I'm doing Stand-up Comedy now.

Now that I'm done filming for the time being (except waiting to hear about a decent commercial spot) I have been doing a little Stand-up Comedy. Most of my friends know that it's been something I've been trying to do for a while now.

Well, I started December 29th, 2008 after being introduced at the club the week before by a friend & comedian, Frank Nicotero. He told the owner, "He's a funny guy, you should put him up next week." He said okay.

Now, before this, I have never done a "set" of stand-up comedy. I've trained in Improv & have done a lot of hosting; live events, etc. My first real gig was hosting an open mic night. It was mixed between acoustic musicians & some comedians. As host, I got to throw in a one liner or two to try out & just improv with the audience. Comedy was just really hard to do there when people were there to see bands. Not a great place to start.

Here I am for my first real "set" of comedy (usually sets of 5-8 minutes, 10-20, 30-45). I was to do an opener of 5-8 minutes. I had no problem with getting in front of people or even talking for that long. It's just that it was stand-up & not improv; I had to have pre=written jokes that I had to REMEMBER. Well, if you ever look at my resume, my last theater role was in high school & the dinner theater I'm in now, I forget or make up half my lines anyway. I wrote alot of material but when I performed it, I felt like I was trying to be like every normal comedian. Joke - Bah-Da-Ching, little laughs. Oneliners are lame to me & I still made people laugh but it wasn't me. At least I didn't bomb. They invited me back (which I'm still trying to get in touch to accept the invite...maybe I didn't do that well...haha).

After that, I just really wanted to think more about HOW to do stand-up before I did it again. I took a couple months & watched ALOT of comedy, read a book or two & really rtied to figure out how to be the person that made people laugh when I'm sitting with a group of people. Maybe not the same jokes, but the personality that made it work.

I went to an open mic night, without telling any of my friends, and did another 5-8 minute set. Better this time, a little more of myself, still had a probelm with my material. I had to work really hard to remember what I wanted to say from what I wrote down. Like the first time, I had notes cards with the whole of my jokes written out. I was getting to caught up making sure I wasn't forgetting a word & that handcuffed my delivery.

I was reading a great book, Comic Insights, by Franklyn Ajaye. He interviewed tons of comedians about their craft. From writing, remembering to delivering & touring. These different insights helped me find some things that would work for me. In particular, a technique that some comedians use for writing worked for me, using just bullet point topics or phrases for each joke. I wrote out lots of jokes with everything that I thought went with them & remembered the good stuff. I also learned that by doing this would play to my strengthes in IMprov Comedy because I knew in my joke the was an A-B-C path but I could now get there any way I wanted.

I tried this way with another open mic. I was confident & invited friends. By the way, that made me the most nervous because I didn't want to show them something I wasn't completely confident about. I did another 5-8 minute set using just bullet pointed words/phrases. Some of my friends came & they laughed. Even the strangers laughed & it seemed that I was the best of the night. The only problem was that I shifted into my inner "black man." I got too ghetto, probly cause that always make people laugh I I wanted to subconciously do something to keep the laughs coming. Now, I can be pretty "urban" sometimes, it's just who I am but I wanted to be myself & not a character.

During my filming of Warrior, I met a stand-up comic named Davon Magwood. We thought each other was funny & he invited me to open for his live taping for a DVD he was making. I really had time now to write the way I knew I was going to perform, allowing some room for me to Improv some good stuff. I was supposed to do a 15-20 minute set. I invited lots of friends & about 50-60 people showed up. It was a pretty good turnout. Three comics went before I was to open for Davon. I was nervous because of the amount of people that I knew were there, like they had some expectation for me to be as funny as I am on there couch drinking beer. I cut some jokes at the last second and went on. I killed it. it was amazing, people were rolling. It felt good. Everyone shook my hand afterward & it was a great confidence booster; not just my friends, everyone. The owner of the bar told me to take his number cause he said he'd like me to headline a show there. Cool.

So from here, I feel pretty good that I'm funny enough for people to watch me & laugh. One of the other comedians at the show asked me, "How many years you been doing stand-up?" I said, " Well...this is my fourth time ever..." He replied, "Whoa."

Check me out on Facebook, come to a show. Who knows, you might come to one when I bomb hard. It's coming, I know it.

Done filming Warrior.

Real quick.
I'm done filming Warrior. What an experience. Kurt Angle is the man. I am now eligible to join the Screen Actors Guild!
Not much else to say. I have a web series this weekend being filmed & hopefully will be filming a TV pilot in August. We shall see.
Gonna try to be doing alot of stand-up comedy in the next couple weeks though.
Friend me on Facebook or become a fan to find out more about shows & dates!

Aaron Kleiber on Facebook

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Waffles, Men from Mercury and Cute Babies.

Well, I definitely enjoyed having some time off from the Warrior set but I kept busy with quite a few auditions for other projects.

I got an email from a friend who recommended competing as host for "The Waffle Show." I, frankly, am trying to drop the "fat guy" bit (not really) and really wanted to know the whole story with this show. I was assured that it was unique, fun and that I would be good at it. Okay.
I was very interested once I checked out their website. It is a Waffle Shop run by Carnegie Mellon University students and staff (more info on the site). It serves as a community hub with a twist of the arts; ala a late show filmed in front of the live Waffle Shop patrons. Cool, I'll give it a whirl.
The contest had 7 competitors picked from many who wrote an essay or something (I didn't write anything...whoops). We each had to go through the "audition" but could not watch each other perform. First, there was an opening monologue where the audience picked 5 words you had to incorporate into the monologue. I got: experiment, water, Escalade, far-fig-nuggin, & puberty (really...who said water?). Went well, no problem. Then we had to interview a guest chosen previsouly who was going to change personalities four times during the 3 minute interview. It was very distracting & I should have prepared some questioned; I thought I blew that but I kinda let the guest take the spotlight because he was pretty funny, I just reacted & played compliment for him. Very fun.
They announced the top 3 and threw a wrench into things. Now, a friend of mine who was there said they knew who won laready but they decided at the last second to do something "fun." They brough out 3 huge waffles with the works covering them and told us we're having an eating contest. I looked at the other two guys and just shook my head. Not like, "this sucks" but more like "it's over my friends, cause I got this on lock."
I won. Hammered them. Always hungry, sometimes funny.
I will be hosting the Waffle Show at the Waffle Shop for a couple dates in July & August. I will keep ya'll updated (become a fan on facebook).
Here is a pick of me being crowned, covered in waffle.
















During my time away from Warrior, we also had to shoot pick-ups/re shoots for The Mercury Men series. My good friends & star of The Mercury Men, Curt Wooten, was in town from LA and we had a blast shooting.
If you haven't seen the trailer yet go to THE MERCURY MEN website
and FOLLOW Mercury Men on Twitter.
Heck, become a fan on Facebook.

Here are some fun pics from the shoot this week:





















































































I also was able to celebrate my little girl's 1st birthday!
I originally taught her the "Number #1" during the Penguins Playoffs. I know, awesome.

Peace out,
AK



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Pictures from the film WARRIOR!

Well, I have a break from the film, Warrior, until June 28th-ish (never know). This past week, we filmed the red carpet stuff for the big MMA tournament in Atlantic City (aka Pitt's Peterson Event Center). They made the old Pennsylvanian look like a classic casino, pretty cool. I was able to post some of the pictures because we were not in our special Russian TapouT gear.

Forgive me, these are from my phone.

The ENORMOUS banner for the fight tournament in the film.









The red carpet at the Pennsylvanian where I walked down as Kurt Angle's manager, serving as his interpreter with reporters.









Kurt Angle & I in front of our dope hummer limo.









Trenesha Biggers (aka Rhaka Chan from TNA wrestling) & I









Bryan Callen & I









Check out more photos HERE!


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Week 3 on Warrior Film Set & CALL FOR EXTRAS!

The largest set of Warrior located at the Peterson Event Center (Pitt's Arena) has wrapped...for now. We will return to that location for filming on June 30th until July 17th. It was a tough week because we stand for 15-16 hour days but it was worth it. Got to spend some awesome chill time with Kurt Angle. I have to say, he is the most down-to-earth, "real" celebirty I've ever met (yes, I have met & in fact, hung with a few...quit hatin'). Just one of the guys. He has made it a great expereince so far.
I had a cameraman friend of mine on set take some great photos of the boys. I wish I could post the pictures but the outfits we wear are "secret" TapOut outfits that will be sold after the movie premieres. I don't want to get in trouble like TMZ posting "exclusive" photos. I don't have an awesome lawyer either...does Edgar Snyder do copyright infringement cases?
Anywho, I will be filming this Wednesday; shooting red carpet scenes with all of our fighters including Kurt Angle, Joel Edgeton, Nick Nolte & Tom Hardy. AND...

LISTEN UP! They need extras for that scene; especially foreign/intentional people to play reporters & photographers. I will be in that scene! Be an extra - GET PAID - Visit my movie! Yea! Thursday they also need extras; they need high school looking people (must be over 18 & under 25)
EMAIL fourthrivercasting@yahoo.com for info!

Support PA Film Tax Credit Program on FRIDAY!

Show YOUR Support for the Pennsylvania Film Tax Credit Program

Pennsylvania House of Representatives Tourism Committee Public Hearing on the Film Tax Credit Program


Friday, June 5, 2009
1:00 p.m.
David L. Lawrence Convention Center
1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

We need YOUR help to convince our elected officials that this program works and is important for your businesses and livelihood. 0;You need to show YOUR support!This valuable program could end and threaten the film industry in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Thanks to Greg Rempel for the reminder!

Week Two on Warrior Film Set

So I got called off last night - which gave me a three day weekend. Pretty sweet.
Last week, we filmed one of our entrances to the ring with Kurt Angle. Learned even more Russian too. As I said before, the stuntmen & even the actors, Tom Hardy & Joel Edgerton; are TROOPERS. They film choreographed fights for 8-10 hours a day. The stunt team is Reel Kick Stunt Team from LA. They have worked on Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars: Episodes 2 & 3, Transformers, Spiderman 2 & 3, Indiana Jones 4 & recently filmed, Wolverine. Check out the stunt team's website at ReelKick.com

Next week, I'll tell the story of how I got the role of the Russian Manager of Koba; who speaks in all Russian dialogue...yea ridiculous.

BTW... AaronKleiber.com is launching on JUNE 1st! I will have all my info cute & organized; along with new live shows for this summer & will have special videos coming shortly after the launch. Fun times.

P.S. - Dont forget to stand-up for Arts & Entertainment in Pennsylvania.
Read my previous blog on how to help keep funding for the arts and it's artists!

Week One on Warrior Film Set

Wow, long week. Monday thru Saturday, 15 hours a day. I have been filming mostly with Kurt Angle, who plays the villain in the mixed marital arts movie, Warrior, due out in 2010. I play Kurt's manager of the the Russian fight team, Koba. I'm in the Koba corner with a Koba Trainer & Koba Coach - Ray Rowe, professional wrestler (video of Ray, the big Russian looking one) and the 1995 Ukrainian kickboxing champion, Roman (I can't understand his last name). Roman teaches us what we need to do in the corner and all kinds of Russian phrases to yell into the ring. We have SICK TapouT gear that is covered with Russian hammer & sickels. Apparrently, Koba didn't hear about the fall of Communism in Russia.

It's also pretty neat to see how choreographed fights are filmed, haven't done much of that, but the stuntmen that fight these MMA fighters are pretty impressive. J.J. "Loco" Perry, the stunt coreographer is an awesome guy too. J.J. and his team, also worked with Hugh Jackman and others on "X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Some of the MMA fighters include, Eve Edwards & Eric Apple.

Since TapouT is a major sponsor of the film, the founders, SkyScrape & Punkass, are ringside with us as well. The main founder of TapouT, Mask, tragically lost his life about a month ago, rest in peace Charles. Really cool guys, check out their story of the TapouT brand, a truely inpsiring video (video here).

We had a group of about 250 actors/extras around the cage as various roles. On Friday, over 500 extras came to fill the seats, it was madness. It's funny to see the amount of "characters" that show up for all kinds of reasons; get discovered, have fun, hook-up with someone famous, etc. Insane. They will need additional extras all the time, especially on Friday & Saturdays, some paid positions left. Email fourthrivercasting@yahoo.com for info.

I will be Tweeting all week as usual to tell ya'll whats happening.
No pictures yet, not allowed to have cameras on set.

Here is a full article about Warrior from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
ARTICLE HERE.

Dont forget to stand-up for Arts & Entertainment in Pennsyvania. Read my previous blog on how to help keep funding for the arts and it's artists!

PA Arts Budget & Film Tax Break to be cut. Please help.

Hi friends,

Pittsburgh is now FINALLY getting the recognition it deserves in regards to being a great place for the arts AND being a small city with big city potential from filmmakers. We lose so many talented people when they graduate or when they get tired of the lack of work in entertainment but since the tax credit, we've been pretty thrilled to work on a film or show just minutes from our own homes. I agree that we cannot have this tax break forever but we can use it for now to continue to showcase the potential of our great city to those in the entertainment industry. We need to show that we are the BEST place to film in the country; cultured city with history, unbelievable landscape, 20 minutes from the country, four beautiful seasons, huge college campuses and one heck of a list of talented people.

Below is contact information to email the following Senators to reject the idea of cutting the Tax Break for filmmakers in Pennsylvania and the cutting of funds for arts programs in general. To save the PA Tax Credit program, it is going to take a tremendous amount of effort from every person and every business that is impacted by the film industry. Please send this to your contacts, your friends, relatives and anyone else you can enlist to help ensure the continuation of a very successful program.

Patricia H. Vance (R)
Senate District 31
Cumberland and York (part) Counties.
ADDRESS: Senate Box 203031
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3031
ROOM: 168 Capitol Building
TELEPHONE: (717) 787-8524

E-MAIL ADDRESS: vance@pasen.gov


Jeffery Piccola (R)
Harrisburg Office
Room 173
Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
(717) 787-6801
Fax (717) 783-3722
1-888-PICCOLA

Email: http://senatorpiccola.com/pages/contactus.asp?varChecked=SendMeEmail


The Chairperson of the Committee leading the charge to eliminate the PA Film Tax Credit as well as cut funding for arts across the board is:

Senator Jane Earll (R)
PA 49th District, Erie County
District Office
200 West 11th Street
Erie, PA 16501
Ph: 814-453-2515
FAX: 814-871-4640

Email: http://www.senatorearll.com/contact.htm

Chairperson of the Committee for Community, Economic & Recreational Development. This is considered "development"?!!!

People can find who their legislator is at www.legis.state.pa.us

Thank you so much for your support and action. This is our livelihoods.

Thanks,

Aaron Kleiber

The last month has been crazy...in a good way.

Some of you know what I have been doing in the month of April from my Facebook posts via my Twitter account. This will be a little more detailed.
April was a whirlwind. It started as I went to an audition for a film I had know idea about except that it was a family comedy. I auditioned, made the director laugh, got a supporting role. Cool.
The film is called, If It Ain't Broke, Break It, written & directed by Ravi Godse. He has made two features so far with DVD distribution, Dr. Ravi & Mr Hyde and I'm Schizophrenic and So Am I. This third feature will be released on television or in theaters (details can't be releasedfor legal reasons but it's pretty good).
A couple days later, at a table script read, we found out that out of the nine characters in the movie, 4 were from LA & NY. Okay.

I find out I would be playing the husband of Sabrina Byran (Cheetah Girl, Dancing with the Stars). Wow.
Also that Richard Kind (Spin City, Bug's Life), Rondell Sheriden (That's So Raven, Cory in the House) and Steve Guttenberg (Police Academy) would be in it too.
That was pretty exciting. It would be first feature where I would get to act with seasoned actors.

I filmed for a week, mostly with Sabrina; one scene with Steve and a couple more with Richard and Rondell. All of them were great people, who I got to eat and hang with and learn a couple things from. A great experience. A couple other actors with me were Robyne Parrish & Patrick Jordan.




Check out my FLICKR page for more pictures HERE!

There is more. A few days after, I received a call to meet the casting director for a film called Warrior, starring Nick Nolte; the film also features Jennifer Morrison (House, Star Trek 2009), Tom Hardy (RocknRolla) and Joel Edgerton (Smokin Aces). I was chosen to be a featured extra in the climax scene. I will be working for almost a month, starting the second week of May. This will also FINALLY put me into the Screen Actors Guild. Good stuff.

I will post pictures during production on Twitter and Facebook - FOLLOW ME!

Along with this, I filmed two great shorts by Director Drew Nicholas. He makes me look great. They will be featured on my new website; yes, you have to wait. Oh yes! AND I'm working on my new website at AaronKleiber.com It will be coming in the next week or so! Check out my projects and maybe some fun stuff just for you to watch and to give me feedback on want YOU want to see from me to make YOU laugh...maybe some of your fav characters.

And I have an awesome 10 month old little girl...

Cheers yinz guys,
AK








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The Streamy Award winners...

Even though Captain Blasto did not win awards for the 1st Streamy awards, it was an incredible honor and privilege to be nominated and named among Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris, William Shatner and Lisa Kudrow, to name a few.
Look for The Mercury Men, which will hopefully be nominated for the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards!
See the article below for complete coverage and results for the Streamy Awards.
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Joss Whedon and the Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog at The Streamy Awards (Photo by The Bui Brothers)

Last night was special. When we wrote months ago about web television growing up this year we were serious. This isn’t just a novelty or sideshow to real entertainment. Web television is entertainment.

Last night was its coming out party.

In front of a sold-out crowd of over 1300 guests at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles, the first ever Streamy Awards show honored 2008’s best web series and the talented people behind them. Winners were selected by the International Academy of Web Television after a public submission process that saw tens of thousands of entries.

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Check out TubeFilter News the rest of the article with the RESULTS & for all of your web entertainment news!

In Search for Dolphin Leather

I read everything by Seth Godin. It's hard to explain what he does. He think creatively and he always inspires me. Enjoy.
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There's a story in the bible with very specific instructions for building an ark. Included in the instructions is a call for using tanned dolphin leather. Regardless of your feelings about the historical accuracy of the story, it's an interesting question: why create an impossible mission like that? Why encourage people who might travel 100 miles over their entire lifetime to undertake a quest to find, capture, kill, skin and eventually tan a dolphin?

My friend Adam had an interesting take on this. He told me that the acquisition of the leather is irrelevant. It was the quest that mattered. Having a community-based quest means that there's less room for whining, for infighting and for dissolution. Having a mission not only points everyone in the same direction, it also creates motion. And motion in any direction is often better than no motion at all.

All around you, people are telling you two things:
1. whatever you want, forget it, it's impossible, and
2. sit still, preserve resources, lay low.

And yet, the people who are succeeding, creating change and (not coincidentally) are happier aren't listening to either of these pieces of advice. Instead, they're on the search for dolphin leather.

Frank Sinatra had it wrong. Your dream shouldn't be impossible, but it sure helps if it's improbable. Don't choose your dreams based on what is certain to happen, choose them based on what's likely to cause the change you want to occur around you.

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It's the Ark of the Covenant BTW.

You can read creative inspiration

from Seth everyday at Seth Godin.com

Click his head.