The Stevie B Show! with Ricky Antonellis & Christian Trotta

AI-generated transcript — the recording is the record.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Hi everybody, welcome once again to the CVB show. As always, I'm CVB. Well, I'm great to see you once again, and I have two guests today. They are actually good friends of mine. They're actually, believe it or not, they're stand-up comics in the city of Boston. I want you to say hello to Ricky Antonellis. Hi, Steve. And Christian Trotta. Nice to see you guys. Thanks for having us, Steve. No problem. Good to see you, Rick. Good to see you, Steve. Good to see you. Now, interesting though, Ricky and I, we went to high school together. Believe it or not, we graduated the same year. Long time ago. Won't say what class. I mean, that's how far back we go. But Ricky, it's so good to see you again. It's been a long time. Now, you two are stand-up comics. How long have you been doing stand-up comedy?

[SPEAKER_05]: We are, Christian and I are both stand-up comics. I've been in it for around four years. Christian, I'm going to say about five, about a year before me. And Christian would be able to tell you the same sort of story. We began doing stand-up comedy in Boston through a friend of ours. He's an old Vegas comedian guy that goes by the name of Vinny Favorito and he put Christian up on stage and After I begged him to let me get up on stage and try some of my stuff He allowed me to do five minutes and host one of his shows and it just snowballed from there

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: I was going to ask, what was your first time on stage like? What was it like?

[SPEAKER_05]: So my first time on stage, I think that I was better prepared to face the audience than my material was. I'd say I stood up better against the audience than my material did. It's kind of tricky when everything is live and it's just you, you know, nude and crude up against 30 or 40 people. Wow.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Now, who were your comedic influences growing up?

[SPEAKER_05]: So, growing up, I have to say that my original comedic influences were definitely Red Fox. I loved Eddie Murphy stand-up when I was a kid. And I absolutely adored Don Rickles' style of, if you want to call it insult comedy, insult comedy.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Christian, what about you? What were your comedy heroes growing up?

[SPEAKER_04]: My comedy heroes, I would say, I think it started... When I was a little kid, my family members, a lot of them were comedic people. But to name real comedians, I would say Eddie Murphy's one of them, probably one of the greatest of all time. I liked the Saturday Night Live guys growing up. I always wanted to be on that show in the 90s with Farley and Sandler and those guys. But I would say probably my favorite comedian I would say it's a toss-up between Dave Chappelle because what he's been through and how he's changed his whole way of doing his comedy and I like Don Rickles too, but Don Rickles sometimes can be very offensive to some people so we can't.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: When did you just think that you could make it as a stand-up comic?

[SPEAKER_04]: Well, funny story, he spoke about Vinny Favarito was during the pandemic. So my whole life, I've been doing impressions. I'm an impersonator. I do Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, guys like that, people you know. We were just hanging out, you know, during the pandemic, nothing going on, we were drinking some beers. And my buddy would like nudge me, be like, well, how would a Schwarzenegger say this? And like for a good 15 minutes, if Vinny was there, I could see him eyeing me. And he goes to me, he goes, hey, would you ever think about doing comedy? And the first thing I said to him, I was like, I'm funny here, but if you put a light on me and I have to be funny, it's a different story. And I started doing five minutes with him and then I slowly built up my material and whatnot. And here we are today.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Now, I have to ask you, like, what makes the Boston comedy scene different from other cities?

[SPEAKER_04]: What makes it different? For me, I think it's changed a lot. I think back in the 80s, it was really hot up until like the late 80s, early 90s, then it just kind of died off a little bit. The newer generation, I noticed, there's a lot of funny kids out there, but they're not. They don't do like our style in the sense because we've been influenced by the older guys, you know being Pushing the envelope as much as we can because that's what comedy is all about is making something uncomfortable funny where we can all laugh about But in certain instances, you know I think it's changed so people like a little bit more worried about what they say before they say it Because they're worried about what the audience is gonna think which in my case or Ricky's case I don't know if I'm speaking for you, but I don't think we really care

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Where do you get your material from, family or anything like that? Ricky, you want to answer that?

[SPEAKER_05]: It's definitely the light observations that I make every day, things that might happen to me during the day. And I'm going to pick up where Christian left off. And it's fun to talk about things that can be uncomfortable or annoying, those just minor perturbances in life that we can kind of turn around and reverse and make funny. Definitely, definitely things I see on the day-to-day.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: How much of your personal life is based on real life? How much is your act based on real life?

[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, I'd say, I would say a good 75% of the things that I say on stage, or even more than that, come from personal experiences that obviously I've altered and, you know, embellished a little bit to, you know, get a laugh out of it. But a lot of it does come from personal experience. And I think that Christian would agree with me. Some of the guys that have been working in this industry that we were really, really fortunate to work with, like Vinny Favarito, like Frank Santorelli, Joey Carroll, the Cambridge guy, great guy, veterans, true veterans. These guys always told us, speak from your heart, speak from your experiences, and then obviously you craft those words in a way so that it can come out sounding funny.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Now, I gotta ask this question. Do family and friends get nervous if you talk about them in your act?

[SPEAKER_05]: Steven, you know my family. Oh, I do? Yeah, you know my family.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Your sister is best friends with my sister.

[SPEAKER_04]: It's funny you say that because my brother wouldn't come to comedy shows for the longest time because he thought I was gonna say something to make him feel uncomfortable.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: So they don't come to see the show or anything like that?

[SPEAKER_04]: He's coming more lately now because he's realized I don't really do a lot of crowd work because I mainly do my act. He actually enjoys it, which is good for me.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: What's harder, writing new material or performing it?

[SPEAKER_04]: I think for me, if I have new material, is the actual aspect of trying it out is the worrisome, because you don't know if you're gonna get the laugh or not, but you have to try it out regardless. You know, Vinny would always tell us, you know, try the joke three times in different rooms, and if it doesn't work, get rid of it, work on something else. So I've taken that strategy. I don't know about for Rick, but. Yeah, that was his golden rule.

[SPEAKER_05]: And you know what? It gets shifted and worked around to fit my needs or Christian's needs. But he would always say, give it a try. You can try it on your friends, but get it up on stage. You need stage time. You need a mic in front of you. Go and give it a try. And if you don't see it working after three times, either rehone it or maybe put it to the side.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Have you ever written a joke you thought would kill, but it bombed?

[SPEAKER_05]: I wrote three of them today. And I wrote three of them today that I think are going to absolutely kill. And no, but all kidding aside, Steven, it happens all the time. It happens all the time. You think there's one that's going to be a real winner, but it gets feeble laughs.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Wow. So listen, we're going to show a video clip of your stand-up act right now. Can you set it up for us?

[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. So I know that that's definitely the clip where I speak about something that's kind of uncomfortable. It was when I had to go and get my colonoscopy. You know, most of us men. after the age of 45, and I was lucky enough to go for the, to get the Cologuard. My physician told me that I could take the Cologuard test, and I also went up to do the prostate exam. Yeah, we speak about, it was basically a group project from below the belt.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: I get it. So this is the clip we're going to show. So enjoy this clip. It's a bit risque, but it's OK. I hope you enjoy it. So this is Ricky Antonellis and his stand-up comedy.

[SPEAKER_06]: I was really grateful for that because there was no way I was going back there with a lightning camera on most of the anal live streams. I'm not that type of entertainer. I can only hope that that laboratory, whoever it is that's opening those packages, is doing it at a safe distance. Maybe with some of them long grill tongs, I don't know. Can you picture the poor Ph.D. fresh out of medical school getting rid of those packages open and going, ****, I should have gone into dermatology.

Oh yeah, things do change. It was even worse with the whole prostate exam. They wanted a urine sample for me. I mean, have any of you guys seen the openings on those bedside urinals in the hospital? They're like this. I didn't know they made them in magnums. No, seriously, I felt like I brought a Capri Sun straw to the sword fight, you know?

[SPEAKER_05]: So Steven, that clip was from a show that both Christian and I performed at. We opened for Frank Santorelli.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Is he the arm-wrestling hypnotist?

[SPEAKER_05]: No, that's Frank Santos.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Oh, Frank Santos.

[SPEAKER_05]: Frank Santorelli was on, I think he was on like 13 episodes of The Sopranos. Of The Sopranos, he was the bartender. Yeah, Georgie the bartender. He's been a stand-up comedian in Boston for a long, long time and he was nice enough to bring us at a show. I think it was one of our biggest shows. Was it the one at Wilmington? There were 270 people at that show. A great time, a lot of fun.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: I had thoughts of performing stand-up comic one time. I had material associated with the job that I have and everything like that, but I'm just kind of too nervous to do it. But I love going to comedy shows. My favorite, one of my, some of my favorite comedians are Dennis Leary, Lenny Clark. Great, Lenny's great. Lenny's a great guy. I mean, one time I saw him at Fenway Park and I said, hi Lenny. He's like, Steve, how you doing? It's good to see you. That's a good impression.

[SPEAKER_05]: That's a great impression. Steven, I think that you could get up there and do five minutes at a mic, huh?

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Now, what's the strangest thing that ever happened to you guys during a show?

[SPEAKER_05]: Strangest thing? Strangest thing, thinking. What about you? I think that I remember one, this was in the North End, when we both used to perform on Thursday nights at Asaggio, when we had hecklers that were, without naming names, they were actually friends of ours, people that we know personally, that would not shut up. I think I remember. Yeah, I think I remember that night. Yeah, and we didn't have any security on staff there, so it was by the grace of God that they up and left.

[SPEAKER_04]: I think for me the craziest show, they told me I was doing a show, I was with Vinny, we ended up going to Air Mass, which is, I don't even know where it is, that's how far away it was. I don't know where that is either. So they said, would you like to come and do a comedy show? I said, sure. And there was no stage, there was no light, there was no mic, everybody was playing pool, there was a DJ on stage, so it's very hard to do comedy when there's a lot of commotion going on. But I plugged away, I did my 10, 15 minutes. But I think that was probably one of the hardest.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: How do you deal with hecklers?

[SPEAKER_05]: Stephen, before we move on, I want to remind Christian of a show we did, which has to be the strangest show we've ever done. A good friend of ours from Lynn Massing, a guy named Joe Flynn, great veteran comedian, had us perform at a goat farm. That's right.

[SPEAKER_04]: A goat farm?

[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, people were feeding goats and they were listening to comedy. The goats were fainting, they were hopping around every place.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: I forgot about that.

[SPEAKER_05]: We were being heckled by sheep. I forgot about that.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Oh my God, yeah. I once read Jay Leno's book, his autobiography, it was called Leaving With My Chin, and he talked about how he persevered during the Boston Con, because he grew up in Andover, and it was a great story. You've got to read it one time, it's great and everything. The question I was going to ask you, how do you deal with hecklers?

[SPEAKER_05]: I'll tell you how I personally like to deal with them. If a quick one-liner towards them won't get them quiet, I try and just refocus and plow through with my act. I will go for that one quick one-liner to try and get them on my side. Something friendly, but with a little bit of spirit. Maybe a slight little, a friendly jab. And if that doesn't keep them quiet, I just roll through with my act. He's a lot nicer than I am. I turn him into the enemy of the room, Steven.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Do you change your material depending on the audience?

[SPEAKER_04]: You have to read the room, yes. Sometimes it depends. Like, there's times where, like, I like to use profanity, unfortunately, because it's just... when I deliver my joke, but in some places I have to go clean and I don't use any profanity. Same jokes. And also depending on, like we've done shows, I remember one of the first shows I did in the church, they kept saying it was church people. Oh, couldn't swear. Plymouth. Was it Plymouth? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The Spires. And it was the first time. Did a clean show and it was and it's funny because just you after a while you were your routine It becomes you know, you know, you know, so you have to watch out when it's coming you like mmm, you know

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: What's your favorite type of venue to perform in?

[SPEAKER_04]: Favorite type of venue? Smaller venues are a lot more fun. People are a little bit more rowdy. The crowds are really good. I mean, we've done shows with people, 200 people. We've done shows with 12 people. With 200 people, it's a lot easier because you can have one side of the room laughing, so you're getting laughs. But when you're doing it in front of 15 people, it's a real test because you get to see how good your material is. And if you can make 15 people laugh, you can make 100 people laugh.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Okay, Christian, we're gonna show one of your clips. Okay. Can you set it up for us?

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, sure. The clip I sent you was, I believe it was me in Glens Falls, New York. A friend of mine who used to live in Boston called me up, and I think it was two minutes right after he introduced me, and I start doing impressions. I talk about how it's the United States 250 year anniversary, and they were making a movie in Hollywood, and the lead part of Paul Revere was Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: I, I can, I can, I can't see that. Okay. So we're going to take a look at this. This is Christian Trotter stand up act.

[SPEAKER_03]: Come on. Whatever you want to call it. Anyways, they should, you know, they had all these celebrities, all these bullshit people saying, take the bags, this and that. But I thought the best person and the only person that could have done it would have been Barack Obama.

[SPEAKER_04]: Because Barack Obama, everybody listens to Barack. Whether you like him or not, the guy's a good speaker, yeah? So Barack Obama would have been something like this.

[SPEAKER_02]: Good evening, my fellow Americans. In order for us to eradicate, we all need to vaccinate. But let me be clear, we need to stand six feet apart. You need to take a vaccine, maybe two. You might need a booster shot. Listen, this is a vaccine that you can believe in. Together, we can.

[SPEAKER_03]: I did that in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. I got a standing ovation. Same thing at St. Anthony's Feast in the neighborhood. They came after me with a baseball hat. I don't know if you know, but it's the commemorative 250 years of Paul Revere. They shut down all the streets in the neighborhood. Don't forget, that's where it all started. know trying trying to park is like maybe like manhattan just to give you an idea but all i remember was they had legit paul revere go through the same route he did back in i don't know 1775 but can you imagine if they like they made a movie about it and they casted like arnold schwarzenegger as paul revere it would be insane it would be like

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, listen to me. The British are coming. Two if by land, one if by sea. No, listen to me. Shut up, you idiot. You're whacking the horse. Come on, you lack discipline. Listen to me. The English are coming. You got to get out of here. There's a bomb in there. Get in the chopper. What chopper?

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, my God. Funny stuff. One of my favorite holidays is Halloween. Right here on the lens funnel. And the only reason why I love it is because I go with my friend's kids. That's Christopher Walken. I just show up to people's doors. Hello. Trick or treat. Smell my feet. Give me something good to eat. If you don't, I know. I'll pull down your underwear. Christopher Walken, it's amazing, you know. Sometimes I had dreams of suction cactuses and vegetation. I don't know.

We're here at Glens Falls, New York. My hometown is Brooklyn. Coming from an immigrant family, that's always been fun. But growing up in Boston, it was fun. Boston's a great city. It's changed a lot.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Arnold Schwarzenegger. You know, that was funny. I gotta ask, does Boston produce like a certain style of comedian? compared to other states in the country?

[SPEAKER_04]: I think it's more of a wide variety now than before, no Rick?

[SPEAKER_05]: Really wide variety. I mean, for the short time that we've been in it, only because I think we've been lucky enough to work with a lot of these older guys, veterans that were around, they would tell us a lot of stories about how it was compared to how it is now. We ventured out and got to perform with younger guys and people in their 20s coming up into their 30s and 40s. And there is a wide variety of Very clever, very intense, deadpan, one-liner comedians out there that are just really, really good. And I think it's revitalizing the current Boston comedy scene.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Why do Boston audiences have a reputation of being so tough? I've always wondered about that.

[SPEAKER_05]: I kind of think that stems from the city's history of being a really gritty and tough place, you know, pre-gentrification and whatnot. And I think that's one of the monikers that they kind of tie into Boston comedians. And then when you look at some of them, I mean, Vinny Favarito definitely, he's from Jamaica Plain originally, and he definitely has a reputation of being coarse. To some degree.

[SPEAKER_04]: I mean he did get baptized as being you know, Don wrinkles with venom. You're right Yeah, because it was very much like oh he was this guy.

[SPEAKER_05]: I'm bleep Yeah, a great great comedian that could work any room an absolute genius comedic talent. I've never seen a guy do crowd work being favorito Nobody nobody nobody can pass to him.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Now. You have a show coming up at the Fisherman's Feast. Yes, we do Can you tell us a little about that?

[SPEAKER_05]: So it's going to be at the Fisherman's Club on Lewis Street in the North End. And it's on June 4th at 8 o'clock. We do it monthly. And we get a lot of neighborhood people, tons of neighborhood people come to the shows. And we bring in talent from across the city. So we always have a lineup of four guys. Every once in a while, we'll have a guest come up and do some work. This next show is going to feature myself, Christian, a guy named Gary Bowles. He's a friend of ours from South Boston. If you ever use Instagram and check out his profile, a boy from Boston, 617. He's got great content out there that he literally pumps out on the daily. And the host of the show is Nathan Boland. That's right. Young guy from New Hampshire that loves to support and is a really, really funny young kid.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: I got to ask you, I always wanted to ask this. What local habits or personalities inspire you with your jokes?

[SPEAKER_05]: What inspires the best material? You know what? I've been inspired by, and I think Christian, this might have inspired you even more, because I know Christian's set like he knows my set. Because you've seen it your whole life on the streets. Exactly. I have to say that people that I encounter on the day-to-day, people that live in my building, people that I see in the supermarket, people that I bump into maybe three times a year, people that I meet on trips, whatever it is, just on the daily. Those are the people that inspire me. As far as strictly Boston people, some of the neighborhood guys, people that I know from Medford or from Somerville or from Charlestown, the North End, South Boston, some of my friends out in Roxbury or in Dorchester, we're a city that's made up of neighborhoods. And there's a lot of very charming people in those neighborhoods who all have something to say. And when you listen to all of it and you put it together, you can really, really get some great ideas for comedic inspiration.

[SPEAKER_04]: yeah that was for me it was definitely like that because I was I would encounter you know neighborhood people and to me they were characters because the way the sound of their voice or if they had a lisp or it was something about them they had a nickname I would just for some reason my mind was just going to record and then like 10 minutes later I would go to Rick I'd be like Rick watch I would do the impression of that person and he would laugh because he's like you do it better than him I could become the that's how It started for me doing, you know, neighborhood people. And then, you know, they were like, hey, listen, if you want to do comedy, you're going to have to start doing celebrities. And that's to step it up.

[SPEAKER_05]: Christian's like a modern day Frank Gorshin or Billy Crystal, if you want to call him that.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Frank Gorshin, the Riddler from Batman TV show, I remember him. Yeah. If I can ask some personal questions, if I could, like what's something people misunderstand about comedians?

[SPEAKER_04]: that they're all traumatized. Well, I think for me, people take comedy sometimes. So look at it this way. If you're making jokes, ethnic jokes about Italians, Indians, and Spanish, and all of a sudden you make a Mexican joke, and that guy gets offended, there's something wrong. Because you laughed at the other three, but because it hits home, it affects you. And comedy's supposed to be funny. So you should never take comedy personally, I think.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Are comedians naturally funny offstage?

[SPEAKER_04]: Sometimes, not always. I think a lot of comedians have a persona, Rick, yeah?

[SPEAKER_05]: For the most part, yeah, whether it's dry, whether it's exuberant, we've been in green rooms with people that were really laid back, that weren't super, super funny. But once they hit that stage, you know, they used to say that about Johnny Carson, for example. Once he hit that stage and the curtains were drawn and the lights went up, he was a totally different person. He was built to be in front of that camera. And when the lights went down and the show was over, he was kind of to himself, even a little bit of a loner. I read, you know, a lot of biographical clips on him, and that's how people describe him. And I think that we see that quite a bit, actually. Yes.

[SPEAKER_04]: Guys that are pretty just off. Well, they throw you off. Sometimes you'll see an act, and then you'll meet them. You're like, wait a minute, this guy's really coming.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: I remember when Johnny Carson, like, if you were Santa Comic and you went on The Tonight Show, If Johnny Carson called you over, that means you made it. Drew Carey, Jay Leno, David Letterman, they all were called over to the couch. Jay Leno ended up being the guest host and ended up hosting the Tonight Show. Now I've got to ask, does comedy help you process difficult situations?

[SPEAKER_05]: So, for me, yes. To a degree it does for me, yeah. Definitely. Definitely. I'm able to speak about things that can be annoying and put them in a comedic light. There are things, and I'm not going to get into my act right now, but I know bits of Christian's act that are his sort of Personal way of getting things off his chest and there are definitely things that I say in my act that are You know similar, you know, you see something Repeatedly and it doesn't go off too. Well, maybe I make a joke about city traffic, you know Maybe I make a joke about people's buying habits in Starbucks, for example the things that aggravate you or might annoy you a little bit during this So yeah, you process it that way via the joke. I

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: What keeps you motivated doing stand-up?

[SPEAKER_05]: The ability to write, try my jokes out, first on friends, then at our shows. If I go do an open mic in between, it can be helpful because I can actually get that new joke out there and test it out and see what the reaction is. The ability to know that people are, quote-unquote, hungry for new material and actually want to hear what it is that I have to say because they might have enjoyed me, you know, two months ago at a show or a year ago at a show.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: What about you, Christian?

[SPEAKER_04]: For me, yeah, I think it's definitely, it's like therapy. I get to get it off my chest and the adrenaline, it's funny, people always ask me, do you get nervous when you get on stage? I still get nervous to this day, Steve.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Believe it or not. I've been an actor for almost 30 years and you know. I've done acting as well. I still get a little nervous.

[SPEAKER_04]: Of course you do and I think it's normal. I think it's a mixture of nervousness and adrenaline meeting at the same time. Once you're on, I think, Once you get that first laugh, then you just keep going. That's what keeps me going, the laughter.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Now, this is for me personally, like, somebody like me who wants to be in stand-up, what advice would you give someone who's afraid to get on stage?

[SPEAKER_04]: Just do it. Just do it, because I had the same issue. I think the best advice I can give you that I gave myself was don't look at anybody in the eye. look anybody in the eye. No, if you're nervous, if you're starting off, you know what I mean? Because then after a while, sometimes some people have no problem having, you know, looking at people in the eye. I, sometimes it'll happen. I'll lose my rhythm because it'll, it'll distract me. So I just, I look out. I just don't make eye contact with, you know, specific people.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. Okay. We have, um, I have, uh, some, uh, this is going to be something I've always wanted to A fun, fast segment. Okay, I'm going to ask you random questions and you can answer it, okay? Okay. Alright. I'll start with you, Ricky. Favorite Boston movie?

[SPEAKER_05]: It hasn't been made yet.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: What about you, Christian?

[SPEAKER_04]: Favorite Boston movie? Oh, no. That's a good question. Actually, you know what? You know what's a good movie is the Boston Strangler with the Curtis.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: I never saw that one. My favorite is Good Will Hunting. Great movie. Good movie. I was an extra on that for a long time ago. I remember that. I know. I'll tell you off camera what happened to me during that show, but an interesting story. Okay, favorite local food spot?

[SPEAKER_05]: Galleria Umberto on the north end. You can't beat their rice balls.

[SPEAKER_04]: Mine, a lot of them closed down. Favorite local spot? You know what, Steven, I really don't have one. That's a good question. That's a tough one for me.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Okay, let's try this one. Toughest crowd you ever performed for?

[SPEAKER_04]: Oh my God. Oh, geez. I think, for me, it was down and broken for the all-black crowd when I won that contest. Chris, you just read my mind. I think that was the toughest one for me. I was the only white guy there. We both performed.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: No, we both performed. Oh, that's why you were there too? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Wow, so that was a tough one. That was a tough crowd. Okay. Best heckler comeback.

[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, I could not say that on camera. I mean, you want this show to air, right? Yeah. Yeah, we'll censor this one.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Just say it. We'll bleep it out.

[SPEAKER_05]: Remember somebody yelling from the stage just like that. You wouldn't stop with the yelling. So I asked them to quiet down quiet down I'm like now I see that you get your eyes and you're yelling from your mom just like that So it's something done any any any shut up at that point?

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah Okay, what's one comedian you'd love to open for oh

[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, I would love I'd love to be able to open right now. I wouldn't mind open for a guy like Lenny clock.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Lenny's a good guy. Lenny's a great guy. Yeah. All right. What's the most Boston thing you've ever that's ever happened at one of your shows?

[SPEAKER_05]: What's the most Boston thing that ever happened at any of our shows? I think that time that we, a show that we worked in South Boston, we worked a show in South Boston. There were two guys that came in and they had a little bit too much to drink. And to get home, They had to take out an old textbook from their school to figure out where A Street was, and B Street, and C Street, because they had to get up to E Street. It was the craziest thing, Steven, that you've ever seen. Absolutely the craziest thing you've ever seen. It was a wild crowd that night. What about you, Chris? I don't remember that night, Rick. I think you were one of the guys walking home to E Street.

[SPEAKER_04]: I think one of the toughest, the most Boston thing, Well, there's a bit I do about accents. I like doing accents. From South Boston, I had a girl from South Boston once tell me, she's like, we don't talk like that. I go, yeah, you do. She's like, no, we don't talk like that. You sound like I'm doing from Dutch. I go, there's not much of a difference.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: It's funny, because when I talk to somebody who's not from Boston, they say, oh, you guys from Boston, what do you say? Pocky, con, hoppy, yon.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, it's kind of like in Charlestown.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: That's the gold standard.

[SPEAKER_04]: You know, like in the north town, when you would say, hey, what's up, kid? In Charlestown, you'd say, what's up, guy? In Southie, they use kid, too. But in Dorchester, it's like a mix of Southie, Dorchester suits. It's funny, when people are trying to correct you on an accent, it's like, just, you know, just watch the show. Buy a ticket and come to the show, and you'll see what the difference is.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: What's a joke you can't believe actually worked?

[SPEAKER_05]: A joke that I can't believe actually worked? You know what? I have to be honest with you, Steven. I don't ever get up on stage expecting a joke not to work. I get up there and I expect them all to work or else I don't bring them to the stage.

[SPEAKER_04]: Honestly, Don. That's a good answer. That makes sense. What about you, Christian? Honestly, I've never, I've never had that problem. Cause kind of like him. I think if I do that, I'm setting myself up to fail in that sense. You know what I'm trying to say? Yeah. So if, if I go in with a negative mindset of that joke, I know I'm not going to get laughs. Um, I might get upset and then I might bomb not saying I'm going to, that's going to happen. But so to avoid all that, I just, you say it anyways, whether you get the laugh or not. But again, it goes back to what I was saying after three times, if you're not getting laughed, that means it's going to go.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Um, What's the closest you've come to getting in trouble for a joke?

[SPEAKER_05]: Me, not nothing really. I don't think, not anything, maybe one time, so we worked a show, it was a double show out in Springfield about three years ago, and it was New Year's Eve. That's right. Yeah, and I remember the second show getting towards the end of the show, I typically don't get in there. So it was midnight. Don't get into, yeah, I don't get into crowd work, but the people would get riled up and they had a couple drinks in them. They were a mess. And I made a comment to, and I never do crowd work typically, but I made a comment to one of the gentlemen sitting up in the front row, he happened to be an older gentleman, and I walked in with my Apple Watch on. I looked down at him, the joker, and I go, how you doing old timer? I go, get out, you can have a watch as well. So he lifted it up, and I'm like, that's a Life Alert bracelet, and his son was sitting next to him, and he kind of made a, he was off put by that comment. That was probably the closest, but. But again, they're jokes that people, you know, they take a personal. It's just a laugh a little bit.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: That's interesting, okay. What's the biggest misconception about stand-up comedians?

[SPEAKER_04]: I think everything a comedian says is not true. That's what I think sometimes people People get canceled for saying things certain things, you know that I'm not even sure just because they're trying to be funny kind of What happened with Matt Reif, you know him? He was a big he blew up. He was all over social media He'd made a joke about something about a hostess getting punched or whatnot and they tried to cancel because they obviously they honestly believe that the guy was a woman beater, but he was just making a joke and I had nothing to do with His personality and you looked at his background.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: He wasn't the type of guy, but he got a lot of heat for it I mean we saw Stephen Colbert is gonna go off the air Yeah, and now we have Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air because of something he said or whatever. Yeah, do you think like is it? I've always been a big believer in free speech and all that stuff. So I mean Do you think because of the political climate that it's harder to like say things because somebody will take it the wrong way and they'll go after you?

[SPEAKER_04]: That and also I think people are very biased also on these TV shows so it's like I remember when Jay Leno was on TV if the joke was good he would say it whether it was offensive towards a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, it didn't matter it was about the joke but now it's more based around, if I say this, am I going to get canceled? If I say this, are they going to get offended? If I say this, what's going to happen? It's like you're walking on eggshells. So how can you be funny by walking on eggshells?

[SPEAKER_05]: I think there was more of an attitude of acceptance on, let's say, both ends of the political spectrum. 25 to 30 years ago and that is That windows beginning to close a little bit and it's unfortunate because again, you know We get up on stage like a lot of other stand-up comedians and all of the stand-up comedians to make people laugh It's not meant to it's not meant to hurt anybody.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: No, I just think that like we're so partisan now like if you say something about this guy and How dare you, how dare you yell that stuff. I mean, like I said, my philosophy is everything's gotta be okay or none of it is okay. That's my feeling about that. Okay, we got two more of these rapid fire questions. How do you know when a joke is finished?

[SPEAKER_04]: What do you mean? Like when I know it's finished or the person watching me?

[SPEAKER_05]: Depending on the comedian's style, some jokes can run long. And maybe if you haven't honed the joke yet and it's a good 7, 8 or 9 lines long, Maybe you told a joke, you get a laugh, then you want to add some tags to it. If they're not working, maybe it's time to wrap it up. Because again, you may get those first two or three laughs, and then you want to go on and add some more stuff, and maybe look into the audience and ask what somebody feels about it, or interact with them.

[SPEAKER_04]: So you're talking about saying a joke and stretching it out and adding stuff in there? You've got to dilute it, you know what I mean? You add water to wine, it becomes grape juice at a certain point.

[SPEAKER_05]: well i mean i i mean well my case it would be not like that i know i would say my joke you know get my punchline out and then if i see them laughing i'll just add on to what i said and keep going with it snowballing i think it's more more in the situation of somebody that hasn't honed the joke perfectly yet yeah someone that's he he did it at a show he's doing a second show maybe now it's his third show different type of crowd thinks he can tell the joke and it doesn't need to be as long as he's trying to go with it. So yeah, then if you're not getting the jokes and the people look distracted or whatever it is.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Oh, I see. Okay, one last question here. Can you tell when an audience is going to be good within the first 10 seconds?

[SPEAKER_05]: I think so, yes. Yeah, definitely. You could tell. Definitely. We've come upon some crowds that were fired up in a good way.

[SPEAKER_04]: They were eager to laugh. And there was crowds that felt like they were all on Ambien. Every single one of them. They were sleeping. I'll never forget when I did a show up in downtown Boston. I forgot the name of the place. You were there. I came with you. What was the name of that place? I forgot. Not Silvertone. Silvertone. Silvertone. people were looking at me like I had eight heads, the stuff I was saying. I had taught one lady, I thought, it looked like she was laughing, it looked like she was having a stroke, I even made a joke, I said, ma'am, are you okay? She goes, yes, are you laughing or are you having a stroke? She's like, no, I'm laughing.

[SPEAKER_05]: The kind of people that you find on the train at one in the morning, you know?

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_05]: The ones you sit three seats away from. I'm kind of full of those people.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Oh yeah, I've taken the T. You've got all kinds of characters on the T. Plenty of characters on the T, yes there is. So what's next? You have the show at the Fisherman's Club. What else is up for you guys in the future?

[SPEAKER_04]: Well, we got that thing in East Boston, right?

[SPEAKER_05]: We have. We're going to begin a second show over in East Boston. We haven't defined the dates and whatnot, but it's going to be at the sister locale of the Cafe de lo Sport, which is a place that I know you love.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: I go there all the time. I go every Sunday. I'll see you guys there. Sure.

[SPEAKER_05]: It's a restaurant called Pazza on Porter and it's in East Boston and they have a little speakeasy next door to it and they want to get a show going up in there and we've already contacted a bunch of guys that we work with some local talent and hopefully we can we can get something going to muster up some some good comedians and see if we can get East Boston laughing as well.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Do you think you guys will one day be like, you'll be so big, like you'll be able to perform at the TD Garden or Fenway Park or anything?

[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, if it comes, great. But honestly, I'm speaking for myself. I don't know. My goal in life is, even like the way I am, my personality, he could tell you, I'm just looking for a laugh all the time. I want people to laugh. Because the hardest thing you can do in life, I think, is laugh every day.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Carol Burnett once said that laughter comes from pain. Oh, yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: I agree with it. Not all of it, but some of it does. Because some painful things can be very funny. Like the colonoscopy.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Guys, I wish you all the luck in the world. I'm going to come to one of your shows. Do you do a show at the Café Delosport?

[SPEAKER_05]: No, we haven't done that show. That's another great, it's Monday and Wednesday nights at Café Delosport, but we haven't been booked. We might be soon.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: So if anyone wants to contact you for gigs or anything like that, what do they do? Who do they talk to?

[SPEAKER_05]: They can check out my Instagram page, which is Ricky Antonellis. And then there's Christian's, which is Fantasy Wines. They can contact us, just DM us.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Their Instagram is Fantasy Wines?

[SPEAKER_04]: Fantasy Wines, because I'm in the wine business, Steve. That's what I've been doing for the last 22 years.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Oh, OK.

[SPEAKER_04]: That's what I do. I import wine from Italy. You drink enough of it, you'll laugh at all of his jokes, Steve.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, they tell me he loves wine, so I mean. Yeah, yeah. But guys, I want to thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Thank you for having us, Steve. Ricky Antonellis and Christian Trotta, Santa Comics, and go check them out. We'll give you some info in the credits about their stand-up acts that are coming soon. I want to thank you guys for coming. Thank you so much. Thank you, my friend. You've been really good to me. And say hi to Lenny Clark for me, will you?

[SPEAKER_05]: I shall. You've got it, Stephen.

[Fn_5UfmqiiU_SPEAKER_06]: Thank you. So that's all the time we have for the CBB show. I want to thank my guests, Ricky Antonellis and Christian Trotta. And we hope to see you next time on the CBB show. So take care, guys. Bye-bye.