Maylarious comedy night benefits Oakland
Matt Liller at a recent comedy night.
Sexy Pig Divas at The Oakland Center for the Art's The Stage.
James Cibella at a recent comedy night.
Brooke Slanina and Matt Liller
YOUNGSTOWN - On May 14, comedy troupe Reverse Cowboy and a host of local comedians will take to the Oakland Center for the Arts stage as a fundraiser for the theater.
The Zou's Murad Shorrab will emcee the night. Sexy Pig Divas and These Midwest Summers (Brian Johnson) will perform throughout the night.
Organizers say Reverse Cowboy will perform six or seven times throughout the evening. The comedy troupe also organized Laughrica, a similar comedy event last December that benefited a Youngstown State University humanitarian mission to Africa.
"Whereas before it was a benefit was going to some YSU students going to Africa, this is going to benefit the Oakland," organizer Liller says.
Reverse Cowboy member Ric Panning says, "This time, we really focused what went right with that, what we can improve on, will be a lot more fun for people."
"Laughrica was a success it raised a lot of money and it was a great learning experience for us," Liller says. "We were trying to figure out the best way to make it as entertaining as possible."
Liller says they hope to make nights like Maylarious and Laughrica a regular feature between productions.
"Hopefully this becomes more of a regular thing, like a comedy showcase," he says.
"Obviously, we're huge supporters of the Oakland, we couldn't do this without the Oakland - they get us. They seem to be our audience," Panning says. "I don't think we could do this at the Youngstown Playhouse or anywhere else on Earth."
Reverse Cowboy has called the Oakland Center for the Arts home since its inception.
Liller and Panning say they've been working together, writing sketches for years.
"It started out as Matt and I doing skits. We were just doing skits for the fun of it. I'd been involved in theater for a better part of a year... I started to feel anxious to do our own stuff," Panning says. "We decided we wanted to take it up a notch and started a project called Never Forget Comedy."
He says that comedy group turned out two quick skits and put something online. They also started to get Dave Biscella involved. Meanwhile, James Cibella, was working with DSK Productions, making films.
"It started to get bigger when it came to the Oakland Stage," Panning says.
In September 2009, Liller took over as emcee for the Oakland multi-genre open mic night, The Stage. He says he talked to Oakland President Brooke Slanina about bringing in more comedy acts to perform at The Stage.
"It felt like, 'Hey, let's bring a couple of more guys on board," Liller says.
"Matt and Ric wrote scripts years and years ago together," Biscella says. "Then in September, Matt and Jim [Cibella] had an idea to do for the September Stage. I went to help out with that."
"I've known Matt and Dave for over five years. And I knew Panning from going to TCOAT shows," Cibella says. "Matt gave me a call last year and asked if i'd be interested in doing a sketch or something for The Stage."
By October, Biscella says, the four started working as a group. By November, they had the name Reverse Cowboy.
Panning says they found out the name Never Forget was taken by another organization and that it had a more ominous connotation.
"So many people associated us with 9/11," Panning says. "So we thought we'd go with something worse and even harder to explain."
And while he says it has a sexual connotation to it, he says he liked the idea of the image of being the exact opposite of - or reverse of - a cowboy.
Biscella says when they heard the name Reverse Cowboy, "We thought, 'We have something here.'"
Cibella describes Reverse Cowboy's comedy as "over-the-top" and "risqué."
He describes the comedy as NSFW and says the sketches are unpredictable.
"My goal when I'm writing is for you to not know what's going to happen. Everything we write has that effect - it's out there," Biscella says. "We kinda wanna keep you on your toes and make you laugh at the same time."
Panning says he looks to TV show "Everybody Loves Raymond" for inspiration to write sketches. Not to mimic it, but to go the opposite direction with the comedy Reverse Cowboy does.
"I think, 'What is the opposite of that?' And that's what I write. Because I hate that show," he explains.
Panning says Reverse Cowboy sketches sometimes make people uncomfortable, and he says he thinks that audience welcome that break in the usual.
"We like to think that nothing is sacred," Panning says. "If there's something that's really on edge, that's pushing people's buttons, we really want to put that into overdrive."
Panning says he doesn't think Reverse Cowboy could exist if it were just one of the members trying to do it on their own.
"What everybody brings to the table is really unique," he says.
He says Biscella is good at writing and comedy, Liller is "the really, really structured one" who puts the pieces together, Cibella is "really good with improv" and says about himself, Panning says, "I just have a mental circus."
"I think Maylarious is gonna show people what it is what we're all about and show people what we do as a crew," Panning says. "But really, we're just four guys who really enjoy hanging out and making fun of each other and coming up with ideas and having a lot of fun with it."
Biscella says some of Friday's sketches will involve necrophilia, Ben Roethlisberger and an R&B singer.
What can people expect Friday? "Maylarity," Cibella says.
"There will maybe be a little bit of swearing, probably some bad taste. You know what? I'll guarantee some bad taste," Biscella says. "There's some cringe-worthy moments, but I can guarantee it'll be funny, too."
Liller says since the guys of Reverse Cowboy were lucky enough to get to perform their skits for audiences at the Oakland, they want to give back by putting on several benefits a year.
"Brooke and the Oakland gave us our shot and we want to try to support local comedy and make Youngstown a comedy hub again," Cibella says. "We have no comedy clubs around here. We're trying to be expressive for comedy in the form of standup and written."
Biscella, Cibella and Liller will also perform stand-up comedy at Maylarious. Stand-up comedians also slated to perform include Erik Cribley, Jason Howell, Jason Delfosse and Shane Herman (emcee of comedy nights at the Reef in Howland). Lamont Bryant of the “Lamont and 2 White Guys” radio program and Bill Boronkay of Cleveland will also perform.
"People are going to get their money's worth and I think the sketches are gonna go over well, too," Liller says. "It'll be an entertaining, full-evening."
The show begins at 8 p.m., but show organizers say attendees are able to get there early for refreshments. The show will run more than two hours, so there will also be an intermission. Admission is $10. Additional donations are appreciated. All proceeds from Maylarious will go to the Oakland Center for the Arts.
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