David M. Green: Purveyor of fine humour

Tag: Stand-Up

  • Where no stand-up has gone before… probably

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JU_hQB3jdM

    Hello!

    David M. Green again. Hey I made my quarterly stand-up appearance last Thursday at Adelaide’s “The Rhino Room.” Having recently watched “Carl Sagan’s Cosmos” and HBO’s “From the Earth to the Moon,” read up on NASA’s Apollo program and listened to The B-52’s complete discography, you can see how the above stand-up routine came to be. I seriously have no idea what’s “topical” any more. Free-to-air TV is a complete waste of time, in my opinion. I’m not too keen on radio at the moment either There’s no show that makes me want to go out of my way to watch it (Although I hear good things about this THE Big Show on Triple M). So hey, I make up my own damn entertainment!

    The stand-up didn’t go quite according to plan, but the confusion probably actually made it funnier. Sometimes I prefer “rough around the edges” comedy to “slick.” For that very reason I always preferred Conan O’Brien to Leno. I just like the idea that any minute the whole thing could come crashing down around someone, in this case: me. I screwed up the Buzz Aldrin gag, got some of it out of order, and I was going to do a more detailed impression of Carl Sagan but interaction with some enthusiastic audience members forced me to move on. Final conclusion: good, not great. One tick.

    What do you think?

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    There are others like you… thousands…

  • Stand-up Trip to Lol-Ville. Population: Hilarity.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJnM1woqM-Q

    Hello!

    David M. Green here in blog form. What a turbulent week… I did some stand-up comedy on Saturday night at the “Star Theatre” in Adelaide’s fabulous western suburbs. It didn’t go so well. Maybe it was the atmosphere. Maybe it was the audience. But most likely, it was because I freaking forgot the damn routine and just stood there silently for 30 seconds trying to remember my next joke. Actually, that was definitely it….

    So needless to say I was feeling pretty down all week: Cognitive dissonance at work, people. Allow me to illustrate… I, David M. Green, believe that I am funny. However, on Saturday I did some stand-up and I bombed, mainly due to personal incompetence (Just for something different, I thought if I practiced LESS it would make for a more spontaneous performance. Instead, I couldn’t remember what I was going to say). Then there’s a conflict between my personal belief (ie. I’m funny) and reality (ie. I suck). And as in this biz, you’re only as good as your last ‘gig,’ for most of the week, I was a complete hack.

    However, last night at the Rhino Room, I had another go. The routine was about 50% the same material, but the material I did repeat I re-worded for maximum comedy output. And this time, I killed! Everything just worked. The audience was great. The other comics were quite good for a “new-comedy” night. It was fantastic. So, dissonance corrected, confidence restored, reputation redeemed and self-esteem reacquired. If you haven’t watched it already, you can view the GOOD stand-up performance at the top of this blog entry. Your comments and feedback are always appreciated.

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    Apologies to the Royal Society for the Blind

  • Wildcard draws David M. Green to Raw Comedy Semi-Finals, four.

    Gentlemen, and to a lesser extent, ladies (not being sexist, just a reflection of my website visitor statistics),

    Well, I wasn’t funny enough to be a winner on night #3 of the SA Raw Comedy stand-up contestations, but that hasn’t stopped me from receiving remedial assistance from Raw’s coveted “wildcard programme.” So this means I’ll be doing stand-up again. This time at Adelaide’s “PJ O’Brien’s” on East Tce (an establishment I have never had a reason to go to before), on Tuesday March 10th at 9pm.

    So once again, if you wish to see me perform stand-up live (only for the 4th time ever), feel free to buy a ticket through the Adelaide Fringe Festival office, or at the door on the night. But if you can find a way to sneak in for free, what the hell do I care? I’m not getting paid anything for this, so go nuts. Go there the night before with a friend and drink each other under the table. Then just stay there for 20 hours disguised as a sticky patch of floor, and you’re laughing! Literally… hopefully anyway… Either that or you’ll develop Korsakoff’s syndrome…

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    Ironically, most stand-up comedians are a joke

  • Yeah, it’s a Big Week

    Welcome reader!

    Sit down, please; it’s the only way to read a blog. Seriously, who reads stuff on the Internet standing up?

    Wow, what a week it’s been! I’ve been very busy lately, so apologises for my lack of blog entries. I have some announcements I can now officially make. I now have 2 new jobs. A couple of weeks ago I started working at the Brighton Pizza Haven as a delivery driver, which is something I’d always kinda thought about doing, if for nothing else than to follow in the footsteps of Phillip J. Fry. I’ve gotta say, aside from the incredibly low pay (<$10 per hour!) it’s actually pretty fun. If it’s busy, I spend most of the time driving around the south western suburbs of Adelaide with my ’80s New Wave mix cassette tapes blasting from my Toyota Corolla’s factory speakers. Unlike a lot of jobs I’ve had, it’s actually quite relaxing. I actually look forward to going to work. Although, if I could just make a small suggestion to you if you ever order your pizza delivered… tip the pizza guy! Seriously, if I drive all the way to the outer fringes of the franchise district to receive the exact amount on the receipt in a pile of 20 cent pieces, it’s a real bummer. But hey, I know this is Australia and tipping isn’t really part of our culture… But man… or woman, I suppose… if you give the pizza guy an extra $1, speaking from my own personal experience, it’ll put that fast food courier in such a good mood, he or she will be smiling the whole drive back to the shop, and maybe… JUST maybe… no one will get hurt… They haven’t given me a uniform yet so I’ve been delivering pizzas wearing my Hawaiian shirt circa 1999. Rumour has it the Brighton Pizza Haven will be transformed into an “Eagle Boys” pizza shop within the week, so I’ll upload a photo for your amusement and ridicule if and when I get proper pizza-attire…

    As for the second job I mentioned… I just found out today I’ve got a job at the Palace Nova cinema! This is awesome! I’ve always wanted to work at a cinema. I think I’ve submitted about 10 resumes to Greater Union Marion and Wallis Glenelg, which sadly is closing very soon. Jemima and I are going to see Gone With The Wind on their final day of screening, this Sunday. But hey, Palace Nova! Alright! And thank you Lisa Pellegrino for moving to Darwin and leaving a job vacancy at said cinema, hehehe…

    But those 2 jobs are of course the 2 success stories. In the last few months I’ve applied to approximately 25-30 different places; places as diverse as radio stations, government departments, retail outlets, traineeships and even a “why the hell not” application for an advertised vacancy in the adult publication industry. Some of these places I’m still waiting to hear back from; others have generously contributed to my ever-growing “wall of rejection letters.” It’s a load-bearing wall now. I like looking at it. It reminds me of how hard I’m working.

    But as for other things, yes I’m still making my appearances on community radio. You can hear the satirical talk-parody comedy show known as “On The Yacht,” that I am a part of, Thursday nights midnight to 1am on Radio Adelaide 101.5FM. Or just click here to listen back to the best stuff… If you listen to nothing else, listen to the fake news breaks. Number 6 and 7 are, in my opinion, outstanding. I’m also still making my regular 8AM-ish Tuesday morning appearances on the Fresh 92.7FM breakfast show, with a new tailor-made audio-based sketch each week for the young ravers of Adelaide, who have proper jobs to get to in the morning. Check those out here.

    And speaking of comedy, which on any given day I probably am, I entered into the Raw Comedy stand-up contest thing. I made my appearance in Heat #3 at Adelaide’s The Rhino Room on Thursday. Alas I was not one of the winners on the night. That honour went to Chris Knight, a very funny guy (as seen on YouTube), and Dave Campbell was the second winner. I was also highly entertained by the first act of the evening, a guy named Aaron Nobes, who I would describe as a 16-year-old Tony Martin. He even looked and sounded just like him! And I thought his intellectual style was funnier than the reaction given by the audience. But enough about everyone else, let me talk about me. I think I did pretty well. There was laughter where I wanted it. I’m certainly satisfied with my performance. I’ve said many times of course, I’m more of a sketch comedian than a stand-up, but I don’t think I could have lived with myself if I didn’t have a go at Raw. I did video my set… well, I didn’t actually do it. I got someone else to do it; Voice-Over’s Tim Wray, in fact. So as soon as I receive confirmation that I have not been miraculously awarded a wildcard entry into the state semi-finals and I don’t have to perform the same act again, I shall upload the footage for permanent storage on this, the Internet. But for all those who just can’t wait, you’ve probably already noticed the still image just below, which was the silliest-looking frame I could find from the footage…

    Hehe, look at those eye brows… So until slightly further into the future, to quote Jerry Springer, “some 9 years ago, I spent time with a woman I shouldn’t have… and I paid her with a cheque. I wish I hadn’t done that and the truth is, I wish no one would ever know” … oh wait… I mean, take care of yourselves… and each other.

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    Combining the arts of pizza and cinema

  • Lack of Seating Forces Sketch Comedian to Stand…-Up

    Good (insert appropriate time period here),

    Hello again, David M. Green… I mean, I’M David M. Green. I’m not calling YOU David M. Green and saying hello to you. That would be inefficient. Only a hand-full of other people in the world are called David M. Green… Also, it’s pretty silly. My apologies… BUT ANYWHO… Last Thursday I comically stood-up and did some stand-up comedy at Adelaide’s fabulous “The Rhino Room.” Funnier than the last time. Plus I wore a tie! Enjoy!

    http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw9Pg8BET1A

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    Card-carrying member of ‘The Blood Club’