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SULTANS 18
Hi - My sis & I had trouble catching many of the words. The mike was not the best. It would have been better sans mike for us. Esp. when Noel was on - because he talks too rapidly, his best line was lost - about the one-man cultural train wreck. (I quote him often.) And remember, both of us were born in the US. For the immigrants it must have been that much harder. So, Noel, slow down...I am anything but a puritan, but Batayeh's obscenity ain't funny. He is misusing his talent. US audiences promote this perversion of humor by laughing nervously at every four-letter word. We liked the Black Swede a lot - talented! What's her name and will she stay around? (When champion linguistic mimic Peter yelled out each name, the name itself was nearly lost.) Gulden is intelligent - she can convey sexual ideas sans being crude. I wouldn't mind learning that her boy-friend is a fantasy. Lookers are handicapped as comediennes. Lust and laughter don't go together, Lysistrata notwithstanding. I missed the name of the Tennessean too. She has potential—elsewhere. I think she has African blood. —Tony
LOL BRAVO BRAVO
Let me begin by apologizing in advance should anyone take any umbrage from what you are about to read. In addition, I truly believe that everyone has the right to his/her opinion on any subject matter and I wholeheartedly respect and support that inalienable right for all.
Let's start this square dance by addressing my "talking too fast." Unfortunately, that's what happens when someone runs the light for 20 minutes and no one does anything about it, only then to get bumped (apparently for no good reason at all) and are left knowing that your time will be cut short. So sometimes, as unfortunate as it may be, you have to speak just a little bit faster so that the 12-minute set you were slotted to do fits into the shitty 8 minutes you end up getting.
As far as profanity goes, ah the immortal question "to curse or not to curse, that is the question." Well most of you know my stance on that, to use one of comedy's greatest examples of this, there's a reason why Richard Pryor never did the vaunted Tonight Show 4:20, he simply chose not to filter himself and to be honest and forthright with his audience by speaking to them from his heart through his material, in the very same manner he would respectfully afford them in person or in an intimate setting. Which coincidentally is also the same reason why he is considered to be one of the greatest stand-up comedians to have ever graced this planet, if not THE greatest...I will leave those that are steeped in the history of stand-up comedy and are truly passionate about comedy and it's purity to explain to those that do not understand what I'm talking about.
We live and perform in a city in which double talking and backstabbing are all too often the norm, while ideals like artistic integrity, honor and common fucking human decency are rare endangered animals. Mike Batayeh, like Richard Pryor, chooses not filter himself and neither do I, at least for now while I'm still a nobody. I hope that I am always strong and never succumb to the Hollywood sycophants that use phrases like "Industry Clean" and other bullshit boot licker's terminology. For like the Gladiators of old the only thing that we as comedians should truly be concerned with is the roar of the crowd, the love of our audience, the integrity of our material and survival.
As far as singular and isolated critiques of this nature go, well I answer with a variant of an old axiom of American birth such as myself - "You can make some of the people laugh some of the time and you can make all of the people laugh some of the time, but you can't make all of the people laugh all the of the time."
As always I humbly vow to endeavor to refine my performance and material as much as I can before the next time, if after sending this there is a next time, but I will not filter or suppress my comedy without clear, feasible and prudent reasoning.
—Noel
SULTANS 18
Hi - My sis & I had trouble catching many of the words. The mike was not the best. It would have been better sans mike for us. Esp. when Noel was on - because he talks too rapidly, his best line was lost - about the one-man cultural train wreck. (I quote him often.) And remember, both of us were born in the US. For the immigrants it must have been that much harder. So, Noel, slow down...I am anything but a puritan, but Batayeh's obscenity ain't funny. He is misusing his talent. US audiences promote this perversion of humor by laughing nervously at every four-letter word. We liked the Black Swede a lot - talented! What's her name and will she stay around? (When champion linguistic mimic Peter yelled out each name, the name itself was nearly lost.) Gulden is intelligent - she can convey sexual ideas sans being crude. I wouldn't mind learning that her boy-friend is a fantasy. Lookers are handicapped as comediennes. Lust and laughter don't go together, Lysistrata notwithstanding. I missed the name of the Tennessean too. She has potential—elsewhere. I think she has African blood. —Tony
LOL BRAVO BRAVO
Let me begin by apologizing in advance should anyone take any umbrage from what you are about to read. In addition, I truly believe that everyone has the right to his/her opinion on any subject matter and I wholeheartedly respect and support that inalienable right for all.
Let's start this square dance by addressing my "talking too fast." Unfortunately, that's what happens when someone runs the light for 20 minutes and no one does anything about it, only then to get bumped (apparently for no good reason at all) and are left knowing that your time will be cut short. So sometimes, as unfortunate as it may be, you have to speak just a little bit faster so that the 12-minute set you were slotted to do fits into the shitty 8 minutes you end up getting.
As far as profanity goes, ah the immortal question "to curse or not to curse, that is the question." Well most of you know my stance on that, to use one of comedy's greatest examples of this, there's a reason why Richard Pryor never did the vaunted Tonight Show 4:20, he simply chose not to filter himself and to be honest and forthright with his audience by speaking to them from his heart through his material, in the very same manner he would respectfully afford them in person or in an intimate setting. Which coincidentally is also the same reason why he is considered to be one of the greatest stand-up comedians to have ever graced this planet, if not THE greatest...I will leave those that are steeped in the history of stand-up comedy and are truly passionate about comedy and it's purity to explain to those that do not understand what I'm talking about.
We live and perform in a city in which double talking and backstabbing are all too often the norm, while ideals like artistic integrity, honor and common fucking human decency are rare endangered animals. Mike Batayeh, like Richard Pryor, chooses not filter himself and neither do I, at least for now while I'm still a nobody. I hope that I am always strong and never succumb to the Hollywood sycophants that use phrases like "Industry Clean" and other bullshit boot licker's terminology. For like the Gladiators of old the only thing that we as comedians should truly be concerned with is the roar of the crowd, the love of our audience, the integrity of our material and survival.
As far as singular and isolated critiques of this nature go, well I answer with a variant of an old axiom of American birth such as myself - "You can make some of the people laugh some of the time and you can make all of the people laugh some of the time, but you can't make all of the people laugh all the of the time."
As always I humbly vow to endeavor to refine my performance and material as much as I can before the next time, if after sending this there is a next time, but I will not filter or suppress my comedy without clear, feasible and prudent reasoning.
—Noel
