The Keystone Podcast
This is the pilot episode of an experimental podcast I co-hosted with Willy Thilly (AKA “The Keystone Man”)
Enjoy:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/willy-thilly/2013/06/05/keystone-podcast
More than a Micro-Blog
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1326860/
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Ten Questions with Comedian Brian Farrell | AmericasComedy.Com - Comedy News, Comedian Interviews!
Farrell is a writer, actor, comedian and live-tweeter with a kick-ass Tumblr. We thought we’d pick his brain
I was interviewed by Darren Staley on America’s Comedy.com. I give my opinions about stuff. Click on the red “Ten Questions with….” to check out the interview.
Every year for my friend Mike Turallo’s birthday party he hosts a film festival…The Mike Turallo Film Festival. It’s a fun excuse to make a movie. The above short film was my submission this year. It stars myself and my friends Jack McLaughlin and Chuck Ford. My friend Jim Coughlin edited it. So, sit back, relax and enjoy What’s Doin’?
The running theme of my commercial acting work seems to be chicken wings and elation.
Invitation To My Birthday Party -by Brian Farrell
Dear Friends Whom I Love Dearly,
You’re welcome to waste your early-evening by joining me at 6:30pm on May XX for my 16th Annual Birthday Dinner at The Sherm, but like last year, I am STRONGLY encouraging you to NOT attend. It’s just too much of a pain in the ass to get there.
Jack, you’re probably working. Pugh, you’ve got a wife and a newborn to look after. Jim & DL, you’re vegetarians. Kelly, you live in Hermosa Beach and Justin, you live in San Diego for cryin’ out loud! Others of you may have wives, girlfriends, dogs, kids, jobs, simply more important things to do with yourselves than drive all the way out to the steamy stinkin’ San Fernando Valley on a Saturday night. I get it. We’re not all lone wolves who don’t have any responsibilities, work the bare minimum amount of hours to survive and have endless hours to waste floundering in the big city like I do. This is why I want to eat at the Sherm this year ALONE. Okay? Should you make the poor decision to join me, I will love your company and enjoy our celebratory harvest to the fullest, but please also know that I will just as much enjoy that Sherm steak/fries/garlic bread/house salad (with extra house dressing on the side for my fries and garlic bread) by myself. Please also be aware that gifts will NOT be tolerated. Save your sentimental horse manure for somebody else because I don’t need it or want it.
Please RSVP to let me know that you and your significant others/wives (who are just as welcome as you are to not attend) are for sure not coming.
Thanks in advance.
Your pal,
-Brian
Review of The 400 Blows -by Brian Farrell
It’s nice to go to the cinema every now and again to soak in a classic foreign film. I went to see Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” last night and it penetrated my psyche like art should, reminding me of what’s beautiful.
The 400 Blows captures the essence of mischief, rebellion from authority and the beauty of playfulness. The film follows the story of a kid navigating his life in 1950’s Paris. His dysfunctional home life and the stern teachers he encounters at school lead the protagonist to rebel from it all. Throughout the film, this kid is trying to have fun and enjoy his life when all the while he is getting slapped on the wrist by his teachers, parents and eventually the law.
The cinematography in this film beautifully captures the anonymity of life in the hustling bustling big city and how one can easily slip through the cracks and get lost in the shuffle.
I highly recommend losing yourself in a film like this one if you’ve ever felt trapped by society’s suffocating institutions and conventions. Enjoy your life by playfully spitting in the eye of conformity and try to stay out of jail.
This is me bald and blue after a week of training in the New York City Blue Man Group compound.
Several years ago I auditioned for Blue Man Group. I passed the drumming test, height requirements and improv ability for the initial casting call in Los Angeles and then they flew me to New York City to seriously consider me as a cast member of Blue Man Group.
I learned what the Blue Man is. He’s a fireman and a clown. He lives in one of three emotional states at all times: OH SHIT! THAT’S BEAUTIFUL! OR WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! If you ever see a production of Blue Man Group, all three Blue Men are living in one of those three emotions at all times. One might be thinking “OH SHIT!” another “THAT’S BEAUTIFUL!” and the other “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!”
I was being considered for the role of Left. There is Left, Right and Center. Left is a little more mischievous than Center and Right. He’s a little smarter and his humor is a little subtler. Whereas, Right is the dumber of the three. His gags are a little bigger and he more often finds himself in the most hot water with the other two Blue Men during the show. Center is the anchor of the group. Center is usually a little taller or fatter than Left and Right. He keeps tabs on both Right and Left and is more or less the glue of the group.
They paid me for the week and put me up in a hotel in the East Village. It was a fun week. I learned a few of the scenes from the show, performed them for a panel of producers and directors. I was flown back to LA with a pat on my back and no contract. Honestly, with that paint on my face, I got a little claustrophobic and dizzy. I know that it affected my performance. I would’ve probably gotten used to having that paint on my face, but it wouldn’t have been fun.
When I first saw Blue Man Group in Chicago in the mid-nineties I was blown away by that show. It was everything I thought theater should be; people on stage doing things that the audience could not do without some serious training, spectacle, killer music, improvisation, audience participation, cutting edge social commentary, humor, clever merging of the avant-guarde with classic vaudeville, originality… I loved it and I decided that I wanted to try to become a Blue Man. This is what I wanted to do with my life; be a Blue Man. When I found out that the tv show “Arrested Development” had a character (played by David Cross) in it who wanted to be a Blue Man, I was devastated. How dare they make fun of a guy like me whose life-long dream was to be a part of such an awesome theatrical movement?! I was livid and was forced to keep my dream a secret. I practiced my paradiddles on a drum pad in my room for years and when I had an opportunity to audition, my drumming skills were up to par. I had been improvising with the Groundlings, Second City and Improv Olympic. I was in shape. I was ready to be a Blue Man. I came close, but the truth is, I needed to create my own Blue Man. I didn’t fit in to their vision. I wish I did, but a strong part of me is grateful I didn’t. It would’ve been brutal to do 5-10 shows a week with that thick paint on my face. Quiet, because Blue Men don’t speak, and anonymous.
Regardless, go see Blue Man Group in Vegas, Chicago, Boston, Orlando, New York, or Berlin. It’s truly an awesome show. I think they have a new show up and running in Vegas. I’ve been seeing the billboards, and they partially inspired this blog. My friend ‘vid had also put in a request for me to blog about my experience, so ‘vid, this blog is for you.
No Matter What Kinda Shape You’re In, Run the Marathon -by Brian Farrell
I would really like to run the Los Angeles Marathon on March 17, but I just plain didn’t train for it this year and it’d be foolish to train for a week and a half thinking that I’d be able to finish in any reasonable time. I’ve been hiking Runyon Canyon about once a week, but that’s not being in good enough shape to run 26.2 miles. This, however, should not discourage you from running it, especially if you haven’t been training for it. I’ve run a marathon without training for it and I highly recommend the experience. I won’t do it again, but I wouldn’t trade that life experience for anything, so this may be horrible advice, but you should just get out there, jump in the deep end and do it!
It was the 2007 San Francisco Marathon. My stocky friend Jack had been bragging for years that he has run over 30 marathons. He’d say, “You just run. That’s it. You just run.” He told me that he was considering running the SF marathon. After all these years of hearing about how it’s not a big deal to run marathons, I finally called his bluff. I said “If you can run a marathon, I can run a marathon. Let’s do this.” Sure enough, we did it. I have the medal to prove it. We walked most of it, but we ran a lot of it. At one point, two 70 year-old ladies burned by us hobbling idiots, but we finished. By mile 14, my legs felt like garbage bags filled with shards of glass. My feet felt like they were walking on thousands of piercing poisonous needles. The last mile, which I attempted to sprint, I found myself losing all control of my emotions and bodily functions. Blood, tears, smelly unmentionables were squirting out from all over me. The roar of the remaining six or eight members of the crowd left at the finish line filled my heart with passion and hope for humanity. I finished that marathon in 6.5 hours which is an awfully embarrassing time, but my pride rests in finishing alive. It was truly epic and you too should do it, just to experience pushing your body to the limit.
After beating all odds and finishing this epic race, we bought Advil, a 12 pack of beer and a couple bags of ice. We then layed in our motel beds with ice bags on our knees and sipped beer until we passed out. I was sore for two weeks.
The second marathon I ran, and I ran the whole way, I finished in under 4 hours. I trained quite a bit before that. Still a great experience, but my first marathon where I just went for it was a more memorable experience.
Random Musings -by Brian Farrell
The year kicked off with a bang working on a commercial, being a guest on a fun podcast, doing stand up shows, and working on 4 episodes of 666 Park Avenue in the ADR Loop Group, but here it is almost March and I’m sitting here in my room listening to Huey Lewis and the News on vinyl wondering what’s next. I’ve found that the way I get paid work in the entertainment industry is by me consistently doing my own unpaid work. It doesn’t go unnoticed. I’m not good at asking people for work, so I end up feeling like I’m angling for work in a sneaky way and that’s even worse than straight up asking who you want to work with for a job. I pride myself on thinking that I’m an artist, not a con artist. On the flipside, some people are good at being tactful when it comes to business. I’m not. I wish I was. My approach to my career has been to try to be nice to people and just work hard at my craft. This has worked for me to a minor degree, but I’m sure there are adjustments that I could make to parlay my artistic work into monetary reward, but for the most part I’m really awful at it.
I’d really like to take an improv class at UCB, but those classes sell out like a Mumford & Sons concert on a Friday night in June. I loved how inspiring my improv classes at The Groundlings, Second City and Improv Olympic were. I fell out of the improv scene after I started doing stand up comedy about 7 years ago.
I might submit a one-act play to the Santa Paula One-Act Festival. I have a few plays I’ve been working on and it’d be fun to see what a group of people I don’t know do with my words. I remember how cool it was when we shot the mock sitcom I wrote on Extreme Makeover Home Edition. There’s something really cool about hearing actors (or in EMHE’s case, reality stars) say your dialogue. They shot my parody of a sitcom with three cameras, a studio audience made up of volunteer construction workers, PA’s with cue cards…the whole shebang. It was fun. There’s no entry fee for the Santa Paula One-Act Festival and I might just throw my hat in the ring for that. I have until March 13th to submit my one-act.
I’m hesitant to hit the open mic scene as hard as I did last few years, but I have to do something creative every day or I’ll go nuts. Am I addicted to creative endeavors? I think so. There are worse things to be addicted to. If I find an audience for my addiction, even better.
Switching gears, today, I was thinking about that early 90’s ad campaign for Bud Dry. “Why ask why? Try Bud Dry.” I chuckled to myself at how unintentionally funny this slogan is. Why think about anything? Just try it. I remember never asking why I wouldn’t try beer. I love beer. All kinds of beer. Not a huge fan of Hefeweizen, but I’ll drink it if it’s the only beer available. Bud Dry didn’t stand the test of time. Nobody cares about dry beer, whatever dry beer is. As a gag these days, I’ve been asking bartenders what dry beers they have on tap. This always confuses them and then when I let ‘em know I’m kidding, we both have a laugh.
Gotta flip over that Huey record…
I’m in this fun commercial.
