Video: Stand Down 2012: Patton Oswalt's magical black man
Today, The A.V. Club is excited to introduce a new video series, Stand Down. We’ve asked some of our favorite stand-up comedians to share a short anecdote about a memorably tough gig, which we...
View ArticleVideo: Stand Down 2012: Maria Bamford visits the morning zoo
Not only is Maria Bamford one of the best comedians working today, but she basically exists in a class by herself. On paper, the topics she favors—her family, her neuroses, her checkered job and...
View ArticleVideo: Stand Down 2012: Reggie Watts shows team spirit
Even people who are fans of Reggie Watts aren’t exactly sure what to expect when they buy tickets to see him. The unpredictable performer inhabits a unique space in the comedy world that comprises...
View ArticleVideo: Stand Down 2012: Jimmy Pardo barely escapes from angry sailors
People familiar with Jimmy Pardo—from his stand-up, his excellent podcast, Never Not Funny, or his job warming up Conan audiences—know the veteran comedian as an ace storyteller, which makes him well...
View ArticleVideo: Stand Down 2012: Tig Notaro bombs onstage, then things get worse
As Jimmy Pardo learned last week, doing well at a place once hardly means that it’ll happen again when you return. For him, it was a naval base. For Tig Notaro, it’s a comedy club in the suburbs of...
View ArticleVideo: Stand Down 2012: Kyle Kinane tours with a racist ventriloquist
There's a weariness—or maybe wariness—to Kyle Kinane's style that makes the uncomfortable situations he finds himself in more hilarious. For instance, when he heads on the road with a racist...
View ArticleVideo: Stand Down 2012: Jen Kirkman hides in a broom closet to escape...
Jen Kirkman can be sharp, self-aware, smart, and political, but in this story from her early career, she’s mostly naïve and scared of the drunken Long Island yahoos who enjoy a boob cake more than they...
View ArticleVideo: Stand Down 2012: The Sklar Brothers barely escape a corporate...
Randy and Jason Sklar—better known as The Sklar Brothers—host an excellent podcast called Sklarboro Country, which finds the intersection of sports and comedy. They're also twins, which is good for a...
View ArticleVideo: Stand Down 2012: Dan Telfer somehow fares worse than a...
Back when we first conceived of the idea for Stand Down, we called in our comedian pal Dan Telfer to do a pilot. Telfer, who's toured with the likes of Patton Oswalt, Maria Bamford, and Brian Posehn,...
View ArticleVideo: Stand Down 2012: Natasha Leggero wrestles with a Christian college
As evidenced by her 2011 album, Coke Money, and her appearances on Chelsea Lately, Natasha Leggero isn’t terribly concerned with working clean, but that’s just what she was asked to do during a...
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