Last night, 8 comedians competed for the title of “Portland’s Funniest Person” at Helium Comedy Club—it was a pretty good show across the bar, but as I turned in my judging scorecard I got the impression that the other judges were on the same page about the top three: After Karmel, Tim Hammer and Shane Torres placed second and third, respectively. I’d seen Karmel and Torres before but Tim Hammer was a new one for me: His deadpan delivery and string of unrelated one-liners (“Raisins aren’t what they used to be”) should in no way have worked as well as it did. Randy Mendez also turned in a strong set—I’d have been just as happy to see him in third place as Torres. Meanwhile, host Jackie Kashian won an enduring place in my heart with a well-placed Handmaid’s Tale reference and a few good cat jokes. (She has a podcast called The Dork Forest where she interviews people about their dorky obsessions; she also killed it opening for Maria Bamford on Saturday night—along with the very funny local Gabe Dinger—in what was easily one of the best comedy shows I’ve ever seen.)
Anyway, congrats to Karmel, who can now add “funniest person” to his list of local plaudits. I asked him what he plans to do with his $1,000 winnings—”All I really like doing is comedy,” he replied. “Probably take another trip to LA with it.” (And then he asked if I could append “he said handsomely” to his quotes. COMEDIANS.) I’ve got video of Tim Hammer and Shane Torres after the jump.
Tim Hammer:
Shame Torres:
I saw Tim Hammer’s set on Wednesday, and a lot of his jokes seemed familiar. Maybe I saw him years ago and forgot about it, but that “Raisins aren’t what they used to be” line in particular – did he write that? Or was he ‘retelling’ other people’s jokes?
Reymont, I had the same thought! It seemed familiar to me too. I think I must’ve seen him around town at some point, maybe when his set wasn’t as polished so it didn’t make as much of an impression, or something.
That sounds like a Mitch Hedberg line.
You sound like a Mitch Hedberg line
Tim Hammer isn’t a joke thief. That dude is one of the most dedicated writers I know. If it sounds like a Mitch Hedberg line it’s cus they’re both really funny.
GOOD LORD.
For the record:
I do not think Tim Hammer stole that joke. I agreed with Reymont that it sounded familiar. I then suggested a possible reason for why it sounded familiar to me. A reason unrelated to anyone stealing anyone’s joke.
it’s called Philadelphia
R O T F L M M F A O!
All of Mitch Hedberg’s jokes are printed online and endlessly repeated. Tim is not stealing Hedberg jokes. (Hedberg did not invent deadpan one-liners or absurdity either.)
You could Google it you know. I did. No Hedberg. I did find the line in an online chat by the Firesign Theater from 2004. I doubt Tim has ever heard of them, but he’ll probably want to retire the joke. Parallel invention is not uncommon in comedy.
http://www.firesigntheater.com/chat/logs/f…
Ian is just brilliant. No, it’s not surprising that he won, but it’s awesome.