Aspen Comedy Festival: My Third 15 Minutes

Aspen, Day Three: Re-cap Of Night Two

It's my third day in Aspen, but no one is up yet. No Jacko's father, no Favreaus, no Vinces anywhere to be seen (of course, no one's seen Vince yet). So, where is everyone?

They're all resting their comedy-addled brains. Last night, there was a bad Swingers party (it was like all of LA had been transplanted into the most awful club on the planet), two late-night shows (one involving nudity), and one overflowing late-late night party at the Upright Citizens Brigade/Collegehumor.com house. Dave Chappelle and entourage walked in and immediately walked out of that last party, prompting one of the CollegeHumor.com guys to say, "Dave Chappelle was at our party!" A more accurate description would be that Dave Chappelle left your party, but it was exciting nonetheless.

Yesterday was a good day for reunions, though. I saw the Tribute To The Larry Sanders Show, and the Salute to Def Comedy Jam, and both were entertaining but in totally different ways. The Larry Sanders reunion was awkward (mostly because awkward-humor is Garry Shandling's thing) and strangely maudlin. Gary Shandling was visibly uncomfortable. Janeane Garofalo joked that she was the most upbeat person on stage, which was true. And strange. Rip Torn almost cried. I almost cried thinking about how old Rip Torn must be.

The Def Comedy Jam reunion was the opposite. Chappelle, Chris Tucker, Bill Bellamy, Adele Givens, and Russell Simmons all had a great rapport, and it was very funny to see them interact, and even more funny to see what they wore in the early 90s. Eddie Griffin wore a hat that looked like an inflated jester's cap. Bernie Mac wore a pair of jeans with his own face airbrushed on the leg. Ah, edgy comedy and edgy fashion.

Anyway, here's the stats so far: 1. Comedians In Puffy Jackets: No new ones to report, really. I'm holding out for a sighting of a weeping Rip Torn in Northface. 2. Buzz: There's a lot of talk about this one new stand-up named Nick Thune. The talk is mostly "He's really hot." Which is kinda true, but he's still pretty green. Anti-buzz is also swirling around Behind The Smile which is totally deserved, in my opinion. How bad is Behind The Smile? Think about the worst drama you've ever seen, then think about the movie Punchline, then go to sleep and have a bad dream that involves elements of both, but also a bad transexual joke. That's Behind the Smile. 3. Freebies: I got a sweater. It's mauve. If anyone wants it, let me know. 4. Public (Or Semi-Public) Drunkenness: Penelope Ann Miller dancing at the world's worst party. And due to a large fridge full of pre-made margaritas, there was so much semi-public drunkeness at the UCB/Collegehumor party cataloging it would take all day. 5. Anything Else I Can Think Of: I'm gonna think of something soon. I swear.