Time for a quick Wednesday blog post, and then back to the grindstone with you!

There really isn't much to report here.  The S&M Crew is dilligently performing every night to hone their individual sets for the Comedy Spot show on Sunday, 1/29.  It's a grueling cycle- drink, perform, drink, take notes, go to bed late, wake up late, listen back to last night's set, change a few things, question every life decision up to this point, aaaannnd repeat.  It's a good learning curve, but it can be exhausting on an immune system weakened by lousy diets and low self-esteem.  But the shows are always fun times, hanging out and talking shop with our peers, getting valuable stage time, and most importantly, feeling like progress is being made.  So without any further blathering...

Upcoming shows for us:  Both Sanderson and Marek will be at the Icehouse Tavern on 1/25, Monkey Pants on 1/26, Toso's on 1/27, and The Comedy Spot on 1/29.  See below for our handsomely designed and incredibly informative flyer for the Comedy Spot show.

This Thursday at Monkey Pants, the laughter continues all night long with Jeff Turbitt, Brian McNett, David Mendelsohn, Greg Freiler, KB Bolin, Michelle Mikstas, Ricardo Rocha, Rick Roddam, Teddy Bearskovich and Zach Lyman.  Seriously, you won't be able to sleep from all the laughter.

Thanks for reading, keep coming out to shows and supporting the Live, Local, Budding, Blossoming, Burgeoning PHX Comedy Scene!

| Download | Duration: 01:06:29

A good Wednesday to you.  Let's get a podcast in your face.

It's Wednesday, might as well have a blog post from S&M, right?

After overcoming our most recent roadblock (see the "Hurdles" post on 12/28) of the All-New Material Show at the Hidden House on 1/4, Jamie Sanderson had to leave his S&M partner of Steve Marek and board a plane headed for the grey, humourless midwest.  Since then, Jamie has dealt with his crazily religious family, a hellacious fever and scratchy throat, a mother with Alzheimer's and a couple of bouncing baby nephews drooling everywhere and getting into everything.  Steve has had to deal with work without his left hand man, a small company owner that almost seems to refuse to prepare for the week long absence of his third longest employee, and the overall numbnuttery that seems to increase a dozenfold when Jamie's not around.

But today, Jamie returns to his beloved PHX Comedy Scene and a home tinged with the aroma of cat pee.  A soothing blanket of calm will fall over so many lives as normal routines are re-established and a full strength workforce resumes picking up the slack for our weirdly cavalier boss.  And now the S&M Comedy duo looks forward to the next roadblock, our real club gig at The Comedy Spot in Scottsdale on 1/29.  Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at thecomedyspot.net.

Upcoming shows for us:  Steve will be at the Turf on 1/16 and Pranksters Too on 1/17.

This Thursday at Monkey Pants, you too can get retarded in here with Cristin Davis, Demetrius Lee, Jerry Rider, Kristen Alberts, Steve Marek, Michael Senn, Nick Paul, Jamie Sanderson, Steve Jenkins, Steve Maxwell, Tim Stump and Xchel Hernandez!  Oh, the retardation!

Thanks for reading; keep coming out to shows and supporting the Live, Local, Ever-Expanding, Ever-Unfurling PHX Comedy Scene!

| Download | Duration: 01:05:09

Happy first Wednesday of 2012!  Actually, we don't give a shit; it's just another Wednesday.  What an enthusiastic intro for a podcast, huh?

On today's S&M, we have part one of our two part interview with Troy Conrad to share with your eager ears.  You may not have yet heard of Troy if you're fairly new to the PHX comedy scene, but you're almost certainly hanging ten on waves he helped create here before moving to L.A. to train at UCB and Second City.  That training, melded with an entrepreneurial vision and distaste toward the idiot status quo, has led Troy to fearlessly create such acts as The Comedy Jesus Show, Angry Townhall, and his current pride & joy, an improvised stand-up show wildly popular among comics and international audiences, Set List: Comedy Without a Net.  So prolific is Troy that we had to break this interview into two separate podcasts to temper the avalanches of information that would otherwise snow-in your comedic brain.  Enjoy digging out like you've never enjoyed it before.

Upcoming shows for us:  Sanderson and Marek will be performing the all new material show at the Hidden House on 1/4.  Steve Marek will be performing at Copper Blues and Filmbar on 1/10, while Jamie Sanderson will be in Kansas City, hanging with his old, arthritic, Alzheimer's riddled mama.  Aaaawwww. 

Also, on January 29th the S&M guys will both be performing at the Comedy Spot in Scottsdale. Get advance tickets for the 9pm show at www.TheComedySpot.net

Time for a quick Wednesday morning blog post, then back to the holiday hangover.

For whatever reason, we here at the S&M Comedy Podcast have a tendency, whether unhealthy or not, for setting mental hurdles and roadblocks for ourselves.  It's an inclination for compartmentalisation that has run through our lives, long before we met a decade ago.  We don't really know where it stems from, and that's less important than recognising those self-imposed roadblocks and plowing through them, leaping over them, or simply realising that they're only in our own stupid, self-defeating heads and we can just ignore them as we carry out our day.

You'll be proud of your little S&M Podcasteers this morning, as we handsomely devastated one of those roadblocks just last night at the Lenny Lizzard Birthday Roast at Prankster's Too in Scottsdale.  Neither of us had ever done a roast, and it's safe to say that our long-winded setups and not very "jokey-joke" style of comedy is not well suited to the quick set-up/punch style so frequently showcased by the popular Comedy Central roasts, but we wanted to be a part of Lenny's birthday, regardless of the tremendous cost that our egos may have to pay.

In typical S&M fashion, we did not want to be unprepared, so we did our research on the other performers, scrutinised every word uttered by Jeff Ross and Greg Giraldo on the Comedy Central roasts, and we wrote our asses off for several weeks.  Last night finally came, and before a packed house, we unfurled our formidable comedy cocks and let them sway meatily in the breeze.  We did well, we got heartfelt laughs, we passed out stickers to audience members that weren't aware of the local comedy scene, and we had a genuinely great time.  Most importantly, however, we demolished one of our self-imposed roadblocks and discovered a new skill for writing quick jokes, an ability to churn out eight new minutes under pressure, and a new self-confidence in hurdling our mental hurdles.

Upcoming shows for us:  Both Sanderson and Marek will be at the Icehouse Tavern for Sean McCarthy's 43rd birthday on 12/28/11.  It's not necessarily a roast, but we'll see if we can't slip some digs in there.

This Thursday at Monkey Pants, Anthony Desamito, Dustin Elkin, Jason Marshall, John Connell, Josh Dent, Josh Stark, Marc Crossman, Matt Anderson, Mike Gillerman, Steven Cathcart, Teddy Bearskovich and Zack Andresen will have you laughing so hard you'll extinguish your yule log and blow over your Christmas tree!

Thanks for reading; keep coming out to shows and supporting the Live, Local, Self-Aware, Artificially Intelligent PHX Comedy Scene!

| Download | Duration: 01:17:56

Feliz Navidad (and shut the hell up, Xchel) from your beloved S&M Comedy Elves!

This week's podcast features our first foray into music interviews, with Dave Cullen and Todd Smith from Polkadot Cadaver.  Yes, Polkadot Cadaver.  They're a very awesome, unique, tongue-in-cheek band from Baltimore, risen from the ashes of another awesome, unique, tongue-in-cheek band from Baltimore, Dog Fashion Disco.  Both bands are characterised by their eclectic styles, blending metal, circus music, and new wave with dark, sinister lyrics and Mike Patton-inspired vocals.  As big fans, we were happy to sit down with them at Los Favoritos Taco Shop before their show at The Clubhouse.  That's right, motherfucker, we fucking interviewed a fucking band named fucking Polkadot Cadaver at a fucking taco shop in a fucking strip mall in fucking Tempe.  We're fucking street like that.

Upcoming shows for us:  Both Sanderson and Marek will be at Pranksters Too for the Lenny Lizard roast on 12/27.

| Download | Duration: 01:17:23

Good morning!  Did you have sweet dreams?  That's nice.  Now go to work and keep dying slowly.

The holidays have descended without mercy.  Nightfall comes early these days, sapping the energy of every living creature with relentless bleakness and piercing chill.  All the zest with which you normally approach your days is just out of reach, shrouded in a dense fog of shopping in bland malls for gifts to render a weak, fleeting joy from someone you grow further apart from year after year.  You wake every morning in the cold and dark, feeling like a fat waif wandering Depression-era alleys searching for a crust of bread to sustain your body one more miserable day.  If only there were something to take your mind off the seemingly neverending onslaught of lethargic apathy punctuated by moments of despair- something to make you laugh for a while, share a timely endorphin-releasing memory with friends, maybe even meet a girl or three.  Something like...shutting the fuck up and going to a comedy show.  Yeah.  That's nice.

| Download | Duration: 01:23:27

A good Wednesday to you and yours during this fine, burgeoning holiday season!  Butter your bird and burden your butt with another podcast from S&M Comedy!

Today we share with you our interview of Howard Hughes.  Howard runs Stand-Up Scottsdale, a comedy venue that, in less than two years, has grown from a side room at a rock & roll club to a side room at a hotel restaurant into the current incarnation, a free-standing comedy club boasting a small-stage lounge for local open mics and a large main room with two bars and 170 seats!

Howard Hughes tends to be a bit of a lightning rod on the local comedy scene, as free with his opinions as he is.  In this interview, you'll hear opinions as layered as a spring mix salad with dried cranberries, gorgonzola cheese crumbles, and candied pine nuts on topics ranging from educating audiences on comedy, the importance of integrity of material, Phoenix comedy clubs, and humor in Mexico City.  Yeah, Mexico City.

Upcoming shows for us:  Both Sanderson and Marek will be at the Hidden House on 11/23.

There is no show this Thursday at Monkey Pants due to Thanksgiving.  Monkey Pants will still be open, however, in case you need a bacon wrapped deep fried hot dog smothered in nacho cheese to top off all that turkey drowning in a puddle of semidigested mashed potatoes with thick magenta veins of jellied cranberry sauce.  Just in case.  You can never have your bases too covered.

Pertinent Links: 

For upcoming shows at Stand Up Scottsdale, visit http://standupscottsdale.com/ 

Facebook profiles of Howard Hughes and Stand Up Scottsdale are here, just for you:  https://www.facebook.com/HHlive  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stand-up-Scottsdale/119885174690274

Email the podcast at smcomedysucks@gmail.com

Like the podcast on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/smcomedy

Thanks for listening, keep coming out to shows and supporting the Live, Local, Overeating, Going Back For Seconds, Who The Hell Took All The Stuffing PHX Comedy Scene!