Yatesy Comedy

Ever feel like you are walking right thru an oven during Thanksgiving? Welcome to August in Philly. It’s the worst. Everyone looks like they just got out of a pool 24/7.

I do have some fun stuff coming up that is in Air Conditioning tho!

1. This Thursday & Friday (Aug. 18 & 19) & next Thursday & Friday (Aug. 25 & 26), my new Philly Improv Theatre House Sketch Team’s brand new show debuts! We have a name but they will reveal it at the shows (lame, yes). We have some amazing sketch openers as well. I am not actually in this show but the writing is amazing (I am on the writing staff) and it should be a blast. Click HERE for tickets.
2. Saturday, August 20th at Noon I will be doing a LIVE DidjaEat? Podcast from Amalgam Comics in Fishtown for the Philly Podcast Fest. My guests include: Kristin Herrmann (WMMR & BENFM DJ + Badass Roller Derby Girl), Samantha Russell (Badass Comedy Writer & Sketch Performer & Director), Aubrie Williams (Badass Comedy Writer & Performer & Food Annihilator) & Nick Kupsey (Popeye’s Decimator & Stand Up Comic)! Plus, I do a giveaway where you can win a giant bag full of fun food items, and it’s free! So come on down. The facebook invite with all the info is here.

Hey Everyone!,

I survived cat sitting and a sunburn on just my left leg (thanks 14 inning Dodger game!) and I’m back here in Philly! I had some awesome shows (thanks to Steve and Scott at the Chatterbox and Barbara Gray at Sauce!) and I got to see some old friends from high school and from the Philly Comedy Scene (my friend JP Boudwin had a great rooftop 4th of July Fireworks viewing. It was amazing to see a 360 degree fireworks show in the middle of Koreatown! Thanks JP!). I even took the Dodger Stadium tour to cap off being a crazy tourist. I recommend it if you can do it. I also ate my weight in In and Out Burger. I love you, In and Out. Never change.

I also did 2 podcast interviews when I was out there as well. The first interview was with Earl Skakel. Earl is a native Angeleno (he’s a unicorn!) and an awesome LA comic. He is also the House Hater at the Comedy Store’s Roast Battle and came in third on the Comedy Central Roast Battle Show. He also has his own podcast “Inappropriate Earl” and I was a guest on that as well! Lastly, he’s a love of 80’s rock, as am I so we had an great talk about all of that!

The second interview I did was with the interesting comic and musician John Tole. John is a super nice dude with some really great theories on life and the world around us, plus comedy and metal. He also plays in the band Pit Boss 2000. Finally, he has a website called Carte Path Diem that he does daily. It’s pretty great, check it out.

I’ll be making my tv debut with my banana suit friday night, August 5th on PhillyCam, the Philly Public Access TV on “Live Culture Presents: Comedy Dreamz”.

Finally, I’ll be doing a live DidjaEat? Podcast on Saturday, August 20th at noon at Amalgam Comics in Fishtown for the Philly Podcast Fest. Hope you guys can make it out!

Check out all the podcast eps here!

Earl Skakel 

John Tole

Here in the Philly area, it’s been raining for almost 3 weeks. We have a reprieve for a few days and of course it’s going to start again next week. I’m just going to wrap myself in Saran Wrap and build an ark. How everyone in the Pacific Northwest isn’t dead by now is beyond me.

Now that summer (or as I call it “wondering how I shrunk all those shorts I bought last year” weather) is coming, I’ll be going out to LA again to hang out and do some shows. Here is what I have booked so far:

July 3- Chatterbox Comedy Night, The Chatterbox, West Covina, CA

July 5- The Aftermath, The Lexington Theatre, DTLA

July 6- The Scene, North Hollywood

July 7- Kinda Sketchy Comedy, Hyperion Avenue Tavern, LA

July 8- Sauce, Desano’s Pizza, LA

In between is Disneyland, In and Out, seeing friends and trying not to melt. Hope you guys can make it out!

I was asked to perform by the improv group Rage Friends on a show to raise money for Laurel House, a domestic violence shelter and center for women to get help. I am happy to say that we raised over $600 for them! It was great to see the standup, improv and sketch communities come together for a great cause.

Here is my set and click here to donate some money!

I know Garry Shandling passed away a little bit ago, but I wanted to think about what I wanted to write and it’s not like he’s going to get any less dead so here we are.

When I made my communion in the 3rd grade, my Grandmom bought me a 13 inch color tv for my room. I still remember ripping the wrapping paper off of it and hugging the box like it was a stuffed animal. I had some issues. Anyway, I drug it to my room, plugged it in and became it’s best friend. Now this was in the days before cable, mind you, so all you needed was a good antenna, which that little guy had, so I got all 3 networks (3, 6 & 10), the 2 uhf stations (17 & 29), plus PBS (12). Sometimes, if I spun the tuner dial enough, I could somehow pickup a New York channel and watch some rerun we didn’t get in Philly. But my favorite thing to watch was Late Night TV.

If I kept the volume at a low enough level, my mom wouldn’t hear it (and there was no headphone jack because that wasn’t a thing and closed captioning wasn’t either. How we were able to function in the world is beyond me) and I would try to laugh as quietly as possible. I started watching Carson and after that, Letterman. On Friday nights, I would stay up and watch Friday Night Videos and even that show Fridays (even as a small kid I knew it was a weird and different show that would not last very long). Saturday nights were reserved for Saturday Night Live. I remember the Eddie Murphy years pretty well. They really weren’t as bad as everyone thinks they were, they just weren’t First 5 Years Funny. But really, what is?

Anyway, I loved watching Carson because he always had Standup Comics on. I didn’t know then that it was up to Johnny if the comic got a wave over to the couch but when they did, I would get really excited. It was one thing to see a comic do a set at the end of the show but it was another to see them tell a funny story. And Garry always had a great story after a great set (it was the first time I would hear terms like “The Comedy Store” and that there were clubs you could see these guys in PERSON at!). When he hosted, I would make myself stay up and watch the whole show every time. I would scour the TV section of the paper to see if he was coming on anything. I loved his dry humor, even if some of it went over my head. I knew there was a level I wasn’t getting but I figured I would someday.

When cable finally came around, my Mom wasn’t into it but my friend had it and we would watch episodes of “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show”. We would sing along with the theme song and then laugh at what we understood (and also at Grant’s glasses) and puzzle over stuff we didn’t. But it was unlike any show we had seen prior and we appreciated it’s uniqueness (it broke the 4th wall and everyone knew they were in a sitcom). As I became more and more into comedy, Garry would host awards shows and I would take note of the clever jokes and the way he seemed to not give a shit, without actually….not giving a shit. I read about how he loved playing basketball, even back then (which you got a whiff of from IGSS, because he played a lot on the show), and sometimes I would see him sitting in floor seats at the old Forum during Lakers telecasts.

As a grownup, I thought it would be cool to meet him, maybe see what he thought about the Lakers, or ask him questions about IGSS or Larry Sanders, or just say hello and thanks for making a lonely kid in Philly laugh so hard. But that’s not a thing now.

Thanks Garry. Hope you made that 3 in the sky.

*****

Here are some dates I have coming up:

Wed. March 30- Comedy Roulette, Helium
Sun. April 3- Hosting 6:30 Philly Sketchfest show, Community Education Center, Philly (www.phillysketchfest.com)
Wed. April 6- Feature Spot, Victoria Freehouse, Philly
Thurs. April 7- Warm Town Comedy, Ruba Club, Philly
Sat. April 9- Charm City Comedy, Zissimo’s, Baltimore
Mon. April 18- Rage On: A Night of Comedy, Philly
May 6- Comedy for Gentlemen, The Republican, South Philly

Hello Fine Internet People,

So it seems like winter has found something else to do besides torture us here on the East Coast. Spring Training Baseball has started. Hockey is marching towards the playoffs. I’ve started worrying about fitting into shorts I bought last year.

It’s all coming together.

Spring and Summer will be fun around here. I have a bunch of stuff booked for March and April: going to be in Delaware, Baltimore and Hoboken, I’ll be on an internet radio show, and I will be in Los Angeles June 30th to July 10th so hopefully I will have a bunch of dates booked for that. I am also super psyched for Philly Sketchfest, which is March 31st to April 3rd and the lineup is looking super fucking sweet!

So what are your plans now that we can move about freely again? I am looking forward to being able to schedule podcast interviews and not have to worry about snow or ice. I have the balance of a weeble who actually *does* fall down so that’s no good for me.

Also! New Delco Proper episodes are out. If you like to laugh, for fuck’s sakes, watch these.

Delco Proper!

And finally, here are my upcoming dates!

3/3- Fenris Comedy Night at Agrilla Brewing – Newark, DE

3/4 False History @ Tattooed Mom’s – Philly

3/7 Internet Radio Show “The idiots”- Wildfire Radio

3/15 Free Improv at The Grape Room- Manayunk, Philly, PA

3/19 WOW Comedy @ The Shannon, Hoboken, NJ

3/25 The Sideshow @ Philly Improv Theatre, Philly, PA

4/7 Warmtown @ Ruba- Philly, PA

4/9 Charm City Comedy at Zissimo’s, Baltimore, MD

I was supposed to be up in NYC this weekend doing the Hashtag Comedy show at QED in Queens. Instead I am in my pajamas looking out the window and seeing this:

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love an excuse to stay inside and read books, watch movies and eat as much as the next person but couldn’t this at least get me a day off of work? I did pick up some new books with some awesome christmas gift cards, so there’s that. Be safe out there, everyone. And keep this in mind: it’s almost February, so that means only about a month and a half of shit weather before we all start to complain about the heat.

In the meantime I do have some fun shows coming up*. So dig yourself out and come hang out:

Sat. Jan 30: Chuckles Comedy Club- FWOT, Conshohocken, PA

Wed. Feb. 3: Comedy for Gentlemen– Signatures, Philly, PA

Fri. Feb. 5: The Monologue Show- Philly Improv Theatre, Philly, PA

Sat. Feb 6: Betchel Test Fest– Philly, PA

Thurs. March 3- Argilla Brewing Co, Newark, DE

Tues. March 15- Improv at the Grape Room, Manayunk, Philly, PA

Sat. March 19- WOW Comedy at The Shannon Bar, Hoboken, NJ

Fri. April 1- Prim and Proper at Zissimo’s Bar, Baltimore, MD

*weather permitting. please contact me or the venue if the weather is bad.

Well, amazing as it seems, this year is over. Christmas is next week and New Years is right behind it. An awesome thing about that is Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are both on a Thursday so 4 day weeks for us cube dwellers! Yay!
And of course, STAR WARS!

Last New Year’s Eve I almost died of Carbon Monoxide poisoning so it’s amazing to me that a whole year has gone by once again. I had a lot of good laughs, fun shows, met some great people and did some fun traveling for comedy as well (Chicago, LA & San Francisco). And of course, STAR WARS!

Thanks to everyone who booked me on a show, came to a show, helped promote a show or bought me a drink because I am terrible with money and am a terrible grownup.

Here are some dates I have coming up in the next few whatevers.

12/19 Comedy Underdogs- L’etage, Philly

1/2 Comedy Death Match- Connie’s Ric Rac, Philly

1/23 Hastag Comedy- QED, Queens, NYC

3/15 Improv Night at The Grape Room- The Grape Room, Philly

And of course, STAR WARS!

**Edited to add: Saw Star Wars. IT WAS AWESOME.

So I had the pleasure of hosting a fundraiser for the fun sketch group Barbara Bush back in October. It was hosted by Philly Sketchfest Presents (thanks for Brian Kelly and Curt Reidy) and I could not stop sweating.

So, enjoy the jokes and the sweating.