Hampton here, spinning a personal message to my crew in the D.C.verse. I have always been interested in what famous comedians influenced my favorite local comics. Usually, they say “*Blank* really changed everything for me” except replace blank with a very famous comedian (Roseanne). While that’s interesting, I realized recently that maybe that really isn’t the biggest influence on people’s comedy. I didn’t really register good stand up comedy until I was about 15 years old and for years before that I was already the funniest kid on planet earth.
So something had to start me on that path, right? I can think of many non-comedian things that influenced me, but I am going to choose one for the purposes of this blog. And I would like YOU, the comedian reader, to comment and leave an influence that helped mold you; anything that isn’t a comedian. Write about: a cartoon, a relative, a show, a book, a movie, a musician, an event, a comic strip, or anything that helped make you who you are. For myself I have chosen the movie Clerks.
[Read the rest, or just jump to the part where you get to talk.]
Now a lot of people don’t like Kevin Smith, but that’s not important. This isn’t about my love of Kevin Smith, it’s about how, growing up, I watched the movie Clerks. When I was around 10 years old, I hung out at my friend Nick’s house close to every single weekend for about 5-6 years (free Sunny D). We would practice flips on sofa cushions and play Super Nintendo till our eyes bled pixels. And at night we would set up the TV and watch movies until we fell asleep. Nick only owned three R rated movies: Terminator 2, Highlander 2, and Clerks. I can say with all certainty that I have seen all three of these movies in the hundreds. I cannot watch any of these movies now, because now not only do I know how Terminator 2 ends I know how many times Sarah Connor blinks when the Psych Ward guard licks her face (trick question. None!). It might also interest you to know I watched Highlander 2 and Terminator 2 all those times without ever having once seen the first movies in those series. I am that cool.
So, back to Clerks. I loved this movie. It’s basically a movie where nothing happens except people talking and I, a 10 year old, was totally engrossed. Every time. I barely understood a third of what they were saying (raised Catholic, very naïve, scared of own dick) but I kept watching. Over those 6 years I understood more and more of the movie and began to appreciate it for different reasons. I think the important thing I took from that movie was the foul language.
I am completely sincere. That movie taught me how to swear. It changed how I made kids laugh. Now I wasn’t just silly, but could say things that would elicit laughter. It set me on a path of passion for the well crafted sentence. When I listen to Patton Oswalt the best thing I take away from it is how he sets up his adjectives and adverbs like a composer. It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it.
Clerks also taught me the value of minimalism. It’s about relationships and nuances. It’s the details of life that make life interesting. Like I said, the story is very low key, but when you watch it go down it seems like all life depends on the end of that day. Now I admit, Clerks is not even the best example of these ideas, and when I watch it today I almost cringe, but at that time and place in my life it was a big deal. That’s the real deal Holyfield.
Please share your personaly abused muse.
Show us on the blog where they touched you!
10 comments:
I was a huge 3 Stooges, Lil' Rascals, Benny Hill and Mel Brooks fan growing up. That is all physical comedy I know and I still enjoy a good smack to the face, but what I think it really gave me appreciation for was pattern work and games. That's all those shows were about. The three stooges had to fix a plumbing problem in the basement, but each move they made caused another.
Jason-
I have a joke about the Three Stooges, I'll make sure to do it the next time we do a show together.
Hampton-
props on the Clerks influence. My biggest influences in "art" were scattered. Like I've written about a lot on my site, punk rock was a huge influence on me growing up. I liked the music obviously, but the DIY attitude of some bands was what stuck to me. Don't sit around waiting for or on someone to accomplish something, just fuckin' do it, basically. Get off your goddamn couch.
I was a big fan of comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes (the best ever published) and Garfield (when it was funny in the late 80's early 90's) Calvin and Hobbes taught me a lot about ways that people construct the world around them, and it was brilliantly written. Garfield was very simple, but when it was absurd and before Jim Davis ran out of ideas, it was hilarious to me.
In the early 90's, In Living Color and The State were both pretty key as far as written & performed comedy went. I didn't get into Kids in the Hall and Mr. Show until much later.
I'm sure I'm leaving a lot out, but those are a few things that had a lasting impact on me.
I stood in line behind Kevin Smith at Target and when I got home I told Julia I saw Peter Jackson.
Great subject for a blog. My biggest influence outside of actual comedy were teachers. But not in the NFL Teacher of the Year award kind of way. I was at a all-boys junior high for 7th and 8th grade, they had 8 to 10 verbally abusive male teachers who would just shit on you when you didn't do what you were told. Midway through 8th grade I think i figured out before most kids that i could just skip school instead of going. So every day I'd get dropped off and just take the bus right back home, this worked for 2 weeks or so til my parents found out and then I just patently refused to go. After a couple months of skipping they kicked me out and I went over to public school. Public school wasn't so bad and i did well for a couple years until my junior year when I met the most evil person I've ever known, Mrs. Eagleton. Instead of skipping her class I decided I just would not put up with her bullshit, I back-talked her, pretty much said whatever i damn well pleased whenever I wanted knowing that all i needed was a D and I'd never have to deal with her again. It was freeing to feel like I could say whatever I wanted to an authority figure. To this day one of the finest moments of my life took place in the principal's office with me, the principal, and her. Here is the transcript, Mrs. Eagleton: My problem with John isn't simply (current problem we were arguing about) it's that he shows me no respect at all in class. Me: Mr. Sumner, the reason I don't show any respect for Mrs. Eagleton is because I have no respect for Mrs. Eagleton. Ok this post has gone on way too long but I guess my point was, that a negative influence like the ones I had with some teachers and the ability to confront authority can be turned into a positive when dealing with a crowd or trying to come up with the right amount of anger for a certain bit. I still channel the thought of that woman when I have a bit that needs some angry ranting.
Haywood Turnipseed, Sr. 'nuff said.
as a kid, my sense of humor was forged by:
comic strips: calvin and hobbes, the far side, garfield
movies: little rascals, 3 stooges, laurel and hardy, steve martin movies. Tommy Boy did alot for me.
shows: looney tunes, garfield, the simpsons, british sit-coms
i didnt know stand-up existed until i was like 16. as a kid, non-comedy movies made me want to be an artist(hitchcock, kurosawa, the bicycle thief, etc.). music made me want to be a performer (beatles, green day, dylan). somehow stand-up happened.
I'm just gonna say it. I was weird kid. I loved Ren & Stimpy and Pete & Pete on Nickelodeon. But I think I got a lot of comedic influence from my Father. Growing up, and still to this day, he always told stories and jokes or just acted weird for the sake of laugh. He would quote Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" to my sister's 7-year old girls soccer team, wear a Richard Nixon mask on Halloween to scare trick-or-treaters, and often times embarrass the crap of out me...usually as I was laughing too. He taught introduced me to black comedy, satire, and the art of telling a good story.
i enjoyed reading this blog as well as people's come-onts a lot. myspace kudos for everyone.
my main influences for both comedy and real life are the muppets.
they move very deliberately and they speak with intent. they also never apologize for being who they are.
I have to say my Mama. She totally passed down her sense of humor and I thank all the gods for that. Just to show you how wide her sense of humor ranges I'll give examples: She always laughs at fat people falling down in public. She thought is was hilairous when I "pantsed" her in the grocery store. She likes to cuss. And in the face of fighting breast cancer and losing her right boob, she is honestly excited about getting the tits of a 28 year old. I think that was (and still is) my biggest comedy influence. Thank god this apple fell right next to the tree.
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