Rap/comedy duo Rick & Chuck step up at NXNE.
With few exceptions, comedy and rap do not mix well. They are the household cleaners of show business, and must be stored separately so that the world need never see another “funny” granny with a giant clock around her neck. Which could make the comedy showcase at NXNE something of a challenge for locals Eytan Millstone and Jay Wells L’Ecuyer.
The duo step up Friday (June 17) before the hipster music masses as their alter-egos Rick and Chuck—two nice boys from Catholic school with a fondness for insanely vile, foul-mouthed rap. The act grew out of the oversized sketch troupe The Boom.
“Every single time we walk on stage we have to prove that rap and comedy can mix,” says L’Ecuyer, because “every parody of rap [the audience] has ever heard has been hokey. It’s been comedians who don’t know how to rap.”
But Millstone and L’Ecuyer know how to use both mics and weapons-grade profanity. They’ve previously thrown down at Comedy Bar during its monthly Rap Battlez and Millstone has been seen at poetry slams around town as “Eytan Crouton.”
Millstone takes his cues from Eminem, among others. “I’ve always been impressed that he can write about such disgusting stuff like killing his wife—but that’s where good writing shines through, because he wins Grammys for it,” he says, laughing.
Millstone and L’Ecuyer are in NXNE because of Barry Taylor, the comic and former 102.1 The Edge DJ who now heads Comedy Records. Taylor has been building the Comedy Records roster on the strength of his connections in the music and comedy scenes, and has corralled local notables including Keith Pedro, Julia Hladkowicz and Mark Debonis into the four-night NXNE comedy showcase happening at the Labyrinth Lounge.
Earlier this year—after helping Millstone and L’Ecuyer develop the act—Taylor also walked them through the process of recording their first, two-song demo.
“It just worked out that we had a comedic music thing going on,” says Millstone.
The Comedy Records NXNE showcase runs Thursday, June 16 to Sunday, June 19, 8 p.m. at Labyrinth Lounge (298 Brunswick, #ANX). Admission is free with NXNE pass.
Email Sean Davidson at sdavidson@thegridto.com.
