STAND-UP TUESDAYS: Michael Malone

November 27th, 2012

Grant Trimboli

Stand-Up Tuesdays is a weekly comedy spotlight written by the wonderfully talented Angie Frissore. Covering both known and unknown comics, Stand-up Tuesdays is your new source for all things funny.

This week, Angie puts a spotlight on Michael Malone and his upcoming Comedy Central special. If you or your comedy troupe would like to be featured on Stand-Up Tuesdays, please email utgjames@gmail.com.

Comedian Michael Malone has joined the ranks of comedians distributing their work direct to fans with his newest special, “Casual Sext”. The special was filmed in front of a sold-out audience at the beautiful Strand Theater in Shelbyville, Indiana, and is available for download for a mere $5 at Malone’s website. “Casual Sext” offers Malone’s views on some of his more off color experiences with the opposite sex and advice for those couples handling topics like pets, family and sexting.

“If she sees a picture of it she’s gonna put it in her mouth,” Malone muses about the ridiculous mentality of men sending penis pictures to women. “It works on menus.”

Malone recently took the time to speak with me about the special, taking a break during the recent Seattle International Comedy Festival to dish about his career, sociopathic dogs, and the festival – at which Malone was ultimately crowned champion.

“It’s been a really fun week so far, we’ve been doing these little theaters in Seattle – the one we were at last night was just gorgeous. We didn’t know how they were going to be; it was an older, all-white crowd, and when you drove through town it looked like being inside a snow globe – kind of like a little village. But they were all on board – people were telling dick jokes and stuff, and they were just loving it. There were people in their seventies and they were losing it on, like, anal sex jokes these guys were doing. So yeah, it was fun.”

While working blue isn’t for every comedian, “Casual Sext” offers fans a side of Malone that they may not be used to seeing.

“After the first album, I had so much success I was wanting to put out something kind of different. Usually I work a little cleaner, but we were developing all this material and I thought, fuck it – let’s just put it all together in like a themed show, and let’s label it correctly and put it out to the masses. And that’s what I did –put this hour together and package it correctly, and hope that people walking into it know, ‘Oh, this isn’t going to be like Jerry Seinfeld at the Improv;’ There’s some dick jokes, sorry.”

Malone, who quit college at 18 to pursue his love of comedy, is very much in tune with how entertainment has changed in the ten years he’s been performing, and is already hard at work on another brand-new hour of material.

“I’m trying to get in the habit of recording in February, and then putting stuff out in October. That not only gives me time to work out new material on the road and develop another hour, but also gives a life to the material that’s already out there. It’s in the time frame that people are used to – with Louis C.K. producing so much, and Bill Burr, and those kind of guys. I’m trying to keep up with them because I feel like that’s the way comedy is going – content is so immediately available now with Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. You get tired of something so quickly because it’s so accessible. Back in the day, you had to wait for that show to come back on HBO, or you had to wait for your song to come back on the radio because you have no access to it. Now, you can watch my special on your iPhone – in traffic, if you want. You have to keep reminding them, ‘I still have funny stuff!’”

“Funny” might be downplaying Malone’s work just a tad, as “Casual Sext” will have you in delightful fits of laughter almost immediately. So skip the mocha latte this afternoon and head on over to MaloneComedy.com to download “Casual Sext” right now – it’s one holiday season decision you won’t be regretting come New Year’s.