Video: Salon Talks to J-L Cauvin About Viral Louis C.K. Parody Video and More...

By: Aug. 04, 2013
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Salon.com asks today, Is YouTube killing comedy? and talks to 34-year-old New York comedian J-L Cauvin, whose April video impersonation of Louis C.K. went quickly viral, with him imagining Louis C.K. taking on some classic jokes in his own style.

They write "Many thought Cauvin's impression was brilliant; others labeled him a bitter comedian who was piggybacking on C.K.'s fame as a means to bolster his own career. Even the popular comedy news website Laughspin.com took an implicit stand against Cauvin's video, posting "Comedian mocks Louis C.K." as part of its headline.

For a short time, Cauvin's visibility within the comedy world blossomed. Opie and Anthony played the video on the air, and highly downloaded comedy podcasts discussed it in a positive light. Yet just as quickly as Cauvin's name burst into the comedic zeitgeist, it soon receded, and Cauvin was back to his previous station as a 10-year veteran with a crushingly low profile."

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In February 2003, J-L went to a bar near his apartment and watched an amateur showcase of comedians. J-L began inquiring how he could get some stage time and after following some leads he began performing at open mics at the end of that academic year. Quickly developing a knack for it, J-L was named Washington D.C.'s funniest college student, despite not really being a college student, in March 2004 at a sold out show at the D.C. Improv. After moving back to New York upon graduation from GULC in May 2004, J-L continued to work harder and harder as a comic, all while working as an Assistant District Attorney during the day in the Bronx. After leaving the DA's office, but before pursuing comedy full time, J-L also did some work in private practice where he learned two things: that he really did not enjoy the law and that he was actually the office "black guy". He has been featured on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and NESN Comedy All Stars as well as many well-known comedy festivals. J-L now travels the country performing in America's most prestigious (and non-prestigious) comedy clubs. Despite all this, he can still be found most nights bitching about something in the back room of a bar or the basement of a taco restaurant on stage for 5-8 minutes. He fully intends to not keep it real the day he makes it big.

J-L's act is incredibly diverse and has led to three CD releases: 2006′s Racial Chameleon, 2008′s Diamond Maker and 2012′s Too Big To Fail. He has also been featured in The Complete Idiot's Guide to Jokes. To this day J-L gets told he looks like lots of celebrities, including Barack Obama, which has improved J-L's luck with the ladies, especially promiscuous, politically liberal women with bad eyesight.



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