Available Everywhere November 1st

Part 1 -- THE BIRTH OF A FILM: THE COMEDY CLUB

The birth of a monumental film idea is always a mysterious, stressful and humbling event. My new documentary "THE COMEDY CLUB" is no exception. One day as I was enjoying a cup of coffee with my dear friend Howard Meehan of The Meehan Brothers comedy troop, Howard mentioned that Cobb's Comedy Club was moving to a new larger venue right around the corner from the Cafe we were sitting in. The old Cobb's was damaged by an enormous fire which burned down the building next door in a 7-alarm fire a few months prior. Interesting I thought, but at the time I really only had a passing interest in stand-up comedy and a selfish one at that. I had been to shows at the old Cobb's a couple of times to support friends that were performing. You see, I was a bit jaded when it came to standup. I had been to a lot of standup comedy clubs and most of the experiences left me feeling like someone had vacuumed the cash out of my pocket on the way in without giving me more than a couple of chuckles on the way out. I became tired of going in with high expectations only to witness a comedian pander to the audience for 45 minutes. Once you hear the comedian say, "So where are you from..." you know they just ran out of material and were in the 'killing time" part of their set. Which was sadly becoming the norm as clubs became franchised and a stifling corporatism took over. Like church and state, two things that should forever be separate are corporations and standup comedy--this I was soon to witness while making the documentary. I tried to change the subject but Howard was really into telling me about the new Cobb's. "Tom Sawyer is really excited about the new club." Howard said. "Wait a minute, Tom Sawyer?" I braked. "Yeah the owner of Cobb's." He informed me. I was as shocked as anyone that there was a guy named Tom Sawyer that owned a comedy club. As Paula Poundstone says in the doc, "Who would do that to their child?" Well Tom's parents of course! Howard insisted. "It's right around the corner, lets see if he's there." Howard could drag me anywhere. Being with him was like having your own mobile comedy show. It was like an ab muscle work out laughing so hard. And if he thought it would be funny you could bank on it. Howard had the sharpest, fastest sense of humor of anyone I have ever met and that includes the likes of Robin Williams and Dana Carvey. Free association was like breathing for him. Sadly, Howard also had a trunk full of things that would hold him back from ever reaching that kind of stardom. "I got a new job" he once announced to me after we bumped into each other after a long taxi shift. "I'm going to be marketing anti-success pills." His mind worked too fast even for him to keep up. But here we were walking into the new location of Cobb's Comedy Club together. After my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the gutted out old theatre, we saw three people arguing about glassware and dropping the glasses to see if they would break on various thicknesses of carpet. The scene was hilarious. Moments later I was introduced to Tom Sawyer, Carolyn Sawyer and Michael Pagan who would become the subjects of my focus for next 12 years. Why it took that long is coming in Part 2. Thanks for the film idea Howard and I'm certain God is enjoying your Catholic jokes. The Comedy Club can be found streaming nationwide November 1st, 2021. -- DAVID C. SCHENDEL