Set of the Week: Jazmyn Washington

Originally from Texas, Jazmyn Washington is now living that San Francisco tech life. Lucky for us, at night, she’s telling jokes about it. Surrounded by white males in the city’s most profitable industry, Jazmyn enjoys giving an insider’s perspective on company dynamics and how they reflect society.

Aside from her career, Jazmyn also writes material about her personal life, including bits about her father. As she speaks into the mic, it’s clear she feels a strong connection with the stories she’s sharing. Her authentic and honest perspective on life helps her easily build rapport with the crowd. Each punchline ends with laughter, making for a successful set at the Brainwash.

Q&A with Jazmyn Washington

Years doing comedy?  3

How did feel about your set?  I thought it was OK, people laughed at what I think they should be laughing at.

You had the audience on your pace?  Yeah, I would like more laughter, but every comedian wants that.

How do you make comedy work with your busy schedule?  That’s one of the reasons I started doing comedy, because I can do it at night.  I can do something I’m passionate about after work.  It’s a lot of late nights and alcohol.

What do you get from comedy?  A lot of people have the ability to wing it, but I need to have a plan.  A lot people just get up there and talk about their life.  For me, I need a plan or it doesn’t feel as funny.

What made you get into comedy?  I was an actor and my full-time job wouldn’t work with audition times.  So I started thinking…what can I do at night? Comedy was actually my 3rd option. When I got into modeling, they said I was too short or fat.  So I went into acting, but after college I owed people money and got a job.  You can’t act and do that.  

Does your family support your comedy?  They do, they really support.  My dad did comedy and won a competition in Dallas, he’s funny.  I [think] he wishes he would pursued comedy, and [so] he really supports me 100%.

The Weekly Wash is your guide to the local SF comedy scene. Check in each week to see who’s cleaning up at Brainwash, the longest running open mic in the Bay, going on 18 years. If you’re feeling adventurous, skip the blog and head over to the cafe/laundromat/comedy club and watch over two hours of fresh funny. Enjoy great food and drinks while you watch. Thursday is the biggest night. Thanks for reading!

Set of the Week: Katy Karns

There’s an impatience in the air tonight, as comics wait for their turn in a long line of many.  Not everyone will be happy with their placement on the mic. The patient ones seem to have the better sets, as they carry with them a calmness to the stage. With such a large turnout, the 1 in 5 rule kicks in. The 1 in 5 rule means that after five guy comics, the next spot automatically goes to a female (if there’s one present). It helps to balance the energies, in a sometimes more dude dominated space. Tonight’s spotlight is on the very funny Katy Karns (who just so happened to go up a bit earlier thanks to this rule).

Along with comedy, Katy is passionate about photography. She incorporates this into her set, discussing a time when an ego-eccentric, inexperienced photographer tried to give her tips.  Katy uses her sense of humor to display how crafty she is with the camera and with her punchlines.  With another successful joke, she discusses a time when she wasn’t so popular, back in high school. She observes that these days, several of the girls she used to envy are now divorced with kids, while she’s out there following her comedy passion. The audience claps. Take that cool girls in high school!  

Q&A with Katy Karns

Years doing comedy? 2

What did you think of your set?  It felt good to do, instead of [sitting around] worrying about saying the jokes.  My biggest thing is being inside my head like…uggh this is not going to be funny!  That ruins it.  I’m supposed to be having fun, that’s the reason to do this.

Did you feel you were having fun tonight?  I had so much fun and was freaking out.  I was dancing, being weird.  I just needed to be in a space that was fun and playful.  I needed that so bad.  

What was the difference tonight?  I just went there with myself, instead of trying to be someone else.  Not trying to be that smart, political person with commentary.  There’s always something that make it feel like I’m not doing something right and it’s just fucking with me.  But I got it right tonight.

What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from comedy?  That you have to fail.  Appreciating that failure and learning…analyzing…reflecting.  It’s weird to do.

Was your material new or old tonight?  I threw it all out and didn’t want to say any of it.  Just talk about what I know and what I think is funny.  People’s ignorance with their bodies and society, how do you make that funny?  Tonight it came out, which was really fun.

What made you want to get into comedy?  I like talking to people, but always been really scared of it…like wanting to throw up before presentations in college scary.  It was something I needed to get over and I knew pushing myself would help.  Now I can’t stop..

The Weekly Wash is your guide to the local SF comedy scene. Check in each week to see who’s cleaning up at Brainwash, the longest running open mic in the Bay, going on 18 years. If you’re feeling adventurous, skip the blog and head over to the cafe/laundromat/comedy club and watch over two hours of fresh funny. Enjoy great food and drinks while you watch. Thursday is the biggest night. Thanks for reading!

About the Author: Susannah Chovnick is a writer who lives in San Francisco. She spent a few years doing stand up in SF, and spent many nights at the Brainwash. She’s since switched over to writing, and recently has had work featured in Lunaris Review, Gravel Mag, and Germ Magazine.

 

            

Set of the Week: Jordan Cerminara

Photo courtesy of Katy Karns

It’s another Thursday at the Brainwash Cafe, and it’s packed. A group of about 25 people surround the stage. Turns out, most are here to watch their friend do stand up for the first time. When Anthony calls up the esteemed friend, the Brainwash begins its standard “new comic” call and response. Anthony yells, “let’s give this guy…” then points the mic towards the crowd, who yells back, “a lot of love!”

The friends drink beer, order food, and murmur loudly through most of the sets. Bringing along a bunch of distracted, giddy supporters is pretty much standard when someone goes up for the first time. Fortunately for the usual open mic crew, this is a welcomed challenge. They’ve got themselves a real (non-comic infiltrated) audience to work with. I see a few of the mic’ers eyeing the group, trying to feel out the scene, when host Anthony Medina calls Jordan Cerminara to the stage. He prefaces Jordan’s set with, “all right everyone, now this is one of my favorites.”

“Thank you Anthony!” Jordan says, taking hold of the mic. Sitting in the back, I sit up a bit, taking a break from my nachos. Everyone’s eyes are suddenly straight ahead, side conversations dissolve. I can hardly see the top of Jordan’s long hair, as the large group is blocking him pretty well. But his voice makes it around the cafe. It’s calm, his tone sarcastic. His jokes are short, to the point. The laughter is quick. The energy in the room is ADD and tipsy, and he finds a way to cater to this.  One joke seems to hit the hardest – lyrics he wrote to the Folgers® jingle tune, written from the angle of a depressed person. He sings, “the best part of waking up, is going back to sleep.” There’s a momentary silence before it clicks, and then the laughs erupt. Jordan smiles and looks around, before stepping away from the mic.

Q&A with Jordan Cerminara:

Years doing comedy? 5

Where are you from? Lawrence, Kansas. I started doing the one open mic a month in Lawrence, then I started going to Kansas City 2-3 times a week, then one day I sold all of my stuff and drove to any city with an open mic where I had a couch to crash on, with the intention to stop in LA. I was on the road for 5 months, and hit 16 cities, before I settled in in LA for 3 months, and then finally moved to SF in 2013.

How did you feel about your set tonight? It felt good, but there were a lot of people here. Sometimes when it’s packed, it’s too packed. If people can’t see me, if feels like there’s a bit of a disconnect. They were rowdy tonight, which was still fun. It’s a challenge in a way.

What do you like about the SF comedy scene? There are a lot of opportunities to get on stage here. People are generally nice. I’ve done comedy in a lot of different places and I feel like my material does best here in the Bay.

Did you try out any new jokes? I tried to do a new bit, but then I realized people weren’t engaged enough for me to try and work something out. So, I went with stuff that I know works. Short stuff that has hard punches.

Do you run any shows in the city? Local comedian Jeremy Talamantes and I run a monthly show called The Art Critique Comedy Show. We curate thrift sore art and have the comics roast it. Then we auction it off. The most we ever auctioned something was for $33.00. It was for a pretty shitty painting. Laughs.

If you’d like to know a bit more about Jordan, you can find him on Twitter at @strangehumorist or you can check out his website – thejokeisonme.com. If you’re thinking of stopping by the next The Art Critique Comedy Show, visit artcritiquesf.com for details. The next show is 8PM, Friday, November 15th, at Art Attack SF!  

The Weekly Wash is your guide to the local SF comedy scene. Check in each week to see who’s cleaning up at Brainwash, the longest running open mic in the Bay, going on 18 years. If you’re feeling adventurous, skip the blog and head over to the cafe/laundromat/comedy club and watch over two hours of fresh funny. Enjoy great food and drinks while you watch. Thursday is the biggest night. Thanks for reading!

About the Author: Susannah Chovnick is a writer who lives in San Francisco. She spent a few years doing stand up in SF, and spent many nights at the Brainwash. She’s since switched over to writing, and recently has had work featured in Lunaris Review, Gravel Mag, and Germ Magazine.

Set of the Week: Gabe Nolasco

Photo courtesy of Gabe Nolasco

It’s around 8pm when host Tony Sparks calls Gabe Nolasco to the stage at the famous Brainwash Cafe. A cafe and laundromat down on Folsom Street, where people can grab food, watch open mic comedy, and if they want, run a few loads of laundry too. Right as Gabe picks up the mic, a few older men open the front door, bags of dirty clothes over their shoulders. They pay no attention to the scene around them. Doing comedy here, you’re in constant competition with the eclectic variety of strangers who live in the area, popping their heads in and out, right as you’re about to deliver a punchline.

Tonight, the crowd’s mostly full of other comics, though a few tourists have wandered in to see what’s going on. So far, most of the mic’ers have gotten a few chuckles here and there. But when Gabe gets up, laughter falls on the room. He has a loud voice, with well-thought out jokes. Some of the punchlines are in Spanish, and it works.

After his 4 minutes, Gabe steps outside for some air. I grab Anthony Medina, who runs most of the shows here, and together we go to find Gabe.

“Hey do you mind if we talk to you for a second,” Anthony asks. A look of panic washes over Gabe’s face.

“Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble,” I say.

“Oh dang, I thought I got called by the fuzz or something,” Gabe laughs, wiping sweat from his forehead. Instead, we tell him that he was great tonight, and that he’s going to be the very first San Francisco comic featured on the The Weekly Wash – a new blog highlighting comics who have top sets at the Brainwash. So read on to check it out!

 Q&A with Gabe Nolasco:

Years doing comedy? 8

Where are you from? Bay Area, but I was traveling the last few years. I was in Vegas, New Orleans, LA, New York. Came back here like a year and half ago.

How often do you come to Brainwash? If it was up to me I’d come every night. But I’m here maybe 4 nights a week. Bookings have been solid recently. Now that I have bookings on the weekend, I feel like I can take Monday or Wednesday off sometimes.

How did you feel about your set tonight? Set was terrible. Laughs. It’s hard to ask a comic how you feel. Because I can’t really say oh I feel great about it, you know. You feel like you want to do better. You know what I mean. When you come here you try some new stuff. And you’re never gonna get satisfied even if people are like laughing or whatever reaction you get. You’re always gonna want to do better. If you come here and get some good laughs that’s when you know the joke is working. But then you’re gonna come back again and try to make it better.

Do you have any critiques for yourself?  I really don’t critique myself too much. But it is good to try and critique your material, that’s why it’s always best to record your sets and analyze how it went… and that’s something I should be doing more.

Did you try out any new jokes?  yeah, mostly the first two minutes. I like to open with new stuff. A lot of people get weary about opening with new stuff, cause they’re like no they want to get the crowd on their side. I like the challenge to be like OK let’s see if this works. So I’m going to go in with new material. Especially at an open mic.

The Weekly Wash is your guide to the local SF comedy scene. Check in each week to see who’s cleaning up at Brainwash, the longest running open mic in the Bay, going on 18 years. If you’re feeling adventurous, skip the blog and head over to the cafe/laundromat/comedy club and watch over two hours of fresh funny. Enjoy great food and drinks while you watch. Thursday is the biggest night. Thanks for reading!

About the Author: Susannah Chovnick is a writer who lives in San Francisco. She spent a few years doing stand up in SF, and spent many nights at the Brainwash. She’s since switched over to writing, and recently has had work featured in Lunaris Review, Gravel Mag, and Germ Magazine.