“Jan Davidson, and Jesse Case increased their following with their short time in Portland as people continued to talk about their performances long after their shows were over.”
Jesse, are your ears burning? Then you should get that looked at..
PunchlineMagazine’s Meagan Kate is in Portland reviewing the Bridgetown Comedy Festival. Here’s what she had to say about our pal, Billy Wayne Davis:
“I also got to see Billy Wayne Davis (finally), whose Southern charm made the audience warm to him immediately, and his material was on point. Also: he is adorable.”
What does it mean to be a successful comedian? How far can the boundaries of taste be pushed to get a laugh? This Friday, four top comics – Ricky Gervais, Louis C.K., Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock – discuss and debate their craft on HBO’s TALKING FUNNY.
The quartet reveal the secrets of their success, share hysterical anecdotes and jokes and remind each other of the valuable lessons they’ve learned along the way (including how to shamelessly pilfer each other’s material). Each comic answers questions such as: “Who was the first funny kid you ever met?”
“When is it time to add new material to your act?” and “How do you know when you’ve hit on the proverbial ‘thing’ that sets you apart?,” giving quirky insights into what rocketed them to being the best in the business and at the top of their game.
The comedians also examine their own distinctive styles of comedy and discuss whether or not to use profanity, how one comic can recycle another comic’s material into something new and fresh, and deciding whether a topic is off-limits, no matter how shocking it may be to the audience.
TALKING FUNNY debuts FRIDAY, APRIL 22 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT).
Other HBO playdates: April 27 (9:00 p.m.) and 30 (2:35 a.m.), and May 3 (midnight), 9 (11:15 p.m.) and 12 (1:30 a.m.)
Ahmed Ahmed was born in Helwan, Egypt on June 27th, 1970. His parents immigrated to the U.S. when he was one month old and he grew up in Riverside, CA. He moved to Hollywood when he was 19 years old to pursue a career as an actor and stand-up comedian. He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Here’s some of Ahmed Ahmed’s standup from the “Axis of Evil Tour”:
Mr. Ahmed can be seen in such films and television shows as Iron Man, You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, Vince Vaughns Wild West Comedy Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, Swingers, Tracey Takes On, Roseanne, JAG, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn on Comedy Central, and MTV’s PUNK’D.
He has also appeared on CNN, The View, and NPR, and was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal in December of 2001. Recently, he can be seen in the film City of Life, the first feature film to be shot entirely in Dubai, U.A.E., which premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival in 2009. He was the recipient of the first annual Richard Pryor Award for Ethnic Comedy at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival in Scotland.
A paid regular performer at the world famous Comedy Store in Hollywood and the Comedy Cellar in New York City, Mr. Ahmed tours all across America, and the globe, with his stand-up comedy. Just Like Us, his directorial debut, is an award winning documentary currently playing at the Nashville Film Festival.
Just Like Us ponders the question: Is there comedy in the Middle East? Despite there being no easy way to describe stand-up comedy in Arabic, a group of “comedy ambassadors” travel from Dubai to Beirut, Riyadh to Cairo with a double mission: to disrupt the pervasive image of Muslims as solemn, threatening, and inhuman, and deliver some much-needed relief and laughter to the intense reality of everyday life in the Middle East. As thoughtful as it is entertaining, “Just like Us,” shows us the Middle East like most Americans have never seen it before. Featuring the talented antics of Maz Jobrani, Tom Papa, Ted Alexandro, Tommy Davidson, Omid Djalili (“The Infidel”), Whitney Cummings, and Ahmed Ahmed himself, this documentary offers an incredibly timely glimpse into a world the West is only beginning to understand.
TONIGHT: Go see Ahmed Ahmed LIVE! at the Basement
Monday, 4/18, 7:00pm & 9:00pm
The Basement: 1604 8th Avenue South
$12 General Admission
$9 NaFF Members
FREE for NaFF Laminate-holders
For more info about Ahmed Ahmed, visit his website: Ahmed-Ahmed.com
Founded in 1969 as the Sinking Creek Film Celebration and one of the longest-running film festivals in the country, the Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) is hosted by the Regal Green Hills Stadium 16. This annual mid-Tennessee film event attracts enthusiastic film lovers from the region and has been praised by filmgoers and filmmakers alike for its unique combination of big city film festival atmosphere and southern hospitality.
April 14-21 NashvilleStandUp’s Chad Riden will be working for the NaFF as the jackass comedian correspondent for the NaFF TV Team. He’ll be filming a lot of idiotic hijinks and whatnot all throughout the festival – interviewing people, pretending to know anything about film and trying to figure out how much he can get away with given only a laminate and a camera crew.
Chad Riden, reporting for NaFF TV in 3DTo kick things off, Riden spent Friday night / April Fool’s Day on Broadway shooting a bunch of man on the street interviews in 3D. He talked to a lot of tourists and a few locals about movies, cowboy hats, party buses, drinking and country music. Chad got a lot of really funny footage.. and cobbled together a short little teaser called “Welcome To Nashville.”
It’s in 3D, but it’s funny even if you don’t have the glasses:
Even without the 3D glasses Riden looks amazingly life-like!
More of these are on the way. BTW, complimentary NaFF TV 3D Glasses will be available at the NaFF BOX OFFICE beginning Thursday, April 14th at 4:00PM.
