Saw a bunch of stuff at the Vancouver Comedy Festival and had a lot of fun. CDR! Pardo! PFT! David Cross!
I want a full report! I need to listen to the NNF live.
Comedy Death Ray - Awesome line up of BJ Porter, Scott Aukerman, Andy Kindler, Maria Bamford, Tig Nataro, Reggie Watts, Todd Barry, and Paul F. Tompkins. Andy dick was scheduled to appear but they wouldn't let him into the country, I didn't miss him. Inexplicably some arshehole starts heckling Todd Barry despite the fact that the room loves him. All in all a really fun night.
CRD Podcast Taping - About 8 of us show up for a free podcast taping in a tiny little hotel conference room. At first there's this strange nervous energy because the room is so small but it turns out to be awesome. The guests were Reggie Watts, Nick Thune, Todd Barry, Paul F. Tompkins. I don't know how well it translates when you listen to the podcast, but in person PFT was easily one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed. My girlfriend and I were falling off our chairs in laughter every time he spoke.
Pardo Double Feature - A live NNF recording and
"You Fascinate Me" for $25, you can't beat that! NNF is a standard episode, not particular spectacular and it loses steam towards the end, but still a lot of fun.
YFM is completely and totally awesome. The festival has it in a hotel conference room, which is a strange venue, but whatever.
David Cross - The Cross show was kind of an odd-ball thing 'cause a lot of us were expecting stand-up but it turns out on his end it was intended to be a book tour event. Which would be fine if the festival website had been more clear about that and the ticket wasn't so much. Cross is really great about the misunderstanding and seems genuinely embarrassed that people were charged so much to hear him do a reading. To make up for being overpriced he gets everybody's address and says he'll (our of pocket) buy everybody a book. Cross reads from his book, the first one is kind of terrible, and the second one is kind of amusing. After that Aukerman comes out for a chat and that was a lot of fun. There is also a Q&A that is kinda fun but also kind of awkward. He reports that the Arrested Development movie is a go. The crowd goes wild.
Because I won a contest I was staying in a hotel where all the performers were also staying, so in elevators and in the bar I was able to meet Andy Kindler, Todd Barry, Scott Aukerman, and the whole NNF trio. Everybody was super nice and seemed really sincerely flattered when I told them I was a big fan. Also bumped into Scott Adsit from 30 Rock and Oscar from The Office.
I regret not going to Yuk Yuks on the Friday night because apparently the crowd was so drunk and belligerent that it had to be seen to be believed. I actually skipped that show to avoid the yahoos, but now I wish I had been there because apparently PFT did like 15 minutes of no material and instead just antagonized the crowd. Word on the street is he was brilliant.