The comedy club is a place to see performers, to laugh, and much to the chagrin of comedian Patton Oswalt, a place where it is mandatory to buy one, sometimes two, overpriced drinks. Sitting is also a requirement. And there are extortionately priced sandwiches involved.
To avoid these shenanigans, Oswalt started a tour called The Comedians of Comedy with the intent of avoiding the restrictive nature of comedy clubs. Instead of touring like other comedians, Oswalt and his band of funnymen (and women) go to rock clubs around the country. Tonight, he brings his tour of “underground” comics to the Roseland Theater.
Underground is in quotes for a reason. The democratizing power of the Internet has affected stand-up comedy much the same way it has music. People involved with The Comedians of Comedy like David Cross, Eugene Mirman and Zach Galifianakis are no more underground than “indie” bands like The Arcade Fire. All have had national TV exposure, and digging through the crates to find an alternative to Larry the Cable Guy and The Killers is no longer necessary. It’s all a YouTube search away.
The tour started in 2005, and since its debut, the idea of taking their act out of the comedy club has started to catch on. Oswalt’s tour inspired a Comedy Central series and two DVDs, one released just this past Tuesday.
These aren’t the comedians I would expect to see in a standard club, anyway. Observational humor is mocked. No one is politically correct in the least. And as Oswalt explains on the most recent DVD incarnation of the tour, instead of trying to please everyone (like most comics do), he did things on his own terms and with his own sensibilities. This could be said of any of the Comedians of Comedy.
It’s been a long road for Oswalt since treading the stand-up waters in the late-1980s, but now he’s basically a household name. His resume includes lending his voice to the lead character of an animated film called Ratatouille, among other voiceover work. He has a recurring character on the sitcom King of Queens and Reno! 911. He also previously wrote for Mad TV. In short, his www.imdb.com listings are way too long to print here. Despite success in other fields, he is still most known for his nerd-based stand-up routines. His topics include mocking consumer culture and confessing to what he might have done to George Lucas with a shovel before the Star Wars prequels were made.
Two stand-up comedian names you’ll want to Google are Maria Bamford and Brian Posehn. Both are opening up for Oswalt on the tour, and each is dissimilar in every way possible.
Bamford is part of the tour and is a comedian like no other. She comes on stage with her childlike voice and mannerisms, but then surprises the audience with impersonations of an archenemy from high school, the metaphor-making therapist and a pug with a breathing problem. Her act is constructed with a series of non-sequitur events in which the pleasure lies not in punchy jokes (there are few) but with her amazing ability to conjure voices and mock the type of person she impersonates.
Friday, Oct. 5, 8 p.m.$20-$30 plus service charge, $25-$35 day of showRoseland TheaterPatton Oswalt, Maria Bamford, Brian Posehn, Jasper Redd, Brent Weibach and Sheng Wang