Dave Mordal

[walleyequeen]

Originally posted by Wolf
Oh, you guys beat me to it. I was going to say that Dave's sense of humor is very natural. He takes an everyday life situtation like the coversation with his son about the power outage and turns it into something humorous. I was . Very funny stuff and he didn't have to come up with anything off the wall.

I think this says exactly what I was thinking but didn't know how to put it. I laugh at things that I have seen my self doing (walking around the house during a power outage, trying light switches.....then something else with power, all the while saying, "Duh! the power is still out!!!") I think that the more that you can relate to the material the comedian uses the more you laugh. I really can't relate to an elephant looking for my penis....not to mention that I have never been to India.....

I am excited to see more of Dave's comedy.

[Doctor Mosby]

Here's what was great about this guy (aside from the fact that he was hilarious) - he came out and did his act. He's the only one (besides Ralphie and Dat) who had the sense to realize that when you're in a comedy competition, you better bring your A-list, top-drawer material. And his stuff was great - his jokes were clever and his delivery was perfect - you can tell he's really worked on his material a lot.

But a lot of the other contestants - I dunno, it seemed like they thought up some of those jokes just before they went on stage - and as a result, a lot of them weren't too funny (or weren't funny at all). Don't the rest of these people have a regular act? If not, how'd they get this far?

Regardless, I'm looking forward to seeing more of Dave's humor - even if he doesn't win, I would definitely pay money to see him if he came to my local comedy club.

[sheela]

Where's Dave from? I could swear I've seen him somewhere before. I loved his humor b/c it was stuff I could relate to. Not that I've ever robbed a gas station.

[Wolf]

Originally posted by Doctor Mosby
But a lot of the other contestants - I dunno, it seemed like they thought up some of those jokes just before they went on stage - and as a result, a lot of them weren't too funny (or weren't funny at all). Don't the rest of these people have a regular act? If not, how'd they get this far?

I agree that Dave Mordel and Dat were funny because they used their own experiences as material for their act. As walleyequeen said, we can relate to some of their situations. If they did spent a lot of time working on their material, it sure didn't look like it. Their jokes just rolled off very smoothly.

Some of the other comedians sounded to me like they had spent some time rehearsing their material because their delivery wasn't as natural as Dave's and Dat's, imo. Ralphie was funny, but the elephant joke was a little bit off-the-wall. It was still funny, though, but not something that a lot of people would relate to.

BTW, Welcome walleyequeen!

[Wayner]

Originally posted by sheela
Where's Dave from? I could swear I've seen him somewhere before. I loved his humor b/c it was stuff I could relate to. Not that I've ever robbed a gas station.

Have you ever worked in a gas station? If so, that might be it!

[cali]

He looks familiar to me too, but I don't know why.

He is most definitely one of the funniest ones in the competition.

[Doctor Mosby]

Originally posted by Wolf
I agree that Dave Mordel and Dat were funny because they used their own experiences as material for their act. As walleyequeen said, we can relate to some of their situations. If they did spent a lot of time working on their material, it sure didn't look like it. Their jokes just rolled off very smoothly.

One of the ironies of stand-up comedy, IMHO, is that it actually takes a lot of work and practice to appear spontaneous. The goal is to give the appearance that you are just going out there and talking off the top of your head - but to pull that off, you actually have to do a lot of preparatory work. I guarantee that Dave didn't just make up that line about "soup's ready" right on the spot - I'll bet he worked on that bit a lot.

Originally posted by Wolf
Some of the other comedians sounded to me like they had spent some time rehearsing their material because their delivery wasn't as natural as Dave's and Dat's, imo. Ralphie was funny, but the elephant joke was a little bit off-the-wall. It was still funny, though, but not something that a lot of people would relate to.

I think that having the ability to make jokes about things that are common to everyone is vital to being a good stand-up comedian. Dave's bit about the power going out was funny because it touched upon something elementary about human nature. Ralphie's bit about the elephant wasn't all that funny because it was an experience that was particular to him only. It might have been funny to see, but it didn't make for a funny story.

[walleyequeen]

Originally posted by sheela
Where's Dave from? I could swear I've seen him somewhere before. I loved his humor b/c it was stuff I could relate to. Not that I've ever robbed a gas station.

Dave is from Elk River, MN which is close to the Twin Cities. I guess he's done some standup there (in the Twin Cities). Have any of you seen his website?? www.davemordal.com It is pretty pathetic, but that's okay because he doesn't seem to claim it is anything special. I got a small chuckle out of it anyway!!

[walleyequeen]

Originally posted by Wolf
:BTW, Welcome walleyequeen!

Thank you for that!! I was wondering when someone was going to welcome me!!

[Wayner]

Good heavens, did I not welcome you walleyequeen? Where are my manners? Welcome!

And I'm sure Mordal has worked on his stuff a lot, Doctor M. At the end of the show this week he said something that indicated he's been doing comedy for 10 years!