The Super Serious Experience

Super Serious? Nope! More like Super Ironic! And for a very good reason. You would be hard pressed to find a funnier show in Los Angeles than The Super Serious Show, which combines the best standup, videos and sketch comedy. IN ADDITION you get the added benefits of a trendy food truck, DJs, free beer and wine and most importantly, a relaxed ambience. I had the privilege of taking a small trek over to the fabulous Cafe Fais Do Do nestled in Culver City adjacent. Here I would have my first Super Serious experience. I hung out in the green room, replete with a funky yellow velour couch and dressing room mirrors. There I spoke with one of the producers before the show, Joel Mandelkorn, and learned about the show’s humble beginnings. After reading this you will hopefully feel like you’ve gotten a good taste of what the Super Serious experience is all about. Enjoy!

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We were totally there, but so were you…now!

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Serial Optimist: I wanted to know, how do you pronounce the name of this club?

Joel Mandelkorn: Oh, kafe fey-doh-doh . I’m sure there is a more cool French way to say the do do but its not doodoo. I haven’t explored the reason why. I think it used to be a New Orleans inspired jazz place. So maybe the French came from that?

(Turns out “fais do do” means country dance party. Who knew?)

SO: Is it a historical building?

Joel: I’m sure someone would tell you that.

SO: Chuckle I hear it a lot.

Joel: I think everyone runs around and says it. I mean, you can kind of tell, yes, it has history. I’m not sure a government official has deemed it that way. Yes, I know. I’ve been to a few shows before we started doing our show here. It was fun. We’re an interesting operation where we have space for a food truck, and a little bit more breathing room than a traditional like black box theatre. So there are limited options. This is fun, its funky. We got creative a little bit. Target bulbs.

SO: Yeah. I like the faux stained glass.

Joel: Where’s that?

SO: It on the outside.

Joel: Alright….. I should check that out.

SO: At first I was trying to figure out if it was real or not. Then I saw one of the stickers was kind of….

Joel: OH! This is the big room and then they have a smaller corner, more traditional bar or corner stage, smaller room.

SO: Oh so that’s part of that.

Joel: I guess I haven’t studied. See, I didn’t know I was going to be quizzed.

SO: Major chuckles This is an art history moment.

Joel: But yeah they are family run. I call it the Little Rascals theatre. Not everything is always working or in the right shape…

SO: But it comes together in the end.

Joel: Yes. I always feel like we are putting on a show to save the orphanage.

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SO: How did you go about choosing this venue?

Joel: I guess we kind of started this show in a photo studio, like blank white walled. And we would rotate through whatever studio wasn’t booked by Old Navy, whatever corporation. We wanted to do something that was more a party, enjoyable vibe rather than just plug ourselves into a theatre or back of a bar.

We looked at those places, too. A lot of places wouldn’t take us, too much money, crappy neighborhood, whatever. After a few months of looking, 2 years ago Mandee, my girlfriend and also producer of the show, she had ties with the photo industry, the people that run Smashbox, they were like ok, sure. We kind of did it there and we did it for about a year and half and then they kind of got tired of us, they were going to be renovating also, (I don’t know if that was just their nice way of kicking us out and could get Old Navy and Target in there all the time rather than our little discounted, sad comedy show). So then we wanted to find a similar place where we could have people eat, hang out a little bit beforehand. Simple I guess. There weren’t too many annoying things about it.

SO: Just get all the right specifics.

Joel: Yeah. So now our thing is to be a little obnoxious with our spaces, I guess. Now we are like “I don’t want to do a new venue.” Like we are thinking of doing some touring, figuring all that out. And we have a plan where we’ll do it in regular theaters or such, like adults, or maybe we can find other random places to do it across the nation just to be difficult. But maybe it’ll be fun.

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Baron Vaughn

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SO: Yeah. So you have a kickstarter going?

Joel: Yep. We got accepted kind of last second into the Fringe Fest in Scotland and when we got accepted I really didn’t know what we were doing. Yeah, that sounds great. Maybe we can figure out how to get exposure internationally. I’ll do something outside of Los Angeles. After we said yes then we were like “Oh crap, what do we have to do?” And one of those things is we have to get money to do it because we have to pay for it. Its not an exciting story.

SO: Major hahas

Joel: Just like…”Oh crap this needs money” and we have to figure out how to do that.

SO: Seems like you are probably going to meet the deadline.

Joel: Yeah. We’ll see.

SO: Another 10, 9 days.

Joel: You know, we’ll see. Its always the last home stretch. That’s exciting, look forward to that. We’ll do 25 shows. Hour long in 24 days.

SO: Oh Wow.

Joel: Yeah, that’s insane to have to do anything 24 days in a row. But I’m secretly looking forward to not having to set anything up.

(*As of this post, the project was funded, goal was it, big applause!)

SO: It’s all prepared!

Joel: I’ll show up and be like “Kewl, ok lights, ok turn em on let’s start the show! ” Then I can just yell at people for going too long…what I always do. We won’t have to string lights or set up sound or anything like that. So I know everyone is like “24, that’s sounds like a lot of work” and I’m secretly excited about not having to set anything up.

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Rachel Bloom

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SO: Do you have a set group of performers that you take with you?

Joel: No, we’ve done a few festivals this year. We kind of just rotate through some of our favorites, who’s available, mix and match maybe just cost wise, who’s already going to be participating in the festival, bringing some other people out ourselves. For Scotland there are only like 6 or so Americans going out. We’ll work them into shows. But pretty much people wont be repeating. At least every week will be a total hodgepodge of different shows and rotating thru British, Scottish performers, Australians. There’s a guy from Norway. I think a South African. Whoever is there, we are trying to pull from that.

SO: Oh, that’s cool.

Joel: Yeah. A lot of people they have their own shows, an hour long or whatever. If their times don’t conflict we’ll say come do ten minutes on our show.

SO: Nice. I had no idea.

Joel: Yeah, like I said, I didn’t either two months ago. Now I’m an expert.

SO: Sweet!

Joel: I’ve been joking that I’m looking forward to already being over it. Everyone is like ‘its so exciting, its so amazing!”. As typical, its 2012, I can’t wait to be 2 weeks in and be like “whatever”. I can’t wait to be cynical about it.

SO: Yeah, I can imagine.

Joel: Be THAT jerk. Its gonna happen so might as well anticipate it.

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Pajama Men

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SO: Right, right. Cool.

Joel: So its random and we just do this because we enjoy the performers and putting on comedy shows and trying to be a little different than what everyone else does but its still just a show, people performing. Yeah. Its fun. Keep it simple. Try to. Just set it up. Just let them go.

SO: So your audience is pretty much anybody who shows up and can pay for it?

Joel: Its kid of random. Its shifted a little bit with the neighborhood move, since January, but we always get a sprinkling of, at the old place since it was a photo studio there was a little bit of an undercurrent of photography people. i guess that’s a hip crowd, “supposedly.” But there would be senior citizens who would come often because it was in their neighborhood and we get people from OC, all over. The really good thing is there are some people where this is their only thing they do, comedy, so they don’t even know what to compare it to, which may be good. Well, actually we’re better (than a crappy comedy show or such). But that’s pretty awesome when People are like “this is my first comedy show.” I’ve gotten calls, emails from sweet people who say “I’m bringing my son, what do I do? , this is my 1st comedy show, is there anything I need to know?” I don’t know if they think they are going to be attacked or something, like there is test.

SO: You should be heavily armed!

Joel: Show up, sit down, drink if you want and listen, like a normal show, like everything else.

SO: And DON’T HECKLE!

Joel: They are pretty good about them. Sometimes the alcohol flows a little too freely.

SO: It’s to be expected.

Joel: Well, when our kegs run out, they run out. So it’s good. Put a cap on it.

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Arden Myrin

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Joel let me run free after our talk. I met his lovely co-producers, Mandee Johnson and Betsy Koch, both professionally engaged in their respective show duties. From there I found my way to the outdoor patio and swiftly gulfed down some citrus chicken tacos at the Border Grill food truck. I sat down and observed the cool cats hanging out. As Joel commented before, there were comedy junkies, young and old, enjoying the cool evening and imbibing refreshments. After polishing my tasty treat, I took my seat in front of the large indoor stage. The show was well attended and those who couldn’t find a seat stood near the DJ table. Luckily, there was not a heckler to be found that evening. There were some actual mid-show fireworks that went off outside but that just enhanced the jokes. The lineup consisted of Baron Vaughn, headliner and host, Rachel Bloom, Brent Weinbach, Arden Myrin, the Pajama Men, videos by Keith Schofield and Mr Bitter Buddha himself, Eddie Pepitone. There was not one act that disappointed and Baron Vaughn kept the show running smoothly with all the panache of a seasoned performer. Some of the highlights of the show included:

– Raunchy, slightly politically-incorrect comedy songs from Rachel Bloom

– Brent Weinbach convincing an audience member to read fortune cookie messages as he creepily ogled from behind

– The Pajama Men using just their limbs to create a talking horse

– Arden Myrin discussing her disposable F21 dress, sausage stockings, and singling out a front row admirer as “Captain Kirk”

– Eddie Pepitone complaining about having to take 3 highways to get this venue located in an area devoid of a Bed, Bath and Beyond

– A faux Doritos commercial starring a deadringer for a skinny “Chunk” from Goonies

– Baron Vaughn’s story about his reaction to edibles concocted by his Hippies roommates

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Nick Thune

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I must say I enjoyed both the acoustics and visuals of this venue. The exposed beams above, the side mirrors and dramatic red paint draw you in. Behind the performers hang very convincing vintage oblong bulbs suspended from long wires that cleverly mimic a curtain. This backdrop and all the fine details really add to the welcoming feeling you get as you chuckle away at the fantastic performers. I can say, without a doubt, that I will be coming back. I’ll look forward to a whole new cast of characters and I wish the folks at the Super Serious show good luck in their future endeavors. Happy trails!

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Eddie Pepitone

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SO Note: All photos by the wonderful Liezl Estipona. Get all the info on upcoming Super Serious shows here and follow them @SeriousShow.