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The best kept secret in music
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Elisha Yaffe, 22, Brookline
His foolishness: Most Emerson College students think they're the next big thing in comedy. [Elisha] Yaffe in his endearingly silly way, is on the right path with his mostly-weekly ImprovBoston show, "Zebro," which includes sketches, stand-up, videos and who knows what else. This week's show had his grandmother demonstrating crochet and a music-video contest based on "Snakes on a plane."
Foolosophy: "Just making fun of stupid people, whether I talk about my parents being stupid, or me being stupid r people coming into Cheers being stupid - or progressive white people. That's what I enjoy the most." - The Boston Herald
Mixing it up
Elisha Yaffe, 22, would like to support himself as a comedian when he graduates from Emerson College this fall. His new show, ''Zebro," which debuts Tuesday at ImprovBoston, could be a good start. He has booked two of Boston's fastest rising acts, the Walsh Brothers and Robby Roadsteamer, and will screen the buzz du jour Internet parody ''Brokeback to the Future," which should help give the show a strong kickoff. Having strong support players like Sean ''Napalm" Sullivan, who'll begin a regular spot on the show next month, will also be a plus.
Add Boston veterans like D.J. Hazard and Tim McIntire, both of whom are scheduled for future appearances, and the show seems to have a winning formula. ''We're really trying to show there's this whole history of Boston alternative comedy," says Yaffe. ''We're going to try to mix the generations up."
Boston's comedy scene is evolving to include more sketch and video alongside more traditional stand-up, and ''Zebro" could be a good outlet for that to develop. ''We hope to make a show that's not necessarily your typical host and 20 comics getting up onstage," he says. ''It's going to be a variety of mediums, we're going to have a lot of shorts [films], a lot of character stuff, and [be] very interactive with the audience." - The Boston Globe
It's not so hard to see why Zebro, the Boston-based comedy troupe of recent and soon-to-be college grads, packs a standing room-only show at the ImprovBoston every Tuesday. Their freewheeling shows are spit-valve releases of "Mr. Show"-esque detritus, a near-ramshackle combination of skits, stand-up and video that's rare for a city that favors a more traditional comedy club circuit. The homemade videos - including sketches about stoned food critics, aggressive anti-conservational factions and...you know...handercourse - have made them online darlings for legions of bored and laugh-hungry everywhere, which, as troupe member and host Elisha Yaffe puts it, makes them "very important in a non-real world that doesn't matter."
A recent video in which a friend is mocked and made to defend his love of the Goo Goo Dolls even attracted the attention of the band, who weren't hurt in the least - they actually invited the offending cast members to join them on tour at a city of their choice. - The Boston Metro
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
Elisha Yaffe took up comedy in Boston, where he attended university at Emerson College. It was there that he became a regular at The Comedy Studio in Harvard Square and founded Zebro Sketch Comedy. Zebro “packed the house” for their year long run at ImprovBoston and, during that time, their videos were featured on CNN, BBC, MSNBC, The Today Show, MTV, Youtube, Myspace, The Huffington Post, Salon.com. Elisha was called "One of Boston’s Rising Stars" by the Boston Globe and "Endearingly Silly" by the Boston Herald. He also co-hosted the alternative comedy revue The Secret Circus, performing at colleges across the country with good friends Dave Burdick and Ballard C. Boyd. They were called "a cult sensation" by The Denver Post who said that The Secret Circus was "Redefining what it means to see live comedy and breathing energy into an art form that sorely needed it."
Elisha now resides in sunny Los Angeles, where he works at Warner Brothers writing and producing comedy series. He is the co-creator and star of "Downers Grove" an ensemble comedy to premiere on TheWB.com this August. He performs at shows across Los Angeles at UCB, The Comedy Store, and Ultimate Improv Theatre. He is currently a regular at the Walsh Brothers' Great and Secret Show at The Improv on Melrose.
On July 2, 2008, Elisha will premiere "Your Girlfriend" at the Art/Works Theatre in Hollywood --- a new bi-weekly live show produced by John Ennis (HBO's Mr. Show). Elisha will host the show along with Pat Boccuzzi (Comedy Central Open Mike Fight finalist).
Head over to myspace.com/elishayaffe and elishayaffe.com to see more videos and other funny things.
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