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Serving Athens for 28 Years
Conveniently located next to the Omni Club mi-mid,
Make the perfect Derby Day Mint Julep
2303 W. Broad St • (706) 549-
www.abcpackaqe.com
eiassae ntyfnt < ]kilep
Ingredients:
5 fresh mint leaves, plus a few for garnish
1 teaspoon sugar
Shaved ice
2 1/2 oz. Bourbon Whiskey
Directions:
Place the mint leaves, sugar and a splash
of water into a silver julep cup or a 12 oz.
Tom Collins glass. Muddle the mint, sugar,
and water together with the tip of the handle
of a wooden spoon. Fill the glass with shaved
ice. add the bourbon and stir until combined.
Garnish with a few sprigs of fresh mint. For
extra enjoyment add a sipping straw to the glass
and trim it to 1 inch above the rim of the glass.
abc Package
Liquor Store
Your One-Stop Full Service Liquor Store
Thursday, May 12 at 8:00 p.m.
Hodgson Hall■ UGA Performing Arts Center
ORDER YOUR TICKETS TODAY!
Live in person! Americas favorite trumpet player comes to
Athens with his new smash-hit fusion of jazz and Latin music.
Classic Center Box Office ■ 7W.357.4444 or www.ClassicCenter.com
UGA Performing Arts Center Box Office ■ 706.542.4400
Toll Free 888.289.8497 or www.uga.edu/pac
Presented by The Classic Center and the UGA Performing Arts Center
Ul love that comedy is being recog
nized," says Kyle Kinane. "'Cos when I
started, I was scared to tell anybody
in bands. The punk rock kids would be like,
'What, are you purposely trying to entertain
people?'"
The idea of music being incompatible with
entertainment is a concept that could only
be fostered in punk rock. Whether rooted in
the theories of the Situationists, who believed
popular culture to be a massive bread-and-
circuses-style distraction, or just via straight-
up misanthropy, punk rockers and their many
varied aesthetic offspring have found myriad
ways to rationalize having a terrible time. And
to be sure, music and comedy hope to elicit
very different reactions from an audience. (If
an entire crowd is laughing at your band, you
may be in trouble.) But while comedy may not
be as visceral as punk rock, there are common
threads: a predilection for the crass; the skew
ering of modern life; a general celebration of
poor choices.
Comedian Kyle Kinane has spent time in
both worlds. From 1996 to 2000, he played
guitar in the Grand Marquis, a punk band
based out of Addison, IL; they played most
of their shows at places like the legend
ary Firende Bowl in nearby Chicago. When
that band dispersed, Kinane got a degree in
English at Columbia College Chicago and then
decamped for Los Angeles to seriously pursue
comedy. He's a comedian's comedian, making
stand-up The Gig rather than a stopgap vehi
cle on his way to a shitty sitcom, or worse.
Over the last 11 years, Kinane has displayed a
Black Flag-esque stubborn commitment to his
craft, which is paying off; he is being increas
ingly regarded as a major up-and-comer, with
Patton Oswalt being one of his major boosters.
Flagpole asked Kinane to compare and contrast
his experiences in punk rock and comedy, try
ing to get a sense of what's funny and what's
just sad.
Being in a Band vs. Touring Solo
"With comedy, I didn't need to worry about
three other people's schedules. That was the
challenge—I'm gonna try and write jokes or
stories every week, and then I'm gonna go
find out each week if they work. It's instant
gratification—that challenge, that was fun
about it. That challenge of every week, writ
ing something new and seeing if it worked.
And if it didn't work, try it again. See if you
can tweak it and make it work. And that's still
the most exciting thing about comedy, to just
keep coming up with things and seeing if they
work."
Who's Easier to Handle?: Punk Crowds vs.
Comedy Crowds
"Music, I guess. All you have to do is play
over 'em. With comedy, it's like, 'Ah, I have
to talk to this asshole?' I hate talking to the
audience in comedy. Some people love it. I get
mean. I've got planned things to say; I want
it to go well. I have stories that [depend] on
the rhythm of it. It's like interrupting a song.
The song can't stop in the middle; you can't
just pick it up again. I don't like rowdy com
edy. Comedy shows, if you like it, laugh. That's
what you're supposed to do.”
What's Sadder?: A Punk Show with No
Crowd vs. a Comedy Show with No Crowd
"Ha! The comedy show. At least when we
did shitty shows as a band, as long as we
were getting along, it was OK. It was like,
'Oh, we're just practicing somewhere else.' But
when you're by yourself at a comedy show
and no one's there... you just can't talk to an
empty room. I've seen people do it, and it's
one of the bleakest things I've ever seen in
the world."
What He's Learned from Punk Rock and
Applied to Comedy
"I think a lot of the DIY attitude I picked
up from music. Like, 700 do this 'cos you want
to do it. Not because you're gonna get famous.
Do this because you love doing this.' And I
think I applied a lot of that to comedy. And
I would do it anywhere, wherever—'Wanna
do a show here?' And I'm like, Yeah, I'll do
it.' Doesn't matter where. Now there's shows
in apartments, shows in people's garages; it's
great. It's like the same thing music was, the
way punk rock in Chicago was 15 years ago,
that's the way comedy is now."
Jeff Tobias
For an extended version of this interview, visit www.
flagpole.com
18 FLAGPOLE.COM-MAY4, 2011