E4 | E X P R E S S | 0 5 . 0 8 . 2 0 1 4 | T H U R S D AY
Weekend Pass | entertainment ON THE SPOT
KAKI KING
THENECKISABRIDGETOTHEBODY SAT MAY 10 / TWO SHOWS Virtuoso guitar meets mind-blowing video projections.
Todd Barry
LOS MASTER PLUS
with The Empresarios and G-Flux FRI MAY 16 MINDY TUCKER
YouTube sensation covering US pop songs live in the DMV for
www.artisphere.com 1101 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22209 Free parking weekdays after 5pm + all day on weekends Two blocks from the Rosslyn Metro Follow us: @Artisphere Like us: ArtisphereVA
COMEDIAN, FRIEND OF LOUIS C.K., MASTER OF CROWD WORK
Todd Barry has nothing planned for his two shows in D.C. on Thursday. If that makes you nervous, don’t fret. Barry is on the last leg of his “Crowd Work” tour, where the low-key, snarky comedian operates with no plan at all. Instead, he creates sets on the spot, riffing off his interactions with the audience. It’s the same format of his latest special, “Todd Barry: The Crowd Work Tour,” released for $5, via Louis C.K.’s website. When you do a crowd work show, do you do anything to prepare?
Not really, other than booking hotels. I don’t have an outline or anything. I just wanna see what happens with them.
Seattle, said, “There’s a blues bar and I stood next to the governor.” That’s one of my favorite moments. That he chose to tell me that, and that it was an interesting thing. How do you pick someone?
Has the lack of preparation made shows more or less stressful?
Me + my friend going to a loud, new bar.
It’s your
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Both. I remember going to Philadelphia and just going, Oh man, I don’t have to do anything, I don’t have to write a set list, I don’t have to have that kind of anxiety. But then I was like, I do have to stay onstage, doing something. So it was kind of a double-edged sword. You have to have faith that someone in the audience leads you somewhere funny.
Sometimes some people seem mildmannered — like the guy in my movie who just out of the blue, in
If someone’s got a look to them — a big beard, those tribal earrings — I might use that as a launching point but you kind of just look around and see if anyone wants to talk. It’s a bit of a crapshoot. You’re not insulting people in the special. You were pretty gentle.
I was pretty gentle. But there was that woman you called out for being drunk, to which she replied, “I’m not drunk, you’re drunk.”
That was the only one where I was like, God, I hope I’m not being too
mean to her. But she did yell from the back of the room so I imagine you don’t do that if you don’t want to be in the movie. Do you fail more often doing crowd work than written jokes?
There’s certain lulls that are a little more forgiving if you’re doing crowd work because it’s just a conversation — it’s not the fault of great jokes. Some comedians view crowd work as a crutch.
I don’t think it’s a crutch because if you do it and it’s not good, it’s just boring the audience. So it’s not like, Hey, you cheated by boring the audience. You’re in “Louie” again this season. Did you film any stand-up for it?
No. There was one for last [season] where I did film a stand-up set and he had to cut it for time. But he puts me on there a lot, so I can’t complain. Well, I can complain. RUDI GREENBERG (E XPRESS)
Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW; Thu., 7 & 9:30 p.m., $23; 202-408-3100, sixthandi.org. (Gallery Place)