Gale notes what I've observed: The L.A. comics have stage skills, while Seattle performers, no matter how promising, tend to mumble at their Keds. "They don't actually have any concept of what they're doing as performance," he says.
No one I talk to has much interest in theater, or in stepping up their acts into monologues, à la Mike Daisey or Lauren Weedman. But I've seen the potential: Though he didn't make the semis, Tony Daniel has a good routine about being the only black person in Redmond. Montgomery could mine the subject of growing up the oddball in his large Utah family, surrounded by Mormons and wanting to be a librarian. Brousseau has the terrors and indignities of fatherhood.
Casey Burns
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Comic Odds
Five comedians have made the final round of the Seattle International Comedy Competition. Here's how we're handicapping them.
Seattle International Comedy Competition Final round at five venues, see www.seattlecomedy competition for full details: Vashon Theater (Vashon Island), 8 p.m. Wed., Nov. 22. Kirkland Performance Center, 8 p.m. Fri., Nov. 24. Historic Everett Theater, 2 p.m. Sat., Nov. 25. Admiral Theater (Bremerton), 8 p.m. Sat., Nov. 25. Comedy Underground (winner announced after show), 222 S. Main St., 206-628-0303, www.comedyunderground.com. $20 (21 and over). 8:30 p.m. Sun., Nov. 26.
Laff Hole Capitol Hill Arts Center, 1621 12th Ave., 206-388-0569, www.myspace.com/laff hole. $5–$8. 8 and 10 p.m. (second show 21 and over). Wed., Dec. 6.
Non-Profit Comedy Night Comedy Underground, 222 S. Main St., 206-628-0303, www.nonprofitcomedy.com/seattle. $12 (21 and over). 8:30 p.m. Tues., Nov. 28.
Giggles Comedy Club 5220 Roosevelt Ave. N.E., 206-526-5653, www.gigglescomedy club.com.
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Meanwhile, as stand-up comedy is busy (or isn't) reinventing itself, here come the YouTubers, with no use for stage performance at all. Outside the Underground on a smoking break one night, there's nervous talk of Joe Bereta and Luke Barats, two college kids fresh out of Gonzaga, who just signed an NBC pilot deal based on their YouTube videos. They've never performed in Seattle, and now they don't need to.
Or, if they do, they're likely to play the Paramount or the Moore, as today's top-tier comics do now, while homegrown talent continues to toil away at Seattle's two comedy-dedicated venues. "Giggles used to be the A-list club," says Gale, but today there's no place where locals can open for national acts.
Though there have been periodic rumors through the years about franchises of Caroline's or the Improv coming to Seattle, the local comedy scene seems destined to grow strictly from its roots, supported by patrons like Reid and practitioners like the Laff Hole gang.
After my comedy marathon, it's clear that Seattle has a burgeoning base of new talent, more nights and venues than any time since the dread '80s, and yet a curious cultural indifference to how the scene has evolved—as if it's only for drunken Seahawks fans who accidentally fall down the Underground's basement stairs while looking for Swannies.
For Doug Gale, it all depends on those filling (or not) the seats: "It's a matter of the audience. It has to come from the demand side." Only then, perhaps, will local comedy lift itself out of the cellar.
bmiller@seattleweekly.com
