On today’s episode of Marc Maron’s "WTF" podcast, former comedian and longtime filmmaker Mike Binder gave the comedy world, whose exploits are gaining notoriety due to the increasing popularity of comedian hosted podcasts a reality check. Recalling the early days of the world famous Comedy Store in Los Angeles, California, when Richard Pryor was honing his act, and founder Mitzi Shore would tell a comedian looking to put on a show in Detroit that that’s her job, Binder sought to dispel the illusion that becoming a regular at the Store is the end all be all.
Some context is due for those who, unlike me, aren’t addicted to podcasts such as the "Joe Rogan Experience," "The Church of What’s Happening Now" with Joey Diaz, Bill Burr’s "Monday Morning Podcast," or Maron’s "WTF," to name only a few of the burgeoning comedian podcasts. The Comedy Store is the hall of legends in these circles. It’s where Maron worked the door for a year before beginning his Los Angeles comedy tenure. It’s where Joey Diaz enjoyed the best water pressure a comedy club’s showers could offer a homeless comic. Tony Hinchecliffe slept in his car behind the building. Joe Rogan stepped on stage during a Carlos Mencia set at the store to publicly accuse him of stealing jokes from Rogan’s opener, Ari Shaffir. And long before the comics of today, legends like Richard Pryor, Sam Kinison, and Jay Leno worked out there. The Store holds some weight in the comedy community.
Mike Binder was there in the early days. His dear friendship with Jay Leno was soured when Binder went against his peers, and performed during a job action which saw comedians calling for paid performances. Binder’s sites were set on something more substantial then becoming a regular at the Store. He had been writing screenplays all of his life, and his unusually early foray into comedy, starting in his late teens, was just the beginning. Although he laments the friendship he lost and believes comics are due their pay, he maintains that the era was wrought with too much reverence for the Store. He is still baffled that a comedian jumped off the Store’s roof because he was not getting enough sets.
Hindsight is 20/20, but even back then, Binder was in a unique position. He had the ability not just to write jokes but to write narratives. He had the wherewithal to coordinate, host, and star in his own comedy special. And that’s where Mitzi Shore got greedy and told him that was her gig, even if it was many states away from her club.
Binder left the comedy scene in his mid-20s and started a prolific career as a writer-director. This trajectory isn’t unheard of when it comes to comedians. Louis CK is one of the top writer-director-editor-producer-stars of possibly all time. Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, the list goes on and on. The model shifts, but the idea is generally the same. You make a name for yourself as a comedian on a local level; you tour nationally or even internationally; you record a special; and you make your transition into television or movies. The old model was to land a sitcom and live off residuals for the rest of your days. If you were lucky, you could get a "Beverly Hills Cop."
These days, comics hope for an HBO special, and Netflix is stepping up admirably on that front, too. Podcasting is also now a large part of the equation. Last week Joey Diaz came out and said it in plain English, "If you’re a comedian and you don’t have a podcast, you’re doing it wrong." There’s a plethora of comedian hosted podcasts, with varying degrees of value, and more than enough pretentious monologues. The point is, that’s the new model.
What the new and old model share, though, is the ground floor. And, if you’re an L.A. comic, the ground floor is likely the Comedy Store. Not everyone has whatever it is that catapulted Mike Binder to success, and most will kill for a five-minute set at the store. If you’re looking at the comedy scene from the loftier view of the movie industry, it must be easy to write off. But for a fresh comic looking to break into the business, you can aim no higher.
