Charlie Hatton About This
About Me
Email Me

Bookmark
 FeedBurnerEmailTwitterFacebookAmazon
Charlie Hatton
Brookline, MA



All Quotes
Site Search:
HomeAboutArchiveBestShopEmail

« I Think This Post Says a Lot About Me... But I Hope Not | Main | See What Mondays Do to Me? »

Bad for Your Eyes and Your Brain, Apparently

Man, what a slow weekend.

I don't know about you folks, but I've done nothing in the past two days. Nothing. No things. Nada.

Watched a lot of TV, though. The TiVo is tapped out -- I burned through a couple of Law and Orders, three Simpsons, two Futuramas, and a Home Movies. Plus parts of all three Matrix movies on HBO, and the Syracuse game last night. A lesser man would be tired of television. Pooped. On to bigger and better things.

Me, I'm watching my new Comedian DVD. I am Iron Man. Color me trooper.

It's a cool flick -- it's ostensibly about Jerry Seinfeld's return to standup. And there's a bit of that -- you see some of Seinfeld's new jokes, and some other comedians doing some bits, and that's fun. But the fascinating part -- at least for someone like me -- is the insight into the life of a pro comic. The pressures, the personalities, the late nights, the drinking, the bullshitting, the worrying... now that's entertainment. Last Comic Standing is for babies -- this is the real shit, unadulterated and, for the most part, not terribly pretty. It's awesome.

And, honestly, it's a lot like what I see at comedy nights and open mics around Boston. Without the fame and respect and laughs and money and audiences and success, of course. For the most part -- I've done shows with a few successful people, mind you. Gary Gulman. Bill Braudis. Todd Barry.

(I didn't meet any of these people; don't misunderstand. I doubt if any of them saw my set, and they couldn't pick me out of a police lineup, for certain. Unless I steal their car stereo one day, and they get a good look at me -- maybe then. Short of that, it's a purely one-way thing. And that's cool.)

Anyway, it's interesting to see how the process stays largely the same. The talent grows, the material builds, but the process is pretty similar. Writing and practicing and rewriting and performing and practicing again and banging your head with a large, blunt object and drinking heavily and rewriting and then finally, maybe, having something worth performing again. It's a process, really.

Now, there's one thing that I don't normally do, but you see a lot of it in the film, and at open mics everywhere -- taking notes on stage. Not that I think there's anything wrong with carrying notes up there -- hell, people way funnier than me or anyone I know take notes onstage. I've got no room to talk. I just don't do it myself -- maybe that means I don't do enough shows, if I actually have time to rehearse and remember all the shit without a crib sheet. I don't know.

I just think it makes people a little nervous, if you need notes to do your job. That wouldn't work in most professions. You wouldn't want to go to a doctor and hear:

'Okay, please take off your pants, and... um, let's see here... I'm supposed to put my hand, uh, here, it says, and... what's next? Oh -- cough, please. Right. Always forgetting that bit.'

(Because you never want to have a doctor's visit that reminds you of summer camp. That's a little personal rule of mine. Maybe you feel the same. Or not. Cough, please. Thanks.)

Same thing with firemen or salesmen or even lawyers:

'Your honor, I -- um, hold on, I know this one. Lemme check my notes... wait, wait... oh, 'object'. Object! Yes, I object! Hey!'

Actually, the only other profession that gets a pass on the whole 'cheat sheet' thing is teaching. I'm not sure why that is, exactly. Maybe we want to make sure they've got their shit right. I mean, let's face it -- they're raising the kids. Whole generations are depending on whether teach knows when the War of 1812 happened. If they fuck that up, we'll... um, well, I don't know. We'll never have some goober win seventy consecutive Jeapordy shows again, I'll tell you that. That war shit comes up at least once a week on there.

Anyway, I'm just saying. Whatever -- I'm going back to TV now. At least I'll get out of the house this afternoon, to go to a Super Bowl party. Where we'll watch the game, of course. On TV. It's all circles within circles here. Circles within circles, all within the boob tube.

Have a great Sunday, folks. The commentary track is on now, and I wanna hear the comics make fun of each other. Good times, good times. I'm out. Later.





Permalink | Comments (4)






Comments

I liked Comedian, except for all of the footage on that 'other' comedian. I forget this name, but he seemed like a dick.

Allow me to be the first to congratulate you on the Patriots' win. Hoorah!

I know it was a joke, but try covering a couple of centuries in one hour and you'll understand why teachers need crib sheets. Plus, what the fuck's the desk for?

no superbowl?

Post a comment

HomeAboutArchiveBestShopEmail © 2003-15 Charlie Hatton All Rights Reserved
Highlights
Me on Science:
  Secondhand SCIENCE


Me on ZuG (RIP):
  Zolton's FB Pranks
  Zolton Does Amazon


Me on Baseball:
  Bugs & Cranks


Me on Apartments:
  Author Page


Three Wee Tweets:
Favorite Posts:
30 Facts: Alton Brown
A Commute Dreary
A Hallmark Moment
Blue's Clues Explained
Eight Your 5-Hole?
El Classo de Espanol
Good News for Goofballs
Grammar, Charlie-Style
Grammar, Revisitated
How I Feel About Hippos
How I Feel About Pinatas
How I Feel About Pirates
Life Is Like...
Life Is Also Like...
Smartass 101
Twelve Simple Rules
Unreal Reality Shows
V-Day for Dummies
Wheel of Misfortune
Zolton, Interview Demon

Me, Elsewhere

Features
Standup Comedy Clips

Selected Clips:
  09/10/05: Com. Studio
  04/30/05: Goodfellaz
  04/09/05: Com. Studio
  01/28/05: Com. Studio
  12/11/04: Emerald Isle
  09/06/04: Connection

Boston Comedy Clubs

 My 100 Things Posts

Selected Things:
  #6: My Stitches
  #7: My Name
  #11: My Spelling Bee
  #35: My Spring Break
  #36: My Skydives
  #53: My Memory
  #55: My Quote
  #78: My Pencil
  #91: My Family
  #100: My Poor Knee

More Features:

List of Lists
33 Faces of Me
Cliche-O-Matic
Punchline Fever
Simpsons Quotes
Quantum Terminology

Favorites
Banterist
...Bleeding Obvious
By Ken Levine
Defective Yeti
DeJENNerate
Divorced Dad of Two
Gallivanting Monkey
Junk Drawer
Life... Weirder
Little. Red. Boat.
Mighty Geek
Mitchieville
PCPPP
Scaryduck
Scott's Tip of the Day
Something Authorly
TGNP
Unlikely Explanations

Archives
Full Archive

Category Archives:

(Stupid) Computers (70)
A Doofus Is Me (203)
Articles 'n' Zines (74)
Audience Participation (35)
Awkward Conversations (176)
Bits About Blogging (168)
Bitter Old Man Rants (50)
Blasts from My Past (78)
Cars 'n' Drivers (60)
Dog Drivel (78)
Eek!Cards (267)
Foodstuff Fluff (116)
Fun with Words! (71)
Googlicious! (27)
Grooming Gaffes (88)
Just Life (238)
Loopy Lists (33)
Making Fun of Jerks (59)
Marketing Weenies (66)
Married and a Moron (185)
Miscellaneous Nonsense (62)
Potty Talk / Yes, I'm a Pig (84)
Sleep, and Lack Thereof (34)
TV & Movies & Games, O My! (101)
Tales from the Stage (74)
Tasty Beverages (29)
The Happy Homeowner (81)
Vacations 'n' Holidays (134)
Weird for the Sake of Weird (71)
Whither the Weather (40)
Wicked Pissah Bahstan (49)
Wide World o' Sports (124)
Work, Work, Work (206)

Heroes
Alas Smith and Jones
Berkeley Breathed
Bill Hicks
Dave Barry
Dexter's Laboratory
Douglas Adams
Evening at the Improv
Fawlty Towers
George Alec Effinger
Grover
Jake Johannsen
Married... With Children
Monty Python
Nick Bakay
Peter King
Ren and Stimpy
Rob Neyer
Sluggy Freelance
The Simpsons
The State

Plugs, Shameless
Alltop, confirmation that I kick ass

TopOfBlogs

HumorSource

Blogging Fusion Blog Directory

bloglovin

Listed on BlogShares

Top Blogs

 

Feeds and More
Subscribe via FeedBurner

[Subscribe]

RDF
RSS 2.0
Atom
Credits
Site Hosting:
Solid Solutions

Powered by:
MovableType

Title Banner Photo:
Shirley Harshenin

Creative Commons License
  This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons License

Mint Installation

Performancing Metrics

Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape

Valid XHTML 1.0

Valid CSS!

© 2003-15 Charlie Hatton
All Rights Reserved