DCComedy4now Wins Bramburger Award

DCComedy4Now has been awarded the Joel Bramburger Award for Electronic Journalistic Excellence for 2007-08. The award given to Jason Saenz and Nick Turner was accepted on their behalf by Mikael Johnson.

Joel Bramburger is credited with creating the first blog that was read as a community net-working device for professionals and amateurs in the field of Fly-fishery. Bramburger started the "aintitfly.com" blog to talk about fly-fishing, post local hot-spots and host different linked videos from various aspiring hosts who had hoped one day to have their own televised fishing show. Bramburger's blog, which he started out of his home in Madison, Wisconsin, soon was receiving 2o million hits a week--mostly due to his acerbic take on locally minority owned convenient stores.

The organization B.E.M (Betterment for Electronic Media) gives out the Joel Bramburger award out of a collection of finalist from whom they have chosen or that were nominated by local constituents. Dccomedy4now.com was nominated by the DC Journalist Society and the Cronkite Center for Electronic Bloggers.

There was some speculation around the community as to whether the Joel Bramburger Award existed at all and it does not. It was actually conceived by the person who accepted it, dccomedy4now contributor, Mikael Johnson. Johnson explained to us just now, after he wrote that last sentence, "I was short on content per usual and I thought why not give ourselves an award. This site lacks integrity so, f-it...I have nothing else to do right now". Johnson then followed up his previous answer with this question, "How does it feel to interview yourself?" Johnson immediately replied with, "Ok, I mean, I know what question is coming and even though I know what is going to be asked, I still say it aloud and allow myself like this moment to think about it and respond. The whole 'ask-reply process' is sort of like a cameo by Christopher Walken in the movies these days--kind of unnecessary". Why Bramburger? "Uh...I think its because at work last week, I ran into a guy with that last name, it just sort of stuck in my head". Why Fly-fishing--"Uh just popped into my head, seem arbitrary enough". Why are you typing 'Uh'? No response.

Johnson says he considers giving himself an award tomorrow.

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A Rambling Plea

DC Comedy and Artist Community:

So, Jason Saenz left town for L.A. and then while on the way to L.A. decided to go to New York where he says he fell in love with Chinatown. Chinatown has a fledgling comedy community and Jason is sort of an overgrown gold fish in a small meditation pond; people are already referring to him by his own material, "Cum Dumpster"—of course it’s in Mandarin. Even in China they know you can call a hungry comic anything and they will bask in the attention like the lotus underneath sun.

Then there is Nick Turner, a comedic energy giant that has a departure date set for sometime...soon. From what I heard, his bags are packed and his conscience is wracked with guilt, which means he'll be looking to split very soon.

With Jason and Nick’s departure, so goes with them their enthusiasm for the DC comedy community and this website; which has left this blog barely pulsating.

I hope I'm not the only one with defibrillators because I really don't know how to use them, except for what I have seen on TV, especially in that movie, "The Abyss", with Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio--specifically when Harris slaps her around and calls her a "bitch" a couple of times before she is revived. I heard Harris allegedly said that it was the only time he ever felt like he wasn’t acting.

This is the exact treatment DCComedy4Now needs at this very moment. We need Ed Harris kneeling over top of our bare breasted porcelain like creamy soft angelic milky colored skin, barking and slapping the Bah Jesus out of us, and we need to continue to rewind back to the beginning of that part until we come back to life or until someone starts walking down the basement stairs. And we all know what the sound of footsteps atop of the basement stairs feels like…awkward panic, the most uncomfortable feeling on the planet.

So what does it all mean? It means either we zap DCComedy4Now back to life or this website may soon have to come to a close.

(Cue: Battle Hymn of the Republic)

However, I would like to keep it going. I've grown fond of it...I like the wallpaper for some reason.

(Nah fuck the Battle Hymn of the Republic, opt for loop of AC/DC’s Intro for “Those about to Rock”…just turn all this shit off I can’t concentrate.

Anyway, DCComedy4Now has earned a place in my itinerary when I log on; hotmail, Gmail, check my mob, search Wikipedia or YouTube for whatever. Then when I come out of that wormhole, sometimes in a rather damp state, I arrive here or lately...not, which has had an enormous effect. The dormant state of this website has truly been a catalyst for some change in my life.

[Hit the jump!]

I actually logged off the other day, when normally I would peruse dccomedy4now, and accomplished things I hadn’t thought about for months. I got a lot done. Recently I just paid my car insurance, turned off the oven, matched up some socks--the stuff I've done off the computer is only what I’ve read about on many a blog. Ran some errands, the smell of the post-office was like a heavy dose of ammonia nitrate, I think I scared some people in there with my spasmodic reactions while waiting in line. I looked like Bob Goldthwait trying to clear his nasal passages with his eyebrows.

Another revelation was that I realized I'm living with someone, this extremely bad ass chic who I thought I remembered as being heavily tatted up(they’re just birthmarks), and she was really kind enough to let me come out of my own electronical Abyss unaided and didn't hold my 9 month web induced "walk about" against me. Yet I will say the outside world hasn’t been an easily intuitive web program.

The weather is much warmer than I remembered or prefer and I am starting to recall that I'm not particularly fond of people in DC, especially my neighbor who didn't recognize by my beard nor my soiled and mildewed clothing that had by then fused to my skin. The people at the walk-in medical center who peeled off my old clothing were a bit snarky which I think was uncalled for considering the severity of the Wikiwarp I had been trapped inside of and its duration; and especially when a couple of the orderlies and nurses furtively acknowledged having had their own similar experience . Also, the phrase, "Welcome back to the land of the living", I can swear to you, is used by the same people who refer to others as "Boss" or "Chief".

What am I saying...what is my point...I want to go back. I belong on the computer, and in my own warped reality; I belong inside the computer. And I want DCComedy4Now.com to be a part of that experience. In between Jenna, watching old episodes of Different Strokes, and looking at pictures of accidents on the Autobahn; I need this website to be my Mos Eisley Cantina—I need to know where my freaks are.

In order for that to happen, hopefully I can get some help. And if no help is provided then hopefully you can provide some patience. After Nick leaves, I am Solo. If I can move away from Star Wars and transition unracially (neither a word nor necessary) to Dr. King, if I had a dream for this community in DC, it would be that, it would not be looked at as just a comedy scene—but an identifiable artist community. How would you identify it? Maybe with a laser pointer.

There needs to be an artist collective, a supportive community. We are all not just stand-up comics, improvisers, actors, but we are also writers, film makers, producers, managers and audience members. In some way we have all worn different hats at some point in pursuing whatever we have set out for ourselves to accomplish. Some of us do certain things better than others. The more I go along with my own endeavors I realize that being a part of the process is really what I want to continue to be a part of in some shape or form. No one can do anything alone.

When Eddie Murphy was on "Inside the Actor's Studio" with James Lipton, it was refreshing to hear his honesty about how many people it has taken to help him create his body of work. He continually mentioned the lasting relationships he has held onto over the years.

The goals are always lofty when it comes to this subject in DC but it would nice to keep this website afloat with the singleness of purpose of being a useful tool of networking and creativity in an artistically capricious environment.So if you have any ideas or contributions continue to send them our way.

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DC Comedy: 4 Now makes good on it's name

If you hadn't guessed already, the title of the blog is in reference to the fact that if you plan on really making a go of this whole comedy as a career thing, it's tough to stick around the District. Even our own comedy festival would have you believe that there is no local comedy scene. So eventually, your best bet is to fly the coop and try to make it work in a larger, comedy prepared city. Well our very own Jason Saenz leaves us today to give it the old college try and in honor of that, Mikael Johnson has written a farewell letter to DCC4N's MVP, Jason Saenz.

Dear Jason,

Wow, LA. Wow, driving out to LA, wow. But you're doing it, right now as I type this on an early Monday morning you ARE doing it! Probably right now, you're somewhere in Tennessee maybe, pushing on another 60 miles or so before you lay up in some rustic road side motel. An old southern gal, Ethel May, still working the front desk, watching reruns of the Golden Girls on NIC, when you show up in the parking lot. Yeah, she was still up just because she can't get enough of that Blanche, plus she had a feeling, "That some lonesome stranger was probably gonna mosey on up tonight, needing a place to rest that road weary head". In the morning she'll bring you biscuits, gravy, OJ and coffee with a little note that says,

Safe travels funny man.
Sincerely,
Your dog, "Cum Dumpster".

But how could she know that joke? No worries, you run to the front desk to ask her how she knew your material, or even remembered it? Why would she remember it? How could something like that even resonate with someone? Do you think I should open with that? Why isn't Cum Dumpster quite hitting? But when you get there, she's gone. The girl behind the counter isn't even old enough to take the prom and when you ask her about Ethel May, she says, "Ethel who? No Ethel May ever work here…hey mister, will you sign this permission slip from Planned Parenthood?"

There's no time to look for the late night hotel desk clerk with a penchant for dick and dog jokes. However, peace will settle in like the tread on the tires settle onto the road; there are going to be experiences all along this journey. How could there not be--you're going to Califuck'nfornia!

This is just the beginning. From Tennessee, you could go south then west or just keep on towards the setting sun. Its been written about so many times, Going to California, by Zepplin, Stienbeck with the Grapes of Wrath, and Hughes with the Griswold's, and now Life brough to you by Mr. Saenz. There is so much ahead, take your time and soak it all in like the moment sponge you are.

Tell you where you can't get these experiences—going to New York.

Nope, no one ever talks, writes or even cares about when someone decides to pick up and go to New York. Michael J. Fox did once back in the 80's, a little film called "The Secret to My Success". You know what they call that film today in Hollywood? "Fox Turd". Whenever someone gets a script about going to New York or making it in New York, its always the same, "Uh, this looks like a Fox turd" or "That bin is for recyclables, that is reserved for Fox turds" or "Wasn't me, must be that Fox turd".
But you're not going to New York. You're going to California…nothing to worry about. California, where the weather is as pleasing as the women and the gangs are all bilingual.

Your jealous colleague and friend,
MJ

P.S. I will be out in LA next week, hope I could crash for a day or two. Hey, we'll have lunch!

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Go F.I.S.T. Yourself

“Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages…”

We are just a week away from D.C.’s #1 competitive improv-comedy event!! That is right, WIT’s 2nd Annual "Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament" (F.I.S.T.) is almost upon you.

Here it is from WIT’s official F.I.S.T. website:

“…Three-player teams do battle in a single-elimination style test of improv mettle where the audience determines who lives to fight another day. The action is fast. The tension is high. The consequences are severe... win your match and move on to the next round. Lose your match, and there's no road back but the one paved in shame.”

What is so awesome about the F.I.S.T (other than its name), is that it brings together improvisers from all backgrounds from all around the city. For example, competing in this year’s smackdown are some people you might recognize from this here blog, like Seaton Smith, Mike Bass, Mikael Johnson, and DCC4N's friend for life, GWU's ReceSs. Also, DCC4N contributors Aparna Nancherla and “yours truly” will be droppin’ elbows as well.

This is not an event to be missed folks. I plan on seeing as much as I can because 1) TICKETS DO SELL OUT 2) THE CROWDS ARE ALWAYS ROWDY AND READY TO RUMBLE 3) IT IS SOME OF THE MOST UNIQUE AND INNOVATIVE IMPROV YOU WILL SEE ALL YEAR LONG.

SHOWS START THURSDAY FEB 28th @ 8pm at the Flashpoint Theater in Chinatown.

Click here for F.I.S.T tickets
Click here for the F.I.S.T. Bracket
Click here for F.I.S.T Combatants

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DC Comedy Spotlight: Mikael Johnson

When it comes to personal favorites, few top my list higher than today's Comedy Spotlight. Mikael Johnson is one of DC's most unique comedians, known most notably through his incredible character-driven improvisational work with The Comedy Pigs, Comedy Sportz and currently WIT's Jackie. He also is an experienced sketch writer, director and stage actor having been a ensemble member of Maryland's MET for several years. He is also a past producer of the Mid-Atlantic Comedy Smörgåsbord, which featured the area's best stand-up and improv talent.

This guy produces more "you had to be there" moments than any DC performer I know. He has a way of capturing an audience's attention, without deterring from what others are doing onstage. He also has one of the most twisted senses of humor I have ever witnessed. Try to turn away...you can't. Audiences outside DC love him as well. As a member of WIT Mikael has performed at several of the east coast's biggest comedy festivals including the Charleston Improv Fest, Dirty South Improv Fest, Chicago Improv Fest, DC Comedy Fest and the Philadelphia Improv Festival.

Mikael also is a established teacher and is currently instructing a long-form improv class through Washington Improv Theater. If you have performed improv in the past and would like to learn more from one of the masters, then definitely sign up for his class.

[Hit the jump for an interview and videos from Mikael!]

When did you realize that you wanted to do comedy?
When I was 14 I was Bill Cosby in my English Class for this project. It got a huge response. I think I have been chasing that ever since.

Who were some of your earliest influences? My two older brothers and my parents. They f'd with me all the time—lie to me with a straight face sort of thing. I could never get a straight answer out of anyone. I know that definitely rubbed off. Also: Bill Cosby, George Carlin, Kids In The Hall, South Park, Monty Python, and Mel Brooks (Spaceballs).

What about them captivated you?
If I could make someone in my family really laugh, who were all older, it was a good feeling. South Park, Kids In The Hall, and Monty Python have always been my favorite. I like anything that is silly and smart, plus KITH had nudity in their first few seasons on HBO.

Where was your first performance?
First student class showcase at Comedy Sportz in Arlington, VA was my first show in front of a paying audience. I was mortified. I remember sweating a lot but eventually relaxed. I really don't remember my first gig with the Pigs, I remember thinking, "I got through it".

What would you say is your improv-comedy style?
I like to find a character or an emotion and just go with it. I just hope I'm having fun and not sitting inside my own head. If I'm taking things too seriously, then I need to find something else to do.

Do you enjoy the process of writing?
Yes and no, I love writing, what I find difficult is revising and editing. I hate it when I don't hit it out of the park on the first try, which is all the time. Basically, with writing, and improving on any discipline, the toughest part for me is any act that involves "follow through".

How do you think your improv training has affected your writing style/process?
I am more open to take chances on stage with just an idea or exploring something through a character. Also, there are other things to do on stage other than premise-set-up-punch.

What about performing live do you enjoy?
All the sex you get after the shows.

Do you ever want to convey a message?
I really don't care enough about anything. The late great, Richard Jeni, has a great bit on this concept, you can find it on Youtube.

What's hacky to you?
Anybody who doesn't respect their craft, a paying audience, or their fellow artists.

How do you feel about doing comedy in Washington DC?
I love it most of the time but you have to make your opportunities. It sometimes feels like a way station, people come through here with great talent but if you're going to work you have to move to NY, LA or Chicago.

Were your parents supportive of you doing comedy?From day one, though my mother would harp on the, "This is your ______ year in a row without medical insurance, you just can't keep gambling with your future like this". And I was like, "Mom, I'm drinking vodka every day, and I continue to feel as if I am being swallowed--I'm fine".

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Donner Party Diary
JFK Interview

JFK Interview
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