DELRAY BEACH – A stand-up comedian’s life is more than what the audience sees on stage. Much more.
There’s the writing process, the long drives with fellow comedians to gigs, the late night diner bull sessions and the strive for greatness.
Those are the aspects of stand-up comedy retired comedian Joshua Womack misses most. In fact, he misses them so much he wrote a book about it. Womack self-published “You Are Not That Funny,” which is filled with behind-the-scenes tales about his brief stint as a stand-up comedian. Now a copywriter, Womack misses the everyday high that accompanies the chase for glory.
It looks like a fun read for those considering giving stand-up a try.
Also in today’s Stand-Up Spotlight, what happens when a dozen Chinese feminists walk into a comedy workshop? There’s also a big ‘ole comedy festival celebrating Lucille Ball on the horizon. And, finally, news of a trendy LA comedy club that doesn’t necessarily consider itself as a club.
Hit the road and keep it funny, folks.
STAND-UP SPOTLIGHT – July 6, 2023
Joshua Womack looks back at his brief stint working the Northeast Ohio comedy scene
It isn’t the laughs that Joshua Womack misses.
For a few years in his late 20s, the Mayfield Heights native and Mayfield High School graduate worked the Northeast Ohio comedy scene, grabbing mic time whenever and wherever he could, be that at a Cleveland club or a Willoughby bar.
“I miss the chase of it,” Womack says during a recent phone interview. “It was always fun, chasing stage time — you know, chasing gigs, things like that.
A dozen Chinese feminists walked into a comedy workshop. A daring stand-up troupe was born
Inside a white-walled studio in Santa Clara, Anna Liu stood in front of burgundy curtains under a row of small stage lights and explained how a noncancerous tumor led to the removal of her uterus.
“The doctor insisted that I have an ultrasound exam to screen for pregnancy, though I explained to him in detail why that wouldn’t be possible,” Liu said in Mandarin to nearly a hundred mostly young Chinese women seated in plastic chairs. “Because as a married lesbian, what is he suggesting? That I cheated on my wife, or that I am pregnant with the next Jesus?”
The crowd erupted in laughter and cheers that could be heard from the parking lot of Ding Ding TV, the Chinese American media company hosting this unique engagement.
Comedy Center Preps For Lucille Ball Comedy Festival
The National Comedy Center is planning a full line-up of events for this year’s 31st Lucille Ball Comedy Festival in Jamestown.
This year’s festival will take place August 2-6, featuring dozens of events. Journey Gunderson, executive director, said there will be something for “every taste,” between comedy headliners and showcases of the nation’s top comedy club talent in local arenas and theaters and multiple events in the National Comedy Center.
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Shh! This Hidden Backyard Comedy Club Draws Los Angeles’s A-List Stand-ups
Jam in the Van is definitely not The Comedy Store. This much I learned as comedian Patton Oswalt turned his back on a sold-out crowd of 300 in the industrial courtyard space in Culver City that is home to Los Angeles’s most unconventional stand-up venue. Oswalt tends to play much bigger stages but he looked perfectly content shouting insults from a makeshift riser to the grimy apartment building that looms over the site.
“Hello?! Does anybody actually live over there? It looks like the reactor core at Chernobyl.”
The building stayed silent but the audience was roaring. That’s how things go at Jam in the Van, an entertainment concept that lives by the ethos that people in Los Angeles will gather just about anywhere for amusement if the line-up is worthy.
