Dallas Morning News coverage
Bryce just e-mailed me the article from the Dallas Morning News on the contest.
Local amateurs mostly keep 'em laughing
COMEDY REVIEW: Inaugural contest showcases originality 08:31 AM CST on Monday, November 7, 2005By MATT WEITZ / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
"There is perhaps no more off-putting phrase than "local comedian." Anybody who's shown up unaccountably early for an area comedy show featuring a national talent like Dave Chappelle or Pablo Francisco knows what it's like to endure the over-earnest, vaguely desperate "I'm not sayin' my mother-in-law's fat, but ..." hilarity of homegrown openers.
Any consumer so brutalized might well flee shrieking from something like Saturday's finals of the West End Comedy Theatre's Dallas' Funniest Person competition. But the inaugural edition of what is intended to be an annual contest proved that there is a balm – as well as bombs – in Gilead.
Part of the enjoyability of the ultimate round, emceed by Dixon Wiles, came from the exhaustive eliminations that preceded it, winnowing down some 200 amateur hopefuls to five contenders. The finalists managed to be for the most part funny and original, while representing some stand-up paradigms.
There was the Everyman (Tom Davenport) who gamely spoke of the "Special Olympic-size pool": "Everyone gets in, everyone tries, everyone gets a hug."
There was the biracial line-straddler (Justin Ybarra), who riffed on the meanings of the word "ghetto" and posited a father who wouldn't listen to him because he "wasn't my real son."
Brent Dawson was the glowering white guy, wondering why the Baptist Church doesn't just "cut out the middleman and have services at Golden Corral."
Corey Sutton was a slice of the Mitch Hedberg/Steven Wright oddball pie: "It's so hard to buy acid from somebody who's on acid."
Each artist was surprisingly effective, eliciting laughs and occasionally groans. No one, however, was quite as intense as Yarko, a hyperkinetic intersection of Japanese game show host, shoe salesman and five hits of mescaline.
"Ooaaoooaaahh, all the gurrrls looove me; I was walking by, and I heard one say ... 'What a waist!' " he howled, preening obliviously. Yarko had the most compellingly bizarre set of the evening, and it was only fitting that he was the one who emerged triumphant."
Would have been nice if he spelled everyone's name correctly. I gave him a list. Oh well. Nicely done otherwise though.
Local amateurs mostly keep 'em laughing
COMEDY REVIEW: Inaugural contest showcases originality 08:31 AM CST on Monday, November 7, 2005By MATT WEITZ / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
"There is perhaps no more off-putting phrase than "local comedian." Anybody who's shown up unaccountably early for an area comedy show featuring a national talent like Dave Chappelle or Pablo Francisco knows what it's like to endure the over-earnest, vaguely desperate "I'm not sayin' my mother-in-law's fat, but ..." hilarity of homegrown openers.
Any consumer so brutalized might well flee shrieking from something like Saturday's finals of the West End Comedy Theatre's Dallas' Funniest Person competition. But the inaugural edition of what is intended to be an annual contest proved that there is a balm – as well as bombs – in Gilead.
Part of the enjoyability of the ultimate round, emceed by Dixon Wiles, came from the exhaustive eliminations that preceded it, winnowing down some 200 amateur hopefuls to five contenders. The finalists managed to be for the most part funny and original, while representing some stand-up paradigms.
There was the Everyman (Tom Davenport) who gamely spoke of the "Special Olympic-size pool": "Everyone gets in, everyone tries, everyone gets a hug."
There was the biracial line-straddler (Justin Ybarra), who riffed on the meanings of the word "ghetto" and posited a father who wouldn't listen to him because he "wasn't my real son."
Brent Dawson was the glowering white guy, wondering why the Baptist Church doesn't just "cut out the middleman and have services at Golden Corral."
Corey Sutton was a slice of the Mitch Hedberg/Steven Wright oddball pie: "It's so hard to buy acid from somebody who's on acid."
Each artist was surprisingly effective, eliciting laughs and occasionally groans. No one, however, was quite as intense as Yarko, a hyperkinetic intersection of Japanese game show host, shoe salesman and five hits of mescaline.
"Ooaaoooaaahh, all the gurrrls looove me; I was walking by, and I heard one say ... 'What a waist!' " he howled, preening obliviously. Yarko had the most compellingly bizarre set of the evening, and it was only fitting that he was the one who emerged triumphant."
Would have been nice if he spelled everyone's name correctly. I gave him a list. Oh well. Nicely done otherwise though.
posted by Jenn at
1:32 PM
6 Comments:
I got a B on my Chemistry exam. That's all I've got right now. Sorry.
What a Proud Mamma you are you're flock is about to fly the coop! Congrats.!
Tom, you should study harder. If anyone can get an A in chemistry, it's gotta be you.
Skye, yes, I'm very proud of them all. I was probably just as nervous as they were!
Hey there Laura. :)
Is it unreasonable to believe that if you hand someone a list of correctly spelled names that they will end up being spelled correctly?
My main beef with the article is why does he have to bash the idea of local comedy..as if us being from Dallas is a bad thing..and we'll never be as great as Chappelle. Just review the show and promote local talent, that's the right thing, don't bash cus we're from here.
Yeah, we seem to get dissed on a regular basis. Good to see you over here Paul. Hope you're doing well. :)
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