FRESH CUT COMEDY 2!

Pittsburgh, PA! It's almost time for:

Fresh Cut Comedy is a collaboration between Comedian/Producer Dr Brian King and the Most Wanted Fine Art Gallery at 5015 Penn Ave. Already a respected venue for visual arts, this Garfield institution has been showcasing the work of local performance artists as well, and intends to bring some of the best of Pittsburgh’s stand-up comedy to the neighborhood. The show starts at 8:00pm and tickets will cost only $5.

Produced by Dr Brian King (www.drbrianking.com) Originally from New York, Brian has spent his formative years living all over the US, giving him a unique perspective of the world. This included a 4-year stint in Pittsburgh, where he wrote a humorous advice column under the pseudonym “Dr G”. Now based in San Francisco, he continues to tour all over the nation as both a comedian and public speaker. A trained psychologist, he has a comedic style that’s half professor, half idiot, and all smart-ass. He was the founder and producer of the highly-reviewed Wharf Room Comedy show in San Francisco, and has worked with such talents as Will Durst, Rick Shapiro, Mo Mandel, Laurie Kilmartin, & Steven Pearl. He produces the annual Bay Area comedy competition "Walk the Plank" and can be seen on comedy stages and conference centers all over the country. He is also a frequent guest on comedy talk radio.

Hosted by Eric S. Donaldson (www.ericdonaldson.com) has been performing comedy in the Pittsburgh area since 2003, starting out in the Mr. Goodbird USA sketch troupe. In 2005 he began performing as the lead singer and writer of his comedy band, Eric and the Electric MP3 Player, which still performs around town. He started performing stand-up in 2008, and has performed at The Improv and headlined at the Brillobox. He currently runs an open mic at Belvedere's on Tuesday nights, and tweets hilariously under the mysterious handle of @EricJokes.

 Featuring:

Chris Kemp, Pittsburgh's "Golden Girl", has been doing comedy for four years. She just looks like she's beenn doing it forever. Where does she perform - anywhere they let her, including: western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and a recent northern Florida tour. She stayed far away froom the Fountain of Youth - didn't want to jeopardize her act.

 Dan Jenniches started doing stand-up comedy in 2008. Since then he has performed in many venues, such as the Pittsburgh Improv, Corner Café, too many bars to count, and one bowling alley. In October 2010 he emceed a weekend at the Pittsburgh Improv, opening up for Sebastian Maniscalco. In February 2012 Dan did an opening set for Pittsburgh radio legend Jim Krenn. Dan has also been a featured guest on the podcast “Haters for Hire.”

Davon Magwood (www.davonmagwood.com) is known for his alternative approach to traditional comedy. He made his debut to the stand-up world in February 2007 at the Pittsburgh Funnybone. Working toward world domination, . he has produced many shows over the past few years, headlined the Pittsburgh Improv, was a finalist in the “Best of the Burgh” competition two years in a row, and won the Kansas City comedy competition in 2009. He hosts the Open-Mic-Night at The Shadow Lounge, Howlers Open-Mic-Night, and his own show, Waffle Time, in Pittsburgh.

Glenn Baroni, with his impeccable grammatical syntax will keep your attention from the time he walks on stage until the time he walks off. Leaving no subject untouched his unique no restraint humor will either have you laughing or offended, either way you will be entertained!

 Also featuring Bobby Weir, Molly Sharrow & Robert X!

On the Road with OVERLORDE

Today on my radio segment "On the road with Dr Brian" listen to my interview with Wildman George Koerber, guitarist for the legendary band OVERLORDE.

Wildman George has over 30 years in the business and has seen copious amounts of sex, drugs and rock & roll. He's also a hell of a nice guy and was gracious enough to grant me an interview.   

"On the road with Dr Brian" airs every Sunday as part of the Edge of Insanity show on www.fccfreeradio.com!

On the Road with Foxy Moxy

Today on my radio segment "On the road with Dr Brian" listen to my interview with the one and only FOXY MOXY (A.K.A. Madelyn Greco) singer, burlesque dancer, and international CHAMPION bodypainter. seriously, I had no idea there was a championship for bodypainting, but yup she's the real deal. Check her work at: http://www.livingbrush.com.

"On the road with Dr Brian" airs every Sunday as part of the Edge of Insanity show on www.fccfreeradio.com!

Nothing beats a good black leather jacket...

I must have at least 5 leather jackets. I can't know for sure at the moment, because they are all in storage along with my other belongings while I'm on tour. However I can imagine at least 5.

For my 7 month long tour across the United States, I had to pack light. I picked out my favorite, most versatile jacket and said a nice "see you later" to the rest. The jacket I picked is black, and fits me perfectly.

Observe:

I bought it at an outlet mall in Woodburn, Oregon just south of Portland. It was a Christmas gift to myself and we've been through a lot together. We traveled the country, shared some good times and survived some rough adventures... 

Then, 2 weeks ago on tour through Portland, Oregon (fitting, I suppose) it was STOLEN! I lost my poor jacket as part of an overnight break in to my rental car. They took some other stuff too, but unless you are my insurance adjuster that might be bordering on too much information. 

I searched for a replacement but found nothing. Well, nothing that could replace THAT jacket... that one was perfect. Finally, about 2 weeks later I found the exact same jacket at a mall in suburban Seattle. I got the last one in my size, and it fit like, well like a jacket. 

So you'd think that after parting with it for a couple of weeks I'd be a bit more protective right? Nope.

Yeah, I'm an idiot. But thanks to the great folks at Ralph's BBQ I am once again protected from the elements and more importantly I can look cool again.

On The Road Photo Caption Contest

I've now been on tour for 5 weeks, and it's been great. I've still got another 6 months of meandering across this great country of ours before I settle down again and I'm looking forward to every moment.

As part of the tour, I was recently in Annapolis, MD and stumbled onto Chick and Ruth's Delly, home of the 6 POUND MILKSHAKE! So of course I posed for a picture and posted it to Facebook. I challenged my friends to caption the photo and the result was the first "On The Road Photo Caption Contest". There were over 100 entries, and these are some of my favorites.

Drew Harmon offered the first comment to get the ball rolling...

Andrew Holmgren:

Ben Feldman's entry was kind of an inside joke, but if you are a Bay Area comedian that had played my Wharf Room Comedy show, you'll get this.

Chase Perdue's entry is freaking genius:

Ed Attanasio:

Miles K got my vote:

 Thomas Farley:

And the winner, by Facebook voting, was the very funny Natasha Muse!

Fresh Cut Comedy!

Hey gang, I am producing an awesome show in Pittsburgh, PA this coming Friday (Jan 13th). Check it out:

Fresh Cut Comedy is a collaboration between Comedian/Producer Dr Brian King and the Most Wanted Fine Art Gallery at 5015 Penn Ave. Already a respected venue for visual arts, this Garfield institution has been showcasing the work of local performance artists as well, and intends to bring some of the best of Pittsburgh’s stand-up comedy to the neighborhood. The show starts at 8:00pm and tickets will cost only $5.

Hosted by Dr Brian King
Originally from New York, Brian has spent his formative years living all over the US, giving him a unique perspective of the world. This included a 4-year stint in Pittsburgh, where he wrote a humorous advice column under the pseudonym “Dr G”.  Now based in San Francisco, he continues to tour all over the nation as both a comedian and public speaker. A trained psychologist, he has a comedic style that’s half professor, half idiot, and all smart-ass. He was the founder and producer of the highly-reviewed Wharf Room Comedy show in San Francisco, which recently ended its three-year run. He produces the annual Bay Area comedy competition "Walk the Plank" and can be seen on comedy stages and conference centers all over the country. He is also a frequent guest on comedy talk radio.

Featuring:
Derek Minto is stand-up comedian, improviser, and the host of 'Haters for Hire' podcast currently residing on the south side of Pittsburgh. Originally from Mars Pennsylvania, Derek began his stand up career working for while working for WDUQ. Derek currently hosts the Smiling Moose and PaPa J's comedy open mics. He has opened for Jim Brewer, Bob Levy, and was a finalists in both the Gilda's Great Comedy Search and the Fall Down Laughing comedy competition. 'Haters for Hire' is a prominent Pittsburgh podcast which features local and national comics. The podcast has been featured on WDVE, Pittsburgh Magazine, and the City Paper. Derek brings a mixture of social satire, storytelling and rage to the stage. His stage presence is regularly described as “Loud, Sweaty, and Violent”.

Eric S. Donaldson has been performing comedy in the Pittsburgh area since 2003, starting out in the Mr. Goodbird USA sketch troupe. In 2005 he began performing as the lead singer and writer of his comedy band, Eric and the Electric MP3 Player, which still performs around town. He started performing stand-up in 2008, and has performed at The Improv and headlined at the Brillobox. He currently runs an open mic at Belvedere's on Tuesday nights, and tweets hilariously under the mysterious handle of @EricJokes.

Matt Wohlfarth (www.mattwohlfarth.com) is one of Pittsburgh's funniest comedians. With over 20 years of stand-up, having performed all over the country and as an established screen & play write, Matt is able to capture audiences with his real-life experiences and showcase true comedic talent. As a comedian, Matt has performed from NY to LA with many places you've never heard of in between. He's been featured at the Funny Bone, the Improv, the Laugh Factory and many more clubs throughout the US. As a writer, Matt was involved in Yakov Smirnoff's "As Long As We Both Shall Laugh" and has jokes published in the internationally published Reader's Digest.

Ron Placone (www.ronplacone.com) is a stand-up comedian and writer. He has opened for some of the top comedians in the country as well as the Upright Citizen's Brigade, he has appeared on CNN and he tours the US regularly as well as parts of Canada. He has done everything from comedy clubs to bars to rock clubs to theaters to competitions to outdoor folk festivals, and he loves to travel. Ron hosts the audio segment, “Thoughts, Rants, and Cold Coffee,” a weekly humor segment covering current events, politics and social issues. In addition to being housed on this website the segment can also be heard in rotation on New Dissident Radio in Los Angeles, CA.

Sean Collier is the Associate Editor of Pittsburgh Magazine and the film critic for the 102.5 WDVE Morning Show. His writing has appeared in most reputable Pittsburgh outlets and a handful of finer national publications, and he has performed - in one way or another - on two continents. He's appeared at the Pittsburgh Improv with the likes of Billy Gardell and Greg Warren, and in regular spots at the Brillobox and Cabaret Theater. He also hosts ghost tours, finds excuses to cover professional wrestling events, and amuses his girlfriend (Stephanie) and dog (Bailey) when possible. He can be found on twitter @seancollierpgh.

Tom Musial (www.TomMusial.com) has been performing comedy in and around Pittsburgh for five years. He regales audiences with bizarre stories of life in modern suburbia, each adventure more absurd and ludicrous than the last. Tom has opened for nationally-touring comedians such as Jim Breuer and Eddie Ifft. He has performed at the Improv, the Funny Bone, Slapsticks Comedy Loft, and numerous bars, firehalls, coffee shops, living rooms, ice rinks, and picnic shelters across the region. Tom was a finalist in the 2010 Pittsburgh Improv "Fall Down Laughing" comedy contest and the 2006 Funny Bone "Best of the Burgh" comedy contest. His short comedy film "P.O.V." took first place in the 2004 Pittsburgh Filmmakers Film Kitchen mini-festival. Tom has been described as "Pittsburgh's least-well known comedian."

Also featuring Derrick Knopsnyder & Kyle Karmelita

DrB's Profile

Originally published October, 2006.

Q: Dear Dr. B, When I have met someone thru an online site, how come it is acceptable to email/IM back and forth all day long and possibly even talk on the phone for an hour every night until the date happens, then after the face-to-face date they revert to a "game" and wait a few days to email or phone you after the date? If he seemed as interested during the date as before the date, why can't he just keep things going the way they were with that regular kind of contact?

A: Meeting people online has become so common that it's gotten boring. It's rare to come across someone that hasn't tried it at least once. From total losers and nerds to the coolest guys and the hottest chicks, anyone that's dated in the past 5 years has probably used this outlet. In fact, even the doctor recently put a profile up on Myspace (not intended for dating, but I have been known to connect with the fans in the past). The culture of online dating has really evolved since the days of trolling psychos and chat rooms with a 500 to one male-female ratio. Online dating etiquette on the other hand, seems to be lagging behind.

Before I get to my answer, I've got a confession to make. For a doctor, I hardly ever read. Now don't get me wrong, I read your questions and look for the occasional bit of knowledge that I don't already have crammed into my skull. I'm talking about reading for recreation or entertainment; I just don't do it. As an educated person, I feel like I should read more, and I have a huge collection of books that I had every intention of reading, but when it gets down to it, I feel like doing other things with my spare time. The doctor likes to stay busy (cellphone Tetris anyone?).

I'm sure most of my audience is way more literate than I, but some of you may relate to this. Because I am not someone that reads, I am never disappointed when I see movies that have been adapted from popular books, or if I am disappointed it has nothing to do with my reading. I watched Lestat, Harry Potter, and Jason Bourne rock out in stadium seating without once thinking about what, if anything, the filmmaker cut from the stories, did wrong, or how much better the books were. I'm a blank slate movie-goer when it comes to these pictures.

Unlike me, my friend Karen is an avid reader. I've seen her walk out pissed off and disappointed by more movies than you can shake a stick at. Although I'm not certain exactly why anyone would want to shake a stick at a movie. Seems kind of fruitless to me. Although Hollywood does occasionally butcher fine works of art, I've noticed that some of her disappointment stems from the disparity between the way she imagined the characters and events of the story and the way the filmmakers chose to display them. For Karen, Tom Cruise as Lestat was unthinkable. For me he was Lestat and that shit rocked.

When we read, we imagine and I'm sure that no two people imagine the same thing in the exact same way. Meeting people online is a lot like that. The parties involved may be as honest as they can, but words like "voluptuous", "athletic", "single", or "research-psychologist" can be defined differently in our heads, even if we all point to the same entry in the dictionary. Exchanging pictures and talking on the phone a few times can help people get a better mental image of what you're all about but until you interact in person they're still largely working from imagination. Although I'd say that kind of communication is a necessary part of Internet dating, if you carry that on for too long before the face-to-face, you could end up spoiling the movie as the real you will be less likely to match the version in their head. Body language, facial expressions, and weird quirks are hard to convey over email or phone, yet this is all valuable information. When we use our imagination to fill in the blanks, we rarely imagine that the people we are hoping to meet face-to-face may eat like pigs, have no sense for sarcasm, or tell inappropriate jokes at our expense to total strangers as they step into a cab (thank you, J). I'm sure if you've had even a few online dating experiences you'll know what I'm talking about.

So one possible reason that these guys are reducing their communication down from daily IMs and email exchanges to, say, a Facebook comment every couple of weeks, is that they may not have imagined Cruise as Lestat (or Damon as Bourne, or Karen as sweetmilf36). I know it seems weird to go from heavy IMing to nada, but sometimes we get to the end of the book. And sometimes the movie doesn't do the book justice.

Of course, I have no way of explaining every instance of this behavior. I do think that some of what I've suggested is at play any time you meet someone online. But, like most things, it depends on the people involved and the situations. Another possibility is that daily communication may feel like too serious of a relationship to some of your online dates once the in-person barrier is removed. Talking everyday may seem safe with someone that you only know online, but most people reserve that level of frequency for very intimate relationships. Hell, most people don't even have that much to talk about anyway (especially those of us that never read). I know I haven't been up to much in the hour since I was last IMed.

Either way, to go from regular communication to nothing isn't a game, it's rude. It sucks, believe me I know, but I hope that this behavior doesn't discourage you from moving on and meeting someone else in life, online or not.

PS. Like I mentioned earlier, the doctor recently put up his own Facebook profile. Go ahead and add me, and if you're cool enough maybe I'll add you back.