Making Something Real.

People get pretty excited if you Tweet Bruce Springsteen lyrics.

Three favorites in five minutes, the first two coming so instantaneously that I did that little “power button + home button trick” to preserve the moment.

This is, of course, the worst thing about the Internet, its tendency to use sounds and red boxes to shoot some dopamine into your brain and make you feel like you’ve accomplished something and the whole world loves you, even if you’ve just written down someone else’s words.

And that’s why I’m so excited for The Bomb Shelter. Because it’s the total opposite of that.

Everyone involved in The Bomb Shelter is taking some major risks, with the end goal of making something real.

The comics, obviously, are putting themselves on the line by doing something they’ve never done before and risking a semi-public failure in the process. Danee and I are hosting what is essentially a theme party, and basically playing “The Bomb Shelter” joke for the truth. (No spoilers here, but Danee is taking this to an incredibly awesome place.) And the people who are showing up to watch this all happen are taking a risk, not only with the $5 ticket price, but also because they might be signing up for an evening of comedy where none of the jokes are actually funny.

No one knows how any of this is going to go, and that’s why it’s so exciting.

If it goes well (like we’re hoping) we’ll know that we worked together to make an actual thing actually happen, and if all does blow up, we’ll know it’s not for a lack of trying.

Real-life, in-person, trying.

If you’d like to join us for this experiment, tickets are still available for $5, which includes the comedy, food and drinks. (If you’ve never been to a pye,brown event before, pye usually makes the food and drink experience worth three times that admission price.)

We can’t promise it’ll feel better than being favorited, but however it feels, at least we’ll all know we’ve earned it.

 

The Next Thing.

We’re making a conscious effort in 2013 to make fewer Really Big Plans and focus more on doing The Next Thing as well as we can. The next thing for us is The Bomb Shelter, but we can’t help but work on one or two of the Really Big Plans in the process.

This is our second time producing The Bomb Shelter, our weird night of stand-up performed by people who don’t generally do that sort of thing. The first one was a huge success, creatively, and we’re looking to improve on everything this time out.

One of the things we had a hard time figuring out for TBS2 was how the money side of things was going to work. Heading into the first show, we knew there was no way we were going to break even. We charged $5 a head, mostly so we could say the event wasn’t a total financial loss, but also to get people used to the idea of paying for something.

The Bomb Shelter is a pretty weird idea and maybe an even a weirder experience. We’re asking people to do something they haven’t done before, something that everyone seems to agree is actually pretty scary. And we’re asking the audience to go along with them on that journey, to be supportive, to laugh, and to give these people a chance to be successful doing this really big, really scary thing.

We know the comics have bought into the idea because they’re up there, telling jokes in front of people. We know the audience is on board because they’ve paid. It’s never much ($10 for the next show), and the point will never be to make money, but it is really important to us that we get this buy-in from the audience.

The Bomb Shelter is The Next Thing for us, but it’s also the next step toward our Really Big Plan. We’re trying, slowly, to carve out a space for people who are interested in the same sort of fun, weird, occasionally awkward projects that we love. These projects aren’t going to be for everyone, but we already feel like we’re finding allies.

So, we want to make sure that you know that your $10 doesn’t just symbolize the price of admission, or even just your buy-in and support for this edition of The Bomb Shelter,  it also goes into making the next one better. We’re not looking to take money out of this system, we’re looking to fold whatever small amount we (might) make off this back and turn it into something bigger.

If you buy-in to the idea of The Bomb Shelter, either by performing or buying a ticket, you’re helping us create a night that promises to be a little bit weird, a little bit awkward, and also a lot of fun for all involved. You are also helping us make the next thing funnier, weirder, and hopefully bigger.

Thanks for that.

Tickets for The Bomb Shelter on  March 2 go on-sale Friday, February 1st.

 

The Bomb Shelter.

Ideas are easy. Maybe too easy, because before long you’ve got a mental list of things you’d like to do as soon as you get the chance.

Last night, we decided it was time to get one of those things off the list already, and it’s one of our favorite ideas in a while.

On July 21, we’re opening the doors to pye,brown HQ for the first edition of The Bomb Shelter.

The Bomb Shelter is a night of stand-up comedy, performed in our living room by people who have never done it before.

Stand-up is a skill that takes years on the road to perfect. We don’t have time for that. Instead, we’re inviting you to join us for what is sure to be a night we’ll simultaneously remember for a while and wish we could forget.

Admission is $5 or free if you’re telling jokes. (Yes, we’re charging. This will be worth it.) If you’d like to perform, shoot us an e-mail at jokes@pyecommabrown.com and we’ll get you the password for your PERFORMER TICKET.

Reserve your seat today at Brown Paper Tickets. With spots for ten comedians and ten bystanders, this might fill up quickly.

We’ll get you more info as the date nears, but with the line-up of “comics” we’ve already confirmed, you should just trust us.

This is going to be a disaster of the best kind.