Promising comics land Studio host jobs
At the Comedy Studio in Harvard Square, the spotlight has always been on raw new talent such as Dan Sally and Erin Judge. Now, Sally and Judge are getting the opportunity to help direct the spotlight by hosting different nights at the club. Starting this month, Thursday nights have been "The Dan Sally Show," and Sundays have been "Erin Judge Presents . . .," each with a different feel and approach, but both offering a refreshing surge of new blood in the Cambridge scene's regular lineup.
Traditionally, Thursdays and Sundays at the Studio have been theme nights catered to a specific comic's talents. Until last year, Reverend Tim McIntire's "Friday Night Fights" and "Geek Council" shows were a Thursday staple, along with Sam Walters's Sunday night sketch and stand-up showcase. McIntire left Thursday nights a year ago to concentrate on other gigs, and Walters followed an exodus of talent to New York City six months later.
Studio owner, Rick Jenkins, left the slots open until the new year, looking for the right hosts. He decided on Sally and Judge, two of the Studio's promising young regulars. "They get along with everyone, they write sketch, they can [act in] sketch," Jenkins says. "They just seem to be developing the whole package."
Both comics are veterans of the Cambridge comedy scene, starting their own shows briefly at the Lizard Lounge before the Monday night show wrapped there last January. Jenkins will still book many of the comics for the shows in keeping with the Studio's mission of finding young up-and-comers, giving more seasoned performers longer sets on Thursdays. But Sally and Judge will be the one constant on each of their nights.
Sally, 31, hopes his show will hold many surprises, even to him. He's working with spontaneous character-driven comics like Ben Murray and Nate Johnson, with whom he worked regularly as part of the Great and Secret Comedy Show at ImprovBoston before the Walsh Brothers restructured the show. They contribute what they want, and sometimes when they want to, barging into Sally's patter to start a scene from the audience or heckling him outright.
"Very often, it's when things go wrong that the funniest stuff happens," Sally says. "It's very often when somebody does something they shouldn't or says something they shouldn't . . . that stuff gets the funniest."
If Sally's night is about keeping the audience guessing, Judge, 24, works more with a unified theme. She's hosted a night of comics from Emerson College, with plans for a night of Boston University students as well. Once a month, she'll be booking the entire show, and focusing on a specific theme (this Sunday's topic is "Bad Television").
The nights will feature sketch and stand-up, a one-two punch that Judge finds effective. "It's a good way to transition between stand-ups, to do quick sketches, and then lead into the stand-up in an interesting way," Judge says.
Sally and Judge are looking forward to creating their own Studio traditions, which would be a needed boost to a scene that's already lost a lot of young talent to New York and Los Angeles, and stands to lose more this year.
"I really think that everybody who's done a show at the Studio has done something different and done something really good, and it's been a jumping-off point for them," Judge says. "And I really hope I can build something really good myself."
Around town
Former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Kevin Nealon plays the Comedy Connection tonight and tomorrow, with Ira Proctor opening. . . . Dan Newbower returns from New York City to play the Comedy Studio along with Joe Wong tonight and tomorrow. . . . Mike Prior , Dave Rattigan, Steve Gamlin, Ellen Moschetto, Mike Smith, and Karl Zahn play the Sahara in Methuen tonight.
