll bring you the interviews from these segments.

So enjoy with the first interview with the one and only Nick Turner.

We catch up with Myq Kaplan as he prepares to tape his new hour stand-up special

Tonight, comedian and friend of TLB, Myq Kaplan will tape next hour long stand-up special. It’s a major moment for any comedian as it represents a milestone in their career, allowing them to document material they’ve spent many hours writing, testing, performing and honing. Consider it a documentation of an time period in a comedian’s life. We caught up with Kaplan yesterday to get some details about the new special and find out where and when we’ll get the chance to check it out. Read the rest of this entry

Bobcat Goldthwait in his own words (audio)

Bobcat Goldthwait is a man best known for his portrayal of Zed in the Police Academy movies and lighting his chair on fire when he was a guest on The Tonight Show in 1994; which is quite unfortunate due to all the other things he’s been up to.

Since 1991, Goldthwait has been directing and writing independent films and television shows; most notably Jimmy Kimmel Live! and World’s Greatest Dad starring his close friend Robin Williams.

But Goldthwait’s first love is stand up comedy and we had the opportunity to speak with him in between sets at Gotham Comedy Club in New York. He spoke with us about directing the new Marc Maron series on IFC aptly titled Maron, his upcoming film about Bigfoot and so much more. Read the rest of this entry