Dana Gould after the show.
Last night my friend Scott and I caught the late show of comedian Dana Gould. You may recognize him from numerous cameos in sitcoms and movies, check here for a more complete list. You might see a few and go, oh yeah, that guy! More recently he is known for being a writer and voice on The Simpsons which was really icing on the comedy cake to me. I’ve seen his numerous standup routines for years on Comedy Central so I was really excited to see him live because he rarely works outside of the LA area lately. We also had great seats. I didn’t know the $19 tickets meant we had a reserved table in the front row! I just thought reserved meant we were guaranteed two chairs if the show was sold out. It was worth every penny. We were up close to hear his jokes and see the expressions on his face clearly. Now I remembered why I need to attend shows at Austin’s local club more often, it’s almost as small as Stubb’s indoor venue but the intimacy level with the performer is on par with the Cactus Club. As for his performance, Dana was hitting on all cylinders. That’s no shock, he is a pro with over 15 years of experience. I just didn’t expect to bust a gut from laughing so hard.
The opening MC guy was quite good, he was last year’s winner of Austin’s Funniest Person. Dana’s warm-up guy was Tom Ryan, a staple of Letterman and other tours. Hilarious in his own right, especially his jokes about travel and the warning lights on the car (Low on oil? That symbol makes it look like I’m low on gravy or the lamp is ready to grant me my three wishes if I rub harder. I know the genie is arriving because there’s smoke coming from under the hood. How fitting since my VW is acting up lately). Certainly going to be on the look out for him on Comedy Central.
After the show was fantastic too. Dana had time to talk and autograph my CD I had of his material from 1998. He had no reservations about answering my questions or elaborating on his appearances on Sabrina the Teenage Witch or the movie Dumb and Dumberer. Turns out he was not the first standup comic The Simpsons hired as a writer. Tom Martin was according to him. After we mentioned that we’re Apple employees, he told us how much he enjoys his Video iPod. A really gracious person who didn’t find any question annoying or stupid. I do hope he comes to Austin more often in the near future. Now to figure out how to get a copy of this picture to him because he requested it for his MySpace page.