“Everyone needs a laugh right now,” says Milwaukee Comedy’s Matt Kemple as COVID-19 and plenty else can bring people to despair.
With that in mind, Kemple’s group, responsible for promoting and publicizing independent comedy shows and open mics before the novel coronavirus hit U.S. shores, presents its Quaran-Teeny Tiny Show series. Kemple explains, “This is a short video series we put together, for free.”
So, unlike some folks’ entrepreneurial ventures at livestreaming stand-up for Zoom-linked paid tickets, the Tiny performances are freely available for public consumption. As for the circumstances under which they were recorded, Kemple clarifies, “We filmed comics one at a time, each one coming in by appointment to ensure safe distancing protocols. The only people in the room were the comic performing, myself and my two co-producers, Greg Bach and Kaitlin McCarthy. So only four people were in the room at a time. Comics wore face masks unless they were performing, and we had lots of hand sanitizer in use as well.”
Still Home for Comedy
Though many of the comedy gigs presented via video conferencing have comics plying their shtick from their homes and wherever else they feel comfortable, Kemple and his cohort see no use in letting an already established suitable venue-their own-go to waste. “The Laughing Tap,” he says of Milwaukee Comedy’s own dedicated space for funny fun (706B S. 5th St.) “is our home for comedy,” and it is there the Quaran-Teeny Tiny gigs will continue to take place as Kemple and company intend to “keep doing it until we can have live shows again.”
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Kemple breaks down the format for the Teeny Tiny Shows format thusly: “Each comic performed about five minutes, with some performing twp different five-minute sets. Each Quaran-Teeny Tiny Comedy Show episode is 15-20 minutes with three comics on each one, and an intro from Tim Higgins, local funny man and one of our associates at Milwaukee Comedy.”
Other people providing the Teeny Tiny’s chuckles so far include Milwaukee Comedy event mainstays and local open mic hosts AJ Grill, Raegan Niemela, Elijah Holbrook, Carly Malison, Ryan Mason, Ton Johnson, Jeff Spankowski, Chris Schmidt and Mike Kobin.
When it comes to the future of Milwaukee Comedy specifically and comedy in Milwaukee in general, Kemple conjectures, “As for moving forward and what the ‘new normal’ may be for the comedy industry, I can’t really say. Things will be different for a long time, and we will adapt in any way we can to keep people laughing.”
Though most of the Quaran-Teeny Tiny segments are available for free at Milwaukee comedy’s website and its YouTube, a donation or purchase of a gift ticket allows a donor access to a video otherwise unavailable. Details may be had at MilwaukeeComedy.com.
