Rick Shapiro Blog

Before you get into the press below… Rick will be in Toronto, Canada at the Yuk Yuks from November 18-22nd for seven headlining performances and then to Ashville, North Carolina for a Sunday night, December 6th performance (details below).

Now.. to the press from Australia…

1.0
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/-/entertainment/6378800/comedy-namesake-fires-up-locals/

Comedy namesake fires up locals
BELLE TAYLOR, The West Australian October 23, 2009, 11:10 am

It was the kind of night which in years to come, more people will claim to have been there than could have possibly actually fitted into the room.

It was the night legendary New York comic Rick Shapiro played Shapiro Tuesdays.
First a little background: Shapiro Tuesday is a weekly comedy night held at Lazy Susan’s Comedy Den at the Brisbane Hotel. It started two years ago when a group of local comics, frustrated at the reluctance of the bigger comedy rooms in town to book experimental acts, decided they wanted a place where they could take risks in front of a crowd. The night was named after cult New York comedian Rick Shapiro. Outrageous, unpredictable and far from conventional, he was the perfect mascot.
Shapiro Tuesday regular, comedian and Ginger Meggs cartoonist Jason Chatfield then traipsed around the US trying to find Shapiro to convince him to tour Australia. On Tuesday his efforts paid off when the legendary comic headlined the room named after him in little ol’ Perth. In comedy terms, it was like having Pink Floyd play at your local.

So what was he like? Brilliant, awful, air-gaspingly funny and genuinely shocking. Most of his act was improvised – he doesn’t so much tell jokes as give stream of consciousness monologues on sex, social niceties, politics, drugs and sex, actually, mainly sex.

Most of it was very clever. If it didn’t make you laugh, it at least made you think. Some thoughts didn’t go anywhere, some jokes didn’t get a laugh, but nothing fell flat.
He is hugely charismatic, there were parts of the show where the audience didn’t laugh; instead they were on the edge of their seats, hanging on every word. Shapiro doesn’t mine the audience for chuckles, he implores them to think about how ridiculous, how funny the world really is.

He is known for being bitingly cynical, but in the face of all the starry-eyed adoration directed towards him he seemed almost softened. He paused several times to praise the local comedy scene and the enthusiasm of those who run it.

“You guys are doing your own thing,” he said in wonder. From a comedian of Shapiro’s standing, that is high praise indeed.

2.0
http://www.rhum.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=531:rick-shapiro-wild-card&catid=3:newsflash

3.0
http://www.rhum.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=549:50-billion-laughs-on-the-worlds-funniest-island&catid=45:50-billion-things-that-are-cool&Itemid=117

4.0
The website below is currently undergoing an upgrade so the link is temporarily inactive, but this is the newsletter they sent out:

5.0 Here are the shows that are still remaining…

• Nov 5-6-7 -Sit Down Comedy Club Brisbane, QLD
• Nov 8 -Powerhouse Brisbane, QLD

Website: www.rickshapiro.tv
It’s difficult to convey the essence of a Rick Shapiro performance. His intensity rolls over the audience leaving them at the mercy of his volatile yet poignant rants and character vignettes, continually breaking the pace with non-sequiturs packed with shock value. He doesn’t rely on anything so obvious as a series of snappy punchlines, he leaps into the stream of consciousness and pours out a tsunami of transgression that swamps your funny bone.

Shapiro is renowned for his hour-long sets that often go over-time because he’s on an improvisational roll. He’s also known for having one of the most difficult backgrounds of any comedian currently performing and using it fearlessly in his sets – many comedians talk about their brushes with drug addiction and the struggle to get/stay “clean”, but Shapiro is the only one who also talks about how his drug habit and prostitution hustling fed into each other. There’s nothing fluffy here (except for that disturbing rabbit bit…).

Shapiro bores straight through offensive into a realm of fundamental honesty about humanity’s base existential urges and ingrained prejudices that overwhelms people who would probably walk out on similar jokes from anybody else. AIDS, paedophiles, gang-banging footballers, suicide, terrorists, incest – it’s all touched on so fast that he’s on to the next taboo before you’ve fully absorbed the last one (but then he dwells on one and riffs deeper and deeper as you disbelieve your ears). I can’t imagine any other comedian getting away with so blatantly hitting on an attractive woman in the front row that both she and her boyfriend were crying with laughter at the extremes of his bluntly pornographic fantasies about her. Expect to find yourself laughing at something before your intellect catches up with the disgust/despair response, and then Shapiro will twist it to make you see it in yet a different light.

6.0 Rick returns to the states on November 11th.

7.0 Repeat of information: November 18-22nd seven headlining shows in Toronto, Canada at Yuk Yuks.

8.0 Ashville, North Carolina, December 6th, 8.30p performance at The Grey Eagle

OMG.. announcements…

1.0 First, check out this link and see who’s name is on the cast!!!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1201167/fullcredits#cast

2.0 Don’t forget,Rick is in NY at Gotham Comedy Club. Here is the information…

July 8th: East Side Dedication show… Killy Dwyer, Heather Fink, Liam McEneany

July 9th: Joey Gay, Geno Bisconte Rick Shapiro and the a birthday for MafiaLife Chris.

Check out these links:

1.0 ANIMATED RICK: The great CokeLogic created Rick as an animation… this is amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZAlf8OQzYE

2.0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYy9MCO0y7U

http://mafialife.com/ (advertisement flyer in center of page, scroll down a bit)…

3.0 Rick discovered the webcam for blogging…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYy9MCO0y7U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dya8Xq-r0ms

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XChO-KTkdHY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azBQNgM1GNw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwBD1FBmaVA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9WWUKLVFU8

4.0 Rick’s website also has new written blogs:

www.rickshapiro.tv (go to the blog section to read his latest thoughts)

5.0 Last week Rick was in NY and shot a new pilot – let’s keep our fingers crossed.

6.0 Okay, and for you West side folks: July 24th at Winstons, 7p. 1921  Bacon Street, Ocean Beach –San Diego, $5 cover .. Rick is headlining

5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYy9MCO0y7U

6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dya8Xq-r0ms

7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XChO-KTkdHY

8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azBQNgM1GNw

9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYy9MCO0y7U

10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9WWUKLVFU8

wakin up in LA is like waking up in a vaccuum of self hate the gentle winds od self hate quietky stealw;gkjwpeybmweyodtosuurtyotbuopnbbbbbbbyuuymupupuuyueywyubwy—-heres the thing i wanna blog i wann do this but i cant type and its like pissin in the fucking wind you fell more alone when yer typing or wprdproccessing and you have to say uh oh splee cheeck-spell check i hate La so much icant sit behind a fucking monitor —people out here can suck it they want the stupidest projects tpo get dne they dthe stupidest not even funny enough or ,well, stupid comedy is fucking great but they wnn just prove to you they can hsot or theyre attractive but noone knows what it feels like to trust themselves at any cost any time of the day or nite the coest of not trusting yersefl is always alonger worse payday in the lonnnng run.get it if you dont you beling out here saying things like its too much like ghostbusters so do azombie thing —-this is a giant lying dull dry vagina i think i have a bent cock from living out hrerereereer who cares blazzzzzeee blaze thru all this shit ans start speakin up n notlike those politco psudo activitists who really just want famwe personality is gone from this country evryone just wants to word it right and spell correctly

There have been some great changes to the line-up for Rick’s return to NYC at Gotham Comedy Club.

There is no July 7th show.

On the 8th: East side dedication show: Killy Dwyer, Heather Fink, and Liam McEneaney.

On the 9th, Joey Gay and Geno Bisconte.

Also on the 9th, we are joining up with www.mafialife.com for a special after-performance roast of MafiaLife Chris. If you are a Ron and Fez fan you may have heard them talk about this event on Sirus.

Here is a note from the man himself:

LA every body looks the same is eaxctly as empty and stupid AS EVRYONE ELSE KK-THERY ARE VERY NICE AS SERVANTS TO WHATEVER THE MEDIA SAYS IS COOL ARE IM DYIN TO GET IT OFF MY CHEST ,THE NEEED FOR LOOSE CANNONS WHY NY NNEDS TO EAT MORE DONTUS

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