Comedy in Columbus

Tim Fulton 0:12Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. We are a weekly Columbus-centric podcast focusing on the civics, lifestyle, entertainment, and people of our city. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. This week, I sat down with comedians Amber Falter and Brian Doney to talk about the Columbus comedy scene, how they work, and their current tour. I think that their advice to aspiring comedians can provide some insight for all of us who are looking for a better path. You can get more information on what we discuss today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. The Confluence Cast is sponsored by Art Makes Columbus, Columbus Makes Art, featuring stories about our city's incredible artists, stories full of inspiration, challenge, passion, and success. For videos, articles, and an up-to-the-minute calendar of events and an artist directory, visit columbusmakesart.com, the resource for all things arts and culture in the capital city. Enjoy the interviews. Sitting down here with Amber Falter and Brian Doney, two Columbus comedians who are, at the time you are hearing this, are on the road on their first tour together. Amber, how are you?

Amber Falter 1:30I'm lovely.

Tim Fulton 1:31Good. Brian?

Brian Doney 1:33I am doing fantastic.

Tim Fulton 1:34First of all, just a quick introduction to the tour. You guys are on a tour entitled Have You Seen My Mom? You'll be doing the finale of your tour on December 5th at the Garden Theatre. People can get information on the Facebook and the Twitter, I assume.

Brian Doney 1:49Mm-hmm.

Amber Falter 1:50Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 1:50If you wanna do ... Where would they find info?

Brian Doney 1:52Uh, you can go to my Facebook page. You can also, if you're friends with Amber, you can go there as well.

Tim Fulton 1:58Okay.

Brian Doney 1:59Um, also my website briandoney.com has an l- link to the, uh, event where you can purchase tickets-

Tim Fulton 2:05Great

Brian Doney 2:05... now actually.

Tim Fulton 2:06And that's Brian with an I, Doney, D-O-N-E-Y.

Brian Doney 2:09Yes, just briandoney.com.

Tim Fulton 2:10Great. Brian, how did you get into comedy?

Brian Doney 2:13I got into comedy from doing, uh, my high school talent show.

Tim Fulton 2:18Okay.

Brian Doney 2:19There was just a bunch of music acts, and I was the first non-music act, and I think also the first, uh, comedian too. And, uh, I did about 10 minutes for the, a big audience of my friends and teachers. And I was 17 at the time, and after that I tried ... There wasn't much of a comedy scene, or I couldn't find it on the web.

Tim Fulton 2:42Where in ... Where was that?

Brian Doney 2:44Uh, my high school?

Tim Fulton 2:45Yeah.

Brian Doney 2:45It was ... I, I live, I, I still live up in Dublin with my dad.

Tim Fulton 2:49Gotcha.

Brian Doney 2:49So I went to Dublin Coffman.

Tim Fulton 2:50Okay.

Brian Doney 2:50And, uh, after, after that I, I wanted to do more shows, so I put myself on Craigslist and did a, a few random Craigslist shows, uh, for, like, a New Year's party, some graduation shows. I told jokes at a strip mall at one point.

Tim Fulton 3:06Hold on a second. So you literally put yourself out there and was like, "I will charge you a nominal fee, and I will come and tell jokes"?

Brian Doney 3:13I wish I was that confident in myself. No. I was more like, "I will ... If you just give me a microphone, I will talk for half an hour." Uh, the, the first time I got paid was at the New Year's party. It was the second time I performed, and I did half an hour. I went on right after a clown. That was really nice. And I, I ... He asked me, like, "How much do you wanna get paid?" And I did-

Tim Fulton 3:35'Cause you were splitting it with the clown?

Brian Doney 3:38No.

Amber Falter 3:39Oh, no.

Brian Doney 3:39No, no, no. Me and the clown did not come together.

Tim Fulton 3:41Oh, okay.

Brian Doney 3:42Uh, I did not tour with a clown. Uh, but no. I, um ... He asked me, "How much did you ... How did, how much do you wanna get paid?" Or, "How much do you charge?" And I ... This was my second time doing it, and I was just like, "$10?"

Tim Fulton 3:54Really?

Brian Doney 3:55For a half an hour of work, yeah.

Tim Fulton 3:56Okay. Okay.

Brian Doney 3:57Yeah.

Tim Fulton 3:57I mean, that beats minimum wage, absolutely.

Brian Doney 4:00Yeah, yeah. Technically, yeah.

Tim Fulton 4:02Okay.

Brian Doney 4:02Um, that was the most I'd gotten paid at that point in my life. Um-

Tim Fulton 4:05And so you-

Brian Doney 4:06Yeah

Tim Fulton 4:06... so that was what? Like, a couple dozen sh- or a coup- like, half a dozen shows in.

Brian Doney 4:11That was ... That $10 was my second show.

Tim Fulton 4:14Okay. So you didn't ... When you got into it, you weren't really, like, sort of working the material, if you will, right?

Brian Doney 4:21Yeah, when-

Tim Fulton 4:21Does that make sense? 'Cause-

Brian Doney 4:22Yeah

Tim Fulton 4:22... at, at least my, my passive understanding from now that sort of there's this democratization of stand-up comedy that, like, I'm aware of the process, my understanding is, is that you sort of go out there, go to an open mic, work it, and then sort of build up to doing a show where people are coming and paying just to see you. Not that you haven't returned to that step, but you didn't have an understanding of it at the time, and so sort of went for it.

Brian Doney 4:46Yeah. There's ... I mean, there, there's definitely the ... You d- you definitely need to have a, a place to go to, to do stand-up. Um, I did not have that the first six months of me doing it. I did it through a bunch of random, uh, Craigslist shows, and I, I just wrote at home and just hoped the material would work. Sometimes it did, and sometimes it didn't.

Tim Fulton 5:07And I wanna understand the Craigslist shows for a second. You, you put it ... What, what category of Craigslist do you put that out there in?

Brian Doney 5:13I p- I, I, I think I put it under events.

Tim Fulton 5:16Okay.

Brian Doney 5:16Um, so if, so it's like if someone needed something for an event, they would find me.

Tim Fulton 5:21Okay.

Brian Doney 5:21Uh, I'm not on Craigslist still, in case anyone's wondering about that. But, uh-

Tim Fulton 5:26Now you have your own website that people can get in contact you, with you at.

Brian Doney 5:30Yeah. But part of the reason why I had to do that was just because I was, uh, I was 17 when I started.

Tim Fulton 5:36Right.

Brian Doney 5:36And I was still under a curfew, and I was still-

Tim Fulton 5:38Wow

Brian Doney 5:38... going to high school. And I actually tried going to Shrunken Head before they even had a comedy open mic, 'cause their music Wednesday acoustic mic said it was available to all sorts of acts.

Tim Fulton 5:49Okay.

Brian Doney 5:49So I thought maybe they would let comedy there. But I got on the list at, like, 12, and it started at 9:00, and I had to be home by 10:00. So I, I couldn't even go to that.

Tim Fulton 5:58Okay.

Brian Doney 5:58But once I graduated, that's when I started hitting all the mics like Scarlet and Gray when it used to have a mic, Shrunken Head. Um, I actually could A- at the time, Surly Girl, I, I couldn't go to that mic until I turned 21-

Tim Fulton 6:12Okay

Brian Doney 6:12... 'cause it was a, it was a strict 21 and up bar.

Tim Fulton 6:15And I was gonna ask how old you are, but I don't need to now 'cause you've done it for a couple a years, obviously. You're old enough to get into the bars where you're performing.

Brian Doney 6:22Finally, yeah.

Tim Fulton 6:23So that's good.

Brian Doney 6:24Yeah.

Tim Fulton 6:24That's good.

Brian Doney 6:2522 now.

Tim Fulton 6:25And Amber, how did you start?

Amber Falter 6:27So I- I've been doing it, um, for about two, just over two years now.

Tim Fulton 6:31Okay.

Amber Falter 6:31Um, I think-

Tim Fulton 6:32So newer to the game than Brian is.

Amber Falter 6:34Yeah.

Tim Fulton 6:34Okay.

Amber Falter 6:34Weirdly. Um, uh, what am I, two years older than you?

Brian Doney 6:38I think so, yeah.

Amber Falter 6:39I think. Okay. Whatever.

Brian Doney 6:40You're 24, right?

Amber Falter 6:40Math. Yes.

Brian Doney 6:41Yeah.

Amber Falter 6:41So I started about two years ago.

Brian Doney 6:44Oh, you're about to be 25.

Amber Falter 6:44Yes. It's gonna be awful. Um, so, uh, I think I started because I was, like, in college and I wasn't that crazy about it. Um, I like ... I, I just couldn't focus. I had a lot of things going on. Um, like I had a really, um, crappy boyfriend, and I, like, left him, and I was really bummed out, and then my mom died.

Tim Fulton 7:04Okay.

Amber Falter 7:05And I just would find myself, like, so uninterested in school. Like, stuff I'm very passionate about still. Um, so I went to Ohio State for sustainable agriculture.

Tim Fulton 7:14Okay.

Amber Falter 7:14And I studied soil science. Um, I was really into it, uh, but I couldn't seem to like ... I wasn't happy. Like, I-

Tim Fulton 7:23Well, you were going through a period of grief, certainly.

Amber Falter 7:25Sure. Yeah. So I, I think I just, like, was really looking for a reason to laugh or, like, even, like, smile or, like, hang out with people.

Tim Fulton 7:33Okay.

Amber Falter 7:34Um, so I think that's where it all, like, started, started. But-

Tim Fulton 7:36And so was it you going to comedy just to, like, experience comedy, and then you were like, "I could do that"?

Amber Falter 7:43That ... Yeah.

Tim Fulton 7:44Okay.

Amber Falter 7:44So I think more, like, growing up, when I was going through some, like, just ... It's anything you go through as a child, really. Like, parents got divorced or whatever. But, um, just to cope with a lot of that, I remember just really seeking out comedies and, like, funny movies and just anything. So, um-

Tim Fulton 7:58As an escape.

Amber Falter 7:59Yeah.

Tim Fulton 7:59Okay.

Amber Falter 7:59And I, I just remember being, like, kinda like a spastic child and trying to make my friends laugh all the time. So I feel like that kinda ... I don't know. Just when I did get that attention, it was really the only positive reinforcement or, like, positive, like, feedback I was getting from anybody in my life.

Tim Fulton 8:14Okay.

Amber Falter 8:14And I think that really translated into my adult life and dealing with grief.

Tim Fulton 8:18And so how do you ... Can you talk about sort of your writing process?

Amber Falter 8:22Yeah. So I think a lot of it comes from just, I mean, personal experience. Like, nothing ... There's not a better joke, I, I, I think, personally, out there than something that's happened to you.

Tim Fulton 8:32Right.

Amber Falter 8:32And you can write a good story about it. And a lot of people will tell me, like, "I can't imagine living a day in your shoes. Like, wow. What goes on in your life?" And, like, really regular shit. Like-

Tim Fulton 8:44Okay

Amber Falter 8:45... um, so it's just really normal stuff that I think that ... I think there's something funny in every instance and moment, and I think it's a comic's job to translate it to people who can't find what's funny in that.

Tim Fulton 8:58Okay. But literally it's writing ... Brian didn't really touch on this-

Amber Falter 9:02Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 9:02... but it's sort of writing down, "Okay, here's a thing that, like, I feel guilty about or I feel sad about or I even just feel about."

Amber Falter 9:10Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 9:10And then translating that into comedy. A lot of your comedy, I assume both of it, is dark. We should reveal at this point that both of you have mothers who have passed away.

Amber Falter 9:20Yes.

Tim Fulton 9:21Uh, untimely. And that is sort of the, uh, the crux of the tour. Uh, again, it's called Have You Seen My Mom?

Amber Falter 9:30Yes.

Tim Fulton 9:31So what ... Is it literally just that, writing things down, and then sort of like, "What's the punchline there?" Or is it just, "This is funny because it's so sad or I feel guilty about it"?

Amber Falter 9:44Yeah.

Tim Fulton 9:44Like, sometimes you'll put stuff up on Facebook about, you know, having eaten Donato's pizza for three days in a row.

Amber Falter 9:52That's just a regular occurrence in my life.

Tim Fulton 9:54This episode of the Confluence Cast is brought to you by Donato's pizza.

Amber Falter 9:59Yeah. So, um, yeah. So I, I think when I have an experience, maybe I'm walking my dogs and we find a Donato's pizza in a bush, which has happened.

Tim Fulton 10:07Okay.

Amber Falter 10:07Um, I, I just make notes in my phone, and then when I have time to sit down, I look at those notes and I try to elaborate on them. Um, and I try to find what, in that moment, made me even put that in my phone.

Tim Fulton 10:18Right.

Amber Falter 10:18Or maybe it is something a little bit more dark, and that's when, uh, I, I assume Brian goes through the same thing, just when you're digging and searching for what is funny about that. Or when ... Like, when you, when you've ... Like, let's say I do find something very funny about a particular, like, event I had growing up with my addict mother.

Tim Fulton 10:37Okay.

Amber Falter 10:37Uh, so, uh, like, in my head I've dealt with it for years, and when I look back on it now I can laugh about it. But there's an audience in front of me who maybe has a lovely, amazing mother.

Tim Fulton 10:47Right.

Amber Falter 10:47Um, so really the challenge there is to take this, like, instance and be like, "Listen, people are different. And, like, my, my mom was an addict, so this, like, thing that happened was really funny to me-

Tim Fulton 10:59Right. Well-

Amber Falter 11:00... because of these reasons."

Tim Fulton 11:00Well, and because it's so different from the audience experience, and also that it's not a typical thing that people would talk about in a public setting. I think that comedy, like all art, and it's why I distinguish the difference between sort of arts and crafts, is that art is meant to be challenging. And the reason why things are funny to people is because it causes a certain amount of discomfort, whether that be because it's confusing to them like a knock-knock joke, or if it's truly, like, "Oh, I'm uncomfortable and I don't know what else to do but laugh." Like, when people have, you know, comedy that's race-based or class-based. Brian, anything you want to insert in there about sort of your process?

Brian Doney 11:45I would just say that didn't start out telling jokes like this.

Tim Fulton 11:49Okay.

Brian Doney 11:49Telling jokes about my mom or anything dark that happened to me. I, I-

Tim Fulton 11:52Can I ask when your mom passed?

Brian Doney 11:54She passed when I was around 12 or 13.

Tim Fulton 11:56Okay.

Brian Doney 11:56And, uh-

Tim Fulton 11:57So it was certainly something that happened to both of you before ... It was-

Brian Doney 12:00Yeah

Tim Fulton 12:01... uh, for Amber more of an impetus.

Amber Falter 12:02Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 12:03But Brian, it was something that sort of you had been dealing with a lot of your sort of coming of age time.

Brian Doney 12:08Well, I think, uh, when I was- Uh, and w- and Amber and I have similar relationships with our moms before, before they passed away too.

Tim Fulton 12:16Okay.

Brian Doney 12:16But, uh, but I would say, like, when I started, I just didn't think anything like that would be funny to anybody. And also, I spent so many years of my life dealing with it that I just wanted to forget about it for a little while. So I was just being an observational, goofy, uh, comic. I still kinda am, but I, I, once I discovered, I don't know, I ... It, it, it came when, it came to me when, uh, I came home from college at the time, and I was getting the mail out of the mailbox, and there was this, like, flyer or some sort of, like, uh, marketing letter-

Tim Fulton 12:54Right

Brian Doney 12:55... uh, just for some company. And the ... It was addressed to my mom.

Tim Fulton 13:00Okay.

Brian Doney 13:01And it's, like, nine years later, and I'm like, "You don't have a list or some sort of check?"

Tim Fulton 13:07You don't somehow know-

Brian Doney 13:08Yeah

Tim Fulton 13:08... that this person is not passed?

Brian Doney 13:10This person is dead. Yeah. So that was the initial thought, and then I started to write more, and then I was telling it to a few comedian friends, and they were really enjoying it.

Tim Fulton 13:18So let's step back a little bit.

Brian Doney 13:19Yeah.

Tim Fulton 13:19When you first started, what sort of jokes would you tell? Like, what sort of comedy would it ... I don't wanna say jokes would you tell, but, like, what sort of comedy would it be? Would it be, uh, situational stories, or would it be, like, just a series of one-liners? There are certainly comedians in Columbus that do that sort of thing.

Brian Doney 13:37I'm, I am not a good one-liner comic at all.

Tim Fulton 13:40Okay.

Brian Doney 13:40Uh, I think one of my bigness- weaknesses starting out and even still to this day that Amber helps me out with, and so do my other friends, is just, uh, that I actually, uh, I, I, I, I, I talk too much. Uh, but I, I start-

Tim Fulton 13:54It takes a little bit too long between laughs, you mean, basically?

Brian Doney 13:57Um, yeah, sometimes, an- or, or just that the ... or just really thinking through punchlines, uh, specifically when I was starting out.

Tim Fulton 14:04Okay.

Brian Doney 14:05But the jokes I would tell were kinda more just ... It was, again, it was very observational, kinda like Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Gaffigan.

Tim Fulton 14:11Okay.

Brian Doney 14:12Um, maybe a little bit kind of like Hedberg too. Uh, that's what a lotta people told me after my first set, and-

Tim Fulton 14:17Okay

Brian Doney 14:18... when they told me that, I was like, "Oh my God, that's great."

Tim Fulton 14:20Thank you.

Brian Doney 14:20Yeah, no. Uh, but then after a while you're like, "No, I, I need to be myself."

Tim Fulton 14:25Mm.

Brian Doney 14:25Um, I was also a clean comedian. I, I didn't talk about sex, and I wouldn't, uh, talk about, you know, I wouldn't, I wouldn't use any swear words either. I was clean. Uh-

Tim Fulton 14:36What w- Is that still true?

Brian Doney 14:37No.

Tim Fulton 14:38Okay.

Brian Doney 14:38Not at all.

Tim Fulton 14:39Okay, good to know.

Brian Doney 14:39Um, by the way, can you swear on this podcast?

Tim Fulton 14:41You can.

Brian Doney 14:42I don't want to right now, but-

Tim Fulton 14:43Let's, let's, like, not go-

Brian Doney 14:44But let's ... Okay. I just wanted to know what the policy was.

Tim Fulton 14:47If it ... I have sort of the FCC rule in my head of if it's appropriate to curse-

Brian Doney 14:53Okay

Tim Fulton 14:53... then it totally makes sense. But if it's just, like, a barrage of it-

Brian Doney 14:56Yeah

Tim Fulton 14:56... there's no need for it.

Brian Doney 14:57But no, I, I, I eventually, I eventually just started to realize that for me, I needed to be more myself on stage, and part of that is the fact that in stories ... I, I started to sh- take a shift from making silly observations to starting to tell weird stories that would happen to me either at shows or at college, um, or with whoever, and I realized as I'm telling these stories, there are points where I do need to curse, because I curse in my normal life, and it's ... I, I find it odd that I would curse in real life but not curse on stage. Um, and then eventually, uh, once I got more comfortable telling stories, uh, then I ... Once, once the initial thought hit me to tell stories about my mom, uh, it started to just come together.

Tim Fulton 15:45Okay.

Brian Doney 15:45Yeah. And, and I think part of my comedy now is that I'm kind of a, of kind of a weird optimist in a way, because a lot of ... A, a big theme that you'll see in my darker material and my mom jokes is just me kind of almost sarcastically going, like, "But no, this is great. Isn't this fantastic?"

Tim Fulton 16:04But no, everything's fine.

Brian Doney 16:05Yeah. No, it's ... I mean, you know, she beat me with a tennis racket, but, you know, it's all right. She, you know, we all, like, we all have those days. Um, you know, y- you know, I-

Tim Fulton 16:15Oh

Brian Doney 16:15... it was either beat me again or kill yourself, and out of the two, my mom chose the better option. I'm really proud of her in that respect. She made, she made me proud.

Tim Fulton 16:24Um-

Brian Doney 16:24So no, it, that, it's kinda like that. I, I ... That's, that's kind of the basis of my, the darker stuff that I tell now.

Tim Fulton 16:31Okay. And you do have recorded work. We're gonna take a quick break, and just to get a sampling of the work that Brian's been talking about, this is a track from, uh, Brian Doney's album My Mom's Dead, recorded live at the Shrunken Head.

Brian Doney 16:46Speaking of pools, I went to see the Deadpool movie with my girlfriend on Valentine's Day.

Audience Member 16:51Woo! Woo!

Brian Doney 16:52Yeah. Uh, I took her there on Valentine's Day 'cause I wanted to see how strong our relationship was. So I'm single. No, I'm kidding. That's just something stupid comedians say to make you laugh. It worked. Um- But no, I knew our relationship would be fine, 'cause me and my girlfriend, we have a really strong bond, and that bond is made out of guilt. Guilt is the strongest bond in any relationship. If you don't believe me, just ask Stephen Hawking. Just ask him. He'll back me up on that one. I got a physicist in my corner. It's funny though, 'cause the reason why we have so much guilt in our relationship is because when we, uh, we went to celebrate New Year's together, and we thought it would be really cool by celebrating it really classy, you know? And by classy, I mean we got Taco Bell, Walmart wine, and tried to have sex in a hot tub.

Audience Member 17:53Yeah.

Brian Doney 17:54Yeah. It went pretty well until she threw up on me in said hot tub.

Audience Member 17:58Yeah. It's hilarious.

Brian Doney 17:59So now whenever she's mad at me, guys, like, whenever she's mad at me, she goes, "You showed up five minutes late." And I go, "Yeah, but you were in a hot tub sporting." Like, all I think about is soup. It's terrible.

Audience Member 18:14Oh.

Brian Doney 18:14If Taco Bell made a soup, that's what that was.

Audience Member 18:22I guarantee Taco Bell's gonna come up with a suit in the next year, guys. It's gonna be great. You heard it here first. Oh. But no, um, so since we, since I have so much guilt over my girlfriend, I try to get her to do that one thing for me that I always wanted her to do. I think it's what a lot of guys want their girlfriends to do. Yes. You know that one thing. Yeah. You know what I'm talking about. Yes. I try to get her to, um, listen to my podcast. And it doesn't work. 'Cause apparently there's not enough guilt in the world to get someone you love to listen to your podcast. So, so now it's, it's, it's funny 'cause, uh, for Christmas, um, all I got were, like, gift cards. Um, that's all I got, so I guess nobody knows me anymore. 'Cause gift cards is like stereotyping the people that you love. You're just assuming what, that they go shop at these places instead of thinking of your own idea. And I don't know, I feel like, you know, because I got like six different gift cards to Hot Topic. I mean, I shop there, but that's not the point. I don't appreciate being stereotyped like that. So it's funny 'cause, uh, whenever we ... So, so I think if you want to get, you know, someone you love, like a gift, don't get them a gift card. Just ask them what they want. So guys, if you ever become my friends or family ... Um, that's funny 'cause all of you are my friends. Um, so guys, if you ever wanna get me a gift, just feel free to ask. Just feel free to ask what I want, and I'll tell you right now, I just want you to listen to my podcast. That's all I want you to do. And I can tell by the look on all your faces none of you are gonna do that. So I'm expecting a gift card after the show. Preferably to Hot Topic.

Tim Fulton 20:16And we're back with Amber Falter and Brian Doney. Obviously, we can sort of see a natural bonding over, you know, having both your mothers having passed. Can you guys talk about how you put the tour together and, and how that all worked?

Brian Doney 20:30I mean, I saw, you know, the first time I saw Amber, uh, telling jokes she was already talking about her mom.

Tim Fulton 20:36Okay.

Brian Doney 20:36And since then I wanted to write with her and workshop with her, and eventually she felt like doing that with me.

Amber Falter 20:44The first night I met Brian I had bombed and told a bunch of dead mom jokes at an open mic to college kids.

Tim Fulton 20:50Okay.

Amber Falter 20:50Bombed so hard. But that's what's funny about Brian and I. I started telling ... Like, that was right off the bat-

Tim Fulton 20:56Right

Amber Falter 20:56... the first things I w- I was writing, and he came up to me afterwards and I immediately hated him. I, I didn't like him one bit.

Tim Fulton 21:03I mean, is that simply because he introduced himself and said, "My mom's dead, too"?

Amber Falter 21:07Yeah.

Tim Fulton 21:08And it's like, I don't-

Amber Falter 21:09Yeah

Tim Fulton 21:09... I, I talk about that on stage, and I don't wanna talk about it out here.

Amber Falter 21:13Right. It fe-

Tim Fulton 21:14Okay

Amber Falter 21:14... it was really weird. Um, but eventually this past summer we kinda rekindled, um, and had seen each other on the scene. Honestly, it became, it was on, just like one night we kinda got drunk together. I was like, "Oh, man, if we went on tour, what would we call it, Brian?" And he's like, "I don't know. My Mom's Dead?" And then we laughed really hard.

Tim Fulton 21:35Right.

Amber Falter 21:36And then-

Brian Doney 21:37No, I-

Amber Falter 21:37... a couple days later-

Brian Doney 21:38No, I said, "Have You Seen My Mom?"

Amber Falter 21:39Yeah. Oh.

Brian Doney 21:40You just, you just, you just-

Amber Falter 21:41Your album title

Brian Doney 21:42... you were just plugging my CD again, but I appreciate that.

Amber Falter 21:44Sorry. You're welcome.

Tim Fulton 21:44Rather than the tour.

Brian Doney 21:45But no, yeah, no.

Amber Falter 21:46Screw this tour.

Brian Doney 21:47No. We were, when we were write- well, when we started writing together, it was just the most natural workshopping that I've ever experienced, and I, I think the same thing for Amber, too, and-

Tim Fulton 21:57And how does that work? Like, actually, like the nuts and bolts of it. Like, do you guys just say, "Here's two hours of time, and we're gonna sit across the table from each other, and we're gonna say these are ideas I've had," or this is something that I'm like, "I think this is funny. Is it funny?" How does it work?

Brian Doney 22:14Yeah. It's kind of a pitching back and forth of joke ideas. Um, sometime- we'll send each other our sets from previous shows or open mics-

Tim Fulton 22:22Okay

Brian Doney 22:22... that we've done. We'll listen to them, write down notes, be prepared for the next time we meet up to workshop. We also give each other time to write during those times, too. Sometimes we will just give each other five minutes to write something out or to jot a few more things down, and we'll just keep building it off of each other. I, I-

Tim Fulton 22:39Well, and the virtue of that really is sort of the accountability of, like, this is your time to write, not the time to do the laundry or-

Brian Doney 22:46Right

Tim Fulton 22:46... make yourself a snack or watch TV. It's really like this is, you're accountable to actually get the work done.

Brian Doney 22:54Yeah. Well, you can't, you can't call comedy your job if you're not gonna spend time actually preparing for it.

Tim Fulton 23:00Right.

Brian Doney 23:00And one of the biggest rules in w- workshopping, too, is that wherever ... Like, say I have a new joke.

Tim Fulton 23:06Okay.

Brian Doney 23:06And w- we're, we're, we're building it. I had a few good lines. Amber comes up with a better one. She helps me with that. That's mine.

Tim Fulton 23:14Okay.

Brian Doney 23:14That, that's one of the biggest rules in workshopping, and same thing for Amber, too. Like, if she has a new joke or a new premise and I give her some good ideas, even though in that workshop I came up with them, it's only because she had the first i- the first thought, and that's the mutual understanding in any workshop if anyone wants to do that.

Tim Fulton 23:30Okay.

Brian Doney 23:30And it doesn't have to j- just for comedy, too. Like, I workshop with a few poets that I know, too-

Tim Fulton 23:35Okay

Brian Doney 23:35... w- when I have the time to, and it's, it's, it's, it's good. It's good to do that. It's good to get outside your head and also share your ideas instead of just putting it in the folder or, or filing it away for another day.

Tim Fulton 23:47Right.

Amber Falter 23:47I feel like there are a few comics that are avidly against, like, workshopping.

Tim Fulton 23:51Okay.

Amber Falter 23:52They're like, "No, this is my idea, and if I can't get to that point, like, it's not mine."

Tim Fulton 23:56Okay.

Amber Falter 23:57Um, which I, I-

Tim Fulton 23:58They don't feel as true ownership over it-

Amber Falter 24:00Sure

Tim Fulton 24:00... if someone else is contributing.

Amber Falter 24:02Yeah. But at the same time it's, uh, I don't know. It's the same as, like, getting good feedback after a show. Like, "Hey, maybe you should try this."

Tim Fulton 24:09Right.

Amber Falter 24:09Or, "It would've been really funny if you did this instead." And it's like I, I v- I feel, like, no shame in that at all. Um-

Tim Fulton 24:14Right

Amber Falter 24:15... it's just really, like-

Tim Fulton 24:16Well, but from an audience member it would be a little bit like-

Brian Doney 24:20Hey, dude

Amber Falter 24:21Sure

Brian Doney 24:22Right

Amber Falter 24:22I guess I'm used to open mics with, like, other comics kind of-

Brian Doney 24:25Right

Amber Falter 24:25... stepping in. But I have had audience members give me ideas.

Brian Doney 24:29I-

Amber Falter 24:29Some are not great.

Brian Doney 24:30Okay. And that's okay.

Amber Falter 24:31Yeah.

Brian Doney 24:32Okay.

Amber Falter 24:32But-

Brian Doney 24:32I w- I would say-

Amber Falter 24:32But yeah

Brian Doney 24:33... yeah

Amber Falter 24:33It just really expands, like, bringing these dumb little things, like Quippits in my phone. Like, sometimes I'll look at one like, "All right, well, like, let's see what I'm bringing to the table," and it's just, like, the dumbest thing, and I don't remember what I wrote it down for. Yeah, so it's, it's good to sift through the, the dumb stuff.

Brian Doney 24:48Right.

Amber Falter 24:48I don't know.

Brian Doney 24:49It's, it's also just, I mean, it's good to just have people, like, sometimes I don't get a specific line from Amber or whoever else I workshop with. Sometimes I just get a new train of thought.

Amber Falter 25:02Okay

Brian Doney 25:02A new direction, just to have the possibilities open up. Because I, it- it's been said too many times to ignore this kind of bit of advice about how when you're working on something, it's best to take a step back and get a different perspective on it.

Amber Falter 25:17Right.

Brian Doney 25:17And I think workshopping really provides that opportunity. Um, for a comedian who is set on the idea of writing your material all on your own, I would argue that even if you are writing by yourself, how are you editing? How are you improving it? It's because you're going out to open mics to see if it's funny yet or not.

Amber Falter 25:35So you're getting feedback, but it's just not as direct as it would be in a workshop.

Brian Doney 25:40Yeah, and instead of just having no idea coming into it, um, like going into an open mic, because think of it this way too, comedians spend hours every night to only practice for five minutes. Um, so those opportunities are really valuable, so why wouldn't you want to be more prepared, think of other ideas, just be as prepared as possible before you spend that night, spend that opportunity?

Amber Falter 26:09Right.

Brian Doney 26:09Especially if you're someone who can't go out every night.

Amber Falter 26:11Can you talk about sort of the Columbus comedy scene as a whole and sort of what you see? Brian, you've been doing it a little bit longer. Amber, you're sort of, I think it was said probably roughly about the time that you got going that, like, Columbus finally has a comedy scene, and there are people that have in fact sort of grown up here, cut their chops, and then moved other places and to varying successes. Can you sort of give a snapshot of what the Columbus comedy scene is like now? So we have Whiskey Bear Comedy.

Brian Doney 26:40Mm-hmm.

Amber Falter 26:41How would you describe that? That's more of our-

Brian Doney 26:43Whiskey... Well, so there's, there's a few different, um, th- when I started, there used, there was only about a couple people that were running shows around here.

Amber Falter 26:51Okay.

Brian Doney 26:52Um-

Amber Falter 26:52And you're talking about, uh, open mics.

Brian Doney 26:55Uh, uh, I was gonna say-

Amber Falter 26:55Or even curated-

Brian Doney 26:57I was gonna say, well, I'll say open mics and also curated shows.

Amber Falter 27:00Okay.

Brian Doney 27:00Um, variety shows or just sh- stand-up showcases. Now there's a few different assets. There's, uh, Whiskey Bear Comedy, which has been doing really well with, uh, roast character shows.

Amber Falter 27:09Okay.

Brian Doney 27:10Um, there's also Shadowbox has been much more supportive of comedy over the years since I've been a part of it. I don't know before my time, but I, I, I just keep seeing more support for the stand-up scene and for the comedy scene.

Amber Falter 27:22Right.

Brian Doney 27:22They put on, you know, uh, they put on one woman, they put on the one-woman show with, uh, uh, Sarah Stohr, uh, from Hashtag. Hashtag does a show every week. Um, every Tuesday-

Amber Falter 27:34Hashtag is the improv troupe?

Brian Doney 27:35Yes.

Amber Falter 27:35Okay.

Brian Doney 27:36And then there's Tuesday shows at Shadowbox as well that are different shows every week and comedy related. I actually was there on election night doing a live podcast, uh, covering the election, so they provided a great opportunity for us and, and really helped us out with that. Um, there's also, uh, shows, uh, being run by Buckeye Stand-Up Comedy Club, which is the, uh, uh, uh, I don't know, Ohio State approved stand-up organization putting on shows-

Amber Falter 28:04Okay

Brian Doney 28:05... providing opportunities for students to learn how to be stand-up comedians. So the scene has gotten really kinda diverse and, you know, and, and there's, there's specific, uh, groups that we communicate with each other with on now, uh, as comedians. Some are more private, so it's hard to join them unless if you are a comedian. But-

Amber Falter 28:21Right

Brian Doney 28:22... there's a lot of good open communication. I've been seeing more workshops. I've been seeing more collaboration happen, and each year it feels like more people are trying to do this. So it's definitely growing, and the diversity of it is, it could be better.

Amber Falter 28:38Okay.

Brian Doney 28:38Um, but it's a lot better than what it was. And even for, for-

Amber Falter 28:43What are some of the frustrations that you're experiencing? I, I'd say open mics.

Brian Doney 28:48Okay.

Amber Falter 28:49I go to other cities for one, like, week, and I can go to so many mics.

Brian Doney 28:54Okay.

Amber Falter 28:54So the importance of an open mic to a comic is just constant practice-

Brian Doney 28:59Right

Amber Falter 28:59... and, again, feedback. Um, so-

Brian Doney 29:02So open mics should be more like trivia or karaoke nights.

Amber Falter 29:05Yeah.

Brian Doney 29:06Okay.

Amber Falter 29:06There, there, there need to, there need to be more available. Um, the, it's a problem with consistency, I think, personally. But that's some, that's o- one of my frustrations. Um-

Brian Doney 29:15You mean for the venue to commit to it, or-

Amber Falter 29:19It, it, I, I think-

Brian Doney 29:20'Cause the two big ones that you guys-

Amber Falter 29:21Yeah

Brian Doney 29:21... have referenced are Shrunken Head has an open mic night. Which night is that?

Amber Falter 29:25Monday.

Brian Doney 29:26Monday night. And then Barrel 44 sort of took over the night that Surly Girl used to have-

Amber Falter 29:31Mm-hmm

Brian Doney 29:32... on Wednesdays.

Amber Falter 29:33Mm-hmm.

Brian Doney 29:33Okay. And so what do you mean by consistency? Is it the consistency in the quality of comedy, or is it the consistency in the turnout that, that happens?

Amber Falter 29:42I would say the turnout and the-

Brian Doney 29:44Okay

Amber Falter 29:44... um, the idea of, like, other nights. So what if, like, I'm free on a Tuesday night, um, there's Bossy Girls, right?

Brian Doney 29:52Uh, yeah. Bossy Girls on Tuesday.

Amber Falter 29:53Um, but then Thursday night there's Zeno's, which how does that go?

Brian Doney 29:58Zeno's on Thursday.

Amber Falter 29:59That turns out-

Brian Doney 29:59Zeno's is, is more of a, uh, uh, purposefully has great-

Amber Falter 30:03It's bro comedy.

Brian Doney 30:04It's very bro comedy, and it's also very-

Amber Falter 30:06Oh, I was joking. Okay.

Brian Doney 30:07No, it is. And it's also ... But it's, it's a good room for comedians to, to meet each other and to, and to talk, but it's definitely kind of aligned itself as more of, like, a, a, a, of a networking place instead of focusing on just putting on a good show.

Amber Falter 30:21And that's simply by virtue of the size of the room and the layout of the room.

Brian Doney 30:24Yeah. Like, I'm not, it's not a bad thing. It's just the way that it is. I would, um, I, I, I would, I would say to, to piggyback off of Amber with, with the c- the consistency of having shows up is just the fact- We need more comedians willing to put the time in to be a host.

Tim Fulton 30:42Okay.

Brian Doney 30:42To branch out, to be more than just a five-minute or a 10-minute or a 15-minute act. Uh, learning how to host is a very important skill, I think. I used to run an open mic at my school, and, you know, whether the show, whether the turnout was good or not, I, I, I-

Tim Fulton 30:57You have to keep it going

Brian Doney 30:57... I kept it going.

Tim Fulton 30:58Right.

Brian Doney 30:58And I, and I did as long as I could until I graduated.

Tim Fulton 31:01Well, and by host, I'm just gonna sort of insert and guess what you sort of have to do. It's basically taking over the promotion for it, taking over the sign-ups, and, and sort of slotting everybody in in an appropriate way, and then introducing each one, and keeping the levity and sort of keeping the night going. And if not a whole lot of comics show up, you've gotta keep it, you know, keep... You have to have at least enough banter to keep it going the whole night.

Brian Doney 31:27Definitely. And it's also a matter of connecting with the audience that's there and telling them that, "Hey, you came out here tonight, and that's what makes this special. That's what makes this show good, and that's why you guys are gonna have a good time." That's how... I mean, that was my, that's my stipulations for the hosts that I've put on for this tour, uh, too, and, and we saw that last night with, uh, with Christine Horvath. And, uh, you know, just, you know, w- we're, we're awesome because we came here tonight, and this is gonna be one of the best shows that you'll ever remember. And I, I, I, and the people that were there last night definitely said that. They were like, "We appreciated you guys putting in all this time and effort for us, and to make us laugh, especially considering how things have been the last few days." So-

Tim Fulton 32:08Right.

Brian Doney 32:09Well-

Tim Fulton 32:09And when, we are recording this on Thursday. We would s- should say that when you say last night, it was the kickoff to your tour. Again, inserting a little plug, the finale for your tour will be on December 5th at the Garden Theatre. Tickets are available and information at briandoney.com.

Brian Doney 32:27Yes.

Tim Fulton 32:27So.

Brian Doney 32:28I would also say, too, to just finally answer your question, I think the biggest... Sorry.

Tim Fulton 32:32No.

Brian Doney 32:33No.

Tim Fulton 32:33I lo- I lo- meandering is the point.

Brian Doney 32:35Okay, good. Um, is I th- I think the, the, the real change that needs to be made for the newer comedians to really learn from the, the, the, to really learn from how we got to this point-

Tim Fulton 32:47Mm-hmm

Brian Doney 32:47... is because some comedians just started saying, "I, I stopped asking, why am I not on shows, or why aren't these shows happening?"

Tim Fulton 32:54And they made them.

Brian Doney 32:55And just, just made them start to happen. Um, you know, again, Plunderdog, Dustin Meadows, Tom Plute, Nick Glasser, uh, Nikki Winkelmann-

Tim Fulton 33:03Mm-hmm

Brian Doney 33:04... are all people that have really been helping build the scene and actually been providing those opportunities. So I would say to any new comedians or anyone who's interested in comedy, instead of asking why, just start asking how, I would say.

Tim Fulton 33:17Right. Right. Thank you guys so much for being here. Anything else that you guys wanted to plug that's coming up for you?

Amber Falter 33:22Yeah. Well, thanks for having us. This was really, um, it was really nice to kinda talk about, um, something other than the tour, or just specifically the tour.

Tim Fulton 33:29Right, right, right.

Amber Falter 33:30So that was nice. Quarterly, I put on a show with Pat Deering, a part of Stan- or Columbus Stands Up for Choice.

Tim Fulton 33:36Okay.

Amber Falter 33:36It is a show where we rotate clinics that we rai- raise money for, uh, per quarter. So this quarter on November the 15th-

Tim Fulton 33:45Uh-huh

Amber Falter 33:45... uh, we will be raising money for Women Have Options Ohio. It's the local clinic who helps raise money, or fundraiser that helps raise money for women who cannot afford their reproductive healthcare.

Tim Fulton 33:56Mm-hmm.

Amber Falter 33:56Uh, so it's always a humongous, really fun, beautiful turnout.

Tim Fulton 34:01Okay.

Amber Falter 34:01We do it at Ace of Cups. It's at 8:00 to 10:00 PM.

Tim Fulton 34:04Okay.

Amber Falter 34:05Um-

Tim Fulton 34:05That's coming up, then, what day of the week is that?

Amber Falter 34:07Tuesday.

Tim Fulton 34:08So that's coming up, actually, if you're listening to this podcast on Monday, that's coming up t- uh, tomorrow night.

Amber Falter 34:13Yep.

Tim Fulton 34:13And then is there a December one, or do you just do it quarterly?

Amber Falter 34:16Just quarterly.

Tim Fulton 34:17Okay.

Amber Falter 34:17Yeah.

Tim Fulton 34:17Got it.

Amber Falter 34:18So, um, it's always such a good time. It's just, like, a big feminist party. And, uh, we just accept donations at the door, and all the money raised goes to Women Have Options Ohio.

Tim Fulton 34:28Great. Brian, you got anything else?

Brian Doney 34:30Yeah. I, uh, I've been, uh, people who are familiar with me know I have a, a few podcasts going on. Um, trying to help build up the podcasting scene to help give comedians another voice and another way to reach out to people and, and audiences. I, uh, I have my own called What's the Deal with Creativity, which I do monthly, and it's about discussing the creative process. So if you enjoyed what we were talking about with writing-

Tim Fulton 34:54Yeah

Brian Doney 34:54... I have a lot of really great comedians on and other great writers and artists, uh, from Columbus, and I'm just asking them the how and the why of when they're creating their work.

Tim Fulton 35:04Right.

Brian Doney 35:04Um, the, the other show that I'm, uh, part of and produce is called Filibusted. It is a political, uh, show where, uh, well, kinda political show. We discuss, uh, difficult issues, which includes politics. We just had our live election show at Shadowbox that had a very nice turnout. We're hoping to do more live shows like that. And, uh, the last one I would like to promote is, uh, the Babes to Know podcast with Christine Horvath.

Tim Fulton 35:30Okay.

Brian Doney 35:30Um, she just brings on some of the best people you could find in Columbus, the babes, and they're people that you should know. And all three are very fantastic shows that I'm more than happy to be a part of.

Tim Fulton 35:41Great. Great. Well, again, thank you guys so much for your time. Good luck on the tour, and we'll see you back here on December 5th.

Amber Falter 35:48Thank you.

Brian Doney 35:48Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much.

Tim Fulton 36:00Thank you for listening to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. Again, you can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Please rate, subscribe, share this episode of the Confluence Cast with your friends, family, contacts, enemies, your local comedian. If you're interested in sponsoring the Confluence Cast, get in touch with us. We can be reached by email at info@theconfluencecast.com. Our theme music was composed by Benji Robinson. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. Have a good week.