Roast Battle League Host the First Annual All-Star Championship at The Comedy Mothership in Austin

The best roasters from around the nation were beamed up to The Comedy Mothership to head face to face in the best trash talking competition in the world, held by none other than the official Roast Battle League.

What originally started as a fun joke writing competition from creator Brian Moses, the Roast Battle League has turned into an all encompassing UFC style competition of comedy, featuring a complex scoring and rank system for competitors internationally, as well as a weekly podcast, RBL Weekly, breaking down of the best battles of the week and insights into the League from Brian Moses as well as the Roast Battle Commissioner Pat Barker. The Roast Battle was brought to life in a comedy club in LA where comics would make fun of one another and be scored by a panel of other comics to determine who had the best jokes. The concept eventually turned into a show on Comedy Central, which was hosted by the legendary Roastmaster General Jeff Ross as well as comedian Brian Moses. After the decline of viewership on Comedy Central, The Roast Battle League was moved online as a weekly competition featuring up-and-coming comics in the LA scene. The League has grown immensely since its inception, which now includes 16 different cities internationally, a season format for the show, and a ranking system where comics from each city earns points for their hometown as well as for themselves to compete for the title of city MVP and eventually Roast Battle League Champion. Now in its second official season, the RBL created its first annual all star championship, taking place at Joe Rogan’s Comedy Mothership in Austin, TX. The best roasters from each city in the US went face to face, East vs West, to earn points for their city, as well as put them ahead for the title of the MVP and RBL Champion. Off Record was there to cover all the action as well as get in depth interviews from the competitors, judges, RB Commissioner Pat Barker, and creator/host Brian Moses.

ORB: How did you get the idea for Roast Battle?

Brian Moses (Stand-up comic and creator and host of the Roast Battle League): It came organically. There were two comics at this open mic I was running who wanted to fight each other. One was a new comic to the venue and one worked at the venue and I was running the open mic with just a bunch of comics. So anyway, they wanted to fight, so literally I said you guys should slapbox, but they just installed cameras at the comedy store so it was thought of I don’t want to loose this show because I had lost it last year when I had another producer with me. So I said why don’t you guys talk trash about each other and then all of us in the room will just, like gladiator sport, say yay or nay if it’s good or not. That way you don’t have to fight each other, but it was just to settle your differences, talk trash about each other and that’s how it happened.

ORB: How did you get started in comedy? Who are your biggest influences and what drew you to the art and wanted to make you start performing?

Nate Welch (representing LA for the West): I got into stand-up when I moved to LA, about 5 years ago. I moved in with a guy, and I moved out there for writing and acting, and he was already a comedian and ran a show in the backyard. He was like “Do you do stand-up?” And I said no, and he was like “You’re stupid, you should do-stand up.” So I started that week and did the show at the end of the month and ain’t stopped since, and I love it. It’s like the best decision I’ve made. What got me into the art is loving to make people laugh. And it was kind of, you know, I think it worked out the way it worked out on purpose, ’cause I got life experience type shit. One of my biggest influences would be Theo Von, ‘cause I’m from Louisiana, and he’s my favorite, maybe that’s biased but he’s my favorite, and people like Dice, Dice’s old poems and sh-t. Ron White and the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, all those guys. Joey Diez, Joe (Rogan), all them dudes bruh, those are the ones I like a lot.

Eric Asker (representing NYC for the East): Oh man, uh, I got started…I have a hole inside me that needs to be filled with other people’s attention. That’s basically it. Always watched comedy growing up. My biggest influences, I love Paul F. Thomkins and Bill Burr, and I try and sort of marry those things in my comedy.

John Luna (representing LA for the West): In college I started doing  improv and sketch and stuff. I went to a liberal arts school. So I went to focus on film making and editing, but then fell into writing and didn’t really like improv or sketch. I liked stand-up more, like the first time I did stand-up, I was like oh like this is like, you can kind of just fall on yourself and be yourself. So that’s kind of what made me like stand-up a lot. And then when I finished college, I moved to LA, and started, and I’ve been doing it ever since then. I always liked stand-up when I was a kid. I would listen to a lot of Daniel Tosh, George Lopez, and a lot of Jeselnik and Mulaney when I was in early high school. So I knew I liked stand-up and I knew I liked comedy, but I didn’t just really didn’t know how to even do it. I only knew Daniel Tosh on the T.V., like Mulaney from doing specials, and George Lopez has a T.V. show. I didn’t realize there’s like a middle ground of comedy, where you’re touring and can do it and do it during the week. Once I kind of learned that, I was in college. That’s when I was like oh I could actually try and do something with this.

Shelley Gruenberg (representing Atlanta for the East): I got started in comedy when I was in film school in Boston, and I was dating this guy who did stand-up and he would always tell me it’s the hardest thing in the world you have no idea. So I did an open mic as an exercise in empathy, you’re a person I like a lot, let’s see how it goes, and I did it and I loved it. I think I did it everyday for the following month and a half. I think it was hard, but in different ways than he made it out to be. He made it out like it was a fascist conspiracy against him specifically and for me it feels more like…okay there’s only so many combinations of words in the english language. How do you set yourself and your experience apart as an artist, but also make it relatable to everyone else? In terms of influences, I love Maria Bamford, but she’s definitely an influence, if we’re talking favorite comedians I love Katt Williams. And what drew me to stand-up is I like that it takes a lot of practice but you don’t have to be to start enjoying it. LIke on the piano you’re playing chopsticks day one, but with stand-up you get the same amount of time as someone that’s been doing it for twenty years. So you’re allowed to enter and start without any barrier of entry.

Jeff Stonic (representing Denver for the West): I got started in comedy because my friend insisted that he, another friend, and myself start doing improv, and then I got into stand-up because stand-up is better than improv, and then I primarily started focusing on Roast Battle because Roast Battle is better than stand-up for where I’m at in life. Influences, Pat Barker and I like a lot of the local Denver guys, Derrick Stroup is amazing, and my buddy, Josh Emerson, David Brooks out of Indianapolis. Pros, I always liked Jerrod Carmichael, I know you can’t really defend him easily, at the moment but he’s got good jokes and Louis C.K.

Andrew Manning (representing New York for the East): I got started  by watching a Bill Burr special on Netflix when I was a teenager, I didn’t know stand-up was a job and I was like oh I want to do that. So I started doing mics around Connecticut and Connecticut doesn’t have a big comedy scene and so I started doing music mics or anywhere that had an open mic, like biker bars in the woods where it’s just like dudes doing country acoustic and then me going up, eighteen year old boy, hadn’t hit puberty yet, and I’m like “my mom’s f-ckin’ pussy”. I eventually found out about comedy open mics and did comedy in Connecticut for a few years,then moved to New York City.

Deeptanshu Jha (representing the Bay Area for the West): I was always funny in my language in Hindi and when I moved out here I wasn’t sure if I could be funny in English. So I went to in SF, it was Andrew Schultz, he was visiting us and after the show I was just hanging out with my friend and I said that I’m funny in Hindi but I don’t know if I could be funny in English, it was like this dry stand-up and that’s how I started doing stand-up and that’s what got me into comedy. Biggest influences, Andrew Schultz, obviously one of them. I started comedy because of him, then Norm Macdonald, Anthony Jeselnik, Dave Attel, Sam Morril, these would be the guys I look up to a lot. I just always liked making people laugh ever since I was a kid, that’s the one thing I feel like in life if you can make people laugh maybe they will like you, so I started making everyone laugh.

Tabitha Jones (representing Cleveland for the East): I just always loved comedy as a kid. Always watching SNL, Mad TV, Adam Sandler movies. I was always just a little over the top, ham. It was weird because I was very self conscious, did not want to be on stage, but I loved it so much and I took a lot of influence from Gilda Radner, Amy Poehler, you know, the women that were featured in sketch, mainly. Then one day I was like I’m going to do it. I went through my twitter and took joke tweets that I had made, and was like I can make a joke out of this, and that was my whole first set, and I was like oh I can do this. It’s still nerve racking, but the reward is so much bigger than the risk. I’m like oh people are going to look at me, but it’s like yeah I want them to listen to what I’m saying so they’re going to have to look at me.

Max Sorich (representing Chicago for the East): What drew me was just over COVID I just didn’t know what I wanted to do in life and then I found comedy online and just got sucked into it and lot of how the big comics talked about it made sense to me, and then I just started doing it and didn’t stop. As far as influences, I love Bill Burr, Louis C.K., Brent Morin, and Phil Hanley.

Heather Keith (representing Austin for the West): How did I start? I just kind of loved it throughout growing up. I loved the Sarah Silverman Program. As a kid I would watch it with my finger on the remote just like waiting for my parents to come into the room and then I would change the channel really fast. I loved Sarah Silverman the most growing up. And then I went to a Todd Berry show actually, and I watched it and I was like I’m in love with this, I want to do this. Then I held on to that feeling forever until I finally figured out how to go to open mics. I didn’t know it was a thing you could just do. I thought like actors did comedy. So when I was like you can just do it that rules, and then I’ve been hooked ever since. For Influences Sarah Silverman and Todd Berry for sure. Love Rory Scovel, those are top three. And then Dina Heshem is my main roast inspiration, I watch all of her Roast Battles. I think she’s the GOAT. Her and Eli Sairs definitely are what inspire me to start comedy as well, I watched them all the time before I started stand-up.

Ryan Nesen (1st Roast Battle League Champion): I always grew up with comedy in my life, like my dad was a big stand-up fan. I used to watch the roast with my grandpa, like the original Dean Martin roasts. So that was the first comedy I knew. And I always wanted to do it when I was younger but was too much of a p-ssy to try it. Then my dad passed away and I was like I should try it, and then waited another five years after that and finally tried it. I love comedy. It’s always been a part of my life whether it be kids in school f-cking around or watching comedy specials. My biggest influences are probably Don Rickles, like The Friars Club Roasts are what I grew up to. And the Roasts (Comedy Central) when they started coming out, Greg Geraldo, Jeff Ross too, all got me into it.

Katherine Blanford (Roast Battle Judge): I started in Atlanta, GA and I started open mics as a bucket list item. I had no intention of continuing to do it, and it  was more fun than my day job or going to trivia, so I just kept doing it with no plans of doing it forever, and it just stuck. Biggest influences…I didn’t grow up on comedy so mainstream names were all that I knew, Aziz and Dane Cook. Then once I got into comedy and started watching my favorite comic since my first year in has always been Tig (Notaro). I love old school Ellan and then I love Katt Williams and Mulaney and Lavell Crawford. I think it’s kind of a wide spectrum.

Frank Castillo (Roast Battle Judge): I got started in Temecula, there was a comedy club called Pechanga Resort and Casino, I’d do open mics around town, and then I got in touch with a guy who ran a club there and he saw me at a thing and then I just started doing it. When it comes to influences, I mean just comedy throughout history. Like watching comedy, my dad was a big comedy fan, so I just absorbed it through osmosis and that’s when it all started. Definitely my dad’s love of comedy and everyone in my family being just funny people.

Pat Barker (Roast Battle League Commissioner): What got me started in comedy was, I was in college and I was very fat, I was like 300 plus pounds, I had no game, I didn’t know how to talk to girls, and this hot girl in one of my classes thought I was funny, and she was like you should do stand-up. And I would’ve killed a man for this girl, for the opportunity to continue to talk to her, so doing stand-up was easy. I was like I can do that, f-ck yeah whatever you say. And then I thought girls like funny guys, so I was like maybe I’ll be a funny guy. So I just went up and started doing comedy and it went kind of well, and I ended up meeting my wife through comedy later. So it kind of worked out, as planned.

BM: Same thing (as Pat), but it was two jewish guys, no girls. It was a sexual psychology class I had at a junior college in San Diego and two guys I worked with in the class, instead of writing long dissertations, we would just do sketches about sexual psychology. And we thought it was so funny and these guys were like, you should do stand-up, and I was like you guys are f-ckin’ right. And I didn’t know how to do it so I started working at the Hard Rock Cafe and there was a comic there and he was a comic. I didn’t know what a comic was, I’d seen it on T.V. and I went to see him at the La Jolla Comedy Store and I was like oh I can be as good as that guy. Which is usually how it happens, they say mediocre comedy inspires new comics. So I saw that and said I’mma do it. But my biggest influences are Ellan Degenerous, Richard Prior, Dave Chappell, and Chris Rock.

ORB: Why do you think the Roast Battle is important to comedy and how do you think doing the Roast Battle helps your overall chops in comedy and stand-up as a whole?

NW: Dude I think the Roast Battle is important because it’s so much fun. It’s so much different than doing regular stand-up and sets and stuff. Being able to go up there and…in stand-up you can say whatever you want but in Roast Battle you can say whatever you f-ckin’ think, you know what I’m sayin’? Who cares, you can say whatever the hell you want about whoever it is. And as far as the writing part of it, like the what’s it do for your chops type stuff dude, to me it’s f-ckin’ so helpful because you got a time limit and you got a due date. I got to have 5 jokes about this person on this day. With regular stand-up, you don’t have deadlines unless you set ‘em for yourself. So you can easily fall off, like going to the gym and stuff like that. But Roast Battle, you got to have them jokes by then and if you d-ck around ‘til the end it ain’t gone be that good but if you put in the work, you do it, you got it. And I took that where if I don’t have a battle for a few weeks, that week that I don’t have nothin’, I’m like alright I want five jokes about this topic, a specific topic. And that’s how I’ve been building up more time lately. Ever since doing this a lot because it really helps with the process of just looking at things in different ways, what do they look like, simple, silly, stupid, word play. ‘Cause some people like to go mean, I like to go silly ‘cause I look mean, so they expect the mean so when I’m silly and dumb they f-ck with it. So that’s helping me find my voice, it’s really beneficial. It gives you a whole new audience of people to perform in front of, it gives you a whole different strength or weakness, or whatever you look at it as. I look at Roast Battle dude, like fight club, like a UFC of Comedy, like fighting and it’s like the coolest, because there’s no actual violence, but it’s like verbal violence. Can you make jokes about me better than I can make jokes about you? I don’t f-ckin’ think so.

EA: Roast Battle is not for the faint of heart. Like a lot of people are afraid to put themselves against something else so it’s really like training with weights on. A lot of comedians wait for inspiration about a thing to write a joke and with Roast Battle you have to write. No matter what ‘cause the show is coming and you have to do it and so it makes you get good at writing and that’s good.

JL: I mean people don’t really love the idea of making comedy a competition, but I do think it’s kind of good. It allows you to showcase your writing and also allows you to be seen in front of people who wouldn’t normally see you, and that does help you, help people notice if you’re a good writer and good at comedy. A lot of Roast Battlers are also good comedians and a lot of them don’t get seen unless they’re doing Roast Battle, and Roast Battle’s a great writing exercise. It’s like an amazing writer’s showcase. And then I mean, for me, it’s given me a lot of opportunities in terms of like if you’re good at it, I got to like come here to Austin, I got to come out here and do shows. I’ve only been out here a couple times. Coming out here is awesome, getting to do other shows around the Roast Battle. Also with Roast Battle being online, picking it up is really fun too, because I feel like I was not wanting to post clips of my stand-up and I feel like a lot of people are like that. Roast Battle did seem like it was a little bit for knocks when you would do it for a night and just never be seen again, and it was still cool to do it back then, but getting it zoned, now it’s a showcase and then you can show more people it. That’s also another aspect now. Getting to showcase your writing, getting to be seen by people who wouldn’t normally see you, and then also it kind of democratizes the “being funny”. Like you can like get up in front of people, and they’ll be like “oh this guy’s funny. Let’s give him opportunities.” or “Lets help him.” It’s just another way in as well.

SG: I think Roast Battle is good for comedy because it requires you to think about someone that’s not you. I think that taking time away to write five total jokes, but let’s be real, everyone who’s here has written like thirty and scratched them out, and I think it’s a good way to separate yourself from your comedy and just focus your energy at something and write about it. So I think it’s an amazing exercise and also it’s so much fun. I feel like I’m on the school bus everytime I get up there. I think there’s something wonderful about being known well enough to be insulted creatively (laughter). And I think this is a phenomenal opportunity. So you get to do things you never pictured yourself doing and you also get to get good at getting things really concise and really specific.

JS: I mean I’m not trying to suck his d-ck but, someone told me that Pat called it a joke writing competition, and I really like that definition for why I do it. It’s just fun, and since March I’ve kind of stopped doing other stand-up, like sets and stuff. I love video work now and photography and stuff, and it’s all comedy adjacent still. But, this still scratches the itch, it’s like sports, and comedy, and theatrics, and WWE, it’s all of it. It’s the highlight of whatever happens and it’s just the best energy to be in.

AM: I think that if it’s important to comedy it’s probably just a specialized space for a specialized kind of talent. It’s not like stand-up in many ways. It rewards you if you can think quickly on your feet a lot of the time but it also rewards you if you can plan ahead and write really clever and funny jokes. It’s also just a way to express humor and be original. There’s a lot of bad roasting going on but there’s also a lot of good roasting going on and I think it’s just another avenue for people to shine.

DJ: Why is it important? That’s the first kind of comedy I started doing, like even with friends you start busting each others’ ass, so a Roast Battle is just two friends having fun up there and making fun of each other while people also enjoy. In terms of how it helps me in my comedy, you have to write really short set up, punch kind of jokes, so it makes your writing improve and forces you to have super tight word economy and have a joke in there with all of that with two or three lines, so it helps us. It helps me at least in the writing and also sometimes it helps with crowdwork. Like I’ll be doing crowdwork, but because I have written these jokes about say a Mexican guy or a white woman, I can just get that thing going in my head and use it in my crowd work.

TJ: I think it’s important to comedy just because it’s another avenue you can take. There’s so much stand-up, so much sketch, it’s really interesting to get something with a theme or goal to it of this is what you’re trying to achieve. And that helps you funnel your jokes and helps you get into a different mindset of oh what are things that I think are funny that I think that could work or concepts and looking at a person and what they’re telling you and applying those concepts. It’s so much different to make a joke like my experience at the airport versus let me look at this person and literally break down who they are, what they look like, the vibe they give. It’s a lot more in depth than just regular joke writing.

MS: It just gives comics a chance to get in front of other people and show that they’re funny and in terms of chops I think it helps you being more confident saying anything off the cuff or dealing with a shitty audience member.

HK: I think it’s important to comedy because it’s a great way…I think it’s a great beginner template, especially for people who are just starting out and when they’re in the two, three year mark. It’s a great practice on giving yourself a deadline and homework on writing jokes and really forcing yourself to sit down and write, and I think that’s very important for anyone starting out. And I think it should help you with heckling, it hasn’t helped me yet. Sometimes it does when I’m in the pocket, it’ll help me with a heckler but sometimes it doesn’t and I beat myself up because I’m “roast queen” and then I can’t get back at some douchebag that’s mocking me.

RN: I think it’s a really good exercise in efficient joke writing, like a lot of time for a joke to work you can’t have a lot of fat on it, and that’s what Roast Battle forces you to do. And it also forces you to be creative and write new jokes, because you’re battling someone you don’t know, or you may know but it’s someone you’ve never done jokes about. I think it’s just a great way to get your mind working to write jokes. That’s why I do it. Just today before the battle I had a joke and I looked and it and went oh f-ck there’s two extra words in there, cut them out. It’s almost like a math equation.

KB: I think it reiterates great joke writing. I think my style is more self biological story telling, which is great but, Roast Battle keeps just set-up-punchline word economic jokes alive, and the importance of it. And at some points this biz can get a little soft and it’s good to keep a little hatred around

FC: First and foremost it is a joke writer’s showcase so it really teaches you the set-up punch of writing a joke and everyone is always worried about things being too mean, but you can say the meanest thing ever as long as it’s written well. I think the show really showcases that because if you say something that’s not very kosher or very P.C., the audience will tell you right away, but if it’s very funny and well written, the people understand that since there’s an objective trying to be met, if they meet it with good writing, then everything’s fine. But if it’s bad writing and there’s laziness, everyone’s like ugh that was terrible. You feel it instantaneously. It’s the thing that helps you overall learn how to write jokes, in your own voice, and adds to your repertoire.

ORB: What do you think makes the Austin comedy scene so special? Do you ever think it could compete with places like NY and LA in terms of being a focal point for the comedy scene and launching comedic careers or do you think it’ll always be like a secondary city in the comedy scene?

NW: I can tell you this dude, I’ve lived in LA for five years, been in Austin for three days, I’ve never been to New York, I have friends there, I have friends from there. The three days I’ve been here have been f-ckin’ awesome, I think the community’s really cool, I’m friends with a bunch of ‘em that have come out to LA for a few days and now they got me on a couple shows out here. I did three or four shows so far like, regular stand-up and the crowds have been awesome, I crushed those f-ckin’ sets. The people here are awesome, all the comics are funny, they all nice, the community’s good. I think that, just from outside looking in, I’m in LA and people always talk about Austin. Nobody talks about f-ckin’ New York. Are you going to move to Austin, Are you going to Austin, have you been to Austin, have you been out there? Blah, Blah, Blah, everybody loves it. You know, so I think the sky’s the damn limit to everybody. This is the first time I’ve been here, it won’t be the last. I ain’t planning on moving nowhere ‘cause I got a good set up, but like, I love it, you know, I think it’s been great. This my first time in the mothership and I think it’s f-ckin’ beautiful, looks f-ckin’ dope. I’m about to perform there in about three hours, I think that the sky’s the limit, straight up. Like I think that they could be the best in the world, they could be the best in the country, they could be whatever, who cares, number one, two, or three. I’m here to call people fat, stupid and gay, so that’s pretty cool in itself, you know what I’m sayin’? (laughter)

EA: I mean…all the comics that I know like Austin better than LA already so, I’m not going to say they won’t compete. The strength is like how much stage time you can get. The weakness is you sort of have to hit a certain level before you can get that stage time. New York’s whole thing is doing six shows a night or whatever but, those shows are like…(small interruption) Yeah already better than LA. LA’s a terrible city, maybe I shouldn’t say that (laughter). But Austin is already LA for dudes, if you ask me (laughter). The downside is you do have to hit sort of like a critical mass where you can start getting that stage time. I think if you’re new to comedy doing a bunch of mics every day, then New York would be better, but if you’re good at comedy and established, coming down here and doing a bunch of shows for crowds that are open to hearing whatever you want to say, is probably the best thing. The thing about New York is there’s a very smooth gradient going like uphill of comics on every single level, and I feel like, in my experience, I’ve only been down here a few times, but Austin is kind of bad people and kind of great people, and there’s not a lot in between. Maybe I haven’t explored enough, but that’s my impression. As it exists for longer and longer, it’ll build that healthy muscle and everyone will get there, so I would say it would and could, probably.

JL: I don’t know, it feels to me like very much like a comedy summer camp almost, ‘cause it is fun and is like doing comedy, and there’s so many spots to do, and… it’s so gay to quote Shane Gillis but on a podcast when he moved he was like “I just want to find somewhere to do comedy during the week”. I didn’t think about it like that, but there are very few places where, in the country, you can do comedy on a Tuesday or Wednesday, and there be an audience. So it’s like, that is, I guess the difference, here. I’m from LA, you can do that in LA, you can do that in New York, and I spend a lot of time in New York also. So like, you can do that in these two places, and here. So I think, as far as the comedy goes, it’s amazing, ummm, I do think Kill Tony being here is huge for like the scene. I loved Kill Tony when it was in LA. I was on it when it was in LA, it’s good for wherever it is. Getting people up and getting people to see you, that’s awesome. And obviously this club is great, and all the clubs around, like the Creek( and the Cave) too, and just all these small rooms as well that are all around the city, it’s awesome. And I’ve only had fun doing shows here… I don’t think that the comedy is what would necessarily hold Austin back from being compared to LA or New York, I think just the rest of the city being fairly small, and just like not a lot of stuff to do besides comedy. That’s why it’s like a comedy summer camp where it’s like, you just come and you just do comedy, get fucked up, have fun, and then you’re like okay I have to live real life almost. But if you’re just doing comedy, and I mean I’m not a full time comic, I have to have a job as well. But I imagine if I was like a full time comic it’s awesome, it’s fun to do that. Yeah, I think what would hold Austin back is not it’s comedy, it’s just by the nature of it’s smaller. But it is growing so like, who knows, in twenty years, you know? How many people are here, how the city grows.

SG:  I’ve been out here for about two days doing shows and stuff and I would say it’s not a secondary city right now. There’s so many clubs, there’s so many places to do time, there’s so many funny people here that, in my heart and mind at least, that I feel like why try and be like two other things when you can be your own awesome thing. The walkability of everything too, being able to bop from club to club, this area for comedy specifically, is phenomenal for that. Everyone’s super funny and I feel like there’s so many comedians here, like I didn’t see any of the some faces overlap at any of the shows. In Atlanta, that wouldn’t happen which creates a natural competition that forces everyone to be that much better. I would say it’s already giving New York and LA a run for their money.

JS: I think somewhere like New York and LA is just so, I know that it’s ever changing and dynamic, but it seems so fixed as far as the paths that are available in those two scenes. Maybe those laters will always be there to climb, and somewhere like Austin, you just don’t know. And there’s eight of us from all over the country here for one night, and we’re orienting our lives to be here for one night at this club to perform. For me that’s a litmus test for how special this place is at the moment, and it’s so new so who knows?

AM: I think what makes Austin special is that it’s like a gold rush right now. It’s a young malleable scene, so things can happen here. People can come out and strike gold and just take off. It also has a lot of people, like in the gold rush, going out and then getting nothing, and then it’s just like oh there’s a lot of trash here as well, kind of like in every scene. As for if it will compete, it is competing with New York and LA and Chicago and other cities. People do come here, they want to come here, I think about it sometimes. But I hope that New York continues to be better because that’s where I pay rent and I’ll have to move if I decide otherwise.

DJ: I’ve only been in Austin for like two hours right now, but just looking at how comics are behaving, a lot of comics are just moving to Austin for comedy. Like they are no longer going to LA or New York, and Joe Rogan just opened this club and he’s giving us comics a lot of opportunity. So it can compete with New York and LA, especially like all of the big names have moved here already. And even the New York comics are just coming out here and working on comedy.

TJ: I honestly think places like this (the Mothership) are what makes it super unique. We have clubs in Cleveland, but I don’t think they have the notoriety that you can get from here. Like when I told my friends I got this they were like “Oh my god you’re at The Mothership?” So I think it is on it’s way to making it a place that you can go to and be like I’m going to grind, I’m going to be on every show that I can, then try to get on The Mothership and guest, feature, host, anything just to start there. While there might not be things like writing jobs and stuff like that you got to go to New York, you got to go to LA. While it might not be like oh you can spend your entire comedy career here, I feel like it’s a really great launching point on a bigger scale.

MS: I mean there’s just so much comedy and so many people running shows and making it happen. It’s crazy there’s nothing like it that I’ve seen before. There’s like six clubs within a mile of each other. So there’s a ton of community and a ton to do even if you’re not on a show. I feel like it is definitely making more careers through Kill Tony and Joe Rogan, but I feel like the quality of comics will just always be better on average in New York and LA, just because there’s so much more industry out there.

HK: I think it’s still a bit too early to say if it’s on par with LA or New York. I think it’s definitely cultivated a scene of people who just love stand-up so much and we were all willing to move down here and grow the scene together. I think it’s kind of leaning towards…this is a hard one because I haven’t really thought much on it, but I feel like a lot of people are moving here from other scenes who kind of see it as like the get away from cancel culture when it’s really not. Like a lot of people have this view on us that we’re down for anything, any slur, any x, y, and z, and we’re really not. I think we do weed those people out, but it is attracting those people, which is a bummer, so I don’t know if it will grow because of that.

RS: It already seems like a launching platform for people to come out of. Kill Tony itself is a platform for multiple people, including Tony (Hinchcliffe), who’s been in LA for multiple years, and was doing very well and came out here and f-ckin’ skyrocketed. I don’t know if it’s a secondary city, logistically it makes sense to live out here if you’re a comedian because you can get to both coasts in three hours. So there probably will be more people moving out here, no state tax, I mean that’s nice. And then just the amount of places there are to do sets within a five minute walk, which is pretty cool. The only thing it depends on is if the city itself can support it, like if they get burnt out from comedy. That’s an outlier that nobody can really account for.

AF: I think Austin has definitely been put on the map. I think like tonight, we saw people battling from all different parts of the country, whether it’s north, south, east, west. I think it’s definitely putting a foothold on the comedy arena. I know a lot of people from LA and New York that have moved here, moving back and forth, or being here for a while and going elsewhere. I think it’s definitely become one of the cities to be a part of. I love this city!

KB: I came up in Atlanta which is very much a B, C level scene. Some people go there before they move to LA or New York. I think Austin is becoming a city…I’ve seen comics move here from LA or Chicago. I think if there’s any city that’s competing or on par with LA or New York it’s going to be Austin. I just come down here to work on stuff and you can easily get six spots per night so it’s on par with the amount of stage time you can get with New York. The rooms are filled everywhere and the clubs are all close together, they’re closer together than even New York is right now. I did six shows last night and I walked to clubs or I took a scooter to clubs, which is unheard of. So it’s the most ideal scene for stage time for sure.

FC: I think each scene is dictated by whichever comic is working the hardest. I think that really shows what a scene is. Austin’s great right now because it’s new. There’s a lot of spots, a lot of time, if you’re good and if you’re funny. So a lot of comics come and if they’re hungry and they work hard, they can show the movement and the growth. I think it’s just like for any scene people are always like should I move to this scene or this scene. No, just get good where you’re at, learn how to write a joke, and then eventually move somewhere to where there’s more opportunity. I think LA’s good especially if you’re trying to be in T.V., New York’s still a fantastic place, but Austin’s new and it definitely feels like an epicenter in a way.

PB: I mean I think it already is. It’s so funny we both started doing stand-up in college and you prepare for what is the reality of the situation. Then when you get to the top of the mountain you find out people are climbing a completely different mountain. That happened with me, where it was like I just got to get on T.V. and  then I get on T.V. and they’re like no one’s watching T.V. anymore. So the game has changed as far as how people are making a lane for themselves. You no longer need the Late Show’s and the Tonight Shows and everything like that to give you these opportunities. You don’t have to fill out a writers’ package, you don’t have to do all the sh-t that I put a lot of effort in to try and get these things. And now it’s like oh nobody cares about those anymore. Now you can start a podcast and live in Austin and get launched off of similar podcast or whatever and I think that’s a beautiful thing. It evens out the playing field a little bit, even if I wasted a decade playing by the old rules and the rules changed. That’s the toughest part, but in all honesty it allows a city like Austin to be like we don’t need Hollywood, we don’t need what New York has to offer, we can kind of do our own thing, and it’s success on a different level than you would’ve had before but you see guys who are succeeding without ever having set foot in New York or LA. So I absolutely thing that we’re already there and I think that it’s a great comedy city. It’s a hungry comedy city. I think that there’s a lot of people that have put all their eggs into this basket and they’re working hard to make it work and I love coming down here.

BM: Do I think Austin could compete with New York or LA? It’s the same question I think Chicago asks. But Chicago is known as an improv city. Second City’s there, Improv Olympic is there, The Groundlings there. Chicago’s an improv city but it’s also a stand-up city. New York is known as a writers’ and a real stand-up city. LA, you can do everything. I remember starting, I was like twenty two years old, there was a comic who was in his thirties and he was like if you want to be a stand-up move to New York, that’s where they have the most clubs. You want to do everything else, move to LA. Now what Pat was saying is right. You don’t have to do that anymore. But as far as this being a city that can compete with those two cities because of those things, they have to carve their niche out like Chicago did with the improv scene, because LA and New York are always going to have the biggest populations. Austin infrastructurally can’t have a big population, like LA and New York, so you’re not going to beat those scenes. Also LA and New York are built off of show business which has been around for seventy, eighty, ninety years. Austin’s just getting into it with podcasting, live music. Live music they’ve been doing for a long time, but just the live performance and the arts of it all, in the south, I don’t know. Because they only get one type of audience. Now there’s great comics that come out of here. I can’t say that that’s not happening here. There’s huge, legendary, outstanding comics that are coming out of here, but as far as the scene, because it’s comedy Disneyland, you have people that are only coming down here to see their favorites, and you’re not going to get more than one type of audience like you would in New York or LA, or Chicago, you’re only getting one type of audience, which is people who like stand-up or tech bros. So I don’t know if they can compete with New York or LA because we have calluses on us from people who are in the industry who are jaded who come to our shows and are like I can do that. Here in Austin they’re like I love that they’re doing that.

JL: My process is pretty much thinking of something that’s real, or something that’s happened to me, and trying to make jokes about it, and same with the Roast Battle. I feel like people are oftentimes comment on something in the world, something that doesn’t have anything to do with them, and I feel like it’s easier. But I find it’s more my voice to be like this is happening to me, this is something that I’m doing, this is what I think about it, and it always feels personal. I think it’s harder to just come up with stuff out of thin air. I think of something in my life that I’m doing actively, and like oh okay that’s funny, I want to make a joke out of that. And then for Roast Battle, it’s very much like oh okay this is a fact someone told me, how do I make that funny or how do I mix that fact with another fact and come up with a joke about that. Start with the real and make it funny.

SG: My writing process for Roast Battle is a little different than my writing process for stand-up. For stand-up I talk on the phone for probably about four hours a day. I love just blabbing away on the phone with my friends and a lot of them are comics so I’ll write it down when someone says something that’s funny. Sometimes it’s hours between write downs, but that’s my writing process for that and I’ll go expand on that. With Roast Battle I’ll write down every identifiable trait or feature of an opponent, and then I will see the connecting lines through various things and try and find a way to make a joke about two different facts about them into one thing, to try and make it a little more dynamic, and then I just write a thousand of them. Like okay I’m going to write ten a day today, just ten roast jokes regardless of goodness. And then I combine and switch around from those ten to make the final thing. So we’ll see if it pays off.

JS: Before it was very much like wait until it comes. I’ve never really been able to generate just sitting down and throwing topics and that’s why for like six months nothing was coming, so I’m no longer interested in what I have to say. I like visualizing and helping other people tell their sh-t. So the writing with the roasts is like, I know it’s coming, I got another one in five days. This one I’ve prepared more in advance than I ever have for one, which was like last week. But usually it’s day of or day before, and the urgency strikes and everything else is stripped away, and you’re just like what’s this mother f-cker look like, and what can I say about them, and that’s when it comes. I rely on the urgency doing most of the weight pulling when push comes to shove.

AM: I think I’m more of a sit down and writes guy. That’s the most common and milk toast way to go about it, but that’s what I do. But some of the best stuff, and I think that this has helped when you write regularly, some of the best stuff comes up off the top of your head when you’re on stage, or when you’re walking around. And I think that those moments are increased when you’re training that muscle in the gym, basically. You know you’re writing, you’re trying to think of cleaver, funny, original, whatever, and then oh man I’m on stage, and just that muscle is strong now and so you come up with something that works really great. I’ll sit down, I’ll write, try to get different angles on a topic. I need to rewrite and edit more. That’s huge and I suck at it. So maybe if this ends up anywhere, I’ll be able to look and be like, yeah I do need to do that.

DJ: I don’t have a specific writing process. I just struggle with coming up with jokes. I just list down things. I just have a conversation with an open end and whatever they give me I just list down everything that I can think of, and then I start drawing random connections between them, just trying to see if I can bring two different things together. If I bring them together, what would the end result be? Like one of the people I roasted was Mexican and Arab, so I had a joke like they can build everything as fast as they can blow it up. That’s mostly my writing process, just listing everything down and seeing where I can go from there.

TJ: I try really hard to sit down and be like I am going to write. I was basically in the lab like all this last month just looking at Jeff’s Instagram, looking at his questionnaire, just trying to get stuff to come to me. And there were a few jokes that when I sat down and really tried, were like yeah that’s good, that’s good content for this, but there would be times where I would just have a half baked concept, and I would just be at work going through my tasks and be like oh there it is. It finally clicked and worked out and having to pull out my phone and jot it down real quick. So there have definitely been times where I wrote three weeks ahead of time and got ‘em all down in one go, and there’s other times where I can’t push it, I’ve already looked at every single thing I can and I just need to wait for it to come to me and form into a joke in my head.

MS: I think what I do is just gather up a bunch of details about the person and then just sit there with it and bang your head against a wall and pray a joke pops in your brain, and eventually it does. And then I like to, this is kind of mean, but just figure out what they’d be insecure about and that’s usually a good thing to write about. There’s a lot of food for thought there. That’s awful (laughs).

HK: Well I have really bad ADHD so it’s really kind of all over the place. For roasting I wait ‘til the last minute and I lock myself in a room and try and write everything. Joke wise though I have notes app, I have two notebooks, I have my laptop, and I have my Ipad, and there’s like one day out of the month where I have to get all of it out and really put it all together. But I also have an open mic notepad, I have a notepad full of sets, on my laptop I have all completed jokes. It’s a hodgepodge of a bunch of shit I still have to figure out, I think I’m still figuring it out but a lot of caffeine and probably some adderall would help.

RN: For roasts I’ll go and run, or go on an elliptical, or bike ride, and just try and think of jokes. I feel like being active helps me think of sh-t. For other stuff, some of it will just come to me and I’ll write a note down, then try to work it out on stage. That’s the difference, with Roast Battle you don’t have to work anything out, like alright let me go try it. Like you’ll run it by friends, but it’s like let me go in front of 300 people and see if this eats sh-t right now.

KB: I sit down and write probably every other day and I don’t wait for stuff because I need to push out a new hour every year and a half. And I feel like if I don’t sit there and process on something, it’ll leave and I’ll miss an opportunity. So I sit down, I journal, I write, and I go on stage and bomb seventeen times, and I figure out a way to make it work, and where the holes are. Then eventually around the 22nd to the 52nd time I try it, it starts to work.

FC: I’ll usually jot down ideas as they come throughout the day. Then there are time where I’ll sit down and try to flush them out, and then work them out on stage

PB: I think it depends on what the assignment is. When it comes to writing roast jokes it’s become like, I can do this in my sleep. I just process things differently. It’s like a beautiful mind but completely useless, where the math equations of how to call someone fat or stupid kind of come to me. As far as writing for my stand-up or whatever, I always just come up with a premise, then try to figure it out on stage. My writing for stand-up is so much different that Roast Battle because roasting is much about word economy and every syllable matters kind of thing. My stand-up I like being a little more loose and auto biographical and sh-t like that so I’ll just have something in my life that I think is funny and add it on stage.

BM: Stand-up is a lot like music. Like Miles Davis had eras where he was different musically. So I think with stand-up where I think it’s in that same vein of it’s about your experiences, your observations. And that’s as opposed to other forms of writing. If you’re writing a script you’re writing about a particular subject, you’re writing a roast joke you’re writing about a particular subject. With stand-up, it can be about anything. It can be about you, it can be about something made up, it can be about an observation, it can be about something political. So you kind of have carte blanche, to paint anywhere you want, because that’s what stand-up lets you do. With music it’s the same way, you can sing and talk about anything. It’s the way your brain is going to go with the way you’re designing the music, and with stand-up it’s the same way. The way I write is punchline-out. I’ll think of a punchline, then I’ll think of a premise around it. So my process isn’t being disciplined everyday. I wish it was. I read everyday and I write notes every day and make bullet points, but actually doing the Seinfeld, Jimmy Kimmel thing and just writing for an hour every day, doesn’t matter if it’s funny just something, I don’t have the discipline for that. I also have ADD so it’s hard for me to do that. I try to read everyday because that will inspire me to write something. Jimmy Kimmel says he never has writer’s block because he’s always writing something, I say the same thing because I’m always reading or writing something down.

ORB: Alexis, what got you into comedy and interested in hosting Roast Battles?

Alexis Fawx (Adult film actress and only non-comedian judge): Well I’m a huge comedy fan, I love to laugh, and I just love being around people (laughs). And I got asked by Brian Mosses if I would want to judge some Roast Battles, and I’m a big lover of banter, of back-and-forth, I do it with my friends all the time, so the opportunity presented itself and I grabbed it.

OBR: Do you ever see yourself trying to do stand-up or anything else in comedy? Or do you think you’ll just keep being an observer and judge of Roast Battle?

AF: Well I’m not going to say never because I think you’ll always put your foot in your mouth, so we’ll see what happens. I used to host and produce a comedy show in LA, and that’s how I got to meet a lot of different comedians out there, so maybe one day. I think it’d be really cool to stand-up there and tell some from set and whatever else happens. I’m not going to say never, but I’m also just happy to be here and in the position that I’m in, and I’m just going to enjoy the ride and see where it takes me.

ORB: (Alexis question) Why do you think the Roast Battle is important to comedy and what do you think it brings to the table that other forms of comedy may not provide?

AF: I think it’s really important because like Pat mentioned tonight, it’s bringing up a lot of comedians that maybe we haven’t seen around the country. Again I’m not a comedian so I’m not in all of it, I’m just sitting on the sideline of it, but I see it as super beneficial and incredibly fun. I think it will open up to people that maybe haven’t battled before. I think any time you can practice your writing and your craft, I would do it as many times as possible. I think doing those Roast Battle will help people with their craft and open up people to different writing styles and working with other people. If I were an up-and-coming comedian and wanted to practice my writing and get more creative and have different variables to perfect your craft, I think that’s a really positive thing to take from it.

ORB: What do you think the future holds for Roast Battle and do you see your involvement in Roast Battle expanding at all?

AF: I think it’s going to continue to get bigger, it’s already international, and I believe it’s being bigger statewide. I think it’s going to be everywhere, I mean who doesn’t love to banter? Who doesn’t love that little back-and-forth? And these people really put their heart into it and really write and it’s really beautiful to see. I think it’s going to continue to get bigger and bigger as it gets to be more known, that’s just how anything works. And I’m here for it, any parts that I can help progress the Roast Battle and see the success of it, I’m here for it. I love judging and just being in the whole environment is really great for me.

ORB: What is some advice for up-and-coming comics trying to get into the scene and what are somethings that you wish you would’ve known that you didn’t find out until later in your career?

KB: Go for it before you think you’re ready. I’m a perfectionist so I hold myself back until I think it’s great but you can always make something better later down the line, so just keep saying yes and keep making shit and put it out there even if you’re scared.

FC: Definitely be hungry not thirsty, try to be better than the day you were before, the only competition you’re in is with yourself, and don’t look at other people’s plates. As far as things I wish I knew, wherever you’re at, if you’re thinking about starting stand-up, find a good and stable job, something you can pay your bills with, because it’s a marathon not a race. Stability is nice and then eventually if you can do stand-up full time definitely do that but unless you’re making enough money to do that, there’s no point in struggling. Everyone always falls in love with this idea, this dream of a struggling artist and nah man, struggling’s tough. Just figure it out, go as you go, and then when you’re ready make the full jump. Other than that just keep doing it with reckless abandon, take every piece of advice with a grain of salt, there are no gatekeepers anymore so work hard, if you feel it’s good put it out, rinse, repeat.

PB: I wish I knew how the industry was going to change. Obviously you don’t know that. You put a lot of time into achieving something that doesn’t matter by the time you achieve it. But I think that also gives me the perspective where it’s like, this is going to sound negative but, none of this matters in a way. It is really all about the journey. Find opportunities to do cool sh-t. This thing isn’t fair. You’re going to lose jobs to people you’re funnier than, and you’re going to lose jobs to people who’s uncle is booking the thing. It doesn’t matter. Just go out there and do your best to be funny and build relationships and have fun and have these moments where someday, when it’s all set and done, you can look back and be like I did a bunch of cool sh-t. You can’t control the other stuff. Worry about what you can control, have fun and be open to doing a lot of different things and trying. I know there’s a lot of people who won’t do Roast Battle because they’re like oh it’ll get in the way of my stand-up or whatever. I never found that to be the case but if you think that, try it, and if you feel that way, by all means, it’s not for you. I think the most important thing is just live life. It also helps with writing material. You wouldn’t believe the amount of comedians whose entire life is just comedy. Eat, breathe and sleep comedy. They just do open mics and they write. And they write about nothing because they have no life experience. Get a real job, get a girlfriend, have actual things that you can tell jokes about because people who are paying to come see you just finished a fifty hour work week. They’re married, they have kids, they experience sh-t so if you get up there and try to do fifteen minutes about what a bummer it is to be high all day and do sets, that sh-t’s not going to hit. You got to live a life and then you’ll have things to write about.

BM: My advice to any new comic is when you get into any comedy club or any venue, you’re not better than anybody. You have to understand that. Even the people you’re starting with. You have to keep that sh-t to yourself because this is a marathon not a sprint. And I know we’re in the era of famedom vs fandom  and it takes being famous to get booked. People are obsessed with the fame of it all. Don’t be boring. Be good to every venue. Try to work at a comedy club. Al Madrigal told me working at a comedy club is like working at a college. If you’re not going to be doing stand-up at least you can watch some of the best stand-ups. Not that you’re a sponge or anything, you just get to learn good habits. Learn good habits and just be a good dude at the venues because that’s where you’re going to be most of your career. So if you’re good with the employees there, they’re always going to say good things about you, and perception is everything in this business. Something I wish I would’ve known…social media. So I started at twenty two when MySpace was a thing and then Instagram, Twitter, all of it. Tony Hinchcliffe told me from Kill Tony told me ten years ago, you have to put these on the internet and I said no because I didn’t believe in the internet like that. I didn’t think that linear would be dead, T.V. would be dead. I just thought that we’d be doing it forever, because it’s been established for seventy years. But getting into the 2020s, it’s all about digital. So had I known, ten years ago that I should’ve been on the internet and been more of a social media guy, instead of being like I just want to get good and then I’ll start having people see me. Because now I’m like, f-ck, I’ve been doing this for so long, nobody knows who I am. Now I’m the roast guy because I was never trying to be on social media like that, but now everything is social media.