The Screen Actors Guild Foundation invites New York City union members to a two-hour Comedy Writing Workshop with The Peoples Improv Theater.
When: Saturday, August 13th
Time: 12:00 - 2:00 PM
Location:
The Peoples Improv Theater
123 East 24th Street
(Between Park & Lexington)
New York City
http://thepit-nyc.com
Interested in writing for comedy? Want to have your work seen by a larger audience? Need to pitch a script to industry professionals? Learn from the best at the Peoples Improv Theater! This two hour seminar will cover the basics of comedy writing, from structure and discipline to gathering and pitching ideas, to exploring ways to get your work seen today. Folks from the PIT’s Professional Writing Program have gone on to write for The Daily Show, SNL, MTV and more. Bring a paper and pen and get ready to dive in!
Panel Includes: Ethan T. Berlin & Joe Schiappa
This event will be moderated by Chris Aurilio, Director of Classes at The PIT
This past June, Back Stage sponsored the "Young Guns of Comedy" competition as part of the inaugural Stand-Up 360 Comedy Festival. The packed two-night event was held at the Broadway Comedy Club in midtown NYC and featured an impressive lineup of up-and-coming talent which was then narrowed down to eight finalists. The judging panel included late night comic legend and show opener Max Alexander (Steve Allen's is the sole Tonight Show missing from his impressive resume), Valerie Adami, the director of Weist-Barron Studios, Back Stage associate web editor Suzy Evans, and yours truly, representing the Back Stage Casting Department.
It was great night of comedy and truly a treat to see the cream of the crop of a new generation of stand-ups. In the end, my fellow judges and I were unanimous in awarding Giulio Gallarotti first place. As this was a competition all about the next breakout stand-up act, potential was the number one criteria. With a polished and confident delivery, Gallarotti proved himself an equal-opportunity offender who is well on his way to the big time. Check out the clip below for a highlight of one of his earlier sets at the Gotham Comedy Club.
Continue reading "Back Stage Stand-Up Competition Winner Giulio Gallarotti Preps for London Debut" »
You probably recognize stand-up comic Maria Bamford, even though you might not know it. That's because Bamford -- who has been on the verge of becoming a "household name" for the past decade -- is best known for her ability to manipulate her voice and facial features to embody multiple characters, ranging from her friends and dysfunctional family to more general types.
In addition to various supporting roles in movies and TV series, Bamford was featured in the documentary The Comedians of Comedy with Patton Oswalt, Zach Galifiniakis, and Brian Posehn; has taped two half-hour Comedy Central Specials; and has recorded three stand-up albums (the latest, Unwanted Thoughts Syndrome, was released in 2009 and was named one of the "Best Comedy Albums of the Decade" by The A.V. Club). She has also put her transformative abilities to use as a voiceover artist, providing voices for animated series such as Ugly Americans, Home Movies, CatDog, Hey Arnold!, and more; the Cartoon Network series Adventure Time, in which Bamford plays multiple roles, is nominated for an Emmy award this year for "Outstanding Short-format Animated Program."
About six years ago, Bamford used her unique metamorphosis skills to create a one-woman show titled Plan B, in which she faced her fear of having a nervous breakdown by imagining what it would be like to leave show business and move back into her parents' attic in Duluth, Minnesota. The live show was then developed into a 20-episode web series called The Maria Bamford Show for the now-defunct website Super Deluxe in 2006. Bamford played about a dozen characters in the series, including her parents, her sister, past high school acquaintances, and other Duluth locals, to entertain viewers with a surreal yet hilarious glimpse into the mind of this self-deprecating comic.
This week, while Bamford is part of the lineup at the annual Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal, The Maria Bamford Show is being paired with the Maysles brothers' 1975 documentary Grey Gardens for a screening at the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC.
Back Stage spoke with Bamford about having her comedy paired with a documentary about the reclusive (and possibly mentally ill) Edith and "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale, why customer service can be more difficult than comedy, how she determined that it was time to give up acting, and more. Read the Blog Stage Q&A below:
Back Stage: How do you feel about the pairing of your web series The Maria Bamford Show with Grey Gardens for this upcoming screening? Have you seen the film?
Maria Bamford: Oh, yes I have. (laughs) It’s interesting, because I think that is a documentary of somebody’s life who – it could be conceived like it’s untreated mental illness or something where the person doesn’t seen their own art form. Maybe their life is art. You know, they were doing whatever they were doing, and she’s singing and dancing and telling their story. So that is creativity. I guess mine was more self-conscious.
I did a one-person show because I always wanted to be on a sitcom, but then I thought, I don’t really enjoy acting, and I don’t think I would enjoy being on a sitcom because you sit around a lot. At least with my experience, even as just a guest star, I sat around by myself [on set]. So I didn’t enjoy it, and having somebody bossing me around. (laughs)
In the middle of moderating his numerous panels at Comic-Con, including "The Walking Dead" and "The Big Bang Theory", stand-up comic, actor, writer, musician, podcaster, host, voice-over artist, and creator of his self-proclaimed "nerd fort" Chris Hardwick ("Web Soup", "Attack of the Show") chatted with Back Stage.
Back Stage: How did you get into acting?
Hardwick: When I was in school, a friend of mine was working for a show called “Thirtysomething”. They needed a guy to play a delivery guy from Goodwill, because one of the characters in the show died - spoiler alert! They basically gave me the job and that’s what got me into SAG.
I had been Taft-Hartleyed on a commercial for Mandarin Orange Slice and then the “Thirtysomething” job is when I borrowed a thousand dollars from my grandfather and that got me into SAG. Then there was a long period of time where I did not work. I wasn’t really pursuing acting. It was comedy I was going after.