I feel like some people are kind of forgetting the origins of stand up comedy. It's not the squeaky clean family friendly stuff that is available for mass consumption.

Andyzipp said:

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Mike Birbiglia

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My Girlfriend's Boyfriend is fantastic. He's such a great storyteller. I think he has 2 other sets on Netflix too that are both great also.

I went out to LA for the Sweet 16 loss in 2018. My buddy had to cancel so I was going solo. Because of a family obligation I was only in town for 20 hours. All I packed was a phone charger.

After the game I Ubered to the Comedy Store. While waiting to go in I was on the patio watching basketball. A guy sees my A&M shirt and says "tough loss". We chatted for a bit and I learn that hes a comic. He said to come find him later and he show me around.

I saw a bunch of good acts - Whitney Cummings, Chris Delia, Christina P, Anthony Santino and one of my all time favs - Theo Von. Martin Lawrence was the surprise guest and he bombed. Hard.

Around midnight I left and went looking for the comic I met. I found him smoking a cig on the patio. I told about the acts I liked and confirmed his prior warning that Martin would be terrible. We grabbed a beer and he took me to the side and told the door guy that I with him. I got to go into the green room and the comics back bar. The green room was awesome. Signatures of every funny person you can imagine. Pryor, Robin Williams, Jim Carey, Seinfeld...it was awesome. I ended up hanging out with the comics the rest of the night. Met some really funny people who were excited and happy to talk about comedy and The Store. I got to go up on stage of the OR and have beers late night.

Around 4am I Urbered back to LAX and went home. The comic I was with gave me his number and said if I was ever back to give him a shout. A few months ago I was in LA for work and I hit him up. Hooked me up with great seats for a Rogan show.

Pretty fun day even with the Ags losing

A little more on the green room at the Store. Its maybe 10x5 with 2 doors on the same wall. When he was giving me the tour he walked in and walked out in about 3 steps - in one door and out the other. I stopped and Im sure my jaw was on floor. I asked if it was cool if I just took it all in. He laughed and I sat for a minute and looked at all the names. I wanted to take pics but I felt like I would be breaking the rules. I wish I had now.

Ive never been to Second City in Chicago but Im told you can feel the energy from Farley or Belushi or any of the greats who have performed there. The back rooms at the Store have the same feeling. Like Pryor or Williams or Chapelle or Rock or any of the all timers are going to come around the corner.

The comics bar was pretty small. Probably held 15-20 people. It was empty by that time but I could only imagine the stories that room could tell. What all time stand up bits were perfected at 2am on a Tuesday in that room?

I forget his name but the last guy up every night is the opener for the Kimmel show. He sits on stage and rips on people in the crowd. At 1:00am theres maybe 30 people left and he is brutal. No one was safe. All the comics sit in the back row and heckle him and everyone else. I was welcomed into their little club and for about an hour it was like being part of something that seemed impossible. We were all laughing so hard and yelling random s*** at everyone.

When they kicked everyone out I stayed behind. We all stood around on the patio and they all went thru their sets - what worked and what didnt. By this time Im pretty drunk and I remember telling one guy "this is like Disneyland for adults" He laughed and said "thats funny but didnt you do a set last week?" I felt like I had officially joined the group at that point.

If you are ever in LA and have a night to kill go to the Store. Hang on the patio and start chatting up people. I learned that at the end of the day those comics love comedy and love The Store. They were all really excited to share it me.

And thats the second most insane night Ive had while on a solo trip to watch the Aggie play in the post season...

Watched Ryan Hamilton for the first time last night. Enjoyed it. I watched it because I watched this late night performance, and this was one of the best 5 minute sets I've seen in a long time. It's hard to kill on a talk show but he did:

watty said:

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Watched Ryan Hamilton for the first time last night. Enjoyed it. I watched it because I watched this late night performance, and this was one of the best 5 minute sets I've seen in a long time. It's hard to kill on a talk show but he did:

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That was really good. Very Seinfeld-esque.

Mark Normand's new special is great. He released it straight to YouTube.

Feels weird placing this here as it's definitely more commentary than comedy but it is definitely worth a watch. Powerful stuff from Dave as usual.

Brian Regan's new Netflix special is out today. I'll be watching it tonight. He's on my comedy Mount Rushmore.