The Southern Comedy Quartet Tour features Southern born nationally touring comedians Sean Patton, Nate Bargatze, Jarrod Harris and Rory Scovel traveling from Nashville to New York City, stopping in New Orleans, Washington DC, Georgia, and the Carolinas. The tour is being filmed for a documentary about the journey. Here’s a funny promo video featuring Sean Patton:

From our good friend Nate Bargatze: “Hey Nashville, This is our first stop on this tour. We will be filming it so come out and let’s make it look great with a great crowd. Tickets are $10 bucks at the door. Come on down and watch a great show and hang out afterwards! Here is a description of what we are doing.”

Here we find Sean Patton, Nate Bargatze, Jarrod Harris and Rory Scovel at the point of no return in the stand-up comedy business. They’ve been performing long enough, they all have television credits and are making just enough money to get by but are still living hand to mouth. The time to turn it off and pursue something else with their lives and careers has passed. The more they push, the more they sacrifice, the more attention they get, the better their odds are of achieving ultimate success in such a cutthroat industry. The heartbreak and stress that exists in such a fun job has never been seen in such an honest light.

This is comedy from the trenches. The realistic portrayal of what it actually takes to survive as a stand-up comedian that no one has ever heard of. Although each has their own distinctive voice, their ability to rock everything from a hipster room in Brooklyn to a casino in the Midwest is what sets them apart from all the rest.

This tour will spotlight personal anecdotes ranging from romantic to tragic. The connections they share as comedians, as southern gentlemen, as artists, as people pursuing a dream that can’t be defined by words.

The Southern Comedy Quartet Comedy Tour
Sean Patton, Nate Bargatze, Jarrod Harris, Rory Scovel

Sunday, September 5th, 2010
doors open at 7pm, showtime at 8pm
tickets $10 at the door

Jesse Zane’s Nashville Nights
308 Church Street (next to Printer’s Alley)
Nashville, TN 37201-1702
615-242-9773

(Facebook event)

"The Dead Dead: Infinite Superdoom" is available now

Like most great Metal bands, The Dead Dead was formed when two Nashville Comics, Charles Ives and Sean Parrott, moved into a duplex. (Duplexes are SO METAL!) Inspired by the prospect of riches, fame, and trashy women, they decided to record a heavy metal concept album telling the tale of two men’s trek to hold the unimaginable power of the black sword, Infinite Superdoom. A year and a half later, that album was born, with a totally evil cover by Todd Evans at Silverface Designs.

Unfortunately, two months ago, tragedy struck the band when Charles Ives was killed by Satan. According to a letter left by Satan, attached by a pitchfork to the duplex’s front door, Charles had to die because The Dead Dead had “become too evil.” Despite this loss, Sean Parrott has decided to continue the proud tradition of The Dead Dead, bringing heavy metal joy to the hearts of anyone with enough money to afford him and enough women to sate him.

The Dead Dead will be playing on September 6th at 6:30 PM at the open lot near Bongo Java – 107 S. 11th Street, East Nashville. Infinite Superdoom is available at shows for only 5 Dollars. It is also on iTunes and CDBABY.

For more infos:
http://www.myspace.com/seanparrott
http://www.facebook.com/thedeaddead
http://www.myspace.com/thedeaddead
http://www.youtube.com/seanparrottcomedy

Register to win!

Register now to win one (1) of ten (10!) copies of the new “The Dead Dead: Infinite Superdoom” cd from NashvilleStandUp.com. We’ll pick ten winners on September 6th.

The entire short runs 7:43 and you can see it on the YouTubes and right here:

Here’s a trailer for “Diebold Thoroughkill” – which appears as a movie trailer within “Death By Death 2″:

If you’d like to go see “Death By Death 2, a comedy about killing people” it premiers at the Belcourt TONIGHT (Wednesday) at 6pm – in ‘group A’ (credited to “Awesome Pictures, Joel Reid”).
(The facebook event is here.)

Jesse Case

The New Faces class of 2010 at Just For Laughs Montreal has been announced and Nashville native Jesse Case is on that list. Congratulations!

Jesse got his start at Nashville open mics before traveling across the country, doing shows and surveying local comedy scenes. He lived in Seattle for a few years, where he used the abundant stage time to his advantage. He since won both the Seattle Laughs Comedy Competition and the 2008 Rocky Mountain Laugh Off, was nominated for ‘Best “Short Format” Comic’ in the CLOG! Awards, was selected to perform at the Great American Comedy Festival, Bumbershoot and the Bridgetown Comedy Festivals..  appeared on Season 6 of Last Comic Standing and is now living in Los Angeles.

Catch up with Mr. Case on Twitter or listen to his podcast “The Last Resort with Jesse Case” over on ComedyPodcast.com.

Jack White’s Third Man Records posted this 35 second video on YouTube, which Team Coco also posted on their site. Apparently Conan will be performing at Third Man tomorrow, June 10th at 8pm?

See you there, my little babies!

Third Man Records
623 7th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203-4601
(615) 891-4393

New York City’s greatest left-handed, comedy music duo (Stuckey & Murray) are hitting the road with country music darlings, the DE- FiBULATORs. The Redneck Riviera Tour is a two act party you don’t want to miss. Packed with laughs, videos and great music, Stuckey and Murray and the DEFiBULATORs tear their way across the South for 10 days this June.

Each show begins with Stuckey & Murray who will make their Network television debut on NBC this summer on Last Comic Standing. The duo sings hilarious, original songs that have been seen by millions on the web and whoever watches MTV, VH-1 and E!’s “Chelsea Handler Show”. Once you’re warmed up, it’s time to get rowdy with the foot-stomping music of The DEFiBULATORs, who have emerged as one of the most engaging live acts from the thriving roots scene in Brooklyn, NY – melding, bluegrass, rockabilly, dixieland and punk into their own eclectic sound.
The tour kicks off in Stuckey’s home state of Alabama at the Bama Jam Music Festival, winds its way through Georgia and Tennessee and ends in the heart of the Redneck Riviera at the world famous Flora-Bama.

Stuckey & Murray

Their music videos and sketches have resulted in over 20 million hits on the web and they’ve built a fan base around the world by touring and performing at The Virgin Music Festival, The Edinburgh Fringe, The Montreal Comedy Fest, and at All Points West. Europeans tend to call them “supercool”.

Here’s Stuckey and Murray’s song about TV Drama’s live at Comix in NYC:

Their two studio albums – Destination: Rock Bottom and Mythical Fornication (co-produced by Dean Baltulonis, The Hold Steady) are both available at www.stuckeyandmurray.com, Cdbaby.com, and the iTunes Music Store. Stuckey & Murray are played frequently on Sirius Radio and morning radio shows. They’ve also composed music for MTV, NBC and even Billy Ray Cyrus. No, I’m not joking. P. Diddy has called their music “dope” and Shakira has shaken her hips to their songs. And Shakira’s hips don’t lie.

On a side-note, Stuckey & Murray recently delved into fashion with their invention of a one-piece tuxedo called The Fuxedo. You can check it out at www.thefuxedo.com. Yes, it’s a real thing:

More infos:
http://twitter.com/stuckeymurray
http://www.youtube.com/murdog
http://www.myspace.com/stuckeymurray
http://www.facebook.com/stuckeyandmurray
http://www.stuckeyandmurray.com

See the show at 7:30, Wednesday June 9th:

3rd & Lindsley Bar & Grill
816 3rd Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37210-2016
www.3rdandlindsley.com
(615) 259-9891

Funny, yes? Yes!

Here’s something interesting about Paul. He’s booking shows outside of traditional comedy clubs ONLY if 300 people in that town COMMIT to buying tickets BEFORE he books a date in a venue. Let’s let him explain:

Paul F. Tompkins wrote..

This past August, I went to Atlanta to record an hour-long special for Comedy Central. As I was doing my most personal material to date, I wanted to perform it in an intimate setting, and the 74-seat Laughing Skull Lounge seemed perfect! I would perform two shows a night for four nights, using different camera angles for each performance; everything would be covered, but there would still be room enough for seventy-four audience members.

The only problem was, it looked like I wasn’t actually going to have an audience. Ticket sales were less than robust. Twelve people a show was a little too intimate.

I jumped on Twitter. I asked for help. “SPREAD THE WORD,” I hollered. “I NEED TO FILL THIS TINY THEATER. TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY PEOPLE OVER THE COURSE OF EIGHT SHOWS.” I went on: “PLEASE TELL ME THERE ARE THREE HUNDRED PEOPLE THAT WANT TO COME SEE ME IN THIS CITY.”

Friends, fans, fanfriends and friendfans alike were kind enough to retweet this message over and over. I got my three hundred. The shows went well! The special airs this spring and the DVD comes out shortly after.

But something… else came out of that craziness. In the midst of my campaign to rally the people of Atlanta, I got a tweet that asked, “Why don’t you come to Toronto?”

Well, this was the absolute last thing I wanted to hear. Not helpful! I wrote back, through the finger equivalent of clenched teeth, “You get three hundred people to say they’ll come see me in Toronto and I’ll go to Toronto.”

So this enterprising young man, comedian Bob Kerr, started a Facebook group pithily entitled, “Bring Paul F. Tompkins to Toronto!” He asked for people to join the group if they were committed to seeing me perform. He asked that folks not join for “support,” that they not join just because they like joining groups, but that they only join if they were serious about wanting to come see me live in Toronto. Bob said, “You should only join if you’re actually going to be there.”

Within a few weeks, the group’s ranks had swelled to 305. I checked it out. It seemed legit! I booked a show.

A couple months later, I was in Toronto, performing two sold out shows on a Sunday night for two smart, respectful, appreciative audiences. These people didn’t come to “party.” They came to see a show. It was a magical night for me.

And it tasted like more.

I’ve become fed up with the comedy club system for reasons that would cause you to self-murder should I elaborate. I don’t want that to happen. I have long thought, There’s got to be a better way than this. But I had no idea what that way could be until my experience in Toronto.

So here it is: you provide the audience, I’ll provide the show.

If you can, as Bob Kerr did in Toronto, get 300 people to commit to seeing a show in a small theater or nightclub, I will book a show in your city. We will have a good time. Together! I will give you an excellent show. We will have FUN.

If you have suggestions of venues to play, all the better! I am looking for small theaters or nightclubs, civilized places where people can sit down like human beings instead of standing around like veal. People should never stand for comedy. It’s absurd. You stand for music because you might dance. You’re not going to start dancing at a comedy show, are you? If yes, go get a CAT scan.

I believe this system can work. It’s going to take some time, I’m sure, and there will no doubt be kinks that need ironing out. But eventually, I have faith that this model will be successful. My experience in Toronto showed me that the Internet is more than message board anger and pornbot SPAM! If we want it to, it can bring people together! THAT IS ACTUALLY ONE OF THE REASONS IT WAS CREATED!

If you’d like to start one of these groups, here’s what you do:

1. Do a quick search and see if there’s already a group for your city (or one that’s close enough, lazy). It gets confusing. For me, and then for you. Next thing you know, the world is confused and chaos reigns and it’s like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road or Evelyn Waugh’s Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

Check out this TOMPKINS 300 Map, created by my pal Eric Cunningham.

2. Take a look at the Toronto group that started it all. Make that your template. It worked once! Result speaks for itself! Call it “I Wanna See Paul F. Tompkins In…” Keeping it uniform makes it easily searchable. Also, I love a Facebook group in uniform!

3. Make me an admin of the group, so I can update everyone when there’s news of a venue and a date. Or maybe I just wanna feel what it’s like to have all that power, I don’t know. There’s a lot of psychology at play here.

4. Be the person that makes sure that people are committed! Stress that joining the group means coming to the show, not just supporting he idea of a show. Ieas of shows are nice, but you can’t see them except in your imagination. And also I don’t get paid.

5. Tweet me (I’m @PFTompkins) and/or message me on Facebook (here I am) with the link, and include the hashtag #tompkins300. Then I will spread the word across all my social networking sites!

6. Wait. And see. Me! Do comedy. In your town.

I would very much like to make your acquaintance. Together we can make this happen!

Got it? Great. Here we go:

IF you are willing to COMMIT TO BUY TICKETS to see Paul F. Tompkins in Nashville, then join this Facebook group. IF you want to “support” this cause without ACTUALLY GOING TO THE SHOW, just share the link with your friends but DO NOT JOIN the group. This group is for people COMMITTING TO BUYING ACTUAL TICKETS. thanks!