Update: Here’s an extensive photo album from the show.
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SketchFest Goers? How Was the Show?An open thread for reports from tonight’s RiffTrax show at the Castro in San Francisky.
29 Replies to “SketchFest Goers? How Was the Show?”Commenting at Satellite News
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RiffTrax Presents “Night of the Shorts II: Electric Riffaloo”
As per usual for these shows I arrived to a long line of ticket holders that extended around the block. The show started 15 minutes late and by the time everyone was seated, the 1400 person capacity theater looked pretty full to me. After showing the Rifftrax 5 year anniversary highlight reel, Kevin & Bill took the stage … and the crowd went wild – (yay).
First they showed a brief video message from Mike Nelson explaining why he wasn’t there (he didn’t come in January either – what’s he got against SF?). Apparently while trying to sell RT titles door-to-door he was killed by an irate customer who didn’t want to buy their take on “300.” Then they outlined what we’d be seeing (they did this last time back in January which I am grateful for since it gave me a chance to jot down notes without missing any of the riffing).
1. County Fair – K&B, lots of singing
2. Act Your Age – w/Chris Hardwick
3. Paper and I – w/Bob Odenkirk
4. The Calendar: How to Use It – w/Cole Stratton and Janet Varney
5. Flying Stewardess – just K&B
6. At Your Fingertips: Boxes – w/Adam Savage
7. Tooth Truth with Harv and Marv – w/Andy Richter
So two repeats from previous Fathom live shows (which I didn’t mind) and five “new” ones, adding up to two-hours and overall an even better show than last time. They picked great guests and some truly surreal shorts.
I don’t know the studio versions of all these so I’m not certain how much of the riffing was new or tweaked by the guest riffers but it all sounded fresh to my ears (there was a joke about actor Gerard Depardieu pissing himself that was ripped from today’s headlines). They even threw in a few f-bombs and other expletives which delighted the crowd. Seriously, if you have a problem with CT & RT folks swearing at live shows you are a moron.
RiffTrax needs to get Odenkirk to guest riff; he was fantastic.
“They even threw in a few f-bombs and other expletives which delighted the crowd.”
Classy.
“Seriously, if you have a problem with CT & RT folks swearing at live shows you are a moron.”
And classier.
I had a blast, and I loved Adam Savage as a guest riffer. I missed last year’s Sketchfest show, so it was my first experience with him riffing, and he was great. My only complaint is we showed up at 8, and therefore had to sit in the balcony, waaaay up near the back. But that was our fault, so, you know, can’t complain too much. Next time, I’ll camp out for an hour or so ahead of time.
Nice read. I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing some research on that. He actually bought me lunch as I found it for him! Therefore let me rephrase: Thanx for lunch!
Guess I am a moron. I don’t like it when they swear. They can be just as funny with out swearing. I want to be able to enjoy their shows with my mother and children.
Guess I am just a moron.
It goes both ways, IMO.
Yes, it is possible to be clean and funny, and it does take more work to get a laugh without profanity. Jerry Seinfeld, Brian Regan, Jim Gaffigan, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Cosby – all squeaky clean, all hilarious.
No, using profanity does not automatically label comedy cheap, dirty, or lacking in class – Carlin, Hicks, Lewis Black, Patton Oswalt…even Monty Python; all fairly vulgar, yet all of them still are intelligent and hilarious.
I find those who are offended by cursing/look down on it automatically as ‘less’ and those who use it as punctuation/reflex equally irritating…but to each their own. One of the great things about comedy is that there is something for everyone. One of the downsides is that there is something for everyone and you WILL run into something that rubs you the wrong way. I also don’t see having your sensibilities challenged as a bad thing, though. My only problem is with lazy humor, and again – you can get that in both camps. The difference is that the profanity will get groans, the clean stuff will just get snores.
That said, I’m glad everyone who made it to the show had a good time and I am truly sorry that we won’t be able to offer a dload or DVD of it. Big thanks to everyone who came out for Jack the Giant Killer as well. That one, I think we can get to you on disc at some point. :P
Yes, F bombs are a sign of comedic genius and are a great way to show people
how sophisticated you are. Where would MST3k be without Joel telling the Mads
to F%#* off.
Just repeat to yourself it’s just SketchFest, I should really just @#$*!
Sounds like a great show. I’ll have to try to make it out there some time for one.
Thanks all the photos too. I hope the photographer doesn’t mind if I grab one for an update on my website.
Wish I could see this! If this came out on DVD I would buy it in an instant!
Let me state this another way:
Anyone bitching about veterans of the long-dead MST3K franchise using the occasional four-letter word in their current ventures which you were not a paying audience member of (and thus have no real way of judging how funny/not funny they were in the context of a live performance) is, at least, being willfully ignorant.
I feel it is a noteworthy development in both CT & RT performances that they are now PG-rated affairs, and reported this as objective fact in order to inform the fan base. It was not me saying frak, shat, or a-hole: I merely editorialized that if you have a problem with it, it is YOUR PROBLEM, not the riffers. Because in both this case and the double feature of CT shows I saw months ago, the few instances of “colorful language” went over like gangbusters. At no point did the idea of “pandering” or “lazy writing” come across to those of us present in the room. If you were not there, your opinion about it is worthless. So why why clutter up this thread with your unfounded criticisms? That, to me, makes someone a moron.
Thanks Sampo for adding the link to the photos – I tried but failed at taking any good ones myself. I saw some dude snapping pics who seemed to be official and I think that was him. And thanks to those who appreciated my obviously enthusiastic recap of a great show. Esp. Casey, who I thought explained pretty well how both clean and dirty comedy can be equally funny. I do wish more SF audience members would chime in, but til then you’re stuck with my review, so live with the fact that some of us saw it and you didn’t.
Finnias Jones is a complete moron.
Just because I was not at that RT show does not mean I don’t know what those words sound like or mean. I did not say they were not funny. I said I like it better when they do not use words that are offensive. Just the fact that they are known as offensive says something.
By the way, I have been to one CT and 4 RT (live not at cinema) shows and have enjoyed them all. There were a a few off color words used and I did not like it (couple were pretty funny). Nothing I would not take my daughter to. One exception was a stand up comic before a CT show. I am so glad my mother was not there.
Guess I am just a moron.
While I myself have no issue with a few four letter words – I don’t support the idea that anyone who doesn’t think like me is a moron.
On topic: I wish I could go to these things. I never know about them until it is too late, though living in California would seem to be an advantage. I did get to see one CT show and it was a blast. Any chance any of this show is on Youtube?
Yup, I AM dumb.
I forgot that I am posting my opinions on a site that prohibits certain words from being used because a portion of it’s audience dislikes them. Fair enough. Insulting ones readers off the bat is never a good practice. I was being dismissive of other folk’s sensibilities, then banging my head against the wall because I couldn’t convince them otherwise. I should save the insults for when the really asinine commenters show up (like SuperSwift – who has been annoying me since the KTMA Episode Guide). But SS is right in this case: I’m the dummy here. (a dummy who likes ham)
We can all agree RT’s Jack The Giant Killer was pretty great though, right? And no swear words that I recall. Maybe it’s Mike that forbids them…
And for those who want to attend these shows in SF, get yourself on the SFSketchfest mailing list. That’s how I learned about them. They promote both the RT & CT live events whenever they come to town.
I remember watching a 60 Minutes interview with Jerry Seinfeld years ago where he was specifically asked why he never uses the F word in his routines (he used to early in his career but stopped). His reply was (paraphrasing a bit here but it is almost word for word best as I can remember), ‘…because it’s poor workmanship. It’s sloppy. You’re making the audience laugh by using the word to shock them into an emotional response.’ So that’s why I don’t like it when the RT and CT crews use it, because they’re good writers and they’re funny without such language. Any way you cut it, and not to slam the comedians or the audience members themselves, but the F word is gutter talk and resorting to it is pandering to the lowest common denominator of vocabulary and tastes in society. Imagine if all of a sudden after years of mostly clean routines, Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby, or Brian Regan started “dropping a few F bombs” in their routines in order to “shake things up a bit” and “delight” a few extra people in the audience. Wouldn’t it feel really cheap and awkward? Of course it would, and it would even get attention from the press. So that’s how it feels to long time MSTies like me when the RT and CT folks use it after years of not. Get it? I’m going to see CT Live in Minneapolis next month for the second time (the Rattlers show) with my brother and a friend. If they use the F bomb a few times, will we walk out of the show? No. But will it enhance our overall enjoyment of the riffs? Definitely not.
Yes, Seinfeld is ONE school of thought. There’s a later interview where he says that cursing is a shortcut to a laugh. One that he doesn’t personally use, but he doesn’t use the disdain that he did in the previous one despite being baited by the interviewer. Also, I forget the joke, but he had a bit where he used the word Sh*t – at one point he took the word out and the joke didn’t get the laugh. He put it back in and it killed again. I’m not saying it was funny because he used the word, but because he used it like the tool that words are in, not just meaning, but also timing. (If you’ve ever seen ‘Jerry Seinfeld: Comedian” you know that he’s not completely clean anyway – off stage he’s quite the potty mouth.) In the end it’s just language…that’s all, and some of the most intelligent people I know and admire(Carlin and Hicks)were known for exploring that language. To instantly brand it as ‘gutter talk’ and what not is pretty insulting, in my opinion, to the legacy of people like that. If Cosby, Seinfeld, or Regan started working dirty it wouldn’t work because they’ve already long established themselves as clean. If Carlin ever went squeaky clean it would not have been well received either, so that point doesn’t fly with me. If you personally don’t like comedy that uses cursing, fine – I will never EVER take issue with people simply having different taste…but to disregard the validity of the form because of it and look down on those who do explore that area? I didn’t come here to make insults and I do respect your opinion, but I think you know where I’m headed.
Also, apologies to the people reading this thread who wanted comments on the show and instead got a debate on comedic principle, and apologies to the site owners for going so far off topic. This just happens to be something I care deeply about…deeply enough to argue on the internet about, so that should tell you something. :P
What kind of a ****-hole comment thread is this?!
Captain Cab – If you think that George Carlin, Richard Pryor & Lenny Bruce are “pandering to the lowest common denominator of vocabulary and tastes in our society,” you are of course entitled to your opinion, but many of us feel exactly the opposite, including, I might add, Jerry Seinfeld. If you ask Jerry his opinion of Carlin he will, like every other comic of his generation, tell you in no uncertain terms what a great artist he was. And the influence of Carlin’s observational style on Seinfeld is unmistakeable. If you don’t like it when comedians curse, fine, that is your preference and I admire you for sticking to your guns on that principle. But to denigrate all comics who don’t share your sensibility as pandering gutter-dwellers is a shallow interpretation to say the least. There was a recent HBO special called “Talking Funny” where Jerry sat down on a panel with Ricky Gervais, Chris Rock and Louis CK. Jerry clearly had great admiration for the other comics on the panel, because even though they all have different sensibilities, they all shared one thing in common: great talent and a deep devotion to the art and craft of stand-up comedy. I’ll say it one more time: if comedians who use four letter words are not to your taste, don’t watch them or listen to them or go to their concerts. But when you say that the likes of George Carlin and Chris Rock are lazy practitioners of their craft, you are displaying complete ignorance.
“If you’ve ever seen ‘Jerry Seinfeld: Comedian” you know that he’s not completely clean anyway – off stage he’s quite the potty mouth.”
I know, and his routines themselves aren’t exactly “squeaky clean.” I’ve heard him use Sh*t before, it’s constant profanity and the F-bomb itself where I draw the line. And he still doesn’t use the F word in his routines. In any case, regardless whether or not it’s the F-word, I simply don’t find profanity in comedy funny. I haven’t seen seen that interview with his “updated” stance but he still calls it for what it is, a shortcut to getting the audience to laugh. You speak of how it’s a tool some comedians use. Here’s a recent quote from comedian Louis C.K. on a conversation he had with Jerry regarding the word:
http://comedian.blogspot.com/2011/06/f-word-is-like-corvette.html
“The tools of a stand up comic are words. Some are good for every job. Some are more powerful and should be used sparingly. All of them are potentially crutches. Louis C.K. says that Jerry Seinfeld once told him, “The F word is like a Corvette.” “And I thought,” says Louis C.K., “that means that it’s fast and it’s cool and it’s got power and thrust to it. But then I thought, wait a minute, this guy grew up on Long Island and collects Porsches. So to him, a Corvette is a piece of ****, with a Chevy engine, just a flashy bull**** car.” Your own favorite tool may be a typeface, or a Photoshop effect, or a certain color combination. Seinfeld says he stopped using the F word when he realized it had become a crutch. Of course, one man’s crutch is another man’s secret weapon. Or, as Louis C.K. observes, “Where I grew up, a Corvette is an awesome car.”
Viewing the word as a ‘flashy crutch’ sounds about the same as what he said in the 60 Minutes interview.
“To instantly brand it as ‘gutter talk’ and what not is pretty insulting, in my opinion, to the legacy of people like that.”
As I said before, “…and not to slam the comedians or the audience members themselves.” So, I’d like to think I framed my opinion in a pretty balanced way. Of course Carlin and Hicks were accomplished, skilled comedians. That doesn’t mean the F-word still isn’t gutter talk and a shortcut to a laugh from many peoples’ perspectives though, Seinfeld included.
“If Cosby, Seinfeld, or Regan started working dirty it wouldn’t work because they’ve already long established themselves as clean.
Exactly, didn’t I already say that before?
“If Carlin ever went squeaky clean it would not have been well received either, so that point doesn’t fly with me.”
How so? You just repeated a reverse scenario of how some fans would react if a comedian changed their style, and that would be that they wouldn’t like it which is what my point was. CT and RT’s respective members have riffed for many years mostly clean without the F-word. I think their riffs work a lot better without it. Again, to start using it now to get a few extra rises from the audiences feels cheap. But to each their own.
“If you personally don’t like comedy that uses cursing, fine – I will never EVER take issue with people simply having different taste…but to disregard the validity of the form because of it and look down on those who do explore that area? I didn’t come here to make insults and I do respect your opinion, but I think you know where I’m headed.”
It’s part personal taste and of course part personal boundaries as to what I feel is acceptable and will allow myself to be entertained by. I can guarantee you that even if I removed those personal boundaries as to what I feel is acceptable language, I still wouldn’t find comedy routines laced with profanity and the F-word funny which is exactly why I really appreciate Seinfeld’s stance on it. He obviously doesn’t have the same personal boundaries as me as to language, yet there’s still a line he won’t cross and I find his reason for it as a comedian very compelling. Anyways, that’s all the more I have to say on this.
Frank: “But when you say that the likes of George Carlin and Chris Rock are lazy practitioners of their craft, you are displaying complete ignorance.”
That’s not what I’m saying. From my latest reply to Casey (I just got done posting it so didn’t see yours just now): “As I said before, “…and not to slam the comedians or the audience members themselves.” So, I’d like to think I framed my opinion in a pretty balanced way. Of course Carlin and Hicks were accomplished, skilled comedians. That doesn’t mean the F-word still isn’t gutter talk and a shortcut to a laugh from many peoples’ perspectives though, Seinfeld included.”
I’m certainly not saying a comedian themself is a hack or overall lazy for using the word and I certainly respect others’ right to free speech and personal taste.
And it was definitely not my intention to call any one a “gutter dweller.” It’s the word itself I find offensive.
Carlin was very funny for many years on TV before he started cursing. He was also very funny when he did start cursing. They are just words and should not be offensive, but like it or not, many people do find them offensive or there would not be this argument in the first place. For me it is a Christian belief thing and a Christian should not want to be a bad example (which is really hard since no matter what we are a bad example unless you are perfect).
I enjoyed going to Cartoon Dump, but I doubt that I will ever go again because of the vulgarity of it. The sexual jokes went to way to far and I was embarassed to be there with two of my sons (that are both over 21). I would like to recommend it (I really like J. Elvis, Jerry and Frank), but feel that I can’t.
That is just me and I am sure they won’t need my dime anyway.
I still buy CT and RT products and will continue to support them when I can.
Well, let’s see. RT’s short on using the Calendar had a reference to drug usage, their short on courtesy using eggs mocked the mentally disabled and their Smokey the Bear short had a reference to Pedobear. So many things to find offense with. So why not start another thread bemoaning that RT made a reference to a pedophile bear and failed to denounce said bear in the same breath? It’s a nice slope and very slippery at that. If you’re butthurt because of a few words then feel free to leave the theater, I’ll be happy to take your seat.
Totally agree with Casey and Finnias.
Honestly, different views aside (and, seriously, much respect there), I’m just jazzed that we’ve got Mysties/CT/Rifftrax fans that are so into stand-up; on top of the riffing. :)
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