The new show, Lemme See It, will make its debut at Denver Comedy Underground on Thursday, March 28, with a mix of standup routines, sketches and short films. Hosted by Stephen Agyei and Preston Tompkins, the first iteration will showcase their award-winning horror-comedy short "Paranormal Drunktivity." Starring Agyei, the hilarious local flick was co-written and -directed by Tompkins and Zach Reinert, and was produced by Manuel Contreras.
Tompkins explains that after "Drunktivity" wrapped, Agyei suggested creating an event that would both feature their work and aim to inspire other comics. Tompkins was all for it. "Standup's not our one and only outlet," he notes. "We want to do films, too. We want to take it to the next level. ... Our main goal is to help inspire our friends to make cool shit."
Comedy shows have long incorporated snippets of pre-recorded material, but what sets Lemme See It apart is that the team is serious about filmmaking. The group is all based in Denver except for Agyei, who has been in Los Angeles since 2017, but he may as well be a local. The comedian grew up here, recorded his first comedy special at Voodoo Comedy Playhouse (now RISE Comedy), and frequently returns to Comedy Works and the High Plains Comedy Festival. Out in La-La Land, he's popped up in roles on such critically acclaimed shows as BoJack Horseman, Abbott Elementary and This Fool. He's a filmmaker, too: In addition to the "Paranormal Drunktivity" group effort, he recently produced, wrote and starred in his own short film, "Swish," which will also be screened at Lemme See It. Both "Drunktivity" and "Swish" played at nearly twenty film festivals around the country last year, winning half a dozen awards.
During the pandemic, "I just wanted to write something dumb, have some fun," Agyei says of "Swish." "I just came up with this silly idea, and I wanted to showcase myself writing and acting. ... I think everybody was kind of feeling stagnant, so I was just like screw it, I'm going to figure out a way to make it."
As quarantine waned, he found a cast and crew through his local writing group and secured funding through "the simple idea of telling people, 'Instead of buying me a drink at a standup show, just give me $20 for this short,'" Agyei recalls. He estimates that he raised $10,000 within a week.
In "Swish," Agyei plays an awkward romantic stuck in an abusive relationship while crushing on a friend. The writing is snappy and frequently hilarious, providing the perfect showcase for the comic's vibe as a performer: a nice guy with a not-very-well-hidden raunchy side. "Lead with a lot of booty," Agyei says of his style. "Booty, edge, some silly — you gotta wrap it all in there. But you start with the butt. You know how seeds..." He trails off, collecting his thoughts.
"Like, if you ever look at a walnut, it looks like a butthole. But if you plant the walnut and water it, it will grow a tree of other stuff," he explains.
"And now you can see why we cast him as our lead actor," Tompkins remarks.
He's admiring Agyei's easygoing scatological joke delivery, but he's also acknowledging the comedian's role in "Paranormal Drunktivity" as Jason, a new homeowner harassed by frat-boy ghosts who died as a result of..."butt-chugging."
Preston Tompkins and Zach Reinert are the co-writers and directors of Paranormal Drunktivity.
Preston Tompkins
It sounds like a ridiculous premise, but thanks to the comedic possibilities of the found-footage format and a great local cast, it lands. Some of the biggest laughs come from Sam Sisson's scenery-chewing documentarian, Maggie, and John "Hippie Man" Novosad's Dr. Heckle rounding out a cast of comedians.
The NSFW gag-fest grew out of Tompkins and Reinert's sketch-writing. "Our sketches are only thirty seconds long, because...that's the funniest part of the sketch anyway," explains Tompkins. But "Paranormal Drunktivity" was the exception, an idea funny enough to tempt them beyond their penchant for brevity.
"We were just having a brainstorming session in the chat, [and Reinert] goes: 'What if ghosts were cool? What if they didn't want to kill you? ... What if it was a haunted frat house? You know, some guy is just trying to go to work, and he's waking up with alcohol in his coffee,'" Tompkins recalls.
The co-writers soon realized their idea was better suited to a short film than a thirty-second sketch. Thankfully, they had plenty of funny and talented potential collaborators already in their circle to bring it to fruition. "Stephen's a little bit of a rascal, so that's why he's perfect for our film," Tompkins says, adding that he met Contreras in film school, "so he's always my go-to producer."
Novosad was another friend from the Denver scene who instantly came to mind, for the role of "butt-chugging expert" Dr. Heckle. "We needed some sort of character to give the exposition of why there are drunk ghosts," Tompkins explains. "Everyone else we kind of wrote blindly, but that one we wrote specifically for Hippie Man. ... There's no one else that could play Dr. Heckle and talk about dead frat ghosts. Being friends with John wrote the character."
"It was a perfect casting, and he did the perfect job," Reinert agrees. "I mean, Jesus...no one could keep a straight face the whole time he was filming."
In one of the first opportunities for Denverites to catch the films, both "Swish" and "Paranormal Drunktivity" will close out the night at Lemme See It. For routines, Agyei and Tompkins will be joined on stage by Reinert, Sisson and Trevor Smith. There will also be sketches from StepDads, another Tompkins and Reinert project.
Denver Comedy Underground is an ideal place for Lemme See It's trial run. The indie venue in a church basement revels in its reputation as one of the best — and most unlikely — places to catch local comedy. Owner Ben Bryant is also part of the family; at one time, he was roommates with Tompkins and Reinert.
"We always debut our shows there because it's not only just a great club, it's run by great people," says Tompkins. Agyei adds that it's "probably the best independent venue in the city, and Ben is the best independent producer. He's incredible."
At the moment, the plan is to run the showcase quarterly, but the frequency and the location are both open to change. "We'll see how things develop. We want to grow it," says Agyei. "If it could be monthly, it could be monthly. I think quarterly is going to give us the best opportunity to fine-tune what we want to showcase and produce the best show we can produce. ... I think it would be really cool to do it in a theater; it would be cool to do it plenty of places. Hell, before Film on the Rocks or something."
The show's expansion will also depend not just on the group's productivity, but its ability to encourage others to create. "We're hoping this inspires our friends to start making video content," Tompkins adds. "That's the other goal of this, is not only make our own stuff, but inspire our whole community to start producing film content."
On that note, he says he's already focused on a five-year plan to realize a full-length version of "Paranormal Drunktivity," which prompts a flurry of off-color quips from his fellow collaborators.
Producer Contreras has the tagline "Bigger, badder, more bussy." Reinert adds, "We're bringing butt-chugging to the mainstream," and Agyei succinctly concludes: "Bring your own hose."
Lemme See It, 7 p.m. Thursday, March 28, Denver Comedy Underground, 1400 Williams Street. Tickets are $15 and available at denvercomedyunderground.com.
