The Stand-Up Chronicles

Dan St. Germain joins me on the show this week.  Dan can be seen on VH1's Best Week Ever.  We talk about what his week is like with balancing stand-up and working on the show.  He's also been on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and John Oliver's Stand-Up New York.  He has a Comedy Central Half-Hour Comedy Special premiering in May.

Here's more on Dan:

Dan’s a regular on Best Week Ever and has a Half Hour Comedy Central standup special coming out this spring. He’s been seen on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver’s NY Standup Show, The Electric Company, and a bunch of other basic and not so basic cable shows… Don’t watch his drunken racist rant on Logo. He was going through a hard time. He’s the creator and star of the web series Kicking Dan Out featured on My Damn Channel and has his own podcast called My Dumb Friends co-hosted by friend and lover Sean Donnelly which will be launching on Comedy Central Sirius this spring. He’s appeared as a guest on WTF with Marc Maron and The Artie Lange Show, as a “New Face” at The Montreal Comedy Festival, and in a Super Bowl commercial with Howard Stern. His “Cat Guy” joke was selected as one of the twenty best jokes about NY, a list which included Woody Allen. He’s currently developing a script for Comedy Central called Hell Hole as well as a web series for Comedy Central Studios about over night security guards called In Security. Dan’s album Bad at The Good Times comes out on A Special Thing Records this year. Buy it so he doesn’t have to return to a life of crime.

Click here to go to Dan's website.

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Tim Wilson returns to the show this week. Find out why a comedian should never leave the stage.  Tim was just on the Showtime special Road Dogs of Comedy and he can be heard on Bob & Tom.

Here's more on Tim:

Forty five years is hard to squeeze into a web page so here are the basics.

Born August 5, 1961 in Columbus Georgia. Parents were school teachers so Tim Wilson grew up on mustard sandwiches, playing Little League baseball and Pop Warner football and making straight A's in School.

"I grew up listening to a ton of AM radio during the commute back and forth to games and I memorized most of the records that played on two jukeboxes at a Tom's Foods employee swimming camp where my father and older brother were lifeguards for about sixteen years. That was my musical training."

A born ham, he developed a talent for doing impressions of teachers and anybody he saw on television which got him involved in numerous talent shows.

"My mother would take me to her school sometimes and I would entertain her classes with this act I had put together. I actually did my first pro show when I was about 11 at some soldier at Fort Bennings' birthday party and I got paid 15 dollars for it, which was double what we would all later get paid at The Improv in New York."

By high school, his grades had gone to hell and Tim started writing songs about all the girls who wouldn't go out with him. There were a lot of songs! Tim decided he wanted to be in the music business.

"I was playing football and running track and dragging around a guitar and listening to every record I could get my hands on. Eventually I became a huge fan of Clapton and a bunch of Southern Rock groups: mainly Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Atlanta Rhythm Section."

Tim finagled a part time job as a sports writer a the local paper and would later moonlight as a concert reviewer.

"I was kinda like the kid in Almost Famous except instead of working for Rolling Stone, I was at the Ledger Enquirer in Columbus." "Short version, I went to review an Atlanta Rhythm Section concert and met the drummer Roy Yeager. I told him I was a songwriter and I'd heard he was a producer and I wanted to send him some stuff. I mailed it to him and about three months later he called me and brought me up to Studio One in Doraville where they recorded and we made some demos. That is where I got close to real show business. I always tell people I got in show business going to the Waffle House and getting the Atlanta Rhythm Sections orders right!"

Somewhere in there he graduated college.

So I'm renting this bullshit apartment in Atlanta, but mostly sleeping on Dean Daughtry of ARS's couch,working a job at a one hour eye wear store that Roy's wife Laine had found for me and I drive this girl I work with home one day and pass something I'd never heard of: A COMEDY CLUB. I show up on open mic night and am informed that you can make more money telling jokes than you can selling glasses. So I go up and do three jokes I'd written and my impression of Richard Pryor's MudBone. I meet my manager Chris DiPetta the same night and here we go. Suddenly Songwriter Boy is a Comedy Man.

The rest of it is a long story.

For more on Tim, click here.

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Auggie Smith returns to the show this week to talk about floods, the dark side of Portland, and acts of cowardice.  Auggie has a new podcast called Motivationally Speaking and a new CD called Smell the Thunder.  He's been heard on Bob and Tom and seen on Comedy Central.

Here's more on Auggie:

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Danny Kallas, one of Chicago's Comedians You Should Know, joins me on the show this week.  Danny has performed at the Just for Laughs Festival and Laughing Skull Festival.  We talk about people's perceptions of Chicago comedy and how to get to gigs without a car.

Here's more on Danny:

The blue-collar Chicago accent of Danny Kallas has been described as "so thick, you don't even know what hit you." Raised in Elmwood Park, a tightly-knit community bordering Chicago's Northwest side, Danny enjoys blending all sorts of comedy. From absurd silliness to intelligent satire, if it's funny, it's in his act.

Danny has been named on Comedy.com's list of funniest comedians in Chicago. He was the winner of Snubfest 2009 and has participated in numerous comedy festivals including Just For Laughs in Chicago and the Laughing Skull Festival in Atlanta.

For more on Danny and the rest of the Comedians You Should Know, check out this site.

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Chicago comic Sydney Adeniyi joins me on the show this week.  Sydney is Nigerian-American and we talk about the time he's spent in Nigeria.  Sydney won the Best of the Best Chicago Comedy Contest and teaches comedy at McKay Arts Theater.

Here's more on Sydney -

Sydney Adeniyi is a Nigerian-American comedian from Belleville IL, a small city near St. Louis MO. At an early age, Sydney found a knack for making people laugh by improvising jokes for friends and family. He took his talent to stage a few years after graduating college. Now, he startles audience’s funny bone with satirical and curious material with a touch of mischief. Sydney’s likable, relaxed and engaging comedy breaks the mold while being uniquely original and fun.

Sydney appeared on the TV show “Laugh Out Loud St. Louis”, the movie “Sad Café”, He is the winner of “The Best of The Best” Chicago comedy contest and a featured performer in “Eddison Park Comedy Fest”. Sydney writes and produces content for sydneyadeniyi.com and teaches comedy at McKay Arts Theater.

Click here to check out his website.

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This week we talk to Jamison Raymond about launching a successful Kickstarter campaign and how comedians can use it to their advantage.  Jamison won the Bloomington Comedy Festival and was a semi-finalist in the Funniest Person in Cincinnati contest.

Here's more on Jamison:

Jamison is an up and coming comic that started doing in Bloomington, IN and is beginning to heat up in his comedy career. His self effacing "nerd" comedy coupled with smug observations make him a truly unique comedian to watch. Audiences are charmed into laughing at his ridiculous anecdotes and solutions to all the worlds problems. If crowds don't laugh, he spins into a dark depression that lingers for weeks, making even the most menial tasks nearly impossible for him. So, when you see him, please laugh, for his sake... and the children. 

Jamison is the winner of the Bloomington Comedy Festival as well a semi-finalist in the Funniest Person in Cincinnati competition. He also likes video-games and using hyphens as often as possible.

Find him on Twitter @JJRayGun

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Andy Beningo joins me on the show this week.  Andy has been on Bob and Tom and performed at comedy festivals all over the country.  We'll talk about working clean and the Michigan comedy scene.

Here's more on Andy:

Andy Beningo, named “Best Comedian” by the Detroit Metro Times, has been heard on the nationally syndicated Bob and Tom Radio Show, XM Sirius Radio and on the American Forces Network. He was a finalist on CMT's ‘Next Big Comic,’ and has appeared on the NBC affiliate show, ‘Night Shift with Kevin Ferguson.’ He was the warm up act for Betty White at the Gilda Laugh Festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan and has performed at the Johnny Carson Theater at the Great American Comedy Festival and Detroit Comedy Festival. In addition, he’s appeared on the Comedy Time Network, on Comcast Cable and on MavTV. He became a favorite on Rooftop Comedy, where his material was highlighted on three different series, including Comedy Cut Outs- an animated series. In 2012, he was tapped to host the National College Competition presented by TBS at both Michigan State and the University of Michigan.

The Duluth Tribune raved about Beningo’s act, saying “he prides himself in clean material, and is extremely funny.” His energetic act centers around growing up as the middle child, technology,  life as a college student, fast food restaurants, and a short lived career as a middle school teacher.

Now, Beningo continues to be a touring work horse, performing in some 250 shows a year in corporate events, colleges, theaters, churches and casinos. He works some of the top comedy clubs in the country, including Dangerfield's in New York City, Zanies in Chicago, the Improv and Funny Bone Comedy Club chain. He has been the opening act for his childhood hero Dave Coulier (Full House), as well as the late great Greg Giraldo, Saturday Night Live’s Jim Breuer, MAD-TV star Frank Caliendo, Comedy Central's Carlos Mencia and Maria Bamford, Last Comic Standing winners John Heffron and Jon Reep, and comedy legends Gilbert Gottfried, Jimmy Brogan, Emo Philips and many more!

Click here to check out Andy's website.

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This week on show find out what happens when you invite comedians to your wedding with my guest Dean Edwards.  We also talk about his first day working for SNL, which was September 11, 2001.  Dean has not only been on SNL but also MTV2’s Guy Code, TV One’s Vidiots, and BET’s Don’t Sleep. He’s also peformed all over the world from Montreal to South Africa to Egypt.

Here's more on Dean:

With a dynamic energy and an almost tangible onstage presence, Dean Edwards remains one of the comedy worlds most in demand performers across the globe. Armed with a razor sharp wit, an arsenal of characters and spot on impressions, it’s no wonder that he’s become such a favorite, garnering media attention as well as a legion of fans. As one of the stars of MTV2’s hit show, GUY CODE, Dean has helped the show become the networks most successful show in its history. He also just completed hosting TV One’s clip show, VIDIOTS and serves as a correspondent on BET’s new program, DON’T SLEEP, hosted by TJ Holmes.

A talented Actor/Comedian, Dean Edwards has been making his mark in comedy following two successful seasons as a cast member on “SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE With such memorable impressions as Don Cheadle, Michael Jackson and Denzel Washington, as well as such original characters as “Man in Elevator” and “Cop#2″, Dean always pushed himself to the limits of creativity and exhaustion. Always the multi-tasker, Dean found the momentum to juggle his SNL career, his numerous standup appearances and multiple television appearances.

Born in the Bronx and raised throughout New York, Dean’s travels made it easy for him to communicate with all walks of life. After dividing his college career between classes and a 6-year term in the U.S. Army Reserves, Dean ultimately made the choice to devote his career to comedy. Although his fellow soldiers loved his impressions of their drill sergeant, Dean spent many an afternoon doing push-ups to pay for his comedic talent. That talent paid off and Dean found his career after participating in a college talent show. Armed with a degree in communications, Dean became an in-demand comic, and landed his first big break on Russell Simmons’ “DEF COMEDY JAM.” Though the show is renown for it’s blue humor, Dean found a way to break the traditional mold with his mainstream appeal. Subsequently, he was a featured comedian on “SHOWTIME AT THE APOLLO” a few years later. Dean followed his TV appearances by starring in numerous television commercials, and also worked with Spike Lee on the hit feature film “THE ORIGINAL KINGS OF COMEDY”.

Edwards has since earned a reputation as a headlining favorite at comedy clubs and colleges across the country. An international sensation, Dean has attended Montreal’s Just For Laughs Comedy Festival twice and was chosen to perform at the Jozi, Cape Town and Durban Comedy Festival’s in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban South Africa, as well as Saudi Arabia in late, 2009. More recently, Dean completed a tour of the Middle East, performing in front of more than 10,000 comedy fans: beginning in Cairo, Egypt and ending in Kuwait. Dean has made several late night appearances, including “The Late Show with Craig Ferguson” and “Last Call with Carson Daly.” He is also a favorite and frequent guest on Byron Allen’s “Comic Unleashed,” and is frequently providing comedic commentary on various VH1 highlight shows. Director Malcolm Lee also chose Dean to finish Bernie Mac’s voice/ADR work on “Soul Men” after the comedian’s untimely death. He spent 2 years creating and workshopping the character of Donkey, leading up to Dreamworks’ SHREK THE MUSICAL on Broadway. Jeffrey Katzenberg was so impressed by Dean’s vocal talents that he invited Dean to step into Eddie Murphy’s shoes to reprise the role of Donkey in Dreamworks’ new Halloween classic, “SCARED SHREKLESS”. Some of his feature credits include “SPIDERMAN 3”, “TONY –N- TINA’S WEDDING” and “UNIVERSAL REMOTE”.

Click here to check out Dean's website.

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Brent Terhune joins me on the show this week to discuss prisons, flea markets and haunted hotels.  Brent, an Indianapolis comic, is a writer for the Bob and Tom radio show.  He's also performed at the Iowa Comedy Festival, Cleveland Comedy Festival, and Gilda's Laugh Fest.

Here's more on Brent:

Characters, voices, one liners, and time-tested monologues-comedian Brent Terhune is the embodiment of all these things and more. Not many comics can pull off Brent’s laid-back style of comedy and still remain just as absurd and funny, but equally relevant and relatable at the same time. Currently, Brent is a writer for the nationally syndicated Bob & Tom Radio Show (he’s been on the show, too) as well as the co-host of the immensely popular podcast that is enjoyed by dozens of listeners, The Interweb Podshow. He’s also performed at the Iowa Comedy Festival, Gilda’s Laugh Fest, and the Cleveland Comedy Festival where he took 2nd place (2012).

Click here to check out Brent's website.

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