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Cootie Girl: end of an era
5.5.2004
On Friday April 30, 2004 I went to see Stella for the last time. Many of you may not know who or what is Stella - let me tell you they use to be very funny boys. Do you ever remember that show on MTV called The State? It was a sketch comedy show with 10 guys and 1 girl (I think most if not all were NYU students). When that show ended the cast split off to do their own things including the short lived Comedy Central show Viva Variety, short lived VH1 show Random Play, various TV commercials, write/direct/produce the movie "Wet Hot American Summer", etc.
Stella was/is a live nightclub comedy show in New York City hosted by 3 former members of the State (Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Wain) where they perform their own stick in between various comedians. Stella started in the beginning of 1997. I remember it well; I had just started in a new department at Wenner Media and was making new friends. Two of them (Tevi and Eric) joined me for the very first Stella show. Ken Marino (another former State kid) was playing some sort of butler type character that went around to all the tables talking to the guest. He gave me a friendship ring I think I still have somewhere. After the show we went to Swift to continue to drink and laugh about the show we just saw. This quickly became our Wednesday nights. So many drunken Wednesday nights were spent writing postcards to our friends with quotes form the night ... most of the cards were barely legible and covered in booze.
Memorable quotes of that time:
"all I have to offer is this steaming hot bowl of pussie"
"that's a 40 or 50 baby game"
"and I woke up with C3P0 up my ass"
"you can bake it in a pie and you can fuck it"
Oh and Liev Shrieber co-hosted once when David was out (I think it was my birthday) - he is a really funny guy.
So they did the weekly show for about a year then changed it seasonal when they took it on the road. Then the boys went off doing their own projects (M.I.B. landed Ed) and Stella became just Showalter and Wain for a few weeks. Tevi and Eric moved to San Francisco and I was left to gather a new group of Stella fanatics. For the last three years it has mostly been me, Tisha, Michele, Kim, and Courtney going to the shows. Of course most of the jokes remained the same and I laugh each time as if I had just heard them for the first time. But after 8 years I reached my - ok it's really not that funny anymore - point.
Maybe I shouldn't have gone to EVERY show. In the beginning it was cool and still easy to get into ... the last 2 years it's been such a hassle - no make that a major pain in the ass to get into the show. The kids would line up for HOURS ... yes HOURS before the show and I am not sure if any of you have ever been to the Fez but that place is tiny. It became the race to line up early to ensure a seat - what pissed me off was these young college kids getting into the show when they can't even drink (wasting table space from boozers like me). Totally ridiculous and one would think that I wouldn't bother but I loved them - so I lined up early and got my seat. The last few times I went to see them I said it wasn't worth the hassle. I went to the taping of the Comedy Central appearance (to air on May 14th) and decided that show was my final Stella. Then I saw they were performing at Irving Plaza and well I'm weak so I went at got tickets. Besides my sister loves them and she was home and it was her birthday what a better reason to see a show we love. Courtney left within 20 min because it was everything we had seen before (word for word). I stuck it out but as I looked around at the crowd I became very sad because I knew I would never go see them again. I felt so old, but I know that really isn't it (and shut up if you think it is).
I have tried the comedy show at Luna on Monday nights but it's too early in the week, the show at pianos was on a weird night as well. I have been to the show at cinema classics on Wednesday night a few times but I could never get a committed group to join me for the weekly pilgrimage. I guess I'm just going to have to stay home on Wednesday nights and watch South Park. That or get drunk and send disturbing postcards to Tevi and Eric.
AGAIN - I'll admit it - I need a life.
