Oct. 15, 2024

Matt Rife on Crowd Work and Handling Well Meaning Annoying Hecklers

Show Notes
Transcript

Sebastian Maniscalco tals about the challenges and beauty of live performances and balancing showmanship with humor. Matt Rife on crowd work and handling hecklers, and reveals his strategy on managing social media impact. Myq Kaplan shares about the varying methodologies among comedians and the inspiration he gained from Rory Scoville. Dina Hashim discusses the importance of new experiences in generating comedy material, and Sam Campbell shares his career highlights, influence of Shelly Berman, and best and worst comedy advice he has received.

00:12 Sebastian Maniscalco on Comedy and Showmanship
01:50 Matt Rife on Crowd Work and Handling Hecklers
04:26 Myq Kaplan on Reviewing Past Material
06:11 Dina Hashim on Finding New Material
06:43 Sam Campbell's Career Highlights and Advice

Matt Rife on Crowd Work and Handling Hecklers

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/daily-comedy-news--4522158/support.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:11.240
Callaroga, Shark Media, Hidley Holmes, Johnny Mack with Your Daily

2
00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:14.839
Comedy News the LA Daily News and spoke to Sebastian Maniscalco.

3
00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:17.839
He said there's no better testing ground to prove what

4
00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:20.399
you made of than standing on stage alone in front

5
00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:22.399
of a crowd. Sebastian said, everybody's trying to do it

6
00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:23.839
at different levels, and when you get down to the

7
00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:25.280
court of it all, I think you have to embrace

8
00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:27.519
that fear because as a comedian, you're up there spilling

9
00:00:27.559 --> 00:00:29.800
your soul to these strangers. I think it's part of

10
00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:32.280
what makes the connection between you and the fans grow deeper.

11
00:00:32.359 --> 00:00:35.159
That's the beauty of going up there. I'm a huge

12
00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:38.119
fan of showmanship. Back in the eighties, Prince Motley, Crue,

13
00:00:38.119 --> 00:00:40.640
Michael Jackson, those were all musical acts, but there's an

14
00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:43.240
element of production and excitement, and I want to recreate

15
00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:44.600
some of that by doing some of the things that

16
00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:47.000
might not be traditional in the world of comedy. He

17
00:00:47.079 --> 00:00:49.240
had been working on figuring out things like how do

18
00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:51.000
I get from the back of the house to the stage,

19
00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:52.560
or how do I make an entrance? Then of course

20
00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:54.280
I have to be funny or else. No one in

21
00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:56.880
the arena gives a crap how I got there. I

22
00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:58.880
just want people to say I never disappointed them at

23
00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:00.960
a show. That's kind of what most important to me.

24
00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:03.600
He says. Putting most of his energy into his live

25
00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:05.560
show is a better use of his time at this

26
00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:08.719
stage than worrying about boosting his profile on TikTok or Instagram.

27
00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:12.280
He did post a video with the lead singer of Creed,

28
00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:17.159
Scott Stapp. That video got twelve million views. Sebastian said,

29
00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:18.719
I just put it up like a fun, stupid video

30
00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:20.400
and not thinking he was going nuts, rather than trying

31
00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:22.079
to figure out how do I get in the algorithm

32
00:01:22.200 --> 00:01:23.519
or what a kids want to see, what's the other

33
00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:25.239
generation looking for. I just do what I do, and

34
00:01:25.239 --> 00:01:27.239
if you like it, great, and if not, that's fine too.

35
00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:29.000
If you just do what you think is funny, I

36
00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:31.439
think people will relate. This tour kind of has a

37
00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:33.040
little bit more meaning to me in the sense that

38
00:01:33.079 --> 00:01:34.719
for the first time in my life, I'm sharing what

39
00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:36.959
I do with my entire family, in particularly my kids,

40
00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:38.920
because now they're kind of aware of what daddy does

41
00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:41.120
for a living. He makes people laugh. I don't know

42
00:01:41.159 --> 00:01:43.159
if I'm going to be doing a dome show. In

43
00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:45.120
two years, I could be back at the theater or

44
00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:47.640
a comedy club. Who knows. So to enjoy this tour

45
00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:51.159
with my family is really important to me. The Hollywood

46
00:01:51.159 --> 00:01:54.319
Reporter spoke to Matt Rife about crowd work. They were

47
00:01:54.359 --> 00:01:57.239
curious how respectful Matt's fans are when he's out there

48
00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:00.319
doing prepared material. Rife said, I'd say a large already

49
00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:02.840
to them. They're respectful. Occasionally they aren't. But there are

50
00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:04.519
pros and cons of doing crowd work. He gets to

51
00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:06.719
interact with these amazing people that you choose at random,

52
00:02:06.920 --> 00:02:08.280
and then people at home are like, oh, if I

53
00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:10.039
buy a seat in the first five rows, that guarantees

54
00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:12.520
me a chance to speak to him, where they'll purposely yell, thinking, Oh,

55
00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:14.280
if I talk to him and he turns into something funny,

56
00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:16.080
I'm gonna be in his next clip. And I gotta

57
00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:18.039
understand how that can be the perception, but it's not

58
00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:20.159
how it works. It's rarely the loudest person in the

59
00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:22.280
room is intion that's the most interesting person to talk to.

60
00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:25.120
It's usually the least assuming person who probably had no

61
00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:27.039
idea who I was in the first place. That sparks

62
00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:29.879
the best kind of conversation. So yeah, people do yell

63
00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:31.680
out sometimes because they expect or want to be the

64
00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:33.639
person who get spoken to, and then I'm like forced

65
00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:35.719
to entertain it. And that's the thing. People will disrupt

66
00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:37.759
a show, which is a bad thing, but then because

67
00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:39.800
I'm good at it, I turn it into a good thing,

68
00:02:39.879 --> 00:02:41.680
and then they were rewarded for doing a bad thing.

69
00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:43.240
But if I scold them or I don't turn it

70
00:02:43.240 --> 00:02:45.680
into something funny, then I look like I can't handle

71
00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:47.919
a heckler or I can't think quickly on my feet.

72
00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:50.800
That's really interesting, isn't it. Yeah, so I'm kind of

73
00:02:50.840 --> 00:02:52.840
forced to rise to each occasion, and most of the

74
00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:54.719
time it ends up being something wonderful and we get

75
00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:56.280
a good moment out of it for the show, and

76
00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:58.759
the whole audience appreciates it. But I'd be lying if

77
00:02:58.759 --> 00:03:00.719
I said there weren't times that people do ruin a

78
00:03:00.759 --> 00:03:04.159
moment for the show. Raife said, here's your headline. F

79
00:03:04.199 --> 00:03:06.560
the haters, like, I hear about what they say, and

80
00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:08.960
I think it's so funny. It's pretty obvious the stereotypes

81
00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:10.919
of people who don't like me, and that's totally fine.

82
00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:12.840
I have no problem with people not liking me. Cool,

83
00:03:13.719 --> 00:03:15.639
stay as far away from me as possible, because I

84
00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:17.319
make a lot of people very happy and that means

85
00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:19.199
the world to me. And you don't know how badly

86
00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:21.199
these people need to be made happy. So yeah, for me,

87
00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:24.280
it was just an opportunity to comedically and creatively take

88
00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:26.800
a jab back. This doesn't matter how good loose it is.

89
00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:28.800
I could wear in an Emmy for it and they'll

90
00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:31.319
still say it's trash. And I try not to give

91
00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:33.240
haters the time of day, but I was like, Okay,

92
00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:35.400
here's one little opportunity to get in my licks. I

93
00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:38.719
suppose comedy is just intention right, So my intentions haven't

94
00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:40.520
changed because they were never wrong in the first place.

95
00:03:40.599 --> 00:03:42.360
If people think I'm this person, then you haven't done

96
00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:45.000
enough research. I mean, I don't think I've done anything controversial.

97
00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:47.280
Just because somebody does something that you don't like doesn't

98
00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:50.000
mean that they're the devil. That's crazy. People are allowed

99
00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:51.759
to like different things than you, People are allowed to

100
00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:54.520
laugh at different things than you. Even in twenty twenty four,

101
00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:57.719
he's working on a Netflix series that's set in a

102
00:03:57.879 --> 00:03:59.759
gym and said, right now, my writer and I are

103
00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:02.000
passing off a couple of different script drafts back and

104
00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:03.919
forth that will submit to Netflix and hopefully get picked

105
00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:06.280
up the series. It's really really fun. The gym is

106
00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:08.520
something that's very important to me, and I believe should

107
00:04:08.520 --> 00:04:10.439
be important to everybody, not just for your physical health,

108
00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:12.400
but for your mental health. Everybody goes to the gym

109
00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:14.800
isn't trying to be a powerlifter. For me personally, it's

110
00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:16.240
the one hour I get out of my day that

111
00:04:16.279 --> 00:04:17.639
I don't have to think about work and I can

112
00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:19.720
just focus on myself and it's a stress release. Like

113
00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:21.519
right now, I'm totally exhausted, but as soon as we

114
00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:23.240
get off the phone, I'm gonna squeeze it an hour

115
00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:25.120
before a show tonight because I know it's part of

116
00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:27.959
my routine and I really need it. The Columbus Underground

117
00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.639
spoke to Mike Kaplan about reviewing past material. Mike said,

118
00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:33.800
I'm sure that I'm not the only comedian who reviews

119
00:04:33.800 --> 00:04:35.720
and reflects. I can only speak from my own experience,

120
00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:38.519
and I think comedians aren't a monolith and there's a range.

121
00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:40.240
I don't know if this is accurate, but Tony V

122
00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:42.120
was one of the first comedians ever saw on Boston.

123
00:04:42.199 --> 00:04:44.160
He's one of the funniest people I've ever seen. There

124
00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:45.519
are a lot of comedians that come from there, but

125
00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:47.879
there's a rich lineage of really strong joke writers. In

126
00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:50.000
addition to great performers. You have Dane Cook and Bill

127
00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.480
Burrn and Patris O'Neil coming from there, and also Gary Goleman,

128
00:04:52.519 --> 00:04:55.000
who I think is a masterful performer, And there are

129
00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:57.319
masterful writers like Wendy Leeman. There are a lot of

130
00:04:57.360 --> 00:04:59.519
Boston comedians who are still there and still crushing it,

131
00:04:59.560 --> 00:05:01.639
and you might I see them tell their perfect joke

132
00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:04.360
equations night after night. Tony Vee was one who I remembered.

133
00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:06.319
Even it was telling the same jokes of the same stories,

134
00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:08.480
it would often come out differently. I don't know if

135
00:05:08.519 --> 00:05:10.079
he ever wrote anything down, or at least that's what

136
00:05:10.120 --> 00:05:12.160
it seemed to me. He might have. Maybe he tricked

137
00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:13.959
me in the way that many comedians trick many people,

138
00:05:13.959 --> 00:05:15.199
but it's my sense that he was like, I have

139
00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:17.120
these ideas, and I know I'm funny. I'll express them

140
00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:19.360
this way one night, in another way another night. Mike

141
00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:22.519
Kamplan started talking about seeing Rory Skovell in the two

142
00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:27.000
thousand and six Seattle International Comedy Competition. Everybody was doing

143
00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:30.519
basically their tight fives. It'd be their audition set to

144
00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:32.279
get on TV, and that served a lot of people. Well,

145
00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:34.800
Rory completely did not do that every night. It was

146
00:05:34.839 --> 00:05:37.360
something different. It was inspirational to me. From that point on,

147
00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:39.240
I realized I didn't have to just do the jokes

148
00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:40.959
as written in the order. I decided I could leave

149
00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:42.600
room for chance and open up to the moment and

150
00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:44.680
start riffing and experimenting more at the ends of jokes

151
00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:47.199
or in between jokes. So the Lasher point is there

152
00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:49.040
are some comedians and never write things down, when there

153
00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:51.959
were some comedians that write things down meticulously. When I

154
00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:53.879
first come up with an idea, usually I'll record it

155
00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:55.519
in my recorder out loud. Then I'll write it long

156
00:05:55.560 --> 00:05:57.560
hand in a notebook. Later I'll type it in my computer,

157
00:05:57.600 --> 00:05:59.959
and at each stage, when I'm revisiting, I'll a stents

158
00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:02.439
quote unquote the same idea. Or visiting something can always

159
00:06:02.439 --> 00:06:04.720
spark something new to happen. So I'm not saying that

160
00:06:04.759 --> 00:06:06.879
every comedian should do what I'm doing, but it certainly

161
00:06:06.920 --> 00:06:11.439
serves me. All right, let's stay comedically philosophical today Dina

162
00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:14.079
Hasham spoke to Slates and they were curious if there

163
00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:16.279
are certain environments or things that are more likely to

164
00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:19.360
cause ideas to come. Dina said, yeah, I mean, having

165
00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:22.360
new experiences definitely helps. It's not like you're not having

166
00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:24.639
new experiences and you can't joke about being a comedian

167
00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:26.519
for the whole time. So I have to consciously make

168
00:06:26.519 --> 00:06:28.600
an effort to do new things or have new experiences,

169
00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:30.879
and that definitely helps have new ideas. What happens to

170
00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:33.199
a lot of comedians become rich and famous, it changes

171
00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:34.959
their act and for the worst for the most part.

172
00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:37.160
Like it's hard for me to think of comedians who've

173
00:06:37.160 --> 00:06:40.040
gotten better with fame and fortune. My all time favorite

174
00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:42.240
is Norm McDonald and he just managed to be funny

175
00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:46.279
his entire life somehow. Sam Campbell is one of Vulture's comedians.

176
00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:48.920
You should and will know. Sam spin on my radar

177
00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:51.680
for a few years for his work at the various festivals,

178
00:06:52.079 --> 00:06:54.160
the proudest moment of his career so far. There's a

179
00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:56.600
funny comedian called James Gill who runs a Great Night

180
00:06:56.600 --> 00:06:58.680
in London at a pub called the Tommy Field. He

181
00:06:58.759 --> 00:07:00.360
host the show and one says, I left the stage,

182
00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:02.160
he said to the crowd, give it up for Sam Campbell,

183
00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:04.639
the Maestro. I got a real jolt for him, called

184
00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:07.720
the Maestro, did wonder for my confidence. Unfortunately was short lived.

185
00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:10.319
I've done the gig a few times since. Discovery calls

186
00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:12.480
quite a lot of comedians the Maestro. He says it

187
00:07:12.519 --> 00:07:14.519
all the time about people. But you can't discount something

188
00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:17.319
just because it's short lived. Whose career trajectory would you

189
00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:21.439
like to follow? He says? The answer is simple, Shelley Berman, interesting,

190
00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:23.800
worst show ever. I've boon more times than you've had

191
00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:25.600
hot dinners. Every time I go on, I'm trying to

192
00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:28.160
showcase rather than just goose around. I almost always die

193
00:07:28.279 --> 00:07:32.439
very badly. I've had some really awful, unforfiable ones lately. Sorry,

194
00:07:32.439 --> 00:07:34.319
it's not a specific answer. If I try to access

195
00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:36.000
some of those memories and depth, I I could trap

196
00:07:36.040 --> 00:07:38.079
to not be able to come back. All Right, what

197
00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:41.040
comedy opinion hill will you die on? Sam says, A

198
00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:42.560
lot of people give me a hard time for laughing

199
00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:44.439
at my own jokes on stage. I'd like to dress

200
00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:46.600
this once and for all. They're not my jokes. I

201
00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:50.000
stole them from various open my comedians and foreside comic strips,

202
00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.839
and my laughter is always genuine. Best comedy advice, worst

203
00:07:52.839 --> 00:07:55.759
comedy advice, the best. I have a boozy lunch with

204
00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:58.319
Jimmy Carr whenever he's not touring, and it's always an

205
00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:00.480
honor and a masterclass to listen to him muse on

206
00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:02.920
the craft. He recently said, be careful when you get

207
00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:04.519
to the top of the mountain. You might not be

208
00:08:04.519 --> 00:08:07.560
able to breathe that air. That stuck with me. Worst advice.

209
00:08:07.639 --> 00:08:10.399
Johnny McCallister, who runs the Comedy Lounge in Perth, Australia,

210
00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:12.800
would say to me, only do your gold There was

211
00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:14.240
a lot of pressure. If I was a promoter, I

212
00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:16.199
would say to every act your golden Go out there

213
00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:18.240
and see what happens when the light bounces off of you.

214
00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:20.720
And that is your comedy news for today. If you

215
00:08:20.839 --> 00:08:22.759
enjoy the program, tell a friend about it. They might

216
00:08:22.920 --> 00:08:24.879
like it too. If you would like the program without

217
00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:26.879
commercial interruption, there's a link in the show notes I

218
00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:29.439
to tell you how that works. A short version five bucks.

219
00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:30.279
See you tomorrow.