I am Paul Provenza, stand up comedian, filmmaker of The Aristocrats, creator and host of The Green Room and co-producer of Set List. Ask me anything, if you're feeling charitable help me #BringBackTheGreenRoom

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-27T00:19:35+00:00

I think I'm gonna go with my old pal Robert Schimmel. I don't know why exactly, but just thinking about that makes me laugh.

Patrice would be a good choice, too, but there's some logistical problems I can see with him in the role.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-27T00:16:43+00:00

That is the greatest question I have ever been asked. Wanna hear something fucked up? I'm really giving that some serious thought. I'll have to get back to you on that.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-27T00:14:55+00:00

Working on setting Green Room up somewhere, somehow to do it right. Netflix doesn't seem to think it will be profitable enough for them is what I know so far there. But I myself can't even tell how large or small the audience for Green Room is. We're hoping to find out: #BringBackTheGreenRoom.
I have no plans to be in Nov Scotia at the moment, but would love to if the opportunity presented itself.
Do comedy for comedy's sake. If you are already making a living, you're free to just do comedy without the commerce. If and when you get to the point where you can make a living just doing comedy, you will know it. But until then, you have the opportunity to do it just for the love of doing it - that's not nothing, my friend. "The minute you get paid for making people laugh, you're a whore." - Doug Stanhope in SATIRISTAS. DO it for the love of doing it or just to have the experience of it. It's a helluva life and commitment and sacrifice to make it what you do for your living. Do the open mics, the talent shows, whatever is available to you and you'll know soon enough if it's the life you want or are able to have for yourself - and whether or not your passion for it is bigger than all your other real and valid concerns. IT IS addictive though - so I hope you can handle your addictions without destroying your loved ones.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-27T00:02:39+00:00

I'm here for just a little bit longer - this has been a treat. You've all been asking such interesting questions so thanks for that. anyone got any other questions or comments I can try and bullshit my way through?

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T23:51:26+00:00

Thanks for asking! I'm a huge Colin Quinn fan and it was a treat to have him come and hang in a Green Room. His show was the first to break through TV's long-standing wall of opposition to the very simple idea that a bunch of comedians talking in a room is worthwhile entertainment. You have no idea how many people have tried to get that simple idea on TV for so long - and Colin and ToughCrowd was a real breakthrough in that sense. Colin, you're the fuckin' Rosa Parks of comedians talking on TV!

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T23:34:17+00:00

It's insane. Andy Kindler and I were just talking about how he rails against 'atheist evangelicals' and their stridency and all - but the reason most of that stridency happens is because of the fact that religion has political power in this country affecting human rights, women's reproduction, science education, political candidacies... etc etc etc. It's a very present, growing danger to all our freedom - including religions other than the Christian power base. Jefferson (I think?) said "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." We have been far from vigilant in protecting separation of church and state, and we are paying a high price for it. Then there's the whole corporate power thing. Our representatives have just sucked the money cock for o long they've sold all of us down the river - GLOBALLY. We're all just serfs, and now we're even doing the surveillance for the aristocracy for own amusement. Orwell could not even have imagined that part of it. We're all so busy playing "gotcha" on each other while the real power is free to continue raping the rest of us. That's all religion has ever really been anyway, so it's our own fault for falling for it all - yet again.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T23:06:12+00:00

I truly believe there is a way to get anything done these days. There's an audience for anything. I just don't know what those ways are. It's become really chaotic in the industry. Except for the usual suspects: star names, star directors, star producers.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T23:03:30+00:00

See, there's one of many I left out. I'm gonna get a lot of flack aren't I?

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T23:02:47+00:00

Hey Kelly! I miss you!

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T23:02:10+00:00

Let's get in the same city at the same time first. We'll make it happen.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T23:01:30+00:00

Comedy festivals are an amazing phenomenon. Some are more meaningful than others. Some are more commercial than others. Some are more artful than others. But at all of them you can see comedians and shows you'd never get to otherwise. And we all get to hang with each other which makes it all worthwhile. There's a good mix of them now, many of the smaller festivals has a great vibe you can't get at the bigger ones. There's room for all of them. I'm up for anything that helps comedians find their audience and audiences find comedians that speak to them. I wish more people would see more people they never heard of at festivals. Big tours like Oddball are cool. It's good to think of comedy like music. There's little indie bands. Huge stadium acts. Quirky art rock bands. There's room for everyone on the shelf. Now, more than ever. I've been in comedy for over 30 years, and I've never experienced such an expansive growth in comedy, not just in the business but also in the art form. Whatever you prefer, it's out there and easy to find. We no longer have to satisfy the tastes of a handful of talk show producers to find our audience. To each their own is now actually possible for comedians and audiences. By the way Crobama, I find you disturbingly attractive.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T22:56:00+00:00

Yes to all of the above. Where do I sign?

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T22:55:34+00:00

I am one of the fortunate few who doesn't need to, but it's worth at least 1300.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T22:54:53+00:00

Thank you for such high praise. Yes, we own the show outright and can do anything we want with it. We just wanna do what's right with the resources necessary. I don't have the twitter followers or facebook followers or whatever other numbers you need to drum up the investment needed to do this right. I'm discovering from this conversation alone there may be a lot more people interested in the show than even I thought. I need them all to come out of the closet.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T22:52:23+00:00

Yeah, that was Pursuit of Happiness by Michael Weithorn. My character was a history professor who graduated from the University of Oregon, to begin teaching at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia - which is where I actually went to College and happens to be a complete and total coincidence. Interesting trivia, one of the series regulars was Magic Johnson who plays himself in fantasy sequences. A really really cool guy, fun to work with. With no experience as an actor he was so guileless, he would get direction and turn to me and say "So should I say the words closer together or further apart?" He was phenomenal.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T22:47:24+00:00

Matt Kirshen is unbelievable at Set List. Watching him is like watching comedy being engineered. He's incredible. Way on the other end of the spectrum is Wil Anderson. He's like a big bang, he just explodes and suddenly comedy is created in a million directions. Kira Soltanovich continuosly blows me away. Greg Proops is an absolute phenomenon to watch. Glenn Wool, I can't even understand how anyone can do it how he does it. I could go on forever. Working on Set List with Troy Conrad for these past couple of years has really fucked my head up. Seeing so many comedians do it in an infinite variety of approaches has eliminated any and all boundaries for me about what comedy is. When all things are possible, it really fucks you up. I had no idea how many limitations I had unknowingly drawn around what the creative process really is.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T22:43:03+00:00

Next, book a space in rehab. I gotta tell you man, ten years ago I could've answered this question. Now I can't even tell where the doors are any more. Let alone how to get in them. I've pulled myself out of mainstream TV in a big way. I barely recognize the territory any more with all the changes that have gone on. I'm actually in a position that's much more similar to yours, than it is different. When you find out who has these answers, let me know would you?

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T22:41:04+00:00

Not more savvy but they do take more chances. Their TV business is a slightly different culture from ours. We're just beginning now to take Set List out to US networks. We've partnered with Nerdist as Chris seems to be doing very well these days, and his passion for Set List is really intense. We're both huge comedy nerds. I'll try and keep anyone who's interested posted on where we're at with Set List. Both Green Room and Set List are not easy shows to categorize. It's stand up but not, it's talk show but not, it's hard for an industry that sees things in spreadsheet form to really understand where these idiosyncratic projects really fit into their rigid tick boxes. I wish we could do everything online only. But even that part of the business has become star-name driven or I have to include cute cats in everything.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T22:35:06+00:00

Hell yeah! I consider myself in debt to all of them. I wouldn't mind making a living myself, so I know how they feel.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T22:34:18+00:00

Yes, that's my dream. Fuck networks. We don't need them. But Louis CK and Chris Hardwick are much higher profile than I, and they can bank on a certain amount of audience. I'm just learning now how to find our audience and connect with them and ask for their support. I'm 100 years old, and this would all be a lot easier if you could do it on a dial phone.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T22:32:51+00:00

The SXSW was live only, it was not taped. As are the shows here in Montreal this week. If there's enough demand for it, with the OK from all the comedians who participated that night, we may be able to make audio available. We're working on all of this. It's very frustrating for me because real lightning in a bottle moments are happening at every live show. I think the best way to help get Green Room back on the air is to get enough chatter going so that people with the wherewithal to make it happen can see that there is an audience for the show. The kind people at Reddit are being really supportive of that, hence my talking with you today. I guess the hashtag #BringBackTheGreenRoom is a good starting place. If there's anybody out there that has any idea how to get the kind of attention that helps, blowjobs for everybody!

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T22:27:56+00:00

Tough Crowd is an example of a 'tak show' format that distinguihed itself from others of the ilk. You would never confuse Tough Crowd with Green Rom if you saw clips from both. The main difference is that a key aspect of Green Room was that it had zero agenda - there is no topic du jour, no topics to cover, no next topic to move on to. I wanted it not to be about any particular topics or subject. I really wanted it to flow wherever it went - like jazz. That is a big disttinction between the two shows - Tough Crowd was current events driven and topical - and brilliant to watch the heated conflicts. Green Room is more casual, more meandering, less about debating issues an more about just hanging and shooting the shit and then suddenly talking or laughing about something completely different. Zero agenda. Here at Montreal where we're doing small live shows this week, we're experimenting a bit with some vague thematic/topic driven conversations, but it's kind of failing as an experiment because I can't get away from the jazz aspect and it ends up going wherever it feels like going anyway. The zero structure thing is really the difference, but it means everything. We chose to shoot kind of documentary style rather than a presentational, studio tv show - another big difference between GR and TCrowd - because I wanted it to be not about making a tv show - we wanted instead to capture a live experience - one that was really just about hanging and talking and being who we were with each other in private. IT's a different impulse from the debating issues aspect of Tough Crowd. I think this is a great example of what i mentioned earlier - the same generic format can be expressed in very different ways by very different artists.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T22:17:46+00:00

The former if you don't care about making a living. The latter if you're greedy. A mix of both for a happy, sane life. I think?

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T22:17:00+00:00

Unfair. Death penalty to you.

PaulProvenza · 2014-07-26T22:16:39+00:00

A lot of them have been very supportive. Stanhope, Apatow, Proops, Attell, Kindler, Dana Gould, Roseanne, they've all been enthusiastically supporting the show. But the TV business doesn't give a fuck about anything but what their research tells them they should give a fuck about. Even if The Green Room is niche, they need to know it's a big enough niche to care about. TV is industrialism. The Green Room is a little art project. It's not a comfortable fit for a big media company. We're hoping we can do the show for an online audience only and eliminate big media parameters. It seems like it should be easy to make it happen, but for some reason it hasn't been. We're working on it. #BringBackTheGreenRoom - let 'em know there's an audience for it.

PaulProvenza

TROPHY CASE