Madison's Stand-Up Comedy Competition, Round Two
Last Wednesday’s opening round of the Comedy Club On State’s comedy competition saw a bill of 33 comedians slashed to 16. However, it was infinitely more difficult to vote the pool down to 10 favorites from the second round last night, because the remaining contestants doused the packed house with mostly “A” material. Material such as the slice of meatloaf that the delightfully awkward Paul Hart yanked from his back pocket during his set and took a bite out of, before handing it to an audience member. “Dude, it’s actually fucking meat loaf,” the confused patron said to the guy next to him. Hart—whose trembling presentation rests somewhere between Harland Williams and Bobcat Goldthwait—also informed the audience that he shaves his pubic hair into sideburns for his penis, which he affectionately referred to as “cock chops.”
Other great oddities of the night included Dave Labedz explaining why medieval British vernacular would make it so much more fun to tell his family that he is dying of cancer, and JoAnne Poniatowski's riff about feasting on the elderly: “If you cook them in a nice stew, you don’t have to eat around the bruises.” Kevin Kunkel provided further twisted amusement as he spouted off an advertisement for a made-up movie called Feelings? Awkward. Kunkel's rubber-voiced "ad" promised, among other things, full-frontal nudity from Whoopi Goldberg. Additionally, James Jackson—who unfortunately did not make it to the third round—complained about walking in on his 4-year-old son watching his porn DVDs, and getting beat up by his mom for writing jokes about her.
Mike Schmidt's set boasted the most dynamic delivery of the evening, especially when he shifted through several "characters" that represented hard liquors and their effects. Apparently, Captain Morgan—whom Schmidt voiced with an arch John Cleese accent—persuades him to show his penis to groups of overweight women, while Jose Cuervo pushes him to sleep on the sidewalk and piss his pants.
Adam Waldron suggested that CNN present news stories about catastrophes with more optimism: “Huge earthquake in Pakistan today. Still about six-and-a-half billion people on earth." Sean Moore also had an illuminating stage presence, ripping into Packer fans who treat Brett Favre like an ex-boyfriend. David Leon closed the night with a brilliantly cohesive set of jokes centered on his habits of sinister mustache-twirling and crushing on single moms. “I think the best part about being with a single mom is that I get to have sex while drinking a Capri Sun. And then I can go downstairs for some pizza bagels!” The competition's crowded first round last week may have been taxing, but the second one stayed consistently funny as it stretched on.
Here's who made it to Round Three, which goes down at the Comedy Club On State next Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.: Nick Hart, Paul Hart, Kevin Kunkel, Dave Labedz, David Leon, Sean Moore, JoAnne Poniatowski, Mike Schmidt, Alan Talaga, Adam Waldron.
