DELRAY BEACH – Interaction with comedy audiences can be a high point of a stand-up comedian’s set.
A recent night at an Indianapolis comedy clubs also shows it can go horribly wrong.
On that night, from the stage, performer Ashley Gavin told an audience member to commit suicide. That audience member, Olivia Neely, responded truthfully that she had already tried once.
Gavin credits her rise to fame in large part to her crowd-work videos on TikTok. Telling someone to commit suicide is quite a mistake for anyone to make, let alone someone who is supposedly an expert at interacting with people. Maybe booking TikTok “stars” for live performances isn’t the best idea after all.
Today’s Stand-Up Spotlight also includes a story about Gail Porter’s life struggles and how she’s incorporating them into her comedy sets, and a feature about a New Jersey comedian who landed an Amazon Prime acting gig.
He’s making the most of the funny.
STAND-UP SPOTLIGHT – July 12, 2023
‘I was sobbing uncontrollably’: Fan derided by comedian talks apology, suicide prevention
Olivia Neely stepped inside an Indianapolis comedy club last month and was mercilessly derided by the headlining comedian she’d bought a VIP package to see.
Now Neely finds herself with a platform to raise awareness for suicide prevention.
It’s the outcome of her posting a viral video of her June 16 experience in the audience of Helium Comedy Club to see TikTok-leveraging standup Ashley Gavin.
Gail Porter on her stand-up debut: ‘I’m going to go from childhood to being sectioned’
Even if you are not a hugger, you’ll want to throw your arms around Gail Porter within minutes of meeting her. This isn’t just because she has been through the mill – mental illness, being homeless, alopecia – but because she is patently such a good soul. Life has dealt her a rubbish hand, yet she has kept going, and is able to joke about it.
Porter, now 52, is packaging those jokes into her first stand-up show, which will play at the Edinburgh Fringe next month. “Basically, I’m going to go from childhood to being sectioned,” she says, cheerfully. Hung, Drawn and Portered will look at the comical side of her experiences, such as spending the night in an Alcatraz cell for a TV ghost-hunting show, only to be told that a randy spirit had turned up, but specified that it didn’t fancy her: “I can’t even get laid by the dead!”
Hillsborough Comic Stars In New Amazon TV Series ‘Under Cover Comic’
HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Hillsborough native and stand-up comedian Adam Mamawala is starring as the lead actor in his first-ever TV series called “Under Cover Comic.”
Mamawala has always had a good sense of humor growing up but was never the class clown.
“That’s a common misconception. It’s usually the kid who has a good sense of humor. The quiet kid making sarcastic comments about the class clown under his breath,” said Mamawala to Patch.
