I first saw Moshe Kasher perform stand-up comedy a couple of years ago at the Punch Line in San Francisco. He’s one of those comedians who I had always heard was fantastic, but who I never had a chance to see. Within seconds, he owned the room like few comics I’ve ever seen, with a combination of great material and improvised crowd work that was brilliant and hilarious. This is harder than it appears. I’ve seen many comedians sink hard when they go to the crowd for inspiration. Moshe played that crowd masterfully, like a giant, drunk, laughing guitar. He didn’t just ask people where they worked and make fun of them like many comedians do; he used amazing listening skills to find quirks about them, and later in the show was able to refer back to things folks said earlier like a well-crafted callback. It was a goddamn work of art.

Moshe got his start performing comedy in San Francisco 17 years ago when he attended an open mic with Chelsea Peretti (currently on Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and received encouragement from Bay Area legend Tony Sparks (who’s lovingly referred to by many as “The Godfather of Comedy” and still hosts shows to this day). Since then, he’s been featured on TV shows like Comedy Central’s Problematic and @midnight, and the podcast Hound Tall. In 2012, he wrote the book Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient and Then Turned 16, which may be one of the most descriptive titles a book has ever had.

He recently released a three-part Netflix special, The Honeymoon Stand Up Special, with his wife (and fellow comedian) Natasha Leggero that’s a flat-out riot. They each have a solo portion for the first two parts, and the final act culminates with them performing roasts of married couples from the Austin, Texas, crowd. It works far better than I thought it would.

I spoke with Moshe on the phone to talk about his special, his book and his upcoming series of shows at the Sacramento Punch Line. Through our conversation, it was evident that he has a love of producing quality comedy and giving the audience a special show.

My 80-year-old father-in-law watches Netflix a lot, and I came out to his room while he was watching your special at the exact moment you were talking about cumming into mason jars.
[Laughs] It might be a dirty reference, but the mason jar is generationally appropriate for him. I’m sure he enjoyed it.

I love that at the beginning of your section of The Honeymoon Stand Up Special, there’s a guy in the front row who’s totally giving you a cold stare and you address it, and he just doesn’t stop. He’s acting like he was tricked into being there. Was that a weird thing to deal with, and keeping it in the special?
No, I wanted it in. The thing about doing a stand-up special is that it’s a bizarre distillation of an act you’ve been working on for months or years into a permanent state of comedic homeostasis, and somehow I perform. When I perform, there’s the material that I’ve got but in some circumstances I’m letting them dictate where the show goes. I wanted to leave it in the special because it gives a better picture of who I am as a performer. I’m 10 times more improvisational at a live show than I am in a stand-up special, except for the third part which is all improv. I was grateful that he was frowning because it was a gift that he gave me. And by the way, he laughed by the end of the night quite a bit, which is good.

I saw you at SF Punch Line. It was very improvisational, but in such a brilliant and entertaining way. I don’t think you probably planned a lot of what you said that night. It was pretty impressive.
Well, thanks. I always say the more fun I’m having, the less written jokes I’m telling. I arrive to every gig with an hour’s worth of jokes ready. but on a good night when I’m thinking about the performance, I’m thinking, “Oh, shit! I didn’t get to this … something magical happened in the room that made me run out of time.”

In the 17 years that you’ve been performing stand-up, at what point did your performances evolve to allow more of that interaction?
It’s an interesting question because I came to the stage with much more confidence than I had ability. I was willing to mess around on stage and kind of improv and do whatever thing I fancied from the very beginning. Some of my contemporaries that I started comedy with suggested, “Maybe you should focus on writing a half-hour or hour of material.” I think they were offended that I would just come up on stage and just fuck around that early into stand-up. So I retreated into the writing process and came back learning how to hone my writing voice, then again allowed myself to go with my natural instincts, which are sort of just to let whatever happens happen.

There was another moment where I realized—and this is going to sound so corny—but the way to make my job work is to remember to always enjoy myself when I’m on stage. Even when the show isn’t going the way that I want it to, I’ll figure out a way to enjoy the chaos, then the show’s going to be good, and I’m going to be good. At any rate—long story short—I’d say about five years into my stand-up career I just decided that I’m going to be a comedian that just lets whatever happen. I’ve had a lot more fun as a result.

Your personality really comes through with your performance, as opposed to someone who’s just doing material. People probably feel like you’re someone they could have a drink with and might be pretty similar to how you are on stage. Is there some truth to that?
How approachable and fun I seem by my appearance really depends on who’s absorbing it. I’ve definitely heard discussions like I’m someone you’d like to punch in the face. It depends on who you are, or your political perspective maybe [laughs]. Maybe want to have a drink with me, or punch me in the face, or both! I always say, your personality on stage is you times five. I’m also a lot more chill offstage. I’m less flamboyant offstage, too. People are impressed with how incredibly masculine I am offstage.

The Couples Roast portion of the special was very funny. It almost seems like that could be a regular TV series.
A lot of people have said that. We’re definitely not opposed to the idea. It was really cool. One of the challenges is taking that thing and making it permanent. If you’re watching it on TV you’ll say, “Sure, I bet that was funny if I was sitting there, but I don’t really care if that guy is an accountant.” The problem with putting improv and crowd work on a special is making it evergreen and relevant. I think having that conceit of us helping these couples [and] making fun of them is what made it feel like you didn’t have to be there, because we’ve all been there.

With any comedian, there’s a fear of exposing yourself and putting your work out there and hoping they laugh, but giving control to the crowd and not knowing where that could fizzle and not be as entertaining as you think.
Absolutely, and it depends on whose hands you’re in. Sometimes crowd work is disparaged because people feel like it’s the MC of the comedy club asking who’s birthday it is, but there are true masters of the form that are as artistic doing that as the best honed joke-crafter is. People like the late Patrice O’Neal, Paula Poundstone and Todd Barry are true masters of that. I consider it as big and integral a part of stand-up as joke writing. I love crowd work and I think crowds do, too. The most fun a crowd can have is watching someone make a show just for them.

What was it like to publish a book? How much time and effort and sweat did it take?
It took a lot. It’s not a typical comedian book because I had a strange upbringing going to rehab a bunch by the time I was 16, having deaf parents, a Hasidic father and a secular mother, growing up in Oakland on welfare, blah blah blah. It was very important to me, and I always wanted to be an author when I was growing up; I didn’t necessarily want to be a comedian. It was important to me that the book reflected some literary meat. In order to get there, you really have to go there, so it was definitely an emotional and intellectual and spiritual process.

Comedy is different because you’re looking for the one thing that’s the funniest … that’s not necessarily what’s happening in a book. It was important to me that it was a real book and not just a series of bits. It’s always disappointing when you read a comedian’s book, and the outline was just “write enough words to get my paycheck.” I wanted to write a book that people could read in 10 to 20 years and not know who I was and still enjoy it. It’s still the thing that I’m proudest of that I’ve ever created.

Moshe Kasher will be headlining five shows Aug. 9–11, 2018 at Punch Line Sacramento (2100 Arden Way). Tickets are available at Punchlinesac.com. The Honeymoon Stand Up Special is currently featured on Netflix, and Moshe’s book is available on Amazon, Audible and wherever fine books are sold.

**This piece first appeared in print on pages 22 – 23 of issue #271 (Aug. 1 – 15, 2018)**

Have you ever heard the phrase, “You’ve got to laugh to keep from crying?” It sure does seem to be more true nowadays than ever, doesn’t it? What with the everyone-is-always-outraged-about-something world we live in, it’s nice to find distractions from scrolling through our mostly hate-filled social media timelines. My favorite distraction? Comedy. Particularly of the live-and-in-person variety. Luckily for us here in Sacramento, we’re sitting on a comedy goldmine. Week in and week out, there are great comedy shows in and around this city, so do yourself a favor and go laugh your face off at one of these upcoming comedy spectacles. As always, we here at Submerge encourage you to: Read. Learn. Do rad things.

Comedian, columnist, actor and author Will Durst, who has been described by the New York Times as “possibly the best political comic working today,” is bringing his Durst Case Scenario: Midterm Madness show through town on Saturday, July 21 to the The Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts (2700 Capitol Ave.), aka the new B Street Theatre. Doors at 6:30 p.m. and all ages are welcome. More info and tickets ($30) can be found at Bstreettheatre.org.

The Sacramento Comedy Spot (1050 20th St. #130) is known for hosting hilarious and off-the-wall improv shows and The Daddy House on Friday, July 27 at 10:30 p.m. should be no different. It’s a show in the style of a 1950s family sitcom (think Leave It to Beaver) about a family of—you guessed it—all dads. The dads (played by Nick Magavern, Ryan King and Court Hansen) will “get into a series of wacky mishaps and teach touching life lessons in this semi-improvised, semi-written extravaganza!” Tickets for The Daddy House are just $5, but it’s free if you buy a ticket for the 9 p.m. “YOU! The Musical” show ($12). More info at Saccomedyspot.com/calendar.

Stand-up comedian Jess Hilarious first found fame by posting hilarious short skits on her Instagram (where she has amassed 3.8 million followers!), and now she has appeared on VH1, BET and is selling out shows around the country. She will also be the female lead in an upcoming comedy pilot on Fox called Rel, with Lil Rel Howery, Jordan L. Jones, Sinbad and others. You can catch Jess at Tommy T’s (12401 Folsom Blvd., Rancho Cordova) where she’ll perform five sets between July 27 – 29. Hit up Tommytsrancho.com for more info and tickets.

On Saturday, July 28, the newly opened STAB! Comedy Theater (1710 Broadway) will host their First Annual Gallagher Tribute Show in honor of the great comedian’s birthday (which is July 24), and STAB!’s very own John Ross gave us the lowdown on this sure-to-be-weird-and-awesome show: “The event will consist of 10–15 comics doing their own original comedy while dressed as Gallagher and smashing shit during their acts,” he told Submerge (Gallagher is, of course, known for smashing watermelons and plenty of other stuff on stage as part of his act). “We will also be encouraging the audience to show up in their best Gallagher costume, as we will be having a Gallagher costume contest.” The show is all ages, starts at 7 p.m. and is $10 for adults and just $5 for kids. Learn more at Stabcomedytheater.com or Facebook.com/stabcomedytheater.

Creed Bratton is one of those guys where if you don’t recognize his name in writing, when you see his face, you’re like, “Ohhh, I know him!” Bratton played a fictional version of himself on nine seasons of the NBC hit comedy The Office, and on Sunday, July 29 you can catch An Evening of Music and Comedy with Creed Bratton at Holy Diver (1517 21st St.). Tickets are $20 in advance at Holydiversac.com, and the show is all ages, with doors at 7 p.m. Opening will be Control, Sam Jones and Amber DeLaRosa. A well-rounded night of live entertainment!

If you’re a fan of Cartoon Network’s late night programming block, Adult Swim, chances are you’re already a huge Eric Andre fan. He’s the creator, host, and co-writer of The Eric Andre Show, a parody of a low-budget public access show that features ridiculous interviews, sketches, pranks and more. Andre is making his way to Punch Line (2100 Arden Way) where he’ll perform five shows between Aug 2 – 4. These shows are pretty much guaranteed to sell out, so hit up Punchlinesac.com ASAP to secure your tickets. The shows are all 18-plus, and tickets start at $25.

Find more comedy shows, concerts and other regional events in our calendar section!

**This piece first appeared in print on page 6 of issue #270 (July 18 – Aug. 1, 2018)**

Key Lewis is currently writing his biography. But he’s not planning on it to be the lengthy, wordy and slightly boring tome that will help you fall asleep at night. In fact, you will only find his memoir in the comedy section of the book store. He plans for his biography to be on stage and recorded in front of a live audience.

“How can I bottle this up into an hour and some change?” asked Lewis. “I know the jokes and I just kinda let the story tell itself.”

Lewis plans to lay out his life on stage in a thought provoking but hilarious way by mapping out his life struggles and realizations behind a microphone. He will relate personal stories throughout his life, from being in foster homes to being together with his wife for 29 years into a timeline of jokes on stage.

Lewis will be recording his upcoming DVD Half Black, Half White, Looks Mexican at Punch Line in Sacramento on Jan. 14, 2018. He will be “starting from day one” with his first memory at 5 years old to the stories of his everyday life with his wife and kids today.

Submerge caught up with Lewis after his drive up from Los Angeles at Oak Park Brewing Company in Sacramento—not only his hometown but his old neighborhood where he grew up—to talk about his upcoming comedy DVD, growing up in Sacramento and a few life lessons.

“It’s 80 degrees in L.A. right now,” said Lewis with a laugh. Currently residing in the slightly warmer L.A. area, Lewis thought it was important to have his DVD filmed in his hometown. Although there are a lot of opportunities in the comedy world in L.A., there is nothing like being in your own Sacramento laughing with old friends.

“For me, this is home. My family, my dad, the people I went to school with, everyone that watched me from being a kid to an adult and knows the struggles and the things that I had to deal with are from here.” said Lewis. “So what better place for me to recite stories or talk about my life and have them remember, ‘Oh hey, I was with him when he used to be that little punk in the ninth grade.’”

Growing up in the melting pot that is Sacramento, Lewis was able to connect to different groups of people, varying in age, sex and race. A lot of his material and characters are based on his experiences growing up surrounded by different cultures from his local neighborhood of Oak Park. He has learned how to connect with different people based on the different environments he grew up in.

“As a comic, you perform in [front of] such a broad range of folks and you become more personable because you have that ability. One day you might be performing for an elderly group of folks that are all white folks and then the next day you might be performing in front of a Latino crowd,” explained Lewis. “It’s just a good strength to have to be able to relate to everybody in some way, shape or form.”

Lewis uses the name of his DVD, Half Black, Half White, Looks Mexican, as almost a disclaimer for his comedy, in order to prepare the audience for what type of jokes they can possibly expect. Originally coming from another comic introducing him to the stage, the title stuck and it’s the perfect introduction to his biography.

“I think it’s a great icebreaker. The opener is more me talking about my father; there’s not a billboard that shows a black man that is embracing a half-black, half-white baby that looks Mexican,” joked Lewis.

Spilling out all of your life’s struggles and talking about your family’s stories in front of strangers sounds gut-wrenching to most people, but Lewis sees it as a heavy responsibility to be able to relate to people on a whole new level with laughter.

“Making people laugh that you don’t know is very empowering,” he said. “It’s a truer form of communicating.”

As a kid, Lewis used the power of laughter to fight off his first bully, but today he uses that honest form of communication by spreading much deserved smiles to troops overseas. As a Navy veteran, Lewis is now a part of the GIs of Comedy, a troupe that is made up entirely of military veterans who travel to different countries to perform for soldiers. Recently coming back from Iraq just a few weeks ago, Lewis has traveled to six different countries in the past four years, spreading laughter around the world. When performing in front of a group of soldiers, the comedy is no different than a local comedy club.

“I don’t do a lot of military jokes,” said Lewis. “I talk about what’s going on with my wife, my kids, and life. I just make fun of stuff; it takes them away from the, ‘Yes Sirs’ and ‘No Sirs.’”

From Iraq back to his home base in Sacramento, Key finds it important to push the envelope on stage, and ranges his topics from politics to everyday situations with his daughter, while still maintaining a balance of “likability” on stage. He brings to the stage what most people don’t even want to talk about at the dinner table—honest but in your face comedy. He wants his audience to relate with him in the small quirks of the everyday life of being a family man.

During a recording in front of an audience, anything can happen; there is no redoing a joke to make it sound better or funnier. The recording will take place in one day, but there is an early “clean” show that is more family friendly and a later “dirty” show for the audience members who don’t want anything edited from the jokes. Lewis wants to make his comedy accessible for anyone who wants to laugh.

At the end of the day, Lewis has very simple advice about doing comedy: “Don’t be a dick.”

“You don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, you don’t want to degrade somebody,” said Lewis. “You can be as funny as you want to be, but don’t be a dick to some undeserving patron that just wants to laugh. Just figure out a way to have fun, make it plausible, and just don’t be a dick.”

Don’t be a dick. Be a part of Key Lewis’ DVD release at Punch Line (2100 Arden Way, Sacramento) on Jan. 14, 2018. He will perform two shows (at 8 and 10 p.m.). For more info and to order tickets, go to Punchlinesac.com.

**This piece first appeared in print on pages 12 – 13 of issue #256 (Jan. 1 – 15, 2018)**

American comedian and actor Corey Holcomb is the host of The Corey Holcomb 5150 Show, a live comedy show that airs weekly online via Ustream. At the end of the month, he will be bringing his act to Sacramento’s Punch Line. Holcomb is known for his roles in movies and TV shows such as Think Like a Man Too, The Wedding Ringer and Adult Swim’s TV series Black Jesus, as well as appearances on Last Comic Standing, The Tonight Show and The Cleveland Show, to name just a few. He has also released three comedy specials, performed at many comedy festivals and tours the country regularly. Holcomb’s jokes address topics ranging from relationships (especially relationships gone wrong) to racism, abortion and police brutality. The charismatic performer keeps audiences laughing with his appallingly honest approach to real issues and controversial subject matter. For some comedy lovers, Holcomb’s topics of discussion might be considered crude or offensive. But, for those of you who appreciate a comical and brutally honest method of bringing up points about society and relationships, Holcomb will keep you laughing in your seat. Shows will run Nov. 30 through Dec. 2, 2017. You must be 18 to attend. Tickets start at $25 and are available at Punchlinesac.com.

**This write-up first appeared in print on page 13 of issue #253 (Nov. 20 – Dec. 4, 2017)**

Lance Woods is a comedy force of nature. In just seven years of performing stand-up, he’s gone from hosting variety shows at his church, to opening for Dave Chappelle and hosting parties for Too Short on Treasure Island. His “Lance Woods and Friends” shows are a near-monthly staple of the Sacramento Punch Line and Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco and are regularly packed thanks to his nonstop drive to promote. From Facebook and Instagram selfie posting contests for ticket giveaways, to video sketches based on current events that may have happened less than a day before, he’s easily one of the most consistently funny and recognizable local comedians.

I’ve seen him perform no less than 20 times in the last five years and his material rarely repeats. His early “mistakes” of not repeating jokes, ended up giving him skills to amass a monstrous array of subjects that range from skewering pop culture to helping a friend move. Sometimes it all just goes out the window and he’ll do some of the funniest crowd work I’ve ever seen.

On social media and on stage, he refers to himself as “The International Sex Symbol,” but Woods exudes an over-the-top charm and charisma that lives up to the hype. While sitting with him for the interview at East Sacramento’s Tupelo, there wasn’t a person that walked by that didn’t get a smile and a moment of his time.

Monica S. Photography

I was talking with the editor of Submerge, and we were both agreeing that it’s ridiculous that we haven’t done a story on Lance Woods yet.
I agree! Totally! Wholeheartedly! Every time I see the magazine I wonder why I’m not here!

How long have you been performing stand-up comedy?
My first time on stage was June 2, 2010. I didn’t understand what to do. In my first nine months, I probably got on stage three times, because I thought you could never tell the same joke twice. My first set ever was at the Sacramento Punch Line Showcase.

That’s unusual because it takes some time to get noticed and booked on that.
It’s almost like getting into Submerge! It takes time. You gotta put your work in [Laughs]!
I started comedy in my church, which was directly across the street [from] Punch Line. My pastor created an event for me to host called “The Uprising,” and I would do comedy and we’d get gospel singers, dancers and poets. I told my girlfriend I wanted to do comedy; she started acting like an agent and was looking up places on the computer. She said Punch Line had what she thought was an open mic. So I thought you could just show up there and just do comedy.

I told everyone I worked with and everyone at church that I’m going to perform. The doors open at 7, so I got there at 6:50 and the girl at the door told me to come back in 10 minutes. So I got there at 6:59:59 and I said, “How do you sign up for the show?” The manager said, “Who are you?” That’s the first time I felt this isn’t going to go how I thought it was going to go. The way he said it made me know I couldn’t sound like I was brand new, so I just said, “It’s me, Lance Woods! What do you mean you don’t know who I am? Baby I’m here!” He told me there were no sign-ups for the show.

I felt like the smallest person in the world. I start walking down that hallway and I start hearing that sad Titanic music playing in the background. Then I thought, “I can’t leave, I told everyone I was going to be here!” I remembered D.L. Hughley on the extras of that Kings of Comedy DVD said, “Back in the day, we used to have to fight just to get five minutes!” That stuck with me. I go back inside of the club and started talking to him.

He’s busy getting the club ready, but every time he’d come by and just say something new then walk away and was dismissive. Then at 7:40, I had like 45 people walk in right in front of the bar saying things like “Hey, Lance! Kill it tonight!” So he sees this [and] five minutes before the show he tells me I’m going up first. I didn’t know you were supposed to be nervous about that.

Comics get scared because they think the crowd isn’t warmed up yet.
The reaction was good and the material was good for the level I was at. The comics told me I did a good job, and I thought Hollywood was going to call tomorrow.

A month or two later I performed at A Toucha Class. Two months after that I did Laughs Unlimited. I met a guy named Andre Paradise who did a competition up in Oregon called “The Shades of Laughs.” This is when everything changed. I went out there, and out of 19 comics I placed fifth. These were really good veteran comics. We had six shows.

You weren’t doing any open mics at that point?
No … This was maybe my fifth time performing. I was doing OK, but there’s a level of confidence you feel when you deliver a joke because I wasn’t there yet. These other guys have been in the game 10 to 20 years. They were telling me, “You’re really funny, but you don’t have a clue what you’re doing on stage. We can tell you don’t perform because none of your jokes are finished!” I asked them how often they performed and they told me every day. They told me about open mics. So I got back and did at least 11 mics a week.

So a couple years in doing these mics, what’s different now?
The main thing was that I got the confidence in my jokes. I started delivering jokes with an exclamation point instead of a question mark. The question is no longer if they’re going to laugh, but how big will that laugh be.

Well, it’s like that reluctance to repeat material. Some comics get sick of their jokes. But you’re polishing up a bullet.
When comics ask me questions or run a joke by me, there’s nothing I can tell them. The stage will tell you.

I told a joke to a comedian in the car on the way to a gig at The Throckmorton Theatre [in Mill Valley] and he loved it and asked if he could use it on stage. Nobody laughed … just crickets.
The first time I went to Throckmorton I met Robin Williams. I was at the balcony. I was just going to watch the show, and Kevin Meaney was on stage. I hear to my right this laugh, and I looked and was like, “Is that Robin Williams?” Then he elbowed me and said, “This is funny, right?” We were just speaking about the bits from the background, just comic talk.

You’ve been producing your “Lance Woods and Friends” shows at Punch Line for about four years now. You always have a great draw and a great following.
I’m a special guy [Laughs]! Whenever you produce something, they are coming to see you. Some people just try and grab people that’ll get a bunch of people to come to the show, but they’ll never come back.

But it’s also a different show each time with you, too. You don’t have an hour-long set that I can nail down. If you had to from start to finish, you’d probably have hours and hours of stuff.
It’s a gift and a curse. I think what I do is good for live performance. I don’t know how it translates to television right now. That’s just another step that I have to look into. If I got a call to get on late night and do seven minutes, I don’t know what that seven minutes would be.

How would you describe your comedy to someone that’s going to see a Lance Woods show?
It’s honest and funny. I noticed that I had points where I was thinking something wasn’t funny enough because it was too wordy. I had to find the jokes in the funny things I was talking about.

You probably have one of the more broad material bases I’ve seen. It’s like there’s nothing that’s off limits.
The toughest transition I made was to be in front of “the hood” crowds. I was always just getting by in those rooms. It took me the longest to get good there. I had to up my level of aggression. My natural state is really chill. Sometimes you go to certain rooms, and you have to grab their attention. When I say “hood,” I’m talking about bar crowds. There’s black hood crowds and white hood crowds. Neither one of them want to hear what you’re talking about. You have to make them listen to you.

Your sketch humor and memes kill on Instagram. They’re really funny. So much different than stand-up. When did you start getting interested in that?
The higher you go, the more you see people ahead of you, so I saw a lot of guys with a million-plus followers, so I’m looking at my 21,000 as measly and pathetic. Every day they do a new sketch … every single day. They’re really good at promoting themselves.

You’ve had a lot of crazy experiences with fans.
I remember once at Punch Line I was on stage and some guy in the audience had a high-pitched voice. I couldn’t see what was going on … [mimics his voice] and he said, “All right, I’ll see you after the show.” I walk out and he’s there. He has a fresh out of jail look. He had a big upper body and his legs were weak like he’s just been doing push-ups and pull-ups for years. He had a style that looked like maybe he’d been away for eight years and he doesn’t know people don’t wear that no more.

Like a FUBU jacket?
Yeah! A FUBU jacket with one pants leg up. And he walked up and said, “If someone tells you they’re gonna be waiting for you, they really might be,” and just walked away. That was it!

Lance Woods will be bringing his “Lance Woods and Friends” show to Punch Line in Sacramento on Aug. 27 and Sept. 26, 2017. You can become one of his 21,000+ followers on Instagram at @lancewoods.

We love Robert Berry, and not just because he’s a regular contributor to this publication (though we love him for that too). He’s also hilarious, and now you can be as hilarious as he is (almost) thanks to his new book Robert Berry’s Big Book of Jokes. This 210-page tome contains more than 1,000 jokes and essays written by Berry himself. Within its pages, you’ll find an arsenal of puns and one-liners that you can use to trick your friends and family into thinking you’re actually pretty funny. The book is available through Berry’s website, Retrocrush.com, for just $15. Or, you can head over to Punch Line Sacramento (2100 Arden Way, Ste. 225) on Aug. 16 and celebrate the book’s release and watch Berry perform on stage with special guests, and maybe even pick up an autographed copy of the book. Purchase tickets online through Punchlinesac.com.

**This write-up first appeared in print on page 10 of issue #245 (July 31 – Aug. 14, 2017)**

I heard that comedian Grant Lyon grew up in Sacramento, but he clarified that he felt like he didn’t grow up anywhere, with portions of his formative years in different suburbs of Los Angeles, a move to Chicago, then a move to Sacramento in 10th grade where he attended Country Day School and graduated Class of 2002. Unlike many comedians who grew up with comedy idols, Lyon didn’t understand what stand-up comedy even was until he was in college. On a fateful day as a freshman, someone played him a copy of Mitch Hedberg’s first album, Strategic Grill Locations, and his life was changed forever.

“I just listened to it over and over and over as I walked around campus,” Lyon said. “I didn’t even seek out other stand-up CDs. I would do Hedberg jokes at parties. I could do the whole album.”

Before long, Lyon was performing the album for his college soccer team using the microphone on the tour bus. Unlikely encouragement from his coach to write his own material took him on a path to comedy he’s followed ever since.

Lyon is a funny, smart, insightful comedian who makes you laugh and learn at the same time. From his first open mic experience at Laughs Unlimited in Old Sac back in 2005, to his victory at Atlanta’s prestigious Laughing Skull Comedy Festival just nine years later, he’s come a long way. He’s been featured in the New Faces of Comedy at Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival and is a contributing writer and content creator for Huffington Post, Funny or Die and several other outlets. Currently touring with fellow comic Carmen Morales on their “We’re a Fun Time” tour, we spoke with Lyon on the phone to talk about his origins and motivations.

Photo by Darren Rodgers

How did you hook up with Carmen and decide to do a tour together?
We’re both friends with each other in Los Angeles and we both respect each other. We actually got booked randomly to do a show in Idaho together. We thought we should do a whole tour around, and we have similar intelligent and silly styles that work well together.

We thought a lot about going places where people would enjoy our brand of comedy. We’re going to Chico, Portland and Salem. We wanted hip, fun cities.

When you’re a comedian that works with a more thoughtful and smart style and you sometimes end up at places with audiences that don’t expect that, do you ever find yourself adjusting because the crowd just isn’t digging that sort of stuff?
I’ll always say what I believe. I’ll never compromise that, but sometimes you do that thing where you’re just like, “Maybe I won’t tell that joke tonight!” because nothing good can come from it. But I also believe in what I’m saying. History proves that anyone who is a little bit liberal is always on the right side. The most frustrating thing to me about the fight over gay marriage or things like that, I just want to say, “You know this is going to happen, right?” There’s been so much time and resources to delay something that is inevitable. Just step aside and let it exist, because it’s not hurting anybody. I think that also keeps me pushing the envelope a little bit onstage, because I feel like I’m on the right side of history.

I guess it’s hard to find a comedian that’s too liberal to be funny.
Totally! And I think it’s important to say, “This is what I believe. You don’t have to agree with it, but I have a microphone so you have to listen to me.” I’m not ever trying to berate anybody or say, “I’m right and you’re wrong,” because that just makes you a jerk. But I will go on stage and say, “Here’s some things I’ve thought about and here is why I think this.” I think good comedy—and there’s always exceptions, I mean I love Mitch Hedberg, and you wouldn’t have left a Mitch Hedberg set knowing exactly who he was—but I love leaving a set where I think they are funny and that I know them. Someone like Tom Segura or Dana Gould is great at that.

When did you first become conscientious about stand-up comedy?
It was late for me. I grew up in a family that didn’t pay attention to comedy. We didn’t have any comedy records. I don’t even think I knew that stand-up as an art form existed. I loved The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live. Those were my comedy outlets growing up. When I was in seventh grade, I watched one of my very first SNL episodes and Chris Rock was hosting it. He went up and did a monologue, and it’s one of the best monologues ever. He has a joke about why would you give blind people a dog, and a tank coming down New York, and I loved it so much, recorded it and watched it over and over again. It wasn’t until I was in college that I looked back and thought, “Oh, that was stand-up!” I didn’t even realize it was stand-up at the time. I just thought, “This monologue is so great, why don’t they just do all monologues?” The first time I ever stepped foot into a comedy club was when I was performing.

Do you remember what your first joke was?
If you see me on stage now, I’m absolutely nothing like Hedberg, he was a big influence, but my first six months, I didn’t have my own voice. I was writing jokes for Hedberg. I listened to him so much, I literally heard his voice in my head when I wrote those jokes. I was 20 and didn’t know much about the world, but now I do social commentary. I like to take personal experiences, talk about those, and reflect about how that personal experience is a comment on our society as a whole.

OK, I remember my first joke. “I don’t understand why we call blonde hair ‘blonde.’ It’s yellow hair. We say brown hair. We say red hair. I’ve never been like, ‘Man, Charles is a chicken. He’s such a blond belly. Wait! Slow down! That light is BLONDE!’” and I just had all of these examples of using blonde instead of yellow. That was a joke from my very first set.

How did you feel about your first set?
I have a theory about first sets. Anyone who is successful in comedy had a great first set. It doesn’t even have to be a great first set, but it has to be great in their own mind. Some people have the first set go terribly, and they never want to do it again. But if the first one goes great, then you know that it’s possible. It’s like a drug and you spend the rest of your career chasing that high again.

I was so excited and nervous. I probably practiced that five minutes for three hours that day. When I went on stage, I don’t think I said a single word that I didn’t rehearse. If I was to be an impartial observer, did it actually go that well? I don’t know. But in my head, people were laughing and I was so excited that I left my car there and ran all the way home!

It’s great to see someone do well their first time on the mic. It’s like they won a contest. There’s so much fear and joy going through what many would consider is one of the scariest things you can do.
Yeah. It has to go well in your mind. Did I crush it? I probably didn’t. But I was so nervous that at least a few people laughed, and that was enough to make me feel like I succeeded.

Those three people are the best people in the world when you’re struggling.

I started in Sacramento. That was my sophomore year of college. I performed six times, so I wasn’t a comedian yet. I never performed off campus. But that summer I wanted to try it more. Laughs Unlimited had a comedy class. Comedy classes have a stigma among comics, but I’ll never judge anyone for doing them because I didn’t know how to be a comedian. In almost anything else, you’ll take a class to learn how to do something. I signed up at their open mic and I didn’t get on. Someone said, “If you want to perform, you can take the class here and you’re guaranteed to get a spot on the open mic every week!” So I signed up.

Who was teaching that class?
It was Del Van Dyke, like 12 years ago. Did it make me a great comedian? No, but it provided me with a supportive environment to try comedy. So from that perspective, I was glad I did it. It was the first time and I performed once a week.

During my Junior year of college, I decided I really wanted to do comedy more, and that’s when I started taking it seriously.

I see a lot of impatience with newer comics where they want to be a feature or headliner so soon. What advice do you have for comedians that are frustrated with their progress?
I think I started letting go of that stuff is when I thought, “What is going to make me quit this?” I finally came to the conclusion that I will be doing this forever, even if I’m struggling and have to get a day job. I’m still going to be doing stand-up. I love it. Once I realized I’m in this forever, it takes away the impatience. If you’re in it for quick fixes, it’s going to get frustrating.

I’m a comedian. I don’t know who I’d be if I never got on stage again.

Grant Lyon is performing with Carmen Morales on April 2, 2017, at Punch Line Sacramento (2100 Arden Way). You can visit Punchlinesac.com to purchase tickets and for more details.

I’m a comedian who loves talking to comedians, so when I had a chance to interview Jordan Rock, I was intrigued. With an eight-year career that started when he was 17, he’s already received notable roles in TV shows such as Love and Brooklyn Nine Nine and will be featured alongside Andy Samberg and Josh Peck in a film about three guys going to a hip-hop show called Take the 10, which debuts on Netflix on Jan. 20, 2017.

Rock’s stand-up credits are piling up. In January and February of this year he’s headlining major clubs in South Carolina, Washington DC and Sacramento. He’s appeared on Last Comic Standing, @midnight and Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell.

So bringing up the fact that he’s Chris Rock’s little brother feels like it makes me “that guy” who had to ask “that question,” but when I asked him who his biggest comedy influence was growing up, how could I not expect that it would be Chris? Twenty-five years his senior, Chris was already a superstar when Jordan was just a kid. His other brother, Tony Rock, is also a successful stand-up comedian and actor, as well.

But the comedy game is honest and as personal as it gets. Sure, some celebrities get into comedy already famous or with a connection, but after 30 seconds on stage, if you aren’t legitimately funny, you’re immediately exposed. It’s not genetic, and it’s certainly not easy. Jordan Rock will be headlining six shows at Punch Line Sacramento Jan. 19–22, 2017.

In anticipation of his upcoming, local stint, I talked with Jordan on the phone about his career, development and what it’s like to perform.

So how long were you performing in South Carolina before you moved to New York?
For a year and a half, but I wouldn’t count it. It doesn’t even count. I was in high school and I wasn’t able to move free, so I wouldn’t really count it. It really started in 2009 when I moved to New York.

How was that first year in New York?
It was the longest year of my life. It was horrible [laughs]. New York beats you up. The first year was very long, and the second year was cool. Everything else after that was fast. There’s not a lot of quality stage time. You just have to make the most of every set you have, and you have to really network because you don’t know anybody.

Do you have a really memorable bombing story that sticks out?
I followed Kevin Hart one time when Kevin Hart was … Kevin Hart! Two-hundred people walked out on me. They saw Kevin Hart and were like, “This can’t get any better.” Their checks came, I got on stage and then they were like, “Yeah, we were right!”

Who were some of your biggest influences in comedy growing up?
My brothers were my biggest influences, Chris and Tony. I really liked how they moved and how they lived life. I wanted to grow up and be like that. I want to work like that.

So as a kid, your brother Chris was already performing stand-up.
Yeah, he’s already becoming him.

Was there any consultation or advice from him when you were young that helped you decide to do that?
He told me to come to New York. Don’t go to Los Angeles, come to New York! He said you got to go to New York to actually develop, because in California, you go there with what you’ve got. They don’t really give you time to develop there, because everyone is coming out there. In New York, you can see someone bombing on Tuesday and killing on Thursday with the same exact jokes, because you can develop.

How would you describe your comedy?
My comedy right now is just straight up the middle. I’m trying to just observe all of these new things that are going on all around me and just be in the middle. I don’t really want to pick a side. I want to be in the middle of every argument. I don’t want to lean too much to the right, and I don’t want to lean too much to the left. I just want to be me. I talk about growing up. I talk about the little things that happen in society and my life experience.

Are you starting to get fans that are looking forward to you coming back, or seeking you out to go to your shows repeatedly?
It’s building slow and it’s happening, but it’s really a cool thing. I appreciate everyone that comes out, even if it’s at a small place. If only five people show up, I’ll still give five people the best show I can.

Yeah, I always feel bad when a comic performs down the crowd. Like they feel there’s not enough people here for a good show, and they treat the audience badly.
I’ll never forget when I was hosting a show for like 12 people. One of them walked out of the show and went to the bathroom and I asked them if they were enjoying it and they were like, “Yeah, we’re having a great time! We just wish the comics were having as much fun as us.”

On your Twitter page it says “The Solange of My Family” as your tagline. You’re doing your own thing, and your stage presence is really nothing like your brother’s, but it’s got to be weird having that connection. What’s it like having that bond as you’re following your own career?
It’s been interesting. People will put more emphasis on it than you will. I’m just like, “You are not going to make me feel weird for having a dope family.” Once I just got out of what everyone else was thinking and focused on myself, I feel like I’m doing alright.

How long have you been headlining?
About three years now. I did it a little bit with one-night gigs and when comics produce shows, but this is my first time coming to clubs and nice rooms where I’m headlining for a weekend.

Yeah, a Thursday-through-Sunday run at a club like Sacramento Punch Line is a pretty fun set of shows. Plus you get the whole gamut of a light Thursday to the dreaded late Friday show. Why do so many comics joke about the late Friday shows?
Some people just like to be miserable. Some people just like to complain. Or maybe they just want to get out and party. This is my first time doing it, so I haven’t worked hard enough to complain yet [laughs]. I feel like I have to do these shows and do them good so they’ll invite me back so I can do them over and over again.

Doing a run like this, I’m looking forward to people coming out, telling their friends about it, and they’ll have time to come, too, instead of it just being a one night thing.

And it’s a gift to do that many shows in a short amount of time because you can tweak and modify and every show is just a little bit different.
It’s great doing longer sets because when I’m in New York, I’m doing 15 minutes. I want to stretch and it’s time to stretch to show what I can do.

And that’s part of what you’re talking about with that first year in New York, because you’re basically starting with three-minute sets while you’re trying to make a name for yourself.
Yeah, it’s the craziest thing because you’re doing the shortest of sets and you’re trying to make it work. But you grow and fight to get five, then 10, then a nice 15 set. Then you’re ready to put together a project so you can really tell people something.

Is there a comedy album in the near future?
I think 2019 would be a good year for an album. I think I’m going to let everything I’m working on this year go through so people can get a bit more acquainted with me. Then go back out on the road, build on top of that and then put something out. Plus my brother has a special coming out so I want to make sure I’m out of his way.

Do you have a good relationship with him when you’re on the road where you encourage each other?
Oh yeah, I text him all the time.

It seems like there’s more comedians working right now then ever before. What advice would you give a new comic starting out trying to carve out their place?
Do not try and impress me [laughs]. Don’t try and impress other comics. Try to impress people that buy comedy. That’s the problem that comics have. They want to be the comic’s comic. If you want to be the comic’s comic, you’re not going to get far!

You’ll have six chances to see Jordan Rock live at Punch Line in Sacramento (2100 Arden Way) Jan. 19–22, 2017. Tickets range from $15–$20, depending on date and time of the performance, so check out Punchlinesac.com for more details.

Sacramento funny man Keith Lowell Jensen is back at it again with his new album Atheist Christmas, which was released Nov. 25, 2014 on Stand Up! Records (his second release for the label and fourth overall). Atheist Christmas is a CD/DVD combo pack; the video portion was recorded right here at Sacramento Comedy Spot early last December, and the audio portion was recorded just a couple days after at Punch Line in San Francisco. Submerge was lucky enough to get an early sneak peek at the video special and we can vouch that it is absolutely hilarious! There are cute little Christmas decorations behind him on stage and multiple camera angles. KLJ’s material ranges from relatable jokes about his daughter acting like a tiger, to weird/traumatic childhood experiences at church camps, to much more outlandish and slightly embarrassing jokes about his doctor sticking fingers up his ass, masturbation and how his life peaked in elementary school (it’s a funny story involving bird shit). You know, everyday normal conversation-type stuff for a comedian. “I do know that I’ve been talking about a lot of depressing stuff,” Jensen says at one point. “But I did warn you that this was going to be a Christmas special!” Jensen is having a Sacramento release show for Atheist Christmas on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014, at Punch Line Comedy Club on Arden Way. Joining him on stage will be some of his best comedy pals Johnny Taylor, Matt Lieb, Michael Patten and Robert Berry. Show starts at 8 p.m., is 18-and-over, $15 cover charge, and there’s a two-drink minimum. For more information on Keith Lowell Jensen and to buy Atheist Christmas, visit Kljshop.com or Rockass.net.

There’s something kind of charming about awkwardness. Maybe it’s the sense of unintentional humbleness blended with those unique quirks that make awkwardness seem so attractively human. Now what do you get when you combine slight awkwardness and observant-but-far-from-offensive-humor with a $15 ticket at Punch Line? Sounds like an incredibly enjoyable night watching local comedian Ray Molina’s stand-up. Molina’s style is very distinctive, almost as if it was carefully constructed. His consistent energy mixed with his vocal inflections and deflections allow the audience to more accurately follow his storylines, which typically touch upon the hilariously frequent flaws of human nature. On June 11, 2014, Ray Molina will be performing at Punch Line along with some of his favorite comedians! Tickets for this 18-and-over show are $15 and can be purchased online at Punchlinesac.com