Comedian Roy Wood Jr. said the current coronavirus pandemic has brought stand-up comedy, along with much of the entertainment industry, to a standstill, leaving “all eyes on the Internet.”
Wood, 41, a stand-up comedy veteran of more than 20 years and a correspondent for Comedy Central’s The Daily Show since 2015, predicted in a Vulture article in early March that the COVID-19 pandemic would cause comedy clubs and other venues across the country to shut, and he told UPI in a recent interview that he already has seen comedians adapt to the new status quo.
“I think we’re still on the uptick part of the roller-coaster,” Wood said of the coronavirus crisis. “We haven’t even gone down yet. It is refreshing to see comedians adapting and starting to put online videos of them doing stand-up.
“We’re still figuring it out, but at least comedians are out there trying to make funny videos, trying to entertain us. That’s important.”
Going online
Wood said he was particularly impressed with comedian Mark Normand, who posted a Corona Comedy video March 24 that showed him performing stand-up comedy for passersby on the streets of New York City while lamenting the closing of the city’s comedy clubs.
“Mark Normand, doing comedy on the street. Outdoors. Dude is smart,” Wood said.
He said Normand’s video is an example of what to expect from stand-up comedy in coming weeks.
“All eyes on the Internet right now,” Wood said. “We’re going to have to keep an eye on what’s the best way to present this stuff to people. I think that’s going to be the deciding factor in how to connect, because with comedy, with stand-up in clubs, you perform in front of a live audience.”
Wood said performing stand-up for an online audience is different from performing at a live venue because a comedian is simultaneously performing for “one person” and “a million people individually.”
“It’s not really the same audience ideology,” he said.
The comedy veteran said he expects comedy clubs will reopen once the virus has run its course, but it remains to be seen how the economic fallout from the pandemic will affect stand-up for months and years to come.
“I don’t think we will ever lose the nature of that connection. It may happen in smaller venues, in fewer cities, in fewer places after corona, but there’s still going to be concerts,” Wood said.
“I don’t believe comedy will be any different,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to lose stand-up in a live capacity, but there’s definitely going to be a huge change. I think the important thing right now that’s been happening is giving people an opportunity to connect with their audience.”
He said one question looms large among stand-up comedians: Will audiences be ready to return to comedy venues once they reopen?
“People won’t have disposable income, and they’re going to be more discerning about how they choose to spend it. So the $5 open mic night will become free open mic. Well, now you’re not making money, so how long can you last? So those are the variables that are going to come into play for a lot of young comics, when no one has stage time,” he said.
He said some comedians who have been building an online presence for years are likely to have an edge in the current, Internet-focused environment.
“If a video is engaging, it’s going to find eyeballs,” Wood said. “So the people that are already doing it well can just keep doing what they’re doing. And for others, it’s going to be a learning curve.
“I think that’s what’s happening right now to a lot of comedians — myself included — who haven’t built their brand solely online. I’m an analog guy, I started in the 1980s. If it weren’t for The Daily Show, I wouldn’t be half as sharp as I am now.”
‘The Daily Show’
The Daily Show was one of the first of the late-night comedy shows to adapt to the coronavirus crisis, quickly modifying its format to allow its staff to work remotely. Correspondents like Wood have been delivering remote reports from their homes.
“I’m thankful to still have the workflow. I think it’s still a work in progress, but I’m thankful the fans have stuck with us,” he said.
Wood said the pandemic also affected the content of the show, with the already chaotic news cycle becoming even more unpredictable.
“We’re going from a 24-hour news cycle to a 12-hour news cycle, and now, with corona, it feels like a six-hour news cycle. It’s new terrain,” Wood said. “It feels like there’s one set of news at 10 a.m. and then a couple of news conferences after, and the world’s upside-down again.”
He said the show doesn’t seem to be struggling to find content, despite the virus dominating news outlets.
“The issue is corona and who has it and who’s going to get it,” Wood said. “And the news follows two or three threads from the story. We have the ability to go, ‘OK, corona, who has it? But what about who’s not getting tested? What about the fact that criminals are going to start getting it in jail? What if cops start catching it? How is that going to affect society?’ There’s so much underneath.”
Giving back
Wood recently teamed with comedian Mike Birbiglia for the Tip Your Waitstaff initiative, which is a series of videos in which Birbiglia teams with a different comedian each time to raise money for the servers and other employees at comedy clubs that have shut during the pandemic. Wood said he expects to see similar projects take off as the crisis continues.
“I think the next focus will be on how to help comedians themselves, and there’s some stuff coming down the pipeline that I can’t discuss just yet because it’s not public, but there’s more coming, definitely,” he said.
Wood said some direct ways to help exist for fans who still have disposable income during the crisis to show support for entertainers whose careers have been affected.
“I think that if anyone wants to support any entertainer of any kind, the easiest way is just to buy their stuff,” he said. “If they have an album, purchase it. If they have merch and things of that nature, grab it. That’s the most efficient way, but I think a lot of comedians, a lot of entertainers would tell you to just give to charity as best you can.”
UMC (www.UMC.tv), the first streaming service for Black TV and film from AMC Networks, is bringing the comedy club to Instagram live with two back to back comedy performances from comedians Aida Rodriguez (Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready) and Gary “G Thang” Johnson (Master P’s I Got The Hook Up 2). The special showings of stand-up or rather “sit-down” comedy, will take place today, Friday, March 27th on UMC’s Instagram page, @WatchUMC. The live special will kick off with Rodriguez’s set first at 7pm EST/4pm PST. Johnson’s set will follow beginning at 8pm EST/5pm PST.
“As the recent coronavirus pandemic has forced audiences nationwide to remain indoors and confined to their homes, the need to evolve and determine new ways to provide entertainment that’s easily viewable and affordable is evident now more than ever,” said UMC’s Chief Content Officer, Brett Dismuke. “In these challenging times, our hope is that this special Instagram live event will uplift spirits and provide the laughter that many of us could use right now.”
Fans can see more of Aida Rodriguez and Gary “G Thang” Johnson in titles they both have currently streaming on UMC. Written by and featuring Rodriguez, the stage play Ladies Book Club follows 30-year-old best friends Bunny (Angel Conwell, Baby Boy) and Carlyle (Lyriq Bent, She’s Gotta Have It). Close since their high school days, Bunny soon finds her meddling mother (Jackée Harry, Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta) and her group of friends – which include Elise Neal and “The Real” co-host Amanda Seales – are determined to see her and Carlyle be more than just friends.
Johnson can be seen starring in the sequel to Master P’s 1998 classic film I Got The Hook Up 2; and the comedy series Grown Folks. A sitcom from Bentley Kyle Evans, the showrunner/producer of cult classics like Martin and The Jamie Foxx Show, Grown Folks follows two blue-collar couples who share a duplex while navigating life, marriage and friendship. New subscribers to UMC may take advantage of the current deal for an extended 30-Day free trial with code UMCFREE30, applicable only at www.UMC.tv.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah landed late-night’s first interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House Coronavirus Task Force Member and Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The interview was captured virtually earlier yesterday and it aired in its entirety in an all-new episode of The Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah last night on Comedy Central.
The interview is also available on all of the series’ social platforms, including The Daily Show’s YouTube Channel.
Dr. Fauci spoke with Trevor Noah to share critical information about the importance of staying home and practicing distancing to reduce the spread of COVID-19. This interview was one of four that Dr. Fauci conducted on Thursday, March 26 with influential personalities specifically chosen due to their vast social and digital reach and their hyper-engaged YouTube audiences. The series of interviews was done in an effort to share factual, authoritative information with a younger audience that may not be consuming news via more traditional sources.
Here’s a clip:
Here Lies Stand Up
By Darryl Littleton
Stand Up Comedy is dead! Official cause of death – Coronavirus with Trump complications. After a lengthy illness due to the politically correct sanctions, and despite recent signs of resurgence (thanks to Netflix), Stand Up finally succumbed this past weekend from the prescription of no public gatherings over 10 people. That dose was barely enough for a club staff, much less a show. Not a Stand Up show, anyway. Not a real one.
Social distancing’s now the New World Order. Six feet apart minimum, sending industries scrambling to decipher how to hold crowd events without crowds. Football assured their players that the games would still be played. Just no fans in the stands. Music moved seamlessly into the new format of empty concerts when a worldwide audience experienced the history making performance of DJ Nice. From wealthy dignitaries to those who had no idea how they’d keep food on the table, an entire society was served up the future in the unifying dialogue of beats and sounds.
Stand Up was always the odd one out. Though athletes and musicians feed off the crowd, Stand Up depend on them. Without laughter, what is Stand Up? Riffing material into a camera is performance and in some cases therapy, but the absence of individuals to validate those musings with the requisite reaction diminishes the art to self-indulgent monologuing. Who says what you’re saying is funny – you? That’s akin to the lawyer who represents himself.
Stand Up relies on interaction. The old traditions from Africa of call & response, innuendo, pantomime are all by-products, and by the way Stand Up was the hardest art form of them all because it demanded your instant reaction. Thus making Stand Up more intricate than Painting, Sculpting, Music, Dance and by far Acting. Ever notice that some of the greatest thespians, such as DeNiro, Olivier and Hanks couldn’t credibly pull off playing stand-up comedians, yet stand-up comedians have earned prestigious awards for playing anything but stand-up comedians?
Needless to say, the public will be offered substitutes to fill the void. Some will even resemble Stand Up. For instance, on March 21, 2020 comedian Nate Jackson secured an empty studio and with only 8 hours of promotion did a live pay-per-view comedy show he dubbed “Laughter Lockdown Comedy”. Six people showed up and sat spread apart His pay-per-view take was substantial, but he admitted that the experience of doing the actual show was “weird”. Of course it was. It wasn’t really Stand Up. It was incorporating homosapien metronomes.
Other such altered configurations also popped up that fateful weekend Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank, California had a virtual reality open mic, consisting of comics doing 3-4 minute sets from home (one was even lying in bed) and receiving laughs from the other comics; the ones waiting for the camera to display them. In Virginia, Team Fred charged $10 for a virtual night of comedy with a portion of the proceeds going to their local food bank. While in other parts of the country, individual comedians did virtual sets for Cash-App payments. So money can still be made doing comedy; just not Stand Up.
Or is stream of consciousness in a vacuum the future of what was once Stand Up? In 2018, HBO aired the Jerrod Carmichael directed experimental comedy special written and performed by comedian Drew Michael. A very artsy endeavor that had Michael looking into the camera to express his inner thoughts on a topic before delivering material on said topic while pacing about in a surreal environment. Occasionally a girl would appear in another setting and validate or destroy his ramblings. It was not without merit and definitely a producer’s dream, but it was not Stand Up. It was talking by yourself. Interesting, but without an audience and immediate acceptance or rejection of a punchline – no cigar.
Stand-Up was magical. Its disciples were combination performer, writer, producer, editor and director all in one. Stand Up gave birth to verbal virtuosos and physical phenomenons. Not just an art of ability, but one of endurance. They are a lot of inherently funny people, but few of those had what it took to claim kinship to Stand Up. That required being professionally funny. Make ‘em laugh even when you don’t feel like it. That’s why to prove yourself to Stand Up you had to put in 5-10 years as an apprentice before claiming true Stand Up status.
This is the reason the passing of Stand-Up should be felt like a mule kick to the throat. It produced troopers as well as stylized wordsmiths. Stand Up was about “getting no respect”, “Mudbone”, “She ready”, “The 7 words you can’t say on TV”, “Let me tell you”, “I ain’t scared of you muthaf**kas”, “You may be a redneck if . . . “ “What my name is?”, “Bebe’s Kids”, “Oh, yeah”, “Shuckey Duckey quack, quack”, fright wigs & cigarette holders, tight leather suits, boxy-looking suits, moo moos & false teeth, dashikis, tuxedos, perms, suspenders, sunglasses at night, topless routines, removable hairpieces, stage names, and other assorted peccadilloes.
Stand Up welcomed people with so-called “problems”. A comedian devoid of issues was most times not funny. Stand Up encouraged those soul’s unbridled freedom to say whatever they wanted – let ‘er rip, but also taught the human mindset and the consequences associated with abusing that freedom. The audience subconsciously needed to look down at the jester to feel good about themselves. Just as every joke needs a butt, every person wants their ego stroked and what better way to feel uplifted than to hear the plight of another who is not you? Stand Up was psychology, wit and charm. Nobody ever laughed at anybody they hated. You could offend an audience and win them over with your askew viewpoint, but you could never get them to laugh with you if they loathed your guts. Stand Up gave tough lessons on the difference of each and never stopped teaching.
If you were one of Stand Up’s chosen you could find yourself playing golf during the day and cavorting at night with Presidents. Thanks to Stand Up esteemed award ceremonies were televised for its annual best and brightest. It was Stand Up that introduced the crop of comedy media stars that ruled the landscape since the industry got whiff of those comics having a sizable number of fans.
That world of Stand-Up is now history. A massive loss for fan and apostle alike. Gone are the crowded showrooms of drunken patrons, the rustling of waitresses in the aisles, hecklers and the joy of their comeuppance, boundless ad-libbing, distinct and piercing laughter from hearty patrons, eager groupies, staff with drugs before shows, bartenders with stories and drugs after hours, celebrity sightings and inclusions into the act, over-indulgers getting bounced, and the camaraderie with other comedians that every profession craves for the shared experiences as well as the shop talk which benefit all.
Another thing – Stand Up’s people had their own language that everybody knew and used. Bombing. Hacky. Rule of 3. Punchline. Wrap-it-Up. Two-Drink-Minimum. Heckler. Punching Down. Clapter. Segue. Callback. Let Me Holla Atcha. Crowd Work. Set. Tight 5. Road Smell. A lot of these words and phrases had limited or a different meaning before the existence of Stand Up and others simply didn’t exist.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Stand Up was only 54 when it kicked the bucket. However, there were earlier incarnations prior to their official version. The first time anybody ever heard of Stand Up can be traced back to the 1880s when African-American Vaudevillian, Charley Case went on New York theater stages and did comedy monologues without props or costumes. Case later lost the faith and committed suicide in a hotel room in 1916. Stand Up wasn’t reported being seen again until tapping Will Rogers in the early 1920s Ziegfeld Follies, making him Stand Up’s first white man (even though he was Native-American). Moms Mabley is attributed as being the first Black female Stand Up recognized dating back to 1939 and Phyllis Diller gets credit as the first white female in the 1950s (even though Jean Carroll preceded her, but Carroll started out as a duo with her husband and sang in her solo act. You could do that in the midst of Stand Up, but it was frowned upon).
Stand Up was fickle though; known to change every 5-10 years after becoming bored and seeking out new thrills. That can account for so many Comedy Booms. At first Stand Up favored joke tellers then it was self-confessional comedians, then the observational, the urban, Latin, Middle Eastern, female . . . transgender . . . well, it was going in that direction right before the end.
Internet Comedy, Stand Up’s upstart younger cousin can now be fully cooked and being laid upon the entertainment table of the masses. However, don’t be hoodwinked by the similarities. They’re related in last name only. Whereas, those in the Internet Comedy camp require the basic skill set of an average Stand Up faithful, the Internetters get to execute their craft with a safety net. No obstacles. So no need for nervous jitters. No pressure. Just blurt out in front of a lens and leave assuming it was funny. Compared to Stand Up, it’s the difference between solitaire and a high stakes poker game.
I once had a discussion with legendary Stand Up disciple, Marsha Warfield and she held the position that anyone could be a comedian. I argued that one needed to have reached a level of proficiency to claim that coveted title. No, she said – nobody can tell a person when they can or cannot be a comic. Well, with the way comedy is now being presented, where “comedians” are virtually masturbating to the sound of their own voice, pretty much manufacturing a generation of talking heads devoid of non-button hitting verification, her stance is not invalid. We’ll accept gaps of humor from Radio personalities, but not Stand Up’s performers. Get a laugh every 10-15 seconds or get off the stage. Well, when the stage is now your living room don’t be surprised at the number of mic hogs cultivated. So to Marsha Warfield, I concede the point. She was right. Anybody can be a comedian, but not a Stand-Up comedian.
Of course Comedy will live on; mortals need laughter to cope, but Stand Up will become a distant memory soon, just as the organ grinder and monkey, silent slapstick flicks and minstrels if we let it. Stand Up needs to be celebrated, not mourned. The way Rock N Roll and Jazz have remained in public life long past their heyday, Stand Up should constantly be acknowledged and appreciated for all it’s done for us. The way we viewed each passing chapter of our existence was often shaped by Stand Up comedians. We got smacked in the face with harsh realities thrust at us with fearless brilliance and searing purity.
Naturally, veteran comedians following Stand Up are scared at the reality of the demise. What will they do now? How will they survive without Stand Up? Well, I’m gonna miss Stand Up too, but this is the moment to reap the harvest left to us and show that the Stand-Up time was not spent in vain. True artists swim upstream and if the remaining practitioners of Stand Up don’t want to envision an old timers revival circuit, similar to Doo Wop or Funk materializing – they need to get with the times and create a lane for themselves on this uncharted superhighway. Stand Up may effectively be dead. That doesn’t mean those left behind have to take dirt naps. In a pool of talent so vast, innovation will prevail. The tenacious of the flock will move forward in an era no longer shining the bright limelight upon them. They’ll produce a new offspring for Comedy and in turn morph into a superior embodiment of themselves, or follow the advice laid out in Robert Townsend’s debut film, Hollywood Shuffle and get a job. The post office is always hiring.
Then there are those of you right now sitting back, waiting for Stand Up’s resurrection. That would be nice, but my desire is a bit more realistic. I’d love to have a drink and give a toast to Stand Up with each and every being who ever saw, heard or touched Stand Up on the planet Earth, but that would obviously violate the personal distance laws. So let me take the liberty and speak for all of us when I say to Stand Up – Thanks for the memories and enjoy your salad.
Respect is moving down the release calendar.
Deadline is reporting that MGM’s Aretha Franklin biopic, which stars Jennifer Hudson, will now get a limited release debut on Christmas Day, followed by a full release on January 15, 2021. It was originally set to come out on October 7, this year, but has moved amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The film is expected to be an awards season player and given the current Hollywood shutdown, a Christmas release isn’t that surprising as the calendar shifts.
As the very first authorized feature film based on Franklin’s life, it will be directed by Liesl Tommy and is written by Tracey Scott Wilson.
Respect‘s all-star cast also includes Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Mary J. Blige, Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess, Saycon Sengbloh, Hailey Kilgore, Heather Headley, Tate Donovan and Skye Dakota Turner. Hudson was handpicked to star by Franklin before her death.
The songs that will be exclusively featured in the film include Respect; I Say A Little Prayer; Think; (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman; You’ve Got A Friend; Dr. Feelgood; Do Right Woman, Do Right Man; Spanish Harlem; and Young, Gifted and Black. The film will also feature Ain’t No Way; Precious Lord; There’s A Fountain Filled With Blood; Amazing Grace; and Chain of Fools.
Source: Shadow & Act
ABC has confirmed two major casting announcements for its sixth and final season of How to Get Away with Murder, which returns next week. Cicely Tyson will return as a cast member for the back half of season 6 and Anne-Marie Johnson has joined as a recurring cast member.
Johnson will play Michaela Pratt’s (Aja Naomi King) attorney Kendra Strauss, while Tyson will reprise her role as Ophelia Harkness, the mother of Annalise Keating (Viola Davis). This marks Johnson’s return to Shondaland, as she has also appeared on Rhimes’ ABC shows, Grey’s Anatomy and For The People. Tyson has received three Emmy nominations for her role in the series.
The series stars Davis as Professor Annalise Keating, Billy Brown as Detective Nate Lahey, Jack Falahee as Connor Walsh, Aja Naomi King as Michaela Pratt, Matt McGorry as Asher Millstone, Charlie Weber as Frank Delfino, Liza Weil as Bonnie Winterbottom, Conrad Ricamora as Oliver Hampton, Rome Flynn as Gabriel Maddox and Amirah Vann as Tegan Price.
How to Get Away with Murder is created and executive produced by Peter Nowalk, Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, and Stephen Cragg also serve as executive producers. The show is produced by ABC Studios, a division of Disney Television Studios.
Source: Deadline, Shadow & Act
Cedric The Entertainer is opening up about a possible The Original Kings Of Comedy Reunion.
In a recent interview on the Variety and iHeart podcast The Big Ticket, the comedian disclosed that a reunion of The Original Kings Of Comedy was very likely.
“It seems like it may be actually getting a little closer,” he revealed, adding, “There’s some talks of possibly doing a very limited run for the fun of it, doing like a 12-city run.”
Directed by Spike Lee, the film continued an established Black stand-up tradition paved by Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and Redd Foxx. It saw Bernie Mac, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric The Entertainer reprise popular, controversial topics of race, Black family dynamics and religion with distinctly different twists. The success of the film undoubtedly laid the foundation for the actor-comedians’ later projects as the decade progressed.
Cedric the Entertainer currently stars on CBS’s The Neighborhood. He is in post-production on Son of the South, executive produced by Spike Lee, and is also expected to return for a Johnson Family Vacation sequel in development at Searchlight.
Source: Shadow & Act
Netflix has dropped the first trailer for #blackAF (previously titled #blackexcellence).
The upcoming series from Kenya Barris, in which he stars with Rashida Jones, is under Barris’ overall deal at the streaming giant. Barris plays a fictionalized version of himself and Jones is his wife. The series also stars Iman Benson, Genneya Walton, Scarlet Spencer, Justin Claiborne, Ravi Cabot-Conyers and Richard Gardenhire Jr as the duo’s children.
The official description: Loosely inspired by Barris’ irreverent, highly flawed, unbelievably honest approach to parenting, relationships, race, and culture, #blackAF flips the script on what we’ve come to expect a family comedy series to be. Pulling back the curtain, #blackAF uncovers the messy, unfiltered and often hilarious world of what it means to be a “new money” black family trying to get it right in a modern world where “right” is no longer a fixed concept.
There will be an assortment of guest stars, such as Nia Long, Issa Rae, Mike Epps, Lena Waithe, Ava DuVernay, Will Packer, Tim Story, Tyler Perry, Bresha Webb, Kym Whitley and Melvin Gregg.
Barris is the showrunner and creator. He executive produces with Jones and Hale Rothstein.
Watch the trailer above.
SHOWTIME announced that the late-night series DESUS & MERO will return to air with all-new episodes filmed from the hosts’ own homes, starting on Monday, March 30 at 11 p.m. ET/PT. The show will continue to air new episodes on Monday and Thursday nights. Each episode will feature hosts Desus Nice (Daniel Baker) and The Kid Mero (Joel Martinez) giving their take on the day’s hot topics and continuing to host interviews with special guests through video conference technology. Episodes will continue to be shot remotely from the hosts’ homes in New Jersey and the Bronx until further notice.