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Joel Goldstein
My friend and Alacra CEO' Steve Goldstein has a son named Joel who did a standup routine at the Improv recently. No big deal, except I think he's in 7th 6th grade. There are some good lines in here (it's about 6 mins total).
Comments (16) | Posted December 7, 2006 in funny , NYC
Comments
Ha.
Posted by: howard lindzon | Dec 7, 2006 9:13:36 AM
Awesome. He's already working the microphone cord like a seasoned pro.
Posted by: Dick Costolo | Dec 7, 2006 10:12:29 AM
JOEL IS A GENIUS!!
that was priceless! the line about "taking a year off to travel" was SO good.
i love kids at that age...they're still child-like but they have developed an understanding of sarcasm (the noblest of communication techniques ;-)
man, when joel's future girlfriends search him on the net and come across that video...whew. a heart breaker!
Posted by: EthanB | Dec 7, 2006 11:02:10 AM
37.5 million!!!!!!!!!! you sold your house for 37.5m? read something about a record?
wow!
the new digs must be nice.
congrats
Posted by: j | Dec 7, 2006 11:10:34 AM
Funny stuff. I like MySpace comments - "He's got one friend, Tom"...
Have you tried MotionBox for sharing video? It's cool for longer videos like this b/c you can tag sections within the video and setup chapters so viewers can quickly skip around.
Posted by: Matt | Dec 7, 2006 11:18:10 AM
Applause! That takes guts. If I was a comedian, I'd definitely take the easy way out and stick with Bush/Clinton jokes all night long.
Posted by: Andy | Dec 7, 2006 2:11:54 PM
You guys are kidding, right? I guarentee you his parents wrote all these lines for him.
Posted by: Skep | Dec 7, 2006 3:35:28 PM
@ Skep,
who cares?? Would you downplay the accomplishment of a 6th grader reciting shakespere solo on stage....just because someone else wrote the material?
Besides, it's got to be an awfully rewarding family experience to sit down together and write out jokes for your night-at-the-improv routine!
Posted by: Andy | Dec 7, 2006 3:51:11 PM
Amazing.
Kids have the courage to "not fear failure" that we seem to grow out of as we mature.
Encouraging kids to do this sort of thing (be it standup, acting or whatever) is one sure way of tapping their creative potential.
Good luck Joel :-)
Posted by: Richard Muscat | Dec 7, 2006 7:58:57 PM
There's no way his parents wrote all of those lines. Steve's just not that funny.
Posted by: Jarid | Dec 7, 2006 8:05:49 PM
Fred - Thanks again for posting Joel's gig. Regarding the writing, Joel came up with most of the ideas but had parental help editing them into the jokes in the routine. And he had help preparing from professional comedienne Rita Ashdale. Jarid - I'll have some funny ideas for you tomorrow.
Posted by: Steve | Dec 7, 2006 8:35:46 PM
He's really good. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: tgl | Dec 7, 2006 8:52:11 PM
6th grade is 11 and to stand up in front of a ton of people, I'm sure most adults wouldn't do it without some liquid encouragement. That takes stones and he did GREAT!
As for the material haters: What's he going to do, Richard Pryor, Martin Lawrence, Eddie Murphy, Jerry Seinfeld? The material was fitting and he did a good job. He reminds me of a young Stephn Wright with the dead pan. Besides, you can drop an f bomb with Mom there.
Great job!
Posted by: kip | Dec 7, 2006 9:39:47 PM
That kid was really funny. It must take incredible brass at his age to stand up there and do his bit. Very nice.
Posted by: Don | Dec 8, 2006 7:40:42 AM
Joel is a cute kid and very funny.
I *loved* the lines about "taking a year of from school" and "wanting to work for Klein, but they don't care about children".
It's tough to find intelligent and relevant "kid safe" humor, however, all of Bill Cosby's legendary albums/performances are available on CD/DVD. Many of Flip Wilson's albums and TV shows have been re-released as well.
And since Joel already has a keen sense of political awareness, may I recommend Dick Gregory? This is classic, biting political humor. If you're not familiar with Gregory's humor -- it's brilliant but never vulgar, although it can be a bit harsh for these "kindler, gentler" times.
Dick Gregory on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Gregory
There's a biographical film in the works about Dick Gregory:
http://www.duckprods.com/projects/dickgregory/
Also, a quick check on Amazon indicates that several of Gregory's live performances are available on CD/DVD.
My Dad used to play Dick Gregory's LPs constantly when I was Joel's age in the 70s. I even saw him in live performance as a kid, and more recently when he was invited to "bring back the house" (take the stage) after a "younger & hipper" comedian completely *bombed*. Gregory won the audience over from the very first joke.
Joel is a wonderful kid, I wish him the best.
Posted by: hello | Dec 8, 2006 6:57:07 PM
Not too bad, eh.
Posted by: Dustin | Dec 31, 2006 5:29:47 PM
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