Six Piece Comedy Deal serves up laughs at J&J's Pizza
Last Friday, J&J’s Pizza hosted the Six Piece Comedy Deal, a comedy event that served six slices of sarcastic and witty humor. The Six Piece Comedy Deal i s the start of a monthly open mic night. It was supposed to be hosted by Wes Corwin, who could not make it due a scheduling conflict, but David J. Diaz was the stand-in host for Six Piece and had a lot to say about the comedy event.
“There’s a lot of open mics where we get five minutes or so, but tonight we get ten minutes and a lot of the comics we brought in from Dallas or Fort Worth and they get to do their jokes in front a different audience, the Denton locals,” said Diaz.
He couldn’t be more right about the variety of comedians. While a few comedians live in Denton, like Matt Raney, who’s been doing open mics for a handful of years, most of the comedians that performed at Six Slice are from other cities in DFW.
Diaz started the night off with his own performance and even brought a Nintendo Switch box for donations. He’s been doing comedy for over a year and his favorite comedian is Patton Oswalt.
“Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos [had] just gotten a divorce and I don’t have a joke about that yet, but it’s due to arrive in two days,” said Diaz.
Denton comedian Matt Raney had plenty jokes to offer after Diaz left the stage. His favorite comedian is Rodney Dangerfield, who was a well-known comedian in the ’90s, playing Al Czervik in Caddy Shack.
“They [the company I work with] were like ‘The results came in and you passed,” said Raney. “And when you pass the drug test,’ there are a couple ways to respond, but the wrong way to respond is: ‘Really? Really? Gee wow thanks guys.’”
Shayne Philibert lives in Dallas but is originally from Louisana. Philibert shared a funny story about his aunt killing his fish on accident and then throwing it away.
“--And afterwards shes like,‘Shane, it’s a fish, it can’t even love you back,” said Philibert. “Only love something that can love you back.’ I took her words to heart and I haven’t visited her since.”
Philibert has a way of making everyone laugh at his self-deprecation, turning one-liners into punchlines at the end of each pitch he makes. His favorite comedian is John Mulaney, best known for his stints on Saturday Night Live and Big Mouth.
CJ Landry has been doing comedy for eight months, but you couldn’t tell when he was on stage. He went into comedy considering it a hobby but then turned into a lifestyle. CJ engages in open mics eight to ten times a week, so it’s safe to say he’s hit the ground running.
“My name is CJ and it’s kinda funny having a name like CJ because it’s like a mask.-- It stands for Carol” Landry said. “I know what you’re probably thinking. ‘How do you get laid with a name like Carol?’. Well, I’m Carol Jones the III so clearly it’s possible.”
Landry’s favorite comedian is Theo Von, another stand-up comedian from Louisiana.
Ida Tavakoli has been doing comedy for a few months. She’s from Dallas but finds Denton to be very welcoming to comedy. If it weren’t for Bill Burr, a comedian who went off his script and made his dead audience in Philadelphia fall off their chairs laughing, she wouldn’t be inspired to do comedy. And that’s what she does on stage; she rants and everyone can’t stop laughing. Her favorite comedian, besides Burr, is Eddie Murphy.
“What did people do before I-Phones, before GPS?” Tavakoli said. “I wouldn’t have been able to get here, or whatever it is that we are. I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere. So I ask my mom, cause she’s old. ‘Mom what did y’all do before I-Phones? What did you do before GPS?’ She’s like ‘We use maps, Ida.’ No mom before Google Maps?”
Emily Ball was the headliner of the event. She started out with improv three years ago in Dallas. She started doing stand up on a dare and she’s been doing it ever since. She also co-hosts a podcast called Baby Bangs, a segment “named after the beauty trend that intimidates us the most, those beautiful, one-inch baby bangs.”
Ball likes the variety that Denton offers when it comes to events like open mics, as well music shows. Her favorite comedian, other than John Mulaney, is Joey Johnson, who is a local Dentonite.
Six Piece is a monthly comedy event that hosts talented comedians around DFW. It will be hosted every third Friday from 8 to 10 p.m.
Header image courtesy of J&J’s Pizza.
Header by Kylie Phillips.