I'm writing to you from AFRICA! That's right or South Africa to be more specific. Or Johannesburg to be eve more specific. Or Lone Hill, Joberg, SA if you are really into details. Anyway I'm spending August here doing shows and the crowds have been great so far. Do they appreciate what I do? you bet. Is it because I am quickly becoming an Outlier? (I just read the Malcolm Gladwell book) Perhaps I am I have totaled the amount of hours I have clocked over the last 8 years doing stand up at a conservative estimate of 16,640 hours and according to Gladwell it takes 10,000 to master something, that means I am closing in on double master based on his theory. Still there is a long road ahead and I will get better and stronger every year (at least that's the plan). A bit about Joberg... beautiful place, you just can't walk around it without possibly getting shot. A local comic was nice enough to take me to the park with his wife and baby yesterday and it was awesome. The park was so beautiful and they have a restaurant overlooking the lake where we had some delicious African beers. I also bought an Elephant made completely out of stolen telephone wire! Best thing about it going abroad to do comedy is knowing that when I go back to the USA I will be able to pay my rent and bills with the money I make. It's kinna funny that while the rest of the world is sending money to Africa, I am the guy who is traveling there to bring it back. Weird.
Anyhow the club I'm playing at is gorgeous. The guy who started it has been doing comedy here since the 70's. He's kinna the Dangerfeild of African Comedy. His name is Joe Parker and his club is Called Dangerfeild's- WAIT- I mean 'Parkers'. Parkers Comedy and Jive to be more specific, damn I'm getting too specific with you lot on this entry huh. Anyhow the club is in a casino and the casino has big screen TV's all over it playing ads with my face on them to come see me, very cool.
In other news, Sadder news, last month I lost a close friend and mentor. A true American gem to the world of writing and music. I'm Talking of course about the great one: Harvey Pekar. I have lots to say about this but I think I wrote it best in a piece that was published originally by a very hip website called Street Boners and TV Carnage and then republished over at my good friends at Cringe Humor so if you have a minute go check it out on one of those two rockin websites. The day Harvey died also happened to be the day I was scheduled to do an interview for a podcast about Music called 'Music Life Radio' (or MLR). We talked lots about Harvey on that as well, it turned out to kinna be a nice way of memorializing him I think. The guy that runs MLR is really good at what he does and produced the show so well that I think it may well be one of the best interviews I've ever given despite how emotional I was at the time. If your into music or just into me check it out here:
Well that's it for now. As they say here in Joberg when parting: I'm gonna have to love you and leave for now ma boy.
I did a new radio show called Lunatic Radio (new to me- they have actually been around for over 10 years, and they are technically a Podcast). Anyway, I really hit it off with these guys and we have great chemistry and they have a really fun show. I'm putting up this link for you to check it out, and hopefully it'll turn you on to what they do.
In other news, I did my showcase for Comedy Central. It went really well. Here's a video!
I had a great time and I think the people at Comedy Central dug it. It seemed like they did, so hopefully they'll put me on TV and make me into a megastar!
In other news, I'm heading out to South Africa this August and I will be doing shows for 20 days in Johannesburg as well as a weekend in London at the end of July. So if you live in any of those places, come out and see me! I hope to be sipping Amarula and riding an elephant. Also, I hope to smuggle blood diamonds in empty sheep stomachs. It's my debut into the blood diamond business!
In other news, Comical Radio is on fire! We've had the most downloads this month than we've ever had. So for those of you who are apart of that, thank you!
In other news, my girlfriend has a really cool blog. It's called Living with Lobell so I really like it cause it's about me! But it's also about her adjusting to NYC so check it out: Living with Lobell
In other news, I wrote an article for Cringe Humor where I defended comics they don't like! Check it out here: Cringe Humor
And lastly, in other news, I'm ridiculously overtired and can't remember what else I wanted to tell you. So you'll have to wait for the next blog post. It's always good to have something to look forward to in life. It keeps you wanting to live! Two things to look out for: Check out the band of Montreal- first band I've been interested in in a long time and Supercute, another great band.
Tune in this Friday, July 2 to Comical Radio to hear Supercute perform live. This will be my second Comical Radio "discovery" (the first one being Jermaine Fowler) as I think they will really be the next big thing. We also have a lot of other awesome guests this Friday that are worth listening to as well. In case you don't know where to go, here's a link: Comical Radio
That's all- I'm going to bed now!
I'm returning to the Keith and the Girl show May 4th with my Life Coach Chester
www.katg.com
TUNE IN!
Keith and the Girl do a great show and I'm really happy to be back on their show it's always interesting when we get together tune in and hear what happens!
Well I did a lot of shows, Glasgow fest, Dublin, Liverpool and Birmingham and I'm tired and back in Brooklyn and I'm still no readjusted and Im loosing my mind with the boredom of being back from the road. When Im gone I cant wait to be home (except for the time Im on stage) when Im home I cant wait to leave again. I could go on and on about tales from my trip but I think I'll let you listen to the radio show for all that (comicalradio.com) I think I'm in a weird place mentally right now I don't know how to explain it but I feel I'm living in a dream and I cant tell if its a good dream or not. On stage Im doing better than ever Im stronger, funnier and more fearless than I have ever been but off stage I'm not even motivated to talk to people these days I just want to go home to my dog and go to sleep. The reason I'm sharing all this is because its not the first time it's happened, every time I get back from a tour I suffer a post tour depression.I need to be playing those big shows every night again and creating shit, anything!! I can't take wasting my time like this for much longer I need to break out of this cast system I've been placed in by showbiz and start doing really big things and start making some serious trouble before Im old and it's all over, LIFE IS TOO SHORT and your old before you know it, I've been told this by several friends of mine who are in their 80s and seeing how fast the past 10 years have gone I get it. I also want a girl I can fall in love with, someone as nuts as me that I can conspire with and stir the world up with. What the hell am I even talking about....Listen I have a big show coming up on May 18th so please come out:
New Site is Up..
Been working hard all last Month with the web guy and Chris on getting this done and its actually finished! Chris is a Huge part to thanks!
Please Enjoy!
THE NEW COMICAL RADIO SITE IS UP AND RUNNING!!
Please join our brand new Forums and Subscribe to the Podcast!
I'm writing this blog kinna as a way of just saying thanks to George Harrison for getting me through life with his music. Those of you who know me know I listen to very little other than Jazz Clarinet artists from the 50s and 60s (Sidney Bechet, Buddy Defranco, Benny Goodman) , Pink Floyd, Paul Simon and John Lennon but its really George Harrison that does it for me when Im down and I wonder if Id get through rough days with out him (the answer is I probably would but still the guy was a genius!) So here is one of my favorite of George' classics, enjoy!
I highly recommend "33 and 1/3" and "All Things Must Pass", "Brainwashed" is great too when your more into it.
cheers,
DL
On the Road with Ralphie..
I have been doing my radio show for six years now and in that time interviewed over 300 headlining comics and out of those 300 + comics only one has ever offered me a break to come open for them on the road, that man is Ralphie May, one of the nicest and funniest guys in the world. Many people have asked me why I just don't ask the comics if I can open for them and here is the answer; these comics are coming into my show to promote something and not to be put on the spot by someone they dont really know for work, it just seems like it would be a tacky move to me so I never do it. On two occasions I have asked comics after they had already been on th show and Id become somewhat friendly with them if I could open for them one said yes and didnt come through for me and the other did come through but I failed (I bombed my ass off on that show and got fired, I didnt have the experience I needed back then or the confidence I was simply too green at the time) any way the only one who I didnt even ask but rather asked me was Ralphie and I gotta say working with him for those two weekends has been a highlight of my life.The shows where great I had such a fun time and had fantastic sets, Ralphie showed what it is to be a true veteran comic by killin it for 2 hours at a time. Another thing is that his fans are just awesome! I know that some of you reading this are thinking that Im just saying this because he helped me out but understand I have opened for lots of great comics (I was booked through clubs and theaters not asked by the comics) and Ralphie stands out as what you could only call a true Mentch. The way he treats the staff at the clubs buying them food and tipping them generously and hes so good to his fans gives them each his time after the shows and engages their questions and stories hes just the real deal, a really truly good guy and super funny which is why I'm writing this blog. I was an honor working with him and if he's ever in your part of the world take my advice and go see him you wont be sorry hes a great comic to watch!
Till next time.
DL
Late Net
Here are some clips for the new Late night talk show I write for "Late Net with Ray Ellin" on AOL's Asylum Site. The Show is great and Ray is a great guy to work for and a talented host. The writing team I am a part of is top notch as we consisting of fellow Stand Ups Dan Naturman and Russ Meneve. We where recently mentioned in the Comedy Matters Column in this month's Punchline Magazine (Read it by clicking here.) Check out the clips and if you like em please leave us a comment on the site.
best,
DL
I'm returning to the Keith and the Girl show Jan. 12th
www.katg.com
TUNE IN!
Keith and the Girl do a great show and I'm really happy to be back on their show it's always interesting when we get together tune in and hear what happens!
If there is one thing I am best known for it's all the charity work I do and while that's compleatly untrue I was honored to be asked to cover the recent fundraiser that Bob Saget held at Carolines. Bob's sister died of a skin disease called Scleroderma 11 years ago and it's really a nice thing that he honors her memory every year by raising money to help fund research for others suffering from the disease that killed her, he's a classy guy. The event was beatiful and they had a gourmet chef from the Food Network prepare the meals that followed the red carpet, then Saget and a bunch of others performed and auctioned off cool shit to raise money from the crowd, all together they raised $525,000 by the end of the night!! Now if you would have told me when I was a kid watching Full House at Danny Gober's house after a long day in Hebrew School that Bob Saget's Sister is going to die and not only that, but because of this occurence 11 years after the fact I am going to be the recipent of a free gourmet chicken dinner and a gift bag containing a best of Amy Poher DVD in it I would of said, What are you smoking and let me get a hit of that!
The highlight of the show for me was the always very funny Colin Quinn, my favorite moment was his opener when he said the name of the event "Cool Comedy, Hot Cuisine" and then asked the crowd "What was Scleroderma's no laughing matter already taken?!" No one laughed at that but me, just classic Colin, very honest, funny and quite often very awkward. Anyway, it was insiping to see that Bob Saget as big of a star as he is puts his family in such high esteem and even more than a decade after his sister's death still goes to great lengths help others and pay tribute to her memory, it's just a really sweet thing and I was glad to be able to contribute to it in whatever way I could and help publicize this great charity that is doing so much to help suffereres of this aweful disease.
For more on the event check out the full article at:
Matty's Roast
When I first started doing Stand Up in New York City I was 19 years old (I'm not talking about the occasional set Id do in the city when I was 16 and 17, I mean when I decided I'd go out every night and make it my life). I went one night with my friend Mike Lazar to the New York COmedy Club after having bought tickets on the street and saw one of the worst and longest shows of my life (as an audience member). The show that had started at 9pm with a full crowd was still going at now 1am with just me and Mike drunkenly in the back. This short neardy looking guy came on and did some jokes and me and Mike Drunkenly heckled him, I told him he looked like Buddy Holley. He was the last one on the show and after wards I went over to tell him that I thought he was funny, many years later he told me that had I not told him I liked him there and then he was planning on punching me in the face. That was the first time I met Matty, he was working at that club for free in exchange for the last spot of the night on the show, a spot I soon after became very familiar with. It took us a long time but we eventually became best friends and then when I was 23 I moved in with him after his roommate moved out in Brooklyn and now we have been roommates here for almost four years. Well, they say all good things come to an end and sadly for me Matty has decided that the NY Comedy scene has not given him the opportunities he needs and is moving to LA. For me this is more than just loosing a best friend and roommate, it represents the end of an era of my life, Matty was the last of the New York Comedy Club comics from back then to leave. Most of them have quit comedy by now and got "real jobs" and one moved to Costa Rica and one to Texas and one other moved to LA but in order to understand how I came up in comedy you'd have to speak to someone from that "class of comics". The N.Y.C.C. is a real hole and back then it was worse even, a dark, depressing, mean and harsh place to spend every night of your life and some where that once I got in all the stage time I needed to develop there I planned never to return to, but last month I did; for Matty's goodbye roast. Matty asked me to host the roast and a bunch of comics (half of whom I had no idea who they where) came out and made fun of Matty, it was a beautiful night but bittersweet cause I knew it was because I'm loosing my friend. To here's to you Matty G. hope LA delivers all the good things you deserve.
DL
Here is a pic from the night:
Here is a video that Matty and I made based on our true experience from one of our many adventures in the time we've been friends.
enjoy.
Hangin with Mr. Carlin
A few times a year I head up to headline the Gloversville Funny Farm (upstate NY) it's an intimate little club in the back of a restaurant and the people out there really appreciate the fact that we (the comics) make the trip all the way up there to entertain them. I am really grateful to have had in my lifetime the opportunity to meet and become friends with some of my heros in comedy. Jackie Mason, Pat Cooper and George Carlin are three of the legendary old time comics that over the years I had really gotten close with, so when George died it was really very devastating to me on so many levels. I called his house to wish my condolences to the family that week and wound up speaking with his older brother Patrick and so began my friendship with Patrick Carlin. We had been speaking on the phone every now and then since then and so when the opportunity to go visit him in Woodstock on my way up to Gloversville came around I felt I had to take it. So along with Graham Kaey and Kase Raso (the two very funny comics I took up to the Funny Farm to open for me) I payed a visit to ol' Pat.
Patrick Carlin, just like George is one of the coolest guys I have ever met, he is a writer and does a weekly radio segment of funny news that he writes from tons of newspaper clippings that he seeks out each week. His stories of him and George and of his days in LA as a limo driver had us all rollin and he and George had one of the greatest and closest "brotherships" I have ever seen. Here are some cool pics from the trip:
In this pic me and Patrick, behind us are some old pics of him and George and the newspaper of when George went to court over the famous "7 dirty words" hangs framed behind us you will notice that my chest hair forms an attached undershirt on my chest.
After completing the movie "Jersey Girl" Kevin Smith had this statue made and sent to George (It's George as the Cardinal in Dogma) it now resides with Patrick.
The sign outside the Funny Farm with my name on it "Steak and a show only $22.22" what a great deal and what an odd price (you don't see prices that end in 22 cents often)
Here is a clip of George on my radio show, he was just here a minute ago, he will always be missed and he's not looking down on anyone!
My Interview w/Chris Rock is in Punchline Magazine
Most would agree that Chris Rock is a living comedy legend. So, why does he have such a hard time believing it?
When you get a chance to sit down with one of stand-up comedy’s biggest names and most influential comics of all time, you take it– especially when you catch him outside of the roar of arena crowds. We recently chatted with Chris Rock at the Comedy Cellar in New York City, where he was working out new material.
Rock opened up about everything from how he writes jokes, his wife’s reaction to his material, to his place in the history of stand-up comedy and much more.
How has your idea of humor changed as you’ve grown—how has your writing changed? I don’t know if the writing’s changed, you know. I’m older. I’ve got a wife, I’ve got kids, bills, you know. I have grown-man concerns, so you end up with grown-man jokes for the most part.
Read The Rest at :
Rise Of The Radio Show
Been working on a new Web Series I created based on my radio show. I write most of the episodes with a guy named Liam O'Neil who's not a comic but has a solid understanding of what's funny and is a great writer. He also directs the episodes along with another very talented guy named Jason Koburov. Here is our first episode starring the hilarious JB Smoove from Curb your Enthusiasm, you will be able to see more at Http://www.RiseOfTheRadioShow.com. Hope you like it and tell all your friends, okay?
I wrote a show with my friend and fellow comic Wil Sylvince, its an animated comedy show that we are gonna pitch around. I can't tell you too much more about it right now because I can't have people taking the idea from us and then doing it themselfs and killing any chance of having a decent life that I might have had, but I will post a video blog soon about what the process is like, so stay tuned.
