We live in pretty exciting times. Whether it be creating your own radio show to newspaper to TV show to recording studio, the world is at a technological stage where no one has to accept the status quo anymore, and can instead do things exactly the way they want or envision. The rub, most often, is that doing whatever you want outside of the system needs to be the reward itself, because very few are seeing any sort of financial success on the fringes. Still, if you’re creative enough, pretty much anything is game. In the case of The Comedy Garage, a bunch of friends in Burbank, CA decided that they were sick of going the normal stand-up comedy route, and instead turned the garage at their shared house into a comedy club.
Over the course of this short documentary, which you can watch on Hulu, the audience is not only treated to the story behind the formation of the Comedy Garage, and the story of the founders and main players, but also brought in on an event to get a glimpse of what a show is like. For the most part, the comedians, Matthew Sullivan, Casey Feigh, Sean Green, Paul Danke and Cornell Reid, are actually funny. This is a good sign, because to have a comedy club that you expect people to actually want to go to, you should probably have some funny acts rolling. That said, beyond the stand-up “act,” you definitely get the feeling that more than one of the comedians may be putting on less of a show and maybe just getting really f*****g drunk and then grabbing a mic. Which can also be funny, and here it is but… that’s definitely where the “party in the garage” part of the Comedy Garage is more overpowering than the comedy itself.
That said, whatever, right? If you’ve ever seen a band in a converted loft space or even, in the case of the Vermont House in Los Angeles, the landing at the top of the stairs of a small house, you know that the chaos and dirtiness of the proceedings only adds to the fun. If you want that comedy club feel, GO TO A COMEDY CLUB. In the case of the Comedy Garage, why the f**k shouldn’t the performers get trashed? And who are you to judge? They invited you into their house(‘s garage). Show some respect!
If anything, I wanted to see more of the stand-up routines. The documentary aspects explaining the who, how and why of it all are necessary, I understand, and they can even be pretty humorous as well, but when I’m really enjoying a comic’s routine, I want it to keep going. Getting little bits and then moving on, while maybe necessary (maybe if they showed more the comics would suck; I don’t know), left me wanting so much more. Still, watch The Comedy Garage for a good laugh and maybe you’ll find some inspiration to go out there and do your own thing in your own way.
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