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"FUNNY & MIND-EXPANDING!"
LA Weekly

Beth weaves story, home-spun philosophy and big ideas into an unforgettable evening of inspirational comedy.

BETH NOT METH!!

The LA Gay & Lesbian Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center Presents:

"100% HAPPY 88% OF THE TIME"
One night only
SATURDAY, JANUARY 9 at 8 PM
The Renberg Theatre
1125 N. McCadden Place
Hollywood 90038

Net Proceeds Benefit The LA Gay and Lesbian Center's Baby Dragon Fund for Meth Counseling and Mental Health. Tickets only $20. Reservations 323-860-7300 or click here for tickets

David Cross was one of the first wave of performers to work at the Un-Cabaret, also one of the most honest and darkest. The stories about his father that he refers to below are one reason why we started doing theme shows.

In our first year, we happened to book a show that happened to fall on Father's Day, and happened to feature David, Bob Odenkirk and Dana Gould all of whom had... let's call them 'strained' relationships with their dads.

What followed was so disturbingly scathingly funny that it scarred several audience members for life - one had unwittingly brought his father for a night of fun comedy - and made us realize that we had to harness that energy consciously in theme nights like 'Daddy Dearest', 'It's a Mutha', 'Bleeding Hearts' (Valentine's Day), etc.

David, who with Bob Odenkirk, wrote and starred in Mr. Show, has become emblemmatic of a transgressive no-holds-barred style of alternative comedy. He was recently interviewed by Todd Jackson of the excellent comedy blog Dead Frog and was originally posted here. It went a little something like this...

There's still plenty of time to get your creative work on track before the end of the year. There are 2 more classes of The Comedian's Way Workshop in December. Get onstage at M-Bar in Hollywood where you can work on your shows, performance, pitches, patter - or change your patterning.

Work with comedy guru Beth Lapides and me to supercharge your creativity. Or give a really meaningful gift to a creative friend!

SUNDAYS, DECEMBER 6 & 13, JANUARY 10, 17, 24, 31, FEBRUARY 7, 21, 28 1-4pm at M-Bar, 1253 N. Vine 90038

Single classes $60
Any 2 classes $110
Any 4 classes $200

SUPER SPECIAL HOLIDAY SALE - Only guaranteed until the end of 2009. Commit to your creativity and get any 10 classes for $400 or any 30 classes for $1000 (that's just $33 each!).

"ABOVE & BEYOND" (The New Yorker)

Beth Lapides' Un-Cabaret pretty much launched the modern comedy storytelling movement which gave birth to Afterbirth, Mortified, Sit n Spin, The Moth, Say the Word, etc. Before that, Beth was a pretty famous performance artist who toured her solo shows all over the world. Now she returns to her roots with a brilliant new show called "100% Happy 88% of the Time".

"A BREATH OF FRESH AIR!" (Whole Life Times)

"A MASTER COMEDIENNE... SMART & FUNNY" (Los Angeles Times)

What happens when a piece of material gets stale? How do you keep the audience - and yourself - interested?

Get some great advice about how to keep your material fresh, find the material that will stay fresh the longest, and tips on integrating this freshening practice into your creative process and your life in this inspiring rap from Beth Lapides at The Comedian's Way workshop.

Audit, register for a single class or get discounts on multiple classes. Upcoming classes: Sunday, Oct. 4 & 18, 1-4pm at M-Bar, 1253 N. Vine St. LA 90038.

Click here for more info about The Comedian's Way workshop or call 323-993-3305.

btw, this video was taken with the new Flip UltraHD Camcorder. Yes, the HD takes a long time to process and upload video, but the resolution and color are way advanced, the camera now holds up to 2 hours of video (instead of the previous version's 1 hour capacity), the sound is a lot clearer and, most importantly, it has retained virtually all its cuteness.

We're always encouraging students to use 'song & dance' in their comedy onstage. When we say 'song', we mean anything rhythmic or poetic. When we say 'dance', we mean anything physical.

A photo shoot will often let you know if you're being expressive enough with your face and body.

Taylor Negron is a brilliant, inspired original stand up comedian, and one of the original members of the Un-Cabaret. While we think of him as incredibly and verbal, take a look at his body language to show you how much you can communicate without a single word.

Patton Oswalt's new movie, "Big Fan", is all about celebrity and fandom gone wrong.

Celebrity stories are always of inherent interest to an audience. In fact, when I was producing Beth's daily radio show, a big-time radio consultant told us that there are only 4 things people care about: celebrity, sex/love, work and money. We resist defining things that narrowly, but he isn't all wrong.

We admit, there has been a good amount of high-quality name-dropping at the Un-Cabaret. Among Patton's many great stand up storytelling performances is this one about his Hollywood encounter with Elizabeth Taylor:

Hear more Patton performances on the Un-Cabaret compilation CDs, "The Un & Only" and "the Good, the Bad and the Drugly" and on several episodes of the Un-Cabaret podcast on audible.com (including one episode called "Close Encounters" that's all about celebrity encounters). You can also see free video detailing the anatomy of a great standup performance by Patton about falling in love - another one of the 'only 4 things people are interested in'.

Media critic Virginia Heffernan wrote a column recently about rants in the New York Times, but she completely omitted the comedy rant as a category.

A funny rant is a great comedy technique. It was pioneered (I think) by Lenny Bruce and subsequently practiced by other (usually) angry (often) young (almost always) men including Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks (who actually had an album called Rant in E Minor), Chris Rock, Dennis Miller, George Carlin and Lewis Black. Roseanne did some ranting, but it's a harder form for women to pull off because, let's face it, our culture by and large still likes its women nice and easy, not rough.

The Un-Cabaret has featured some impressive comedy rants by brilliant boys like Patton Oswalt, Bob Odenkirk, Taylor Negron and others. (You can hear some great rants on the Un-Cabaret CDs.) It has also provided a forum for some great female ranters like Margaret Cho and Kathy Griffin. Here are two for your listening pleasure:

In this culture, everybody is the star of their own solar system, even if you don't have any aspirations in 'show biz'. Everyone Twitters and/or has a Facebook page and/or website and/or has to make pitches and/or presentations in meetings. Even dating has become a lot like auditioning for love.

So what's your act? How do you shape your persona? If you were a constellation, what constellation would you be?

Most people like to think they're completely original, but almost everyone exists in context with other writers and/or performers who are already in the culture or who came before. This isn't about comparisons, or about one being better or worse. It's about locating yourself in the culture and in the various traditions of comedy.