Bridgetown: Blogtown, PDX, Portland Mercury

County Poised to Buy Land Near Sellwood Bridge, then Give it Back

Dirk VanderHart — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:20:50 -0700

To all the costly facets of the new Sellwood Bridge, add paying rent.

Or, as Multnomah County legalese terms it: a "settlement of condemnation litigation associated with the Sellwood Bridge Project."[PDF]

The County Board of Commissioners tomorrow will vote on a proposed settlement with the owner of several parcels of land at the bridge's east end. Officials need the land—both to widen Tacoma Street and to use as a staging area—so they're buying it off owner Diana Richardson for almost five years, she said today. The county will return the land 57 months later.

"We've come to an agreement," said Richardson.

Neither Richardson nor a county spokesman would discuss how much the settlement is worth, saying the arrangement has yet to be finalized. Richardson said she'd be paid fair market value for the land.

The parcels currently include a number of businesses, including the Riverside Corral Strip Club (NSFW). Blogtown needed to know: Was the county going to own the Riverside Corral?

Alas, no.

"We're not in any way, shape, or form operating a strip club," said County Spokesman David Austin.

The settlement instead only involves a portion of the Riverside Corral's property. Richardson said the business will remain open during bridge construction.

The county also will temporarily purchase a vacant lot south of Tacoma Street for storage.

"Eventually I want to build something there," Richardson said. "I had planned to do it sooner, but this came along."

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Bridgetown Comedy Fest: We Made It through Sunday

Temple Lentz — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:59:44 -0700

Everyone was dragging on Sunday, but the funny kept coming.

The Delocated panel at the Bagdad had no shortage of technical difficulties—videos wouldn't start, the lighting and mics were weird, but everyone seemed too exhausted to make a big deal about it. Watching Jon Glaser, Ali Farahnakian, Janeane Garofalo, Amy Schumer, and the rest of the bunch kill time, talk back and forth, and try to make it work—well, it wasn't a great show—but it had moments.

Over at the Hawthorne Lounge, the Portlandia Players show featured local comics who'd had appearances on Portlandia. And they killed. Ian Karmel, Kristine Levine, Alex Gavlick, Virginia Jones, and Whitney Streed had the packed room screaming with laughter for nearly the entire show. It was great to see some of our favorite local comics tear it up on the last day.

The Bagdad Closing Show started on time, and the technical difficulties from earlier in the night seemed to have been resolved. Maggie Maye had a great set, and Doug Benson made a surprise appearance to thunderous applause.

And now, we get a year to recover until the next one.

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Bridgetown Comedy Fest: I'm Never Going to Laugh Again, or Sunday Highlights

Courtney Ferguson — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:59:19 -0700

So tired. But it was worth it. This year's Bridgetown Comedy Fest was an overwhelming barrage of stand-ups, podcasts, and shows. Laughs were had. A bunch of comedians got drunk. No one unleashed Andy Dick on our small metropolis.

I caught the first Sunday show, Kevin Allison's storytelling show Risk! at the Bagdad. Comedians tell stories about risque moments based around a theme. Sean Patton, with his gruff delivery and vaudevillian moves, told a show-stealin' story about going back to a crazy fan's house. Baron Vaughn's gay thug story was also delightful, but Adam Newman delivered the most universal message from Bridgetown comedians on the last day of the fest. "I feel bad. I keep taking all your delicious Portland food, and turning it into diarrhea."

Then it was some late-night antics at the Eagles Lodge for this girl (related: I keep drifting into daydreams about the velvety kisses of my pillow and piling warm cats on my reclining frame). The first show had too many styles, not enough momentum, and some drunken rambling. Jamie Lee did fantastic though, as did stalwart funnymaker Anthony Lopez, and the quirky, cartoon-voiced Mary Mack. The real draw was the late-night Erotic Fan-Fiction competition with a host of performers reading sexy/gross erotica. Covering Law & Order: SVU, Angry Birds, Grimm, Lord of the Rings, and Friday Night Lights, a whole shit-ton of dirty dirty acts were committed by your favorite fictional characters. It was fucking hysterical, and while I think Emily Heller's story about Ice-T's sodomizing ponytail probably should've won, it was Alex Koll's tale of Angry Birds' pig-on-bird love that got the glory. But that was just the pre-written fan-fic portion of the show—in the other room, five other comedians were penning on-the-spot dirty tales with audience's topic suggestions. Aparna Nancherla killed it with her Dora the Explorer story, narrowly beating out Ian Karmel's "Lemon Party," where Liz Lemon gets sent through the Dot Com and Grizz gauntlet. Truly it was the Eagles Lodge's security guard who made the show transcendental—skulking around stage left and shaking his head every time "plum-colored party ripples" were invoked in the name of vaginas. Funny, funny business.

It was too much of a good thing, but Bridgetown always is.

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Bridgetown Comedy Fest: Crowded Houses

Marjorie Skinner — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:01:48 -0700

Without even trying, the two comedy shows I saw last night at the Bridgetown Comedy Fest proved to be very popular, beginning with the "As Seen on TV" set at Helium headlined by Maria Bamford, who kind of ruled it with her aging crazy-lady routine (her scarily applied, too-dark rouge really helped set the scene). But first, I caught Andy Dick's poor fucking son, Lucas Dick, who seemed really sweet; one of the first things out of his mouth was, "Yeah, my dad's a dick." Next up was Lance Weiss, whose set contained lots of dark references to suicide and depression. Oh, and hey, he kicked off the cavalcade of Portland jokes that was to run throughout the rest of the evening. Er, actually I don't think he was even joking when he called Portland "the whitest fucking town" he'd ever seen. Eh? Also: He asked if anyone in the audience was or had been in the military... nope. But some of us had ridden the Gravitron! Then in came Kirk Zipfel with a hilarious (because it's true!) bit about women's moisturizing products becoming more precious and expensive the closer you get to their eyes, and Matt Champagne's recreation of an overheard-on-the-street phone call between a pimp and his ho ("You don't wash your ass!"). Bamford ruled the roost, though, with her odd duck perspective on her mother's concern about both her lack of religion and marriage prospects, especially now that she's on the wrong side of 40. Oh, also her neighbors' concerns that she is "mentoring the kids in the area without telling anyone about it" in a creepy zombie voice.

When it was over I headed up the street to the Hawthorne Theater Main (there's been some debate on how walkable Helium is from the rest of the Barmuda Triangle, but when 238-RIDE quoted me a 26-minute wait time, I started marching, and got there in less time than that, FWIW). Hawthorne Late Night was in mid-swing, with notable performers like Hari Kondabolu taking the stage in front of a standing-room-only room. Nearly everyone had a Portland joke. Mike Burns declared his affection for the place by contrasting it with the fact that he had gotten "stabbed by cholos" back home in LA; Guy Branum admonished us for all dressing like lesbians ("you live in a city: buy some heels"—clearly he hadn't clocked my walking shoes) and said somewhat accurately that "Portland is like San Francisco if it quit its job to concentrate on music"; and it wasn't exactly a joke, but Dan Boulger name-dropped the pop-a-shots at Spirit of 77, which is just endearing. Other highlights were a couple of political points, like Branum's that the US has at least three major Holocaust museums rather than slavery museums, and Boulger's imagining of us explaining the Great Repression to our kids: "Oh, it was awful. Nobody had any money... but we all bought iPhones anyway."

After fulfilling Helium's two-drink minimum with a coupla chardonnays, I drank naught but water, yet somehow I am wiped. But I'm going to persevere and head out tonight. I'm especially hoping to catch Jesse Case at 10 back at the Hawthorne. I saw him perform to a nearly empty room early on Day One of last year's fest, and his was one of my favorite sets of the entire weekend. I wanna see how he's seasoned over the past year.

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Bridgetown Comedy Fest: Silver Hot Pants and Danner Boots

Temple Lentz — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:10:18 -0700

The room was surprisingly packed when I got to the Mt. Tabor Theater on Saturday afternoon for the Humor Code. They were featuring four great comics (Pete Holmes, Myq Kaplan, Mary Mack and Jordan Morris), but the topic was kind of academic for 4pm on the third day of a 4-day comedy binge. Peter McGraw is a scientist and Joel Warner is a writer. Together, they're working on The Humor Code, a project and forthcoming book to determine what "funny" is and how comedy works. At the panel, the two of them tried to explain their research while the comics commented, questioned, and interjected.

It's pretty interesting stuff, but Pete Holmes put it well: "Comedy is this beautiful songbird, and you guys took it into a creepy lab and dissected it." The comics were great, McGraw the scientist was pretty funny himself, and there was a really interesting discussion of gender and comedy, both from the audience perspective and the comedian's perspective — a conversation during which Mary Mack was brilliant. She's got another show tonight at 8 at the Eagles Lodge. If you haven't seen her, do it.

At the Bagdad last night, Lance Bangs presented some of his favorite comics and a bunch of footage from film projects he's worked on. Emily Heller, Ron Funches, and Pete Holmes all had really solid sets. I was looking forward to seeing Mary Lynn Rajskub in her only scheduled appearance, but ended up kind of disappointed. She was funny, but was really uneven and didn't seem to be connecting. On the other hand, Brett Gelman was fucking fantastic, in his weird, antagonistic way. One of the show's highlights was Gelman's reaction to a heckler — a rant that went ON and included a description of the heckler having God's shit for brains.

The Bagdad's 10pm Delocated show didn't actually start until nearly 11:30. But the place was packed, and no one seemed to mind. The comics, including the delightful Amy Schumer, Kurt Braunohler and Todd Barry, were all really strong. But the show was pretty much stolen by Jon Glaser, in silver hotpants and Danner Boots. Why the focus on Danner? "It's a solid boot."

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Bridgetown Comedy Fest: Who Charted? & Late-Night Eagles

Courtney Ferguson — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 10:44:34 -0700

Oftentimes watching a podcast is about as riveting as it sounds. While making a non-live radio show visually interesting is beyond difficult, Who Charted? did a damn fine job yesterday. The popular podcast featuring Howard Kremer and Kulap Vilaysack filled the Bagdad, and they added punch to a panel format with watermelon and monkey pinata-smashing with guest Brett Gelman and some tambourine positive-energy encouragement from the ever-present Brody Stevens. The crew ended the show with a song from Kremer's rapping alter ego Dragon Boy Suede hoping to jump start a dance party—which did not gel with the Saturday afternoon (mostly hungover) audience.

This is where we flash forward in the day while I attend an AMAZEBALLS roller derby game at Memorial Coliseum. (Look for a recap of that barn burner this week—but Portland's Rose City Rollers came from behind Chicago's Windy City in the last minute of the game to win it by three points. It was incredible.)

The late-night show at the Eagles Lodge was the most consistent show I've seen at 2012's Bridgetown Comedy Festival. Not a stinker in the bunch. Prashanth Venkataramanujam had a scathing, spot-on set about how Americans waste water (insisting on peeing into perfectly potable toilet water and slathering water over a yellow tarp so fat children can slide around on lawns during the summer). Then he went to work on the absurdity of bearing children. It killed. You know who else killed? Everyone: Nick Rutherford with his Brazilian wax story, Mike Bridenstine with an audience-transfixing tale of cocaine and bull fighting, and my favorite, Portlander Kristine Levine. I've never seen Levine before and that is a dirty shame, she's awesome. She railed on and extolled the virtues of her moon-faced overweight kids, sipping from an airplane bottle of red wine, explaining why she wasn't concerned about neighborhood pedophiles. I could not have laughed harder.

Still tons of awesome-sounding shows this afternoon and tonight—power up with brunch!

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Night 2 at Bridgetown Comedy Fest

Temple Lentz — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:24:54 -0700

Comic Mike Bridenstine has a show. That show and occasional podcast, out of L.A., is called Roast the Week. He gets a handful of comics together, adds in some current events, and together they make fun of the week's news and each other. Mostly, they make fun of each other.

And it's great.

Last night, he took his show to the Helium stage, with Pete Holmes, Myq Kaplan, Mike Burns, John Roy, Matt Braunger, Michelle Biloon, Emily Maya Mills, and Jay Larson. It was a fantastic lineup, and since most of them know each other pretty well, their blasts on each other landed perfectly.

Matt Braunger commented on the strange layout for the show, with all 9 comics on stage at the same time, looking out at the audience. "You have your own audience, and we're staring at you."

But for the most part they were staring at each other, waiting to chime in and comment on the success or failure of everyone else's jokes with digs like, "perfect joke" and "laser accuracy."

They were obviously having fun with material they'd only recently written, and it made for a great, casual show. It only got a little weird close to the end, when Mike Burns worked himself into a red-faced fury and made casualties out of anything he had that was actually a joke. Note to up-and-coming comics: get drunk after your set, OK?

Helium has a pretty strict no-heckling policy, and the crowds there are almost always super-polite and friendly anyway. Emily Maya Mills had a weird moment with a Baby Boomer heckler, but his embarrassed wife shut him up. Later, Bridenstine addressed him: "You're heckling? There are nine comics on stage. You're a fucking idiot."

Over at Hawthorne Theatre, Improv4Humans played to a packed room. Improv4Humans is a great podcast that Matt Besser started when Upright Citizen Brigade's Asssscat wanted to develop an improv show for the radio. With the incredible Brett Gelman, Jon Glaser and Joe Wengert, he's put together a really fantastic show. Last night's performance was the first time they'd ever done the show for a live audience. With nothing but stools and microphones (the show was also being recorded for the podcast), they improvised full scenes, sitting still the whole time.

It was hilarious, with scenes that included, among other things: an Olive Garden in an elevator, Brett Gelman's penis, puppet molestation, bangin' with Jesus, and cross-county travels in a bumper boat. And although it was damn funny, the best part was seeing their eye contact and interaction, something you don't get on the audio-only podcast.

If you get the chance to see any of these guys in anything else, do it. Gelman's got three more shows today and two tomorrow, Glaser's got one tonight (the 10pm Delocated show at Bagdad, with Gelman) and one tomorrow, Wengert's at the Hawthorne late-night tonight, and Besser's at tonight's 9pm Hawthorne Primetime.

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Bridgetown Comedy Fest: Persona & Friday Highlights

Courtney Ferguson — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 13:14:47 -0700

Again with the raging laugh headache. My dance card was pretty full last night, so I didn't make it to a goodly amount of shows at the Bridgetown Comedy Fest, the main one being the Persona show at the Mt. Tabor Theater. Filled with comedians like Maria Bamford, Matt Besser, and Aparna Nancherla doing characters, it was a mostly fun grab bag. Kurt Braunohler, again, stole the show with his wordless impression of a bird, dragging an audience member (probably a plant) onto the stage to play a fellow fowl, feeding her gummi worms from his pocket and encouraging her to feed him like a baby bird. She eventually put a chewed-up worm in his mouth, only to have him erupt in anger, "WHAT THE FUCK, YOU SICKO." Bluster, then storm off stage. It was a fantastic bit, and it probably should have closed the night instead of the limp performance that ended the show. Maria Bamford was funny, but she's so much funnier with her long-form set where she does a bazillion characters, like her mom, sister, pugs, and uptight rich bitch. Aparna Nancherla played an adorable sleeping girl who was awoken by a pot-bellied water buffalo monster (I think that was Tony Sam under that mask), which was pretty funny. Although my companion noted that jokes about raping little boys are never funny.

Other Bridgetown ephemera: I caught a polarizing set from Emmett Montgomery at the Mt. Tabor Lounge, where he interacted with an animated character on the movie screen, named Sweetpea. This gelatinous blob was a mix between Weird Science's Chet, Jabba the Hutt, and Sloth, with blinking eyes, nipples, and groaning blurbling. Sweetpea was a hot mess, and Montgomery nailed the offbeat set. Over at the late-night Tanker stage, some entitled passive-aggressive Portland type tried to get me to move from a bar stool she'd occupied 30 minutes prior, while James Adomian (as the tights-wearing Sheriff of Nottingham) made it very, very hard for Bridgetown comedians to follow his act. Then Brody Stevens AND James Adomian together made it near impossible. Shit was tight.

Anyone catch Doug Benson's Movie Interruption screening of Con Air last night at the Hollywood?

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Bridgetown Comedy Fest: Hollywood Theatre Primetime

Temple Lentz — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:59:22 -0700

The sidewalk in front of the Mt. Tabor Theater was sick with comics last night, as people showed up to get their lanyards and wristbands, comics greeted old friends and bummed cigarettes from fans, and everyone tried to figure out where the hell they were supposed to go next.

As soon as I got through the crowd, I headed over to the Hollywood Theatre for the Primetime show. Things there were a little crazy too, but a lot of the kinks in ticketing and check-in should clear up by tonight.

The show began with about 1/3 of a house, and filled to half by about midway through. Comic Pete Holmes announced that "it looks like the Aegean Sea out there," with lots of little islands of people.

There were some great acts in the show's lineup, most of whom I'd never seen live. It started off a little slow for host Reid Faylor, but as the crowd got into the comics' energy, the show really started to pick up.

Ricky Carmona and his afro were a big hit, especially when he closed with a joke that seemed designed for Portland, about Memento, Pink Floyd, and weed. Go see him tonight at Best of Chicago or tomorrow at the Eagles Lodge.

Kristen Studard has a great bit that's as much performance art as it is stand-up, about proving that she's the sexiest woman in the world. She's performing again tonight in Best of Chicago and Sunday in Bridgetown All-Stars. I don't know if she'll do this bit again, but just in case, guys? Sit in the front row.

I was really pleasantly surprised by Rory Scovel, who had a great set but was also obviously just having a blast being there. In addition to making the requisite fun of Portland and Voodoo Doughnuts, he did a bit on air travel and the TSA that was actually funny. He also did the late show last night at Bossanova, and will be there again at 11pm on Saturday for Best of the South. Check him out.

Pete Holmes closed the show—and I know he's one of the bigger names at this year's festival, but up until last night I have to admit I mostly found him annoying. On stage however, he was absolutely riveting and I'm glad I got the chance to change my opinion. If you, like me, want to punch the e*trade baby in the face (he does its voice), do yourself a favor and go for a second opinion. He's got two shows tonight, two tomorrow, and one Sunday.

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Bridgetown Comedy Fest: Thursday Night in the Barmuda Triangle

Courtney Ferguson — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:29:45 -0700

I always forget how hard mornings suck after going to the Bridgetown Comedy Fest all night—oh, but the evenings are grand. I lost track of my PBR count and of how many comedians I saw last night, mostly in the Barmuda Triangle of SE Hawthorne. Both tallies were high. My favorite act was Kurt Braunohler at the Mt. Tabor Theater, who I immensely enjoyed last year, but kinda forgot about until now. He's a tall bespectacled Germanic dude with great delivery and impeccable timing, and he ended his set with a particularly funny bit where he ate the world's most depressing food (one hard-boiled egg) while reading unsuccessful tweets. It was goddamn hysterical. (You can see him tonight at the Hawthorne Theatre at 7 pm and at the Mt. Tabor at 11 pm.) If you get a chance, catch a set by Michelle Biloon. She killed last night right before Braunohler. (She's at Helium tonight at 7 pm.)

I also took in the first half of the All Things Brody show at the Eagles Lodge (go there to get drunk—$1.50 cheap beer). Brody Stevens was hosting and closing, and while it was great to get brief chunks of his act between other stand-ups, I find that Stevens works best as a cumulative act, with his motivational speaker steez building and building to ridiculous bombast. He's a lot to take in, but man, is he funny. (You can catch him tonight at 8 pm at the Bagdad.)

In other Bridgetown ephemera: Yes, the Tanker is still hosting their cavalcade of continuous comedy all weekend long, even though you're not seeing it listed on the official schedules. As Marjorie has already noted, print your own schedule at home if you want to know what's happening—or just use that smartphone, smarty. Don't expect to just stroll into the BOG's tiny, tiny comedy room—that place is teensy weensy and very full. No Portland jokes yet?! What the what. Note to performers: Perhaps you should mine the Mercury's I Saw U personals, where you can find such gems as "i messed up more than a few orders when you mouthed thankyou across the cafe. i was wearing a quinoa-covered apron. let's hangout when i don't smell like vegan/gluten-free food."

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Bridgetown Comedy: (Part of) The Best of Boston

Marjorie Skinner — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:14:00 -0700

My evening got off to a rocky start last night when my fiancé got t-boned on his motorcycle—he's a little banged up, but intact—so I was ready for some levity by the time I got down to Day One of the Bridgetown Comedy Fest. This year's program doesn't include the handy dandy schedule, and frankly its listings by performer are kinda useless for navigation, especially when, like me, Bridgetown is less about tracking down comics I'm already familiar with and more about wandering around to the less-hyped shows looking for that hilarious underdog that no one's heard of yet. I hear that before I got there they were handing out separate sheets with the night's schedule on them, but by the time I got there the staff was hoarding what were apparently their last three copies. So, to the iPhone it is.

My haphazard strategy led me to the in-progress Best of Boston showcase at the Bagdad, where it was pointed out by somebody onstage that "this isn't Boston. Who gives a fuck?" The crowd was pretty thin, but enthusiastic and receptive. "The little crowd that could," as we were dubbed. I caught complete sets of Jono Zalay, Jay Larson, Dwayne Perkins, and Shane Mauss. Of those the two I'd maybe seek out again are Larson and Perkins.

Larson was the only dude who had a noticeably Bostonian accent, and his jokes about pranking people were the funniest bits of the evening. The best was when he got a phone call from someone in New York who had the wrong number. It was a dude looking for "Brad" who was pissed off about some kind of budget that had gone from $15,000 to $10,000. Larson ran with it, making up shit as he went along, and amazingly the dude totally bought it. Days later he called back to bust him. Obviously, Larson didn't give a shit. HILAR. He's on again twice tonight (7 at Helium, 10 at the Bossanova main room) and again on Saturday (7 at the Hawthorne Theater main room).

Perkins' was the only African American of what I saw of the set, and as opposed to last year when every single comedian of color had a bit about Portland Whiteness (in fact there weren't any jokes about Portland at all, which is really unusual for this fest—maybe a memo went out, or maybe Portlandia already ruined the potential)—not that that isn't deserved—the closest he got was a pretty charming impression of white people dancing to hiphop, and how he wished he had that kind of freedom instead of being bound to constraints when he danced, such as the beat. It was pretty good update on an old saw. He's on tonight (8 pm at the Hawthorne), Saturday (7 at Hawthorne Theater Main) and Sunday (8 at the Eagles Lodge).

I really only dipped my toe in the massive schedule of performances last night (I had to go see Bear in Heaven too), but there's a whole lot of festival left. As ever, the best thing to do is spring for the pass, bring cash for beer and pizza, and just swing for the fences.

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Take a Class with a Bridgetown Comedy Fest Performer!

Temple Lentz — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:44:56 -0700

Okay, comedy nerds—this is pretty cool. Two of the guys who'll be performing at this week's Bridgetown Comedy Fest are each teaching a master class at Curious Comedy Theater this weekend.

Matt Besser, a stand-up comedian who's best known for his improv, is teaching a class in long-form improv on Saturday afternoon. He was one of the founders of the Upright Citizens Brigade, and is a part of their hugely (and deservedly) popular show ASSSSCAT.

Besser will be here at Bridgetown doing both stand-up and improv, including an episode of his podcast, Improv4Humans. They say all skill levels are welcome at the Saturday class—so sign up and get your improv on.

On Sunday, Curious is hosting a class in sketch writing with Ali Farahnakian, a writer and actor-improviser who is also an original member of Upright Citizens Brigade, a past writer for Saturday Night Live, and founder of the People's Improv Theater. Farahnakian knows his shit.

If you want to see him in action, he'll be with other weirdos from Jon Glaser's show Delocated on the Delocated Panel on Sunday night, at 6 pm at the Bagdad, with a great lineup that includes Jon Glaser, Todd Barry, Janeane Garofalo, and Amy Schumer.

But if you also want to spend a little time studying with a master, get in on his workshop at Curious, from 1-4 pm. They'll be focusing on commercial parodies, short sketches, and two-person scenes, with an emphasis on how to format things if you were to get all fancy and try to submit it to SNL.

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Bridgetown Comedy Fest Preview: Mike Drucker

Courtney Ferguson — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:14:31 -0700

This is not the highest-quality video in the world, but might I recommend listening while finishing up your last-minute Friday drudgery. Start at the 8:15 mark if you want the most funny for the shortest amount of time.

I did a little pre-func-ing last night for the upcoming Bridgetown Comedy Fest at Action/Adventure, who was playing host along with Action Comics to the Super Mega Ultra Virgins of Comedy Tour. It was criminally under-attended with three very funny comedians from Seattle (Travis Vogt, Derek Sheen, and my favorite of the Seattelites, Mike Drucker), but the small crowd was super into the nerdly comedy, laughing hard as the stand-ups riffed on the haunting train whistles going by the SE industrial space. But it was Mike Drucker in particular who killed it with his self-deprecating set about porn, videogames, and vampire fan-fiction. Now I'm super stoked to see both his shows at the Eagles Lodge (god, I love the Eagles Lodge) during Bridgetown. In fact all the comedians at the show last night (except for Sheen) will be performing at Bridgetown next weekend: Whitney Streed, Anthony Lopez, Shane Torres, Travis Vogt, and Mike Drucker.

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Spotted Dick

Courtney Ferguson — Tue, 03 May 2011 18:14:07 -0700

Andy Dick sighting in California via TMZ. There was some disorderly arresting, and at least now we know he won't be terrorizing Portland anymore and my hunt for him can finally end.

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W. Kamau Bell on the Bridgetown Comedy Fest

Alison Hallett — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:13:57 -0700

The SF Weekly just passed along a link to comedian W. Kamau Bell's column about the Bridgetown Comedy Festival. Here's a money quote:

I performed at Bridgetown in 2010, thanks to a fellow comedian vouching for me, and I had a good time. Okay, actually it was up and down. Mostly because I was stunned at the lack of ethnic diversity in Portland. And I was double stunned that the hipsters of Portland —- the bulk of the audience who attend the festival —- wanted no part of me talking and/or yelling about it. I didn't really think too much about returning until it I realized I could go back with the sociopolitical comedy show I lead with Janine Brito and Nato Green, Laughter Against The Machine. I figured this way the people of Portland would know if they came to see me that they were in for some yelling. Honestly, it also probably*** helped that I was able to persuade Margaret Cho to headline the show.

Is there a difference between white shame and white guilt? I think I developed some white shame this weekend after one comic referred to Portland crowds as "grotesquely pale." Even more than hipsters, Portland's lack of diversity was one of the festival's running threads. (Although in my experience this year, the only comic who got a negative reaction to a joke about race was Louis Katz, a white comic who made a joke I don't remember and then assured the audience that it was "okay to laugh" because his joke "wasn't actually racist." This coming from a comic who opened with jokes about vegans, hippies with dirty feet, and—seriously—took a swing at "Didgeridoo? More like didgeriDON'T!" It was the only moment all weekend I was remotely tempted to heckle, because there are few things more insulting than a comic assuming the crowd isn't laughing because they don't get his joke.)

Anyway, read the whole of Bell's piece for an out-of-towner's perspective on the fest, including kind words for the heroic organizational efforts of Andy Wood, and more praise for Moshe Kasher—he dominated this thing.

Also note: Everyone is concerned about Andy Dick.

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Bridgetown Comedy Fest: The Hunt for The Great White Andy Dick

Courtney Ferguson — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 09:59:35 -0700

Hop on the good ship Pequod, let's go Andy Dick hunting. Apparently he's still at large in Stumptown. This report from our man on the scene, Bridgetown Comedy Fest's Andy Wood, who mentioned something about Dick being missing: "I have no idea where he is, although I heard reports he showed up at Sinferno at Dante's last night. If you've heard anything else, please let me know. And tell him to call his manager and/or ex-girlfriend. Or to go to Hotel Fifty, where his bags still are."

Oh my.

And this from Blogtown commenter Warrjo, who was apparently tainted by Andy Dick's performance on Friday: "I had Andy Dick's dick and balls rubbed on my cheek with a good old-fashioned unwelcome face humping [during the show]... I heard stories of him being kicked out of some of Portland's least likely to be kicked out of bars like BOG and Sewickly's Edition. I heard he was even physically removed from the afterparty."

Any other Dick sightings from you land lubbers?

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Bridgetown Comedy Fest: Sunday's Highlights

Courtney Ferguson — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 11:14:38 -0700

I'll need a year to recover from this weekend—Bridgetown, as usual, was a laff blast. I lost track of hipster references, cans of PBR consumed, and number of comedians I saw. But here's one last tally from last night:

Kraken references: 2 (plus 1 "crackin'")
Holocaust references on Easter Sunday: 6,000,000
Andy Dick-is-missing references: 1 from Festival Organizer Andy Wood. I'm trying to figure out what happened here. It seems Dick might've missed his plane and is now wandering the city with his penis tucked up into his taint. Did anyone see him at the Persona show on Friday? Apparently there was a lot of Dick on display.

Alison and I hit up the Iron Comic show at the Bagdad. It was a lot of bang for the buck, with nearly a dozen comedians onstage. Hosts Nato Green and Moshe Kasher corralled the contestants (Hannibal Buress, Kyle Kinane, Emily Heller, Doug Benson, and Baron Vaughn), with a couple acts interspersed between the competition. Kinane won, but he probably shouldn't have. Hannibal Buress was particularly good and Doug Benson was on fire.

I ended the night at the Eagles Lodge, with a stellar lineup and a packed house of festivalgoers and comedians there for one of the last shows of the weekend. I was looking forward to Jon Daly and hoping to see his Bill Cosby-Bukowski bit, but my sleepy-time tea must've kicked in around 11. But Andy Wood and Portlanders Nathan Brannon and Tim Hammer killed it (Hammer had me with his first pun). Nice one, gents.

Now if I can just figure out where Andy Dick is, I can finally get some sleep. 'Til next year Bridgetown.

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Good Bets for Tonight: Keith Lowell Jensen and (Hopefully) Bill Cosby-Bukowski

Erik Henriksen — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 17:11:19 -0700

Unlike past years, I haven't been blown away or caught off-guard by anyone I've seen at Bridgetown this year. At least so far, that is; hopefully that'll change tonight.

A quick survey of the bigger shows I caught over the past few days: I was pleased enough with Theme Park's improv last night, even if a good chunk of said pleasure came from placing the group's semi-famous members (hey, it's Moist from Dr. Horrible! Hey, it's Oscar from The Office! Hey, it's that one guy who was on those two episodes of Party Down!). Friday night, I dug Lance Bangs' rare comedy footage—which included promising-but-failed pilots for shows featuring John Hodgman, David Cross, and Patton Oswalt—to the extent that I wish Bangs had just shown his home movies for two hours and not bothered sandwiching his videos between limp, interminable sets from Fred Armisen and Kristen Schaal. (That's a weird thing to say at a live comedy festival, I know, but hey, there you have it: Bangs' footage was great, fresh, and funny, while Schaal's set was forced and overlong and Armisen didn't even seem to be trying.) Last night's late-night lineup at the Tabor was impressively mediocre—there was sleeping in the audience—except for a too-brief set by Keith Lowell Jensen, who managed to (A) do some jokes about Portland that were actually funny, and (B) kick some much-needed excitement into the room. He's got another set tonight at 8 at Bar of the Gods.

Other solid bets for tonight: Courtney already has it covered, with mentions of Comedy is OK and Iron Comic, along with the 9 pm show at the Eagles Lodge. That last one will feature, among others, Bridgetown founder Andy Wood and Jon Daly, who hopefully will bust out his Bill Cosby-Bukowski character one last time.

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Bridgetown Comedy Fest: Saturday's Highlights

Courtney Ferguson — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 11:59:56 -0700

Running Tally:
Number of times the vegan stripclub was invoked in a joke: 3

Highlights:
Due to a combination of sun and roller derby, I merely skimmed the surface of last night's shows, but it is confirmed—Iliza Shlesinger is one funny lady. Also the lasses of the You Had to Be There podcast had a fun panel and live taping at the Mt. Tabor Lounge earlier in the day, with hosts Nikki Glaser and Sara Schaefer and guests Chris Fairbanks, Nick Thune, and MC Mr. Napkins. It was a charming way to suck down a bevy. Laughs were had. Heads now hurt.

Tonight:
I think you can still get a $20 ticket for all of tonight's shows. I wish Iron Comic didn't butt up against Comedy Is OK, but that's how the evening is stacking up. Also the late-night Eagles Lodge show looks promising. Maybe Jon Daly will break out his Bill Cosby-Bukowski character that Andrew mentioned.

Schedule here.

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Bridgetown Comedy Fest: Friday's Highlights

Courtney Ferguson — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 14:29:18 -0700

Running Tally:
Ok Cupid mentions: 3
Hipster mentions (it should be noted that some of these were referencing Brooklyn and L.A. hipsters): 6
Voodoo Doughnut mentions: 0 (hmm, did everyone get a memo?)
Oregon's Gas Pumping mentions: 1
Homeless People jokes: OFF THE CHARTS
Rape-y jokes: A PANTSLOAD (for efficiency, how about combining the last two categories?)

Highlights from last night:
Kurt Braunohler (as Ned mentioned he'll be doing Hot Tub tonight), Kyle Kinane apparently killed it last night (so says the hubby; I was stupidly too busy drinking at the Watertrough), Alex Gavlick (a 17-year-old high school student at the Bar of the Gods' tiny room), Robert Buscemi, and my personal favorite Cameron Esposito, a charming, hysterical, vest-wearing lesbian from Chicago who knocked everyone's socks off at the lounge at Mt. Tabor. Catch her set tonight at the Hawthorne Theatre at midnight.

Lowlights:
The drunk dude in the Bar of the Gods who kept falling down in everyone's laps. Check yourself, sir.

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Tonight at Bridgetown: Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen

Ned Lannamann — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 11:58:12 -0700

Bridgetown rolls along through the weekend, and there are a few noteworthy shows today: Andy Dick's one-man show, Hari Kondabolu and Margaret Cho and others at the Bagdad, and the Famous Mysterious Actor's Bridgetown installment with guests including local comics Ian Karmel and Richard Bain.

But the highlight may well turn out to be Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen, a variety show hosted by Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal that's a semi-regular event in New York. Schaal is one of the better known faces at Bridgetown this year (full disclosure: she and I ran in the same circles in New York), but she and Braunohler have been working as a comic duo for several years now, and the Bridgetown edition of Hot Tub will include guest comedians Kyle Kinane, Jon Daly (possibly in his Bill Cosby Bukowski guise), Brett Gelman, and Pete Holmes. The variety show will be an ideal change of pace from the constant stream of standup—and while there likely be some standup in Hot Tub, there will also be music from Nick Thune, plus the "occasional oddity," perhaps taking form in weird, subtle, funny, semi-improvised skits that change direction on the turn of a dime, like this:

Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen, Mt. Tabor Theater (main stage), 4811 SE Hawthorne, 9 pm, $25

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Tonight at the Bridgetown Comedy Fest: Persona!

Alison Hallett — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 16:53:15 -0700

The monthly LA showcase Persona! has an interesting hook: All the comedians perform not as themselves, but as a character. I soooort of feel the same way about "funny character" humor as I do about "funny song" humor, which is to say that most of the time I don't think it's that funny—I prefer observation-based humor, like jokes about airline food and stuff like that. But if anything can change my mind, it's tonight's showcase: The lineup has some of the festival's big names, including Andy Dick, James Adomian, and Brett Gelman, Dick may trot out the same acerbic British character he introduced last night, while Courtney linked to James Adomian's drunk Orson Wells impression this morning. Funny or Die has a few videos in which Brett Gelman does various impressions, but, um, in this one he's a lion, so:

also featuring Jon Daly, Ron Lynch, Tony Sam, Johnny Pemberton; Friday, April 22, 2011, 11:30 pm @ Mt. Tabor Theater Main Stage, $15, more info here

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Thursday Recap: Andy Dick Considered, Emily Heller, Ron Funches, & More

Alison Hallett — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:27:14 -0700

A few things that stood out at Bridgetown last night—linked names go to Bridgetown performer pages where you'll find more details on the comics' upcoming shows.

First off, I (somewhat inadvertently) caught Andy Dick's set at the Eagle's Lodge last night. And while I can't say that I found him particularly funny, it was an interesting study in image management: He copped an accent and introduced himself as a Brit snob named Dorian, whom he claimed invented an outlandish, out-of-control character named Andy Dick. This gave him a chance to address some of his own notorious bad behavior—to say, basically, "Yeah, I know you guys think I'm an asshole." But the device fell flat for me—I'm glad to know that Andy Dick is a self-aware being, but it felt like a disingenuous and too-clever way of handling a subject that could've been really compelling if addressed more honestly.

The Snob Theater showcase at The Hawthorne Theater was pretty solid gold: Host Shawn Robbins successfully fingered the drunkest dude in the room for audience participation that required reading aloud off of cue cards—it didn't go well, though at least dude didn't puke until AFTER he was offstage. San Francisco comic Chris Thayer (who needs to make himself a website with videos on it, unless he doesn't want to be successful) did a charming, laconic set, and Moshe Kasher has an intensity and presence that basically demand that you laugh at him, but it was local comic Ron Funches and SF comic Emily Heller who really sold the night for me. Funches is a stoner and a dad and he jokes with equal frankness about both; he has an oddly gracious stage presence that makes ever-so-easy to go wherever he goes, even (especially) if it's toward a discussion of Oreos and bacon. Emily Heller won me over when she opened with "I'm a feminist... and I understand why no one ever claps when I say that," then tore through a smart, confident set, offering perspective that was distinctly female without being, well, annoying about it. Oh, and the night closed out with funny songs from the typically hilarious Brent Weinbach. I don't think I like funny songs.

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Bridgetown Comedy Fest: Thursday's Highlights

Courtney Ferguson — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 14:29:24 -0700

Highlights: The Music Comedy program at the Mt. Tabor Theater. Mindy Raf killed it as a crunchy singer/songwriter vegan lesbian chick (which totally doesn't sound as fun as it was, right?). She was rocking her guitar and itching her boobs in a most hairy-legged manner and it all boiled down to a great character who nailed the type without edging into groan-inducing. She was a stellar surprise. The rest of the lineup was good, especially hunky Chris Garcia on guitar and host MC Mr. Napkins. I was kinda disappointed in Chip Pope's '80s British rocker RO Manse, but I think that was more a result of a persnickety sound system at the Mt. Tabor.

Oddness: Andy Dick at the Eagles Lodge was a bit disconcerting and awkward, but it was less traumatic (comedy wise) then I was expecting.

Randomness: The Tanker, as always, was fun, with the open mic-esque cavalcade hijinks. It's a great way to cap off the night, like a funny digestif. Also, the ladies were hot last night—Barbara Gray's set at the Mt. Tabor Lounge... funny as get-out.

Tonight: Go to the second Music Comedy program (Bagdad Theater, 10 pm, $15). Mindy Raf will be there, as will Chip Pope, Howard Kremer, Nick Thune, Mike Phirman, DJ Real, DJ Dougg Pound.

Mindy Raf

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Bridgetown Last Night and Theme Park Tonight

Marjorie Skinner — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:29:00 -0700

OMG, YOU GUYS EVERYBODY BE CAREFUL! In an act of horrible timing, the sidewalks surrounding the entrance to the Hawthorne Theater are undergoing some kind of construction that prevents their being used, paving the way (ha!) for plenty of potential fatalities this weekend as increasingly drunken Bridgetown Festivalgoers contend with the dangerous game of frogger they are being forced to play at the busy intersection of SE 39th and Hawthorne. The owner, according to the bouncer last night, is rightfully "pissed."

I managed to scamper past the traffic unscathed last night to catch what was probably one of the more underdog of the four shows that kicked off the fest at the Hathorne theater main stage, in hopes of 1) actually finding a seat and 2) being introduced to some of the less hyped about talent on the schedule. The audience was modest (I could have easily stretched out on three or four chairs if I wanted to) but enthusiastic, and host Scott Moran did a decent job deflecting any discomfort. And, I was rewarded by sets including two new favorites: Adam Hammer did a hilarious set about his parents and his own theories about parenting and drinking, and drinking while parenting. He's awesome, and if you missed him, too bad—he's booked in Pasadena tonight. Hopefully, he'll be back, and if so remember that name. Adam. Hammer. The other standout was Jesse Case, who as Courtney mentioned this morning, can be seen again on Saturday at the Bagdad (7 pm as part of Last Comic Standing Room Only). The only one that fell a little flat was the helium-voiced Jan Davidson, whose mom joke material seemed a little too heavily trod. Nonetheless, you can give her a shot tonight at the Eagles' Lodge at 7 or tomorrow at the Tabor lounge at 10. After the Hawthorne show wrapped, I went and caught two funny sets at the Bagdad from Mike Bridenstine (also performing tonight at 11 at the Mt Tabor Lounge and again at the same venue on Saturday at "11:59") and Nikki Glaser, who waxed on about female pubic hair maintenance (I'm unstoppable!), who again, as Courtney mentioned, can be taught tonight at the Bagdad too. (Incidentally, whenever your ass can't take anymore of the plastic folding chair scene, remember that the Bagdad has the coziest seats.)

Tonight's sets include Theme Park 1 back at the Hawthorne main, and below the cut you'll find previews of that showcase's talent. Onward!

Theme Park 1 starts at 7:30 tonight at Hawthorne main (caution drunkards!), for $25 with:

Headliner Simon Helberg, star of The Big Bang Theory. Other credits include Arrested Development, Reno 911!, Old School, and Walk Hard. Here he is in a skit for The Committee with Rich Sommer:

The Committee Ep 2: Butterfly Enclosure w/ Simon Helberg & Rich Sommer from drew_pearce

Oscar Nunez AKA Oscar from The Office. Other credits: Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Proposal, Malcolm in the Middle:

Janet Varney (Dinner and a Movie, SF Sketch Fest founder), who Alison profiled yesterday, and who appears to be quite charming. Peep that ninja interview if you haven't already. There's also Michael Hitchcock (United States of Tara, Glee, Party Down, every Christopher Guest movie ever):

Cole Stratton (re-enactor for America's Most Wanted, which is an awesome thing to have on ones resume, IMO, co-founder of SF Sketch Fest with Varney). Here are the both of them providing Mystery Science Theater 3,000-style commentary for a scene from Poltergeist for RiffTrax.com:

Tonight's the night I'm gonna go all out for Bridgetown, all night long. Here's to a fatality free Friday night, ya'll!

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