Brian B. humbly calls himself the “host” of Sunday Night Funny Business at The Landing — and only the host. Indeed, “host” is not inaccurate, as he welcomes the audience to begin the evening and introduces each comedian. Beforehand, he pulls down all the window shades, remarking, “Comedy is like sex; it’s just better in the dark.”
At the end, he gives the forecast for next week’s show, and throughout the night he never fails to remind the attendees that the bar is located directly behind them. He even unloads a few one-liners himself between the other comedians’ routines. In short, he does all the little duties a good host should.
But what Brian B. isn’t bragging about — but should be — is how he’s the Henry Ford of local stand-up comedy. In his weekly event’s short year-and-a-half history, he’s churned 133 stand-up comedians in and out of the doors of The Landing and created a veritable Area 51 for both neophytes and veterans alike to safely test out their newest, and most vulnerable, material. And on the receiving end of things, Brian B.’s weekly comedy lineups, which feature an ever-changing and eclectic cast of characters, have attracted a regular attendance that often necessitates standing room only, even turning people away at times in order to obey fire code capacity restrictions.
“I’ve seen it go from only 12 people attending to people not being able to get in,” says Twiz Conley, a freelance entertainer who does acting and hip-hop in addition to stand-up comedy, and who first took stage at Molly’s Landing 14 months ago. “For that to happen in such a short time is a beautiful thing—and it’s not finished yet. Five years from now this will be the place to go on a Sunday night … Regardless of the level of success I attain, I want to come here.”
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Sunday Night Funny Business |
Conley isn’t the only comedian excited about the trajectory of Brian B.’s Sunday Night Funny Business; all the Funny Business comedians are. And this enthusiasm for comedy is about the only thing uniting this otherwise diverse lineup, which changes every week.
On this given night, the dramatis personae includes 13 stand-up comedians: besides Twiz Conley, there are four greenhorns to the Landing’s stage, whom Brian B. calls “Landing virgins,” one of whom goes by the name “The Blind Pimp” and is guided onstage by his seeing-eye dog Armor. There’s Bert DiVietri, a student at San Francisco Comedy College who has returned to his home state to do a comedy circuit; Geoff Armstrong from San Diego, who describes himself as “Philip Seymour Hoffman meets Doogie Howser, or Eminem meets Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes”; there’s Nic Dressel from Muskegon, who was the first from his high school quiz bowl team to make love to a woman and also the first anywhere to develop a rap song — “How Diagonal Can You Get?” — championing the use of diagonal moves on the dance floor. Justin Sullivan from Dearborn is a Fleet Manager for Security Corporations by day and a guitar-wielding, relationship-rueing comedian by night, while Muskegon’s Xavier Marchena is a Chop House waiter and full-time student who calls himself a “stand-up hobbyist.” Last, there’s Denny Green and Tom Slovinksi, who co-host the Public Offenders Comedy Nights at Connxtions Comedy Club in Lansing.
“The cool thing about stand-up comedy here is the camaraderie,” Brian B. said. “The large lineup is meant to be fun and not to function as a competition. We try to keep the ego down and take that out of equation; just keep it about the comedy. We really look for who’s helping each other, who’s promoting each other.”
Apparently, Brian B. has accomplished just that, as after the show the only ones lingering in Molly’s Landing are the comedians, swapping stories, trading numbers, landing each other gigs, and in general commiserating over the rough life of stand-up comedy, though not without a healthy dosage of what they do best: jokes.
“What the news guys don’t understand is that it takes a lot of sacrifice,” says Stu McCallister, a regular performer at Molly’s Landing and a weekly host at Dr. Grins Comedy Club. “To make it, it takes a lot of doing the free, of doing the no-pay, of hustling. Open mic is practice. That’s why I’m here doing new jokes. And this place is the best open mic I’ve seen anywhere.”
McCallister helps the newer guys out by connecting them with Brian B. Whereas at Dr. Grins, a novice may secure three minutes of stage time once every three months, at the Landing’s Sunday Night Funny Business they could get stage time nearly every week.
“We like to keep the lineup fresh, and so we give everybody five to eight minutes here, depending on the level of expertise,” Brian B. said. “And the new guys know they did well when the Owner Bob Sullivan, who likes to sit in the front row, gives them a fist-pump after their routine.”
