One of the best comics working today anywhere is Max Amini. He’s a killer and I’ve been getting to know him working the clubs in Los Angeles again. It’s really been one of the best things about getting back up and working out is meeting and getting to know so many comics. Max is amazing. He’s a good friend of Jamie Masada’s the owner of the Laugh Factory and he’s a fantastic stand-up and first class guy. He loves it. His lineage is Iranian. He was born in Tucson to parents that immigrated from Iran after the Iranian revolution in ’79.

A COMIC ENTREPRENEUR

I guess you can say that’s his window into the business, being Iranian, and a lot of his point of view, but putting that aside he’s just a great comic and actor and a very sharp entrepreneur who has built quite a strong business for himself. A production company and a touring entity. He produces specials and films and headlines concerts here and all over the world. He’s a major draw playing largely to Iranian ex-pats and Iranian Americans that love his candid take on their culture and the stick in the eye fun he pokes at them and himself.

WORLDWIDE CONCERT HEADLINER

A LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE

One of the things I truly respect about this guy, something I wish I felt more in our country, is a love for his people. He loves the Iranian people in a very profound way. He has a great Youtube channel and a podcast and does pieces where he gets into what’s special about his country. He focuses on the good things Iran has done. Not so much on the bad things. You see very few comedians here spending any time sticking up for this country. Almost none. In fact, he’s not doing concerts right now because of the problems in Iran. He doesn’t really want to be out there making jokes on a big stage this moment which I respect.  I think I’d be out there looking for the laughs, trying to make my people laugh in a time they needed it, but that’s easy to say I guess. He doesn’t want to belittle anything that’s happening in Iran right now. He’s very sincere about this. It’s really interesting to discuss this with him. Go to his Youtube channel and listen to some of his interviews. If you don’t speak Farsi, call me. I’ll translate. (I’ll use Google.)

CROWD WORK

One thing I love to watch Max do is crowd work. He’s up there with Jimmy Brogan,  Rick Ingraham, and early David Letterman in this category. No shit. He’s really that good. He’s so likeable and charming, and he gets away with so much. He can do complete shows of crowd work and its hysterical much like Ingraham. Check out this fun clip which I believe is in London.

Anyone watching Carson, Letterman, Merv Griffin or any of the talk shows in the late 70’s or 80’s or even into the 90’s saw George’s stuff. You couldn’t help but love him. He was fast, clever, and funny. He was in fact one of Norm McDonald’s inspirations. He was one of Dave Letterman’s best buddies. He and Tom Dreesen, Johnny Witherspoon, and Jeff Altman were all sort of Dave’s circle I guess, and Dave really took to George. They lived together in little tiny cubicles side by side in a building on Sunset blvd across the street from the Comedy Store in the late seventies.

FROM SEATTLE

George came down from Seattle and his mother, Helen, ended up being the bookkeeper at the ‘Store’. The first real money I ever made in showbiz was from George. I sold him a j0ke he used on The Tonight Show when I first got to LA and he gave me fifty bucks. It was a crap joke. ‘I went to a real drug oriented high school. ‘High High.’  It was crap but George knew how to sell it, and he got laughs with it on Carson and my parents saw it and it was the first time they thought maybe I had some kind of shot at this thing. They had no idea how high I used to get with George before I got sober, but that’s another story.

He really loved being a stand-up though. He was one of the early guys that only wanted to be a stand-up. Nothing else. Didn’t want to act. Didn’t want to direct, do a talk show, produce, have a sit-com. Just wanted to write jokes, tell jokes, be on talk shows as a guest, get high, have fun, then write and tell more jokes.

FIRST TONIGHT SHOW

THE GEORGE MILLER COLLECTION ON LETTERMAN

George did more Letterman shows than anyone. (Maybe Dressen or Altman  or Johnny Dark did more?)  Anyway, a fan of his did a series of George Miller collection on Youtube. Here’s the first 2 of 6.  Dig into these if you want to see George’s stuff.

I’M DYING UP HERE

Dave took good care of George when he passed. Paid his medical bills, but was a good pal too. There was a wonderful memorial at the Laugh Factory. It was special. We were all there. In fact it’s the opening scene of William Kneodelseder’s book ‘I’m dying up here.’ George was a hell of a guy. He was always really good to me, I miss him a lot.

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Joan Rivers shot a special in London in 1992 that showcases some of her best work ever. A hidden gem sitting up on Youtube that really put to rest the any doubt anyone would ever had as to why she was one of the greatest stand-ups of all times. This is so good. She is so funny here, so on her game. Have some fun and watch this one.

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