Kyle Kinane and comedy

This Friday I had the chance to see Kyle Kinane, who before that show was definitely one of my favorite comics. In many ways Kyle represents everything I would like to be as a stand up comic. His humor is smart and quirky, a mix of long form, story bits mixed with some punchy one liners for good measure. His CD "Death of a Party", along with Hannibal Buress' My Name is Hannibal, are probably two of the best standup CDs of 2010 imo.

However going into Friday I was slightly nervous. I wasn't entirely sure how and in what way the Kyle I had seen on TV and on my Itunes would translate to a live stage.

Kyle smashed. To the point, I am not even sure if it is possible for a human being to be any funnier than what I saw that day. All credit to Mike Santo and Rojo Perez who had great sets and did an awesome job of warming the crowd up, but my God. With that set, I would have to say Kyle has become my second favorite comic, perhaps even favorite.

Every joke Kyle Kinane told killed. When I wasn't in tears from laughing so much, I was just in awe.

Even if I did stand up for 12 more years, I don't think I could ever become as funny as he was Friday.

Though I am a little disappointed I didn't get to talk to him anymore than I did (and that the times that I did I embarrassed myself/made myself look like an ass), watching his set Friday made me realize that if I want to be the best comic I can be, I have to be myself.

I can't try to become a Kyle Kinane, or CK, or Dave Chappelle imitator. I have to do the jokes that I want in, in my voice.

I was talking to one of my friends Piccolo who, like myself, performs stand up comedy at Nutt Street before the Friday show, and we were talking about finding inspiration from other stand up comics. Part of the reason why, Piccolo explained, he loves watching stand up comedians perform live is that watching them inspires him to write new jokes. Until Friday, I would have been hesitant to agree with that line of reasoning. However, since watching Kinane Friday, I have literally 5 or 6 new premises/joke ideas that I am hoping to try out on stage.