Meet our newest contributor Chris Milea, whose album reviews on comedians such as Jim Norton, Myq Kaplan, Ryan Singer, Darryl Lenox and The Comedy Juice All-Stars, have put him on the radar as one of the freshest voices in comedy criticism.
When did you fall in love with stand-up comedy?
As an incurable wise-ass through out my elementary school life, I had a French class that offered a detention du jour. I justified my behavior, which seemed to me as necessary vivacity, by exclaiming “C’est n’est pas le fin du monde.” The mini and false catastrophes identified in Woody Allen’s humor were very compatible with my young self…also I recall nostalgically very vague memories of Comedy Central Presents, a whole blur of adult content my two brothers and I watched before we could even fathom the awkwardness of a comic calling us out while on a dinner date. Comedy was something that aligned with my life-view of keeping things in prospective and having fun with the little stuff. “Something has to be a big deal!” my mother would say to me.
What do you enjoy most about reviewing comedy?
Before I would begin a project I used to say, “Jeez, I don’t know anything about this piece of art yet, I hope it effects me.” Then I realized that it always does. I find it quite joyous to mix my opinions and emotions with the work of the comics. I essentially just want to communicate what they want to say, and how, so people can decide if they’d like to dedicate their time to experiencing the whole original.
Name someone or something that made you laugh.
There is a card game, similar to Apples to Apples, called Cards Against Humanity. It is a fantastic party game that allows you to field questions like “What did the United States Airdrop to the children of Afghanistan” with answers like “serfdom” and “queefs.”
Who are some of the comedians that you enjoy watching?
Right now, Louis C.K. is the utter man in my mind. His brutal honesty leads us to a very refreshing scrutiny of our modern ways, but also smiles on the veritable joys of human interaction. I’m also becoming a fan of Adam Devine’s standup, although Workaholics and Louie address different areas of my life, to say the least.
Chris Milea is a 22 year-old lover of standup, literature and spoken word. A 2012 graduate of New Paltz’s creative writing program, he recently survived a tour in corporate America. He believes artists have the power to show the people the way and he diligently studies his admired crafts with hope of helping slay the insufferable dragon that is the American mainstream.
