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COVID-19 Is No Laughing Matter

Timothy Cantrell | October 19, 2020

Topics: Back Alley Comedy, Beans Bits and Brews, Buskey Cider, Caged and Enraged, comedy, comedy in Richmond, Displaced comedians, Francesca Lyn, Funny Bone, Grieving Productively, Intermission Beer Company, Sarah Ahmed, stand-up comedy, virtual open mics, Winston Hodges, zoom comedy

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted countless industries. People have had to adapt drastically to the new normal that we now live in, and that definitely includes the comedy scene.

Open mics have been prevalent in Richmond, and many comedians have cited the unique energy and receptiveness of Richmond audiences. But ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, open mics have become a bit of a rarity.

Winston Hodges has been doing stand-up comedy for five years, and has certainly seen the difference.

“I would say before COVID, you could get up [on stage] in Richmond… if you never wanted to leave Richmond proper, you could perform three to five times a week,” Hodges said. But since COVID-19, Hodges says the shows have dwindled. “In the city, I think you can get up once a week.”

Hodges says that while he misses the open mics, he’s taken the opportunity to create his own standup special, Grieving Productively, in which he does about a half an hour worth of material on the topic of his father passing. Over the course of the pandemic, Hodges wrote, recorded, and edited the comedy special, which premiered on Friday, October 16 on YouTube.

Many comics have gone through different avenues working on projects as well. One such comic, Francesca Lyn, is even hosting her own open mics virtually. Her open mic show, “Caged and Enraged,” is hosted via zoom on the first and third Thursday every month. “I call it ‘Caged and Enraged’ because I’m trapped here,” Lyn said. “I’m here in my house all day and everything else is going on around me.”

Other comics like Sarah Ahmed had hosted comedy shows in the past, but once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, they had to make some major adjustments. Ahmed used to host “Beans, Bits, and Brews” at Crossroads Café, but since February the event has become nonexistent. “To think that that was such an ingrained part of my life and my routine…” Ahmed said. “…and now it being that thing, like, ‘What was that life?’”

Ahmed said that she did enjoy some time to relax and not have to worry about the show, but inevitably has plans to potentially start a virtual “Beans, Bits, and Brews” as early as November. “The show has a solid reputation,” she said. “So even that encourages me to do a digital version of the show.”

All three comedians have been participating in virtual open mics. All reported that the atmosphere was supportive. Hodges chalks that up to the kind of people that are participating in these virtual shows. “I think it has to do with the fact that a lot of the comics who are at my level or higher have felt like they’re either too good to do online shows, or they’ve been like, ‘I’ve been doing comedy long enough, I don’t have to do this stupid shit,’” Hodges said.

Because of this, Hodges feels that jaded people have been weeded out of the crowd for virtual open mics. “You just have a huge community of people that want to be so supportive because they know how tough this time is, and you’ve gotten rid of all the jaded bitter people that have been doing it,” he said.

Winston Hodges

Other comics have also noticed the receptiveness of virtual open mics, but have also cited how drastically different it is. Ahmed recalled her first virtual open mic. “The first virtual stand up show I did I was extremely nervous for it,” she said. “I was like, ‘Do I sit down, do I stand up, do I have a microphone just they’re not plugged in?’ It’s like, what the fuck is zoom comedy?” Ahmed even noted that some comics do in fact have a mic set up, though it’s purely optical.

Lyn in particular noted how different shows are, because comics can’t get amped up. “You have that transition time where you’re driving to the job… you get there and you’re like now you’re in work mode,” Lyn said. “It’s weird to be like, ‘Okay, I was sitting on my couch watching Selling Sunset, but now I’m on my couch doing a comedy show.’”

All of the stand-up comedians noted that the virtual shows have been great for networking, now being able to utilize comedian social media groups like Displaced Comedians to connect with other comedians who are feeling the same way during the pandemic. They reported that they’ve been able to connect with people from across the United States, to England, to Australia, and even Japan.

Make no mistake, there are still hecklers in some of these shows even though they’re virtual. Hodges in particular has participated in virtual shows from across the country and even across the world and has come across “zoom bombers” — people, according to Hodges, that will join zoom open mics to heckle in the form of swearing, posting porn, and saying racial slurs. If the host isn’t on top of things, the heckler can go unmuted and ruin the show.

“It’s not like a show in public, where I can yell over somebody with my microphone, or just talk louder, or ignore them,” Hodges said. “All you can hope is the host ejects them out of the room.”

Luckily, in person open mics aren’t completely dead. Each comic said that the socially-distanced comedy show held at Buskey Cider, Back Alley Comedy, is an amazing experience. The show is outdoors and there is limited seating with table reservations available.  Even when the shows sell out, patrons are allowed to watch from afar while still observing social distancing guidelines.

There’s also an open mic at Intermission Beer Company that each comic spoke highly of. The Funny Bone Comedy Club is looking at reopening soon, and a new comedy club, Sandman, is opening up soon in the former Champion Brewing location.

Comics like Lyn are extremely grateful for these kinds of shows that are serious about safety guidelines. “I have a couple of health problems,” she said, “so I’ve been maybe even more cautious than other people about not venturing out too much.”

Ahmed said that when she did a set at the Buskey Back Alley Comedy show, she saw first-hand just how much people have missed watching stand-up comedy when it started to rain.

“They sat outside through [rain] — not sprinkling rain, it was raining [hard] on them,” she said. “We kept the show going, and not a single audience member left until the show was done.”

The Pontiac Bandit, aka Craig Robinson, Delightfully Serenaded The Virginia Beach Funny Bone

Ash Griffith | March 22, 2019

Topics: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, comedy, Craig Robinson, Funny Bone, Hot Tub Time Machine, The Office, Virginia Beach

Craig Robinson’s three-night stand at Virginia Beach’s Funny Bone was full of hilarity and harmony. That’s harmony, dammit!

The first thing you should know about a Craig Robinson show is that when he tells you to sing, you sing. The second thing you should know is that when he tells you to sing, you sing in harmony. Harmony, he said, harmony.

This past weekend, comedian and musician Craig Robinson made a stop at Virginia Beach’s Funny Bone Comedy Club for a three-night engagement, with two shows on Friday and Saturday. He not only did stand-up throughout the evening, but frequently serenaded us with his magical keyboard. And eventually, we all got the harmony, right, dammit.

Robinson is undeniably best known for his role as Warehouse Foreman Darryl Phillbin on NBC’s long-running and popular sitcom, The Office — an American remake of the British series of the same name by Ricky Gervais. Other roles he is known for include Nick Webber-Agnew in Hot Tub Time Machine, and most recently, Andy Samberg’s problematic BFF, Doug Judy (aka the Pontiac Bandit), on previously-Fox’s, now-NBC’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

The evening at the Funny Bone started off with three openers, one of which was local comedian and radio DJ Kristen Sivills. When it was finally time for Robinson to make his entrance, it was to booming cheers of “Dunder Mifflin!,” “Darryl!,” and my personal favorite, “Doug Judy!”

Robinson opened his show with a new rendition of “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” after which he sang some advice to the men in the audience: “Don’t be a gentleman, and then an asshole. Chivalry ain’t dead.” This was followed by what became a running gag for the evening, a note about how any song is made better by just casually throwing in the line, “And take your panties off.”

I mean, he isn’t wrong. “Just be careful not to sing it in church on Sunday,” he advised.

His stand-up bits were woven intermittently through the music, covering various topics such as how marriage isn’t fair for men — he noted how men don’t get their own song to walk down the aisle to, and then laughed when someone mistook his performance of “Here Comes the Bride” for Chopin’s “Funeral March.”

Other topics of discussion included what fun things he can do in Virginia Beach — which led to him bringing up a question I’m still pondering: why is the water brown? — and Chicago.

The sea of Dunder-Mifflin shirts in the audience was hard to ignore, and even Robinson could not ignore them for too long, as fans continued to chant for his popular characters, Darryl Philbin and Doug Judy.

“Who the hell is Darryl? What is a Dunder-Mifflin?” he laughed as he threw back a cocktail. He then set his drink down on the stool beside him and went into back-to-back performances of The Office’s classic theme song, The Dunder-Mifflin Commercial Song , and the song that Doug Judy sings to Rosa in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Despite jokingly pretending at first not to know his most famous characters, Robinson is the kind of hard-working comedian who knows why he is famous, and could not be more appreciative. He performed songs from his most famous roles with a big smile on his face.

Of course, when you are well known for playing cult-favorite characters, it can be very easy to overdo it, and let a live show become nothing but fan-service. Doing so may satiate the crowd for awhile, but it will ultimately lead to a lackluster, empty show.

Fortunately, this was by no means Robinson’s approach. He showed that he knows how to eloquently dip his hand into the fan-service pool and still come back up and control the crowd. He’s damn good at giving the people not only what they want, but more importantly what they need, and it shows.

“I said harmony, dammit!” Robinson commanded jokingly, as we all sang together horribly off key during “Jessie’s Girl,” a song he’d memorably performed in Hot Tub Time Machine.

Robinson’s stage performance is the perfect blend of crowd work-based stand-up and a fun musical environment that felt like your best friend DJing your birthday party. When he played music, the songs he chose were catchy and fun and easy to sing along to, but that was the point. Robinson is known for playing roles in ensemble casts filled with otherwise-awkward people doing the best they can. When he took the spotlight for his own show, he did the same thing, in all the best ways.

Everyone in attendance, meanwhile, was both awkward and giddy. And while our harmony was horrible when we finally did get it together, we still had a blast. For an hour and change, it genuinely did feel like maybe we were at Dunder-Mifflin.

Robinson is closed the show with an awesome freestyle remix of various popular songs, such as Beyonce’s “Halo” and Prince’s “Purple Rain,” encouraging audience members to sing with him. And most importantly, he took a moment to sincerely thank the audience for having his back and supporting his career.

Ash gets a post-show selfie with Craig Robinson. Photo by Ash Griffith

If you want to see a show that is fun, hilarious, and makes you feel like you’re hanging out in your best friend’s living room singing along to the karaoke station, this is what you need. There are not nearly as many people out there that are both as humble and as talented as Robinson. The next time he comes through your side of the office, drop what you’re doing and go. It will be exactly what you hope for, and more.

Top photo via mrcraigrobinson.com

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Mick Foley Thrills Wrestling Fans (And Others) With “Storytelling” Performance At Richmond’s Funny Bone

Marilyn Drew Necci | April 11, 2014

Topics: Funny Bone, Mick Foley, pro wrestling, spoken word

This past Thursday night at the Richmond Funny Bone, “Hardcore Legend” and WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley captivated a sold-out crowd of wrestling fans (as well as plenty of non-fans) with the last night of his “Tales From Wrestling Past” show.
[Read more…] about Mick Foley Thrills Wrestling Fans (And Others) With “Storytelling” Performance At Richmond’s Funny Bone

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