Prologue: This piece was pulled together from notes taken
December, 2012, and July and August 2013. I apologize in advance if some of the
jokes aren’t exactly as he tells them, but my memory and my notebooks are redefining
their relationship with each other, exploring other options. I trust that I’ll
do well enough but, let’s face it, I’m no Jeremy Essig. Enjoy!
And, lo, it came to pass that the weekend of July 25th arrived, bringing Jeremy back to the Comedy Club, this time as a headliner. Real life had me booked until the Saturday late show, but I made it. And what a show it turned out to be.
I first saw Jeremy Essig live when he featured for Brian
Posehn at The Comedy Club last December. I dug his material and was looking
forward to telling you all about him. As the night progressed, it became
apparent that I enjoyed his act more than Brian’s. (Subjectivity, people! I
liked Brian, I swear. I just liked Jeremy a lot more.) Posehn himself said “Jeremy’s
super smart. Now you can take off your thinkin’ caps….” If you know me at all,
you know smart is one of my trigger words. Anyway, long paragraph longer, I
never finished or posted anything about the show. I kept my notes and looked
for an opportunity to see Jeremy again.
And, lo, it came to pass that the weekend of July 25th arrived, bringing Jeremy back to the Comedy Club, this time as a headliner. Real life had me booked until the Saturday late show, but I made it. And what a show it turned out to be.
You know that classic Lloyd Bridges running gag from
“Airplane” where he picked “the wrong week” to quit drinking coffee, doing
drugs, sniffing glue? As soon as Dario Joseph took the stage and gregarious
drunk guy started heckling, I knew I picked the wrong week to wait for the
final show. Admittedly, the whole audience was strange and gave tepid responses
to Dario, Sarah Benson and Austin Lafond. I expected Jeremy to be able to win
them over, to handle hecklers and deliver a good set, which he did. It’s just
that, if you read this blog much, you know I believe absolutely, and without
wavering, in the role the audience plays in a live show. This random group of
people disappointed me. Jeremy did not.
He began talking about porn, saying he doesn’t watch a lot
of it. And that dudes shouldn’t send other dudes porn. “She knows where the cum
is at!” Dudes also shouldn’t end sentences with prepositions. She needs to go
back to school to learn where the cum is, period. I love this. Anyone who can
turn a porn promo into a grammar lesson is my kind of guy. And that’s what I
enjoy about Jeremy’s material. It’s like he’s standing at the crossroads where
common thoughts meet ideas best kept transcribed by monks and, without
haranguing you for not knowing the tough stuff, makes it all accessible.
There’s the inanity of a person of power in a Catholic school telling him he
has to cut his long hair that’s inappropriate for a Catholic boy, while he
glances at the picture of Jesus hanging on the wall. Or the thought that the
real drug problem we have today is not too many drugs, but a mismatch between
type and location. (Small towns, where there’s nothing to do so everyone
decides to brew up a drug that keeps them awake for three days in a row. “Ain’t
nothin’ goin’ on. Better not miss it.” Small towns are meant for ‘shrooms,
acid, so they can see shit that’s not actually there: things like money &
hope and opportunity.)
His bit about his dog hitting on black guys is one I really
enjoy, because it takes a friendly path to a potentially bad place. His first
thought was that he doesn’t mind that his dog is into interracial
relationships. His second thought: why did he assume his dog was white? (You
assume your pet is your race, but you adopt them. I have a friend who adopted
his daughter from Korea
And that’s what I meant when I used that crossroads analogy
earlier. Jeremy’s approach to difficult topics, like homophobia and
misunderstood sexual communication, is to make them funny, less personal for
the audience and easier to process. When he talks about dating a dude once by
accident (invited to dinner, chicken was delicious, the problem was
post-chicken), he takes what could feel threatening and turns it into a common
experience. (It’s one thing to think I’m gay, but I’m not easy. Think I’m
gonna’ put out for chicken? You didn’t make a side dish, sir.) Everyone can
relate to being undervalued in a dating scenario. His concept that all
relationships end (because one of you will die first) was something I heard
from my Social Psychology Professor during a horrible college break-up. On his
cd, Monque, he talks about people using culture as their excuse for wrong
behavior (Can’t blame Michael Vick – dog fighting is part of his culture.
That’s an excuse now? Because I’m German….), and chastises Cincinnati
His literary/pop culture references are rock-solid.
Starbucks is like a caffeinated Lord of the Flies. In response to
Build-a-Bear’s Make and Take model, “Don’t think so, Tom Sawyer. Not whitewashing
your fence.” When asked to be Godfather to his niece? “Neat! I just saw a
movie about that.” Buying her 3 American Girl dolls after telling her she could
never have one because of her diabetes. Drunkenly giving some playing pointers
to Joe, and then finding out he’s the guitarist for Fall Out Boy. Referring to the show inside a McDonald’s as
dinner theater for poor people.
For his shorter sets, he’s constructed a great framework
from the simple notion that his five-year old self would be so impressed by who
he is now (Wow, you have $20 in your pocket?) He doubles back nicely for
closure after sharing a great Gary Sinese/Chuck Woolery tale, and I’m
paraphrasing here: if five-year old you knew that someday that guy on the tv
would call you an asshole, he’d think you really made it. There’s something so
oddly endearing about that joke, about much of what Jeremy says in his act,
about Jeremy himself.
Jeremy Essig embodies some of my favorite traits of smart
comics. His material is witty, it resonates and it invites you to take a next
step. It encourages you to ask a follow-up question. It allows you to look at
some real, potentially explosive topics, shielded by the protective armor of
shared laughter. It’s the heart and soul of what I find valuable in the stand
up I love most.
Friend Jeremy on Facebook. Follow him on Twitter
@jeremyessig. Check out his videos on YouTube. Go to www.jeremyessig.com to get tour dates,
info on his upcoming moves and to pick up a copy of Monque. You’ll dig it.
You’ll dig him.
Trust me, even though I’m no Jeremy Essig.
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