Press Kit - Innovative Comedy

Eddie Pepitone’s latest comedy album
is a delightfully cutting sermon
By Eric Thurm @ericthurm
Feb 25, 2015 12:00 AM
Eddie Pepitone has a gift for predicting disaster. Much of his comedy album In
Ruins (taking its name and much of its material from last year’s Netflix special) finds
him using everything from sports to corporate advertising to its natural conclusion—
ways to forget about death and the inevitable collapse of the world for another few
seconds. Not that “The Bitter Buddha” is immune to this fatalism—during one
particularly notable bit, “Reporting Live,” he pretends to be reporting from a
catastrophe, bellowing with equal parts rage and fear. The scene sounds apocalyptic, like
a dispatch from the end of civilization, before Pepitone reveals that he’s just describing
what he sees in his own apartment. He’s dropped Cheerios under his refrigerator.
That’s right on target for Pepitone, a
comedian and actor who has only come into
his own in his 50s. His decades-long struggle
for recognition, deep-seated anger, and
cultish following within the comedy
community is captured in the 2012
documentary The Bitter Buddha, which
presaged something of a career renaissance
for the comic’s comic, who has since
appeared on a number of TV shows (including a perfectly cast recurring role as a
tortured soul on Adult Swim’s Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell).
That rage finds a more than suitable outlet in the faux-superficiality of In Ruins, in bits
ranging from commercials accurately depicting uses of products for those suffering from
crippling despair to a version of The Price Is Right for the hidden costs of the Iraq War.
The album features Pepitone playing to a crowd of adoring fans in his hometown of
Brooklyn. He still might not quite have hit the big time, but he’s enough of an altcomedy stalwart at this point that he doesn’t have to worry about anyone in the packed
house missing his jokes about the structure of “vapid round of applause bullshit,” a
setup that enables every call for a round of applause to be a punchline in itself. Many of
the lines that get the most laughs are also the ones that sound like philosophy
masquerading as comedy, which make the album’s material more intellectual,
borderline spiritual than usual, even from Pepitone. By the time Pepitone is singing
about watching murder on TV on “Blue Collar Lounge Singing,” In Ruins has turned
into a world-weary victory lap.
Pepitone makes a great, consistent background player precisely because he is, in a sense,
a complete caricature, something he acknowledges in consistent references to his
Brooklyn roots (while also castigating the members of the audience who are changing
his hometown). Where some comedians try to make a personal connection, it’s hard to
pin down Pepitone the man, precisely, because all of his seemingly personal jokes turn
surreal. Do his car rides with his wife really consist in listing off facts about box turtles?
Does he really enjoy cinnamon swirl raisin peanut butter? Probably not, but the jokes
(along with Pepitone’s well-placed, deeply depressing singing) all express something a
little deeper.
Admittedly, that can be a bit exhausting. Pepitone delights in discomfort, and his
worldview is so consistent in its acridity that the despair can wear a bit, even over the
course of an hour. But his sadness never threatens to fully derail the enterprise.
Although Pepitone’s comedy comes from an unflinchingly bleak perspective on
humanity (“cunning, deceitful fucks”), it’s difficult not to be swept up by his not-sosecret enthusiasm, and harder still not to be convinced that—against all odds—a guy
who is known, in part, for heckling himself, is happy. In fact, he sometimes seems like a
big kid, gleeful that he gets to do this for a living. “I didn’t think I was very good,” he
sheepishly admits as the album winds down. He doesn’t have to be so self-deprecating.
Eddie Pepitone
In Ruins
By Anthony Damiao Published Feb 24, 2015
Actor/comedian
Eddie
Pepitone — the doomsday
schlepping,
gourmand
abhorring
political
malcontent himself — has a new comedy
album. In Ruins, his second live recording
in four years, is an absolutely livid romp
through the classic comedic outburst. In
his element, Pepitone is both furious and
composed, absurdist and deadly serious.
He's Bill Hicks with no volume control
and Larry David whispering in his ear.
He's Steve Martin if you took his banjo
and told him nothing would ever be okay
again.
Those unfamiliar with Pepitone's career may recognize him as the recurring "New York City
Heckler" on Conan, Archer in the 2003 blockbuster Old School, or from The Sarah Silverman Show.
When Pepitone raises his voice we picture Brooklyn, a Brooklyn Pepitone claims is going soft due to
gourmet hipster restaurants and a lack of doo-wop groups, but Brooklyn nonetheless. Born in
Brooklyn and raised on Staten Island, Pepitone has harvested the working class ideals, liberal values
and fervour for community and fraternity that so characterizes the way Brooklyn has been portrayed
for decades. Rough around the edges, unabashedly loud, intense and uproarious, this recording
couldn't have been made anywhere else.
In Ruins is a wide reaching tirade with little reprieve. Pepitone rails against American
interventionism in Iraq and beyond — one of his best gags depicts the Iraq War as a contested item
on The Price is Right. Pepitone's derisive material cuts a wide swathe, condemning "corporate
stooges" and world leaders, Tweeters, Facebook users, grilled cheese connoisseurs, winos,
comedians, magicians (especially magicians) and industrial agriculture practitioners to whatever his
conception of the lowest circle of hell may be.
Pepitone's style inevitably places him firmly atop the proverbial soapbox. That said, he manages to
pull off the crucial American "everyman factor" with a surprising amount of grace for a man with the
social discretion of a street preacher with his hair on fire. That's what makes In Ruins such a funny,
relatable record. Pepitone's America is — if his stage persona is to be believed — a hopeless dump
whose chief exports are hypocrisy, violence and incompetence. If he's even a little bit right, and
American citizens have things half as bad as he says they do, who wouldn't relate to an angry old
man screaming at the top of his lungs? Pepitone knows who his audience is beyond a doubt. He
knows how a large portion of his country feels, and he embodies that frustration completely. That's
what gives In Ruins its relevancy.
While not all of In Ruins is political — some of his best moments are not — there is no mistaking his
preoccupation. Vehement as Pepitone's opinions may be, they often lack some depth, which causes
parts of In Ruins to be somewhat dull by the third or fourth listen. Whether that should have been
improved upon depends on what Pepitone's goals were. If he wanted to make people think, he
could've done better. If he was looking to show the United States it's inconsistent, paranoid pulse, he
hit the mark. In Ruins is smart, aggressively engaging, and seriously funny.
(Comedy Dynamics)
Moontower Review: Unhinged
You don't have to be on Congress to strike comedy gold at
Moontower
BY R U SS E S PIN O ZA, 1: 0 8P M, SA T. A PR. 2 5
While bigger stuff was going down at the Paramount
and Stateside theatres on Thursday, a comedy
showcase called “Unhinged” was demonstrating how
Moontower’s selling points need not be confined
to Marc Maron, Maria Bamford, and wildly popular
comedians of their ilk (you know, people with TV
shows and immortal bits about KFC Famous Bowls).
Taking place at the Parish on Dirty Sixth, Unhinged
not only trotted out a bevy of the industry’s stars of
tomorrow, but it also wielded some established starpower of its own via show emcee and elder
statesman Eddie Pepitone (aka “the Bitter Buddha”).
To boot, Mr. World Champion himself, 30
Rock’s Judah Friedlander ambled onstage with
trademark hat on head and some good-natured
Canada-bashing that he needed to get off his chest.
Eddie Pepitone
Oddly enough, Friedlander’s exceptional wit and
COURTESY OF PAUL BARTUNEK
ostensibly spontaneous turns of phrase clash with his
cultivated and time-tested aesthetic of backwoods illiterate. But certainly the paradox is the point.
The evening’s slate of funny young-ish things included Kate Berlant, Erica Rhodes, Mike
Lawrence, Arlington Mitra, Randy Liedtke, Guy Branum, Simon Amstel, Rachel Feinstein (a
former Last Comic Standing finalist), and former Austin-based comic Doug Mellard. Perhaps the
most unique of the bunch was Branum: big, white as alabaster Dutch Boy paint, and so very
awesomely gay. The big, teddy bear-ish fella knows how to command a stage, and the result is
rather foreboding and disarming all at once.
Pepitone, though, was a terrific and steady interlude between each comic. If you haven’t yet had the
pleasure of taking in his bleating, and oftentimes indignant lunacy, you’re missing out. Hopefully one
day he’ll get some time on the Paramount stage during a Moontower not so far, far away.
In Ruins with the Bitter Buddha: The Laugh Button
interview with Eddie Pepitone
February 26, 2015
Eddie Pepitone has become one of the most respected comedians in the comedy community and a cult favorite in
L.A. And in recent years, he’s taken on the moniker of the “Bitter Buddha”. Recently, he’s explained to us why this
world is In Ruins, his latest effort now available on iTunes. You may recognize his voice from WTF with Marc Maron,
or witnessed his victory last year on @midnight, or saw one of his many guest appearances on comedy programs
such as Bob’s Burgers, The King of Queens, Chappelle’s Show, Monk, Community, Children’s Hospital, Happy
Endings, Flight of the Conchords, 2 Broke Girls, or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Here’s our latest time spent with
Mr. Pepitone.
You might be in ruins but personally I felt like I was in church. Congrats on your latest special, In Ruins, now
available on iTunes.
Thank you, I appreciate that.
I couldn’t stop laughing at your coffee bit.
Haha, ya, I guess there are hipster coffee shops everyone, but here in L.A. there is one called Intelligentsia where it’s
become a little ridiculous with the price of a cup of coffee, something close to $4. And I just think there is this over
emphasis on how great these products are while the world goes to hell on the other hand. It strikes me as absurd. I
find it a little too much.
It’s kind of like the menus at a foodie restaurant. I just want bacon. I don’t care how or where it’s smoked.
Yes, exactly. It’s like a sexual thing. They are pillow talking you with these descriptions. You think when you have this
food item it will change your life. But it only does that for about 5 minutes. I like to attack all of that.
You sound so comfortable on stage when you talk about these things. Do you remember the point when you
became completely comfortable?
It took me a really long time for that. I think it varies for different comedians. It took me at least 20 years. That’s when
I started to feel comfortable with who I am and could just go on stage and just put it out there for people instead of
being self-conscious and calculated. Now I think I error of being on the other side and I have to pull it back.
Sometimes I think, god, these poor people, I’m inflicting so much upon them because I am so comfortable now.
Would you say that going to see an Eddie Pepitone show is like getting in a car with no seat belts?
(laughing) Well hopefully yes. When I’m feeling really good, it’s a good dangerous bumpy ride.
Your list of credits at this point is so long, and one of my favorite games to play is the “Find Eddie” game. I’ll
be watching TV and say, “Oh, there’s Eddie, he slipped in there as one of the Paparazzi in this episode
of Hello Ladies.”
Haha, yeah I know.
I feel like everyone wants you to be a part of his or her projects. Almost like it’s a testimonial to you. Does it
feel like that to you?
Well that’s really nice. You know, being a character actor I’m the guy who can fit into a lot of different projects
because of what I do. And I know so many comedians, they become writers on shows, for instance, right now I’m
hoping to be on Jim Gaffigan’s new show on TVLand. It’s stuff like that. It does feel really good.
I recently caught wind of a project called B-Roll. Can you talk about it?
Yeah, that’s a film that stars the very funny Kurt Braunohler. I got to play the head of a local news team, it’s an indie
film. I film a bunch of indies, in fact right now I’m filming one with Matt Walsh and believe it or not, Molly Ringwald. I
get to play this lunatic clown. These are films that are coming out, I just don’t know when. But from what I’ve seen, Broll should be pretty good.
You can download Eddie Pepitone’s latest release, In Ruins, on iTunes now. Or catch it on Netflix.
INTERVIEWS
A Discussion About Philosophy and Spirituality with Eddie
Pepitone
by Isaac Kozell | March 3rd, 2015
On his new full length comedy album, In Ruins, Eddie Pepitone lives up to his Bitter Buddha reputation
with passionate diatribes on everything from the cost of war to his ongoing existential crisis. Like a wellcaffeinated sidewalk preacher, Pepitone delivers his sermon with an improvisational flow that can only
come from a seasoned mind full of too many competing ideas. He is a true comic philosopher, willing to
hold himself up to the evils and tragedy that he sees in the world. I talked to Pepitone about his search
for spirituality, the little joys in life and what he would like to see more of in standup comedy.
You're a big advocate for meditation and the philosophical quest to become a better person.
At the same time, you have a joke on the new album where you say that you got addicted to
Vicodin because you couldn't afford a real vacation.
That's the constant struggle, man. It's classic. The enlightened part of us versus the primal animal in us
that just wants pleasure. My whole life has been a struggle against instant gratification. Especially in
today's world where you can go on the internet and see pornography, or order food to be delivered, or
watch movies. Instant gratification is so unbelievable now. I'm so glad I quit smoking pot and drinking
because if I was still doing that I don't think I would travel. I don't think I would be productive at all. My
whole thing with getting high and all of that was just to zone out into pleasure. We can pleasure
ourselves to death. One of the books I'm reading right now is called Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil
Postman and it's all about that.
My wife and I had this conversation recently. We were talking about how we miss the days
of discovery when you would have to be at the right place at the right time to hear a new
song, for instance. You would have to dig deep to find the name of the song, who the band
was and what their story was. Working for it made it feel so much more important. Now that
everything is readily available it's hard to get the feeling of hunting and gathering, if you
will.
That's a good point. There's an overload now. But if you can be discerning, if your sources are good …
you have to have trusted friends and good sources … you have to be particular about what you watch. I
was just talking to a friend about how it's hard for a comedian to delete their Facebook account, or stay
off of Twitter. You feel like you have to keep putting stuff out there. But back to what we were talking
about earlier — enlightenment as opposed to just zoning out — I feel like enlightenment is about space
and what the Buddhists call emptiness or stillness. That is such a precious commodity these days. I stack
too much technology in my life and there are too many thoughts in my head. You know?
Yeah. You know it's a problem when you have one of those rare moments of downtime, but
instead of enjoying it, you sit at a computer where you have the entire world at your
fingertips and you're still bored. It's like the old joke about cable TV: so many channels and
nothing to watch.
Right. What is that? I think it's a thing of balance. Have you ever seen that Naqoyqatsi movie with the
Philip Glass score? It's a documentary that underscores the destruction of nature and the encroachment
of industrialization. They juxtapose images of nature against mechanization. It's pretty cool. It's a bit
heavy too. Everything has become a thing to be used, including people. People are turned into
commodities. It's scary.
That happens in comedy all of the time. When booking shows, it's not always about who is
best at the craft. It's about who will draw.
That's what it's all about! On another level, it's about winners and losers. Who are the winners and who
are the losers? The losers will be despised. The comedy of cruelty, reality shows, porn. It's all about
losers and winners.
That's what feeds those neurotic cycles of negative thought that you talk about in your
standup. With a public profile, you have — at any given moment — dozens of opinions
regarding your worth, being delivered to you on multiple channels. That can really fuck with
you.
Oh, dude, that is so true. That's why, for me, I have to have a spiritual side. I have to try. I've got to tell
you, I'm terrible at meditating. I would rather have coffee in the morning than sit and breathe. That's
why I have to go to a place where I surrender to the moment and let my thoughts go. I can't keep
getting into this winner and loser stuff. Living in L.A., it's a cauldron of winners and losers.
It's so competitive and there is so much talent in one location. To even register on any kind
of scale is incredibly hard.
It is. My wife and I are always talking about moving somewhere quiet, like Oregon.
Would you like to be more of a wilderness person, or do you need to be in a city?
I think I would like to be near a metro area. I like to perform. I don't know if I could be the guy to
completely zone out in the countryside, even though I'm going that direction. It would be funny if I was
just walking through the mountains, but I have a microphone and I would just accost the one person I
see that day and start riffing with them.
That would be a good web series.
(Laughing) Seriously!
Let's talk about the little joys in your life. The other day you tweeted, “The low level of
anxiety that pulses through me constantly is certainly made more enjoyable with a hot cup
of coffee.” What are some of the other positive things that get you through the day?
You know what really has been a big thing lately is that for the last couple of years I've owned — well,
owned is a rude word — but I have two dogs now and I get so much joy out of these dogs. There's none
of that winning or losing shit. It's just pure, unconditional love. Other things I like to do… in L.A. there's
this great place called Huntington Gardens. It's these great botanical gardens and there are a couple of
museums there. Another thing I love is hockey. I love my Rangers. I'm a major New York sports fan. I
bought the NHL package and I love zoning out to the Rangers, even though when they lose I question
why I'm so into this shit.
And why you're feeding into the whole winners and losers thing?
Absolutely. That's the thing about my comedy — when I'm honest with myself, I'm such a contradiction
with all of this stuff. Sometimes when I'm railing I'll say, “You people this and that,” and then I realize
I'm talking to myself.
I read an interview you did a while back where you were talking about how much you hate
corporate culture, but then you'll be in Target and see a vintage Coca-Cola shirt that you
want to buy. You have to stop and remind yourself who you are.
I am like that. At least I've committed to a couple of things. I've really committed to veganism, even
though I love to eat meat. I've committed ethically to not being a part of that, with a lot of help from my
wife. That feels good. But nobody likes to hear about that stuff. It's a tough thing to talk about. I'm going
to Iowa to do a festival, where they have bacon festivals, you know what I mean? It's going to be tough
to talk about how the pigs are treated from birth. It's hard to be aware of the atrocities of life and still be
funny.
How's married life treating you?
We just had our second anniversary. It's been a good thing for me.
I like the bit on the new album about being together for so long that you run out of things to
talk about. I've been married for 13 years.
So you related to that one?
Yeah. The quiet moments are nice, but sometimes I worry that they will continue to grow in
length to a point where there's nothing left to say.
That's why I like the spiritual thing, because it teaches you not to worry. You can just kind of chill and
realize that sometimes it's good not to talk.
You open In R uins with a bit called “Round of Applause,” where you skewer the call-andresponse tropes that comedians use to engage the audience in a patronizing way. What else
do you see done in comedy that you could do without?
I wish more comedians would talk about the way people are getting fucked over. Most comics shy away
from talking about social issues. It's true that we have to entertain people, but I feel like most comedians
stay away from touchy issues. I wish more comedians would speak truth to power.
Comedian Eddie Pepitone "In Ruins"
In August of last year comedian
Eddie Pepitone released his
newest stand-up special, In Ruins.
Filmed in his home turf of
Brooklyn, In Ruins is full of dark
and insightful humor that is
presented in completely absurd
scenarios. In the bit, "Horsey
Song," Pepitone theorizes he may
have to sing to the masses as a
sad entertainer in a dystopian
future. Maybe that scenario isn't so
far from the truth.
TheeErin
At a time in our history when the media seems more than happy to sensationalize every
piece of information, and the public seems to get more apathetic by the minute, this
special might strike the right balance between the tragedy and comedy we need. One of
the jokes that felt the most poignant was one in which Pepitone fantasizes about a
woman on The Price is Right having to guess the price of the Iraq War, "instead of a
blender." Like this one, each segment of the recorded special seems to shine a bright
light on the absurdity of the world we live in a way that makes the audience painfully
aware yet still encourages them to laugh.
Pepitone has several other stand-up specials available for purchase, and is the subject
of the 2012 documentary The Bitter Buddha, which collected awards at comedy and film
festivals all over the country.
In Ruins is available on Spotify and is currently streaming on Netflix.
Sophie Day in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 8, 2015 11:00 am
Eddie Pepitone’s New Year’s Eve
survival guide
The self-eviscerating comic is here to help you get through the craziest
night of the year
By Nick Leftley Mon Dec 29 2014
Eddie Pepitone | Photograph: Robyn Von Swank
Despite his move to L.A., Eddie Pepitone is still a real New Yorker through and through, and he knows a little
something about the trials and tribulations of NYC during the holidays. Take his advice, pick your New Year’s
Eve events carefully, and have the not-worst New Year’s Eve ever!
Lower your expectations
“When I was younger, I always wound up at parties with these tremendously high expectations and ended up
watching people kissing passionately, drunk out of their faces, while I would be stoned and hoping there was a dog to
pet. In your head, you picture Freed Astaire at the top of the Rainbow Room but instead, you’re in Red Hook with
some older relatives on oxygen machines. You always end up feeling like you’re at the wrong party.”
Stay the hell out of Times Square
“If you really want to go into tremendous despair, go to Times Square. It’s like being at a horrible protest where you’re
behind a barricade but there’s no cause to unite over. Avoid it at all costs unless you’re completely out of your mind
or on some kind of suicide mission.”
Go to work
“I waited tables one year, and that wasn’t a bad New Year’s Eve, because I was working and making money, so I had
an excuse to not be happy. But don’t be a cabdriver—that’s like picking up the damned everywhere you go. Driving a
taxi on New Year’s Eve is the equivalent of driving a taxi right after society has collapsed.”
Walk home
“Getting a cab can be a life-threatening situation in rush hour on a normal day, but you can multiply that by a 100 on
New Year’s Eve. It really feels like Escape From New York at that point—the cab drivers just pass people by like,
‘Fuck it!’ The subways are crowded, so if you don’t want to get puke on your arm, if you want to have a little dignity,
go someplace close to home so you can walk. Going out in a different borough? Forget it!”
Be cheap
“Buy very cheap products and accessorize them like they’re from the top gourmet shops in New York. Get yourself a
cheese ball from Duane Reade, but say it’s one of those specialty cheeses from Dean & Deluca. No one will know it
only cost $5. Then buy cheap, rotgut gin and pour it into the latest bottle of Absolute – I think it’s called ‘Absolute
Elitism.’ Then just stay at home.”
Don’t do cocaine
“I remember doing cocaine in this bar in the East Village, thinking that would spice up my New Year, and the only
thing it did was make me white out. I couldn’t handle it! I was the worst New Year’s Eve guest you could ever
imagine, saying things like, ‘Please help me! I don’t know if this blindness is temporary…’ That’s not a New Year’s
guest you want.”
Moderate your booze
“There’s nothing worse than having so much booze that you start telling the truth. You start telling your friends how
important they are to you, you start crying, and it’s nothing to do with them, you just have enough booze in you to get
to the feelings you’ve locked away for the last year.”
Ignore the commercials
“Consumer culture shows so many images of happiness that when you’re not experiencing it, you feel like the biggest
loser and New Year’s just magnifies that. In the holiday season, ads show everyone having a good time—people in
cars full of diamonds with beautiful women. Meanwhile, in real life, you’re walking to the fridge with your dick hanging
out of your boxers, looking for chocolate.”
See the show!
Eddie Pepitone
The self-loathing stand-up known as the Bitter Buddha—he has released a movie of the same
name—masterfully navigates his dark comedy in a way that's both silly and brash.
Carolines on Broadway 1626 Broadway, between 49th and 50th Sts
Mon Dec 29 - Tue Dec 30
Rage onstage: the hilarious indignation
of Eddie Pepitone
Stand-up Eddie Pepitone’s twisted humor is trending in American
comedy.
By Jared Hemming October 14, 2014
For comedian Eddie Pepitone, a layer of phoniness comes with working stand up in Los
Angeles.
One business he hates: commercial auditions.
“All I would have to say in the commercial was, ‘Honey, how’d you get the shirts so fresh?’”
Pepitone said. “[My] joke escalates to, ‘Honey, how’d you get these shirts so fresh? One out
of four people in this country are unemployed, but you still get the shirts fresh.’”
With appearances on “Last Comic Standing,” “Conan,” and a film about him, “The Bitter
Buddha,” Pepitone is now touring the country, including a weeklong stint at Acme Comedy
Company in Minneapolis.
Though Pepitone struggled to become a full-time comic until his 40s, he said his
commitment to his bleak humor has paid off.
“I probably could’ve been a little more mainstream,” Pepitone said. “I was stubborn about
where I wanted to perform and how I wanted to do my comedy. And now we’re to the point
where I think America has become a darker place, and it’s caught up with me.”
Pepitone said this darkness has always been essential to his brand of comedy.
“I’ve been true to what I do as a comedian, and my comedy is not about comfort, about ‘feelgood,’” Pepitone said. “I think the funniest stuff is the terrors and the tremendous struggles
that we go through.”
For Pepitone, the terrors began when he dropped out of college to become a comedian in his
20s after three years of studying dentistry.
After moving to Los Angeles from New York, Pepitone established his career as a character
actor, working guest spots on television. But he lacked star power.
“I’m a very envious, jealous person, being a comedian,” Pepitone said. “And being in
Hollywood, I see young people get stuff, and I get angry. I feel like they haven’t suffered
enough.”
Though Pepitone has yet to release a stand-up album, he said the end goal for his career is
performing, rather than becoming an actor.
“I’m 55, so I always think, ‘Oh Christ, I’m way too old to be the Hollywood star,’” Pepitone
said with a laugh.
Despite his overall success on tour and TV, Pepitone said he still loves turning weak
moments into comedy, and occasionally, music.
“Everybody liked that ‘Eddie Pepitone theme song,’” Pepitone said, singing the self-written
joke tune. “‘Eddie Pepitone, Eddie Pepitone, he just borrowed another five grand.’”
With his curmudgeon image, Pepitone said he is able to blow off steam from life’s tragedies
by expressing anger onstage.
“I feel like, in my own life, I have gotten happier,” Pepitone said. “I still get disgruntled. It’s
hard for me to be completely at peace.”
Pepitone’s malcontent allows him to keep in touch with his heightened sensitivity to
emotional turmoil.
“There’s just so much suffering,” Pepitone said. “How do you ignore that as an artist, as a
comedian? Do you just talk about dating? I never do material about dating or Six Flags
amusement park.”
What: Eddie Pepitone
When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Where: Acme Comedy Company, 708 N. First Street, Minneapolis
Cost: $15
Eddie Pepitone: RIP America, It's Been Fun
Reclaiming the true art of stand-up
Source: The List
Date: 3 August 2014
Written by: Marissa Burgess
It doesn’t feel like you’ve had the full Fringe experience
until you’ve seen an overweight, bald man ranting at
you. Here in Edinburgh, that could be on a stage or in
Tesco. And in either place it could be Eddie Pepitone. The
American is one of those stand-ups who persists in
planing away against the grain, whose show you come
away from feeling that more comics should be like that
rather than chasing the TV deals.
Pepitone acts like a man who doesn’t care, and being a bit saggy and loose at the seams himself,
looks like one too. Of course, he really does care and there’s a huge amount of passion here, with
his hour at times feeling almost like a left-wing rally. Shaking his head in disbelief that most
Americans are only a couple of paychecks away from homelessness on account of the harsh
housing system, elsewhere he explores the surreal notion of product placement in Arthur Miller’s
Death of a Salesman. Some observations, such as how the minutiae of our lives becomes a bigger
issue to us than world concerns, might not be the most groundbreaking, but Pepitone invests them
with such performance and gusto that the truth of his statement feels more real: the cereal spilt
under the fridge is almost more important than Gaza.
Despite being very much in control, there’s a lovely unhinged, flying-by-the-seat-of-his-pants quality
to Pepitone. Indeed, in one extended section he imagines and plays out a scenario in which the
mentally ill – in this case a man who has killed – publicly share their experiences at a major sporting
event. It’s almost difficult to tell which is the ‘mad’ man and which is Eddie Pepitone. Dark, slightly
unnerving and questioning. Just what stand-up should be.
Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 24 Aug (not 11), 9pm, £12--£14 (£10--£12).
Eddie Pepitone: RIP America, It's Been Fun
Pleasance Courtyard: Above Until August 24
(not 11)
Sunday 10 August 2014
Bill Hicks and George Carlin died, Denis Leary became a TV fireman and even Michael Moore has
been quiet of late.
Over on these shores we sorely need another American ranting at us about the decaying state of his
nation and, on paper, Eddie Pepitone could be that man. He calls himself "a truth-teller" and there's no
arguing that there's searing truth in what he says about American prisons and unemployment, even when
there's not always a joke behind the shouting. His description of his countrymen ordering in food before
settling down in front of the TV to watch the "spectacle" of an overseas invasion has a snarling bite, and
his rewrite of Death Of A Salesman with Willy Loman advertising washing detergent is the best short
routine I've seen at the Fringe this year so far. When his black humour hammers home the political points,
he's a man on fire.
Edinburgh Festival latest: Reviews, tips and
gossip from the Fringe
Aug 04, 2014 16:11
By Trevor Davies
As the Commonwealth Games wind down in Glasgow, Edinburgh Fringe kicks off
- read on for some of our tips if you're going to the festival
y
People walk in the streets of Edinburgh on August 21, 2013 during the annual Fringe Festival
As the Commonwealth Games wind down in Glasgow, the fun kicks off
in Edinburgh at the Fringe today. With 49,500 performances of 3,193 shows, the
choice of acts is mesmerising.
And this year many of the favourites are appearing for free. You can see a few
big names who fly in to milk the publicity in the first week.
But the best way to enjoy the event, is to try and spot the big names of tomorrow,
doing stand-up on tiny basement stages. We’ll be bringing regular updates of the
names to watch out for.
Here’s a few of the acts John Nicholson has already managed to see, followed
by some of our top tips.
4:10 pm
Eddie Pepitone
21.00 - Pleasance Above
A larger than life New Yorker with a nice line in fury and raw-throated shouting.
Satisfyingly, this is a stand-up who mixes a hilarious, world-weary anger with
really interesting characterisations, utilizing his acting skills to explore some
interesting ideas about the collapse of American society.
It's a great combination and leads to a really fulfilling hour of comedy.
You probably won't see a funnier bit in the whole month than his BP exec
shooting a dolphin.
★★★★
Review - Comedy: Sunday's Vodafone comedy festival
Iveagh Gardens, Dublin
Eamon Sweeney
Published 29/07/2014
Aisling Bea
We're well used to most music festivals lasting for up to three days, but now the Vodafone
Comedy Festival pushes the funny boat out to four. This grants an Irish audience a rare chance
to see Aisling Bea, who has become a massive hit on the UK circuit in recent years.
The former Fair City actress won the So You Think You're Funny? gong at the Edinburgh Festival
in 2012. The highly likeable and personable Bea embarks on a very Irish flight of eccentric fancy
about growing up in rural Kildare. She crams a breathtaking amount of anecdotes into a
relatively short slot.
Fellow Irish comic Maeve Higgins is brilliantly described by Kevin Gildea as being like listening to
one half of a conversation between two insane neighbours. Gildea chairs a special Bookworms
event to discuss comedy and writing with Higgins and best selling fantasy author Eoin Colfer.
This relaxed event provides a nice counterpoint to the relentless marathon of stand-up.
Colfer reveals that he sees himself as a frustrated performer who is now dabbling in writing
material for comedy troupe The Belle Bottoms. Higgins contends that stand-up comedy is a bad
discipline to become a writer because it is so casual and conversational as a medium. She reads
from the James Thurber story The Dog That Bit People, revealing how his love for the everyday
inspired her own writing.
Bookworms is a fine addition to this burgeoning festival that also features the uber-intimate
Horsebox Comedy Theatre, which has a capacity of four people for a series of lightning-fast,
three-minute shows.
Returning to more 'conventional' live comedy, it doesn't come much darker than David
McSavage pouring scorn upon the world and just about everyone and everything in it.
The star of The Savage Eye announces that he is extremely hungover, which adds a further twist
to his biting set.
Eddie Pepitone provides the perfect nightcap to conclude the festivities. The Brooklyn-born and
Los Angeles-based comedian's set has echoes of the modern giants of misanthropic
comedy Doug Stanhope and Jerry Sadowitz, but his show is far less needlessly offensive and
much more theatrical and post-modern.
Pepitone is the only act I've seen that heckles himself from offstage, while somehow making it
look and sound like the most natural thing on Earth. His masterclass in unorthodox comedy is
the perfect parting glass to close four fun-filled days.
Irish Independent
We ask The Bitter Buddha, Eddie Pepitone, 11
Questions
By Josh Modell @joshmodell
Aug 6, 2014 12:00 AM
In 11 Questions, The A.V. Club asks interesting people 11 interesting questions—and then asks
them to suggest one for our next interviewee.
Eddie Pepitone has been playing angry, funny guys—and being an angry, funny guy—for
decades, on stand-up stages, in movies, on TV, and on podcasts. He’s recognizable for small
parts in everything from Late Night With Conan O’Brien (he was the “New York heckler”) to The
Muppets to The Sarah Silverman Program, and he starred in the live-action web comic Puddin’.
A feature-length documentary about Pepitone, The Bitter Buddha, was released in 2012, and the
doc’s director, Steven Feinartz, also helmed Pepitone’s new hour-long stand-up special, In
Ruins, which debuts tomorrow on Netflix.
1. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
Eddie Pepitone: I sanded and installed hardwood flooring in Staten Island, and I still have
tinnitus from it. It was such a physical job; it was just hard in every way. My boss was a superdemanding, legally blind guy who would tell me I missed a spot. He couldn’t see, this fucking
guy. It was just one of those crazy jobs I had when I was smoking a lot of grass in my early 20s. I
did it for like two years. I got a hernia, and I remember I was working with the hernia for two
months because I was afraid to take a day off. I thought my boss would kill me. What I put
myself through—I can’t believe it. I still have ringing in my ears from the loud floor-sanding
equipment. We used to go into these houses in the winter and have to install flooring with no
heat—the houses would be kind of shells. We would smoke a ton of pot and crank up jazz. We
thought we were really cool because all the other construction guys were listening to rock, and
we were listening to jazz.
The A.V. Club: Were you doing stand-up yet?
EP: I was starting to do stand-up and acting. I was taking serious acting lessons. I used to go
into my acting class covered in sawdust, like a Peanuts character. I’d be doing Death Of A
Salesman, and every time I moved, dust would come off of me.
2. What did your parents want you to be?
EP: My dad wanted me to be anything but an actor. He wanted me to be, like, a doctor. So to
please him, I told him that I was going to be a dentist, which was hilarious, because it’s the
farthest thing from my true personality. My mother didn’t care what I did. She was like, “Do
what you want.” When I told my dad I was going into acting, he wouldn’t talk to me for a few
months. He was an education guy. He was a dean in high school. I’ve won him over slowly over
the years.
3. Who would be your pop-culture best friend?
EP: Hercule Poirot. Does that count? The Agatha Christie guy. Our neighbors sound like they’re
drunk and high, screaming laughter all the time. And my wife and I are next door, quietly
watching Poirot, a civilized gentleman. I picture myself now like Poirot. Even though I scream
on stage, I despise noise. L.A. is so noisy. I identify with Poirot’s disdain for anything
uncultured. [Laughs.] Me and my wife went to the Hollywood Bowl to see Beethoven’s Fifth
Symphony; that’s the kind of thing I like to do now.
4. What game show would you be good at?
EP: I’m a Jeopardy! fanatic, and I think I would be good at that, because if I got the answer
wrong, I would intimidate Trebek by screaming at him. You know when Trebek looks to the
judges, when there’s an answer that may be right or wrong? I would say, “Look judges, if you
don’t give it to me, I know where you live, and I’m coming for you.” My wife is amazingly
good. Jeopardy! makes me realize the immense holes I have in knowledge. I may be one of the
most geographically challenged people ever. My historical facts are spotty at best. Science—I’m
spotty at best. If you get into grooves where you can access things you learned or that you’ve
read… It’s almost like doing comedy. When I’m really doing comedy well, I feel like I can access
things in my life. We all know a lot of facts, but it’s whether we can access them, depending on
our emotional state. I’m just not well read enough. Maybe that doesn’t answer the question,
though. I dunno. I would still want to try Jeopardy! Every other game show just seems so
fucking stupid to me!
5. How would your enemies describe you?
EP: I think my enemies would describe me as judgmental and bullying. I’m very critical of
comedy—what’s being done in Hollywood in comedy. If I’ve made enemies out there, it’s
because I like to rip whatever I think is puerile bullshit. I think maybe it comes across as
bullying when that’s really the opposite of what I am. I think that any good comedian or artist
has to be judgmental. For me, anger fuels my comedy. Comedy’s got to make fun of stupidity.
You have to judge what you think is stupid.
AVC: Do you actually have enemies?
EP: Not overtly. In the comedy community people are just polite. Nobody will come out and say
that they’re your enemy. That’s the Hollywood way! They quietly hate you.
6. If a deli named a sandwich after you, what would be on it?
EP: It would be called the “calcium coronary heart scan.” It would be all vegan, with fake
sausage, fake ham, fake roast beef, tomato, onion, pickles, and lots of vegan mayonnaise on
heavy, thick bread. It’s the vegan sandwich where you think you’re eating healthy, but you’re
really not.
7. What was your first big “grown-up” purchase?
EP: Oh wow. I would have to say it was a condom! [Laughs.] I’ll never forget being so nervous. I
was in my 30s. I’m kidding. But before a condom, I think it was just a very expensive sandwich. I
think I was maybe 20. I was very nervous. I felt like a thief. I felt like I was in a Woody Allen
movie, like, “I’ll just take these magazines and the condom,” trying to slip the condom in—no
pun intended—between some magazines and a Diet Coke.
8. What’s your go-to karaoke song?
EP: I stopped doing karaoke about 10 years ago. I’ll tell you what my go-to song was, until one
night I couldn’t hit the high note anymore. It was “Roxanne.” I would like karaoke for the first
half-hour, and then I would just get so fucking tired of either the singing being horrible, or the
fucking people who were showing off, which I thought was so lame. I once saw the guy… Do you
know the guy who played Van Helsing? He’s got a big face, a big head. You know who I’m talking
about?
AVC: Hugh Jackman?
EP: No, fuck. Too bad I can’t remember. It was some celebrity, and he sang Frank Sinatra.
Everybody was wowed by it, and I was like, “Who gives a fuck?”
9. What’s the worst living situation you’ve ever had?
EP: Oh my God, maybe my first apartment after leaving my dad’s house. It was a rent-a-room
thing. I had a meth head who lived directly above me. There’s nothing more horrifying than
hearing a meth head talking to themselves. I swear to God, the only thing I could equate this guy
to, but without the face makeup, is the Joker. Incredibly long diatribes about nothing, and then
he’d giggle maniacally at the end. I had mice in my apartment. It was the only thing I could
afford. It was in Staten Island near the ferry. I could see Manhattan from my window. It was so
close yet so far. It was truly horrifying; I think I lasted a couple of months. The meth head broke
into my place, and I think I left the next day.
10. Who could you take in a fight?
EP: Just about every stand-up comedian I know. Let me think who to pick out. I think I could
definitely kick the shit out of Anthony Jeselnik. No. Patton? I don’t want to get Patton mad. I’m
gonna say Wolf Blitzer. I watch him on TV and I’ve grown to despise him, and at this point I
could definitely take him.
AVC: Just with the power of your anger?
EP: Yeah. Stop scaring people. I put on CNN yesterday, and every story was just a bombing, a
plane crash, a war. That’s what these guys love. They love when there’s tragedy in the world,
because then people tune in. They scare people. It plays into the fear-based society we live in
that says we need NSA and all the military that we have. In other words, it makes people think
that we need to be violent because there’s so much violence out there. That’s what the media is
all about. Is it okay to go deep?
AVC: It’s good. How do you balance that in your act, doing political stuff without it
overwhelming things?
EP: I usually feel that out on stage. A lot of times I’ll be home writing and I get so angry. When
I’m on stage, I realize I can’t be that serious or angry. People want to be entertained, first and
foremost. I always have to balance it with silliness or absurdity.
11. Do you have anybody’s autograph?
EP: I have Derek Jeter’s autograph on a baseball. Brody Stevens gave it to me, because he
knows I’m a big fan. Other than that… I have Dana Gould’s autograph! Other than that, I don’t
have any. I never was a big celebrity-seeker guy. I wish I would’ve gotten Lou Reed’s autograph,
because he was my favorite. I saw David Bowie’s 50th birthday party concert, and he called on
Lou Reed to do a couple songs. That was so fucking cool.
Bonus question from Kumail Nanjiani: All things being equal and with no dietary
consequences, what’s your favorite breakfast food?
EP: I’m vegan. By the way, tell Kumail that is not an inspired question. Lately it’s been
applesauce with blueberries and nuts. I don’t know why I’m laughing. It sounds so boring.
AVC: Do you crave sausage and bacon?
EP: When I see it or smell it. But if I’m not seeing it or smelling it, I don’t think about it. It’s all
mental.
AVC: Are you vegan for political or dietary reasons?
EP: Both. I saw some factory-farm videos. And my wife is a huge animal-rights activist. And
besides that, it’s good health-wise. But with a vegan diet, it takes a while to tweak it to where
you’re healthy. I was eating all these carbs, thinking, “I’m vegan, I can eat all these sweets!”
What question do you want to ask the next person?
EP: Since we live in such dire times economically, and there’s so much injustice going on, what
would be your method of political activism that would really make a difference? Not just being
on a computer and signing a petition. Would you go to the streets? Would you go to a
congressman’s office?
Posted: Thu., Feb. 21, 2013, 6:44pm PT
New U.S. Release
The Bitter Buddha
(Documentary)
By JOE LEYDON
A Gravitas Ventures release of a Cheremoya Films production. Produced by Mikki Rosenberg, Steven
Feinartz. Executive producers, Daniel Smekhov, Spencer Willis, Brad Rutter, Neil Bagg. Co-producers,
Matthew Braun, Tyler Condon. Directed by Steven Feinartz.
With: Eddie Pepitone, Robert Pepitone, Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt, Zach Galifianakis, Jen
Kirkman, B.J. Novak, Paul Provenza, Dana Gould, Todd Glass.
By turns robustly amusing and wistfully melancholy, "The Bitter Buddha" persuasively
argues that attention must be paid to Eddie Pepitone, a fiftysomething Los Angeles standup
comic who hasn't yet graduated from cult favorite to breakthrough success. Widely admired
as "a comic's comic" by better-known peers -- some of whom, including Sarah Silverman
and Patton Oswalt, offer oncamera testimonials -- Pepitone appears understandably
frustrated by his relative obscurity, but determined to pursue what he unironically calls "the
big career." Steven Feinartz's well-crafted docu may provide the boost he needs if this pic
finds the aud it merits in VOD and limited release.
Pepitone -- whose appearance and demeanor suggest an angrier yet more enlightened version of
Paulie, Rocky Balboa's underachieving brother-in-law -- rants about humiliating auditions and
unresponsive audiences. But the picture isn't entirely bleak: He seems to land frequent if not
remunerative club gigs and online-media work. And while he admits to battling personal demons, he
also acknowledges his "flash anger" is high-octane fuel for his humor. Snippets of his show at
Manhattan's Gotham Comedy Club indicate why he might be an acquired taste, and why those who
acquire that taste find him hilarious.
Camera (color), Alex Sax, Danny Garcia; editors, Daniel Russell, Feinartz; music, Andrew Sit; animation, Allen
Mezquida; sound, Daniel J. Clark; associate producers, Mezquida, Kevin Crowley. Reviewed on VOD, Houston,
Feb. 20, 2013. (In Slamdance Film Festival.) Running time: 90 MIN.
The Bitter Buddha: Film Review
2:06 PM PDT 3/12/2013 by Frank Scheck
The Bottom Line
This loving portrait of the angst-ridden comedian
should well lift his profile.
Director
Steven Feinartz
This loving portrait of the angst-ridden comedian
Eddie Pepitone should well lift his profile.
Every little-known stand-up comedian should have as stellar a showcase as The Bitter Buddha,
Steven Feinartz’s loving documentary profiling the 54-year-old “comic’s comic” Eddie
Pepitone. Delivering his raspy comic diatribes fueled by a rage directed both inwardly and
outwardly, the comedian--whose big belly and bald pate makes his nickname seem apt--should
see his star rise as a result of this cinematic mash note.
Peptitone, who’s been plying his trade for more than three decades, has achieved greater
prominence in recent years thanks to his frequent appearances on Marc Maron’s popular
podcasts. The two men are clearly kindred spirits, as evidenced by their frequent interactions
seen here, including a hilarious off-the-cuff conversation about the complexities of navigating
internet porn.
A gallery of famous comedians is on hand to sing Pepitone’s praises, including Zach
Galifianakis, Sarah Silverman and Patton Oswalt, the latter commenting, “He’s
the Charles Bukowski of comedy, only replace alcohol with Nutter Butter."
As it happens, Pepitone is now clean and sober, a lifestyle choice he explains by saying that “I
just want to be conscious for the horror."
He’s also, for all the anger expressed in his stand-up routines, apparently a sweet soul, as
evidenced by his adoration for his many pet cats, his fondness for listening to audio tapes
of Eckhart Tolle and his habit of feeding squirrels in the park.
“Does he do it angrily?” asks Oswalt with a smirk.
There’s little structure to the film, which essentially follows the comedian around as he goes
through his daily routines while offering frequent commentary about his addiction-plagued life
and a career that has stubbornly resisted mainstream success. Some drama is supplied by his
nervousness over an impending headlining gig at NYC’s Gotham Comedy Club, his first-ever in
his home town, and whether or not his irascible father will bother to make the trek from Staten
Island to attend.
Although the lack of a narrative structure eventually proves frustrating, Pepitone is such an
engaging, funny figure that he manages to give the proceedings a firm anchor. The unique blend
of angst and humor that fuels his personality is beautifully encapsulated in the film’s closing
moments, when he muses about never having had children and the fact that he’s devoted his life
entirely to his career.
“Is that sad?” he asks. “I think it is,” he answers while breaking into hysterical laughter.
Opened March 8 (Cheremoya Films)
Production: Syndctd Enterainment
Director: Steven Feinartz
Producers: Steven Feinartz, Mikki Rosenberg
Executive producers: Neil Bagg, Christine O’Malley, Brad Rutter, Daniel Smekhov, Spencer Willis
Directors of photography: Danny Garcia, Alex Sax
Editors: Steven Feinartz, Dan Russell
No rating, 91 min.
'Bitter Buddha' milks the loser shtick,
successfully ★★★
'The Bitter Buddha' (March 14, 2013)
Michael Phillips
Movie critic
1:26 p.m. CDT, March 14, 2013
Except for all the lame, derivative ones, every comedian under the sun is special in his own
way.
Eddie Pepitone's distinction resides in his need to flay himself at the same time he's blasting
his loathing outward. Large, balding, a recovering alcoholic (he's now clean and sober), the
veteran stand-up crank is the subject of director Steven Feinartz's wasp-on-the-wall
documentary, blending performance footage, scenes with Pepitone and his sour but proud
Staten Island father, and quiet moments in which "the Charles Bukowski of comedy" opens up
and reveals some of the insecurities masked by other insecurities. Humor's nothing without
them.
As his friend, fellow comedian and actor Patton Oswalt, says in "The Bitter Buddha":
Pepitone's stand-up attack springs from "decades of fear and failure. And learning to deal with
that creatively."
Pepitone lives in LA, where he auditions (sometimes successfully) for a variety of TV jobs he'd
appreciate having. And yet the paradoxically needy contempt he feels for those in hiring
positions compels him, often hilariously, to trash the hand that may feed him. He's also an
active Twitter blab. "I love to tweet," he crows in one stand-up routine. "It makes up for a life
that wasn't well lived."
The movie's animated sequences have a way of killing the jokes when they're not coming off
like an "Adult Swim" tryout. Yet the film succeeds in reflecting the weird sweetness in
Pepitone, the eternal sweet-and-sour entree at a crowded buffet of more palatable comedians
looking for guest shots on sitcoms. The doc also captures the essential melancholy of greater
LA — the gnawing sense of failure that dogs even the most successful show business workers
there.
"The Bitter Buddha" ends with Pepitone's biggest club date of his career (the film was shot in
2011), at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City, not far from where he grew up. He does
well. His father's there. It's a good night.
Pepitone and director Feinartz hit town for a one-night showing of "The Bitter Buddha" at
9:30 p.m. Friday at the Music Box Theatre. AV Club editor Nathan Rabin will moderate a
post-screening talk; go tomusicboxtheatre.com.
mjphillips@tribune.com
No MPAA rating (language).
Running time: 1:30.
Playing: 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Music Box Theatre; also available via Amazon and other
streamers.
Copyright © 2013 Chicago Tribune Company, LLC
Cool stuff on DVD today: 'The Ice Storm' and more
POP CANDY
Whitney Matheson, USA TODAY
12:42 p.m. EDT July 23, 2013
Sick of TV? We have some quality summer fare out today:
Release o' the week: The Ice Storm. This week Criterion issues a
special edition of one of my favorite '90s movies. Ang Lee's sadly
beautiful interpretation of Rick Moody's novel features a stellar cast
of all ages: Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Elijah Wood, Tobey
Maguire, Christina Ricci, Katie Holmes. Lee offers commentary,
and a documentary includes interviews with the actors. Deleted
scenes and an interview with Moody round out a director-approved
package worth owning.
- Trance. Danny Boyle directs a frantic and sexy tale starring James
McAvoy and Rosario Dawson.
- Twixt. Francis Ford Coppola directs Val Kilmer in this frightening film.
- Ginger & Rosa. Elle Fanning (who also stars in Twixt) is the highlight of this '60s-set drama.
- Kiss of the Damned. Heroes alum Milo Ventimiglia stars in Xan Cassavetes' lush and
inspired vampire story. (And yep, she's John's daughter.)
- The Bitter Buddha. This doc about comedian Eddie Pepitone includes commentary
from Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman and others.
Also out: Welcome to the Punch, Starbuck, Love and Honor, The Silence,Graceland, Tower
of Evil, Superjail: Season 3
Blu-ray highlight: Criterion also releases the 1987 film Babette's Feast.
Related news: Surprise hit Sharknado arrives Sept. 3.
Next week: The first season of Cinemax's Banshee arrives.
Eddie Pepitone documentary The Bitter Buddha out
today on DVD!
By Dylan P. Gadino | July 23, 2013 at 9:52 am
It’s been a long and wild ride for the a little comedy documentary that could. From independent
screenings to garnering praise at the Austin Film Festival, the Friars Club film fest and the Slamdance film
fest to its digital release on iTunes, The Bitter Buddha is finally out on DVD. Directed by Steven Feinartz,
the 90-minute flick explores the life and mind of comedian Eddie Pepitone, aka The Bitter Buddha. With
appearances from the likes of Sarah Silverman, Marc Maron, Patton Oswalt, Zach Galifianakis and many
others, viewers follow Pepitone to gigs, at home and beyond.
The DVD version — out today — contains tons of
bonus features, including 30 minutes of deleted
scenes and archive footage, the roast of Pepitone
featuring appearances by David Koechner, Henry
Phillips, Dana Gould, Brody Stevens and Rick
Overton and commentary with Pepitone’s
podcast, The Long Shot Podcast with Sean Conroy,
Paul Provenza and Feinartz. Buy your copy today!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dylan P. Gadino
Dylan is the founder and editor in chief of Laughspin.
He launched Punchline Magazine in 2005 (which
became Laughspin in the summer of 2011) with
childhood friend Bill Bergmann. Dylan lives in
northern New Jersey with his wife and two sons. He
hopes the Shire is real.
Interview: Eddie Pepitone Talks Deconstructionist
Comedy, The Seven Stages to Accepting Yourself
Onscreen, & Saying Yes To 'The Bitter Buddha'
BY KATIE WALSH
MARCH 17, 2013 8:32 AM
Eddie Pepitone is a comic’s comic, a deconstructionist stand-up comic with a scream like no other, who’s
willing to put everyone, most often himself, under the microscope. Pepitone gets that treatment in the
documentary film "The Bitter Buddha," directed by Steven Feinartz. It’s an engaging portrait of this
man and an instant classic film about comedy that will be fascinating to comedy nerds and mainstream
audiences alike. In our review, we said the film is 'a portrait of an interesting and endearing misanthrope,'
and we got a chance to talk to the man himself on the day of his film’s premiere at the Cinema Village in
New York City.
How did you get in touch with "The Bitter Buddha" 's director, Steven Feinartz?
He had seen me perform the rants on Marc Maron’s WTF Live Shows, and Steven really liked what I did,
and I had just fired my manager and contacted me through Twitter. We met at UCB, and he just proposed to
me a documentary on me. And I was like 'oh yeah!' I had a really good feeling about Steven so I said, yeah
let's do it.
It doesn't sound like you had many reservations about agreeing to this project.
I went with my instincts, because – this is really wild – I had been approached by someone else in New York.
About 6 months earlier, he wanted to do a documentary on me, and my instincts were: definitely not him.
It's apparent in the documentary that you’re very in tune with the energy around you in a
very innate way.
Well, it's a huge undertaking. He followed me for close to a year.
What was that like for you letting these people in?
The first couple of times I was filmed, I was like, 'oh man, I don’t know if I can do this,' because I felt very
conscious of the cameras and I felt uncomfortable. And then, I don’t know what happened, but after the first
night, it just felt okay. I think it was just developing a rapport with Steven, and it just felt so fine, and after
that first night or two that he filmed me, it was cool and I actually really enjoyed it.
Did you have any input in the shape of the movie?
Not really, it wasn’t in my hands, and I think Steven was kind of figuring it out as we went along, and then,
the Gotham show materialized, and my father, and that became the arc for it.
What was it like for you to watch this movie for the first time?
I have gone through a couple of changes. The first time I saw it, I was absolutely thrilled, and then second
time I saw it, there were things that made me cringe about it, just personal things, like me talking about AA
and some of the intimate moments with my dad – I felt like I was too flawed a human being. And then I
came to terms with it. It's been the seven stages of death, I went from anger to acceptance. And I really do
like the film, I do think Steven really gets me as far as my stand up, and that's the most important part of it
to me, because that’s my life's work, that's what I was talking about at the end of the movie. I really did love
the way Steven put it together.
Has your dad seen the movie?
He has not seen it, and that is fine with me. He kind of lives in his own world, he lives in Staten Island. I
don’t know if he’s going to see it or not, but, parts of it were kind of rough on him, when I’m talking about
him.
What is going to be the life of the movie going forward? What is its role going to be in your
comedy and your career?
That's an interesting question, and Steven has been handling all of this. It's screening for a week in New
York at Cinema Village. I just found out that it’s going to Melbourne, because I’m going to Melbourne to do
the Australia Comedy Festival, and then in London, I’m doing the Soho Theater for three weeks in London
and I would love for it to play over there. Since it is our show, I think it would be great if I could keep it alive
and keep people seeing it, I don’t know how that's going to happen, but I hope it will as I get more
popularity. It’s certainly given me a jolt of popularity and hopefully more and more people will see it. But it
is tricky, you know?
I love that your comedy is about comedy itself. It’s about breaking it open and being meta
with it.
I love to be deconstructionist with comedy because I spent my life doing it, and I just realized the absurdity
of being in front of people, yelling and screaming about stuff, I think it’s hilarious to break it down. It’s
hilarious to me, and whenever something’s hilarious to me, it usually resonates with the audience.
Is that something that took you awhile to develop?
It took me a long time, and I’ve been talking about it with people, I think it takes a long time to become
comfortable in front of people, and I’ve become confident now, as I’ve done it for more and more years, to
talk about just the things I want to talk about, and that’s one of the things I want to talk about. So it’s just a
matter of my confidence reaching a certain level.
It seems like it takes someone a long time to gain that confidence.
Many years, many years.
Review: 'The Bitter Buddha' Captures The
Brilliant Meta-Comedy & Existential Angst
Of Eddie Pepitone
BY KATIE WALSH
MARCH 8, 2013 1:52 PM
Eddie Pepitone is a comedian of dualisms. At 52, he's the next big thing. He's a meditating vegan with
rage issues. He enjoys swearing at LA drivers as much as he likes to feed squirrels in the park. This duality of
character is what Steven Feinartz's documentary "The Bitter Buddha" (the title an oxymoron itself)
attempts to convey about Pepitone, a man who is as delightful as he is loud, as incongruous as he is familiar,
as buddha-like in nature and stature as he isn't.
Pepitone is a stand up comedian in LA, a comic's comic, as the slew of comedians interviewed attest to in
our introduction to the man (testimony is given by Patton Oswalt, Zach Galifianakis, Jen Kirkman,
B.J. Novak, Paul Provenza, Dana Gould, Scott Aukerman, Andy Kindler, Sarah Silverman,
and more). And yet, he's still under the radar, still trying for that big break. His signature scream belies his
ennui and frustration with life itself, and one gets the sense that screaming into a mic is one of the only
things that helps to keep him sane (he alludes to this himself).
That primal scream is derived from many things: a rough childhood, struggles in the industry, the
unbearable weight of life itself. It's a scream all too many can relate to, and because Pepitone is so honest
about it, he has a magnetic force about him. He's extremely self-aware while also heartrendingly raw about
everything from his own personal existential angst to larger political and social issues. He goes "there" but
isn't offensive; he's too smart to rely on cheap laughs from that kind of insult.
The film relies heavily on the quirky acid charm of Pepitone -- there's not much else going on except for him.
It's a swiftly and smoothly edited piece of snippets from Eddie's life: bits onstage, hiking with his girlfriend,
cleaning up after his cats. But maybe it was the right instinct in giving the film room to allow Eddie to be
Eddie, as some of the funniest and most touching moments come from his one-liners in the car or at home,
busying himself with work. He's as laugh out loud funny in the bits onstage as he is yelling at an LA driver or
trying to scan his headshot. One wants more about his past and his journey (it's briefly alluded to how he got
a "late start") but ultimately, this project is just about this man at this particular moment in time.
Much of what we learn about Eddie comes from his talking about his family and life story with friends, and
on podcasts. The filmmakers show us the behind the scenes of that comedy world, and allow the story to
unfold through Eddie’s interactions. There are few ironic moments of old friends talking about his wild man
days that are intercut with Eddie going about his daily life, just being the sweet and gentle man who’s about
to yell the house down at the local comedy club, just because he has to. Also, there are a few animated
sequences featuring Eddie and Marc Maron, with audio from Maron’s WTF podcast or WTF live shows,
and truth be told, an animated series featuring these two as themselves would be a monster hit (Comedy
Central execs, take note).
"The Bitter Buddha" is arranged around the story of him returning home to New York City to headline at
Gotham Comedy Club. However, the loose narrative meanders a bit until ramping up to the climax, where
finally we get more story conflict-- will Eddie sell out his show? Will his dad leave Staten Island to come see
him? The filmmakers refrain from cutting into his show at the Gotham, allowing his comedy to play out, and
at this moment, we are allowed to see just how brilliant Eddie really is. His comedy is about comedy, it's
about bad auditions, it's about the career itself, Twitter, hecklers. He leaves the stage and heckles his empty
mic stand, developing and unraveling layers upon layers of inner monologues and questioning and doubt,
calling himself out, taking his comedy and breaking it completely open, exposing its insides. It's brave and
bold and completely in step with the way that he lives his life completely bare and self-aware.
This is a portrait of an interesting and endearing misanthrope, but someone who we all know lives inside of
us. Eddie’s just more willing to put it all out there, to express that existential angst most modern people
experience. At the end of the film, Eddie still lives in his world of dualisms: he feels like he’s just starting
out, and yet he’s also ready to look back on his legacy of comedy. And then he just laughs, because what else
can you do? [B+]
"The Bitter Buddha" opens in NYC on Friday and will be rolling out in major cities throughout March.
Eddie Pepitone: 'I'm just another
clown on the bus like you'
Sarah Silverman, Hugh Grant and Zach Galifianakis are fans of this
US comic's righteous anger but the man himself is less keen. 'I'm a
completely flawed hypocrite,' he tells us
o
o
•
Paul MacInnes
The Guardian, Friday 12 April 2013
Eddie Pepitone: "So, Hugh Grant walks into a bar…" Photograph: Mindy Tucker
It's not often that Hugh Grant finds himself marooned on a pub fire escape, at least not
outside of a Richard Curtis movie. Last summer, however, that's where the actor and press
agitator ended up, as he and a gaggle of young admirers found even the sneaky route
could not gain them access to one of the Edinburgh festival's hottest tickets. That this
ticket was for a stand-up show by a dyspeptic overweight fiftysomething who's spent most
of his career failing and now spends most of his act talking about it only made it more
unusual.
Eddie Pepitone is the comedian, and next month, after 30 years as a performer, he brings
his act to London for the first time. Not just an object of fascination for floppy-haired
romcom actors, Pepitone is also the subject of a documentary – The Bitter Buddha covering his career and work, a film that's broken up with the driest of deadpan
endorsements from peers such as Sarah Silverman, Zach Galifianakisand Patton Oswalt
("I guess he was shitty when he was younger," says Silverman). Forget the comedian's
comedian; he's the comedian's comedian's comedian. What's more, he could be in danger
of actually making it big, which might just be the last thing he needs.
At the heart of Pepitone's act is the vicious mockery of one Eddie Pepitone. At least 10
minutes of his deliberately chaotic sets can involve him heckling himself ("Hey Pepitone,
how come at six in the morning you're thumbing through medical journals, you
asshole?"). When he's not lambasting himself, he's lambasting his work, such as an
audition for detergent that requires him to say his lines "with a smile" but ends up with
him bawling, on the verge of tears, "Hey honey, how'd you get the shirt so fucking fresh?"
"I like to think that I criticise myself and show that I'm a completely flawed hypocrite,"
says Pepitone, down the line from Los Angeles, where he's en route to a chiropractor's
appointment. "When I show that to the audience I think they get the fact that I'm just
another clown on the bus like them. I think I take rage to an absurd level, but the core of it
is real. And if I lose that I don't think I've got much to talk about. I don't think I'm one of
those guys who can talk about pigeons. You know what I mean?"
The subjects of Pepitone's rage extend beyond himself, his inadequate life, the failings of
his career and out into the world, specifically the big gap between the lives that people are
sold and those that they actually get to live. "I just think that globally the amount of
poverty, the disparity of wealth in the world is so disgusting and in America is just
smoothed over with the jingles of corporations," he says, becoming more animated with
each word. "Whenever you have money just look around and there are people suffering.
There are truths that really need to be talked about. I think the harshest truth is how
egotistical we all are, that we all are so fucking self-absorbed, it's just amazing. We think
we're so important that while things go to shit around us, as long as we have our little
enclave, our little buffer to the world, that we don't care."
Born into an Italian-American family in Brooklyn in 1958, Pepitone took up comedy after
a nervous breakdown in college. He tried character comedy, sketches and improv, but
devoted himself full-time to stand-up 15 years ago, leaving the east coast for LA not long
afterwards. To watch him in action now is deceptive. At first glance it seems as if you're
watching an outsider artist, a man whose fury with himself and the world should really be
being worked out in the company of medical professionals rather than alone onstage. But
then you notice you're laughing continuously and the fact of Pepitone's well-refined craft
becomes a lot clearer.
"The first job of comedy is to make it funny," he says. "And I do feel like that and I really
take that to heart. Like If I'm going into a rant. If I'm going into a rant onstage about a
corporation, and it's too preachy and I'm not getting many laughs I realise that I'd better
get the fuck out of that rant and start being funny. Bottom line is that if people aren't
laughing then I don't want to be up there."
Therein lies the dilemma for Eddie Pepitone. He's a comedian first and polemicist second,
but what would he be without the polemics? Would he, like his friend Galifianakis, play
nice with Hollywood, even if it meant doing the things he lambasts onstage? Pepitone is
both honest and contradictory about his ambitions. "We don't work in a vacuum you know
and I do want validation," he says. "When you're out here in Hollywood there's a big thing
about being a star and a lot of my friends have become famous you know, and [when they]
get a piece of the pie you're like, 'Fuck I want a big piece of the pie, too'. If I do
compromise, I don't want it to be a big compromise at all. I want it to be stuff I feel good
about doing."
Eddie Pepitone: Electrified runs at Soho Theatre, W1, from 6 May to 25 May
The Bitter Buddha: an interview with comedian's
comedian Eddie Pepitone
30 April, 2013
by: Emma
We talk to the raging US comedy veteran, currently enjoying newfound success in his career.
No one does New York angst quite like Eddie Pepitone. Earning himself the nickname of
'The Bitter Buddha' for his chaotic style, blending social rage with calm self-reflection,
Pepitone is a force to be reckoned with on stage, and one of America’s most exhilarating
comic voices. At 54, he’s no stranger to the comedy industry, with thirty years of
performance behind him and a string of appearances on US shows and films
including Flight of the Conchords, The Sarah Silverman Program, Conan and Old
School alongside Will Ferrell. Known as something of a comic’s comic and one of the best
kept secrets on the alt-comedy scene, a new documentary about his life entitled The Bitter
Buddha, and a string of international festival dates, has introduced him to a whole new
fan base.
Following a triumphant debut at the Edinburgh Fringe last summer, Pepitone has now
been snapped up by the Soho Theatre for a month long run in May. We were lucky enough
to get catch up with Eddie in an uncharacteristically jolly mood, ahead of his London
show.
Last year was your first Edinburgh festival. How did you find it, and the
process of performing a show nearly every night for a month?
Edinburgh was a great intense experience for me, as another comic told me "Edinburgh is
exam time for clowns" - meaning I was pushed to the limit by having to perform every
night for 25 nights. My act is high high energy so I got exhausted vocally by week three
and had to find ways of keeping it going. Also being away from home for a month was
difficult. The festival was also a great experience for me as I met so many great comics that
I never would have met in the states.
You’ve been doing stand-up for over three decades now. What has kept you in
the business for so long?
My love for stand-up and my insanity for the need to get laughter from people. It's so
rewarding to do shows where people are doubling over with laughter (when that happens)
and after the shows, when people tell me I made their day or helped them through a tough
time in their life by making them laugh. That keeps me going.
If you hadn’t become a comedian, is there any other career you think you’d
have suited?
If I hadn't become a comedian I don't know what I would've been doing. A criminal
perhaps or a bonds trader. No wait that's the same thing. Maybe working with animals. No
wait that's the same thing.
You have a lot of followers on Twitter and Facebook. How do you feel about
social media and where it's heading?
I do enjoy making people laugh online. Twitter and Facebook give you captive audiences,
so there's an instant gratification element to it that I love. On the other hand, I feel like I
waste time on it and wonder about the returns. As far as where it's heading, I think it's
great that comics can reach people without big networks or studios to cowtow to, so I hope
that keeps happening.
Who are your comedy heroes?
Richard Pryor, George Carlin and Jackie Gleason. Pryor and Carlin because they were so
funny and scathing social critics. Jackie Gleason because he was so committed and big
and bold, which is what I like to do.
You’re coming to London in a few weeks time, what are you looking forward
to doing most when you’re over here (apart from performing!)
I am looking forward to seeing the city! I have never been here except for one night for the
premier of The Bitter Buddha ( the documentary about me). We showed the movie in
Leister Square at a great cool cinema and I saw some of London! I can’t wait to see more.
And The Bitter Buddha will be released in May in the UK so I am excited about that.
What was the last thing that made you bitter?
Waking up in the morning. I have a propensity for bitterness you see.
What’s been the most enjoyable experience in your career so far?
My most enjoyable career experience has been the movie about me, The Bitter
Buddha. It's such a great documentary by Steven Feinartz and the press and fan reaction
have been so great and rewarding. Have I mentioned it's available in the UK in May?
Eddie Pepitone: Electrified is at the Soho Theatre from Monday 6thSaturday 26th May.
Portrait of a Cynical Genius in ‘The Bitter Buddha’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 15, 2013 - 1:42pm.
CHICAGO – We live in such a cynical world that when a film critic tells you a stand-up
comedian is damn funny, it might not hold as much weight as it did in a universe before
everyone had an opinion on everything online. So how can I convince you that Eddie
Pepitone, the subject of Steven Feinartz’s “The Bitter Buddha,” opening this weekend at the
Music Box Theatre in Chicago, is damn funny? Do you like Marc Maron, Sarah Silverman,
Dana Gould, or the amazing Patton Oswalt? They think he’s hilarious. And if that doesn’t do it,
the movie will. Just trust us.
Eddie Pepitone is a comedian’s comedian, a guy who other funny people know and respect but
who simply hasn’t broken out beyond the critical and comedic communities. Someone
compares the record sales of REO Speedwagon to that of Elvis Costello, noting that the former
sold many more copies but almost everyone would admit the latter is better artistically. I’m
not sure Eddie Pepitone is the Elvis Costello of comedy but the comparison is apt when one
sees the variety of respectable, successful comics who took time for a documentary about this
cynical genius.
Pepitone’s act is hard to put a finger on (which is why widespread success has eluded him as I
think producers and even comic club bookers don’t know how to sell him). At first, he seems
like an angry preacher type like Sam Kinison but he doesn’t have Kinison’s ego. He has
echoes of Lewis Black but not as politically angry. And there’s certainly some Rodney
Dangerfield in him with his noted lack of respect from the world. Whomever one compares
him to, Eddie Pepitone has his own rhythm and his own unique, multi-layered approach. Few
comics with this degree of rage have been this self-aware and comical about it. He’s a
fascinating blend of NYC anger and L.A. trends. He’s a wannabe vegan with road rage. ‘Nuff
said.
The Bitter Buddha
Photo credit: Bitter Buddha Movie, LLC
In “The Bitter Buddha,” Feinartz tracks Pepitone’s work on a routine to bring to the legendary
Gotham Comedy Club in New York City, the first time that the comic will headline there and
the first time he’ll be coming back to his hometown in years. His dad, who lives on Staten
Island, may even venture into the city for the first time in seven years. Pepitone is over 50,
ancient in show business, and he’s wondering if he’ll make it while auditioning for sitcoms and
praying that “Bob’s Burgers” uses him again. And yet Pepitone seems very much a part of
today’s cynical comedy scene. He fits right in with the increasingly-popular Marc Maron, with
whom he does stage shows.
Not to spoil anything but Pepitone’s Gotham set is fantastic. In fact, I wish the movie had
included more of it, maybe even the entire thing. “The Bitter Buddha” kind of feels like it’s
over just as Pepitone is about to make that next step to stardom. But perhaps that’s the
point. Perhaps we’ll look back on this in years and wonder how Eddie Pepitone was ever not
famous. Or perhaps, like the great Bill Hicks, we won’t recognize his brilliance until after he’s
gone. Which is not to imply he’s going anywhere soon. I’d hate to get that in Eddie’s mind.
Lord knows he doesn’t need anything else to worry about.
“The Bitter Buddha” stars Eddie Pepitone, Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, Marc Maron, and
dozens of other comedians. It opens on March 15, 2013 at the Music Box Theatre in
Chicago, IL and is also currently available On Demand.
By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com
'The Bitter Buddha': Director Steven Feinartz on his documentary
about cult stand-up comedian Eddie Pepitone
by Clark Collis
Were you to ask 100 passers-by to list their favorite stand-ups it is unlikely any of them would
mention the name Eddie Pepitone. But were you to ask any random group of comedians the same
question it might be a different matter. The New Yorker has long been a fixture on the L.A. comedy
scene and his rage-fueled rants are beloved by the likes of Sarah Silverman,Marc Maron, and Patton
Oswalt, all of whom appear in the new documentary about Pepitone, The Bitter Buddha.
Below, Bitter Buddha director Steven Feinartz talks about Pepitone and his film, which is currently
playing in select cinemas and is available on VOD and iTunes.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: To be honest, prior to this documentary, I had never heard of
Eddie Pepitone. It seems strange that someone who is so revered by comedians can be so
unknown to the public at large.
STEVEN FEINARTZ: Absolutely. With the Internet now, you would think everything would get
out there. But for some reason this guy has been sort of hidden in L.A. in the comedy community.
He’s this treasure that nobody really tapped into.
How did you come across him?
I came to Eddie kind of late in the game, three years ago or so. I listened to him on WTF with Marc
Maron, the podcast. He does these rants at the end of WTF which we animated in the film. Each rant
was different. It was something that was going on today in Eddie’s life, whether it be his struggle
with veganism or the entertainment industry that he had been hating so much for the last 30 years.
It was something that I was drawn to, just this manic energy. It was a voice that I had never heard. I
approached him through Twitter because he had fired his manager and there was no way of really
getting hold of him outside of Twitter and the Internet. I reached out to him and we sat down after a
show and talked about the idea. It took a little time but we eventually got into it and just started
filming.
Making a film about such a relatively unknown subject is a double-edged sword: On the one
hand the viewer does get that real sense of discovery, but on the other you must have had
people saying, “Why don’t you direct a film about someone people have actually heard about?”
“…something more commercially viable?” Yeah, for sure. For me, that was the challenge. And it
was my first feature and I wanted it to be on something that I really truly believed in. And Eddie is,
to me, the embodiment of something totally new and totally original. I just wanted to expose Eddie to
the world in the best way that I could. And this documentary I think does that.
He gets angry about a lot of things onstage, but he seems like a fairly amiable chap in real life.
Did he ever lose his temper with you?
[Laughs] Eddie has his moments for, sure. But we got along surprisingly well. I think that he knew I
was a fan from the get-go. There was no other kind of angle. No, we never really fought. We’ve been
traveling together with the film for the last six months, to festivals and whatnot, and we’ve gotten to
be pretty good friends.
I was surprised to learn in the documentary how often he goes out on auditions for things
like Transformers 3. Having read a little bit about him, I had assumed he would be in some sort
of ivory tower of I-want-to-do-my-comedy-and-nothing-else.
Well, that’s the contradiction of Eddie’s life. He hates the Hollywood system so much, but at the
same time he wants to be famous, he wants to be well-known, and he wants to be an actor. He’ll do
big budget movies if they cast him, there’s no question. That’s the quandary for a lot of performers.
I could totally imagine him voicing in an angry raccoon or something in a Pixar film.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, he does a lot of voices for cartoons like Bob’s Burgers.
Actually, I was looking at Eddie’s credits on imdb.com and since you started working on the
documentary he does seem to have enjoyed quite an uptick in his professional fortunes.
Definitely. He traveled to do the Edinburgh fringe festival. He’s doing London for three weeks in
May. He’s traveling the world!
Were you worried that he might get too successful? That if he scored, say, an NBC sitcom
before the release of the film then your it might have seemed less current?
I don’t think Eddie will ever change. I think people who make it later in life are already set in their
ways. That personality is not going to change too much.
Has Whitney Cummings seen the documentary?
[Laughs] No, I don’t believe so.
Because he does get quite enraged about the existence of her show Whitney at one point in the
film.
I think he lets loose not on her, but on the industry for putting these big billboards. Eddie likes to say
that these billboards are basically a promise that they can’t keep. Usually they’re mediocre shows.
I’m not saying Whitney is a mediocre. show But a lot of them tend to be.
In The Bitter Buddha, B.J. Novak talks about this terrible building Eddie lives in. But when we
see his accommodation I thought it looked pretty nice and roomy. Maybe it’s just because I’m
a New Yorker, but I would absolutely live in that apartment.
[Laughs] Eddie got mad at me for using that line. I was like, “Sorry man.” I do feel bad about that
one. Because it isn’t that bad of a place. He actually just moved too. So he’s doing fine.
Novak’s got that Office money. I assume he lives in a palace with a moat.
Exactly.
What’s next for you?
I’m working on a feature comedy. We’re developing that as we speak and starting to look into
possible casting.
Will there be a role for Eddie Pepitone?
I think I’ll have no choice.
You can check out the trailer for the Bitter Buddha below and find out where the film is playing at
the movie’s official website.
“The Bitter Buddha” Now On iTunes and
Video On Demand
by
Perry Michael Simon on FEBRUARY 19,
2013
It’s been a long time coming, but The Bitter Buddha, the documentary about Eddie
Pepitone, is, as of today, now available on iTunes and Video On Demand. For
comedy obsessives — you’re out there, I know it — this constitutes a major event.
By now, you HAVE to be addicted to Eddie and Matt Oswalt’s Puddin’, and anyone
who’s seen Eddie’s stand-up will never forget it, a maelstrom of hilarity and rage
for which “unique” is an understatement. Eddie’s fascinating enough on his own,
but director Steven Feinartz got help from an all-star cast of comedians with their
own perspectives on him, including our own Todd Glass, plus Patton Oswalt, Zach
Galifianakis, Sarah Silverman, Marc Maron, Dana Gould, Paul F. Tompkins, Paul
Provenza, Scott Aukerman, BJ Novak, Todd Barry, Andy Kindler, Rob Huebel, Jen
Kirkman, and more. It’s fascinating to consider where Eddie’s comedy, and anger,
are coming from, and how his career and reputation have taken off at a stage in life
when others might have thrown in the towel.
Seriously, you like comedy, right? You’re interested in the comedic process, and
what makes creative people the way they are? This. See it for yourself.
Tony Bartolone
Actor, comedian, writer
The Bitter Buddha: Eddie Pepitone's Ascent
Posted: 02/21/2013 7:19 pm
What separates the greats from the rest? What makes somebody a genius? What is it that makes an artist's
voice echo throughout the tunnels of time? Arthur Miller said it is "... a fierce moral sensibility, which is
unquenchable... anger for how the world is." If that is what it takes, Eddie Pepitone has it. He has that
intangible quality. Eddie breathes fire from the stage. This standup is a force of nature. He digs deep into the
depths of the collective unconscious, rips out the truth of our modern age and aggressively confronts our
complacency. Pepitone is a warrior for greater understanding. A hero for the disenchanted. A mythical
madman martyr for higher truth. Above all, Eddie Pepitone is fucking funny.
Courtesy of Bitter Buddha Movie LLC
Steven Feinartz's thoughtful documentary paints so perfectly a portrait of what we should want in
contemporary comedy. The Bitter Buddha reflects the life and work of a true musician of language. The innerconflict of Eddie Pepitone, the every day struggle to function with some sort of normalcy, consistency, the fight
to escape the status quo... that is the key to Pepitone's power.
There is a constant friction within any great entertainer who longs for a collective life's work of substance. And
it is that constant friction that makes them so engaging to watch. That friction between art and money, hunger
and excess, confidence and fear. Out of that friction, Frank Sinatra sang, Jackson Pollack painted and Eddie
Pepitone yells in dark rooms full of strangers to illicit uproarious laughter.
There are comics like Jerry Seinfeld who are good at what they do. Seinfeld crafted his act, did the tonight
show, got a sitcom and became immensely successful. And that is what people know and have come to expect
in a standup comedian. Then there are comics like Eddie Pepitone who are just freaks of nature. You can easily
break down a Seinfeld bit. You can easily imagine Seinfeld writing it and working on it. But with somebody like
Pepitone, the whole thing seems like it was spawned from a volcano or thunderstorm or outer space. Even
though he writes out his bits and works on his stuff comparable to how Seinfeld does, it’s much more raw and
primal. It's hard to imagine that this stuff was thought about and carefully crafted as opposed to just erupting
out of the earth as some accidental magic of being. That is what sets Eddie Pepitone a place apart from most
comedians.
Courtesy of Bitter Buddha Movie LLC
Man has two kinds of desires that motivate all action. The first type is physical: food, sleep and sex. The other
set of desires is much more abstract. They are metaphysical or spiritual. Things like love, freedom and
knowledge fall into the second category. All art is a side effect of these desires. And all the wonders of the
world were constructed because of these impulses. Sex is often believed to be the most powerful motivation of
mankind. However, there is something much more emotional that rivals sex as the main motivation for all of
man's actions. And that is the intense, primal need to impress one's father. Every man knows the need. Even
most concepts of God seem to be formed from this idea. The most affecting moments captured in this
documentary revolve around the need for paternal approval. It is that solely human need for approval that
makes this little movie relatable, poignant and powerful.
There seems to be a hole in life. A hole that people try to fill with love or booze or laughter or music or
whatever will suffice from day to day. For some people, that hole is a vast bottomless pit, and they are
incapable of living a well-adjusted, emotionally healthy life until something closes the gap. The Bitter
Buddha is a rare opportunity to see a human being closing that gap, and achieving something sacred. Certain
things in the world are illusive to certain people, and everybody has their own path to the middle... This film is
a unique window into one man's path to enlightenment or something like it.
The Bitter Buddha is now available on VOD and iTunes.
Review: 'The Bitter Buddha' follows Eddie
Pepitone's dreams
The stand-up comedian has been at it for 30 years but has yet to get his big break. Director
Steven Feinartz takes a freewheeling view.
Eddie Pepitone gets a close-up in the documentary "The Bitter Buddha." (Cheremoya Films)
By Gary Goldstein
February 14, 2013, 7:40 p.m.
Eddie Pepitone, perhaps the funniest stand-up comedian you've never heard of, gets a deserving
close-up in the amusing, freewheeling documentary "The Bitter Buddha."
Although the dyspeptic Pepitone, an unmade bed of a guy in his early 50s, has reportedly been at his
craft for 30 years, he's yet to turn into the household name that such not-dissimilar comics
as George Carlin, Rodney Dangerfield and Sam Kinison became. Still, the native New Yorker, now
living a busy if largely unglamorous life in L.A., consistently plies his trade in comedy clubs. He also
scores parts in movies ("Old School," "The Muppets") and TV series ("Community," "The Life &
Times of Tim"), regularly appears on the hit podcast "WTF With Marc Maron" and bangs out lots of
off-kilter tweets.
This self-described "man at war with himself," who counts such comedy stars as Sarah
Silverman, Patton Oswalt, Zach Galifianakis and Paul Provenza (all seen in "Buddha") as fans and
friends, also works to maintain his sobriety, keep his "flash anger" in check and fend off the demons
of a complicated childhood as he strives for the "big career."
Director Steven Feinartz captures it all, along with an entertaining sojourn to New York for
Pepitone's gig at the Gotham Comedy Club (and a vivid reunion with his crankily supportive, Staten
Island dad), with freewheeling, nonjudgmental fervor.
"The Bitter Buddha." No MPAA Rating. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes. At the Downtown
Independent, Los Angeles.
http://www.villagevoice.com/2013-02-13/film/the-bitter-buddha/
The Bitter Buddha: What Happens When the
Bookable Years are Over
By Sherilyn Connelly
Wednesday, Feb 13 2013
Eddie Pepitone reads his tweets in the trailer for The Bitter Buddha.
The ragey Eddie Pepitone has been in the comedy business for decades, but for many stand-up nerds he
seemed to emerge out of the aether on Marc Maron's WTF podcast in 2009. Steven Feinartz's frequently
hilarious documentary The Bitter Buddha focuses on these past few years, as Pepitone's star has risen in spite
of the fact that, as friend and fan Patton Oswalt recalls a CAA agent saying, Pepitone's "bookable years are
over." The movie follows Pepitone as he goes on about his life of obsessively cleaning his house,
dominating Twitter, killing at live gigs, feeding squirrels in the park (much to Oswalt's bemusement), and
learning to enjoy his late-in-life career surge while making peace with his demons. One of those demons—his
angry, unsupportive father—is at the forefront as the L.A.-based Pepitone prepares for his first headlining gig
in New York, his hometown. It bears repeating that The Bitter Buddha is very funny, and for all its bitterness,
Eddie Pepitone's comedy is a taste that's easy to acquire. What's more, everyone else who's bloomed later in
life, loves their cats like children, and has unresolved issues about their family's lack of interest in their artistic
career stands a chance of finding a new hero.
SXSW 2013: Gethard’s Trailer: Spooning with Eddie Pepitone
The Bitter Buddha stopped by Gethard's trailer for a snuggle at SXSW
Posted March 15th, 2013, 2:03 PM by Melissa Locker
When your nickname is the Bitter Buddha you probably aren’t used to people asking you for a cuddle.
Yet when comedian Eddie Pepitone swung by Chris Gethard’s trailer during SXSW, that’s exactly what
happened.
In comedy circles, Pepitone is revered for his acerbic wit and blistering stand up routines, but until
recently outside of comedy circles, Pepitone wasn’t especially well known. That is all starting to change,
though, thanks to the success of his podcast, The Long Shot, and his frequent contributions to other
comedy podcasts like WTF with Marc Maron (hey, we know that guy), Pepitone is finally getting the
attention he deserves. He recently released his first stand-up album, A Great Stillness, he’s starting to
tour nationally, and the documentary called “The Bitter Buddha,” which he stars in and features some
of our other favorite comedians including Maron and our Comedy Bang! Bang! host Scott Aukerman,
was well received.
Watch as our adopted comic Chris Gethard woos Pepitone into a hammock for some quality spooning
and a chat about comedy and life:
SXSW 2013: Eddie Pepitone on the art of stand up
and being The Bitter Buddha
We chatted with Eddie Pepitone, the comic's comic
Posted March 16th, 2013, 3:03 PM by Melissa Locker
Eddie Pepitone is a comedian and for those in the know, Eddie Pepitone is THE comedian. He is a true
“comic’s comic,” who only recently started to see his comedy reach far outside of comedy circles. He
has over a million views for his daily Youtube video series “Puddin’,” hosts a popular podcast called The
Long Shot, he’s got a solid following on Twitter and frequently contributes to other comedy podcasts
like WTF with Marc Maron. He recently released his first stand-up album, “A Great Stillness,” and he’s
starting to tour nationally. If that wasn’t enough, Pepitone is also the star of a documentary called “The
Bitter Buddha,” which is what brought him to SXSW. The film, directed by first-time filmmaker Steven
Feinartz, is an in-depth portrait of the life of Pepitone and features some of our other favorite
comedians including Maron and Comedy Bang! Bang!’s Scott Aukerman. The film is directed by Steven
Feinartz, and stars Pepitone, Sarah Silverman, Zach Galifianakis and a cavalcade of comics including
Patton Oswalt, Todd Barry, Dana Gould, and Paul F. Tompkins. We chatted to the comedy legend
about the film, a life in comedy and whether he’s using his powers for good or evil.
Have you ever been to SXSW before?
This is my first time. I just got off the plane and I think it’s insane. We were at the convention center
and the amount of people, it just has this energy. I’m feeling the energy. It’s kind of early in the evening
right now and I can feel the energy that it’s going to build into an intense thing. It’s exciting and scary
at the same time.
What are you going to be doing at the festival?
We are screening the movie that’s about me. And I’m doing a bunch of stand up shows. Two tonight
and two tomorrow. I’m hosting a thing called “The Bitter Buddha Blues,” which is me. I do a lot of song
parodies …well, not parodies. I do a lot of characters, like lounge singers who have lost their minds.
Like lounge singers who are having war flashbacks or lounge singers who are singing about crazy
personal stuff instead of love songs. So I’m going to do that as kind of a musical comedy show
tomorrow. And tonight I’m doing two stand up sets. So I’m busy. I’ve been traveling so much with the
movie that I don’t think I’m going to any parties, but you know this is the type of place where the
energy just kind of sweeps you along. I’m 54 now, but if I was younger, forget it. I would wind up living
here for years on an acid bender. It seems like the place where you could. It feels like a Hunter S
Thompson novel, like you could come to Austin for SXSW and lose yourself for a lot of days.
Like a very long “lost weekend”
Totally.
You’ve been working in comedy for 30 or 35 years now.
Yeah, I always say I started when I was 20 and I’m 54 now. I’ve been doing all kinds of comedy, not just
stand up. I’ve done stand up a lot and pretty heartily the last 15 years, but I’ve done one man shows,
I’ve done improv groups, I’ve done sketch groups, so I’ve done a lot of different forms of comedy, but
always comedy. I did study acting and I loved doing real plays. I haven’t done a real play in a long time.
After having been working for so long, now with the album and the movie, do you feel
like it’s paying off?
You know people have been asking me that a lot, but I’ve been earning my living doing this for a long
time, but I am kind of reaching the peak of my powers in a way.
Are you using your powers for good or evil?
I think a little of both. No, I hope for good. But I think I have finally figured out stand up. Stand up is
very difficult. There are just so many different things that you have to be good at. You have to be good
at words. You have to be good at performing. Courage is the biggest thing, I think. What I mean by
courage is the courage to say what your truth is – which sounds pretentious and some comedians
would probably laugh at me – but for me, I’ve just become more fearless as a stand up and I can get up
on stage and speak my truth. I think that’s always the funniest thing with me anyway, because my truth
is so twisted. Some comics do really abstract things, which is funny and clever, but you forget it two
seconds later. You think, ‘Oh that was a clever joke. Ho hum, I’m going on to the next show.’ I think
stand ups who have something to say are interesting. Like I’m into the whole genre of stand ups as
social critics.
Who do you think of as stand outs in that genre?
The lineage of Lenny Bruce to George Carlin to Richard Pryor to Bill Hicks. Not Jerry Seinfeld, let me
put it that way. He talks about why pizza is stuffed with cheese in the crust. I’m not saying that doesn’t
have its place, but with all due respect, it’s quite superficial. But a lot of people like that milquetoast
stuff.
When you talk about speaking your truth on stage, where does that truth come from?
For me it comes from trying to figure myself out. I had a tumultuous family growing up, just a
dysfunctional family. My whole life I was an artist who has been figuring myself out, like, ‘Who the hell
am I? What the hell do I want?’ I’ve been relating that and now, as I’ve matured, I also relate it to the
world I live in. It’s not just about me anymore, it’s also about what’s going on in the world. I’m pretty
upset about the economic inequality in the United States. I was very into the Occupy movement that
got crushed. I think dissent is going to be a big part of our future. I get really political. But the job of a
comic is to be funny first. To be funny and then be political or be political within being funny. And I’ve
developed a few bits that work really well.
This is a question we are asking everyone: What’s one high school experience that was
really awkward?
Who doesn’t? Isn’t all of high school awkward? My awkwardness went way beyond high school. It’s so
funny, I’m trying to think of the ultimate awkward experience and I am sure it has something to do
with trying to ask women out. I was just …well now I’m married, thank god. But back then I was so
terrified of rejection and I remember a couple times just blurting out, ‘will you go out with me?’ Just
horrible and awkward.
Tell me about “The Bitter Buddha,” the documentary about you. I admit I haven’t seen it
yet, because it just came out yesterday.
It’s been available on iTunes and video on demand since February, so you can order it now.
So you’re saying I have no excuse.
No, you really don’t.
I will go download it as soon as we’re done here. Did you spearhead this documentary
yourself or were you approached by someone?
They approached me.
What’s it like when someone comes to you and says, “I want to make a documentary
about your life?”
It’s weird and flattering and I just had a good instinct about Steven Feinartz. When he approached me I
was like, ‘I kind of like this guy’ and he pitched it to me. He said he loved my comedy. I really love the
film. I had nothing to do with the film except perform and he followed me around. I think he really gets
me as far as who I am and the way I perform.
Where did the title come from?
It came from the fact that I have tried to meditate and do a sort of Buddhist thing, but I’m still so kind
of pissed off. My friend Sean Conroy, who I’ve been doing comedy with for a long time, dubbed me
“The Bitter Buddha.”
A movie that I am going to go download now.
Good!
Indie & Arthouse: 'Bless Me, Ultima'
and 'The Bitter Buddha'
By Special to The Oregonian
on February 21, 2013 at 5:00 PM, updated February 21, 2013 at 5:08 PM
"BLESS ME, ULTIMA"
Starts Friday, Fox Tower
"Bless Me, Ultima" is a well-meaning
multicultural fable that gets lost in its
own myopic point-of-view. Working
from a novel by Rudolfo Anaya ,
writer/director Carl Franklin ("One
False Move," "Devil in a Blue Dress")
promises a peek into the myths and
traditions of an underLuke Ganalon, left, and Miriam Colon in a scene from "Bless Me,
represented culture -- in this case,
Ultima."
Mexican immigrants living in New
The Associated Press/Arenas Entertainment
Mexico during WWII.
Little Antonio (Luke Ganalon) is the youngest in his family and the closest to his
grandmother Ultima (Miriam Colon), a medicine woman alternately shunned and respected
by the local farmers. Antonio is trying to reconcile her mumbo jumbo with his budding
Catholicism, making for a bizarre and eventually tiresome mix of theology and folklore.
"Bless Me, Ultima" seems just as confused about its intentions. The low-level magical
realism never gels with the coming-of-age drama. By the time the cartoonish villain shows
up in his black duster and eye patch, there's no turning back and the movie grinds to a halt
long before the credits roll.
"THE BITTER BUDDHA"
7:30 p.m. Friday, Hollywood Theatre, hollywoodtheatre.org
Steven Feinartz's profile of 54-year-old comedian Eddie Pepitone, "The Bitter Buddha," is as
raucous, crass and furiously delightful as the subject's stand-up comedy. Pepitone has long
been a comedian's comedian, admired by folks like Patton Oswalt and Sarah Silverman
(both of whom appear in "The Bitter Buddha") but failing to achieve mainstream success.
This documentary spends less time wondering why that is and more time making a case for
why Pepitone should be huge. The stand-up material here is hilarious, and worth the price
of a ticket on its own. The rest of the story, however, is just as good. Using the right balance
of confession and observation, Feinartz gets at what makes the comedian tick, exposing this
Buddha's alleged bitterness as its own unique form of serenity.
-- Jamie S. Rich
http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-bitter-buddha,92495/
B
The Bitter Buddha
By Nathan Rabin February 14, 2013
Balding, fiftysomething Eddie Pepitone is an actor, comedian, and podcaster, but his real art form
is being Eddie Pepitone. Like Rodney Dangerfield, Jackie Mason, or Don Rickles before him,
Pepitone is one of those gifted creatures who doesn’t necessarily need to say or do anything funny to
get laughs, because he’s inveterately funny on a profound existential level. Pepitone looks and talks
like an extra in a Bowery Boys movie. He’s a quintessential working-class New Yorker, perpetually
apoplectic and at war with a cruel, unfeeling universe. But over the past few years, this old-school
New Yorker has made a big name for himself as a Los Angeles alternative-comedy fixture skilled at
navigating the tricky waters of new media via his “live-action cartoon” YouTube series Puddin’, his
popular Twitter account (which he somehow manages to recycle extensively in his stand-up act
without seeming lazy or obnoxious), and The Long Shot Podcast, which he appears on alongside
Sean Conroy, Jamie Flam, and Amber Kenny. Comedy geeks and podcast nerds consequently have
heard rumblings about The Bitter Buddha for months now; for hardcore comedy geeks, it’s liable to
feel like old news before they see a single frame.
Steven Feinartz’s directorial debut eschews straight chronology in its abstract portrait of Pepitone
coming into his own personally, professionally, and creatively in his 50s after struggling on the
margins of show business for decades. Feinartz follows Pepitone from gig to gig and podcast to
podcast as he prepares for a big show in New York, where his complicated father contemplates
seeing Pepitone perform live for the first time in around a decade.
Onstage, Pepitone is a powder keg of barely controlled aggression, but the soulfulness in his eyes
betrays an underlying gentleness that comes to the fore in scenes where he plays with his cats or
talks about the simple joys of feeding pigeons. Pepitone is a riveting camera subject, a fascinating
combination of light and dark, mercurial rage and tenderness. But the film’s attempts at stirring up
Oedipal drama in its climax, while compelling, feel tacked-on. The Bitter Buddha strains a little too
hard for dramatic heft, but it’s nevertheless a compelling, sweet, funny valentine to a comic’s comic
and a true American original. The Bitter Buddha closes with Pepitone pondering whether he’s
wasted his life by focusing on comedy rather than family, but everything that’s come before suggests
that decision has led to a life that’s a triumph rather than a tragedy. Besides, Pepitone has a large
and loving family; they just happen to be his worshipful fellow comedians rather than sons or
daughters.
Stand-up Comedy
Comedians Give 'Bitter Buddha' Eddie Pepitone the
'Vegan Roast' He Deserves
By Paul T. Bradley Tue., Feb. 19 2013 at 11:17 AM
Eddie Pepitone
Who is Eddie Pepitone? If you're not aware of the man they call the Bitter Buddha, you've clearly got a
life, well-adjusted friends or an upwardly mobile job -- likely all three. If you've got none of those, he's the
comedian-slash-prophet whose shrill screams of truth and tribulation might just briefly soothe your
angst-ridden nightmare of an existence.
He's the lye-spiked balm created from the ashes of Bill Hicks and Harvey Pekar, suspended in the
colloidal tears of every brilliant but commercially failed social comedian. He's healing your wounds while
opening up new ones you never knew were there -- mostly by yelling.
But, as the saying goes, comparisons are odious. That's fine -- so is Eddie Pepitone. Ok, he's really just
odious to look at. Ok, and probably to sleep with. And be around socially. But that's about it. The rest of
him is perfectly charming. And on Friday night, he suppurated that charm all over a packed house of
well-wishers and semi-celebrity roasters at the premiere of his own documentary, Steven Feinartz's The
Bitter Buddha.
Dana Gould mugs while Pepitone chuckles in the shadows
The event, spectacularly presented by Jeremy Burke's Loud Village, drew a hilariously stratified crowd:
classy west-of-Fairfax'ers in laundered smart attire mingled around mopey schmoes in pit-stained grunge
t-shirts. It's safe to say that the bulk of his audience are aspiring comics of all stripes. Dubbed a "vegan"
roast, due to Pepitone's entertaining struggles in earnestly attempting a vegetarian diet, the roastmasters
included fellow comedians David Koechner, Dana Gould, Henry Phillips and Brody Stevens.
"This man makes audiences laugh so hard, we, ironically, all get a workout," said host Overton during the
roast portion of the evening. Among those who took their best shots at Pepitone were
Overton, Anchorman star David Koechner and Simpsons scribe Dana Gould. At one point, Gould
recounted a horrible encounter inadvertently annoying Bob Hope, only to spin into a big hearty "fuck
you" chide to Pepitone. "But, Eddie knows how annoying he is...babies roll their eyes in boredom when
he walks into a room."
All of the chuckles and good-natured ribs at Pepitone were overshadowed by the emotional depth of
Feinartz's film. While the flick takes turns in showing the inner workings and peccadilloes of Pepitone's
life in L.A., including his crazy-old-man sensibilities, like his cat-obsession and squirrel-feeding rituals, it
also shows portions of his 30-year struggle in the entertainment industry. The through-line in all of his
laughs and screams is his relentless pursuit of his indifferent father's respect.
While watching the documentary, you could hear audible gasps of surprise at scenes of Pepitone's father's
prickliness during a visit back to Staten Island. Clearly none of those folks ever experienced the
emotional prison of a trip home for the holidays -- where the eggshell dance of avoiding confrontation
reaches absurd acrobatics of politeness. Dads, man.
Smiling Buddha
But most of his fans clearly understand that complexity, and we spoke to some of his biggest supporters
outside in the smokers' huddle. One in particular, Jeannie, who is in her "late 30s," said of the event,
"This is really the culmination of the 'alternative comedy' scene...at least for me...because I have stalked
Eddie Pepitone. Why? He's a master of cynicism, there is no one better. He is a beacon of hope for all of
us cynics."
Compare him to what and whom you will -- Pepitone's goddamn funny and he's a screaming on the
outside, laughing at himself and crying on the inside, transcendent clown. Regardless of classiness or
class, it's just phenomenal to see that he has enough well-wishers and young comedian acolytes that he's
sure never to die in obscurity. In fact, he might even actually make it -- whatever that means anymore.
Hence, the documentary.
There is, of course, that Zen Koan of Eddie Pepitone: If he ever does make it and become legitimately
cool, will he will cease to be Eddie Pepitone? We hope not.
Jonathan Kim
Film Critic for ReThink Reviews and
the Uprising Show
ReThink Review: The Bitter BuddhaRage, Peace, and Laughs
Posted: 02/19/2013 3:36 pm
With the rise of more confessional, experimental, and storytelling styles in the exploding
category of alternative standup comedy, it seems that the angry comic has largely been left
by the wayside. But comedian Eddie Pepitone clearly never received that note, and over 30
years into his career, Eddie and his often raging, self-loathing, unhinged act have managed
to forge a devoted following among comics of both older and newer guards as well as
younger fans of both stand up and sketch. And now, in his mid-50s and with comics of all
stripes rooting for him, Eddie seems poised to finally break into the mainstream
entertainment industry that has been the source of his bitterness for so long, a journey
captured in Steven Feinartz's affectionate documentary, The Bitter Buddha, which is
available Feb. 19 on Video On Demand and iTunes (go here for more info). Watch my
ReThink Review of The Bitter Buddha below (transcript following).
THE BITTER BUDDHA - ReThink Review (Video)
Transcript:
There's a stereotype that most standup comedians are sad, angry, dark souls who take to the
stage as a form of therapy to exorcise their demons in front of strangers. Personally, I've
been around enough comics to know that comedy draws all types of people and
personalities, but in the case of Eddie Pepitone, "angry" and "bitter" are more than accurate
descriptions of Eddie and his raging, often unhinged style of stand up comedy. Over the past
few years, Eddie has become known as a comic's comic who's still inexplicably outside the
mainstream, mostly landing bit parts on TV, an occasional film, and on late night shows.
But what makes Pepitone interesting is that recognition of his unique voice only came later
in life when he was well into his 40s, where's he's unexpectedly become a cult favorite with a
new generation of young comics and fans. What he'll do with this moment, and what got
him there, is the subject of the captivating documentary, The Bitter Buddha.
Throughout The Bitter Buddha, some of the most respected names in stand up profess their
love, admiration, and respect for Pepitone, including Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, Dana
Gould, Jen Kirkman, Paul Provenza, Zach Galifianakis, and Marc Maron, who often features
Pepitone in the live tapings of Maron's extremely popular podcast, WTF. The film follows
Pepitone to various shows and podcasts, as well as through his everyday life, all leading up
to a triumphant return to New York city where he'll perform perhaps the biggest show of his
life, and with his father in attendance. But it's been a long time coming, since Pepitone was
born in Brooklyn in 1958 and has been doing comedy for over 30 years.
In conversation and in quieter moments, we see Eddie as a sweet, sensitive, sometimes
overwhelmed guy who dotes on his cats, feeds squirrels in the park, meditates, has a
supportive girlfriend, and dabbles in veganism -- which all seems totally at odds with the
ranting lunatic he becomes onstage. The film explores the possible roots of his rage, a mix of
an angry father, a troubled mom, working class resentment, righteous indignation at the
state of America, and a whole lot of bitterness and jealousy towards the entertainment
industry Eddie is trying to be a part of.
But what The Bitter Buddha illustrates about comedians is something that, at first blush,
seems paradoxical -- that through sharing and even exaggerating the worst things about you
on stage, whether it's your rage or your sadness or your hypocrisy, you can begin to deal
with and minimize them in your actual life. And by being as honest and funny as you can
about them, you can actually use those dark things to make people feel less alone, give them
a new perspective, or at the very least, help them get their minds off their own problems for
an evening.
This isn't to say that Eddie has vanquished his demons, and you see several times
throughout the film that his anger and insecurity are never far from the surface. But having
earned the respect of his peers and found an audience without compromising his voice, it
seems like Eddie recognizes that all his struggles are finally starting to pay off, and the fact
that it's happened later in life in such a notoriously difficult industry makes it that much
sweeter. Eddie hung in until he was able to harness his pain and his flaws instead of being
handicapped by them, and by doing so, turned them into something that could be a source
of joy not just for himself, but for others as well. The Bitter Buddha is a wonderful
testament to perseverance, and for anyone who's pursued a dream for what seems like too
long, this might be the kind of inspiration you've been looking for.
Capone enters the funny and disturbing world of comedian
Eddie Pepitone in the doc THE BITTER BUDDHA!!!
Published at: Feb. 18, 2013, 4:31 p.m. CST
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
If there was ever a time when 52-year-old comedian Eddie Pepitone was going to break
through into what passes for the mainstream, it's now. And there is no better case for him
doing so than director Steven Feinartz's documentary about Pepitone, THE BITTER
BUDDHA. I first became aware of Eddie's value as a comic actor during his appearances on
"The Sarah Silverman Program," a couple of shots on "Community," and a bunch of
featured appearances on "Conan." And if you didn't blink, you might have caught him in
THE MUPPETS as a postman.
But his true gifts come to light during his live act, in which his exquisitely worded rants
almost feel like a volatile mixture of a sociopath's manifesto and a hobo's suicide note--a
combination that manifests itself in Pepitone's physical appearance as well. His five-days-aweek web series "Puddin'" is simply one of the most consistently funny things I've ever
seen, and it's attracted some fairly high-profile celebrity guest appearances, who add to the
depravity.
As THE BITTER BUDDHA reveals, the pain that fuels Pepitone's act and persona comes
from a very real place, and his ability to transform into a very thoughtful and caring man is
matched only by his rarely leaving a psychological foundation built on self-hatred. And
somehow learning all of this about him makes us love him more.
Not surprisingly, a host of edgier comics line up to sing Pepitone's praises. Patton Oswalt,
Sarah Silverman, Zach Galifianakis, Paul F. Tomkins, Marc Maron, Paul Provenze, Todd
Barry, Todd Glass, and more talk up the strange career path Pepitone has taken (by choice
or not) and what a master monologist he is. He doesn't so much tell jokes as he does talk
in long, raging sentences that reveal a window to the world that is both obscured by cracks
yet crystal clear. He sees people and situations for what they are and strips them down on
stage to their ugly, self-centered core. He also reads his tweets, which, when strung
together, seem like they are those of a drooling mental patient with a great sense of
humor.
One comic refers to Pepitone as "the guitarist that all the other guitarists go see," and that
seems about the best way to understand his influence. He's like one of those punk bands
that never quite got famous but inspired dozens of other bands that went on to sell
millions. He's comedy's Sonic Youth. He's angrier and more unbalanced than the rest, which
is both his greatest gift and has likely held his career back until now.
But by far the greatest moments in THE BITTER BUDDHA are those surrounding Eddie's
return to New York for a big showcase performance. The show itself is important, but for
Eddie, it's a chance to reconnect with his father, who I'm fairly certain had never seen him
perform to that point. Eddie's confidence is clearly on the brink of collapse at both the
prospect of his father being in his audience and the very real possibility that his dad may
decide not to show up. Either way, Pepitone is guaranteed to be an emotional wreck come
showtime, and it's a fascinating process to watch.
You can't help but watch Pepitone on stage and off and immediately start to form opinions
about his mental makeup. What damage was done to him when he was younger? What
motivates and fuels him? What terrifies him, both in the world and in his day-to-day life?
And of course, what makes him happy, smile, or laugh? Following Pepitone around for
months, Feinartz answers some of the questions, while leaving a few parts of the man's life
a fun mystery.
I don't remember a film about a comedian getting quite this deep before, while still
providing so many laughs. Even his friends seem baffled at times by Eddie's decisions, but
there is something undeniably irresistible, and for that we can be grateful.
THE BITTER BUDDHA has been on the festival circuit for the better part of eight months, is
now playing in Los Angeles, hits VOD on February 19, and hopefully will make its way
around the country after that (I know it opens in Chicago in mid-March). Just kick back and
enjoy the awkward chuckles.
-- Steve Prokopy
"Capone"
capone@aintitcool.com
http://www.deadline.com/2013/01/sundance-gravitas-ventures-nabs-trio-of-slamdance-films/
Sundance: Gravitas Ventures Nabs Trio Of Slamdance Films
By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday January 21, 2013 @ 6:01pm EST
Gravitas Ventures announced today the
acquisitions
of
three
raucous
Slamdance films: Steven Feinartz’s
documentary The Bitter Buddha,
Michael Urie’s comedy He’s Way More
Famous Than You and Peter Baxter’s documentary Wild In The Streets. As
part of the arrangement, each film will be released in the next three months
in over 100 million North American Video On Demand homes.
First up debuting in select theatres on February 15, 2013 and on VOD on February 19th is The Bitter
Buddha, Steven Feinartz’s perceptive look at alt-comic genius Eddie Pepitone. Though often revered as
a “comic’s comic”, Eddie Pepitone is a man at war with himself. And he has the scars to prove it. The
Bitter Buddha takes the viewer backstage in the alternative comedy scene to reveal one of its most
undervalued treasures. This portrait of a comedian looks at Pepitone’s off beat humor and lifestyle as
he battles the world around him. Stand-up comedy, original animation and interviews with Patton
Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, Zach Galifianakis and others provide insight into this beloved career
comedian known as ”the guitarist that all the other guitarists go to see.”
On April 23, 2013 director Peter Baxter and narrator Sean Bean unveil one of the most remarkable and
violent sports documentaries ever made. In Wild In The Streets, toward the end of winter on Shrove
Tuesday and Ash Wednesday the people of Ashbourne, England gather in the center of their town to
renew the longest running sports rivalry on earth. The game is called Shrovetide Football and
originates from two medieval communities living opposite the river Henmore. Today, they are known
as the Up’ards and Down’ards. Each team consists of hundreds if not thousands of people. The field of
play…the town itself. There is no referee and few rules. Each game begins at 2pm and ends at 10pm.
The ball cannot be carried in motorized transport. Cemeteries, churchyards and memorials are out of
bounds. Under no circumstances is manslaughter to be tolerated.
And finally, Gravitas Ventures has nabbed the hilarious comedy He’s Way More Famous Than You
directed by Michael Urie which premiered in dramatic competition at Slamdance. Plans are to take the
film out on VOD April 8, 2013 followed by a theatrical run on May 10, 2013. Archstone Distribution
will handle the remaining domestic rights and all foreign rights for the picture. The film was produced
by Christopher Sepulveda & Michael Anderson of Logolite Entertainment, and Geoffrey Soffer with
Imagination Pictures and Ur-Mee Entertainment. The deal was negotiated by Noor Ahmed of Reder &
Feig LLP on behalf of the producers and Melanie Miller of Gravitas Ventures. When once-up-andcoming indie film starlet Halley Feiffer loses her boyfriend, her agent and her career in one fell swoop
she finally realizes that something has got to change…she has to become WAY MORE FAMOUS!
Armed with a stolen script and two pitchers of sangria, Halley enlists the help of her brother Ryan and
his boyfriend to make a movie, starring herself (of course), and any A-list celebrity she can land. She
will stop at nothing, even if it means hurting the only people who truly care about her.
“We are thrilled to be working with such an array of talent coming out of Slamdance,” remarked
Melanie Miller, VP of Acquisitions of Gravitas Ventures. “Nobody channels the cultural zeitgeist quite
like Eddie Pepitone, no one with a competitive edge would want to be left out of hundreds of years of
bloody town tradition in Wild In The Streets. And, who doesn’t want to work & co-star in a movie with
Halley Feiffer? At least that is what Halley believes & she’s got the moxie to convince you too!”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-mov-0615-chicago-closeup-20120615,0,3569905.column
Just for Laughs doubles up on Pepitone
'The Bitter Buddha' (June 14, 2012)\
Nina Metz
Chicago Closeup
4:22 p.m. CDT, June 14, 2012
Watching a comedian for the first time is a little like listening to a band for the first time.
You have to acclimate yourself. And then you have to make decisions. What is this? Is it
good? Do I even like it?
I had never heard of Eddie Pepitone before I got a look at "The Bitter Buddha." And yet
gradually, over the course of the documentary — which follows Pepitone for the better
part of a year, including a gig last summer at the Hideout in Chicago — I found myself won
over by the man's schlumpy comedic rage. Picture a very, very angry New York-accented
Homer Simpson in human form, and reader, you have envisioned Eddie Pepitone.
Receiving its world premiere Friday at the Siskel Film Center (with Pepitone present), "The
Bitter Buddha" arrives in town as part of the small film component of the Just for Laughs
festival. Without question, it is the Platonic ideal of what a film at this type of event should
be — a movie about a comedian who is relevant now, and who is also performing in the
festival itself.
Just for Laughs has seen noticeable improvements during its short history in Chicago,
(booking a deeper, stronger bench each year), but the slim lineup of films still feels like an
afterthought — one largely disconnected from what's current in the world of stand-up, let
alone what's happening in the fest. That's a mistake, although "The Bitter Buddha" is a
meaningful shift in the right direction. Down the line, Just for Laughs will need to be more
proactive about securing films, or commissioning a Web series or two, that directly relate to
the festival's roster of live performances.
A note to JFL's organizers: Do not underestimate the value of screening a movie such as
"The Bitter Buddha" one night, and giving audiences the chance to see the guy perform live
the next — that's what makes a festival a festival. Pepitone is indeed booked to appear in
two shows on Saturday (at the Lincoln Lodge as part of The Set List), and I suspect there
will be high demand for those tickets after audiences see the film. Want to feel like you've
discovered something new? That you're watching a comedian poised to hit critical mass?
This is your movie.
A career surge has been a long time coming for Pepitone, 53, whose epic grumbling has a
lovely, vulnerable, crazy poetry to it. Type his name into Google and the top related search
is "Eddie Pepitone angry old man or genius." You wouldn't want to be trapped next to him
on a long flight, but he's precisely the sort of one-man-band you want nearby at a ballgame,
hollering at the ump.
The documentary (from Chicago native and Columbia College alum Steven Feinartz)
reveals — and I think it's fair to say, revels in — many of Pepitone's personal and
professional frustrations, while making a steadily persuasive case that the man deserves a
following equal to that of his friends Patton Oswalt (who will also be at Friday's screening,
along with Feinartz) and Marc Maron.
The life of a struggling comic is not glamorous. Certainly not as Pepitone lives it, or Feinartz
photographs it. "I feel like you need to see his chaotic lifestyle," said Feinartz (who three
years ago moved to Los Angeles, where he makes cable documentaries for the History
Channel and other networks). Overweight, balding and not much of a dresser, Pepitone
looks like a "homeless guy grabbed the mic and got on stage," someone says in the film. His
LA apartment appears to be a few precarious piles short of a hoarding intervention.
Somehow, the surroundings feel right; Pepitone's comedy is built on a foundation of
discontent.
"My dad was so intense about everything," he says during an appearance on Maron's "WTF"
podcast included in the film, describing the "Sicilian, operatic anger" that filled his
childhood home. It was easy to set the old man off, he says, and in the bit Pepitone imagines
himself as a child, on his knees, bellowing in mock melodrama: "Daddy, look in your heart!
Yes, I did turn the thermostat up, but I like it warm, father! And remember, Daddy: You and
mommy decided to have me! I am part of la famiglia!"
There's something inherently comedic about the way Pepitone yells. Or wanders out into the
audience so he can heckle himself while staring at an empty stage. (He occasionally appears
on"Conan"as a heckler, as well.) He shakes his fist at the world, and it's kind of endearing.
"There's a twinkle in my scream, a little wink," is how he put it when we spoke last week. In
the film, comedian Paul Provenza describes Pepitone as an everyman "who's been put upon
and beaten down and can't figure out how to get out of that position." That absurdist scream
is only the logical outcome.
(The film later follows Pepitone back to Staten Island, where his father lives; the tension is
palpable and it is a terrific counterpoint illustrating how Pepitone has transformed this
dynamic into grist for the comedic mill.)
Though he is still largely unrecognized, Pepitone has no shortage of admirers among fellow
stand-ups. And he is a regular presence in the world of comedy podcasts, which (as the film
makes clear) have become just as important for comedians as the traditional comedy club. If
podcasts aren't inherently cinematic, Feinartz has landed on a clever solution, folding in
animations from Allen Mezquida, who brings Pepitone's audio rants to life (in the vein of
HBO's"The Ricky Gervais Show"). I'm just going to say it: I would watch an animated
TV series featuring Pepitone going off the rails if a studio were willing to take the plunge.
But that suggests a potential pitfall: success. If Jackie Gleason and Larry David made a
baby, he might come out sounding something like Pepitone. "I have really honed this
persona of the rageful, semienlightened person," he told me. But if he ever achieves real
celebrity, (and the money and adulation to go with it), one suspects he would have to tweak
this image.
"I always worry, because mainstream people tend to be a little freaked out by me," he says in
the film before a performance in Chicago. The bigger question might be: What if it
mainstream audiences end up liking him a lot?
Eddie Pepitone, Patton Oswalt and filmmaker Steven Feinartz will take questions after the
screening of "The Bitter Buddha" Friday. Go to siskelfilmcenter.org. For info on
Pepitone's Saturday performances, go to justforlaughschicago.com and search under
the show title "The Set List."
http://www.austinchronicle.com/blogs/screens/2012-10-20/aff2012-the-bitter-buddha/
picture in picture
AFF2012: ‘The Bitter Buddha’
Comic's comic Eddie Pepitone is still hungry for his big break
BY K IMB E R L EY J ON E S, 10: 0 0 A M, S A T. O C T. 2 0
Buddha belly. Bitter man.
The belly is that of a late night owl nearing senior citizenry. The
bitterness... Well, chalk that up to decades in the trenches,
doing good work in his field, becoming an inner-circle darling,
but still a dud in terms of commercial recognition.
Steven Feinartz’s engaging doc follows comedian Eddie
Pepitone – still hustling, still waiting for his big break. The altcomedy glitterati – Marc Maron, Sarah Silverman, Patton
Oswalt, B.J. Novak – sing his praises to the camera (well, and
get a few good digs in, too), but so far, Eddie Pepitone isn’t in
the same neighborhood – hell, even the same state – in terms
of name recognition. And that has made him bitter... and that is
counteracted by his meditation and vegan lifestyle... and that is counteracted by palpable rage, fairly
radiating off him both onstage and in day to day life.
Feinartz shifts the focus between Pepitone’s stand-up (very funny) and the talking-head testimonials (also
very funny), the mundanities of Pepitone’s private life and lively, illustrative animation work by Allen
Mezquida that caricaturizes Pepitone’s angry-man tics and sad-man’s dark eye circles, but also crystallizes
what is so potent, and sometimes so pitiable, about the man.
The arc is perhaps predictable – the action builds toward a climactic show in New York that for Pepitone
marks a significant uptick in his profile and also the chance to prove himself to an emotionally distant
father. Still: Just because we’ve seen a guy work through daddy issues before doesn’t make it any less
moving when father and son leak tears in tandem.
The Bitter Buddha screens Saturday, Oct. 20, 7pm, Austin Convention Center - Meeting Room 18,
and Monday, Oct. 22, 7pm, at the Alamo Drafthouse Village, with Feinartz and Pepitone in
attendance.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118063219
Posted: Wed., Dec. 5, 2012, 7:15pm PT
Slamdance unveils competition, docu titles
'He's Way More Famous Than You' among narrative selections
By DAVE MCNARY
Slamdance, launched 19 years ago as an alternative to Sundance, has unveiled its competition lineup
with 12 narrative films and 10 documentaries -- including 13 world premieres and seven U.S.
premieres.
The lineup, announced Wednesday, was culled from more than 5,000 submissions. Slamdance will
take place Jan. 18-24 in Park City, Utah, at the Treasure Mountain Inn. All films films in competition
have budgets under $1 million.
Michael Urie's comedy "He's Way More Famous Than You" is among the more notables titles in the
narrative category with a cast including Jesse Eisenberg, Mamie Gummer, Ralph Macchio, Natasha
Lyonne and Ben Stiller. Penned by Halley Feiffer and Ryan Spahn -- who also are in the cast -- pic
centers on a struggling actress who will stop at nothing to get her movie made.
Steven Feinartz' documentary "The Bitter Buddha," focusing on comic Eddie Pepitone's life, includes
Zach Galifianakis, Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt, Sean Conroy, Paul Provenza, Dana Gould and
Marc Maron.
"Our goal is to showcase exhilarating filmmaking with a revolutionary take on our world," said Peter
Baxter, president and co-founder. "These filmmakers have a tremendous ability to innovate, explore
and revitalize the independent filmmaking landscape."
Narrative selections include Brea Grant's dark comedy "Best Friends Forever," Neil Drumming's drama
"Big Words," Jan Eihardt's German experimental movie "The Court of Shards," Matt Johnson's "The
Dirties," Harry Patramanis' drama "Fynbos," Ben Peyser-Scott Rutherford's found-footage comedy
"Billy Chen Presents: Ghost Team One," James E. Duff's romancer "Hank and Asha," Nadia Szold's
drama "Joy De V.," Aron Lehmann's mystery "Kohlhaas," Constanze Knoche's family drama "Visitors"
and Marie Jamora's family drama "What Isn't There."
Documentaries include "Battery Man" from Dusan Saponja and Dusan Cavic, "Bible Quiz" from Nicole
Teeny, "The Brotherhood of the Traveling Rants" from Gavin McInnes, Steve Durand and Bryan
Gaynor, "The Last Shepherd" from Marco Bonfanti, "Running Wild: The Life of Dayton O. Hyde" from
Suzanne Mitchell, "My Name Is Faith" from Jason Banker, Jorge Torres-Torres and Tiffany SudelaJunker; "The Institute" from Spencer McCall, "Where I Am" from Pamela Drynan and "Without
Shepherds" from Cary McClelland.
Variety is the official media partner for the festival.
http://teamcoco.com/content/what%E2%80%99s-so-funny-bitter-buddha-comic-doc-rocks
What’s So Funny: “The Bitter Buddha”
Eddie Pepitone Stand-up Doc Rocks
By JohnDevore on March 29. 2012
We’re not asking, we’re telling. Here’s some stuff we like.
The Bitter Buddha Official Trailer
"The Bitter Buddha" -- Eddie Pepitone Stand-up Documentary
Eddie Pepitone is what a stand-up comic might call a ‘comic’s comic,’ which sounds like a comedian who
performs explicitly at comedy clubs that cater to only stand-up comedians. Man, those audiences are
passive-aggressive. Pepitone is also one of the funniest comedians working today. (Full Disclosure:
we're fans.) You can see him both being funny and working in the new documentary “The Bitter Budhha.”
The flick follows Pepitone as he does what he does best, as well as interviews about the man with friends
of his like Sarah Silverman, Todd Barry, and Patton Oswalt. [Youtube.com]
Rise Of The Fenix -- Tenacious D
The face-melting "mock rock" duo is back. Tenacious D is releasing a brand new album, “Rise of the
Fenix,” on May 15th. This is amazing news for fans of Jack Black and Kyle Gass, as well as fans of sweet
licks, fist pumps, and awesomeness in general. Check out the new video! [TenaciousD.com]
One Of Mitch Hedberg's Final Interviews
Legendary comedian Mitch Hedberg passed away seven years ago, and his surreal brand of humor is
sorely missed. Listen to this interview with the hilariously deranged performer five months before his
untimely death.[SplitSider.com]
The Oatmeal Animates The Song "Dinosaur Disco"
The Oatmeal animates Sarah Donner’s profane song dedicated to flying thunder lizards, “The
M*****F****** Pterodactyl.” Warning: the song is, how do you say? NSFW. It’s also, possibly, the best
thing ever.[TheOatmeal.com]
Product Placements In "The Hunger Games"
What if, during the Hunger Games, Katniss took a moment to crack open a delicious can of popular
carbonated sugar water? These “The Hunger Games” parodies are worth checking out, if you’re a fan of
underage tributes fighting for their lives in a dystopian future. [AVClub.com]
'Like any good comedian, I don't like myself'
Eddie Pepitone talks The Bitter Buddah
Cult comedian Eddie Pepitone hosted a question and answer session following a screening of his film
The Bitter Buddha at the Galway Comedy Festival.
The documentary focuses on the combustible 54-year-old New Yorker's struggles with anger, his standup career and difficult relationship with his father – but the first time he saw the film, the only thing he
fixated on was his appearance: 'I was like, “you're so fucking fat!” Ever seen yourself on video? I have it in
my head that I'm absolutely gorgeous, like I'm George Clooney. Then you watch yourself and you're like
“Oh my God, I should exercise every once in a while.
'Do you want to know how to be a failure?!' he barracked the modest audience. 'Is that what you want?
Because I can really help you with that …'
Repeatedly 'lassoing in' David O'Doherty, who was in the crowd, seeking a fellow comic's perspective and
reassurance, he cut off the Irishman's opening enquiry to explain how the film's release coincided with
marriage to his girlfriend Karen – 'she hated doing the film' - and him performing outside of America for
the first time, beginning at the Edinburgh Fringe last year.
Reflecting on the film's suggestion that older, 'authentic' comic's comics like him are overlooked by US
television networks that favour 'young, beautiful people', Pepitone confessed that director Steven Feinartz
had had to 'cut out ' his mentioning 'all the people I hate. Because everyone would have hated me.
'I got so comfortable with the director, there were so many people that I would just say 'that fucking guy
…! David [O'Doherty] was one of them but they cut that! The newest one for me is Andy Samberg. Do
you guys know Andy? Yeah, I don't like him …
'I do! He's a nice guy. They're all really nice!'
O'Doherty eventually got to wonder if every comedian in Los Angeles is 'just doing a fucking podcast all
the time'. And if the burgeoning success of stand-ups like Pepitone, Louis CK, Patton Oswalt and Zach
Galifianakis, indicates that the era of 'pretty boy and girl comedians' in the US is passing, with 'a degree of
the real world creeping in? I guess that's helped by podcasts because it's people talking about their own
life … it's not just about hotties'.
Podcasts are a reaction to interference Pepitone responded, reasoning that 'the good thing about them is
that there's nobody like these fucking people who run the TV and movie studios telling you what material
you can do. That's the difference. People are just being so honest on their podcasts because they're not
told what to do. That's why the sitcoms are all just sugary bullshit, you know what I mean?'
When asked if he'd auditioned for the role of George Costanza in Seinfeld, he lamented that 'I wasn't
on Jerry Seinfeld's radar at the point.'
'But yeah, I love doing those, I love playing the sadsack guys. “Hey Jerry, I don't have a job and I'm trying
to pick up the girl.” I look like that. I'm very successful at that.'
Unsurprisingly, the intimate indie film hasn't made Pepitone a millionaire. 'I wish. Not even close'.
Nevertheless, he has tentative plans to mimic Marc Maron, who frequently appears in The Bitter Buddha,
by establishing a successful, personal podcast of his own. Unfortunately, there are some teething
problems.
After hosting The Long Shot cast with Sean Conroy, Amber Kenny, and Jamie Flam, he found 'it really
wasn't my voice.
'So I'm trying to start my own but I don't know how to work all the fucking equipment! I drag it all to
Galway and I'm like an old guy going “Oh fuck, where the fuck does this plug … Jesus Christ! How the
fuck does this screw ... “ Then I get it together, I start recording and I'm railing against the government in
my room at the hotel … “These fucking guys!” And I realise I haven't been recording for the last hour! If
you download my podcast it's just blank sound.'
Collaboration invariably makes comedy easier, if only because 'if it fails, you can go, "it was fucking Todd.
Fucking Todd fucked that up."'
'I think stand-up is the hardest artform because you are so alone' he added. 'So I love playing off people, I
love riffing. But when stand-up is going really good, really good with the crowd - not like last night at the
Seapoint Ballroom - it's the most rewarding thing. Because again, it's all you. And that's another great
thing about the podcast, you have total control over what bits you want to do.'
Without spoiling the film for those who haven't seen it, Pepitone's father holds strong views about his
son's vocation. The comic ventures that the situation is 'different in the States. I feel like being a comedian
is more respected overseas.
'I lied to my dad and told him I was going to be a dentist. Which I should have been, my teeth are falling
out.'
After his recent guest spots on Conan O'Brien and Community, his father has been mollified. But 'he just
wants to know “how much money are you making?” That's what he respects. But he's definitely
supportive.'
So why did Maron seem 'bitchy' towards him in the film? Pepitone's face broke into the broadest grin.
'You know why? Because the movie wasn't about him. Marc is a great guy, an interesting guy and I don't
know if you listen to his podcast but he's a very, very narcissistic man. And I say that with all due respect.
But really he was giving me shit, he was taking the piss out of me, because the cameras were always on
me.
'So he went “what the fuck? How come they're not on me. That's what he likes to do. A lot of people,
when I toured with the movie in the States [drops voice] “what's up with Maron?” But that never bothered
me because that's just who Marc is.'
Finally, on his signature routine, in which he heckles himself with his own insecurities from the audience,
Pepitone confessed that it 'lets me get out all my self-loathing. Because like any good comedian, I don't
like myself. It's great to be able to yell shit at myself.
'Every comedian secretly is the greatest heckler ever. Comedians, we get heckled, so it's such a desire
for a comedian to do it back. I'll be watching comedians all the time and I have to stop myself. I wanna
heckle them - in a good natured way - but still fuck with them. And I actually do that with some.
'It's just a great release. But that's where [that routine] comes from, that fucking tension about “how come
my life is ...” and I just fell into it. I don't know when I developed it, I just started going at it. People in
Edinburgh loved it so I've just kept closing shows with it.'
-by Jay Richardson
• Click here to buy The Bitter Buddah as a Region One (US) DVD. Note that you need a multi-region player
to play this.
http://www.theskinny.co.uk/comedy/fringe_2012/302572-eddie_pepitone_bloodbath
Eddie Pepitone: Bloodbath
REVIEW BY BERNARD O'LEARY.
PUBLISHED 06 AUGUST 2012
Eddie Pepitone appreciates the absurdity of a 53-year old man
crossing the Atlantic just so he can shout at strangers in a
basement. Pepitone appreciates the absurdity of a lot of things,
including his life and his act, and occasionally stops to ask
himself what the hell he's doing.
Pepitone's got that Sam Kinision style of delivery, which says that if they're not laughing then you're not
shouting loud enough. But Pepitone likes to break it up, lowering his voice, whispering, occasionally
stopping and laughing at himself. Strucurally the show is like jazz, looping and spiralling as Pepitone dives
into routines, then stops and questions what the hell he's doing, before swooping straight back into the rant.
The callbacks and references are so dizzying it's advisable to take notes.
There are some jaw-achingly hilarious routines, like his failed commercial audition and being heckled by his
own subconscious. Maybe the most telling is the one where Pepitone explores his idea for Stand-Up
Tragedy clubs. This ultimately is a show about his misery, his uselessness, the fact that he's alone and
dying in a godless universe. Takes talent to make that funny; takes genius to make it hilarious. Maybe the
best solo stand-up performance you'll see at the Fringe.
http://www.chortle.co.uk/shows/edinburgh_fringe_2012/e/20282/eddie_pepitones_bloodbath/review
Show Details
Show type: Edinburgh Fringe 2012
Eddie Pepitone's Bloodbath
Description
Eddie Pepitone is an Apocalyptic-American (with a conscience) and a master of the dark art of stand-up comedy. Hailed
as Don Rickles meets Eckhart Tolle, the Bitter Buddha is a force of nature onstage, switching between social rage and
self-doubt.
Reviews
Eddie Pepitone's Bloodbath: Fringe 2012
Live Review
Just The Tonic at The Tron
Pugnacious American Eddie Pepitone’s relationship to his audience is very much like a tramp’s
relationship to pigeons. He yells and hollers to them, apparently his only impotent outlet for the
visceral rage and bitter frustrations he feels at the world’s wrongs.
Then, in a heartbeat, he has a moment of calm. The voice quietens and he reflects on what he’s
doing with angst and self-doubt. And that only ultimately leads him to get all het up again about
the miserable reality of his life.
For the punter, it’s the best of both worlds – the passionate rants of a big-issues comedian
combined with the more inward-looking comedy of the smart, detached deconstructionalists.
There’s something of his compatriot Andy Kindler in the way he frets about how his jokes, his
show, and his whole career are going. At one point he coins the catchphrase: ‘Funny, no?’ which
he amusingly admits shows a gargantuan lack of confidence in his own abilities.
This cocktail of anger and anxiety can only have come from one place: New York, and Pepitone
has the air of a supporting Seinfeld character around which a whole episode might have revolved,
thanks to his swirl of contradictions, all writ large. The passion of the delivery and the shambles of
the performer certainly suit this late-night slot in the Tron’s slightly dingy cellar bar, for this is a
dirty, visceral style of stand-up.
Pepitone tries to get out his set pieces, such as his impression of the lounge singer plagued with
war flashbacks, but gets drawn into so many nested tangents it takes him a while to get back to the
point. Easily distracted, he worries whether his references will translate to Scottish audiences,
muses on the loneliness of life on the road, and confesses his need for validation by retweet. But
even in these moments he cracks character again to reveal that even the self-doubt is exaggerated
for the sake of comedy – and done so brilliantly.
There are a couple of tour-de-force ‘bits’ here: primarily his (failed) audition for washing powder,
where he pleads in agonised tones for his wife to explain how she got his whites so white, when the
whole world is heading for the scrapheap, and a signature piece demanded by one fan in the
room, which involves positioning himself in the audience and heckling himself with a piercingly
accurate assessment of the shitty state of his life.
Throwing out stand-up conventions while delivering pungent routines laced with misery: that’s
what makes Pepitone a heartily recommended act this Fringe.
Date of live review: Sunday 5th Aug, '12
Review by Steve Bennett
Tuesday, 21 May 2013 20:46
Eddie Pepitone - The Biggest Thing I
Have Is My Honesty
Written by Siobhán Kane
Siobhán Kane spoke with comedian Eddie Pepitone ahead of his show in Whelan's next Monday
and the imminent release of his documentary The Bitter Buddha.
Over the years Brooklyn's Eddie Pepitone has become well-known for his appearances on other
people's endeavours, whether the podcast WTF with Marc Maron, Conan, Chapelle's Show, Flight
of the Conchords, or Community, the list is large and varied.
However, Pepitone has quietly been etching out a long narrative, that now sees him co-hosting The
Long Shot Podcast, and releasing his own stand up albums, such as A Great Stillness (2011). This made
him a perfect subject for documentary, and last year The Bitter Buddha was released to great acclaim,
and includes many comics own thoughts on Pepitone, from Patton Oswalt to Zach Galifianakis - all
exploring the natural force and range of this true "comics comic", and he is only just beginning, as
he tells Siobhán Kane.
hen did you realise that people found you funny? I remember Woody Allen
suggesting that it was his upbringing, chaotic, chattering splendour - and that
perhaps there was so much to communicate and observe, and these remain
staples of his comedy, how has it been for you?
I realised I was funny when I was about 9, and would make my friends pay attention to me in
school. I was the classic class clown, if you will. I was brought up in a tense household, but funny.
My father was Sicilian and had operatic emotions which led to fear and comedy. I think my comedy
has always been about larger than life emotions. Emotions taken to an absurd level and I had my
Dad as a great example. But I wasn't able to express it till I got around my friends in school. I used
to make up gibberish languages. I was always into playing with language. But I'll never forget making
up a gibberish language and my young friends thinking it was hilarious and I was off and running.
So many of my favourite comics had childhoods that were full of weird representations of
love, as in, no real love shown, or in repressive environments - would you relate to that in
some way?
Yes, I definitely relate to the lack of love in growing up. Just caught up in other people acting out
their dramas and you are an appendage to their personal drama. You as a child are just there and not
of your own doing. You are thrust into an insane world where you are terrified. I relate to it and
survived it. I'm not saying there wasn't any love, I'm just saying it wasn't the predominant emotion.
Is there something in the water in Brooklyn? It is not lost on me that so many of my
favourite comics have come out of Brooklyn.
I think Brooklyn is known for artists and comedy because it is such a melting pot of people. It is
extremely working class and a hard place to grow up and thrive. Very crowded, very intense. You
need strong survival skills. Therefore, it’s a breeding ground for humour. Humour as survival. Just
being exposed to all the different races of people coupled with the struggle is a great place to
develop a strong sense of humour.
You have a long-standing relationship with Conan O'Brien, he is such an interesting man,
and seems so generous, still curious with the world at large, and that curiosity never seems
to be sated, how did you two meet, and can you recall some of your fondest experiences
with him?
I met Conan by being hired to do my first big television role. I know so many of the writers on
Conan who love to write for me. My first big spot on Conan was written by a guy named Andy Blitz
- a funny stand up and great writer- and ever since the first spot I did I have been a staple on the
show. My bits are now mostly heckling Conan from his studio audience. Which is so much fun
because I get to scream at him on live television. Conan is a funny funny man who really
understands what is funny. I love that he has an edge to him because that's what I love to do. Our
relationship is real professional; I do my bits on show and we get along great and then off I go. We
don't hang out offstage.
Were you nervous at all when The Bitter Buddha came out? How do you feel about it now?
You are so very honest, and I think that is often why I am drawn to comics - there is a direct
sense of honesty with the best comics.
I was nervous about how The Bitter Buddha would come out because it was so personal. I didn't
want to look bad, I wanted to come across well. But when I saw what Steven Feinartz, the Director,
had done I was very pleased. What was great was he captured what I do onstage because he really
gets my comedy. He gets what I am trying to do up onstage and the film reflects that. As far as being
honest onstage, I feel that the biggest thing I have is my honesty.
I was also thinking about Alone Up There - do you think that comedy is hard to make sense
of in a way, hard to make documentary out of? It is hard to capture the atmosphere of an
audience, and that sense of being completely out on a limb, although there are some great
comedy documentaries/capturing stand-up, like Richard Pryor's.
Yes I do think it's hard to do a comedy documentary. My favourite is also Richard Pryor: Live On
The Sunset Strip - really a concert film - but I feel the best thing is to see the stand-up live and
capture that on film because that what a stand-up's life is: the performance. My life can be boiled
down to the performances in a sense. It's all onstage, really, that I try to distill my life into.
Your work is littered with a sense of anger against injustice, recently I read The Guardian
piece where you said you are a "flawed hypocrite" - I think we are all flawed, but you see
things more clearly than most and rail against things other people are very apathetic about.
Did you grow up in quite a politicised household, or when did this sense of things come
about?
I did get politicised by my Dad who, early in his life, was very involved with the Teachers Union in
NYC. He gave me a book by Ferdinand Lundberg called The Rich and the Super Rich. I was so
struck by the unfairness of the polarisation of wealth - which keeps getting worse and worse - in the
US. So for some reason I always had a political bent. And I am glad I do although it's so easy to say
"fuck it, who cares, I'm just going to have a cake and watch tv."
Your podcasts are very successful, I wonder if it is something that you really enjoy? I always
think that listening to comedy is always quite effective, when I was growing up comedy
vinyl was some of my most prized possessions, and that hasn't really changed - so I wonder
if the podcast is a very satisfying thing to do?
I also enjoyed listening to comedy albums! Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Bob Newhart,
Shelly Berman, George Carlin. There is something about just listening that is very comforting. You
close your eyes and are transported. I do like doing podcasts because there is no one editing your
content and you can basically say what pops into your head and, depending on who you are doing
them with, they can get on a roll. It's like a great chat session with a friend when they work well.
And no television executives telling you to not talk about this or that.
Going back to that, you have released work on record such as The Big Push, more about
your characters, and then A Great Stillness - do you feel that it is as important for you to
have documented this work, as for the audience? Great comic writing is such a craft.
It is such a great feeling to have work documented because it gives me a sense of relief that the work
will be here forever and not lost. I do so many bits off the top of my head that I don't remember
later and I sometimes feel such a sense of loss. There is something about knowing your work is
there in some form that is quite comforting.
Fairly recently, the writer Howard Jacobson was at a reading event, talking about what is
perceived as "serious" writing and "comedic" writing, and he won the Booker prize a few
years ago for what he said is regarded as "serious" writing, yet has written more comedic
novels that didn't win anything, yet he said he is more proud of those novels, and they were
actually harder to write, yet comedic writing is seen as a poor cousin in a sense - what are
your thoughts?
I think comedy writing when done well is great art and deserves to be taken as seriously as any
writing. I think the best writing of any form has to have great comedy in it. Any book or film that
doesn't have a deep sense of humour, a deep sense of the absurd, is only half a book or film. Life is
a comedy first and foremost. When we lose our sense of humour, we are doomed.
Following on from that, who are some of your favourite writers?
My favourite writer is a Brooklyn boy: Henry Miller. I also love Kurt Vonnegut. Douglas Adams is
my favourite comedy writer. I also love a novelist comedy writer, Mark Leyner.
You have a background in improv, do you credit that with providing a good basis for
comedy?
Yes, improv helped me stay with moments that don't work onstage and then not panic and work
toward being funny again. Improv helped me always be in the moment onstage. I got into improv
because when I first started doing stand-up comedy I was terrified of it. I was so alone up there. So
improv was getting to find my comedic abilities with others onstage. Less frightening than stand-up.
You have talked before about the Occupy movement, where does it stand at present in
America?
The Occupy movement was crushed by the police state here, plain and simple. The brute force of
the police was too much for a small movement. However, there is tremendous dissatisfaction here in
the States with the status quo and I feel that it will come back - the movement that is - in a bigger
way. It is still active in stopping people's houses being foreclosed. I think it's an awareness and
activism that is still building. We shall see....
Sometimes I worry about how things at present seem so immediate and equally disposable
in the world, advanced by the over-reliance on technology and fragmented way of
communicating. I know that you have a relationship with social media, but you seem to
have an ambivalence about it also - I don't just blame the medium, although it doesn't
appeal - but I think it can often allow people to exist in an echo chamber. What are your
thoughts?
Yes, I also feel that the saturation of the Internet makes people into spectators rather than
participants. I think social media gives the illusion of participating as opposed to really engaging. It is
a rabbit hole of narcissism that is easy to go down.
So much of your own work springs from a kind of pain, and I have always felt that the best
comics are ones who are struggling within themselves as well as the world - what do you
think? And does comedy provide you with a kind of cathartic platform?
Yes, I feel like the best comedy comes from intense self-examination and the pain of living. Comedy
coming from thoughts and concepts doesn't make me laugh as hard. For me, comedy is very
cathartic. I feel like I can breathe again when I am on a roll onstage. All of my pent up energy, angry
and frustration has a place to be acknowledged and received. I don't feel ignored and shunted aside
anymore.
Puddin' is so wonderful - was it that Matt Oswalt just approached you directly? Did you
know instantly he was someone you could work with?
Yes, Matt had the same dark, repressed rage sensibility that I have. He was writing for me and the
tone was something I immediately related to. Dark and biting and no apologies.
You live in Los Angeles, what on earth is it like? One of the reasons I love Larry David so
much is because he always seems like a fish out of water, in Curb when he is wandering
around Los Angeles, all crumpled up, he seems so out of place, it is all sunshine and fakery,
and he is so rainy and true. New York has always seemed to represent the latter. Woody
Allen explores that too in Annie Hall, where Annie goes to Los Angeles and meets the the
Tony Lacey character (Paul Simon) to "work on her music" and it is so creepy. What is your
relationship like to Los Angeles? And have you ever struggled with living there? Do you
miss New York, and what is your relationship like to New York?
My relationship with Los Angeles is definitely love/hate. I love the creativity of the place - there are
so many artists from around the world that come and seek fame and fortune. I love the eccentricity
of all the artists there. On the other hand, it's so hard to be surrounded by all that competition and
constant onslaught of who got what show and feeling that you have missed out on something. It is
also too damn sunny for me! I like rain! I like clouds! You get to rest in bleak weather. I do miss
NYC and how vibrant it is. L.A. is a giant suburb with no centre, so I miss the heartbeat that NYC
has.
Your show in Edinburgh last year was wonderful - how did you find the experience? It must
have been very special to you as you had never performed there, and if I am correct, had
never been to Europe before.
Edinburgh was an amazing experience. I had never done that many shows in a row in such a
scrutinized environment. It was draining and rewarding. I had no energy or voice left by the end of
the festival but it was well worth it. I am not going this year but plan on going in 2014. The city itself
is so beautiful and old.
What are you reading?
I am reading about 10 books at once these days: Flowers for Algernon, The Hundred-Year-Old Man
Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, Hell, The Tao, it goes on and on.
Lastly, what are your plans for the next year?
My plans are to write a new hour of material and get that filmed, to keep traveling and hopefully
develop a couple of TV shows with me at the centre of them!
"The Bitter Buddha" is available to buy on iTunes now and will shortly be available to stream through
the Volta Video-on-Demand service.
SIOBHÁN KANE
Over the years, Siobhán Kane has written for various publications on music and culture including The Irish Times,
Thumped, The Event Guide and Consequence of Sound. She occasionally contributes to radio, including the arts and
culture show Arena on RTE1, and amidst trying to write her doctorate and teaching, runs the collective Young Hearts Run
Free, putting on music, literature and arts events in unusual spaces, raising money for the Simon Community in the
process.
Website: www.myspace.com/youngheartsrunfreeevents
Review: Eddie Pepitone, Soho Theatre
The last time I went to see Eddie
Pepitone it was downstairs at the Tron
pub during the Edinburgh Festival last
summer and I had to fight my way past a
minor kerfuffle outside. As I squeezed
past the group I noticed Hugh Grant at
the centre of it. The actor was on a flying
visit to the Fringe and also wanted to see
Pepitone that night. Unfortunately an
issue with IDs among his entourage
meant that he didn't make it in. Pepitone
is now at the Soho Theatre until May 25
and I heartily recommend that Hugh
makes sure all IDs are in order and gets
down to W1 pronto.
The Brooklyn-born 54-year-old, whose
fans include Sarah Silverman, Zach
Galifianakis and Patton Oswalt, is a
fascinating mix of old school selflacerating schmuck and postmodern anticomedian. Like, say, Neil Hamburger, or
our own Ed Aczel, his act deconstructs
his act while he is actually performing his
act. But he also has some very good
Route One jokes too. It might sound
strange, but Simon Munnery might be a better comparison.
Pepitone comes on to the Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop and starts as he means to go on –
doing a bad sub-Jagger dance routine, imagine a pickled, portly Bruce Willis, and then
writing it off as a bad idea. From there he shuttles between working through a hate-list
of things that bug him – from self-help gurus to American TV ("all they want is cute
people") – while punctuating his riffs with bittersweet banter with the audience.
"Whaddya do?…I don't care."
All of this is delivered at an increasingly angry pitch. Pepitone's dyspeptic style has
shades of Sam Kinison's decibel-deafening misanthropy but it is slightly more
modulated. At times he recalls a less political but equally stroppy Doug Stanhope. At
other times he is briefly benign and an ironic smile flickers across his mug, such as
when he talks about his nice new hat or he picks up a sheet of tatty notes that turn out
to be printouts of his despairing Tweets.
There are clearly a few routines here that he has been doing for a while, but they work
very well. At just under an hour this is a short, but impressive set that ends with
Pepitone "self-sabotaging" his own gig by showing hecklers what a real heckle could be
like. The only trouble is that, as he says, there hasn't been any heckling all evening. The
irony is that Pepitone, for all his human frailties and failings, is way too funny to heckle.
Bruce Dessau writes for The Times and the Guardian and is the comedy critic of the Evening Standard.
His latest book is Beyond A Joke: Inside The Dark World of Stand-Up Comedy. And yes, he's got a cellar.
Wanna make something of it?
Dark Comedy Festival goes from blue to black
Acts can indulge in public indecency without being kicked out of the club
By Bill Brownstein, The Gazette June 4, 2013
Founded in Toronto in 2011, the Dark Comedy Festival comes to Montreal for the first time this
week, with performances at the Comedy Nest by Leighland Beckman, clockwise from right,
Derek Seguin, Peter J. Radomski, Paul Ash, Dan Derkson and Morgan O’Shea. “Three of us
went to the Toronto festival last year and, frankly, we were too dark and dirty for them,” Ash
says. “Now they’re bringing the festival here because they realize Montreal has no filter.”
Photograph by: Pierre Obendrauf , The Gazette
MONTREAL - The Dark Comedy Festival: It came from Toronto. Apparently no longer
The Good, for reasons comedic and political.
Imagine, Toronto having the inside track over Montreal on a laugh fest of a troubled and
twisted nature. The Dark Comedy Festival got its start there two years ago, thanks to
Hogtown humorist/impresario Rob Mailloux. The fest featured 18 shows over 10 days
and showcased 50 unwell wits, including Jim Jefferies, Big Jay Oakerson and Tyler
Morrison.
Mailloux has since brought the festival to Vancouver, and now it hits Montreal, the
rightful home of troubled and twisted humour. Think of Montreal’s Dark Comedy Festival
— running Thursday to Saturday at the Comedy Nest — as a precursor to the Nasty
Show series at Just for Laughs next month.
No Jefferies for this city’s festival, but there will be an abundance of local talent, as well
as cult legend Eddie Pepitone and Morrison, who won the first and only Dark Comedy
Contest at the 2011 spectacle in T.O.
Comedy Nest co-proprietor Dave Acer was keen to host the fest at his club, but
cautions that the shows are definitely not for the faint of heart. “These comics are going
to talk about stuff most comedians wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot mic stand,” he says.
“The idea is that the comedians performing on these nights are allowed to go places
that are too risqué, sensitive or polarizing for a regular weekend comedy show.”
Mailloux will serve as host for the shows, Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday
at 8 and 10:30 p.m.
Montrealer Derek Seguin headlines Thursday, with homeboys Morgan O’Shea and Dan
Derkson as opening acts. On Friday, the spotlight shines on Morrison, who gets support
from locals Leighland Beckman and Paul Ash. And Pepitone does the two Saturday
shows, with veteran city wit Peter J. Radomski getting the crowd into a loosened state.
The tone of these shows suits Seguin just fine. “I’m darker and dirtier than Dave (Acer)
likes me to be on a regular weekend,” he says at the Comedy Nest. “Except when I
attend parent/teacher meetings at my kids’ schools, I tend to say whatever pops into my
mind — which is usually bad. That’s why when I headline at the Nest now, they put out
a warning before the shows.”
Seguin likes to ruminate about certain words that have become taboo to others, but
clearly not to him.
Derkson doesn’t need any motivation to get down and dirty: “I just got out of a marriage
about four or five months ago. I’m already really depressed. So I figure this is the
perfect time to pass that anger I have on to an audience. I want the audience to want to
divorce me, too, by the end of the set.”
“I’ve never seen Dan (Derkson) that happy,” O’Shea notes. “I’m the opposite of Dan. I’ll
be raging about porn — about how I don’t watch porn and how I offend people for not
watching it. Even women come up to me and ask if I’m some kind of sick f--- for not
watching.”
Guitar-strumming troubadour Beckman, like the others, relishes the opportunity to play
weekends at a local comedy club: “I’m usually not welcome to perform.”
That may be due to the fact that Beckman croons such personal compositions as Rectal
Prolapse: “I can handle the pain, but I can’t stand the shame / I’m filled with doubt when
my anus comes inside out.”
Thanks for sharing.
“The point is that Montreal is the real home of dark and dirty,” says Ash, who is also at
the helm of Battle-COM at the Nest and elsewhere. “Three of us went to the Toronto
festival last year and, frankly, we were too dark and dirty for them. Now they’re bringing
the festival here because they realize Montreal has no filter.”
Radomski is particularly pumped by the presence of Pepitone, the eccentric central
figure in the acclaimed documentary The Bitter Buddha, which screened at Just for
Laughs last year as well as at the Cannes and Sundance film fests. “Anyone who is
remotely interested in comedy has a moral obligation to be here to see Pepitone. In my
mind, he’s the finest comedian on the planet,” Radomski proclaims. “The guy has been
doing comedy for over 30 years and has influenced a generation of comedians. Screw
the Grand Prix this weekend — there is a historical event in comedy taking place in this
city.”
Among those Pepitone has influenced are Marc Maron, Sarah Silverman, Zach
Galifianakis and Patton Oswalt, who shower him with praise in The Bitter Buddha and
don’t feel he’s received his due.
“I can’t dwell on that, getting angry and bitter,” Pepitone says in a phone interview. “I
just stuck to my guns and did what I really liked. They just never knew what to do with
me. I feel I am getting my due now, thanks to the documentary. It’s also gratifying
having comedians that I respect a lot saying that they like what I do.”
This will mark the first time in more than a decade that Pepitone — who has appeared
in everything from Flight of the Conchords to House — has performed here. His last
Montreal appearance was a small set at Just for Laughs’ Alternative Show.
As serene as Pepitone sounds on the phone, he figures he’ll have little difficulty getting
into a dark frame of mind for Saturday’s shows.
“Dark is my specialty,” says Pepitone, whose influences are Richard Pryor and George
Carlin. “With much of the world going down economically and with so many people
barely scraping by, there is more than enough for me to draw on.”
The Dark Comedy Festival runs Thursday, June 6 to Saturday, June 8 at the Comedy
Nest, 2313 Ste-Catherine St. W., third floor. Tickets cost $15 for Thursday and Friday’s
shows (8 p.m.), $20 for Saturday’s shows (8 and 10:30 p.m.). Call 514-932-6378 or
visit comedynest.com.
Interview with Eddie Pepitone | The Bitter Buddha
If you haven't heard of Eddie Pepitone then you surely will soon. With a huge cult following in the
US through stand up and appearances in shows like Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Flight of the
Conchords, The Sarah Silverman Show Pepitone has been making his mark in the US for the last
35 years. Dubbed as the 'comic’s comic' Peptione has a fanbase which includes Sarah Silverman,
Zach Galifianakis, and Robin Williams. The comedian is finally making the cross over onto the
international scene and all we can say is it is about time. Nicknamed 'The Bitter Buddha', Pepitone
is now starring in his own documentary, of the same name, which will be available to rent
exclusively from Volta this Friday 31st May. 'The Bitter Buddha' is a humorous documentary
that takes an unconventional look at an unconventional man as he struggles with his career, his
past and the world around him. We caught up with him ahead of his gig in Whelans tonight to talk
about the documentary, his life growing up in a dysfunctional family and his upcoming appearance
on Arrested Development. As well as finding out what is in store for the New York born comic...
Interview by Claire Duffy
You're playing tonight in Whelans with David O'Doherty. What can we expect from your
show?
Well I think it’s going to be interesting show because David is so light and silly. And I tend to be
painfully loud and angry, like I try to take the rage to an absurd level. But I think it's going to be a
good contrast; one dark one light. Like a little nymph playing piano and me bellowing about failure.
'The Bitter Buddha' is available for fans to watch this Friday. Can you tell us a bit about it?
The director Steven Feinartz, followed me for about a year last year. It chronicled a lot of my stand
up shows in L.A., a couple of road gigs in Chicago and one big New York gig, where I was headlining
in New York for the first time in a long time in a very big comedy club. So, it was like a homecoming.
He really captures a really complex relationship I have with my father which I think becomes one of
the emotional arks of the film. I was very happy with it. I thought Steven did a great job capturing
my stand up. To me the most important thing about my life is my stand up. I don't know if that is
sad or not but I don't have any kids, I talk about this in the movie. It's like my legacy, the comedy.
Steven captured the comedy. I just really like the film from the music to the way he weaved it so I'm
happy with it.
Where did the name ‘The Bitter Buddha’ come from?
Because I have a lot of anger aka bitterness and then because of the anger I started meditating and
that's where the Buddha part came from. I think my physique looks a little like a Buddha.
How did you feel about letting a camera into your life? Why did you decide to do the
documentary? Did you find it very exposing?
At first I found it a little uncomfortable. I remember the first night of filming I thought this is going
to be a little uncomfortable. I thought I wasn't going to be able to be natural. But the second time he
filmed me, I just felt me and Steven really hit it off. I thought he was a really nice guy and that's why
I let him do it. My instinct said that he was someone who really appreciated what I did and I thought
it would be a great way to get my work on film for all time.
You talk about how angry you get on stage do you think this stems from your relationship
with your father?
Yeah, one thing I realised in my comedy, is I'm channeling or doing an impersonation of my dad. He
is Sicilian and has operatic rage. I think that as a kid I was very frightened of how angry he got and
now as an adult I'm making fun of what I got afraid of. It's kind of cathartic for me to make fun of
what I was afraid. I love taking it to an absurd level because on stage I get so angry it's absurd. I get
angry at small things on stage and I get angry at small things in life too.
Did you find the documentary was a way of confronting this?
I, basically with the documentary I just did my thing. I think knowing that it was being filmed, my
stand up was being filmed and my life was being filmed, it heightened the reality of it so maybe I
was more aware of the camera. I knew I always wanted to do my best.
You have a huge cult following in the US but how did you break into the international
comedy scene?
Well last year was how it came about through the urging of Paul Provenza. He always said it to me,
he pushed me and set me up to do Edinburgh. He said it would be good for me that they would love
me. That the UK and Ireland and overseas would love my loudness and bitterness. Before
Edinburgh I did the Vodafone Comedy Festival that Bren Barry booked me. And because of
Edinburgh I got the Soho gig and I have also done a gig in Norway this year which was really fun.
How did you find an Irish audience in comparison to the US audiences?
I really like them. I was very scared at first just because I had never performed overseas and was
worried. One thing I learn't about was don't talk to an Irish audience about therapy because they
don't want to know about it. Every American is in therapy but I don't think it's talked about much
here. It's stuff like that, it's interesting what you will learn. I realised the best thing I can do is be
myself.
How does it feel to be getting a career surge in a late stage in your career? Why do you think
it's all happening now?
I'm wondering if because maybe my whole demeanour is more suitable to today while there is a lot
of disenfranchisement and unhappiness. Not to say that I'm unhappy but I try to do this whole thing
about overcoming the anger. Maybe cos it's a bad economy. I don't know I think also have come into
my own. I'm just the classic late bloomer, it just took me a long time to get it right.
Just to go back to where it all began, how did you get into comedy?
I grew up in such a dysfunctional household, my Mom was always in and out of hospital with a
bipolar disorder. So it was just a way for me to deal with all the unhappiness that was around me as
a kid. It wasn't a great household to grow up in so the only way I was able to deal with it was
through humour. It's kind of a cliche but it really was the way I dealt with all the tragedy was
through comedy.
You said before that the Conan O'Brien show was a big break at the start of your career how
did that come about?
A lot of the guys that I did stand up with wound up writing for Conan and one of them wrote a bit
that he thought I would be perfect for. So I went in and did it, it was about a fake commercial about
being on the cover of a cereal box. It was a long monologue and the guy who wrote it really knew
my comedy well and ever since then that I do this recurring character that heckles from the
audience. Conan just liked the fact I heckle him and it's been really good bits for me.
I loved your stand up piece where you heckle yourself, what has been your worst experience
of a heckler?
How come everyone wants to know about that? Everyone likes that one. I haven't really had any,
lets knock on wood here, bad hecklers that I think I come on stage with so much anger myself that
people are scared or they feel sorry for me cos they see I'm an older man really trying very hard. I’m
not sure which one.
Some of your fans include Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt, Zach Galifianakis, Robin Williams.
How does it feel to be held in such high regard by fellow comedians?
That's the best, it's like the greatest because I know those guys are so funny. That I know they know
comedy, so for them to like what I do is a big tribute, it's very flattering. But of course, success
depends on the average person liking you so sometimes it's a curse to be known as a comic’s comic
because you want broader popularity. But I love the fact those guys like me. Now it's just getting the
average person to love me. That seems more elusive.
Where do you get your inspiration for your material? Your background is in improve -- how
much of your stand up would be improvised?
Here's the thing, I just did 3 weeks at the Soho Theatre and it was my first run in London. Especially
the first week I didn't improvise very much 'cause I was a little tentative with the crowd. I don't
know London that well. Like when I'm in the States I improvise a lot like I would improvise over
half. But when I play overseas I tend to rely more on material until I feel very comfortable with the
audience and then I like to just go into my own head. The most fun is playing with ideas that pop
into my head and I just love going on rides like that because I have an improv background. When
I'm really comfortable I let myself go but if I feel like I don't know if this crowd knows me well
enough or I know them then I rely more on the material. But I'm happy when I'm doing improv. The
written material, and some of it I have done for a while, is not as creatively challenging.
Who are your favourite comedians? Who inspires you?
Here it's so funny you don't get to see a lot of Irish or UK comedians in the US, they don't travel
there. Last year at Vodafone I saw and it blew me away, I saw Tommy Tiernan . And I'm like how do
I not know about him, it was so amazing. I have never seen anyone this good. The other guy I found
really funny was David McSavage and of course David O'Doherty. I just love these guys. Stewart Lee
in London and Sean Hughes as well. So now I go on YouTube and look around and watch some UK
comics.
You have done numerous sitcoms, films and stand up. Out of it all what is your favourite and
why?
Well sitcoms are great money and it's easy. I feel like sitcoms and TV is the pay off for working very
hard as a comedian because you just go in and you have a few lines and they have written the lines
for you. It's so easy and the money is so good. But the most rewarding is to do stand up but the pay
off seems to be the TV and film work.
This weekend saw the return of Arrested Development and I know you star in one of the
episodes. What character do you play and how did it feel to be part of all the hype that has
been surrounding it's return?
It's a small part but that was fun. I want to get to the point where I'm one of the big characters in a
great show like that because everyone loves that show. I'm nearly there. Like that's a great show,
everyone loves that show. I also get a lot of praise for being on Flight of the Conchords. I had a really
great episode in that.
So what does the future hold for Eddie Pepitone?
Can you tell me, can you tell me? I hope really good things. I'm such a natural pessimist that I feel
like who knows, hopefully people will really latch on to what I'm doing but part of me is like maybe
this is the height of it. I think if I keep working, if I keep exploring what's inside me comedically my
popularity should grow from there and let’s see where I go from here.
The Bitter Buddha is available to watch on Volta from this Friday the 31st May. You can watch
it here.
Story by EI Team | 09:00 | Monday 27th May 2013 | Comedy
http://www.stpaulslifestyle.com/articles/2013/01/28/eddie-pepitone-global-phenomenon-brings-the-house-down-in-oslo/
EDDIE PEPITONE - GLOBAL PHENOMENON BRINGS THE
HOUSE DOWN IN OSLO.
Posted on Jan 28, 2013
St Pauls Lifestyle reports from the Crap Comedy Festival in Oslo where Eddie Pepitone headlined on Saturday night.
Wherever in the world Eddie Pepitone goes these days he is preceded by audible expectation. So it was in
Oslo on Saturday night as the time for Eddie’s headlining set approached.
Murmured anticipation swept through the venue before Eddie’s appearance on stage “have you seen him
before … no, but I’ve heard”. The auditorium was rammed to its gills.
When Eddie arrived at the Parkteatret, his modesty and gentleness was immediately felt backstage. His act
may be causing excitement internationally, but Eddie is more grounded, more engaged with life – and us,
people living our lives, than ever. His determined concern with the roots of humanity and his regard for
others persists.
The packed Parkteatret was humming. Sensing all this, you wonder how it’s going to go. It’s one thing being
a US comic and delivering to a UK audience. It’s another thing being a US comic and delivering in American
English to a foreign audience whose first language and culture is Norwegian. Add to this that Eddie was
following a high comic standard – set by the likes of Bard Tufte Johansen, Robin Ince, Josie Long and
Daniel Kitson.
Would Eddie thrill?
He entered the stage a shimmering, shivering impersonation of a rapper, his body tremulously shaking – all
the way to the quivering peak of his cap and his ‘rap’ trousers. You think you’ve seen funny – well you
haven’t – not until you’ve seen Eddie come on stage like this.
This stupendous entrance set the bar for a phenomenal gig. Hilarious, insightful and touching, Eddie’s set
attracted whistles, screams, wolf whistles and respect throughout.
Eddie’s giving comedy knows no boundaries: his innate generosity transcends any semantic, literary and
cultural differences. Eddie’s upbringing may be – literally – an ocean away, but his largesse, his true and
deep spirit of humanity captures audiences in different continents, speaking different languages and whose
lives have been entirely separate.
All that is great and exciting in a stand–up is encapsulated in an Eddie Pepitone gig. It has pace, power and
presence. It teeters on the edges of insanity.
When he took himself down into the audience to perform part of his “split personality” routine – I say no
more so as not to wreck your enjoyment of Eddie live - the crowd was awed and touched by his being. For
when Eddie is near you, next to you, he is with you - yet he is also a super star. This apparent contradiction
of massiveness and intimacy is part of his extraordinary appeal. You feel you know him even though you
know you share him with an ever-growing global audience.
Such is Eddie's spirit, his natural humility and kindly intellect that it will always be so.
Eddie Pepitone did not merely thrill – he took the Parkteatret down.
Be warned though, – at an Eddie Pepitone gig you’ll laugh so much it hurts.
Audio Review of the gig - first reactions.
After Eddie’s gig, he had time for chat with the other performers including Robin Ince – before heading
homewards through the glistening white of Oslo’s snow-muffled City where there was time to wonder and
awe at the stunning street art.
Above, Eddie and Robin Ince chatting backstage.
Above, Eddie backstage.
Above, Eddie and Robin Ince checking out Street Art on the way back to the hotel.
Eddie coming to the UK and 'The Bitter Buddha'.
Eddie Pepitone is also known as “The Bitter Buddha”. A same-titled documentary about Eddie will be shown
at San Francisco Sketchfest on the 2nd February 2013 and on general release on 15th Feb 2013.
We have a wonderful filmed interview with Eddie coming to St Pauls Lifestyle – watch our space.
Some of you may have heard of the UK’s desire to adopt Eddie Pepitone; for his comedy is a perfect fit for
the UK audience and our eccentricities. We’re pleased to pass on that Eddie told us he has a 3 week stint in
Soho in May. Hopefully this is a test run for us. Lucky, lucky UK. The Eddie Pepitone experience will be
opened to all.
There is a downside of course – we recognize the health and safety problems this inevitably causes the
venue. So we’ve devised a warning the venue may wish to affix:
“THIS IS AN EDDIE PEPITONE GIG. WE DO NOT ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR INJURIES TO
THE AUDIENCE CAUSED BY EXCESSIVE HILARITY”
Below, a Crap Comedy Festival banner with the symbolic liquorice pipes which are illegal in Norway.