2 Responses

1. Earl Skakel says:

   January 19, 2012 at 8:19 pm

   I think most comics problem with Brill is that he wasn’t respected for his comedy and so when he would give some REALLY funny comics advice they’d kind of think to themselves “I just went on after you and did better so who are you to dole out advice?” I guess you could say he was the booker of The Letterman Show to those comics and that’s why he was giving feedback but I think all comics be it known,unknown open micers or anything in between are open to feedback but only from someone who they feel is a better comic than they are and not someone who isn’t and is just in a position of power over them. Comics of all levels I think have to really respect the person giving advice regardless of the power position the person giving advice is in.

   Reply
   • Brian McKim & Traci Skene says:

     January 19, 2012 at 9:07 pm

     We make no judgments one way or the other about Brill’s skill as a comedian. There were some who thought he was abominable and some who thought he was brilliant… which sounds an awful lot like the way it breaks down for nearly every comedian who has ever approached a microphone. Let’s look at Bob Hope: We think he was an iconic, seminal comedian, Brill said he never really thought Hope was a great standup. Oh, well.

     Even we have experienced some of what you describe. We started a magazine on April 1, 1999, which was devoted to standup comedy. Before we hit “Enter,” the very first time, we anticipated that there would be people out there– our colleagues, bookers, owners, comedy fans, relatives– who said, “Who the hell do these two think they are, commenting on standup comedy?” It is one of the reasons we have never reviewed standup performances or CDs or DVDs. As long as we were attempting to hone our acts and figuring out this beast called standup, we vowed to refrain from telling people how to do it (newbies excluded). We paid attention to all the other things on the periphery of standup that were nonetheless important to standup comics and standup fans– the media, the personal, the culture, etc. Occasionally, throughout the years, we’ve given seminars on standup comedy, but even then, we gave people very wide latitude as to how they approached standup and we were very careful not to stifle creativity.

     As to whether “most” comics had this problem with Brill is pure speculation. We can’t say. But some folks, to be sure, would, upon receiving advice from an “active” standup comic, compare the performance of that advice-giving standup comic with that of their own and determine whether or not the advisor had any cred.

     And, of course, we addressed just one facet of this conflict:

     we always thought it was somewhat… imprudent… for the show’s standup talent coordinator– Eddie Brill– to occasionally schedule Eddie Brill on the show as standup talent. Of course, who among us wouldn’t take advantage of that?! Perhaps that’s the problem… should a late-night show hire a standup comic– who is still interested in being a comedian– as its standup talent coordinator?

     We didn’t go anywhere near whether or not there might be an erosion of cred because of Brill’s talent as a comedian, partly because we’ve trained ourselves to lay off certain angles… and partly because it wasn’t germane to the discussion. Each person has to weigh for themselves whether or not they value the advice they get from anyone.

     Reply