How did a grumpy table magician find a way to turn “being pathetic” into 400 shows a year in his own theatre at Las Vegas? Only Piff The Magic Dragon knows!
We’ll discover how a shop-bought dragon costume flicked the switch from sackable corporate table guy, to deadpan bulletproof performer and self-styled “loser of America’s Got Talent”. Along the way we’ll find out why the perfect show will never happen, and why a fear of failure turns most magicians into “hack copycats”…
30 mins of extra content available exclusively to the Insiders Club include Piff on the invention of his own tricks, and how something new with a block of jelly has already cost him two and half years and over $70,000; how own bad magic and guilty shortcuts; his evangelist uprising; and what comics can learn from magicians.
Go to www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for this and much more, including the exclusive Insiders Q&As with Nish Kumar, James Acaster and Fern Brady and the incredible “self-help for comedians” special with Amanda Donnet.
Is Stuart Laws an absurdist rambler who froths up a load of increasingly hilarious nonsense whilst honking in a gilet? Or is he an astute and quite private man who started a production company when he was 18, and went on to produce his own sitcom Grave new World (Amazon Prime) as well as directing James Acaster’s “Repertoire” (Netflix) and countless other standup specials? It’d be great if the answer was “neither” wouldn’t it? But it’s clearly both.
We talk about “The Prestige” as it pertains to stand-up shows; what it means to be both producer and director of one’s own work; and what makes other comics attractive assets to his company Turtle Canyon. We also cover openness, privacy and what shocks him about other comedians…
25 mins of extra content available exclusively to the Insiders Club includes Stuart on the different ways he directs comics, with reference to James Acaster and Joel Dommett; how to direct without imposing; his social media and TikTok sketch strategies, and some insights on the only show ever made about Wario. Go to www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders for this and much more, including the exclusive Insiders Q&As with Nish Kumar, Alfie Brown and your invite to the forthcoming one with Fern Brady!
Stuart Laws is up to the following things:
Stuart’s series Grave New World is on Prime Video and Vimeo on Demand, links at www.stuartlaws.com.
He has two stand up specials on NextUp and his podcast with Matt Winning, Up Your Footfall, is at https://www.podfollow.com/1559039647.
Everything else is here: https://linktr.ee/stuartlawscomedy
Everything Stu's up to:
Stu’s “Virtual Office Party” is now available as the perfect solution to remote-working office parties, sales conferences, motivational and wellbeing events.
“It was an absolutely hysterical and wonderful evening, for both those partaking and everyone watching online!”
- Maria Kuzak (Fundraising Manager at CALM)
"The games and interactive element were hilarious and extremely well executed! 10/10 from us, you created a real buzz in our business, thank you."
- Ben Gott (SVP at Merkle)
For more info on how this unique concept can bring your staff together while working apart, go to www.stuartgoldsmith.co.uk
Stu also offers remote talks to business on what the distilled wisdom of over 350 comics can teach you about resilience, especially in times of pandemic.
“The most inspiring talk I’ve had in years!”
- (LEGO staff member)
Find out more at www.stuartgoldsmith.co.uk
This podcast is @ComComPod on twitter and instagram
Head writer for “The Mash Report”, show-runner for “Hello America” on Quibi, and profoundly nice man, Tom Neenan has a practised ease with pulling jokes out of thin air. He’s also a comcompletist and one of the nicest people in the industry.
We talk about his entry into the business as a recipient of the BBC writer’s bursary, how a position as staff-writer taught him to be super-productive, and how to mine ambiguity for a punchline.
30 minutes of extra content available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club includes Tom on learning to make shows more personal; Stu and Tom get self-indulgent riffing on story and the Lubitsch touch with reference to Pixar and the MCU, and Tom shares some of his favourite joke-formats…
Tom Neenan
Follow @tneenan for his very funny tweets and drawing
Follow Tom’s Dr Who podcast @Wheezingpod
We also mentioned some of his favourite instructional YouTubers; these include HBomberguy, Jenny Nicholson, Every Frame a Painting, Lessons From The Screenplay, Folded Ideas, and Lindsey Ellis.
Everything Stu's up to:
Stu’s “Virtual Office Party” is now available as the perfect solution to remote-working office parties, sales conferences, motivational and wellbeing events.
“It was an absolutely hysterical and wonderful evening, for both those partaking and everyone watching online!”
- Maria Kuzak (Fundraising Manager at CALM)
The games and interactive element were hilarious and extremely well executed! 10/10 from us, you created a real buzz in our business, thank you."
- Ben Gott, Practice Lead, Marketing Solutions EMEA, SVP at Merkle
For more info on how this unique concept can bring your staff together while working apart, go to www.virtualofficeparty.co.uk
Stu also offers remote talks to business on what the distilled wisdom of over 350 comics can teach you about resilience, especially in times of pandemic.
“The most inspiring talk I’ve had in years!” (LEGO staff member)
The rushes from the three main interviews are available soon from www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders, along with all the extra material from any episode which has ever had extras attached!
Come and see Stu's work-in-progress show "Primer" at the Edinburgh Fringe at Monkey Barrel, who appear to have cheekily grabbed
Present at the opening night of the London Comedy Store, Nick Revell has been performing satirical, political and absurd standup for four decades. After a ten year break to write for TV, including on topical sitcom "Drop The Dead Donkey", he humbly returned to the open mic circuit to relearn his craft, and shares his unique perspective on how things had changed in that time, on stage, in audiences and in green rooms. We talk about the benefit of sleepless nights, his new narrative shows, and whether after nearly forty years he's finally found his voice...
25mins of extra material available exclusively to members of the Insiders Club include Nick on the excess of the early days of the Store, and some brilliant technical advice on how to absorb an instinct for the shape of a joke... sign up at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiderswww.nickrevell.com | @TheNickRevell
And go and see Nick's brilliantly titled Fringe show: "Nick Revell: Eurasia’s Most Eligible Psychopaths and Their Lovely Homes"Tickets for my show Primer at this year's Edinburgh Fringe@ComComPod | www.comedianscomedian.com
A multi-media artist, fascinated with language, rhythm, and combining jokes with drawing, Markus Birdman also isn't above a dick joke. Aiming for “high octane and no gaps”, with routines composed like a drum solo, we uncover his volatile relationship with his father and his father's God, the stroke that he almost mistook for a hangover, and wanting to be angry as a means of self-definition.
30 mins of extrasfrom this episode are availableat www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders,including Markus on survivor's guilt, the shot at the top that he might have missed, whether you can fake greatness in comedy, and a short sharp strategy for overcoming writer's block...
Six years after his first appearance, Josh returns for a textbook ComCom conversation about his creative development since then! We get even further into the minutiae of his writing and structuring process and what makes a perfect observation, plus some spicy celebrity gossip about Taskmaster and the secret of his rebooking success on the Graham Norton Show!
Get ad-free new episodes, bonus content from interviews and much more by joining the Insiders Club at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders
Responsible for the best reviewed comedy show at Edfringe 2018, Alex Edelman is an irrepressibly funny comic, with a grasp of joke structure and narrative arc that is both innate and studied. We cover his Modern Orthodox Jewish upbringing, and as well as identifying a "a confessional arms race" in modern comedy, he reveals a desperate need to be accepted by his peers. But is he really "solicitous and pandering"?
Extra content for this episode includes Alex's hypothetical "formula" for an award-winning first hour, and why although prescriptive it isn't actually that formulaic. We also get to hear him review himself honestly...
Sign up for all the extras at www.comedianscomedian.com/insiders
Find out more about Alex at
www.alexedelmancomedy.com@AlexEdelmanwww.comedianscomedian.com@StuGoldsmith@ComComPod
Fin Taylor and Caimh "CK" McDonnell are the last guests in this burst of episodes, then I'm on a break for August to record more content at a mystery festival somewhere past Berwick Upon Tweed... If you're reading this check @comcompod for more updates!