A.V. Club: Best of the Decade

JabberTalky's Albert Im

Death to "You had to be there!"

Ah yes, but what do YOU think?
by Erik Adams December 19, 2008

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Albert Im had a dream, and an opportunity to realize that dream. The dream: to translate the humor of human interaction to the stage, thereby eradicating the comedy-killing “You had to be there” factor. The opportunity: an open mic stand-up comedy night at Ego’s, where the comedians in attendance far outnumbered the bar patrons. Faced with either sending everyone home or making them sit through routines they’d already heard (or were bound to hear at a later date), Im threw two chairs on stage, set up a second microphone, and JabberTalky was born.
Well, sort of. More than just a couple of chairs and microphones on a dive bar stage, JabberTalky is the unholy (but very funny) union of stand-up, late-night talk shows, and musical chairs. Im acts as participant and emcee, cycling comedians (who’ve included the likes of Tom Rhodes, Ruby Collins, Matt Bearden, and Lucas Molandes) through the roles of interviewer and interviewee. Following a recent show, Im sat down with Decider to talk about creating a “3-D comedy show,” awkward moments, and whether or not JabberTalky could work only in Austin.



Decider: So this is a pretty low-pressure show: Prepare nothing, show up, let the funny stuff just happen. Do you think traditional stand-up is too high-pressure?
Albert Im: I think JabberTalky in one way is able to tap into things that traditional stand-up can’t necessarily tap into very easily—and it goes the other way around as well. We’ve had a lot of people that have come and done JabberTalky and have come out with like three, four new bits to try out. It’s people working it out on stage, and a lot of the times they’re just completely surprised with what comes out of it at the end of it. Kind of subconsciously you’re bouncing off of strange ideas as they come along, and before you know it, you realize, “Wow, this really depressing thing that’s happened to me ended up being really funny.”
D: Do you try to pair the comedians with people they already know?
AI: It’s funny—in some experiences that I’ve had, when you pit two people against each other that know each other really well, you'd think that they’d be able to come up with some funny stuff, but it usually doesn’t work out that well. I think that there’s a lot of funny that happens in the process of discovery and the process of misinterpretation. [Laughs.] Not understanding where someone’s coming from, we definitely get that a lot.
D: There’s a lot interaction between the stage and the audience. What was the motivation behind that?
AI: It’s something we kind of had to do, especially when you’re playing a show in a bar like this. You’ll have people who came in just to drink—and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it doesn’t make for the most enrapt audience. But the upside of that is these weird little accidents happen, and they’re like little gifts every single time. It’s like the audience becomes a part of the show as well. It’s like a 3-D comedy show. [Laughs.] You’re getting the full IMAX experience.
D: Do any of those “3-D” moments stick out in your mind?
AI: There was this guy who would come here just to drink. He was in the Merchant Marines or something, and he’d seen the show happen a few times, and he was like, “Well, I want to be a part of this.” So he would write a riddle or some kind of trivia question on the outside of an envelope with the answer sealed inside, and then just one day he showed up and he was like “Here, see if anyone gets this right, and if anyone gets it right I’ll buy everyone a drink.” And it’s just like, “Whoa, OK.” So that was an example of seeing that now the audience is getting creative with it, and now the audience is having a say in what they want the show to become. That was a moment where the audience became part of the “writing team.”  
D: Is that where the idea to provide interviewers with a bucket of questions came from?
AI: I’ve done different things with the format where, since we have people who come up who aren’t necessarily performers. They’re just hanging out, but for whatever reason—they’re drunk or they just screw up their courage—they get up there. Asking questions is always the hardest part, so that’s why I started bringing the bucket. One day, just to mess around, I though it’d be funny to throw some “Dear Abby” questions in there. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But for the most part, even if the question is stupid, it gets something going. It always reminds someone of something else that happened to them. And even the awkward moments are funny, too.
D: It seems like the show really thrives on those awkward moments.
AI: It’s either really funny or it’s really awkward, and either is fine.



D: Have you thought about doing JabberTalky outside of Austin?
AI: I think people in Austin are unique in their viewpoints and their demeanor. Taking it to a city outside Austin, it would be interesting to see how it would change, like how different people with different values would treat the show. I’ve tried it up at Homer’s up north, and I’ve also done it at ColdTowne Theater, and it’s really interesting how different the show is just a couple miles up.
D: What is it about Austinites that makes JabberTalky work?
AI: There’s something to be said about the motto: [Adopts slacker voice.] "You know, Austin, keep it weird, bro." I think that people generally come to expect weird, experimental sorts of things, so people are really willing to try it out and give it a chance. I don’t know if that would be the same anywhere else. I think other people might walk in and be like, “Oh, they’re just two guys sitting on a stage and they’re just talking. What the hell is this? Let’s go somewhere else.” There’s also something to be said about doing it in a bar, where the stakes are low. [Laughs.]
D: Does the show appeals to people outside of the comedy community?
AI: I moved here from Chicago, and I’m originally from Hawaii, and I still keep in touch with some of my old friends, so I’ll send them online updates. A good number of them will have questions like, “So what does this [comedian] do again? What’s that guy's deal? Is he really like that? He’s crazy, right?” They get into it. It’s the whole reason zoos or aquariums are interesting to people. They can see animals or fish interact, and they totally have nothing to do with it, but they can see how these organisms go about their lives. It’s like a zoo for comedians, and the recreated habitat is a bar. [Laughs.] You get to watch ridiculous people be ridiculous.

 

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