In the basement-like LunaPark nightclub in the heart of West Hollywood, HBO's Dana Gould, Saturday Night Live's Julia Sweeney, Reality Bites' Janeane Garofalo, and All American Girl's Margaret Cho are holding court with the Un-Cabaret, a live comedy show featuring material too quirky for the mainstream. Un-Cabaret is a place where comics can work out edgy routines: stories about nervous breakdowns, weird sexual habits, and those bizarre Mentos commercials.
Un-Cabaret's live audience is small - the usual 100 or so that can fill a basement club. But on the World Wide Web, websters are tuning into the online version at a rate of 7,000 logins a day. Accessed through the Web's "Underground Net" page (http://underground.net/), the program features weekly updated video excerpts from performances at the comedy venue.
Un-Cabaret went online July 4, after Charles Como, 29, a former stockbroker and closet computer maven, approached Un-Cabaret showcase's producers Greg Miller and Beth Lapides about programming for his fledgling Web page.
"It was a new idea to put a weekly show on the Internet," says Como. "The response has been tremendous. I've actually overheard people in restaurants talking about it."
Initially conceiving the site as an outlet for alternative expression, Como, who has been supporting the venture out-of-pocket, is now looking for corporate sponsors to facilitate expansion.
Un-Cabaret's comics were quickly sold on the idea. "Charlie brought his PowerBook to the club and punched up my set from the week before," says Gould. "It was the most Star Trekkie thing I ever saw in my life. It's a great match. The Internet can only be accessed by smart people - and Un-Cabaret is performed by smart people. That's our motto: 'Smart comedy for smart people."
ELECTRIC WORD
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Comedy Decentralized
