Tony Camin "Differences Between SF & LA, vs the Road" Interview & Comedy Set Show #165

I had the pleasure of chatting with comic Tony Camin about lots of different topics in the Standup Comedy world. Tony shared some difference from Local club and working in San Francisco, to living and working in Los Angeles. Also, how working the "Road" makes all the difference and teaches so much. We also discussed various clubs and the importance of club design. All-in-All, fun discussion on Standup Comedy as an art form and some of the unique aspects of it as a career. I also added a short comedy set by Tony recorded live in New york...very funny!


Hosted by: R. Scott Edwards

Transcript

Announcer: 0:04

This is another episode of stand up comedy, your host and emcee, celebrating 40 plus years on the fringe of show business stories, interviews and comedy sets from the famous and not so famous. Here's your host and MC. Scott at words.

Scott Edwards: 0:22

Ladies and gentlemen, I got another fun show for you, man. This guy is so funny. Such a good friend. He has been part of the podcast previously. He has done a comedy roundtable. He's had his own personal interview, but I wanted to check back with him because there's a lot going on, ladies and gentlemen. He was recently at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival. He's been on Conan O'Brien show. He was a regular mic club for years and one of the stars and writers of the very popular marijuana logs that appeared on Broadway. Ladies and gentlemen, help me welcome, Tony. Coming. Tony.

Tony Camin: 1:06

Thank you. I didn't know there's so many people listening in the studio audience over there. It's going crazy

Scott Edwards: 1:13

when they heard you are gonna be on the show. They all wanted to be here. Tony kamin, one of the funniest guys ever you do. Stand up comedy, you've done plays, you've done so many exciting things. How's the comedy world treated you?

Unknown: 1:28

Oh, like an ex wife? I guess. I've had good times. Yeah. Fun life. I can't complain. You know, one of my earliest journeys in in his life was going to laugh and limited when he used to come down and check out the accent in San Francisco. And that's how I met you. And I really, those last 11 years are still some of my fondest and I thank you for that.

Scott Edwards: 2:01

Oh, well, you're welcome. And it was so such a joy to have you on my stage. And the audience has always loved you. And ladies and gentlemen, when this airs, Tony will have been doing a comedy tour of England. I know, that'll be exciting for you. But one of the things I wanted to chat about was, you've had that unique experience of getting started in the San Francisco comedy scene. But you moved to Los Angeles for show business reasons. And you're a strong part of the comedy scene down there. Just in a quick, short answer. What are the differences?

Tony Camin: 2:40

Well, I think mainly is this stage time, I think stage time is so much better in terms that people always move down here. And I think they do it too early. You know, when I moved down, I had already done Conan, you know, and I've been some festivals and stuff. So I thought I was ready to move when people move down here was so fast, and then they can't get stage time because no one knows who they are. If I even big names in San Francisco Oilers are in you know, they come down here and they struggle so I I think San Francisco was a great place to develop and an LA's is tougher, you know that now nowadays, in every city, there's, there's more of a under market where it's like you'd have the main clubs like yours, the punch line in San Francisco, but there's so many comics now that people have started their own clubs and their own nights, at bars and whatnot. And that's, that's probably the majority of the stuff now and cities isn't the main comedy club. It's, it's a little you know, it's a little thing usually won't buy comics and stuff. Because of the gatekeeping has been so tight that people have started around. So there's a lot of a lot of like Cafe shows here. But I think Date Time overall is better and smaller markets and stuff in like New York and LA, it's more competitive. You know, I would say that's the main thing is you got everybody here, if you've heard of them, they either live in New York or, or LA and that's where your your your, your saves time is still fighting, you know, and you're fighting Bill Burr and all those types for stage time at the big clubs. Were at your home club, you know, you could be a bigger name faster. So my take is, is I took a fondness for San Francisco and Northern California, where I started because I just had more stage time. And I think maybe maybe even the audience's in general are more aren't in show business. Like sometimes you get to them. So showcases here are you just people in general? It's a big industry. No offense in Hollywood. That's what people do. Even if they're not actors, they might be even accountants for studios or you know, they work in the industry in some capacity. So I think maybe the audience is I like an audience that doesn't know I like a little Like, I like normal working people, you know, as opposed to industry people I think most comics do because they talk about life and industry, people tend to want to hear show business jokes and stuff like that. So I have a preference, I guess the Northern California overall reality of the business that you have to be down here or something.

Scott Edwards: 5:22

Right, right. Right. And I think it's you brought up so many good points that just to give the audience a little background, you and I both came up in the 80s, I was a producer, you were a comic, I appreciated, I was exposed to stand up comedy by visiting a satellite room for the Comedy Store, and saw what it could offer, and then brought that to my small town. And so my club even though it was in a room was in Sacramento, so there was no chance of some director or producer or somebody from Hollywood seeing you and it was so freeing for the comics. But when you started in San Francisco, we're talking about clubs like the holy city, zoo, Cobbs Comedy Corner, the punch line, there was there was six or eight rooms that you could do a walk on and get stage time. And as we both know, whether you're an amateur or professional, it's all about getting stage time.

Unknown: 6:27

Yeah, I mean, that's, you can't duplicate having people in front of you having a few people in front of in your house, you know, you can't that's why people Louis C, K builder, they do all these sets everywhere if you can, because you just can't replicate that you need people in front of you, you know, wherever you can get at the optimal. optimally. It's a it's a nice family club. But sometimes it's the cafe sometimes it's a bar. Sometimes it's a jail cell, you know, ever you can drag gather up a few people that you know, you you, it's a symbiotic relationship with crowds, you need the crowd for comedy.

Scott Edwards: 7:05

Right? And I think that's why we're in this art form is that immediate response? Unlike going watching TV or going to a movie or going to a play, where you sit quietly, and then maybe show your feelings towards it at the end with applause or no applause, comedy, it's a every 10 seconds, there's something happening and you want an interaction with the audience. In those early days. I mean, the zoo is just famous for being for those that haven't heard in previous podcast, it was a room that sat maybe 24 to 30 people that had a stage the size of a postage stamp. There was a balcony seat that held I think three people, but people like Robin Williams, and will Durst and yourself, Dana Carvey got their start on this little teeny club where anybody could go up.

Tony Camin: 7:58

Yeah, and and everybody and most of the people were very good. Like you said, Robin Williams, Craig Proops. shake your hand all these people were really already at a certain level. So I live in near San Jose at the time, so I drive up because because the comedy was better you want to bring yourself up when you're starting, you want to want to be surrounded by better comics. So the zoo has that and a very intimate as you pointed out, very intimate setting you had you guys did because you had to be you guys did a crowd work and there's 40 people there. And they everybody had to walk in front of stage to go the restroom. You know so it's just like you it major skills. You know, like tough battle tough and your thing if you have a job get North give, it's so, so obvious that these people standing, sitting right in front of you were just staring at you. Like, it was it just made you It made you good. And then when you got to a big room, a bigger room, you know, you go over the punch line at the Improv, it's time. And you heard this, your joke gets to get a laugh with maybe 200 people and I remember the first time I was like, Whoa, this is okay, I see. But now I see. I see what I was working towards you know, you making 60 People laugh is different than making 200,000 laugh, but it's the same feel that does that

Scott Edwards: 9:13

you know, right right. And you learn those skills though in the smaller rooms and the open mics and those early developmental times that you get stage time. But you know, look at Cobbs wasn't that the one with the big glass a glass pane window pane glass window? I should say it right. That was open to the street. And

Unknown: 9:34

I think that was the other cat I didn't ever do another cafe Okay, that was the other Cafe cops was the old cars was before my time. I started in 8988, late 80s. So yeah, the I only only was witnessed to the second incarnation of cars, which was the canary

Scott Edwards: 9:50

Okay, so the other cafe was the one that had that big. Window and in the comics are trying to entertain people driving by walking by looking in The window. I mean, talk about a distraction to the audience. You had to be a good comic to keep their attention.

Unknown: 10:05

Oh, yeah. And you know, the comments I enjoyed would really is that Kevin meany? You know, he would just bark like a dog and chase the people in the window down the street parking like, you know, crazy Bob Rubin all these all these great comments but really use that window to enable you and then you took that as a skill you know, just a few weeks ago I did when roof club shows and there was a cop going by so you going by so I made fun of it because I got used to things happening to you know, the chaos happening because of a window or from the holy city zoo. When things come up, you can address it. They're not shocking. You're like, Ah, I've had things thrown at me. And you get even that even that's helpful to have the big window because you're like, Oh, this isn't optimal. But not all gigs are and when they aren't I have now I have like you said skills to handle it.

Scott Edwards: 10:54

Yeah, it's interesting. It's it to use a different metaphor. It's like building up a callus to bad situations, and being able to deal with it without the pain of suffering through the entertainment, because you're getting all those nuances, all those interruptions, all those distractions that you learned to work through. Now when you got to LA and there's like the comedy magic club, the improv, improv, the Comedy Store, the Laugh Factory, those clubs, were in my mind different than the San Francisco scene. Because as you said, the audiences are a little more jaded, the audience's are more Hollywood. But there's still a lot of successful comedy being born in LA, right?

Tony Camin: 11:38

Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I was more of an improv comic. And I had, you know, that's where my manager had a relationships with. And, you know, that was, it was still, it was a very famous club at the time, you know, I think you had American Express commercials, but at the Improv, and they all had their different personality, you know, they all had a different vibe to them, and they still do but like, and that, but yeah, they're, you know, you look at these lists, and it's like, Oh, I'm gonna let you carry and all these, you know, you have to, you have to, you're like, I'm in this game, I have to be as good as I have for this crowd. I have to get them as laughing at try to do what I do. And not stick out in amongst these great comics I have to fit in. So you have to make you work hard, just like going from San Jose to San Francisco. Now you go to San Francisco. Ballet is another step in like, trying to be like, you know, undeniably, you can you're you you belong with these people. You know, if you have proved that, oh, I'm one of these people. Like the crowd comes with show like, oh, Jerry Seinfeld was great. But you were just, you know, you have to, you have to it might be they might stick around and see the famous person, but you have to, you have to prove who you are to. So it's just another level of toughening up sort of, you know,

Scott Edwards: 12:51

yeah, and I think that again, in in almost a different way. But the same result, when you go from a smaller town, and you're performing in a in a bar or something, and then you go to San Francisco, and then you have that level of comedy. It's not competition, but the peer group is different. But then you go to LA and everything is is raised up two points I wanted to share one was I used to tell comics all the time. And prepare them that if you got really big or huge in town like Boston or San Francisco, when you go to LA it's like starting over. And oh, yeah, yeah. And then do when you're in Sacramento or San Jose, you can try new material even at the zoo and some of the smaller clubs in the city of San Francisco. You can play a little bit and and experiment and try material. However, as you kind of alluded to when you get to La even if it's an off night, you never know who's in the audience. And you could be onstage with Seinfeld or Drew Carey you have to bring your game

Unknown: 14:04

yeah, the road I had an almost an opposite experience. The road made me tough, tougher, and more more tight. And I would be coming back to San Francisco stay on a Monday night after work in the road. And I almost felt not hacky, but like to my delivery was too rigid and hey, you know, like, and I would loosen up and try to think the showcase site in the town I lived you know, that's what those were for the Monday nights where you can do 10 minute spots that's where I would try stuff or in the middle of the middle of a set on the road after a couple after I felt comfortable because you know you go on the road they don't know you you want to you want to do your best at first to prove that Oh, I belong. You know, you didn't make a mistake hire me for this week. But by the week and you can sort of even though the bigger crowds I mean, I feel you feel comfortable as if you were you have your spots to try some new stuff. But I always thought the Monday night the Monday setting might shift cases back home were where I would try new things and then take battles tough and bits that were I've worked on those were ones that we like if they make the road act and that then they're like, they got a they got a passing grade, you know, after after trying them out on the Showcase nice, you know?

Scott Edwards: 15:16

Yeah. So you were you are explaining it kind of the opposite. I was thinking, I understand that when you go on the road, you have to prove yourself and so you bring out your a material.

Unknown: 15:28

But I was coming back to San Francisco. I wasn't coming back to Los Angeles. That's a big difference.

Scott Edwards: 15:33

Right? Because in Los Angeles, you always have to kind of be cognizant of who and where you are, right?

Tony Camin: 15:41

Yeah, what people don't remember is like San Francisco is still the road unless you're in New York or LA it's the road you know that the industry is not located there. So even if you live I live in San Francisco but it was still the road to the greater industry so it also another reason not to leave too soon is because you you come back from Kansas City and you've got your you know, you did your half hour he did your hour, and now you can you feel freer because I'm not getting paid at the showcase to fund Monday night. I'm back home with my buddies. I've been gonna try a couple of things that I start maybe started in Kansas City, I'm gonna flesh them out here. But it's generally a looser feel. You don't have to you don't feel as like, Oh, I'm getting I'm getting paid for this. I gotta do a good job. I have 200 people I gotta attend. You're like, I'm working on stuff, the money and I am not getting paid. So it's a little freer. But it isn't that San Francisco. That's Boston. That's not New York or LA. And

Scott Edwards: 16:35

that's interesting, because for me being in Sacramento, San Francisco was more of a comedy hub, kind of like Seattle and Boston. You're right. It's not the same as the show business centers that New York or hubs that New York and LA are, but they compared to Sacramento or San Jose or some other, you know, Phoenix, Arizona, wherever there was some clubs. It is San Francisco was still a step up before la which was another step up. I always thought of laughs Unlimited, is a an a room, but where people could work out stuff that they could take back to LA a great story was Garry Shandling was going to do that tonight show. And he proved himself to the audience for about 1520 minutes. And then he stopped his show. And he told the audience, hey, I'm going to be on The Tonight Show next Wednesday, I need to try out some jokes. And he brought out three by five cards, and just read them. And then made note of what worked and what didn't work. The audience loved it, because they were it was like behind the scenes stuff. And then he went back to a set. But what was really exciting was the next Wednesday, he was on The Tonight Show, and we got to hear the jokes. He was working out on our stage. Well, that was a great story. It was a great moment in the history of laughs unlimited. But that's something you can't do in LA or New York. And I think would be unusual even in somewhere like San Francisco, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe San Francisco, like you said was just another road gig.

Unknown: 18:17

Well, like you said, it depends on where you are and who you are, like, you know, Drew Carey could get up at the Improv and do three by five cards. And no one would care. They'd be love. Great. And, you know, the comedy and magic Jay Leno was famous for going there and Sunday night working on his monologues. So it does happen here too. It's just what level you are, you know, like you said, last minute was great because it was in a room in a beach town. So, you know,

Scott Edwards: 18:42

really why that's so true. I never thought of that. But it's true. It was in a room. It was definitely a quality top notch headliner room. But it was definitely I don't know about B it might have been a C or a D town.

Unknown: 18:55

Yeah, I mean, cow towns may be sicker. Yeah. But so so it was it was interesting because the club you know, especially in the first incarnation, it was just magic you know, and like it just because everyone most people did well. It kind of brought you up again and kind of like how commonly magic is out here like every but the crowds are great you know, but like you didn't if you just had an okay set which would have been okay somewhere else, or even good somewhere else at your place you had you know, you could just most nights you would just kill so if you didn't do something you weren't doing something right because it was such a it was such a great room. I still hold that that first club where you know you the audience started below you but they ended up above you that rake you had in the right with the audience feeding that was just I mean, there's there's one club downtown comedy works in Denver has the same similar thing and it's just and it's a great room because you when you're standing on stage, you're you're eyelines almost in the middle of the crowd height wise like the people below you the people above you, but not too many. It's a very it's a very rare low season. The whole thing was just a great setup. And it was. It was such a good fun. Two weeks. In earlier days. Did you have Citrus Heights? Do you know?

Scott Edwards: 20:10

Yeah. For the audience's edification, my club on firehouse alley that I opened in 1982, was low ceiling, it had a raised seating area that we had leveled seating, almost like an arena. And it really lent itself to performance and entertainment. And then when I had to leave that room, which was a sorrowful thing that I had no control over, I was able to design my own club, but we didn't have the ability to through the floor plan, raise the audience. So we had to do it through different size tables, but it never had that same feeling. And thank you for saying I think I think it was a great room for comedy. And it it really worked well for a lot of up and coming talents like Seinfeld and Leno and Carvey and people like yourself, Karen Anderson, Arj Barker, I mean, a lot of people played that room, and was really fun to be a part of that scene. But what

Tony Camin: 21:13

a lot of people's favorite to, by the way, I mean, I don't know if they've expressed this, sorry to interrupt. But like when people make clubs now, you know, it's rare that people but like, the improv is expanding and stuff. You see these clubs that are always so big, and they all you know, like your second incarnation, which was beautiful club, but you couldn't get away from the fact that I had the high ceiling, there was just a big old warehouse, former warehouse or whatever it was, right. I don't understand why people I understand they want to make their weight and their money up with big crowds on weekends with people from TV and stuff. That leaves you with this giant room, you know, 80% of the time. Yeah, so I like your room was just the perfect. So I'm like, that was that should have been the benchmark for how you make a comedy club, in my opinion.

Scott Edwards: 21:57

Yeah, well, thank you for saying so. And I agree. I've been to clubs all over the country. And I always felt that the design that I put in that particular room was one of the best I ever saw. It was interesting, too, because back in the 80s, there was still smoking allowed this is before you in 1989. But in the early 80s, you could still smoke in a club and we had that low ceiling. And we'd have a non smoking section. It didn't matter. Oh, yeah, I was. We were all in.

Unknown: 22:29

Yeah, I started in the white there was section behind that was always funny, because first of all, the smoking section was always the hotter section. Not just Temperature wise, but audience goodness wise, you know, there was the smoking section was always better Lappers and everything. And also, you know, like, it's it was a ridiculous thing, because it's smoke doesn't know when to stop. You know, I can't I'm smoke. I'm not allowed in that part of the club. It just would go Yeah, it was a ridiculous thing. But yeah, but I didn't you know, it's one of those things when the smoking ban first stop. And I was like, I was like, Oh, come on. This is ridiculous, you know, but I, you know, now everybody's in and I was like, Oh, my clothes don't smell like cigarettes anymore. After a week of work, because you go in these clubs, and they were just especially like Vegas, there's not many we just smell like, reek of all my clothes, reconfigure it. So that's one benefit of the non smoking is not that bad. But yeah, for some reason, I think of those audiences being hotter. I don't know why.

Scott Edwards: 23:24

Well, I think that it goes with the and of course, this is why casinos still allow smoking. People that smoke tend to drink more, or at least drink. And so when you're drinking, you're gambling, for comedy clubs back in the day. The people that were the smokers were the drinkers and that's where you made a big lot of your money to pay for everything. So it was only when the government said okay, there can't be any more smoking that we were forced to do that because we were didn't want to give up the drinkers. But you know that that was then that was decades ago. And things are luckily better now. I'm actually asthmatic and didn't like all the smoke. And like you said, I hated smelling like smoke and all my clothes, but it was what was happening at the time. Now things are a little bit cleaner, but also less Joy kind of alluded to in some of the clubs that are being built now. They're almost too clean. It's like glass, high ceilings. The comedy gets lost. You know, though I

Tony Camin: 24:32

agree. 100%. Like I loved your club. Your Club was nice. But there was like this club in Seattle called the underground comedy underground. That was in the basement of a sports bar and it was gritty. And it was great. It was low ceiling. It was great. It was you know, it was much smaller than your club. It was another like people I don't think swanky nice showrooms is conducive to calm I know that sounds weird. Wall. I think people like to be comfortable and they laugh And when that means if they have a drink and I was smoking in the past whatever it is, I there's a big difference. I think a nice place is almost intimidate. You know,

Scott Edwards: 25:09

it's funny, you mentioned that the comedy underground was really just a garbage hole. I mean, it was dirty. It was smoky. It was small. Definitely the stage was not that fancy the lighting was, you know, not that great. It didn't need great sound because it wasn't a huge room. And yet, it was a great comedy room. And I think, great. Yeah. And I think you're right that the roots of comedy, let's say stand up the Lenny Bruce days and stuff. It was always in jazz clubs or strip joints, right? Yeah, basement

Unknown: 25:44

of a jazz club base, smoky Hills basement, like nightclub 60s era nightclub is where it came out, or whatever, you know.

Scott Edwards: 25:51

Right. Right. And so that was the roots of the industry stand up comedy, and is it's progressed, comedy has changed, the audience have changed. But I think one of the detrimental things is what we're alluding to. And I'm not sure where we're talking about comedy club design. But it it's true that today's glass and plastic and big. You know, everybody wants a 300 seat showroom, when, as you pointed out 80% of the time, there's 50 people in the room. But these these big showcase rooms, and they're great if you're shooting a TV show, or you got a packed house with some name act, but for comedy, the true stand up comedy, I think you nailed it. There needs to be a comfort level for the audience. And people are more comfortable. If it's the rooms more like how they live and people don't live in glass palaces.

Unknown: 26:51

No, there was a lady who did but she just passed away

Scott Edwards: 26:58

to the Queen. Yeah, I was I was at with some buddies, and we were toasting the queen. Well, that's funny, you bring that up? Well, Tony, it's we talked about comedy club design. And in some of the rooms in San Francisco, you mentioned that you were regular at the Improv in LA and how the comedy magic club in Hermosa Beach is such a great place to work out comedy. When you as a comic, are coming up in your career? Did you have to make a lot of adjustments going from San Francisco to LA or from San Jose, your home base to San Francisco in LA did it? Did it force you to a certain type of comedy? Or were you true to yourself and just got better and better? How would you relate that?

Unknown: 27:50

Well, I think that's a good question. And I for me, and I think this is maybe more of the case, it happens when you go from your where you're used to doing things to do the road for the first time. I think that's where that's where that happens. Not not the big city, because I think by that time, you kind of know more of who you are. But I think like I was in San Francisco, and I couldn't do in San Francisco, I had even done your room. I did local West Coast things. Then the first time I had gone on a plane was to go to like San Antonio, Texas for a week, you know. And I remember the emcee bringing me out and said, Oh, this next guy from San Francisco, Tony communicated before I got to the microphone, someone yelled out Baggot. Even before I got to the microphone, I'm being heckled and my first show, and it stayed I've never performed. And so, you know, you got to deal with, you're kind of sometimes insular, and you're seeing you're like, Oh, I'm in San Francisco, people like to talk about coffee or people like about this. And so it made me widen my perspective, a little bit like, oh, not everybody is a liberal, not everybody doesn't like whoever was bred, you know, whatever the San Francisco mindset is, you have to have like a national mindset, you know, so, so that happened. My adjustment sort of went from being a cute little San Francisco issues, San Francisco comic to like, oh, now I'm playing United States. I got to change. I got to broaden my horizons a little bit. By the time you get to LA, I think you're already hopefully already know yourself a little bit more. Where you you don't really change. I think that change happens when you start doing a road. I think that's where you really get a lot of different audiences in front of you, you know,

Scott Edwards: 29:28

yeah, to put it a little more succinctly, you're yourself in your hometown. When you leave your town you have to reach to relate to the audience, because there are different. You know, the people in San Francisco are different than the people in Texas, which are different from the people in Seattle. So you have to engage with that audience. You have to adapt to that audience. And then you kind of find yourself in that universe, of where you can play anywhere. Like you're going to be going to England and doing a comedy tour. Those are different audiences. And yet, you've already developed that ability to be Tony kamin in a different country in a different club in a different area. Because of your experience on the road.

Tony Camin: 30:20

Yeah, and I think the hard the difficult, challenging part is to, is to like you said, you, you have your your coup, you know who you're serious. You're not yourself in San Francisco, but you got to, as you expand your act and bring and get it more national or more universal is to not lose yourself that you initially had, you know, you're still to see everything through your, through your lens is the challenge not to be like, Oh, I gotta write some wife joke now that I'm married. It's like, you still got to hopefully, there's still enough you. There's all still you in every don't you compromise but you don't lose your voice. I think that's the trick is to is to stay you and then also right, whatever kind of joke, you know, like a good I think, and I'm not even at that stage where you can take any issue and make a joke at it through your voice. And I think that really good comments can do that. You're the Carlin's, your, your take your hands, you know, where they, they can make everything and there'll be the W five, you'll get five, one, Issue five different comments will be five different jokes. And they're all you know, the all of them stemming from that personality, like, to me a good headliner, and you can say, they do this, that no one else does, you know, and not everybody fits that thing. But I think a good really, you're like, oh, that person you Oh, what does he do? He does is it? You know, like, whatever it is, they have a solid, you know what, you know, with Sebastian or without, you know, he's Italian guy, or, you know, like, it's gonna be dirty. And you you have a thing you're known for, you know? Right, you, you're still you? If that makes any sense, you know?

Scott Edwards: 31:54

Well, yeah, you're you every entertainer creates a persona. That's different than who they really are, even though it is a lot of who they are. But

Unknown: 32:04

it couldn't be exaggeration, or it could be a character. Yeah. Right. Right.

Scott Edwards: 32:07

And that that's the vehicle to bring their comic voice to the audiences. And what we were sharing was that by doing the road and playing different places, you can't just do San Francisco comedy jokes when you're in Texas. And you can't take what you might do in Seattle in and bring it to San Francisco, maybe have at work as well. But by working all those places, you find that I hate to be simplistic, but that generic material that still you then when you get to LA or New York, you're able to relate to any situation. And in bring your stuff, right.

Unknown: 32:53

Yeah, you can. Because the material, you said generic, but it just could be you could just say universal material isn't really generic. You say, Okay, let's talk about

Scott Edwards: 33:04

boring. Tony. I apologize. I knew it was a bad term when I said it. But I think universal.

Unknown: 33:09

Human I know what you meant. I know what you meant. Like, it's not like something new and crazy is an interesting topic. That's easy to make fun of. Oh, you know, but you say something, you Oh, I'm dating. You're like, okay, boring subject. This comic is dating. But if you there's someone there's no boring premises only only hack jokes. You know, every every premise isn't boring in itself. It's what you do with it. So I've heard I can hear dating jokes that are amazing. Just today, but we've heard hunt, you know, that one of the oldest, oldest subjects in the world is I'm dating but I still hear fresh funny things. So that you know, as long as you keep like, someone does it like emo or something like the no one else that day who they do it, you know that? That's their style. And that's just growth and doing it a lot. You know, I mean,

Scott Edwards: 33:55

that's so funny. You referenced emo Philips, which a lot of people wouldn't know, but a very esoteric guy that can take any normal subject and and put a twist and kind of a weirdness to it kind of like Paula Poundstone Oh, yeah.

Tony Camin: 34:09

And they're both they're both still doing it and out there and, and great, like email. You know, here's delivery would get to me after a while because it was so singsong but these jokes are undeniably good. Like every year all these jokes are a great joke writer, you know,

Scott Edwards: 34:23

was funny. Through his, through his surreal brain. Yeah, and it's interesting because we're talking about Paula and emo, taking things and kind of twisting it being weird, but it brings to mind that also as a comic performer, it's how you present it. So you have somebody like Steven Wright, who was just slow paced Joke, joke joke. And then you have someone like Robin Williams that was machine gun throwing out so much stuff that there was a high percentage of comedy. And then you got Bobby Slayton who's kind of the pitbull of comedy and you and kind of this angry pitch guy, but still really hilariously funny. And we've recently lost Bob Saget. But even though he was Danny Tanner on the full House, Mr. Dad, Mr. Clean, could be absolutely filthy onstage and yet hilarious. So, oh, yeah, he was great tation of the comedy material, right? It's it's such a thing.

Unknown: 35:26

Yeah, it's how you deliver it, it's all this stuff. And that he just learned that from, from, you know, you could take a same subject, same joke and give it to two different people. And one could be horrible and one racist and when can be that's really, you know, just how you how you, it's just your skill level, you know, like, I'm really impressed with a lot of younger comics, because there's a lot of diversity now in comedy and new comedy. And these comics are doing Muslim Palestinian Israeli jokes. And it's not I'm not political, but I'm like, wow, they made this funny to the whole room. And it's a very difficult tightrope that they're watching and they're doing already so you know, I'm always impressed by there's there's so much there's so much you can talk about in comedy, that you know, you pick a hard subject can still pull that up. I applaud that because, you know, it's like I said, The subjects are out there, anybody can end up with what you take and what you glean what you see funny in that it makes you the original, you know,

Scott Edwards: 36:21

yeah, it's an interesting career choice that well, more so you than me as a producer. I just have an appreciation and willing to pay for good talent. But you're the creative side and you've been so successful Tony, I mean, your television, the marijuana logs and comedy festivals like Just For Laughs I wish you so much luck on your comedy tour of England. I know that you and Arj Barker have done it before but I think you'll have a great time the audience's over there are kind of hungry for entertainment as we're post COVID But thank you for taking time to kind of just chat comedy. I think that it's an interesting and fascinating art form and I always appreciate smart people like you to talk about it.

Unknown: 37:10

Oh yeah. And again, thanks God because you you really kick started a lot of stuff for me. And let's get lunches on next time. I'm in sacks.

Scott Edwards: 37:17

Oh, that would be great. Ladies and gentlemen. Stay tuned I'm going to share a little stand up comedy by Mr. kamin but Tony just chatting about clubs and the differences between LA and San Francisco and going on the road and the basics of comedy this has been really fascinating. Thanks so much for your valuable time today Tony

Tony Camin: 37:39

All right, thanks. Keep in touch and my best to your better half.

Scott Edwards: 37:44

I'll let her know ladies and gentlemen stay tuned I have some terrific stand up comedy for you right now.

Tony Camin: 37:51

I appreciate guys coming out with the there's a financial crisis I don't know if you guys are aware of it you guys are up partying buying all kinds of shots one guy is Yeah, party it up bro. Or man with a weird voice never know in New York because we are we are in hard times my brother. He's a CFO he's a CEO he is his job dealing with money. Okay, that means because maybe he's like hey brah heads up these banks are closing and you're only guaranteed $100,000 per deposit per bank. So you might want to start moving some stuff around. Yeah. I'm like what? Whoa, back it up. Only 100 grand per bag. That's BS. That's Hey bro. Thanks for watching. I gotta go I gotta start moving around Not really. I'll be honest with you guys. I like you. Most of my money is currently tied up in Mach three razor refil and printer cartridges. I believe they call it equity. But then I felt pretty good. The other day I was reading The Wall Street Journal dentist's office and they said that General Motors lost $38 billion last year $38 billion I read that and like geez I did better than GM last year because I made sense on her Buck bitches and that's like seven Mach three cartridges and you know, it's the problem is not not just Americans worldwide and you know stuff is bad because things are coming back from the past. Like, pirates are back. That's how you know. Stuff is bad pirates are goddamn back it's like what next hear about John what happened? Was he pirates Vikings they pillows the bed of that horny hat head thing you know when they caught that one pirate and I would love to be a fly on the wall. I wonder if if when he was being integrated at CIA headquarters if the CIA agent ever realized the absurdity of that meeting, if at any point is a very serious role as like, oh, it just, it just fit me. You're a pirate and I was fine. What are we fine.

Scott Edwards: 41:07

That was Tony Camin live on stage, man. He's such a great guy, an old friend. And he's had such a successful career in stand up comedy. I appreciate his time. Just talking about the industry today. And appreciate you being out there listening to it. Thanks so much. We'll be back with another great show next week. All right. Thanks for listening. Bye.

Announcer: 41:31

Bye. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Stand Up Comedy you're hosting them see. For information on the show merchandise and our sponsors, or to send comments to Scott. Visit our website at WWW dot standup your host and mc.com Look for more episodes soon and enjoy the world of stand up comedy. Visit a comedy show room near you