Comedy By the Numbers
Yes, it's a special Saturday post! We wanted you to know that tomorrow, Sunday, June 24, at 1 p.m. at Quimby's bookstore (1854 W. North Avenue), you can catch a free reading of Comedy By the Numbers by its esteemed authors Eric Hoffman and Gary Rudoren, with a special guest appearance by Bob Odenkirk. The Bastion had a nice chat with the authors, who are Annoyance Theater alums and very funny guys.
How did the "Comedy By the Numbers" project come about, and what's your collaboration style on something like this?
ERIC: The only "pisser" about the collaboration was that we couldn't be together in the same room much. Gary was in Chicago and then New York, I was in LA. If we ever write a book together in the same state - look out!
GARY: It was a little unusual I guess, but we just trusted each other. We were on the same page when it came to the style we were shooting for. I went out to LA a few times too. We used the inter-web a lot too – thanks inventor of the web, whoever you are!
What are the most valuable comedy lessons you learned at the Annoyance, and do you have any particular favorite memories of performing there?
GARY: I learned a lot of lessons through experimenting by taking a germ of an idea and developing plays through an improvisational process. The first show I was in was “That Darned Anti-Christ” and I got to watch Mick work as a director, it was a big influence on trusting the process. Later when he asked me to direct, I was of course nervous, but jumped into it and ended up directing I think about 9 or 10 shows. My work tended to be on a smaller scale...the first one-man show with Jimmy Carrane for example, but I think by doing several one person/two person shows, I helped expand the notion of the Annoyance work. Once the Annoyance had its own building on Broadway, the place was nuts, there were sometimes 12 or 13 different productions during the week. The fact that I was able to walk in and do whatever I wanted theatrically was huge. We had this late night sketch show for awhile called The Bean Can Tour – a snarky reference to an old Second City scene – and the run’n’gun of putting that show up was a great lesson in getting an idea and executing it right away. We did a show where we locked ourselves (about 12 of us) into the theater for a week and couldn’t leave. We started one Saturday night with nothing and by the next Saturday night had a full blown musical comedy – I played a crack dealing hospital administrator – sure we tweaked after that, but I got to sleep outside for a week on our roof deck. Really there are too many favorite memories, but I’ll just proudly say that I did show my ass on stage, in two different shows, and the world somehow survived.
ERIC: I probably learned the most doing the "Bean Can Tour", the Annoyance's first weekly late night sketch show. Running orders, the pacing of a show, rehearsing the shit out of something, not rehearsing something at all, last minute lighting and sound cues... really just everything you would need to know about mounting a comedy show. And doing it all while drunk. At the time, as far as I know, it was the only place in town where you could do anything, say anything. I mean anything. That's what drew me to the Annoyance. There were absolutely no restrictions. Nothing was frowned upon. Unless it didn't work. And even then it was like "big deal, at least it was satisfyingly 'different.' "
As for favorite memories, every show I did there was a great time. When you're working with hilarious people like Gary, Matt Walsh, Jodi Lennon, Ed Furman, Madeline Long, Rich Fulcher, Susan Messing, and everyone else there, then it's really just a non-stop favorite memory.
What's the last thing that made you laugh out loud?
ERIC: I love the Garth Marenghi show. Pure comedy genius. That show uses a lot of numbers, so watch it.
GARY: I just saw “Knocked Up” and that had some great stuff in it. They used many of the numbers from our book! Also TJ & Dave have been playing in NY once a month the last 8 months or so, and they’re great.
Who are some of your favorite up and coming, still relatively unknown comedians that you think deserve more attention, and what is it that you like about what they're doing?
ERIC: I've worked with some great comic actors of late. Scot Robinson, Joe Nunez, and Zoe Distefano. That was for the "Comedy By The Numbers" short films for Super Deluxe, which Bob Odenkirk directed. Scot and Joe were from the Annoyance. Lindsey Stoddart, Monica Smith, and Mark Fite I worked with on the "Snuz Brothers" short films with Jay Johnston (also for Super Deluxe). Also Gillian Vigman, Mike Monterastelli, and Bill Chott. Jay and Mike were also at the Annoyance. All of these performers can be called upon to do anything. And everything they do is top notch hysterical. And this kid Gary Rudoren is on his way up.
GARY: Eric beat me to the schmooze. Wait til these Superdeluxe videos hit the streets, Eric’s gonna get so much action... Shooting those films, working with Scot again, Joe and Zoe – and Bob Odenkirk directing – was awesome. Scot is an incredible talent – he also does a great show that started at the Annoyance years ago called The Lampshades with Kate Flannery (now on The Office). Anyway, there are a ton of people who we worked with in Chicago who have gone on to do great comedy work in NY and LA – and I think that’s awesome. Some of them are less high-profile, but are really talented and every time I go out to LA, I’m amazed at how much they’re doing. There’s a group called Beer Shark Mice that plays at the IO in LA for example that is like a rock star troupe – Mike Coleman, Pete Hulne, Dave Koechner, Neil Flynn, Pat Finn – just funny F’ing guys. In Chicago, I’m really happy the Annoyance has a new home in Uptown and continues to experiment and do some cool work. I miss not having a place to play around, being in New York now, but look forward to going back. And the NY scene seems to be great too. I’m going to start teaching writing/solo performing at The Magnet, which is Armando Diaz’s theater here. Plus the city is home for those little comedy programs – Daily Show, Colbert and Conan.
What were some of your print comedy favorites growing up - National Lampoon? Mad Magazine? Anything that you enjoyed that made the idea of writing a comedy book even more appealing?
GARY: National Lampoon and Mad were seminal, no doubt. I also read Woody Allen’s compilations when I was younger – Getting Even and Without Feathers which definitely re-inforced my skewed look at life. I think it’s tough to sustain a funny book. Maybe that’s why we broke this one down so much. The fact that Python was able to make their writing as absurdly funny as their movies, was incredibly cool. One of my biggest influences and favorites was always Doonesbury – and Hunter S. Thompson – possibly not the best role model for a nice Jewish boy from Long Island, but when I read Fear and Loathing, it flipped a switch somewhere.
ERIC: I loved National Lampoon's "Mr. Vengeance" comic strip by Buddy Hickerson. Their high school yearbook satire is a classic. Mad Magazine was a favorite for a while. Don Martin was a super genius. But for me, the Monty Python books are what really got me interested in print comedy. They did everything right. They took the time to refashion their sketches for a book reader. And they really loaded every page with fun stuff. One of my favorite bits was in "The Brand New Monty Python Papperbok." Throughout the book, they keep building up Page 71. "Page 71! Coming soon!" and "Wow! Only 15 pages left until Page 71!" Then when you get there, it's just a big "Page 71" in bold letters. The very next page there are fake headlines from all the major newspapers: "Page 71 disappoints" and "Oh what a let-down!" And the one who disagrees: "Well I liked it." I've had all the Python books for years and I still laugh very hard every time I read them.
