Is Obama doing enough about Iranian protests?

First off, I'd say Obama is a one of the main factors behind the conflicts in Iran right now. Just as 9-11 united our country for a time against a common enemy, Bush's Axis of Evil speech and the stand off regarding nuclear weapons gave Iran their own Boogey man. It would've been downright unpatriotic for an Iranian not to support Ahmadinejad as he stared down the threatening US.

But then along comes Obama, with his goddamn respect and offer of talks and cooperation and suddenly, the boogey man turn out to quite nice and Iran is not so united with a bit more room for internal conflict.

If you need proof, look at the strategy Iran's supreme leader is employing, trying to blame the unrest on the west, trying to fear-monger like some kind of American Republican. I'm sure they too have a risk assessment color chart and red, white and blue is at the top of it.

The leadership there is SO desperate they're calling England a threat, ENGLAND! Like that little island can really threaten anyone in this day and age. What are they gonna do? Withhold kippers? They might attack, but not until after tea time. Sorry England, I'm kidding of course. You're really quite tough. Yes you are. Who is a tough wittle Empire? (Read that in baby talk, it's hilarious.)

Now people are bitching that Obama doesn't try a bit of force or at least some threats. Yeah, because that's worked so well in the rest of the middle east, yes? The definition of insanity that reads "Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results." would seem to apply here.

Yes, I feel sorry for the dead protesters and their families but making a lot more dead people with no solid plan and very little chance of achieving peace and democracy is not the way we make sure they didn't die in vain. I stand behind Obama's voicing of support while being very cautious with threats and action.

How many Iranian protesters are asking for us to intervene militarily anyway? Have you heard such a request? They are the ones who actually have to live with whatever comes next, I value their voice in this. And I just can't imagine them inviting us or our bombs over.

Think of it this way. When Bush stole the Presidency here, would we have welcomed some "support" from Iran? Or from anyone for that matter? No, I didn't think so. Okay, so shut up now and go turn your twitter icon green. It may not make any real difference but either will your talk of smart bombs and reckless action and it'll at least make you look cool.

Blah blah blah YAY!

Yesterday, feeling blah, today, much better. Better started last night actually. The agent I am trying to get in with called me and we had a really great talk. I felt like we connected. He was talking to me from his car and when he got home he emailed me and told me he liked my clips and would like to bring me down to tape a good quality video clip. I'm very excited about the prospect of working with this guy.

I put in a few hours on editing my CD last night. So far I only cut things that obviously needed to be cut and I edited in a couple of tags from night three, (night one being my base.) Eventually I'll get to the hard part and will have to actually cut a joke or two. I want to keep it under an hour and I want it to really move and hit hard. I'm still very excited about this recording and sure that it is special but multiple listenings are allowing me to be a bit more objective and I'm seeing spots that are a bit slower, comparatively. For cutting I think it is really good to have a some folks you can trust lend an ear though as one's jokes can become quite precious. Not that I won't leave room to occasionally leave in a joke that might resonate with people longer even if it isn't the loudest laugher of the bunch.

Short Set/ Long Set

I learned to do five minutes. I learned to love it actually and have thought that it would be cool to do a documentary shot entirely at open mics catching the best short sets. A short set is like a haiku, it's own particular discipline.
Then I started to get longer sets. That is it's own thing. At first I just did the same thing I did with my short sets but for longer.
I have a friends who advise me but one guy in particular has been kind of coaching me. He was telling me I need to put ME into my act and to find my voice. I think I have started to find that and it's really improving my long sets. Each set is something special now and I form a strong connection with my audience.
But, now it's fucking with my short set! I learned the short set, learned the long set and now I have to relearn my short set?
But I think I have it figured out now. I think I need to do shorter jokes when I have a shorter set. Sounds simple and maybe it will be. I'll test it out. In the meanwhile I'm REALLY enjoying doing longer sets.

Watching Porn Backwards

From my CD taping at Luna's

Opened for Norm Macdonald

I was just hoping to get in to see Norm Macdonald as the show had sold out. As I walked in to see about getting a seat (or some standing room in the back even) I noticed Larry "Bubbles" Brown talking with Nick, the assistant manager over at Punch Line Sacramento. Larry says "Make Keith open the show."
I'm thinking 'YEAH! Make me open!'
Nick asks if I'd mind doing five minutes. Would I mind?! No sir, I would not mind one bit. Nick checks it with Daria and mere minutes later I'm walking on stage to open the show. I went over well. I think scoring with five minutes is harder than scoring with twenty for obvious reasons but I was pleased with my set and it seemed that the audience was as well.
I brought Larry up and went to watch from the back where Norm Macdonald congratulated me on a good set. I said, "Thanks. Its an honor to work with you."
"Well, yeah, I don't know about that but you did good."
He laughed a lot and once even heckled during Larry's set. Then he went on stage and turned in the best stand up comedy set I've seen in ages. I knew he'd be good but he was so good. I think its time for another HBO special. Amazing.
The next night I got to do a few minutes with Mike E. Winfield at Punch Line and then to Oakland to do a show with Eric Cash, Greg Edwards and Sean Keane. My friend Samson Koletkar produces the show with Joe Gleckler.
A busy week. Looking forward to a little bit of rest before The Coexist? Comedy Tour kicks back into high gear.

Atheist Church May 3rd, 2009 Blasphemy

I need to get better about putting my youtube clips on this here blog. I've been forgetting as of late. To that end, here is this past Sunday's sermon...

Haters

KLJ is Hella Gay

Last Night I Was a Rock Star

Last night was awesome and let me feel like a rock star. I sold out the venue and then rocked the audience for an hour and fifteen minutes.
Now sure, it was a small audience and it was stacked in my favor as it is my hometown, but it felt great. I had a really good set and am stoked that it is all on tape.

I am going to quickly write about my strategy here. If it succeeds this post will be of interest later. If not, it will be lost on the infinite geography of the internet.

Comedy has genres, just as music does. A Dane Cook fan may not care for Larry the Cable Guy, whose fans might not get Steve Wright whose fans may not dig Kat Williams. I do know individuals who like all four (for the record I like two of 'em) but they're rare exceptions. Each comic has their crowd.

The genres, like in music, can be tough to define sometimes. Blue Collar, Def Jam or Urban, Cafe, Alternative, Club, lots of terms have been thrown about. I could go on all day about these genres, but later...

I went into the open mic scene which is an awesome free for all. I had a blast but then I started getting professional bookings and I realized I would need to cater to a crowd that was drawn by the headliner. A crowd who might be from a totally different world than me. This can be a great thing. You learn what is universally funny, you learn how to take a crowd and show them something that might be new to them and send them away having experienced a new way of thinking.

I fear though, that a comic can also lose his unique voice if he does too much of this kind of performing. I decided that I wanted to build an audience for myself sooner rather than later and so I left the club scene and started my own room in a cafe. Then I started my own tour.

At this point what started as an artistic strategy became a business strategy. This tour brought me back into clubs and was giving me some credential. I have started accepting club bookings again and, again I enjoy working before diverse crowds who may be very different from "my" crowd. I want to skip a stage though. I don't want to claw my way up from opener/emcee gigs to the feature gigs.

So, I booked myself into the Cafe and did a headliner length set and taped it. I will use the video clips and the CD to build my audience, locally but also internationally, via youtube and selling CDs. I've been doing this already and have a head start, but all of my material has been based on my being an atheist, and now I'm ready to go after a much broader demographic (while staying loyal to my original base. I won't be dropping the atheist material.)

My hope is that by popularizing myself performing in a higher position I will establish that this higher position is where I belong and I hope that I will bring MY audience in to the club, wherever that club may be. It's already working a bit. When my Coexist? Comedy Tour went to the LA Improv a kid approached me in the bar and wanted his picture with me. He knew me from youtube.

Television changed the game as did records, cable tv and every other innovation that has come along. Now youtube is the most powerful weapon an upstart has and I plan to use it well. We'll see how it works. Wish me luck.


Just for the record, many disagree with me vehemently about the genres. "A real comic can make ANYONE laugh." I'm told. Some comics feel strongly enough about this they get pissed at my desire to target an audience instead of just going after the audience that is already in the clubs waiting for the next comic superstar to go up in front of them.
I don't see why my view should be controversial. Would it be controversial if I suggested that the experimental noise musician might be unwise to think he will get his start playing the country western bar?

Put Condoms in The Collection Plate at Mass