By: Steven Padilla
There are many things that annoy stand-up comedians. Sometimes they talk amongst themselves about it. Other times they keep it to themselves.
Maz Jobrani: Brown and Friendly
By David Gavri
Maz Jobrani is a Persian American stand up comedian who was raised in the San Fransisco Bay Area, where he earned a degree at UC Berkeley. He was later accepted into UCLA’s Ph.D. program. While there, Maz visited the university’s prestigious theater program and was immediately hooked on acting—something he was involved with as a kid. He left the Ph.D. program and decided to pursue his childhood passion of acting and performing.
Maz’s first big break came as a founding member of the Axis of Evil Comedy Central Special, which premiered in 2007. It was the first show on American television with an all Middle Eastern American cast. The tour performed in the United States, and later went over to the Middle East, selling out shows in Dubai, Beirut, Cairo, Kuwait, and Amman, Jordan—where they performed in front of the king and queen.
Maz followed up his Axis of Evil tour with a Showtime special, Maz Jobrani: Brown & Friendly, for which he toured all over the world. He is currently working on his next special, Browner & Friendlier.
Since then, Maz has made TV appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Lopez Tonight, Comedy Central’s Premium Blend, and The Colbert Report. Maz has also played roles in Ice Cube’s Friday After Next and Sydney Pollack’s The Interpreter.
And after selling out the entire weekend at The Improv, Maz took the time out of his busy schedule to hang with us and share his story. Continue reading
Friends With Complications
By Al Bahmani
It’s not often true friendship and show business combine. No matter how hard you try, you really can’t like everyone. Everyone you like might like you less. Especially when it comes to work or the possibility of future work. Who needs 30 pieces of silver when you have a spot to perform at a pub? Alliances and rivalries come and go at the drop of a hat. Despite all your cynicism, and self doubt, you meet someone and you make a friend.
Don’t Post Your Stand-up Video, Yet
You just killed it on stage and happened to record your set. Then you posted it on YouTube for everyone to see. Take it down! Odds are you recorded your set at an open mic. It was a good set, but you probably didn’t kill it from beginning to end. Be honest. You felt really good about it and that’s a good thing.
Don’t post your stand-up video until you figure out what you want to get out of it.
To Get Discovered? To Get Your Friends To Come See You Perform? To Make People Laugh? For Your Own Entertainment?
Theodore M.E. Taylor: Comedian, Performer
By David Gavri
An all-around performer, Theodore M.E. Taylor is more than just a comedian. He’s also a singer, an actor, a storyteller, and a writer. Theo is part of the comedy troupe known as The Deadbeat Club, whose members include: Steven Katz, Keith Manning, John Gard, Frank Garcia, and Mark Hurtado. In 2011, Theo was crowned as Houston’s Funniest Person, and continues to kill it. You can catch him at The Improv–Houston’s biggest stage. We were lucky to hang with Theo and learn a few things about himself as well as the art of comedy.
Be Careful Squeezing the Juice
By: Steven Padilla
What is the divorce rate among stand-up comedians? There are no numbers, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if it was a high number.
Getting into stand-up comedy is very different than other professions. If you are young and single, have no responsibilities, go for it. No holds barred. Leave it all out on the table.
Being married and getting into stand-up is a whole different ballgame, especially if you have kids. There needs to be a stradegy.
Rob Mungle: The Reverend
By David Gavri
Both feared and revered, Rob Mungle, A.K.A. The Reverend, has been a staple of the stand-up comedy world here in Houston since the early 1990s. His brazen style and his foul language have caught the attention of comedy fans everywhere. And his near-bloody conflicts with the IRS, anime fans, along with strip-club managers have turned his punchlines into legendary stories.
Mungle is also a voice actor, as well as the founder of the highly successful comedy group known as The Whiskey Brothers. Needless to say, Robert Mungle is highly entertaining. We had the opportunity to hang with Mungle after his set to talk about the Houston comedy scene—what it used to be, and what it still can be. Continue reading
What To Expect When You’re Not Expecting
By Coleman Cox
Advice booklets have become commonplace. About.com-type sites are on the rise (for all you know) and more than any other time in history, people are looking for advice to solve problems.
Some problems don’t allow for the time it takes to look up a bit of advice on your smartphone, sometimes you need to improvise. Even if you could, would you really want to follow the advice of some fat guy, typing on the internet, posting theoretical solutions to your problems, who also probably lives with his mom? No, of course you wouldn’t.
Ali Siddiq: Houston Legend
By David Gavri
Without a doubt, Ali Siddiq is a Houston comedy legend. To date, Ali has toured and has worked with comedy’s most notable talent to date. The list includes: D.L. Hughley, Katt Williams, J. Anthony Brown, Bruce Bruce, Bill Belamy, and Mike Epps, among others. His TV credits go something like this:
Continue reading
Paul Oddo: Oddo Man Out
By David Gavri & Al Bahmani
When I first started doing stand-up, there was a Houston Press article about Paul Oddo. I studied it like it was a strategy guide for a Nintendo game. —Chase Durousseau
Nominated as “Best Local Comedian” by The Houston Press in 2006, Paul Oddo’s style is different from the classic set up, punchline formula. With Oddo, there is always a story. It takes time and attention to appreciate his style, but have faith in him, he’s worth it. Plain spoken and unpretentious, Oddo weaves a narrative tapestry thas full of twists, turns, and unexpected surprises. Currently residing in New York City, Oddo takes some time off from self-promotion to catch up and tell us what he’s been up to. Continue reading
Comedy Scene In Houston 