Red Clay Comedy Festival

from INsite Atlanta November 2021 Issue

by INsite Magazine

Harry Nilsson

‘IT’S LIKE ONE BIG PARTY’

Red Clay Comedy is an East Atlanta Village of International Hilarity

James Adomian Steph Tolev Kyle Ayers

BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH

THE RED CLAY COMEDY FESTIVAL is back for another round of funny. For the 2021 edition, hilarious stand-up performances, exclusive specialty shows, unannounced pop-ins, riotous after-parties and tantalizing cuisine experiences will celebrate the gathering as the mustsee experience of the Atlanta comedy year. As usual, the shows are strategically arranged throughout the historic East Atlanta Village. The venues are all conveniently located within walking (or hey, at least staggering) distance of each other, so laughter-seekers can eat, drink and savor an impressive slate of comedians, jesters, world class clowns and a slew of unique acts. A limited number of VIP and Showcase passes offer entry to the events, including admission for the fest’s infamous afterparties, where comics and fans mix and mingle. Producers Gilbert Lawand, Mike Albanese and Jen O’Neill Smith have assembled a stellar cache of artists - led by headliners Akaash Singh, Clayton English and James Adomian. Recently, three Los Angeles-based comedians, all headed for this week’s Red Clay Festival, spoke with INsite. Internationally known comic/impressionist/former Atlantan James Adomian, recently seen on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, Canadian-born TikTok star Steph Tolev and podcaster/writer/ Boast Rattle producer Kyle Ayers chatted about surviving the pandemic and conquering the circuit.

How did you handle the pandemic? James Adomian: Well, I think handled it gracefully and with great aplomb by basically hunkering down and then emerging. Then when I emerged last summer, I got the coronavirus. It was unpleasant, for sure. I had been vaccinated so it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, which gives me pause because it was still pretty bad. I’m fine now, though. Other than that, like everybody else, I learned to cook a little bit more, entertain myself and just sort of be content doing nothing sometimes. Steph Tolev: I chose to try to take some positivity from it and I went back to my roots, I guess. So I did a lot of sketch comedy, videos and went heavily into TikTok. I stayed with my parents in Canada for a bit so I had to do something to distract myself. I did something like a video a day for a while there, just to avoid them as much as possible. But sometimes I would actually get them to film some of my videos. The last one I got my dad to film was a stupid little video of me as a character named Marcy. As my dad was filming, he’s like, ‘Do people find this funny?’ Then overnight, it went viral. ‘Yeah dad, I guess it turns out they actually do find it funny.’ My family didn’t really laugh at any of the stuff I was posting, especially when I’d do impressions of them. They’re like, ‘Whoa, thank God you have us, otherwise you’d have no material.’ And then I’m like, ‘Well, thank God you’re both psychopaths.’ So anyway, that was my pandemic. Kyle Ayers: It was definitely a weird time for me. We were all getting to a point where we were trying to convince ourselves that the Zoom shows were fun. I tried all sorts of things to sort of scratch the comedy itch. Then I actually had a nerve disorder in my head and had brain surgery. Having someone carve into my skull and then recover from it - you know, that sort of thing. I think most comics basically spent the pandemic just trying to figure out how to survive in many ways. But it works because comedy is a sort of little respite within the chaos of it all, so we don’t get too dreadfully overwhelmed by the news. It was certainly an interesting uphill battle.

You’ve all played the major festivals. How do events like Red Clay compare to shows in clubs or theaters? James: A comedy festival is a great way to see a lot of good comedians over the course of three or four days. At a club, you’re going to have people who maybe just feel like going out somewhere. It almost doesn’t matter who is performing. At a theater, it’ll be your fans coming to see you on a tour. I feel like there’s generally a younger audience, comprised of people who really follow comedy. It’s definitely the people who’ve already been to a lot of shows and heard a lot of podcasts. They’re more excited to be there than at a club. And the shows tend to happen at really cool music venues. It’s a great way to see some things you know and love and to find new things you didn’t know you loved until you saw them.

Steph: Especially for comics, festivals are just more fun. It’s like a comedy camp for a few days. You get to perform with people you don’t see very often. The shows are always professional and it’s like everyone just knows why they’re there. You know all the acts will be good. All the venues seem a lot more fun and it’s just a better experience for everyone. For comics, I’d say it’s like one big party. Kyle: There’s this cool, communal energy that only happens at festivals. I really enjoy the fact that everyone’s at each other’s shows and you can see a lot of stuff you wouldn’t normally see at a club. Most shows that are happening don’t have weird ticket prices with crazy drink minimums. There are people coming from all over as well as people from the local scene. So you can really pick up what’s going on in the city. It gives me a few days in one place for a change, too. There’s nothing better than a night where everyone is there for the show and not to be the show. Festivals draw much savvier audiences. That’s honestly been the biggest perk of the various vaccination or test requirements to enter comedy shows. It seems to weed out the ‘Well hell, I guess we’ll just go down to this thing and yell at a comedian’ crowd. The Venn diagram between people upset about vaccination statuses and people who want to heckle comedians to be a part of the show, well that’s pretty much the entire circle. Maybe they should just stay home and yell at the comic on whatever special they’re boycotting at the moment.

Speaking of specials, are there too many at this point? Likewise, are there too many podcasts? James: I don’t really watch specials so it’s hard to know. There are a lot of them, that’s for sure. Personally, I prefer live shows because there’s just something about the timing and the energy in the room that cannot be faked or edited. Everybody’s on the same page for about an hour and a half. Steph: Comedy has become so oversaturated recently that I don’t even know what people should be watching. I think that’s why TikTok is doing so well, is because it’s so quick. You just need to focus for like, 30 seconds. I don’t even know what special I would want to watch right now if I had to pick one to see; there’s just too many to choose from. There are way, way, way too many podcasts, too. Of course, having said that, I have one, of course! I do have a steady amount of listeners, but it’s not going up and it’s not going down, so I don’t really know what the point is right now. But yet… Kyle: There was that window where Louis CK was putting out a new special every year and then killing all his old material. That became a famous model for some comics. But the problem with that is not everybody can churn out quality stuff at that rate. I’m a little more precious about my material, maybe because I’m not as quick at writing new stuff as everybody, I don’t know. I really have a tough time watching comedy that’s not live because I’m more interested in what’s going on in the moment. I keep thinking, ‘What’s this room like?’ or ‘How is the crowd?’ I get fascinated with the logistics of the live experience. There’s absolutely no equal to it, for good reason. Like, let’s say you’re doing a show on Zoom. Maybe you do a pretty good joke and then someone sends you a gif. It just doesn’t feel the same as working in front of real people. I didn’t get into comedy to get a thumbs-up emoji from someone whose house I can see into. Steph: I was doing my own Zoom show for a bit. But people, even by the end of it, were still keeping their cameras off or on mute. It got to the point, where I was like, ‘Ok, I’m just screaming at my laptop now.’ My dog was confused, I was confused. That was the issue. I would close my laptop and go, ‘Huh, well that was that. Now what?‘ Then I would just feel weird. James: I did a very minimal amount of some of those online shows, mostly just for close friends, doing stuff on Instagram and Zoom. But I really missed the power of the audience. No one’s gonna want to go back and remember any of the past year or two, anyway. But I do think people are having a lot of fun right now. I think it’s a good time, right now. So that’s what really matters. The shows are really great and the audiences are happy to be back out again.