Boston Comedy Festival Podcast

Comedian Eddie Brill and I talk about how he started out while attending college at Emerson College and joined the roaring Boston Comedy scene in the 80's. He then went on to start a club in NYC's Greenwich Village and moved to become a part of the crew of amazing comedians at the Comedy Store. He became the talent scout for David Letterman and now is the talent coordinator for The Great American Comedy Festival. He will be looking at talent at this years Boston Comedy Festival as well as performing here. JUST LISTEN IF YOU A COMEDY FAN I THINK YOU WILL LIKE IT.   Bio stolen from Eddies Website. Eddie Brill is a well respected and very funny stand up here in the USA and abroad. He has been a regular on the comedy scene in England since 1989. Eddie also works in Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, France, Holland and Hong Kong. For seventeen years, he worked on The Late Show with David Letterman. He served as the audience warm-up and for eleven of those years he was the Stand Up Comedy Talent Coordinator. Ed

Tony V is one of the best comedians in Boston and honestly working today.. He is always a great interview he has amazing stories coming from 30 years of doing comedy. He is universally respected by comedians I hope you enjoy this conversation.   Please subscribe if you like and here are some links if you want to find Tony.   http://www.tonyvcomic.com @tonyvcomic http://www.jimmccue.com @jimmccue http://bostoncomedyfest.com   About Tony V:   Tony V started his stand-up comedy career in 1982 after attending several shows at Boston’s prestigious Comedy Connection. He wandered in one night, quite by accident, looking for a little stress relief from a high pressure job as a case worker at the Somerville Mental Health Center. Tony was working his way toward a Masters degree in social work having graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a B. S. in Psychology. It was not long after that he took to the stage himself. Tony’s street wise humor tempered with a genuine feel for the human condition quickly prope

Tony V is one of the best comedians in Boston and honestly working today.. He is always a great interview he has amazing stories coming from 30 years of doing comedy. He is universally respected by comedians I hope you enjoy this conversation.   Please subscribe if you like and here are some links if you want to find Tony.   http://www.tonyvcomic.com @tonyvcomic http://www.jimmccue.com @jimmccue http://bostoncomedyfest.com   About Tony V:   Tony V started his stand-up comedy career in 1982 after attending several shows at Boston’s prestigious Comedy Connection. He wandered in one night, quite by accident, looking for a little stress relief from a high pressure job as a case worker at the Somerville Mental Health Center. Tony was working his way toward a Masters degree in social work having graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a B. S. in Psychology. It was not long after that he took to the stage himself. Tony’s street wise humor tempered with a genuine feel for the human condition quickly prope

About Nick some info stolen from his site: Longtime freelance writer with experience writing for publications both big and small, local and national. I have very specific knowledge of stand-up comedy and a wide general knowledge of arts and entertainment. Interested in extending my range as a writer, finding challenging work. Throughout my career, I have adapted to the voices of a number of publications, from The Boston Globe to The Boston Phoenix, Mental Floss to Paste Magazine, Playboy to Bust, TheSpitTake.com to the New England Baseball Journal. I've traveled around the country and beyond for assignments, interviewing Carl Reiner in his Beverly Hills home, running around Montreal for 14-hour days of comedy at the Just For Laughs Festival, and speaking with Levon Helm at his kitchen table after a Midnight Ramble in Woodstock. If you have interesting work, I'd love to hear about it.  

About Nick some info stolen from his site:  Longtime freelance writer with experience writing for publications both big and small, local and national. I have very specific knowledge of stand-up comedy and a wide general knowledge of arts and entertainment. Interested in extending my range as a writer, finding challenging work. Throughout my career, I have adapted to the voices of a number of publications, from The Boston Globe to The Boston Phoenix, Mental Floss to Paste Magazine, Playboy to Bust, TheSpitTake.com to the New England Baseball Journal. I've traveled around the country and beyond for assignments, interviewing Carl Reiner in his Beverly Hills home, running around Montreal for 14-hour days of comedy at the Just For Laughs Festival, and speaking with Levon Helm at his kitchen table after a Midnight Ramble in Woodstock. If you have interesting work, I'd love to hear about it.  

With his younger brother Jerry and childhood pal Jim Abrahams, writer-producer-director David Zucker was responsible for a series of hilarious spoofs of a wide swath of popular movie genres. After forming a comedy troupe in college, the trio made their film debut with the cult classic, "The Kentucky Fried Movie" (1977), which featured a string of disconnected vignettes. But it was their next spoof, "Airplane!" (1980), that marked their first major hit and established the three as an influential comedic force. After "Airplane," the Zuckers and Abraham made a failed attempt at television with "Police Squad!" (ABC, 1982) before bouncing back on the big screen with "Top Secret!" (1984). With the trio going their separate ways, Zucker began making more mainstream movies, directing "Ruthless People" (1986) and the successful film franchise, "The Naked Gun - From the Files of Police Squad!" (1988), which revitalized the Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) character from "Police Squad" and spawned two hit sequels. From the

About David Zucker:   With his younger brother Jerry and childhood pal Jim Abrahams, writer-producer-director David Zucker was responsible for a series of hilarious spoofs of a wide swath of popular movie genres. After forming a comedy troupe in college, the trio made their film debut with the cult classic, "The Kentucky Fried Movie" (1977), which featured a string of disconnected vignettes. But it was their next spoof, "Airplane!" (1980), that marked their first major hit and established the three as an influential comedic force. After "Airplane," the Zuckers and Abraham made a failed attempt at television with "Police Squad!" (ABC, 1982) before bouncing back on the big screen with "Top Secret!" (1984). With the trio going their separate ways, Zucker began making more mainstream movies, directing "Ruthless People" (1986) and the successful film franchise, "The Naked Gun - From the Files of Police Squad!" (1988), which revitalized the Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) character from "Police Squad" and spawned two

Matt from Pasadena and I discus the upcoming Boston Comedy Festival.     The Boston Comedy Festival, now in its seventeenth year, is one of the premiere events that showcases undiscovered comedy talent. The Festival includes an annual competition of up-and-coming comedians and has been sponsored in previous years by, among others, Vin Di Bona Productions. The caliber of the contenders has been astounding. The Festival is held annually (this year November 16th -19th 2016). In 2006, we presented our first two Lifetime Achievement Awards in the field of comedy to Jonathan Winters and Norm Crosby and a Comedian of the Year Award to Steven Wright at the Competition Finals. In 2007 the festival celebrated excellence in comedy with such recipients as Shelley Berman, Mort Saul and Lewis Black. In 2008, our recipients were Vin Di Bona and the wonderful Smothers Brothers, celebrating their 50th year in comedy, 2009 was Tom Werner and Marcy Carsey. In 2010 we presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Robert Klein, in

Tony Camacho is known far and wide in comedy circles. He has managed many of the great and is currently in booking comedy and managing comedians out of the Las Vegas.    Tony Camacho @TonyCamacho15 Top Draw Entertainment Last Comic- Tour Manager Brad Garretts Comedy Club VH1’s Standup Spotlight Showtime at the Apollo  

Suzi Berlin and I talk to friend and funnyman Henry Philips   About Henry   Henry Phillips (born November 14, 1969) is a musical comedian from Los Angeles known for his Comedy Central Presents special, his songs for two award-winning musicals, Blake: the Musical and Chips, and for co-writing and starring in the semi-autobiographical movie Punching the Clown which won several awards, most notably the Audience Award at the Slamdance Film Festival[1] and is critically acclaimed, currently holding an 86% fresh rating on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.[2] His series of satirical YouTube cooking videos called "Henry's Kitchen," in which he tries and fails to cook food, make friends, and impress women, was described by Sarah Silverman as "the best cooking show ever",[3][4] and his other web series "You and Your Fu*king Coffee" was produced by Jash and features well-known guest stars including Mike Judge and Ashley Johnson.[5] He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!,[6] Bob and Tom,[7] The Dr. Demento Radio

My good friend Emmanuel Lewis talks about everything from Ronald Regan to Michael Jackson. Always a great interview with great stories. Emmanuel was the youngest Boston Comedy Festival lifetime achievement award winner ever! Emmanuel Lewis was born March 9th, 1971 in Brooklyn, New York. The youngest son of Margaret Lewis, a former computer-science professional, Emmanuel attended regular public schools in Brooklyn until his busy acting career took him to Hollywood. He has four siblings. His acting career began one day when he was jogging with an actor-friend who asked him if he wanted to be in the business. The friend suggested that Emmanuel's mother contact the Shuller Talent Agency, which handles gifted children for TV commercials. He thought that Emmanuel had the perfect face and personality for commercials. The friend proved right. Emmanuel was signed by the agency the minute the agents saw him and before long he was appearing in commercials for such products as fruit juice, cars, stereos, glue, soup, toys

This is a great interview for those Bill Burr fans who want to hear about Bills start in the Boston Comedy Scene.    About Bill:    Stand-up comedian Bill Burr performs over three hundred shows annually. In early 2004, he appeared in two episodes of Chappelle's Show, and in September 2005, his HBO One Night Stand special aired. Along with many other projects, Burr has also been a guest comedian on the Bob and Tom Show as well as on the Opie and Anthony Show on XM Satellite Radio, sometimes sitting in when third member Jim Norton is away. He has also performed on the Comedy Central Presents show. In 2006, as he became more famous, Burr had two movies released in 2006, and has performed on The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. On December 16, 2006, Burr hosted a three-hour radio show on Opie and Anthony's XM radio channel program The Virus, on Channel 202 named "Uninformed with Bill Burr & Joe DeRosa" from 9pm-12am. The second Uninformed

  About Bill Gardell Emmy nominated actor and comedian Billy Gardell starred in the CBS Hit television series, MIKE & MOLLY as Officer Mike Biggs from 2010-2016. MIKE & MOLLY continues to air in syndication to this day. As a followup to the hit CBS series, Billy has taken a dramatic turn in the CMT series Million Dollar Quartet as Colonel Tom Parker, the infamous manager of Elvis Presley. The drama series was inspired by the Broadway musical. In 2016 he received a Daytime Emmy nomination as Best Gameshow Host for Monopoly Millionaires Club. Before Mike and Molly, Gardell co-starred in the critically acclaimed television series Lucky. His other television credits include Yes Dear and Judging Amy, on the Network, My Name is Earl, The Practice, Monk and Gary the Rat. He made his major motion picture debut alongside Anthony Quinn and Sylvester Stallone in Avenging Angelo, and had a memorable scene with Billy Bob Thornton in the Cohen Brother’s film Bad Santa. He also appeared in You, Me & Dupree. As a

About Tony    Tony V: Tony V started his stand-up comedy career in 1982 after attending several shows at Boston’s prestigious Comedy Connection. He wandered in one night, quite by accident, looking for a little stress relief from a high pressure job as a case worker at the Somerville Mental Health Center. Tony was working his way toward a Masters degree in social work having graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a B. S. in Psychology. It was not long after that he took to the stage himself. Tony’s street wise humor tempered with a genuine feel for the human condition quickly propelled him to headliner status on the national comedy club circuit. In 1986 Tony V was named “Funniest Person in Massachusetts” by Showtime television. He followed this achievement with several performances on HBO, the Arts and Entertainment Network, Comedy Central and MTV. From 1987 through 1992 Tony V became the “spokesperson” for American Tourister Luggage. Remember the suit case smashing gorilla? It was Tony that gave

About Jon: Jon has appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, has been featured in Maxim Magazine, and was the host of the widely popular podcast, “In the Tank”. A prolific monologist with universal appeal, Jon focuses on the idiosyncrasies of city living. Shortly after moving to NYC from his native Boston, he was chosen as one of Comedy Central’s Fresh Faces of Comedy and named one of Back Stage Magazine’s 10 Standout Stand-ups. His appearance on Last Comic Standing 4 – where he was the New York City Capital One Audience Favorite – earned him wide recognition and a new legion of fans. His other TV appearances include Comedy Central’s Premium Blend, VH1, Celebrity Apprentice, and 3 Men and a Chick Flick on the WE Network where he served as a host. Interestingly, the credit people seem most impressed by was that he was handpicked to open for Jerry Seinfeld in 2009 at Gotham Comedy Club

Suzi Berlin and Jim McCue  talk about Roast Battles with Boston Comedian Matt Kona I apologize audio is a little rough.  About Matt...from Boston.com article  When stand-up comedian Matt Kona jumps up on stage, the first things you notice are his shaggy hair, his tattoos, and his Ryan Dunn beard. The next thing you’ll notice is how hard you’re laughing as he explains his vegan diet and how it's affected his relationship with his traditional, meat-loving father. But what you may not realize at all is that Kona is one of the leaders of the next great generation of Boston comedians, following in the very-hard-to-fill footsteps of legends like Lenny Clarke, Denis Leary, and Louis C.K. Born in Rowley, Mass., a small town on the North Shore, Kona is now a resident of South Boston, putting him right in the heart of the city's comedy scene. Before he was a comedian, Kona travelled around the U.S. as a roadie for a British punk band, which helped him realize a career in comedy was in his future.

About Kevin Kevin Flynn has thrilled audiences for years with his stand-up comedy performances, having headlined at clubs and colleges across the country. Critics have raved about him: "Hilarious and heartwarming, stand-up comedian Kevin Flynn's performance has the crowd shaking with laughter at every turn." He has become one of today's top-notch comedic performers, with a dazzling array of "brilliant caricatures", "remarkable skills", and "adept improvisation". A native of Connecticut and the only son in a close-knit Irish-Catholic family, Flynn originally got his start as an athlete. After lettering in 4 sports in high school, he went to the University of Massachusetts on a soccer scholarship. As two-time team captain, Flynn won a variety of honors, including a silver medal in the "National Sports Festival" and "New England College Player of the Year." He went on to play 3-years of professional soccer career in the MISL, winning Rookie of the Year in his first year. As an accomplished host and entertainer,

A seasoned professional, comedian Joe Yannetty draws on his travels, his Italian heritage, family situations and Boston blue-collar upbringing to bring family-oriented comedy to audiences around the world. Yannetty has been a guest on dozens of television shows, and has headlined around the world. Joe has also appeared at CAESAR’S PALACE in Las Vegas, RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL in New York City, and the KENNEDY CENTER in Washington DC. Joe’s career began at the DING HO, a comedy club and Chinese food restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  

About Brian Brian Kiley is an Emmy winning Comedy writer who has made numerous appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman, the Tonight Show and Conan.

Joey Carrol and Suzi Berlin talk comedy with Julie Barr about Julie Barr Julie Barr, one of the funniest comics around, transforms her insecurities into tight, sharp comedy routines. Actually, they are not routine, which is what makes them so brilliant. She is the comic's comic. Any beginning stand-up performer should catch her show to see how a memorable act is put together. Julie Barr, Comedienne - booking information Julie Barr with Richard De La Font - booking information Julie Barr with Richard De La Font While Julie Barr is a favorite of the New England comedy scene, she had other artistic aspirations as a child. Julie wanted to be a ballerina, but such dreams were crushed as she began to grow. By the first grade, Julie was five feet tall, could intimidate her teacher by peering down at her and would have to fight off her classmates from playing Gulliver with her in the schoolyard. She soon learned at the age of 13 that a life of dancing was unrealistic, because, "They don't make toe shoes in a size 11.