{"id":1681,"date":"2017-03-22T06:00:09","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T10:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/?p=1681"},"modified":"2017-03-22T02:14:01","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T06:14:01","slug":"1681","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/2017\/03\/22\/1681\/","title":{"rendered":"Comedy Jam Producers Mike and Tim Duffy Talk Music and Comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I love it when any of the themes of this blog overlap in one project, so I was tickled to read about Comedy Central\u2019s new show, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cc.com\/video-clips\/qcg7xe\/the-comedy-jam-rock-out-with-the-comedy-jam---uncensored?xrs=sem_google_comedyjam&gclid=CMb1p7Sw6dICFQiHswodr2sO9A\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Comedy Jam<\/em><\/a>, which premieres tonight at 10 p.m. The concept is that a comedian or comic actor lives out their rock star dream by performing a song with a live band in front of an audience, and tells a story about why the song is important to them. On the first episode, Chris Hardwick sings \u201cWanted Dead Or Alive\u201d with Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora \u2013 a natural choice, since Hardwick sang the song the original cast of <em>Rock of Ages<\/em> \u2013 Tiffany Haddish sings the Ike & Tina Turner arrangement of \u201cProud Mary,\u201d and Bobby Lee sings \u201cDo Ya Think I\u2019m Sexy.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Having interviewed Jim Breuer before, I was delighted to see him standing next to Rob Halford of Judas Priest singing \u201cYou\u2019ve Got Another Thing Coming,\u201d which is featured on an episode airing April 12. I know how much that must mean for the guy, and I also know he\u2019ll knock that thing out of the park. Not every song features a guest appearance from the originating artist, but there are a bunch of them to look out for. <\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color:#000000;width:520px;\">\n<div style=\"padding:4px;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/media.mtvnservices.com\/embed\/mgid:arc:video:comedycentral.com:7032d4f5-ebee-4708-9467-aabe72a6b84e\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The list of comedians who sing with guest performers  \u2013 Jay Pharoah and DMX, Taryn Manning and Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen, James Davis and Montell Jordan, Jon Rudnitsky and Kenny Loggins, Bert Kreischer, Scott Stapp and Ron \u201cBumblefoot\u201d Thal of Creed, Big Jay Oakerson and Lukas Rossi, Mark Duplass and Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon, Fortunate Feimster and Dixie Chick Natalie Maines, Sam Richardson and Tia Carrere, and Awkwafina and Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington. <\/p>\n<p>The show is based on comedian <a href=\"http:\/\/www.joshadammeyers.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Josh Adam Meyers<\/a>\u2018 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thegoddamncomedyjam\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Goddamn Comedy Jam<\/em><\/a>, which started in July of 2014 and happens monthly in Los Angeles, and also inspired the one-off special on Comedy Central last August. Kreischer, Haddish, Lee, and Matteo Lane are all veterans of the live version who will appear this season. I sent a few questions off to executive producers Mike and Tim Duffy, who first saw the show in 2015 and helped bring it to television, to get some background. <\/p>\n<p><strong>What made you want to bring <em>The Comedy Jam<\/em> to television?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We had been looking for a music & comedy format for a very long time \u2013 close to 15 years. But everything we saw was overcomplicated and forced. <em>The Goddamn Comedy Jam<\/em> live show was epic and perfect in its simplicity \u2013 comics do a set and then sing a song. Our goal was to capture the energy of the live show but we knew we needed to develop it a bit\u2026 the simple change we made was making sure that every story clearly setup the song and that the segues made sense. For instance, in the special, Adam Devine tells the story of losing his virginity after a Blink 182 concert. To set the mood, he played \u201cAll the Small Things\u201d but when he realized that\u2019s the worst possible song to lose your virginity to, it was too late. And it created a totally new context for \u201cAll the Small Things\u201d and created opportunities for him to call back to the story within the song itself. <\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color:#000000;width:520px;\">\n<div style=\"padding:4px;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/media.mtvnservices.com\/embed\/mgid:arc:video:comedycentral.com:ceaca8fe-52f0-49e0-940d-695a6823bfc7\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Did you try to get all of the original performers to come on and play with the comedians, or did you have to pick your shots?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We tapped into our relationships with musical talent. For instance, we (Mike and Tim Duffy) had the relationship with DMX. So we got him on board and then asked Jay Pharoah if he wanted to do \u201cParty Up.\u201d Our Director\/ Executive Producer, Joel Gallen, has tons of relationships in music because of all the music shows he\u2019s done over the years so pretty much everybody we booked was a phone call away. Joel literally produces and directs the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame awards and has 20 years of experience in that kind of programming so we\u2019re really lucky to have him as our partner. Every musician (and comic) who has done the show says it\u2019s one of their favorite things they\u2019ve ever done. Our goal is always to make it an awesome experience for the performance and to deliver best-in-class music and comedy. Judging by the first season, I think we\u2019ve accomplished that goal. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Who did you most enjoy watching? I\u2019m especially looking forward to the Jim Breuer\/Rob Halford episode.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jim and Rob were amazing! Picking our favorites is like asking a parent to pick their favorite child. We love them all!  But Tiffany Haddish doing \u201cProud Mary\u201d is one of the greatest moments we\u2019ve ever produced on TV. Other standouts for us were Fortune Feimster doing \u201cGoodbye Earl\u201d with Natalie Maines. Mark Duplass with Kevin Cronin from REO Speedwagon. And of course, Bert Kreischer singing \u201cHigher\u201d with Scott Stapp from Creed. I mean, how cool and hilarious is that? Making this show is a dream come true. But the moment to watch out for is at the end of the 1st episode when Bobby Lee literally lets it all hang out after singing \u201cDo Ya Think I\u2019m Sexy.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color:#000000;width:520px;\">\n<div style=\"padding:4px;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/media.mtvnservices.com\/embed\/mgid:arc:video:comedycentral.com:60bd276b-226e-4281-87ec-fdb70b821d74\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Were you surprised at any of the comedians\u2019 musicality? Or did you look for comedians you knew were musical already?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For the most part, we chose comedians who had musical confidence. Our number one rule in booking was to only book people who, good or great, wanted to showcase their musical chops. Some are better singers than others but, as comedians, they all bring a world class performance to the stage. We think viewers are going to be pleasantly surprised at the level of musical talent showcased on the show. After all, this isn\u2019t karaoke \u2014 this is rock-n-roll, so we chose badass performers who were ready to rock. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Were royalties ever an obstacle to what songs you could present?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No. We cleared every song we wanted thanks to our amazing clearance producer, Joel Gallen\u2019s relationships and Comedy Central\u2019s willingness to pay the necessary fees. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Would you say <em>Lip Sync Battle<\/em> helped clear the way for this?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No. <em>Lip Sync Battle<\/em> is its own type of show. Since they don\u2019t actually sing, it\u2019s more about the choreography and the spectacle. Our show features amazing musical talent so, in that regard, we share more of our DNA with shows like <em>The Voice<\/em> and <em>America\u2019s Got Talent<\/em>, except we\u2019re a comedy-first viewing experience.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How involved is Josh Adam Meyers in what we\u2019ll actually see on screen, apart from the <em>After Jam<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Josh is such a rock star! On the TV show, you\u2019ll see him in the documentary segments here and there, but you\u2019ll always hear his raspy rock star voice introducing the performers. He is the beating, dancing, bleeding heart of The <em>Comedy Jam<\/em>. We love us our Josh Adam Meyers and couldn\u2019t be more appreciative of him allowing us to co-parent his baby and make it into a TV show. But that <em>After Jam<\/em> digital series is a wild ride that showcases Josh\u2019s talent in a really unique way. <\/p>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I love it when any of the themes of this blog overlap in one project, so I was tickled to read about Comedy&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[1205,1193,1216,1210,1207,1208,381,1199,1201,1202,1184,1197,1215,1187,1183,1211,1189,1218,1213,1190,1196,1206,1194,1195,1220,1188,1198,1186,1200,1209,1212,1217,1192,1203,1191,1185,1222,1221,1204,1214,1219],"class_list":["post-1681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedy","category-music","tag-awkwafina","tag-big-jay-oakerson","tag-bobby-lee","tag-bon-jovi","tag-chester-bennington","tag-chris-hardwick","tag-comedy-central","tag-creed","tag-def-leppard","tag-dixie-chicks","tag-dmx","tag-fortune-feimster","tag-ike-tina-turner","tag-james-davis","tag-jay-pharoah","tag-jim-breuer","tag-jon-rudnitsky","tag-josh-adam-meyers","tag-judas-priest","tag-kenny-loggins","tag-kevin-cronin","tag-linkin-park","tag-lukas-rossi","tag-mark-duplass","tag-mike-duffy","tag-montell-jordan","tag-natalie-maines","tag-phil-collen","tag-reo-speedwagon","tag-richie-sambora","tag-rob-halford","tag-rod-stewart","tag-ron-bumblefoot-thal","tag-sam-richardson","tag-scott-stapp","tag-taryn-manning","tag-the-comedy-jam","tag-the-goddamn-comedy-jam","tag-tia-carrere","tag-tiffany-haddish","tag-tim-duffy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/ComedyJamHardwickSambora.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s7lGwW-1681","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1681"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1685,"href":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1681\/revisions\/1685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}