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| Craig Bierko (Boston Legal, Cinderella Man, The Music Man, and really funny man) |
What does Tony-nominated actor Craig Bierko have to do with podcasting or stand-up comics?
Here's the backstory: During my interview with Jimmy Pardo, he mentioned Bierko as being a surprising fan of Never Not Funny. I contacted Craig to see if he would give me a quote about NNF. In return, he wrote a cerebral love letter to Pardo's talent (IT'S AMAZING: READ IT).
I started following Craig on Twitter and Facebook, and discovered...this man is funny. Offbeat, crazy talented, and clever. (And generous.) As a gifted writer, performer and fan of SCTV, I figured he must have some insight into the modern comedy revolution. He does!
Craig Bierko answers questions I didn't even know I had about the present and future of new media.
Besides 'Never Not Funny', what podcasts do you listen to, and what do you do while you're listening?
There's very little out there that holds my attention, but the ones I like, I like the same way I like a television show -- or a band or a person. I predict Paul F. Tompkin's show will be good (IT IS!) because he's talented and smart and seems to have taken the time to create something that stands out and reflects his own sensibilities. It's not just him in a bathrobe interviewing an out of work friend in his living room.
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| Boo is so over Twitter. |
The idea of downloading entertainment for consumption at a more convenient time is a lot to consider for a guy who grew up waiting for Welcome Back Kotter or Taxi or Cheers or Seinfeld to drift by his television window like some slowly moving cloud. Now I control the weather, I can move the clouds around. It's a terrific technology, I just hope our creativity can prove worthy of all the stages it keeps building to admire itself upon. In some ways I feel like we're producing acres and acres of black velvet but, if history is any indication, we'll still only have a handful of gems to lay out.
How do you think that podcasting is changing the entertainment industry?
Podcasts are the answer to a question no one ever asked for the simple reason that no one ever cared: "What if everyone had a UHF cable-access studio in their pants?" Well, now they do -- and once we get over the thrill of owning the devices, pushing the buttons and seeing our own image on a computer, knowing it's being seen all over the planet, I think it'll be pretty much business as usual again.
Podcasts are different tech, more casual-seeming; it's on the fly and cheap. But, like anything else, most of the crap out there will disappear and roll over. There'll be a few more waves of stuff, and then the best will survive and a weening out process will have occurred.
Somehow a gate will be erected, probably regulated, that protects people from the sluice of mediocrity out there and charges them for the pleasure. That's what the smartest people in the world are trying to figure out while you and I listen to "Bob and Mike Talk About Their Shoes." We'll remember these days like kinescope -- it'll get expensive, but probably not better.
PORTUGAL, FLAMINGO: BIERKO BATHES WITH MALKOVICH
It reminds me of the stand-up comedy boom in the early '80s -- suddenly, there were all these venues springing up -- so all these people who thought being funny at work was the same as having an act got up on stage and killed it. Now all those clubs are Korean nail salons.
My guess is we're standing on the beach of something as big as both the sound and television eras. Those innovations were revolutionary but they never affected the Larry David-to-actual talent ratio. Sound may have accelerated Chaplin's decline but no one ever replaced him just because we could hear them talk -- just like no one will replace Larry David simply because everyone has a television camera in their pocket. There's going to be a riptide and a lot of industry people my age who aren't taking advantage of this calm before the storm are going to get sucked under and disappear. It'll happen very quickly.
That's what keeps me from getting either too excited or too nervous about how fast things are changing. Because there's a reason the closest anyone's come to replacing Seinfeld is Curb -- just like there's a reason so many movies, television shows, music and, yes, podcasts, suck harder than a roomful of Tenth Avenue hookers.
You guested on Kevin Pollak's Chat Show in 2009. Are there any other podcasts you'd like to be on?
Well, I'd love to do Never Not Funny and hang out with Pardo. He's pretty ideal for podcasting, because he's very good at running with a moment without dipping into anything mundane -- and his friends are smart, they all work well together.
CRAIG BIERKO ON KEVIN POLLAK'S CHAT SHOW
Would you consider podcasting as a way to expand your career or as a creative outlet?
I suppose if I have an idea that seems interesting to me for the long run it might be fun. [Janeane] Garofalo used to tell me to get up on stage and try stand up. I did and I was fine -- and I don't rule it out, but I wouldn't want to do that or podcasting just because there's a mic and a group willing to listen.
I'm a pretty good balance for show business because I enjoy myself, but I also find meritless attention painful to witness and experience. It's a good barometer for me.
We're really a very blessed generation to have our lives cleaved down the middle by such a huge paradigm shift in communication -- time has collapsed and it keeps collapsing. The difference we get to experience is staggering.
But with all this new tech I don't have any more friends than I did ten years ago. I probably have less, which is what's always happened. Access isn't anything but itself in the end -- but if I look at what all my machines tell me, I have thousands of friends. But I don't. I have about eight.
I was very cynical about Twitter - you can see me making fun of it on Kevin Pollak's show this time last year (SEE VIDEO ABOVE, AT THE 54 MINUTE MARK). I didn't know what it was - it looked like texting to me. It looked like Ashton Kutcher texting everyone what he was thinking and that wasn't interesting to me. Thankfully, that's only like 87% of what Twitter actually is -- getting inside of what I call my "Kutcher head."
"Ashton Kutcher should know every thought that goes through his head. If he doesn't, he's liable to drop something, he could cut his feet. He won't realize he's been talking to a tree for an hour. He needs to be aware of what he's thinking...But I don't need to be aware of everything that he's thinking." ~ Bierko on Kevin Pollak's Chat ShowWhen I realized it could help me raise awareness of the Loma Linda University Children's Hospital (the truly amazing place that pioneered infant heart transplants) I called my friend Alyssa Milano and said: "Help me understand."
Donate $10 to Loma Linda Children's Hospital: Text KIDS to 27722
She sent a thousand people my way. I literally watched my computer screen vibrate it was filling up so fast. And I really tested her patience trying to understand what the hell it is, how to execute a simple tweet took me about a month. Ask her. I was hopeless. But I gave it time and I really enjoy the experience -- it's not something you can explain, you have to experience it.
Some people resist, and they have a right. But if their business is communicating then they're going to be burdened with riding a donkey through a world of flying cars very soon.
© 2010 CHRISTINE E. TAYLOR
