Hello and welcome to “Pick a Side Stupid: A Comedy Debate Show”. Is that name too long? You can argue about it in the comments.
This show was created by Shawn Carter (hey that’s me) when after a normal stand up comedy show on a Sunday night Shawn Carter and Ryan Shea got into a heated argument over whether Helen Hunt was hot or not. (She is).
During the debate many other comedians that were hanging around jumped in with their opinion. Suddenly it became clear how much stand up comedians love arguing and how funny they can be while debating the most pointless stuff. As a result a new show was born. Over the years we’ve mostly just called it “The Debate Show” but when we decided to record each show and release them in podcast form we realized we needed a new name. Some people offered up names like “Agree to Disagree”, “Mass Debaters”, and “Bickerings and Confutations” but in the end we decided to go with “Pick a Side Stupid: A Comedy Debate Show”.
You might say “How is arguing a show? Do you just stand in the front of the room and yell at each other?”
Well my new friend, I’m glad you asked because I’m gonna tell ya.
Each week the show is about a different topic. In the past we’ve done entire shows where every question was about certain movies “The Big Lewboski”, “Grease II” sometimes we’ve had entire shows that have been about dating/relationships, music, or video games.
In fact our next show (August 23rd at Maggy’s Lounge in Quincy) is about “Home Alone” so all of our questions will be about the famous film starring Macaulay Culkin. All week leading up to the show you can participate by suggesting debate questions on our Pick a Side Stupid Facebook Group.
Here is how the show works.
I invite two comedians on-stage, and ask them a question:
“Would you rather date someone that doesn’t dance at weddings OR someone that DOES dance at funerals?”
“Would you rather date someone 10 years younger than you or 20 years older than you?”
The comedian that goes first gets to decide which side of the debate they are on, the second comedian has to take the other side no matter how difficult it may be to argue. We want to see people come up with creative ways to try and win arguments that should never be won. After I ask the question the first comedian gets one minute to make their case, they can go under their time but not over, going over time disqualifies the comedian. Once the first comedian has made their point they hand the mic to the second comedian who gets one minute to make their case. After that the first comedian gets a 30 second rebuttal and then of course the second comedian gets a 30 second rebuttal. So each round should last 3 minutes at the most.
At the end of each round the host decides the winner. The host is the only person that gets a say in who won and lost the debate. The audience is encouraged to cheer or boo depending on whether or now they agree with the hosts decision.
When a comedian wins a round they stay on stage until they lose. Therefore if you are called up to the stage at the beginning of the show for the first round you have to beat every other comedian to win for the night. However if you are called up to the stage in the last round you only have to beat one person to be the champion that week. It’s completely unfair but it’s also for a comedy show so who cares.
Our next show will feature stand up comedy from Anthony Scibelli as well as a debate about the movie “Home Alone”. The show is free and it will be at Maggy’s Lounge in Quincy at 8pm, August 23rd. I hope to see you there.
