Brett Gilbert hits Hermosa Beach with stand-up CD
The artist in self-portrait
Comedian and actor Brett Gilbert — relationship critic, germ-a-phobe and advocate of forced gay-porn viewing in Billings, Montana– works without a net in his stand-up CD “Amniotic Fluid,” which he will launch locally with a performance Tuesday in Hermosa Beach.
On stage the wiry, energetic Gilbert is a likeable gunslinger, delivering sometimes withering observations in a disarmingly mischievous, almost impish manner.
The comedian – who you might recognize from the movies “Ghost World” and “Wild Things” or the TV shows “House,” “Bones” and “Primetime Glick” – performs with in-the-moment urgency, blending improvised riffs with prepared material. He’s not one of those guys who say the same words in the same order night after night.
And he shows his targets no mercy. On “Amniotic Fluid,” recorded at Club 202 in Anaheim, he sets his sights on death inAmerica, “dating the crazy,” Stephen Hawking’s sex life, Harry Potter book burnings and “airborne stripper virus.”
Gilbert tells you the real reason he still owns “The Princess Bride” on VHS, and demonstrates how Arnold Schwarzenegger “makes the same noise in every single movie.” On this cut the audience plays stump-the-comedian, calling out the title of Arnold movies, and Gilbert responds with the scene that features the Arnold noise – a groaning, grunting, Austrian accented thing – complete with quotes and context. He definitely wins this one.
We don’t want to quote too much from the CD, because we don’t want to give away Gilbert’s punch lines. Okay, maybe just one:
“According to the Princess Di foundation, $100,000 people a year are killed by landmines. Two million people a year are killed in drunk-driving accidents. Every 10 seconds someone dies of HIV, every 5 seconds somebody dies of cancer,” Gilbert says of our eye-popping mortality statistics. “Boy, it’s a good thing a teenager gets pregnant every 10 seconds.”
Early in his decade of stand-up, Gilbert drew a line in the sand by determining to go unflinchingly to the heart of his subject matter, daintiness be damned.
“I think you know the kind of comedy I do by now. I’m a rated-R comic,” he says on the CD, noting that bookers are sometimes caught off guard when he does what he does. “Didn’t you watch my tape before you hired me?” he wonders, echoing a frequent comedian’s lament.
He also touches on the weird theater of stand-up, in which an audience member who hates a show is likely to stay all the way through, apparently thinking, “This guy sucks. I’m going to stare him down.”
And of course, Gilbert reveals why he favors a policy of forced gay-porn viewing in Billings. (Hey, let the man make his case.)
When he’s not acting or doing stand-up, the multitalented Gilbert paints pleasing acrylics with pop-art themes, and his self-portrait serves as the main artwork for “Amniotic Fluid,” which is available on iTunes and CDbaby.
Gilbert’s CD release party, also featuring comedian Christy Murphy (whose own CD “Feeling Good Looking Good” is making its own waves) will be part of the free “Comedy by the Slice” stand-up show 9 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16 at Pedone’s Pizza,1332 Hermosa Ave.
“I found out about the show and thought, CD party and pizza – it’s like being a kid again,” Gilbert said.
He won’t be doing any of the jokes on the CD, so as not to step on his own sales. But slices of his Pedone’s set could wind up in his next CD, which he plans to record when he returns to the road with Matt Fulchiron, who has a half-hour special running on the Comedy Central TV network.
The weekly Pedone’s show, launched about a year ago, has been headlined by comedians you might have seen on TV such as Mike Muratore, Roz Browne, Chris Strait, and K-von, star of MTV’s “Disaster Date.”
Hermosa comedian Ryan Bozsan, who also performs as a DJ at Rok Sushi, started the Pedone’s show as a place for comics “to work and grow and practice” in the beach cities. He said patrons pay no cover for comedians they would often have to shell out money for in other venues.
Comedian Brett Gilbert will launch his CD “Amniotic Fluid” with a performance at the free “Comedy by the Slice” stand-up show 9 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16 at Pedone’s Pizza, 1332 Hermosa Ave., Hermosa Beach. For more see www.BrettGilbert.com and www.comedybytheslice.com.