Nashville Scene: “Local Comics Set the World Record for Longest Comedy Show and Aren’t Stopping”

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS judge Michael Empric with 'Broken Record' co-host D.J. Buckley. PHOTO: LANCE CONZETT.

Thanks to Lance Conzett & The Nashville Scene’s “Country Life Blog” for writing about us: “Local Comics Set the World Record for Longest Comedy Show and Aren’t Stopping”. Here’s a pdf of their article, or just read below:

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS judge Michael Empric with 'Broken Record' co-host D.J. Buckley. PHOTO: LANCE CONZETT.
GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS judge Michael Empric with ‘Broken Record’ co-host D.J. Buckley. PHOTO: LANCE CONZETT.

Guinness judge Michael Empric with Broken Record co-host D.J. Buckley
PHOTO: LANCE CONZETT

Last night, at 8:04 p.m., Nashville broke a world record.

Not a record for the most luxury condos shaped like guitars or the most heart attacks during a post-season hockey game. Nothing to do with Jack White, Pekka Rinne or Karl Dean. No. Last night, a scrappy group of local comics bulldozed right through the world record for longest stand-up comedy show with multiple comedians, previously held by The Laugh Factory in Los Angeles.

“I’m so excited to announce that with 80 hours and two minutes, you guys have set a new Guinness World Record,” Guinness adjudicator Michael Empric declared as a jam-packed East Room erupted into cheers, carrying co-host D.J. Buckley on their shoulders with the commemorative plaque raised high above his head.

Conceived by Buckley, who had left the show’s East Nashville venue only once since Sunday morning, and brought into fruition by the efforts of Buckley, Chad Riden, Mary Jay Berger and dozens of volunteers and comics, the Broken Record Comedy Show isn’t just “the greatest, dumbest thing [they’ve] ever done,” but the most ambitious project the local comedy community ever has, and perhaps ever will, take on.

In just over three days, a total of 83 comics performed onstage at The East Room, including drop-in appearances by Hannibal Buress, Rory Scovel, Killer Beaz, Ahmed Ahmed and Nate Bargatze. But the real heroes are the comics that most people have never heard of. At 6:42 a.m. on Tuesday, Narado Moore was woken from a deep sleep on a couch in the balcony of The East Room to perform for an hour and 20 minutes, filling time due to dropouts in the early hours of the morning. Volunteers and comics have destroyed their sleep schedules to ensure that the minimum 10 audience members are always present, lest a technicality dash their record attempt.

Even though the record has officially been broken, Buckley and Riden show no signs of calling it a day. With the venue booked through Sunday night, the show will continue on until April 19 at 8 p.m., making future attempts to break the record more and more daunting. Incidentally, if anyone’s going to break the record, it’s going to be Nashville — again.

“I don’t ever want to stop this,“ Riden said during his set, after the official ruling was conferred. “I want to do this again next year and break the record by one second.”

I wouldn’t call his bluff. The show continues all day and all night until Sunday night, with special guests and excellent local comics abound. (A regularly updated schedule can be found on NashvilleStandUp.com.) After that, hopefully, D.J. Buckley will be able to sleep in his own bed.

The Comic’s Comic: “Nashville comedians attempting eight-day ‘world record’ continuous comedy show”

Thanks to The Comic’s Comic‘s Sean L. McCarthy for writing about our ongoing #BrokenRecordShow world record attempt. Download this pdf of his article so you can print it out and mail it to your grandma, or read it on his website or right here:

Nashville comedians attempting eight-day “world record” continuous comedy show
By Sean L. McCarthy

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If the show goes on, by 8:04 p.m. Central Daylight Time tonight, the comedians in Nashville, Tenn., will have broken the Guinness Book of World Records time for the longest continuous stand-up comedy show.

And then it’ll go on and on and on some more.

The Laugh Factory in Hollywood has the record with an 80-hour stand-up showcase for charity held in December 2010, which broke the 50-hour mark set by Comic Strip Live in New York City in July 2008 — which The Comic’s Comic attended and reported upon for the duration! That’s nothing compared to what Nashville StandUp is attempting: 169.5 straight hours of stand-up.

Nashville’s effort at The East Room began Sunday and continues through April 19, in conjunction with the city’s Wild West Comedy Festival.

Comedians are lining up for 15-minute or half-hour slots.

Billy Wayne Davis performed this morning, and told The Comic’s Comic afterward: “I got to live one of my dreams I didn’t know I had. Doing an hour of stand up to 15 people at 8 in the morning. It’s exactly like it sounds: weird, groggy, and a little painful but there was biscuits and gravy.”

Nate Bargatze, who moved back to Nashville after a long stint in New York City and has his first hourlong Comedy Central special debuting in May, told The Comic’s Comic: “It has been awesome and everyone has been so supportive. I have done it twice. Did a hour one night and then went today at noon with Rory Scovel and we both went up. Going back with Hannibal (Buress) later today. It is great they are doing it and always a fun feeling when at any point day or night you can just think you know what I want to go do comedy and then go do it. I haven’t done a 6 a.m. set but kind of curious how that would feel so might try that. Overall impressed how supportive everyone has been and how well Chad and Daniel have done and all the local guys and girls that have kept this thing going.”

Nashville StandUp’s Chad Riden and DJ Buckley are producing the event. Riden took a few minutes out today to update The Comic’s Comic on how the record-breaking effort is progressing:

“This show is the greatest, dumbest thing we’ve ever done, but it’s also been a lot of fun and cathartic. How often can a hundred comics can hang out and get as much stage time as they want in a venue that prioritizes comedy above profits? The vibe here has been compared to summer camp. My co-producer DJ Buckley had not left the building since 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning until we finally sent him over to my house for a shower this afternoon. I’ve only left for about 3 hours each day to sleep and shower at home and drive my daughter to school in the morning. Several comics have slept in The East Room’s comics’ lounge in the balcony, just in case we needed emergency back-up audience members if we got too close to the 10-person minimum… or if we need somebody to wake up and do a set if we were running short on comics eligible to do a set at that time.

DJ and I scheduled ourselves every 4-5 hours so if we were off schedule we could fill or cut ourselves to get back on time. It’s predictably most difficult to book the late night / early morning spots so I’ve done at least an hour every morning and have been prepared to keep going until some other comic shows up, wakes up or becomes eligible to go back on stage. Tuesday I woke up Narado Moore out of a dead sleep to help me split a block that we had to fill from 6:42 a.m. to 9 and he knocked it out like a champ. I set up a Google calendar so we could constantly update everybody with what spots were open when. We’ve got a Facebook group for performers so I can post to all of them if we need comics to get over here asap. Everybody is motivated to contribute and make this work.

DJ and I have handled hosting duties in shifts and when he finally crashes around 5 a.m., he has had to hide in different places around the building so people wouldn’t be able to mess with him. I love this place but I’ll be damned if I sleep on a couch or the floor or wherever the hell DJs nest is when I have a king size waterbed at my house a mile and a half away.

Several comics and Zanies servers have spent the entire night helping us make sure we had enough people here no matter what, saying, “we’re all in this together.” We truly are. The East Room staff, the fans, the volunteers, the comics. It’s been touching watching everybody work together cohesively to make this stupid thing happen. People text us saying, “what do you need?” and bring us toilet paper, gum or whatever we’re out of. Rob Haynes said, “It’s like we’re running a FEMA camp.”

We had Nashville natives / alumni Nate Bargatze, Keith Alberstadt, Jessica Watkins, Tim Northern, Billy Wayne Davis and friend of Nashville Comedy Jon Reep scheduled in advance to do hours here and there, but we’ve also had drop in appearances from Ahmed Ahmed, Rory Scovel and Killer Beaz and expect a lot more from the comics in town for the Wild West Comedy Festival as our show continues through the rest of the week and the weekend.

It’s actually kind of addictive, keeping a show going at all times. We originally planned on ending at 8 p.m. Sunday the 19th, when my regular weekly Spiffy Squirrel Comedy Show would normally end, but now I think we should just keep going. Ben Jones, the owner of The East Room said we could keep going until it’s time for the band he has booked Monday the 20th to load in. I don’t want it to end. All I’ve ever cared about was comedy and if you ask me, “if you could be anywhere doing anything right now, what would it be?” the answer would always be “doing a show” so this has been a surreal utopia for me. We’ve already decided to do the same thing again next year and beat our own record by a minute, just to make it even more ridiculous than it already is.

I’ve only slept twelve hours total since Friday, so if I sound insane it’s because I’m loopy and generally feel like I’m zipping around the galaxy on George Clinton’s Mothership.”

Sounds about right!

There’s even a livestream, because, of course. So you can root them on from the comfort of your own home.

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title attempt #BrokenRecordShow hits 48-hour milestone at The East Room

BROKEN RECORD COMEDY SHOW NashvilleStandUp.com World Record Attempt: LONGEST STAND-UP COMEDY SHOW – MULTIPLE COMEDIANS April 12-19, 2015 The East Room

You guys, WE’RE DOING IT.

Beginning noon April 12th, Nashville StandUp began our attempt to take the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for “LONGEST STAND-UP COMEDY SHOW – MULTIPLE COMEDIANS” at The East Room in Nashville, TN.

NewsChannel 5 talking to Monty Mitchell
NewsChannel 5 talking to Monty Mitchell

As I type this it’s early afternoon Tuesday April 14th. That means the BROKEN RECORD COMEDY SHOW has been going for over 48 hours so far. Unbelievable. We’re having such a great time.

NewsChannel 5 talking to Chad Riden
NewsChannel 5 talking to Chad Riden

NewsChannel 5 did interviews and shot show footage around noon and a live shot during their 5pm show, helping spread the word.

Jessica Watkins, photo: Jamie Hernandez
Jessica Watkins, photo: Jamie Hernandez

Last night was incredible. Jessica Watkins is an East Nashville native, now living in NYC and she did an hour telling stories from her walk across the country when she did comedy and avoided being murdered while filming her documentary “Burning Daylight.”

Nate Bargatze
Nate Bargatze

Louis J Gomez was absolutely hilarious and delightful as he explained how his baby is fifteen times cuter than yours. The house was PACKED for home town boy who done good, Nate Bargatze. A lot of Wild West Comedy Festival people and Zanies staffers supplemented the huge, huge crowd who squeezed in to see Nate. It was pretty awesome.

Ahmed Ahmed
Ahmed Ahmed

Our good friend KILLER BEAZ dropped in and did a 30-minute surprise set, followed by Nashville favorite Mike James. Ahmed Ahmed (TBS’ Sullivan & Son, The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour) dropped in to do a fun set where he hilariously woke up a sleepy audience member in the front row. Ahmed is an absolute beast on stage and any comic would hate to have to follow him, but that didn’t stop Zanies co-owner Andrew Dorfman who jumped up to do a very funny set.

Andrew Dorfman
Andrew Dorfman

This show is the greatest, dumbest thing we’ve ever done, but it’s also been a lot of fun and cathartic. Nashville comedy has really pulled together to make this a reality. The comics deemed as being ‘professional’ according to GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™’ guidelines (20 paid credits in a comedy club, theatre or bar and at least one year’s experience since their first paid gig), have done shows at all hours of the day and night.

DJ Buckley has not left the building since Sunday morning at 8:30 am. Chad Riden has only left for 2-3 hours each day to sleep and shower at home and run his daughter to and from school. Several comics have slept in The East Room’s fancy new comics’ lounge in the balcony. Many have been here all night. Several Zanies servers spent the entire night helping us make sure we had over 10 people in the audience at all times, saying, “we’re all in this together.” We truly are. The East Room staff, the fans, the volunteers, the comics. It’s really been touching watching everybody work to make this stupid thing happen. THANK YOU.

If you’re in town, STOP IN! ANY TIME. We’re here. If you can’t come by, photographer Jamie Hernendez is documenting the show on her Instagram account. She does incredible work and is here at all hours doing a fantastic job taking photos and posting updates on twitter. We’re also streaming video of the event on YouTube and on our special #BrokenRecordShow site. Go now to see the lineup for the rest of our schedule this week.

ALSO: the BROKEN RECORD Comedy Show is honoring ANY Wild West Comedy Festival tickets as valid tickets for our world record breaking show at The East Room. Any and all WWCF ticket holders need only flash their WWCF2015 ticket stub or laminate to be granted free admission to The East Room with no additional purchase necessary. Hope to see you at the show!

NewsChannel 5: “Comedians Begin World Record Attempt At Longest Stand-Up Comedy Show”

Thanks to NewsChannel 5 for covering the beginning of our show tonight! The video is no longer online but the archive is here if you want to click around over there anyway.

Here’s pretty much what they said:

Comedians Begin World Record Attempt At Longest Stand-Up Comedy Show

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A world record attempt at the longest stand-up comedy show got underway and included multiple comedians.

They were set to attempt to break the Guinness World Record, which currently stands at 80 hours set by the Laugh Factory in Hollywood.

Nashville Standup planned to keep people laughing for eight days, amounting to 192 non-stop hours of comedy.

For information on the Broken Record Comedy Show, running April 12-19, click here. You can also learn more by visiting the show’s Facebook page, or click here to hear from the comedians online.