There are few comedians that have left such an impact on comedy as Carlin. He told jokes that tore down the social barriers that society creates for us. He loved to lift the curtain of these barriers and show everyone the ridiculous wizard behind them. I know many older readers know Carlin as a household name, but to many young readers and people from my generation he may be faceless.

I remember being shocked as a kid by two traits of Carlin’s. One: I had never heard some of those cuss words he was saying, let alone how often he was saying them. Two: I never heard someone make people laugh by just standing up on stage and yelling things you find true at people and get a laugh.

George Carlin was introduced to me at a very early age, which if you know anything about Mr. Carlin’s work, that may not have been a great decision. Carlin’s material, crude in some natures, would tackle subjects like politics, race, and religion with an artful form. He would make broad and outlandish claims and through his wide vocabulary and argument you would be right at his side laughing.

Carlin was a man who loved to make others laugh. He was always self-proclaimed “Class Clown”. His comedy started in the late 60s and he performed up till his death in 2008. His work is very famous due to its ability to take a very dark and cutting look at things, and bring them front and center.

He gets his laughs due to his great way of expressing the anger people are feeling at that time in words. His humor might not have worked in today’s world, but during his time, his comedy gave a voice to the frustration of the time. His comedy came out in great strength after great draw backs in our nation, such as the War in Vietnam, President Nixon’s Resignation, and 9/11.

Carlin had the skill to dive into a topic and find a truth in it. He used humor to tear into these conversations, and sometimes they came out as rage filled rants. All of them said something sincere about the that moment in time and how many were feeling.

Check the links below for some of George Carlin’s Work.

Religion is Bulls**t

Stuff

George Carlin on Muhammed Ali and the Vietnam War

The post Ozzy’s Spotlight – George Carlin appeared first on KRUI Radio.

When it comes to comedy icons there is no one higher than Monty Python. This gang of 6 goof balls are responsible for some of the biggest footprints in comedy.

As a child growing up Monty Python’s Flying Circus was worshiped by my siblings and myself. I distinctly remember staying up until midnight as an 8-year-old watching the DVD box sets with my brother.

This comedy group has caused my humor to be part wacky, silliness, and sick dark comedy. The members of this troupe are Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, John Cheese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, and Terry Jones.

This team consisted of all men from the United Kingdom except for Terry Gilliam, who was from Minnesota.

This group might not be as known to people my age or younger but their influence can be seen from everything from music, movies, literature, or television, to art.

Their sketch based show was full of wacky nonsense and it was beautiful. They became so popular that they decided to start making movies. Their first movie was Monty Python and The Holy Grail (1975).

This story is about King Arthur and the knights of the round table in search of the holy artifact.

The knights come across a bloodbath wedding, a stubborn torso Black Knight, an Enchanter named Tim, and a man-eating bunny.Instead of riding horses each night as a squire, he instead clacks two coconuts together to make the sound of hoofs clacking in lieu of real horses.

If what you just read for the past two sentences doesn’t have you smirking, then you may just be dead.

The interesting thing about their first two movies was how low budget they were.

The reason for coconuts instead of horses was due to the fact that real horses were too expensive.

Also for their second movie, Life of Brian(1979), they couldn’t find any studios to give them the budget to make the film so Beatle George Harrison fronted the money. He is even listed as one of the producers of the film.

This comedy truly means a lot to me and I hope others will check them out. Also, their full collection of episodes and movies will be on Netflix soon!

Here are some links to my favorites clips of their work.

Self Defense Against Fresh Fruit

Monty Python and the Holy Grail – Sir Lancelot Wedding Scene

The Parrot Sketch

Nudge Nudge

Argument Clinic 

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Jack White is a one of a kind musician that will pour literal blood, sweat, and tears into his music and creative process. With the release of his new solo album, Boarding House Reach, I thought it was only fitting to have Jack White under the spotlight. I have been a fan of his music for years and finally have tickets to see him live on his new album tour.

There’s few modern rock musicians that truly bring something new to the table, but Jack White stands out far above the rest. White has an explosive career, with being part of four widely popular musical groups, The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, and he solo career, with each group having their own unique sound but all connected by the imprint of Jack White.

Jack White is a man with a unique story. He grew up in Detroit, Michigan and was on track to become a priest, but then decided to become an upholster instead. He opened up the Third Man Upholstery shop, but soon married Meg White and they started the band The White Stripes. Jack and Meg’s band was built on the idea of trying to be as minimalist as possible, having only two members playing two instruments (Drums and electric guitar) Jack grew up loving the beauty of the blues from the 20’s and 30’s, you can tell his love by his lyrics and guitar playing in his music.

Jack White takes great pride in the small details and loves to challenge himself in back breaking ways. When recording his music, he loves to cut the music in one take and not use electronic tracks. This means all instruments and singers sing it as it records and there’s no after editing.

He is also known to never create set list for his concerts because he loves to shape the it around the feel of the crowd and the moment. He loves his concerts to be intimate and memorable. He recently has implemented a cell phone free concert for all his shows. This means all attendees can’t enter unless they put their phones in these specially designed bags. These bags will be free at all his shows or they must leave their phones in the car.

White hates looking out in a crowd and seeing nothing but phones looking back at him. He wants to create an experience where you will have to remember it in your mind and give yourself to the atmosphere when at his concerts. I find this great. Like most of my generation, I have probably never been to a concert where there weren’t hundreds of phones out taking video or photos of the show instead of actually watching what they came to see.

Most people have heard of his music but some may not know his name. With songs like Seven Nation Army and Steady as She Goes, most people have probably come in contact with his music. The most exciting this about his music is how each song sound so different.  Jack White has also collaborated with some of the biggest names in the music industry, from country music star Loretta Lynn to being featured on Beyoncé’s Lemonade in her song Love Yourself .

Jack White’s new Album Boarding House Reach (Image Below) hit the shelves and streaming services last Friday and has been met with great critical love. As a fan I personal found this album is better and better the more you listen to it. It is definitely different from his pervious music.

If you haven’t heard much of Jack White’s Music here are some great starts and some of my personal favorites.

1. Carolina Drama
2. I’m Shakin’
3. Lazaretto
4. The Denial Twist
5. Hotel Yorba
6. Icky Thump

The post Ozzy’s Spotlight: Jack White appeared first on KRUI Radio.

John Mulaney is a comedian whose humor will entertain you throughout your life. His honest stories about his childhood, married life, and social anxieties will hit a cord with most. He has strong dry humor that will have you laughing when you first hear it and still laughing when you think about it days later.

Mulaney is a comedian who has a true gift for creating a strong universal image of situations and people we have all met. He observational humor is also a very be attribute to his comedy. His views on how insane the plot to 1985’s Back to the Future sounds insane from the outside looking in or childhood fears of quicksand being a bigger threat when growing up.

John Mulaney wrote on SNL for 6 seasons, stared in the short-lived Fox sitcom Mulaney, and currently voices animated characters in the Netflix show Big mouth. A show where they show the awkward horrors of going through puberty. A lot of people have enjoyed this raunchy animated comedy but I have yet to start it. The voice acting includes actors such as Nick Kroll, Maya Rudolph, Jordan Peele and Jenny Slate.

John Mulaney is also known for his two-man act called, Oh, Hello on Broadway. A show where Mulaney and friend, Nick Kroll, portray two late-middle age men who are from the upper Westside of Manahan. In this play, we see Gil Faizon (Kroll) and George St. Geegland (Mulaney) finally hit it big with a Broadway show.

This show is a fever dream of fourth wall breaking, theater troupes mocking, tuna sandwich hurricane. In this show, they break the fourth wall because of the plot. The premise is George has written a play about two very similar middle age men’s lives and while they act out the play George and Gil get into “real” arguments and cause their play to be derailed.

This show is so much fun because Mulaney and Kroll improvise a lot of the time during this show. So sometimes throughout the show, you see a very real reaction from the others actions. This makes it something truly funny and makes the show have a really unique feel.

Seeing this dysfunctional friendship between these two men is hysterical and I definitely recommend it to people looking for a great thing to watch. To watch Oh Hello on Broadway it is currently streaming on Netflix. Click Here for the Trailer.

John Mulaney also has 3 comedy albums which are all on Apple Music and Spotify. His albums are The Top Part, New In Town, and The Comeback Kid.

These shows are also streaming on Netflix. These albums were what I listened to a lot over the last 3 years. His bit has some great laughs and will always crack me up.

Truly one of my favorites from Mulaney’s list of bits is the “Salt and Pepper Dinner” off his 2009 album The Top Part. In this bit, he tells a story about how as a child, a friend and himself played Tom Jones’ What’s new Pussycat, 21 times at a local dinner and watched the customers lose their minds over the overpayment of the song.  Click Here to listen to this joke.

John Mulaney is a great new comedian who I feel more people should know. He has influenced my writing and comedy and is truly a great comedic figure of this current time. For more clips of his comedy please look to the links below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1sd4CRcaE0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uD-akXggZA

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My goal in this column is to put a spotlight on artists and help show them to people of my generation. That’s why I made the choice of Mel Brooks to be my first. Brooks is responsible for some of the biggest comedic movies in this century. He has created such classics as Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Space Balls, and High Anxiety. 

Mel Brooks is a world famous director, writer, and actor. He has span generations and his humor is a timeless explanation of humor having no barriers. Mel Brooks is my biggest influence in comedy and writing so I thought it was only right to have him be my first Spotlight.

Mel Brooks started out being a comic writer for Sid Caesar when he was young, then had his huge break with The 2000-Year-Old Man in the mid 1960s. This Comedy act starred Mel Books as the 2000-year-old man and Carl Reiner as an interviewer.

Throughout this act Brooks and Reiner would improvise this ancient man’s experiences and adventures throughout his life, which covered everything from the Roman Empire to the birth of Jesus.

Brooks has such a ruthless absurd humor that it truly struck a chord with me as a child. I remember being in 6^th grade and watching Blazing Saddles and being in awe of just how wacky this movie was. I couldn’t believe how they actually let a person make it. If you haven’t seen Blazing Saddles, it’s a spoof on western movies of the 60s and 70s.

By the end of it the villain, Hedley Lamarr, is literally chased off the movie set of Blazing Saddles and into the Warner Bros lot where the film is being filmed. All the while, the good guys and bad guys fist fight through other movies and even through the company’s cafeteria.

This scene has stuck with me since a child and I still find it outrages and humorous. The movie ultimately ends with Hedley Lamarr being caught by the hero sheriff at a movie theater watching the movie Blazing Saddles. That’s right! They destroy the 4^th wall in this movie! As a child this melted my mind.

My second big encounter with Mel Brooks was The Producers, a movie where two producers find out they can make more money with a flop of a musical on Broadway than a hit. So they try to find the worst musical, director and actors to ensure this will be a flop.

Their musical is a massive success and they go into bankruptcy and end up going to prison. The funny thing is that their “Guaranteed flop” musical that turns out to be a huge hit is called “Spring Time for Hitler”.

Truly a ridiculous and offensive idea for a musical and that’s why they think it will fail yet because of how funny and ridiculous the music and acting in the play is, it’s a huge hit and everyone loves it.

Brooks has always had a way with muiscal numbers in his movies and many of which are about incredibly dark topics. These topics range from Hitler or the 15th century, The Spanish Inquisition.

In his movie ,The History of the World Part Two, Brooks has a giant 1950s style music dance number with himself singing about the Infamous Spanish Inquisition. Click Here for a video of it. This was yet another reason why I deeply love his movies and the use of dark humor found in them.

As you can tell his movie may offend a lot of people if they are told about them and haven’t seen them but the humor comes from a very sincere and warm place. Brooks, a proud Jewish man who fought in World War II has always seen humor as a way to make tough things you don’t talk about easier and funnier to talk about.

When asked why he makes fun of Hitler so much Brooks said, “By using the medium of comedy, we can try to rob Hitler of his posthumous power and myths.” Mel Brooks loves to make comedy out of all situations.

He’s famous for a career that pokes fun at all things no matter race, religion, or background in his movies but is always known to be kind and caring with others no matter who they were.

When it comes to making movies, Mel Brooks has taken huge chances and needed a lot of courage. Over my years of being a fan of him I have learned that Mel Brooks truly loves making his movies and making people laugh and I think that’s why I admire him so.

I think it’s important for people of our generation to know about this man because he can teach up how humor connects us all. He is a guy who caught the bug for laugher and showmanship at a young age. Once you catch that bug there’s no getting rid of it and that’s why at 91 years-old he is still fierce and courageous when it comes to his comedy.

For more information on what Mel Brooks is currently doing check his website out Here.

Starting Movies

• Young Frankenstein
• Blazing Saddles
• The Producers
• Spaceballs

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