Last Comics have Stood in Seattle

[pg13]

Hello Graveyard Drifters!

This is Peter from Seattle, budding comic and FORT-skateer during the run of LCS. I've had the pleasure of working with some of our favorite (and not so favorite) LCS-1 participants and thought I'd give you guys an update.

I did not get stage time with Rich Vos, but I did get to meet him this past summer as he played Giggles Comedy Club in Seattle. He is very tan, very short and disappeared from the club rather quickly after his shows. The Seattle crowd seemed more interested in his radio show appearances than to continue debating LCS issues--an opinion shared by Rich as he downplayed any reaction to the show from the audience. Rich is coming back within the next few weeks and, like his previous appearances, it is bound to sell out.

Two weeks later, I had the extreme joy of carting Dave Mordal and Corey Kahaney from Seattle to Olympia, where I MC'd the show. Having Dave and Corey in your car is like becoming an instant cast member and I started looking around for the cameras...they talk about the show constantly, including a chance meeting of Dave and Geoff in Las Vegas...get cell phone calls from Vos...and gave some super secret information to yours truly about some of the behind the scenes moments. It was a great time...and I followed that up with being their MC for four great shows at Giggles in Seattle. On top of that, along with another Seattle comic, we got the chance to take Corey for some sightseeing and she treated us to a great lunch... They're both awesome people and as a comedy fan as well as a show fan, this was a great experience. Dave is coming back to Seattle for the last weekend of April/first weekend of May...and that should be a great show. Corey is...off the road...for a few months...preparing some "new material."

Terri Joyce headlined at Seattle's Comedy Underground. I did not get to meet Terri but I heard that her Friday shows were sparsly attended but her Saturday shows were packed.

And, this past weekend, Dat Phan headlined at Giggles Comedy Club. I did not perform over the weekend, but I did MC the Thursday night open mic night where Dat did some time. (This show was filmed by Seattle's Evening Magazine television program, but there's no word on how the footage will be used.) Dat was very nice, but strangely, he did THE EXACT SAME MATERIAL WE ALL SAW HIM DO ON LCS. Open mic time is for comics to develop or try new material--and maybe because the tv cameras were there, maybe because it was the first time he ever performed in Seattle, but--I was surprised to hear his competition set in between some newbies and some local pros working on new stuff...

The owner of Giggles had expanded to 6 shows rather than 4 for the weekend, and I heard that the shows were well attended. My other comic friends say that Dat is definitely planning a career in sitcoms and does not want to be tied to a life as a touring stand-up comedian.

Other than that, Ralphie May was supposed to have opened for Chris Rock but I understand that he did not appear. And I think we all heard about Brett Butler & Drew Carey's comments about the semi-final judging of LCS-2.

Hope everyone is doing well. I'll report with more if we all bother watching LCS-2.

Peter--seattle

[Qboots]

Wow - thanks for that report Peter! I'm so jealous - I just love Dave Mordal. Can't wait for LCS-2.

[J.D.]

Mordal is hilarious, if you get the chance to see him, do it. Even if you have to travel a bit - he's worth it.

[pg13]

On the Thursday before the weekend that Dave and Cory co-headlined Giggles Comedy Club, I was given the opportunity to drive Dave and Cory to another gig in Olympia, Washington. After picking up Dave & Corey at their hotel room and then driving them for some "good" Seattle-style coffee, we headed down the highway towards Olympia...

Two highlights.

Rich Vos called Cory on her cell phone. After Cory finished that call, Rich immediately called Dave on his cell phone to talk to Dave about something that he had just said to Cory.

"Oh yeah, Vos," Dave says, "We can talk about this now because it's such a BIG CAR...they won't know we're talking about them..."

- 0 -

We'd been driving for nearly an hour, and after you get out of the Seattle/Tacoma area, there's not much to look at. Dave grumbles from the back seat.

"There's no club," he said. "This kid just picked us up and he's going to bury us in a shallow grave in the woods, you know this..."

- 0 -

The amazing thing about the night is that I'd brought the day's paper with me. The Green River Killer (Gary Ridgway) had just been convicted but could not be given the death penalty and the Concorde had just arrived at Seattle's Museum of Flight. Damn if Dave didn't come up with 4-7 minutes of brand new material right out of the paper before the show that night, just from waiting in the back room for Cory and myself to do our sets.

Dave is a great person, a very funny man and I'm looking forward to him coming back in a couple of weeks.

Not to slight Cory, either...we had a great time taking her to all of the Seattle sites (leaving Dave behind in his precious hotel room.)

pg--seattle

PS--I will have to say that the best moment of all was walking with Cory and another Seattle comic through the Experience Music Project (Paul Allen's Gehry designed music museum monstrosity) and someone recognized ME as a comic, because they'd been to Giggles and had seen me MC...but didn't recognize Cory, the national comedienne and television personality. That, and Cory paid for the crablegs earlier in the day...I feel so guilty.

[candor]

Peter, are you the red-headed guy who opened? I was at last night's Giggles show where Dave Mordal headlined. Frankly, I think he sucked, which was a big disappointment because he was my absolute favorite guy on Last Comic Standing.
Maybe it's because he wasn't feeling well and conservative rants don't go off well when militant lesbians are in the audience. But he just wasn't that funny.
The guy in the baseball cap (Tracey?), on the other, hand was brilliant! Who is he?

[J.D.]

I find Mordal just as funny in RL as he is when he is performing, and I've never seen him repeat any material. I can't wait for his new show and hope it is a great success.

[pg13]

Peter, are you the red-headed guy who opened? I was at last night's Giggles show where Dave Mordal headlined. Frankly, I think he sucked, which was a big disappointment because he was my absolute favorite guy on Last Comic Standing.
Maybe it's because he wasn't feeling well and conservative rants don't go off well when militant lesbians are in the audience. But he just wasn't that funny.
The guy in the baseball cap (Tracey?), on the other, hand was brilliant! Who is he?

Hey Candor...

Yes, indeed...I was the red-headed MC for that night. I'm not a fan of Dave's right wing attitudes either, but I think he goes there to walk on the edge a bit. A large part of comedy is about tension and release...the bigger the tension, the bigger the release...and, as you know, Seattle can be a very politically correct place so I think Dave was going in that direction.

I also have the benefit of getting to see Dave perform more than once. Certain performances connect with certain audiences better and sometimes a crowd and a performer just don't gel as well as you might expect. I saw Dave Chappelle bomb at Benaroya Hall in Seattle (moments after Lewis Black killed) but I still think Chappelle is brilliant...however painful that night (especially factoring in the cost of my tickets) turned out to be.

The "guy in baseball cap" is Tracey Tuffs. Brilliant local comedian who has always been right on the verge of breaking out... He headlines at Laughs and at Giggles from time to time, you should keep your eyes open for him.

pg--seattle

ADDITIONAL: Almost forgot that Rich Vos also came back to Seattle. He brought his girlfriend to open for him (nicely done, Rich!) Second show on Friday night, Rich veered off deep into working the audience...caused some people to leave, but I'm not sure why those people were expecting a polite and happy comic when they went to see Rich.

[candor]

Yeah, I could tell that Dave had probably had better nights; instead of that tension-release dynamic you mentioned, it was just tension-more tension.
But I honestly felt Tracy outshone him by a klieg light. He managed to say the nastiest stuff and still make the militant lesbians laugh. Plus, his delivery was original without being too gimmicky, like Emo Phillips or Bob Goldthwait.
You were funny, too. And I'm not just saying that.