Rik Roberts’ School Of Laughs – New Writing Class starts June 29

school_of_laughs
Now taking sign ups for:

Stand-UP Comedy: Level One Writing
Starts in 10 days!!!

Class dates:

MONDAYS, JUNE 29, JULY 6, 20, 27
TIME: 5:30 – 7:30 P.M.
All of the classes listed above will meet at Zanies Comedy Showplace in Nashville, TN. Class fee is $200.

Many have asked, “Which class is best for me?” Ask yourself the following questions. Be honest with yourself!

How solid is your material now?

Do you know the reason each joke gets a laugh?

Are you tuned into which techniques you use that suit you the best?

Are you able to mix it up for different types of crowds?

Can you turn a story into a comedy bit?

Do your jokes get consistent laughs?

Are you able to get a laugh every 15 seconds or so?

If you don’t know some of the answers, then you’d benefit enormously from the writing class!

ASK FOR A SIGN UP FORM NOW! E-Mail me: rik@rikroberts.com

If you have any questions about any of the classes feel free to e-mail me and ask … otherwise here’s a look at what’s coming up …

The Bu$ine$$ of Comedy class is tentatively scheduled for Monday, September 14th. Thanks for your patience. This will be a one evening seminar, from 5:30-8:00/8:30 at Zanies, cost is $75. pre-registration is required.

Click http://www.schooloflaughs.com for class descriptions.

Stand UP Comedy Level Two: Performance class is tentatively schedule for August 3, 10, 24 & 31. Class fee is $200. Class description on www.schooloflaughs.com. More info as the dates get closer.

DID YOU KNOW …

If you take the writing and performing classes you are granted a spot on a graduation show at Zanies?

Students who successfully navigate the two courses will be invited to perform a set onstage at Zanies. This is the absolute fastest way to get on their stage. You are not REQUIRED to perform in any way. But most students are pretty fired up and ready to get under the spotlight.

That graduation set is recorded to a DVD for you to have forever and share with friends or even online.

Stage time for former students at ZANIES!

Zanies has asked if I would run an open mike twice a month on TUESDAYS specifically designed to get my graduates more stage time.

Set lengths will vary from 3-5-7 minutes and there will be opportunities to emcee the shows as well. These shows are a direct result of all the quality new faces who have taken the classes and taken it to the next level.

The still has a few limited slots available on the “off” nights as it always has. But, your odds of getting stage time has increased radically with this development.

I will be hosting the OPEN MIKE on June 30, July 7 and July 14. Show starts at 7:30pm. Call or e-mail me for FREE TICKETS

Extra Stage Time

nashvilleStandUp.com has a complete list of all the open mikes in the Nashville area.

ALSO … If you have any news you’d like to share with the rest of the School of Laughs please send it on to me and I will put it in the next newsletter.

Gift Certificates

Don’t want to spend the money on yourself for classes? Have someone else do it! You can let people know you want to take these classes and have them pay your tuition with a gift certificate. Just have them e-mail me and I will guide them through it. The gift certificate is available for any of the 4 week courses for $200, and for the Business Class for $75. All pre-paid certificate are fully refundable if you decide not to take the class.

Episode 45 – The Gaping Chasm of Helgameth

The Mangy Dog Radio Hour returns with Mark in fine prank-call form, THE DEAD DEAD debut their epic new single “Gardening in Space,” and standup from MO ALEXANDER.  Also, Jesse gets fired for half-assing it, but thankfully Sean saves the day, and The Wolf and The Walrus rock the house.  In Color!

Nashville comics added to “Laugh Your Asheville Off Comedy Festival”

laugh_your_asheville_offThe 3rd annual Laugh Your Asheville Off Comedy Festival has announced this years festival performers. Nashville will be well represented by Chad Riden, Kevin “Renegade” Green, Sean Parrot and Tim Northern.

The 2009 edition of “the largest Stand-up Comedy festival in the Southeast” consists of five shows featuring over 40 comics over the course of three days – July 16-18 – in the Diana Wortham Theater in Asheville, North Carolina. The final schedule with dates, times and details of all performances has not been announced yet. See www.laughyourashevilleoff.com for more info.

This week in Nashville: Joe Rogan, Janet Williams (“The Tennessee Tramp”)

joe-rogan_zaniesMonday, June 1
9th Annual Christian Comics Association Conference
8pm OPEN MIC (Lonnie’s on West End)

Tuesday, June 2
9th Annual Christian Comics Association Conference
8am – 9am Get Up, Stand Up (91.1 WRVU-FM)
6pm Hope Lodge Night of Laughs (American Cancer Center Hope House)
8pm OPEN MIC Contest (Spanky’s Sportsbar & Grill)

Wednesday, June 3
7:30pm Janet Williams, Lahna Turner, Dan Whitehurst (Zanies)
9pm “Dive Laughing” OPEN MIC (Springwater)

Thursday, June 4
7:30pm Janet Williams, Lahna Turner, Dan Whitehurst (Zanies)

Friday, June 5
7:30pm, 9:45pm Joe Rogan (Zanies)

Saturday, June 6
7pm, 9pm Joe Rogan (Zanies)

Sunday, June 7
7:30pm TC Cope’s Birthday Bash with Prescott & Chris Thomas (Zanies)
8pm OPEN MIC (Music Row Bar & Grill)

More details can be found in the NashvilleStandUp show calendar in the sidebar.

John Oliver’s Twist on American Satire

Anna Matsen attended John Oliver‘s May 25th show at Zanies and sends in this review:

john_oliver-zaniesSomebody put the fear of Nashville in John Oliver — thankfully for comedy fans, he nonetheless braved the city. To test the audience, he opened with a Voldemort vs. Cheney joke in which the former Vice came off the worse. (Call me crazy, but that appraisal coming from Harry Potter’s grown up doppleganger — minus only the lightning scar — carries added authority.) When the crowd roared in response to this and a Catholic Church vs. Galileo joke, Oliver expressed relief and excitement over what was sure to be a fun night.

I don’t know whether his show was literally sold out, but but the crowd was sure packed in and excited. The vast majority of people there were no doubt already big fans of his because he is popularly recognized; therefore, concerns that the audience wouldn’t get his humor were ultimately unwarranted. However, it’s worth noting that Nashville is a more mixed town when it comes to political humor than many realize, particularly when it comes to jokes at America’s expense. Sure, there are folks here (as everywhere) with a distaste for political comedy, but even those who’d get up-in-arms in defense of blind patriotism would have been at a loss how to react to Oliver’s jokes. His satire wasn’t aimed at critiquing U.S. policies, but rather expressed his dumbfounded, ironic love of all that’s ridiculous in American culture … and if there’s anything true about U.S. mass culture, it’s that we’re a “more to love” body of people.

For instance, do you know which of the U.S. states is the “least obese”? Or that our nation has the most flamboyant (if not the most participatory) democracy? Did you know that Americans have the most names in the Guinness Book of World Records? John Oliver can answer all of these questions, and has several illustrative examples proving that Americans will do anything for a token of notoriety. He also talked that night, as he does on his recorded stand up special Terrifying Times, about certain gloriously frivolous products found in our malls — things (according to him) no other country would make or buy, like the oreo pizza and the inflatable grill.

But the set wasn’t dedicated solely to satirizing American culture — Oliver is a pro at candid self-effacement too. He described for us his first feeble time firing a gun and the young (hilarious) trauma which inspired him to pursue comedy rather than athletics. After chastising his own insufficient masculinity to properly “Wooooo!,” he actually tried competing yell-for-yell with the happily rowdy audience — an unwise, but greatly amusing move.

Toward the end of this gig Oliver received a gift from an audience member: the quite hefty Encyclopedia of Rock. He stayed on stage an extra ten minutes just flipping through the pages for entertaining bits, like the maracas on the “things you need to start a band” page. Inspired by this, I am right now issuing a challenge to every other city that John Oliver visits: I dare you to outdo Nashville, particularly with a thoughtful and creative gift of some sort, given toward the end of his act. Since he pokes fun at America for not just inventing but selling items like the inflatable grill, best of all would be a product of like-minded American ingenuity. (Perhaps the portable microwave I once saw advertised in a magazine … I presume for people who have so little free time that, to eat at all, they simply must nuke on-the-go.) We want him to keep laughing at/with us, after all, so that this witty Brit stays a permanent import.

Finally, on The Daily Show he’s always struck me as the most bubbly correspondent — someone who’s thrilled to tears every time he reports. Happily, both his stand up show and his podcast with Andy Zaltzman (The Bugle) embrace the same invigorating enthusiasm. John Oliver is a smart, irrepressibly fun comic who works well with a crowd, even when self-conscious because unknown somebodies hyped him full of worry over Nashvillains. And there’s always the bonus of the lovely accent. (If he recorded a CD of himself reciting binary code, I’d buy it … but I’d much prefer his comedy.) If he comes to your town, go to his show, laugh a lot, and bring a gift. I dare ya.

Anna Matsen — a word nerd, political junkie, amateur philosopher, sushi-lover, and Nashvillian — attends as many comedy gigs as she can afford. As a grad student of English at Belmont Unversity and an English tutor at The Learning Lab, she works daily to improve her writing skills, hoping to one day write something worth a book jacket. Visit Anna on Facebook.