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Boston International Comedy Festival and Lewis Black Originally appeared in The Boston Globe, April 26, 2002
The list speaks for itself: Eugene Mirman, Patrick Borelli, Dwayne Perkins, Patrice O'Neal, Brendon Small, Mike Birbiglia. The Boston comedy scene has been exporting talent for years. Most leave to get a foothold in television or film, in LA or New York City, happy that they have had the chance to polish their acts just outside the industry mainstream. Boston is where comedians get good, but to make it big, they go elsewhere.
The founders of the Boston International Comedy Festival are hoping to change that, or at least to provide more opportunity for comics to be seen on their home turf. Representatives from Comedy Central, ''Late Show With David Letterman,'' and managers, agents, and organizers of the third annual festival will be in town tonight through May 11 looking for new talent.
The event kicks off tonight with stand-up competitions at Jacob Wirth restaurant and Nick's Comedy Stop. Theme shows such as the Alternative Comedy Show and the Young Guns Show will be held starting May 5 at venues through Boston. (Visit bostoncomedyfestival.com.)
A local comedian and festival cofounder, Jim McCue, says that putting a spotlight on the town for two weeks a year will help Boston comedy. ''I think it definitely could have a very good effect on the scene,'' he says. ''What used to happen is, acts had to work on their acts and then move to LA or New York. And now we have [people] coming here and seeing kind of where it all starts.''
A five-year veteran, Lamont Price, found Boston the perfect place to hone his skills as a young comic. ''If you're starting out as a comic, I would say to come to Boston,'' he says. ''You get the competition you need, but there's no scrutiny on you.''
Although Price plans to move to New York this summer, he wouldn't have wanted to debut there. ''If you start out in New York, I think it'd be tougher,'' he says. ''Because it's harder for a guy to help you out when you're starting out when he's competing with you for a position in the comedy scene. So without the extra media exposure here and the scrutiny on a comic, it's much easier for a new guy to get relaxed.''
Price has played almost every room in Boston; now he sees moving to New York as a natural progression. Whatever the next level is, he doesn't think he'll reach it here. ''There's a ceiling in Boston,'' he says. ''There aren't that many headlining positions out there, so you've got to go elsewhere. And that's fine.''
McCue doesn't believe the media will change Boston's status as a good city in which to develop. ''It's once a year. It's two weeks. They all come in, it's like the marathon. You have the whole year to train for it, and then it's over.''
Still, he hopes the added industry attention will reap rewards for the comics. ''This year, I hope that somebody gets the David Letterman show, a couple of people get to go to Aspen,'' he says.
Politics make Lewis Black angry. Political humor, the kind Black performed on two recent Comedy Central specials and the kind he'll likely be doling out for Sunday's show at the Comedy Connection, doesn't help make him any less angry. Even the sight of politicians makes Black boil.
''I just can't believe it,'' Black says. ''I feel like I did when I first did drugs and watched people talk. When I watch politicians talk, I feel like that now all the time. They just seem to get worse. And then there's the frustration of the fact that you kind of go, `I gotta keep doing this?'''
Of course, part of this anger belongs to the character Black has created as his stage persona, the one he plays as a commentator on ''The Daily Show.'' He can hardly contain himself when he's into his shtick, cheeks slacking and twitching and index fingers wagging as if he were trying to conjure a spell to destroy stupidity.
Black and his character are usually fairly distant from each other, but Black does have a lot in common with the person he becomes when he prowls a stage. ''Except that the anger onstage can't be completely real,'' he says. ''It does get real at times, which is fine. It raises the tension in the room and creates more of a kind of possibility of comedy.''
The character can be physically exhausting for Black, but he says he has never considered changing his persona. He has too much invested in it. ''Plus,'' he adds, ''now it's fun because I just kind of take notes and go onstage and let him do the talking. He would say stuff about things that I wouldn't. ... He goes off and then I have to almost break the wall and say, you know, `That was stupid.'''
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