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12/15 7:30pm
Canteen Points Comedy Show
The Good Nite
10721 Burbank Blvd,
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12/29 8pm
Lucent Enchantment Society
Clifton's Cafeteria
Los Angeles, CA
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1 Thank you, Balboa RV Park!

  • February 27, 2016
  • by dirtycurls
  • · Courtney McClean

WOW! Wednesday night I had the distinct honor of being on the FIRST Trailer Trash Talent Revue at Balboa RV Park, as curated and hosted by my ladycrush and now friend Dawn Brodey, and it was a FREEEEEGGIN’ HOOT. Here’s how my day and night shook out.

I left the house at 1:30pm to have a late lunch with my pal Les at Astroburger and for the first time since my adulty stomach acid issues, I ate a shit-ton of crap (i.e. cheeseburger, chili cheese fries, 2 Cherry Cokes, yeah!). And I made it out ok without heartburn, so I’m doing something right. Like, not eating crap for another week or so. Boo hoo.

We sat at our outside table for over an hour, but for the last fifteen minutes our eyes were reluctantly, involuntarily tilted upward at the television, upon which was a programme on – you guessed it – the upcoming US presidential election. Earlier in our lunch, Les wanted to vent his frustrations about Trump, but I honestly don’t even have the energy for that these days. I mean, I feel his – to put it mildly – shortcomings are so obvious that talking about it is wasting breath on the wrong thing.  So we sat there in silence and let the man himself talk and talk, making hopefully more than half of the nation disgusted in him enough to vote for the other guy/lady.

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Holy crap, Les and I have been friends for 10 years.

Neither of us wanted to move because it was so hot and we were in the lovely shade and we didn’t have to think because our eyes were glued to a TV. But Les had a nap to take and I had a show to get to! So a little after 3pm, I departed for Van Nuys for a 6pm call. Why? Because at this point, it would take me only 40-ish minutes to get there instead of 2+hours if I waited another 30 minutes. *I am one with the traffic. OMMMMMM*

I arrived at the Balboa RV Park a little after 4pm after driving down Balboa Blvd for the first time since my visits to a boyfriend that lived there during my college years! While cruising past the big park there, I did try to see if I could guess which bench we fucked on. I couldn’t.

Dawn said I could crash on one of the couches in “the clubhouse,” AKA the rec room of the RV park, AKA the theater! I found it immediately and found it empty and air-conditioned and found a couch upon which to get a little disco nap. I awoke to the jingle of keys and the question, “oh, are you the sleeping performer?”

“Yeah, dude, I’m rehearsing, if you could give me a minute, please.”

I shared a laugh with Steve, the proprietor and manager of the Balboa RV Park. What a sweetheart! He was the one that saw Dawn perform at the Comedy Store and then suggested she host a show at the RV park. And so here we are. Through our conversation, we found out we were born in the same hospital! Pretty cool.

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Like Steve Martin’s head arrow… our stage. 

By 6pm Dawn had us set up at a couple of picnic tables on the side of the building, with a vintage Airstream trailer blocking us in our “green room.” She unloaded a bag of “trashy” treats for us to snack on (sugar wafers! juice boxes! hot chili cheese puffs!) until the delicious homemade burritos, beer and wine arrived.

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Dawn Brodey hosts the Trailer Trash Talent Revue at Balboa RV Park! 

One by one the performers rolled up and I was pleasantly surprised to see a few familiar faces (all of them! Max! Kirsten! Erin! Andrea!) in the improv troupe Lady Parade! Here’s how weird real life is: Erin did a scene in which she proposed to the other character… and then later in the show, Erin’s real-life boyfriend Caleb sang a couple of songs and PROPOSED TO HER for real. I’ve never seen a real-life proposal! It was sweaty and nerve-wracking, but she said yes.

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LA improv group Lady Parade (yes, there is a dude) – here’s Erin (on couch) about to propose… before she really got proposed to. 

One of the gentlemen performing that night (with a band) was John Sommers, who wrote “Thank God I’m A Country Boy” for John Denver. John and I had a nice conversation about the banjo because he also plays! He also hosts a bluegrass jam every Tuesday night at the RV Park! And I just got next Tuesday night off, so…

Kat Perkins, one of the top 5 finalists on Season 6 of The Voice, was there with her partner Eric Warner, and they did a couple of covers and rocked the roof of the sucka, of course. There were a handful of other talents as well. I can tell you the next one is going to be awesome! I hope this becomes a cult hit of Weird LA.

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Tsulan Cooper & her band… John Sommers is the guitarist on the right of the picture. That’s a pirate statue on the far right. One of two in the room.

I played “One Week” and “If You Ain’t Gonna Tap It,” my two newest jokes (Chris Maddock calls his funny songs “jokes” – I like it). Halfway through the minute-and-a-half “One Week,” I commented on how there were already a lot of cocked eyebrows and this was one of my cleanest songs! Got a laugh, which is the point, of course.

I chose these two songs because Dawn had asked for a more “family-friendly” set. This is a request I have received quite a few times. My challenge is always: do I write more “family-friendly” stuff so that I can play more places? Because I risk watering down my material and the message, which is that sex isn’t dirty, or okay, it IS, but that isn’t a bad thing. Luckily I have somewhat of a handle on metaphor so a lot of this stuff goes right over the kids’ heads.

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The hilarious and amazing Martini & Olive, of whom I’ve heard for YEARS in the Twin Cities (their photo is in the Bryant Lake Bowl bathroom!) and they were just spectacular. 

Sitting in the front row were 3 pre-teen girls. I love pre-teen girls. Probably because I’m not their mother, but there’s something I really want to get close to there, like a mother, auntie, or maybe just the “cool older lady.” But older ladies are rarely cool to pre-teens unless they’re famous. Anyway, these ladies were sitting there and I made eye contact with them a couple of times as I sang about chlamydia and not being able to have sex for a week as their mom got more and more angry with me and the questions she knew she would have to answer later kept coming as I sang. I don’t actually know that their mother was angry with me. I don’t even know if she was there. I did, however, offer my ear if any of them wanted to talk to me about having their periods. From the stage. Into the mic. “Hey ladies, if any of you need to talk to me about your period, I am here for you.” I am really proud of my attempted embarrassment of these poor girls for some reason. I did apologize to them after the show, and luckily, they were actually very amused by the whole thing and seemed to enjoy my songs. Maybe I am the cool older lady after all!!

The room was packed, Dawn kicked ass as a host, and everyone was really nice and grateful for the show. I had a wonderful time and I look forward to the next one!

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With Andrea K of Lady Parade! (And also, friend/colleague from MN)

 

 

xoxoxo Court.

 

 

0 Trailer Trash Talent Revue! Wednesday!

If you were ever waiting to see me perform in a trailer park, now's your chance...

  • February 22, 2016
  • by dirtycurls
  • · Courtney McClean · Upcoming Shows

So. The Set List show in Santa Barbara this weekend got canceled. I don’t know if it’s kosher to say why, but as far as I know, everyone is safe and in good health and that’s all that matters. Needless to say, it was a bit of a bummer for a little nobody like me, but I know that there will be others!

Like this Wednesday, I’m performing at Balboa RV Park as part of this awesome show!

Trailer Trash Talent Revue 2016

Wheeeeee! Come on out. Banjos & trailers. I’m getting closer to the Dream, friends.

0 Thank you, Minneapolis & St. Paul!!!

  • February 19, 2016
  • by dirtycurls
  • · Courtney McClean

Oh, my dear Twin Cities, I had the best time this past weekend. Thank you so much to the hundreds (!) of people that came out to the shows, I hope you enjoyed yourselves and if you never heard of me before, I hope you loved what you heard!

Of course, I made a quick return to Minnesota to play two of my favorite shows: Le Cirque Rouge Cabaret & Burlesque‘s Valentine’s Show and Pundamonium‘s Sextravaganza: The Sex Pun Slam.

Le Cirque Rouge is a show comprised of burlesque and vaudeville acts: lots of amazing bodies, voices, and music. I always have a blast and the audience is always huge and super into it. But what one doesn’t see from the house and on the stage is my very favorite part of LCR shows. The backstage chaos guaranteed with every show: makeup, glitter, sequins strewn about, breasts of all sizes and shapes out and about with no second thought, the giggles and chatter of sexy, smart, and confident, alcohol and weed imbibing, heels clicking rapidly up the ramp to get on stage on cue… it’s a scene from a movie about showgirls every time. It’s so much fun and makes me feel like a real pro. Not to mention all the wonderful people that work so hard to make LCR’s shows an extremely fun spectacle.

On Saturday, I played two songs in the first set (showtime at 8pm), because I had to book it to Pundamonium in Minneapolis by 9:30. I played my newest songs: “One Week” and “If You Ain’t Gonna Tap It.” Sunday I replaced “One Week” with “Hey, Joe Biden!”

At Club Underground I met up with Anna, Lacey, and Cherry Mae and we played a set as Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls after the first round of the slam. We had a challenging sound check in front of the audience, but then our set was tight and a lot of fun. And the timing ended up being really good for the arc of the show. All’s well that end’s well!  We played a 5-song set and even Zacc Harris, Twin Cities’ jazz guitarist extraordinaire, joined us on the bass! How lucky am I?  Very much so.

I got to see so many friends this weekend, whom I miss so much. I got one-on-one time with some of my very favorite people (definitely not all of you – next time!!!) and every minute was filled to the brim with the fabulous Minnesotans who have put joy into my last 8 years. I ate Pizzeria Lola twice.

I’ve only been gone 4 months. And it just felt like I was coming home after an extended vacation. But as we flew back into LA, the first time I had flown “home” to California in over 13 years, I knew that I was coming home to the right place. for me. for now.

Thank you, Minneapolis St. Paul. So much love for you. Maybe see you in August for the Fringe Festival!

 

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Los Angeles at night from the plane
The fabulous Eric from Middle Child Ink!
Molly Roark, amazing stylist and lover & writer of comedy
My dear friend, amazing stand-up comedian, and bassist for The Dirty Curls: Chris Maddock (he’s eating more lengua this year, people, SEE?)
Mugsy performing in Le Cirque Rouge’s Valentine’s Show
And finally, besties Marne & Chieko.
Lauren Anderson of MPLS’ Brave New Workshop Comedy Theater and I had brunch and our compulsory trip to Buffalo Exchange afterward for funky jewelry
Maggie Ryan Sandord, host of “Pundamonium,” and Art Allen, creator of “Pundamonium”
I filmed some bits for “The Alex Aaron Comedy Hour.” Joe Cocozello played the Sex Monkey
A picture of a picture by Barb McLean (not my mom!), an MSP photographer who is a big LCR fan and collaborator
DIRTY CURLS!!
Comedian Amber Preston was in town from Los Angeles and did a set at Grumpy’s downtown!
Arrival at MSP airport!
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