I’ve been hanging around the Comedy Store the past few years but don’t worry, I have no desire to start doing standup. I enjoy laughing just as much as everyone else, and I really appreciate the writing process, and watching comics take control of a room. Pretty much everything I’ve worked on has been about making people laugh, so it seems to be a natural fit. All of this started when I was introduced to the Roast Battle show and I instantly got hooked. I would go every week, standing in the back of the room, completely stoked on what I was witnessing. At the time, I consider the Roast Battle my own little secret, and I wouldn’t tell any of my friends about it. Because I didn’t want to spoil it. Yes, I was being a little selfish, but I didn’t care.
Going to the Battles was introducing me to some of the best up and coming roast comics Hollywood has to offer. Leaving my mind blown every week. Not to mention, seeing all of the comedy legends hanging out too and every week was a different surprise. The energy in the Belly room is something that’s comparable to a punk rock show, minus the slam pit. The only thing that would get hit with is a good roast joke and it would be the comic who would be taking across the face. One night I was attending the RB and Leslie Jones from SNL was on the panel. During the show, some dude was attacking Jeff Ross. That’s when Leslie jumped up on the table, started threatening the guy and demanding him to apologize, or else. Man, she was really angry, like a mama bear protecting her cub and I thought she was going to kick this dude’s ass, but she didn’t. She backed down when the guy apologized. Right then, at that specific moment, I knew I was in the right place and was witnessing something special.
I started hearing about the Kill Tony show and eventually, I started going. It's another great show the Comedy Store has to offer. At this point, I’ve made pretty good friends with a lot of the comics who are regulars at "The Store” and one, in particular, is Jeremiah Watkins. He’s the leader of the Kill Tony band, playing the saxophone and always acting as a different character every week. I found him hilarious and very talented. He’s also has a rock & roll comedy band with one of his buddies and it’s called, Regan and Watkins. I found their songs to be catchy and funny and the crowd at the Comedy Store seems to like them too.
At the end of 2017, Jeremiah and Pat were heading up to Venture CA. to record their first album. They asked me if I wanted to come along and film the recording process in the studio. So I jumping in the car with them and brought my camera gear and spent a couple of days filming, and we had a blast. Instantly we had good working chemistry. Ideas were flowing, both of them were open to what I was suggesting and trusted my direction. We kept filming for a while and ended up getting some cool cameos for the video with Bobby Lee, Khalyla Kuhn, Bill Burr, Bert Kreischer, Tony Hinchcliffe, Brian Redban, Tom Segura, Eric Andre, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Erik Griffin, Rory Scovel, Big Jay Oakerson and the RoastMaster General, Jeff Ross.
One day I was meeting with Jeremiah brainstorming some ideas and I thought of something for Bobby Lee and his girlfriend. We pitched them our idea where Khalyla, was saying how sexy Regan and Watkins are when they perform live. Bobby would pop is head around the corner catch her talking and eventually getting angry. What you see in the edit is one of two takes and they both nailed it. You couldn’t ask for anything better, it’s perfect! When we left their house, I looked at Jeremiah and both of us were shocked, and completely blown away. We gave each other a high five, and at this point, I felt like I was making something special.
To top this off, I wanted to have an opener for this video so each band member would have a proper introduction, and I had this idea that I wanted to borrow from a cult punk rock film called Suburbia. It's one of my favorites since I was punk myself. I wanted to recreate the scene, where all the punks are walking down the sidewalk in slow motion, looking like a menace to society. One of my friends thought this idea looked like it was trying to copy Reservoir Dog. Its close, but I wasn’t. So we took it to the streets of Burbank CA. but this time I had some extra help from Benji Lanpher on camera and Keil Eulberg using his Steadicam. Allowing me to run around and direct the scene, because we had to move fast. We didn’t have any filming permits, but we nailed the shot within 45-minutes and got the fuck out of there. That’s what you call a runaway production. I’m really happy how everything turned out. If you like what you see, be sure to check out their album wherever you buy, or stream your music. It’s available now!
Comments