Meet Tony Boswell, professional stand-up comedian and former host of Lancaster Tavern's Open Mic Comedy Night. Tony was a finalist in the Boston Comedy Competition, The Pittsburgh World Series of Comedy, and runner-up in the Seattle International Comedy Competition. He was also featured in the San Francisco Comedy Competition and the Chicago and New Orleans Comedy Festivals.Open Mic Comedy Night (aka 'Comedy Tuesdays') was a weekly event held at Lancaster Tavern in 2008. To contact Tony, email tony@tonyboswell.com. For more information on Tony and his upcoming tour dates, visit: tonyboswell.com or MySpace.
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Where are you from originally & what brought you to Lancaster County? I am originally from Chicago. Started my comedy career there in 1986. My wife's company consolidated their operations to the Charlotte area about 2 years ago so we moved down here.
When did you first discover your comedic inclination? I'm not sure it's an INclination. Perhaps a declination, or a bent. Probably more of a leaning or a deviation then an IN-clination. (hang on while I put the thesaurus away) I started late. I always liked and watched comedy but never even tried to perform until I was like 25 years old.
Are there any comedians who have inspired you? I like a lot of different comics for different reasons. There was no ONE influence. I also try not to be too much like anyone else but I loved listening to and watching comedy all my life. I used to memorize George Carlin albums and Steve Martin etc.
What's the toughest crowd you've ever seen? (ever been pelted with rotten tomatoes?) I have never had any or food or beverage items thrown at me. I did have a guy tell me that he was going home to get his rifle and come back and shoot me. I think I would just as soon prefer the tomatoes if it's all the same to you. In truth the worst audience is one that just sits there. They don't laugh or boo or respond in any way. That will drive you crazy.
Do you ever 'test' the crowd to see if a prepared bit will fall flat? or do you secretly crave a wild brawl? I don't test them with material but I often will administer an open book essay test just to see where I stand.
How do people sign up for Open Mic Night? If anyone wants to give it a try they should drop me an email at tony@tonyboswell.com
Purely 'open mic' or do you also incorporate touring/semi-pro comics? We are having touring, professional comedians closing out the shows. These are guys that are passing through on their way to other gigs and also local professional comics. They are touring headliners and feature acts. The other comics on the show will range from brand new to professional. Some of the pros may be doing tried and true material or they may be breaking in some new stuff. We are trying to have the room be supportive for the comics to feel free to try things out.
Tips for (audience) comedy club etiquette: One of the challenges of starting a new comedy room is educating the audience. Some people actually think they are supposed to talk to the comics. THEY'RE NOT. We can handle it by ourselves. This is actually more of a courtesy to the rest of the audience. People don't go to the show to hear the guy at the next table try and be funny because he didn't get enough hugs when he was a kid. They are there to hear the comics try to be funny because they didn't get enough hugs as kids. Also, turn your cellphone off or to vibrate and for Pete's sake don't answer it during the show. Step outside to talk. And if you have blue tooth take it out of your friggin ear unless you are driving a car or receiving step-by-step instructions while disarming a bomb. And if you have a pager throw it away and get a cellphone it's 2008 for Chrissakes.
Oh, and tip your waitress.
How do you develop your sketch? Do you use friends & family as guinea pigs? I actually do use my friends and family as guinea pigs but that has nothing to do with my comedy. That's for some psychological experiments I have running. I used to try jokes out on people but just telling someone something one-on-one is so different than doing it onstage. I pretty much just try everything out onstage now.
What are the crucial elements in joke-writing? Speeling.
Any advice for aspiring comics? Keep a notebook all the time. Write down everything right when you think of it. If you say "I'll write it down later" I promise you, you will not remember it. Collect your notes for a few weeks or even longer and put the best ideas into a short routine and go try it. After you bomb, edit, rewrite and go try it again.
Why did the chicken cross the road? Let me answer that question with one of my own: Why did the Chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide... Okay, I am very disappointed– there were only 16 questions in this alleged 20 question interview and I am being generous in counting the one about the chicken. So here are 4 more that I came up with:
1. What is the capital of Antarctica? Trick question. Antarctica has no capital.
2. What famous comedians have you worked with? Good question. I have worked with Bill Hicks, Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, Ron White, Dennis Miller, Lewis Black, Tommy Chong, Brett Butler, Paula Poundstone, Michael Winslow, Bobcat Goldthwait and Colin Quinn.
3. How many shows have you done in your career? Another great question. In my 21 year career, I have performed almost 4000 shows in more than 40 states and Canada.
4. What would your dream job be? Wow, this interview is really getting good now. Another great question. My dream job would be to anchor Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live.
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Author's Note:
We miss Comedy Tuesdays!
What's the toughest crowd you've ever seen? (ever been pelted with rotten tomatoes?) I have never had any or food or beverage items thrown at me. I did have a guy tell me that he was going home to get his rifle and come back and shoot me. I think I would just as soon prefer the tomatoes if it's all the same to you. In truth the worst audience is one that just sits there. They don't laugh or boo or respond in any way. That will drive you crazy.
Do you ever 'test' the crowd to see if a prepared bit will fall flat? or do you secretly crave a wild brawl? I don't test them with material but I often will administer an open book essay test just to see where I stand.
How do people sign up for Open Mic Night? If anyone wants to give it a try they should drop me an email at tony@tonyboswell.com
Purely 'open mic' or do you also incorporate touring/semi-pro comics? We are having touring, professional comedians closing out the shows. These are guys that are passing through on their way to other gigs and also local professional comics. They are touring headliners and feature acts. The other comics on the show will range from brand new to professional. Some of the pros may be doing tried and true material or they may be breaking in some new stuff. We are trying to have the room be supportive for the comics to feel free to try things out.
Tips for (audience) comedy club etiquette: One of the challenges of starting a new comedy room is educating the audience. Some people actually think they are supposed to talk to the comics. THEY'RE NOT. We can handle it by ourselves. This is actually more of a courtesy to the rest of the audience. People don't go to the show to hear the guy at the next table try and be funny because he didn't get enough hugs when he was a kid. They are there to hear the comics try to be funny because they didn't get enough hugs as kids. Also, turn your cellphone off or to vibrate and for Pete's sake don't answer it during the show. Step outside to talk. And if you have blue tooth take it out of your friggin ear unless you are driving a car or receiving step-by-step instructions while disarming a bomb. And if you have a pager throw it away and get a cellphone it's 2008 for Chrissakes.
Oh, and tip your waitress.
How do you develop your sketch? Do you use friends & family as guinea pigs? I actually do use my friends and family as guinea pigs but that has nothing to do with my comedy. That's for some psychological experiments I have running. I used to try jokes out on people but just telling someone something one-on-one is so different than doing it onstage. I pretty much just try everything out onstage now.
What are the crucial elements in joke-writing? Speeling.
Any advice for aspiring comics? Keep a notebook all the time. Write down everything right when you think of it. If you say "I'll write it down later" I promise you, you will not remember it. Collect your notes for a few weeks or even longer and put the best ideas into a short routine and go try it. After you bomb, edit, rewrite and go try it again.
Why did the chicken cross the road? Let me answer that question with one of my own: Why did the Chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide... Okay, I am very disappointed– there were only 16 questions in this alleged 20 question interview and I am being generous in counting the one about the chicken. So here are 4 more that I came up with:
1. What is the capital of Antarctica? Trick question. Antarctica has no capital.
2. What famous comedians have you worked with? Good question. I have worked with Bill Hicks, Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, Ron White, Dennis Miller, Lewis Black, Tommy Chong, Brett Butler, Paula Poundstone, Michael Winslow, Bobcat Goldthwait and Colin Quinn.
3. How many shows have you done in your career? Another great question. In my 21 year career, I have performed almost 4000 shows in more than 40 states and Canada.
4. What would your dream job be? Wow, this interview is really getting good now. Another great question. My dream job would be to anchor Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live.
_____________________________________
Author's Note:
We miss Comedy Tuesdays!
1 comments:
Great interview guys. It was fun to read. I really enjoyed it and loved the question about audience etiquette.
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