(no subject)
Five comics hit the road for laughs
Coast-to-coast trip aims for auditions
BY MATT PEIKEN
Pioneer Press
Ben Quaschnick sizes up the remaining space in his 1995 Honda Accord and glances at the donated items littering the nearby grass: boxes of granola bars, chips and Chex mix, a box of toothpaste, brushes and floss, two jars of Jif peanut butter, a Nerf football, bubble-blowing liquid and SpongeBob SquarePants car deodorizers. There's also a laptop computer, a digital video camera, an acoustic guitar and a harmonica.
It's Saturday morning, and Quaschnick and four other local amateur standup comedians - determined to travel the country together for the next five weeks - are facing their first challenge.
"There's no way we're getting all this stuff in here - no way," Quaschnick said, turning back to the car.
Quaschnick, Chris Maddock, Joe Cocozello, Nate Ford and Nel Harrison are collectively calling themselves the Standup Six (a sixth comic dropped out before the trip began). They've plotted a 13,000-mile, coast-to-coast course through every city hosting a Laugh Across America audition. Winners earn trips to compete and perform at the Las Vegas Comedy Festival in mid-October.
If all begins well, the Standup Six will have made it in one piece for their first audition at noon today in Seattle.
The unknown comics also hope to illuminate the plight of the homeless by living as close to homelessness as possible. They've set packing limits - each comic can only bring $50 and whatever he can stuff into a single backpack - as much for space concerns as to illustrate their social cause.
"It sounded like a dumb idea - not dumb, but crazy," Maddock said as he wedged his backpack into the car's trunk. "I always wanted to take a road trip and not know if I'm going to survive."
While each of the Standup Six has earned some cash through comedy, none has established anything resembling a comedy career. Their main performance outlets are open-mike nights, and even those have been so uncertain that Harrison started his own, on Wednesdays at The Aster in Northeast Minneapolis. The comics bonded through the open-mike scene.
"We all want to be famous," said Harrison, the senior citizen of the ensemble at 41. "It's about fame and fortune, about chasing your dream."
Just three weeks ago, Harrison hatched the scheme to audition for Laugh Across America, initially targeting auditions closest to home, in Chicago and St. Louis. Other comics hopped onto the idea and the road trip expanded.
The group attracted a corporate sponsor, but the support fell through. In-kind donations have included oil changes and gas, snack food and printing for fliers. The group picked up its social mission by partnering with Person to Person, a nonprofit support center in Minneapolis for low-income people and the homeless.
Only three of the five comics can drive and only two have working cars - Quaschnick's is the largest. Now, staring at the open and loaded trunk, they've lightened the load a bit by breaking into a box of Mickey's dougnuts.
Ford will have to ditch his box of Kleenex, but the toilet paper stays. Cocozello has to abandon his 10-inch cooking pot. The rope and hammer stay.
"So one of us can hang themselves," Ford said.
Harrison has two large cardboard panels, in case he needs to sleep outdoors. Cocozello has another piece of cardboard - a sign advertising "insults" for $2.
"If we can't bring the guitar, I don't know how we're going to make any money," said Maddock, a self-described "guerrilla-style social commentary" comedian who plans to work street corners along the way.
"I'm willing to prostitute myself," Ford said.
Maddock seemed to consider the option, then said, "I don't think that's what this trip is about."
After Seattle, the quintet has two days to make it to Houston, then will wind through Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas. At each audition, the comics won't perform for audiences but for judges. Each gets five minutes to make winning impressions, "but the smart man goes four," Cocozello said.
At the very least, Harrison figures to end up with a comic documentary of the trip.
"If we're going to die and you need to survive, you can eat me," Ford tells the others. "I have the most meat."
Cocozello beams at another thought and points to the car: "I've got shotgun."
DONATIONS
For updates on the group's progress or donate to their cause, go on the Web to standupsix.com or call 651-336-3800.
Coast-to-coast trip aims for auditions
BY MATT PEIKEN
Pioneer Press
Ben Quaschnick sizes up the remaining space in his 1995 Honda Accord and glances at the donated items littering the nearby grass: boxes of granola bars, chips and Chex mix, a box of toothpaste, brushes and floss, two jars of Jif peanut butter, a Nerf football, bubble-blowing liquid and SpongeBob SquarePants car deodorizers. There's also a laptop computer, a digital video camera, an acoustic guitar and a harmonica.
It's Saturday morning, and Quaschnick and four other local amateur standup comedians - determined to travel the country together for the next five weeks - are facing their first challenge.
"There's no way we're getting all this stuff in here - no way," Quaschnick said, turning back to the car.
Quaschnick, Chris Maddock, Joe Cocozello, Nate Ford and Nel Harrison are collectively calling themselves the Standup Six (a sixth comic dropped out before the trip began). They've plotted a 13,000-mile, coast-to-coast course through every city hosting a Laugh Across America audition. Winners earn trips to compete and perform at the Las Vegas Comedy Festival in mid-October.
If all begins well, the Standup Six will have made it in one piece for their first audition at noon today in Seattle.
The unknown comics also hope to illuminate the plight of the homeless by living as close to homelessness as possible. They've set packing limits - each comic can only bring $50 and whatever he can stuff into a single backpack - as much for space concerns as to illustrate their social cause.
"It sounded like a dumb idea - not dumb, but crazy," Maddock said as he wedged his backpack into the car's trunk. "I always wanted to take a road trip and not know if I'm going to survive."
While each of the Standup Six has earned some cash through comedy, none has established anything resembling a comedy career. Their main performance outlets are open-mike nights, and even those have been so uncertain that Harrison started his own, on Wednesdays at The Aster in Northeast Minneapolis. The comics bonded through the open-mike scene.
"We all want to be famous," said Harrison, the senior citizen of the ensemble at 41. "It's about fame and fortune, about chasing your dream."
Just three weeks ago, Harrison hatched the scheme to audition for Laugh Across America, initially targeting auditions closest to home, in Chicago and St. Louis. Other comics hopped onto the idea and the road trip expanded.
The group attracted a corporate sponsor, but the support fell through. In-kind donations have included oil changes and gas, snack food and printing for fliers. The group picked up its social mission by partnering with Person to Person, a nonprofit support center in Minneapolis for low-income people and the homeless.
Only three of the five comics can drive and only two have working cars - Quaschnick's is the largest. Now, staring at the open and loaded trunk, they've lightened the load a bit by breaking into a box of Mickey's dougnuts.
Ford will have to ditch his box of Kleenex, but the toilet paper stays. Cocozello has to abandon his 10-inch cooking pot. The rope and hammer stay.
"So one of us can hang themselves," Ford said.
Harrison has two large cardboard panels, in case he needs to sleep outdoors. Cocozello has another piece of cardboard - a sign advertising "insults" for $2.
"If we can't bring the guitar, I don't know how we're going to make any money," said Maddock, a self-described "guerrilla-style social commentary" comedian who plans to work street corners along the way.
"I'm willing to prostitute myself," Ford said.
Maddock seemed to consider the option, then said, "I don't think that's what this trip is about."
After Seattle, the quintet has two days to make it to Houston, then will wind through Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas. At each audition, the comics won't perform for audiences but for judges. Each gets five minutes to make winning impressions, "but the smart man goes four," Cocozello said.
At the very least, Harrison figures to end up with a comic documentary of the trip.
"If we're going to die and you need to survive, you can eat me," Ford tells the others. "I have the most meat."
Cocozello beams at another thought and points to the car: "I've got shotgun."
DONATIONS
For updates on the group's progress or donate to their cause, go on the Web to standupsix.com or call 651-336-3800.