Music venue Spanish Moon veers away from its usual musical acts to present a series of comedy sets, tonight.
At 9 p.m., the venue hosts “Stand-Up Pop-Up with The Collective,” with local Baton Rouge comedians, including creative writing junior Chase Bates. Along with the university student, the lineup includes local funny men such Vince Gullino, Josh Watts, Howard Hall and Tim Smith.
Additionally, Michael Kopynec, an aspiring Baton Rouge chef with experience working at Mexican restaurant Coyote Blues, will be cooking for the upcoming event.
The five are established in the local comedy scene, drawing from life experiences during their performances.
While some of the comedians performing have only been performing for several months, comedian and promoter Jeff Buck has been in the scene for about 11 years and is helping nourish local talent.
“What it is, is like a half stand up comedy show, half stand up kitchen,” Buck said.
With Spanish Moon providing a venue for Stand-Up Pop-Up, Buck helps experienced comedians like Hall and Watts hone their skills and feed their energy into the younger crop of comedians.
While juggling student life, Bates performs at open-mic nights in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, but hadn’t landed a true comedy gig until Buck began to notice him performing on Wednesday at The Station in Baton Rouge. Smith is also a newcomer coming to the stage.
Beside the two younger performers, Buck said he knows most of the other comedians well and they’ve been performing stand-up for a while.
Smith said it’s important for comedians to take emotional experiences and turn those moments into something funny. For him, receiving positive feedback and laughs is important, but he said some people just laugh here and there and it’s important not to take comedy too seriously.
Each comedian performing at Spanish Moon uses a variety of methods and styles in their writing, ranging from easy going laughs, to harnessing the humor in everyday life, or re-telling interesting encounters for kicks.
Buck said he spring boards comedians’ careers based on readiness and experience. This is The Collective’s first pop-up stand-up event. Buck is hosting and said the idea was inspired by his girlfriend who is also an avid cook.
“I thought it would be a great idea to kinda combine not only doing a pop-up kitchen, but also add stand-up,” he said.