Send CHOP to FringeNYC

I've launched my first Kickstarter Campaign to help raise funds for taking CHOP to FringeNYC. If you're reading this and can help, please do. At the very least, please help me spread the word....

Ep 4 of BSJ is up!

Episode 4 of Bike Soccer Jamboree is online. Good talk with Liz Robinson of the Alternative Comedy Theater as well as the usual carryings-on by me and Hernandez.

Go HERE and have a listen.

The awesomeness that is 3eanuts.com

Okay, this is brilliant. Much like the awesomeness that is Garfield Minus Garfield (don't get me started on Garfield...) this 3eanuts website takes it to another level. Basically, it is the classic Charles M. Schulz comics, but with the last panel removed... so instead of a joke, it ends rather stark and bleak...

I am a huge fan of the Peanuts comics and grew up reading them. I can totally appreciate this approach without feeling something sacred has been messed with. In fact, a lot can be learned from deconstructing something great like this. This might be one of my favorite ones!

Falling-Down Funny

Genius: Stan Laurel

 I am a comedian. By which, I mean, I use comedy, in a variety of forms, to express a lot of what I have to express. That said, I remember a quote from Stan Laurel (though I might be paraphrasing a bit here):

"Comedians don't open funny doors, they open doors in funny ways

That quote says so much. And usually, it should be left at that. Comedy kinda dies if you try to analyze it too much. Ever try to explain why something, a joke maybe, was funny to someone that didn't get it. Hardly worth the effort.

this is not to say comedy doesn't have theory. I love thinking about comedy theory. Seriously. But of all the shop-talk I do, I never talk a lot about the mechanics of comedy.

All of this above has been sort of lead-up to a great article, "Falling-Down Funny" by A. O. Scott, I stumbled across lately. Check it out HERE.

"Physical comedy did not exactly die with the rise of the talkies, as any fan of the Three Stooges, Jerry Lewis or Jim Carrey will attest. But it did suffer a loss of prestige; what for Agee was the highest form of laughter is frequently seen as the lowest, fit for the amusement of children or French people.

TWO PLAYS at B&N

I just stumbled across my collection of plays, TWO PLAYS (AND SOME SKETCHES) BY BRAD McENTIRE on the Barnes & Noble website. I feel like such a grown-up author now!

Buy* the book at B&N, or Amazon or (best option) here.**

* NOTE: If you are going the used book route, which is an option I sometimes go for myself, make sure it doesn't say something like "different cover." There are a few uncorrected galley proofs floating around out there. Plus, i don't get any income when you buy used. Sad face...

** Weirdest place my book has surfaced for sale... Sears.

FUN GRIP at 2012 Big Sexy PSA