Dave Buckman: Back for the Future

As duti­ful Aus­tinites (or per­haps due to just being par­tic­u­lar­ly sus­cep­ti­ble to peer pres­sure), we at CW con­sid­er recy­cling impor­tant. To show our ded­i­ca­tion, Valerie opens this week’s episode, with return­ing guest Dave Buck­man, by repur­pos­ing many of the cred­its and acco­lades we used last time. 

Giv­en the four year delta since Buck­man last sat down with us, you’d be for­giv­en for think­ing that sure­ly there must be more new with him than ​“gen­tly-upcy­cled” con­tent. This is where I must qui­et­ly pull you aside and remind you of the glob­al pan­dem­ic that hit…well, every­one, but cer­tain­ly the com­e­dy indus­try. Standup comics suf­fered the loss of stage time (and often, you know, actu­al COVID) for nigh unto 2 years. Cold­towne The­ater — of which Buck­man is (still) co-own­er and exec­u­tive pro­duc­er — being a phys­i­cal space ded­i­cat­ed to comedic train­ing, got hit, as they say, com­ing and going. 

Stu­dents and class­es are some­what inex­tri­ca­bly tied; one with­out the oth­er just doesn’t get the job done. And cer­tain­ly no one pays for a class they can’t take, or gets paid for the one they can’t teach. Class­es being the bet­ter part of Coldtowne’s bread-and-but­ter meant that COVID not only halt­ed growth but effec­tive­ly shut­tered the enterprise.

Not that pan­demics have a ​“good time” to rear their heads, but for Buck­man and Cold­towne it was espe­cial­ly painful. ​“We were so poised to launch into a stratos­phere,” he says of the days before COVID land­ed in full force. In Feb­ru­ary 2020 they had actu­al­ly put down a deposit on a new space to absorb their growth, and found them­selves in a fight to get the mon­ey back when the world went side­ways (so, so sideways).

So, like so many of us, Buck­man and co-own­er Tau­ri Laws-Phillip turned to the [online space] to try and keep the lights on and laughs going while every­thing else stood still. (“If Tau­ri had­n’t joined Cold­towne own­er­ship, I don’t know that Cold­towne would still be here,” Buck­man says of her join­ing the part­ner­ship). Befit­ting a school that puts their all into teach­ing com­e­dy, the pro­duc­tions weren’t your aver­age web­cam fod­der either, with shows like The Emma Dilem­ma and Strange­town, pro­duced as actu­al three cam­era shoots. The shows con­tin­ue today, so fol­low them (for free!) on their [Twitch channel].

It’s con­ve­nient and has a great reach, but the online shows only scratch a tiny por­tion of what Cold­towne itch­es for: teach­ing stand-up, sketch, and improv to peo­ple, and host­ing shows that show­case them (and the Austin com­e­dy scene in gen­er­al). It’s no secret we’ve had a recent influx of of per­form­ers post-COVID, and Cold­towne wants to sup­port them all, whether Austin is a per­ma­nent home for them or just a train­ing ground. 

“[We know we’re] a step­ping stone to LA, Chica­go and New York, and I’m proud to be that,” Buck­man says, and ​“I think the more peo­ple that we get out there, the bet­ter Austin is, the bet­ter Cold­towne is.” To that end, and because the show must always go on, Cold­towne has moved to a fan­tas­tic new loca­tion that — while not _​their_​for­ev­er home, either — pro­vides the space and ameni­ties need­ed to keep their com­mu­ni­ty going (and grow­ing). The doors opened Novem­ber 3^rd at 1700 East 2^nd St, and the return has begun. Buck­man notes that class­es and audi­ences are still at about 50% of nor­mal, but there’s every indi­ca­tion that will only con­tin­ue to increase through the next 14 months they plan to be at the loca­tion. It’s not only the results that keep peo­ple com­ing back, but the Cold­towne team’s pas­sion for their stu­dents and audi­ences. ​“I love teach­ing improv and sketch… [get­ting peo­ple] in touch with their sens­es of humor,” Buck­man beams. ​“I love watch­ing peo­ple blossom.”

And when the 14 months are up? The plans are well into the works (real­ly resum­ing) to build their dream home (or find a spec­tac­u­lar exist­ing offer­ing). As with all things, Cold­towne wants to do it prop­er­ly, and that means sound­proof rooms, a hang­out space/​patio, and a 70 seat the­ater. It also means mon­ey, and Buck­man notes they’re only about halfway to their goal.

Clos­ing the gap means get­ting addi­tion­al sup­port to the tune of $350K; not a small sum, but giv­en the impact the the­ater has for the peo­ple of Austin (per­form­ers & audi­ence, offline and on), it seems a pit­tance. Buck­man jokes that he’s con­stant­ly work­ing his con­tact list for sup­port­ers, say­ing ​“I’m gonna hit every email address…what else am I hold­ing on to them for?”

If you haven’t been lucky enough to make it onto Buckman’s (checks notes) Yahoo email address book, you can reach out and sup­port them (in any denom­i­na­tion, right up to the whole amount, one wagers) at cold​townethe​ater​.com/​s​u​pport. Of course you can (and should) also fre­quent the shows Cold­towne hosts (see the shows at cold​townethe​ater​.com), and Buck­man con­firmed that the week­end tri­fec­ta (Fri­day, Sat­ur­day, Sun­day shows) is back, rang­ing from improv to standup to the long-time favorite Sun­day night open mic. 

For comics and com­e­dy fans, it’s hard­er to think of a cause that more direct­ly gives div­i­dends back to the com­mu­ni­ty: new faces, expe­ri­enc­ing the growth of oth­er per­form­ers (or work­ing on your own), and shows to high­light that and more. So get out your wal­lets (or bring them to a show or three), and help build the next gen­er­a­tion of Cold­towne The­ater. Dave Buck­man, and a host of com­e­dy scenes, will be for­ev­er thank­ful for it. 

Fol­low Dave

• Web­site — www​.rache​land​dave​.com
• Twit­ter — @davebuckman
  
• Insta­gram — @davebuckman
• Face­book — face​book​.com/​d​a​v​e​b​u​ckman

Fol­low Cold­towne Theater

• Web­site — www​.cold​townethe​ater​.com
• Link­tree — link​tr​.ee/​c​o​l​d​towne
• Twit­ter — @ColdTowne
• Insta­gram — @coldtownetheater
• Face­book — face​book​.com/​C​o​l​d​Towne
• Tik­Tok — @coldtowne
• Do512 — do512​.com/​c​o​l​d​t​o​w​n​e​-​t​h​eater
• Youtube — youtube​.com/​C​o​l​d​T​o​wneTV
• Twitch — twitch​.tv/​c​o​l​d​t​o​wnetv
• Merch — cold­towne-16^th-anniver­sary-trust-tee
• Donate — cold​townethe​ater​.com/​s​u​pport

Fol­low ATX Sketch Fest

• Web­site — www​.atxs​ketch​fest​.com
• Twit­ter — @ATXSketchFest
  
• Insta­gram — @atxsketchfest
• Face­book — face​book​.com/​A​T​X​S​k​e​t​c​hFest

Dave can be seen and heard:

• Shows — eventbrite​.com/​c​o​l​d​t​o​w​n​e​-​t​h​eater
  
• Class­es — cold​towne​-the​ater​.courses​torm​.com/​c​o​m​e​d​y​-​c​l​asses
• Corp. Work­shops — cold​townethe​ater​.com/​c​o​r​p​orate