Los Angeles Comedy Festival

Steinberg Talent Management Group presented some of country’s hottest up and
coming stand-up comedians at the Los Angeles Comedy Festival hosted by the
Comedy Union. The New York native jesters waltzed into the trendy club and treated it
as home. The line-up included Ahmed-Ahmed, Joe Derosa, Ian Edwards, Ben Bailey,
Robert Kelly, and Patrice O’Neal. The comedians delivered their best material at the
slow, often too cool to laugh crowd (typical in L.A.) and won the audience over despite
their resistance.

Ahmed-Ahmed (MTV’s Punk’d) opened the show, whose slow pace and delivery, though
well suited for his material, was not conducive to warming up the tepid crowd. Ahmed-
Ahmed comes at you with a barrage of self-deprecating humor, largely based on his
Egyptian heritage. Despite his often monotone delivery, Ahmed-Ahmed is able to
deliver premium punchlines that keep the audience on their toes. His vast range of
topics (from the difficulties of traveling as an Egyptian-American to dating white girls in
defiance of their parents) makes Ahmed-Ahmed a joy to watch.

Joe Derosa (Last Call with Carson Daly) followed and lit up the dim crowd like a
firecracker in an alleyway. Derosa immediately won over the audience with his abrasive
demeanor that reached out and grabbed everybody’s attention. The fiery comic covers
an array of topics including the torment of being skinny fat (slender but with breasts
and a gut), bad sex faces, and the ridiculousness of text messaging. Derosa is a
memorable comic that is sure to please with his well-developed material and sharp
timing.

The short, seemingly unassuming stature of Ian Edwards (MTV’s Punk’d; HBO Aspen
Comedy Festival) is merely a disguise masking his towering wit. Edwards started off
strong and kept the audience roaring as he discussed his hilarious sexual escapades
and relationships, capped with a great retort to one of his girls that he took to the
abortion clinic: “You had one abortion. I had three this week!” Edwards’ smooth
delivery keeps the audience on his same page and eager to turn to the next.

When “Big” Ben Bailey (Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn) takes the
stage, the crowd immediately gives its attention to his immense
presence. Standing tall, arms crossed, with his hard look and deep
voice, Bailey looks more like the bouncer than the comedian;
however, his unique, edgy humor quickly snaps the audience back
into the reality that he is there to make them laugh. Bailey’s style
can be best described as walking the audience into the joke and
then backhanding them with a clever punchline that nobody saw
coming. Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the comedian’s set was
when he was riffing off of the frigid crowd, ripping them apart one by
one, sending the other audience members into a tailspin of
laughter.

Next came Robert Kelly (“Tourgasm” with Dane Cook), who absolutely killed. Kelly’s
fast paced, high-energy and vivid animation made him the standout comic of the
evening. The rising star generated consistent belly laughs. Armed with self-deprecating
humor and the ability to slay the crowd with his different voices, Kelly is a must-see
performer. His set was packed with nothing but big laughs, in which he talked about
wearing a snakeskin jacket, which made him look like he was being eaten by a boa
constrictor. If you’re a fan of quality stand-up comedy, do not miss Kelly when he
comes to your town.

The show closed with the headliner, Patrice O’Neal (Comedy
Central Presents, Shorties Watchin’ Shorties). Surprisingly,
O’Neal was only given ten minutes in order to keep the show on
schedule, to which O’Neal explained to the crowd: “It takes me
ten minutes just to get funny.” With little time to get rolling into
the half hour set that he is accustomed to delivering, O’Neal
spent most of his ten minutes ripping into the audience with
hilarious, cutting quips. While his set was not indicative of his
coordinated material, it was a great display of his larger than life
personality and his ability to riff some solid improvisation.

The Melrose Improv, the comedy landmark which served as a springboard to stardom
for comedians such as Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, and Ellen DeGeneres, hosted the
second night of the Los Angeles Comedy Festival. The show featured Corey Kahaney,
Laurie Kilmartin, Jamie Lissow, Joe Matarese, and Jeremy Schachter, all of whom hoped
to use the comic playground to add luster to their already shining stars.

Veteran comedian Cory Kahaney (Last Comic Standing; Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn)
took the stage and delivered a rousing performance, engaging the audience
immediately and holding their attention until her final punchline. Kahaney, whose rants
about her relationship with her teenage daughter took her deep into the first season
competition of Last Comic Standing, still centers her material on motherhood, but
manages to keep it fresh with a different take every time. The beauty of Kahaney’s
approach comes from her refusal to sugarcoat life as a woman, mother, and ex-wife.
Her lightning quick wit and downright brutal quips demonstrate why she was made a
member of the nearly all male New York Friars Club.

Energetic presence and beauty are only the wrapping paper
covering the hilarious gift that is delivered in Laurie Kilmartin’s
(Jimmy Kimmel Live) thoroughly enjoyable set. Kilmartin comes
at the audience with a straightforward, no B.S. style that tackles
every topic imaginable, including feminism, race, and rape. How
many people can talk about rape without getting lynched, much
less receive a round of applause? We now know of at least one.
Kilmartin’s brazen and refreshing disregard for political
correctness is just one of the reasons that she has been able to
satisfy audiences since the early nineties.

Jamie Lissow’s (The Tonight Show with Jay Leno; The Late, Late Show with Craig
Kilborn) act and style is like a car accident without the whiplash and lawsuits. The car
accident is really funny as he slowly drives down the simple topic setup only to take a
sharp, witty turn and slams the audience straight into the punchline. It is Lissow’s
excellent writing that creates such seamless transitions from topic to topic that keeps
the audience on his train of thought every step of the way. The ability to create such
effortless transitions can make an average comedian great as it makes it that much
easier for the audience to follow and laugh at what the comedian is saying. Lissow
made his name with young audiences across the country via his highly praised college
tours and was able to play this L.A. crowd perfectly with his material about the woman
without a vagina and his pick-up lines for unattractive women.

If you’re looking for a breath of fresh air, Joe Matarese (Premium
Blend; Last Comic Standing) can deliver that kind of show.
Rather than the now all-too-typical (though still hilarious) comedic
style of observational comedy, Matarese goes back to a more
nostalgic style takes his real life and relationships and builds his
act around it. Matarese’s act is based around one common
theme: Joe trying to figure out Joe. The New Yorker’s act is like
an entertaining therapy session during which Matarese discusses
growing up Italian, his painful move to L.A., and his perfect match
(marrying a psychologist). His standup is solid from start to finish.

The showcase’s fastest rising star, Jeremy Schachter (The Late Show with David
Letterman), closed the night, fresh off of his performances that made him best stand-
up at the 2005 Dallas Comedy Festival and at the D.C. Improv contest. Schacter, who
has opened for some of comedy’s biggest stars including Chris Rock, David Spade, and
Dave Attell, has star appeal, due in no small part to his seemingly perfect mix of clever
quips and physical comedy. Schachter is a non-stop riot that had the audience rolling
before he hit his first punchline. Make sure to pay attention to his bit about rice-cakes—
hilarious! Schachter is one of those comics that fans want to catch as soon as possible
so they can later brag to their friends that they were first to see him perform before he
became a star. Better hurry up as Schachter is on the fast track to blowing up.

DVDs
Richard Lewis -
Concerts from Hell:
The Vintage Years

Lisa Lampanelli -Take
It Like a Man (CD/DVD)

Dane Cook -
Retaliation (CD/DVD)

Tom Green - Inside &
Outside

Brother Sam: A Tribute
to Sam Kinison

Laffapolooza 1

Latinlogues, Vol. 2

Platinum Comedy
Series -Bill Bellamy
Deluxe Edition

CDs
Todd Barry - Medium
Energy

Rick Younger-Come On
N'ah

Steven Lynch - The
Craig Machine

DL Hughley - Notes
from the GED Section

Books
Billy Crystal - 700
Sundays

Tom Green and Allen
Rucker - Hollywood
Causes Cancer: The
Tom Green Story

Margaret Cho - I Have
Chosen to Stay and
Fight

Penn Jillette and
Mickey D. Lynn - How
to Cheat Your Friends
at Poker: The Widom
of Dickie Richard

Margaret Smith - What
Was I Thinking? How
Stand-Up Did Nothing
to Prepare Me to
Become a Single Mother

Bill Maher - New Rules:
Polite Musings From a
Timid Observer

Oliver Double - Getting
the Joke: The Art of
Stand-Up

Robert Klein - The
Amorous Busboy of
Decatur Avenue: A
Child of the Fifties
Looks Back

Dave Schwensen -
Comedy Faqs and
Answers: How the
Stand-Up Biz Really
Works

Movies
Fri, Oct. 14
Domino - Mo'Nique
plays a dramatic role
opposite Keira
Knightley and Mickey
Rourke.

Fri, Oct. 21
Stay - Janeane
Garofalo co-stars with
Ewan McGregor, Naomi
Watts and Ryan
Gosling.

Fri, Nov. 4
Jarhead - Jamie Foxx
stars opposite Jake
Gyllenhaal

Nov. 11
Sarah Silverman: Jesus
is Magic - Comedian
discusses race, sex
and politics with friends.

Nov. 25
Rent - Sarah Silverman
plays a supporting role
in the feature
adaptation of the hit
Broadway play.

Yours, Mine and Ours -
George Lopez and Lil
JJ (Beauty Shop)

In the Mix - Kevin Hart
co-stars with singer
Usher and Chazz
Palminteri.

Thank you for the kind words. It was very generous of you. As I remember, that crowd
was pretty bad. It may have been bad because all of us were trying to score with the
network people instead of just really acknowledging what was going on. Thanks though.
It's always nice to hear compliments. Great writing.
-Joe Matarese

Wow. Thanks so much. That's some review! All true of course. Good luck with the
magazine.
-Jeremy Schacter

Just read the review in your magazine, it is extremely well written, not to mention
"positive". So thanks again. Great article.
-Jamie Lissow