Fans of comedy should by now know the name Kyle Cease. He's had his fair share of Comedy Central love: A Special, another Special, Top Rated Comedian in whatever Comedian list they invented a few years back, etc. etc. He's released a comedy CD: One Dimple and a DVD: Weirder. Blacker. Dimpler. Needless to say, even though I just kinda did, the man has established himself as a time-tested comedian.
As of recent, Kyle, along with Louie Anderson decided to start a company called Stand-up Comedy Boot Camp. It is a program that anyone can sign up for, but obviously, it is implicit in the name that the course would benefit Comedians in particular. It is a program that can run anywhere from 2 to 5 days, depending on what each participant chooses, ending in a graduation ceremony.
Now, here is where this idea and reality have found conflict: After the Comedy Boot Camp website launched, the first promo video they used to attract clientele was, to be kind, over-the-top serious. It was filled with innuendo and suggestions that the class could offer someone personal break-throughs that could change their lives and not so much about how it could make you a better comedian. Once the rest of the comedy community found out about the camp, the site, and then in turn the video, parodies instantly hit the Internet. (Check out Duncan Trussell and Natasha Leggero's parody on their podcast the Lavender Hour). That video was then taken down and a new video was put in its place.
The second video was less over-the-top serious in the same way that Terminator 3 : Rise of the Machines was less violent than T2: Terminator 2. Ever so slightly were the over all tones changed and there were new snippets of footage from the course itself that featured comedians giving students advice. BUT, it also featured a line that asked if the students and/or potential students viewing the video wanted to become million dollar head-liner comedians. All while, a very serious Nine Inch Nails song was playing underneath of the entire thing. Here is the parody video for that one:
Enter, Doug Stanhope. After these videos and promo ads began floating around, Outspoken Comedian and overall speaker of his mind, Doug Stanhope wrote a blog post that EVISCERATED the merits of not only Stand-Up Comedy classes in general, but he took special time out to completely destroy Kyle's Stand Up Comedy Boot Camp. It was not pretty, nor was it anywhere near the word "nice". After that blog post hit, Kyle decided that he was going to speak out against his naysayers.
This is when Kyle goes on Jimmy Dore and Stephanie Zamorano's podcast, Comedy and Everything Else. 3 Kyle Cease interviews, 2 supplemental content episodes, and 1 counter-point interview with guest Matt Besser later and to my mind and to many people's minds within the fandom of comedy, this issue is still not resolved. After that, what started floating around was the idea of a debate or a discussion between the two opposing sides: one being Kyle Cease and his positive viewpoint on the merits of the Boot Camp, and the other being a Comedian or respected figure who would argue against it.
Here's where I come in. Many of the comedians who have spoken out against the Boot Camp have done just that: they have spoken out against it or just plain attacked it or just simply taken a giant shit on it. Given that fact, Kyle does not want to debate other comedians as he feels he has nothing to explain to them. BUT, after a few Twitter exchanges between Kyle and I, I am getting the feeling that he is willing to do a Twitter interview with me. I assume he feels more comfortable doing this with someone like myself because I am at best, a shitty open mic-er and basically just a fan of good comedy.
I would very much like this to happen and the entire interview would take place on Twitter and would also be transcribed and posted here for all you non-twitterers out there. If you would like this to happen, please show your support by contacting Kyle on Twitter @kylecease and let him know that I'm a fair dude and he should totally like, you know, fucking do that shit.
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