John Stabb is best known as the leader of Government Issue, one the more fondly remembered bands from D.C.'s first generation of punk rock. That group still reunites from time to time, but Stabb has led other ensembles since G.I.'s original run.

Stabb's latest project is History Repeated, which was called Sleeper Agent! until recently. At the band's show Saturday night at Velvet Lounge, he was one part Jello Biafra, one part whirling dervish. Not bad for a dude with five metal plates in his head.

See additional photos from the show here.

Washington City Paper: Why did you become a stand-up?

Lucas Molandes: I originally got into school to become a philosophy major. I used to joke that I transferred from that into comedy so people would take me serious. While going to school, I found out I was good at math so I switched to engineering. Twenty thousand dollars later I realized it wasn't right for me. Luckily, I had journals filled with funny ideas and nothing to do with them so I turned to comedy.

WCP: How was growing up in Austin?

LM: I was born in Austin but grew up elsewhere in East Texas, a town that had about 24,000 people. When I moved back to Austin at 17, I had a perspective of someone who felt like an outsider.

I started doing stand up out in Austin around 2004 and began doing gigs on the road a few months after that, when other established comics would take me out with them. The audiences at those shows helped me create a way to describe my point of view that wasn't so insulated. I learned how to relate my perspective in a way that people could relate to, despite how their background clashed with mine.

WCP: How did you develop your conversational style your comedy?

LM: If I'm talking on stage and say a set up and punchline and no one is laughing it's incredibly awkward. If you just start talking, people become part of the show. They insert themselves into what you're saying and so there's no pressure of expectations on them.

WCP: What that intentional or was it so if a joke bombs it's OK?

LM: Early on I would write in a traditional joke format, which means tricking people into laughing via tried and true formulas. Then I started writing whatever made me happy which makes for a better performance because I'm more excited to be on stage. The point of view is cathartic for me, and it translates on stage. I don't know when that occurred. I quit comedy for about a year and half and when I came back it became less about the crowd wanted and what I needed to be comfortable on stage. After quitting, I never expected for comedy to be anything more than what I did for fun, so my motivation was to have fun.

WCP: Do you get uncomfortable on stage?

LM: When I'm part of a dog and pony industry show. When I get seven minutes in front of industry and there's dozens of other performers and some of them are ventriloquists and some are singing and some are trying to shoehorn their persona into seven minutes, I'm uncomfortable. I'd rather do 45 minutes in front of a crowd at a club who are there to be there and have fun.

WCP: How has your interest in philosophy helped identify you as a comedian?

LM: I'm in an archaeological dig of my own past. I try to convert things that are specific to me into things that people can relate to.

I try to not read boring philosophy books that define the fundamental idea of things, books that use ten pages to decipher the real meaning of the the word 'it." I think the last book about philosophy that I've read is "The Irrational Man," which is about the rise of existential philosophy in western culture. I read these type of books because they help provide context to the feelings inside of you that just sit there until you can figure out what they mean. That's where my comedy comes from. Whenever I sit down and write I try to relieve that uncertain feeling in my guts, to give them form and shape. In the end, the jokes are superficial, but I can go into the philosophy of what I've said because that's where I started. I can stand up to any heckler and defend my point of view because I don't go for laughs when I write. I don't write for punchlines. I'll write it like a diary entry and later I'll find the humor in it.

Washington City Paper: Why did you leave New Orleans?

Sean Patton: If you don't want to work in a bar, restaurant, be a jazz musician, or a serious alcoholic, you need to leave. I love the city but it's just now starting to have a serious comedy scene. I got to love comedy before moving to a New York or L.A. We didn't learn any of the rules. We didn't have the heirarchy of having people that aren't funny and go up just because they've been there forever.

When I started out there were only 20 comics and a handful of shows. If you were good, nothing else mattered. It's the same in LA or New York but there are a lot of shitheads that are good networkers and that gets frustrating. Bottom line is if it's funny, that's all that matters.

WCP: Do you approach alternative shows differently than club gigs?

SP: I don't. It'll be who I am at either. If I'm at a club I'll probably start out with broader material. If it's the middle of Michigan and they don't see a lot of comedy and what they do see is awful, you want to bring them in right away. I'm not going to go up there and blame them for not getting me. But you can't differentiate who you are at each show. There are guys that kill it at alt rooms and then eat their dicks in a club and vice versa. I know people that are pretty much gods in alt rooms but if you put them in a club, they can't do it. They cater to one kind of demographic.

You have to be able to speak to every type of crowd without pandering or dumbing yourself down. If you say something that doesn't get a laugh, don't shit on the audience or yourself, figure out why it didn't get a laugh. If it's something you want to say, just figure out a way to make it work.

WCP: What's your writing process like?

SP: I try to avoid topical or current event material because there are a thousand other guys that can do it better. I want my stuff to be timeless.

I have bits now that are starting to work now that I wrote down seven years ago. I save every notebook I've ever had. I'll go through old notebooks and see a word or a phrasing or remember why I wanted to try it and after going back, I'll figure it out.

Your sense of humor is a strength and the more you develop it, the stronger it gets.

WCP: You seem to approach it more like a writer than a performer.

SP: I think a lot of comedians get bogged down in the set up and punchline and that's total bullshit. A joke to me is, you have a thought, you craft it in a way where it becomes a presentation and people laugh at it. As long as it has a point of view and you can present it, it doesn't matter if it has a punchline. If the sentence itself is funny and that's it, that's fine.

A lot of comics worry about the set-up and punchline. Those guys can enjoy spending the next five years doing shitty B rooms.

WCP: Who are the guys that made you want to do this?

SP: Marc Maron, specifcally his first HBO special. It didn't have a name, it was just a 30-minute special. It came out in 1998 but I didn't see it til 2001, after I had already started doing stand up and it was inspirational. He was all over the map, it was beautiful. As cliche as it sounds, Bill Hicks. To every younger comic, he's how Robert Deniro is inspiring to young actors. I saw Louis CK on a Young Aspen comedians speical and remember him being very dirty in an intelligent way. Bill Burr is probably the best guy out there right now.

WCP: Who are some of your peers that need recognition?

SP: Nick Turner, Dan St. Germain, Mike Lawrence, Dan Soder, and the guy I'm bringing around with me, Rogilio Perez, is great. Kyle Kinane, if you can have an idol that's the same age as you, it's Kyle.

The comedy scene right now is great. It's in a renaissance and a boom state. It's good to be a comedian right now.

Your next seven days should be filled with laughter. The following could help.

Friday, October 21: Cool Dudes Hanging Out at Velvet Lounge
This monthly Hillary Buckholtz/Brandon Wardell joint returns from its summer hiatus with a visit from New Orleans-bred vagabond Sean Patton. Patton, a 10-year veteran who's starting to rise in the alt comedy ranks as well as the club scene, recently appeared on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” ensuring him a career that doesn’t suck. Equal parts Marc Maron, Kyle Kinane, and Bill Burr, Patton is another one of those “I’m really smart but don’t make you feel dumb and isn’t this all kind of silly so lets have a laugh and jokes don’t need to follow a formula to be funny” kind of comics. If you’re in more of a traditional mood, the excellent Dave Attell will be at the DC Improv. 7 p.m., $5, 18+

Saturday: October 22: Brian Posehn at the Arlington Drafthouse
For the non-comedy nerd, Posehn is the big monster-looking guy that played the mail clerk on Just Shoot Me and half of a loving gay couple on The Sarah Silverman Show. For the metal heads he’s the guy who loves/hates what makes him a metalhead. For the potheads, he’s the guy who recently left the flock and played the Gathering of the Juggalos. If you still have no idea who I’m talking about, Brian Posehn is a funny stand-up comedian who uses music and film references to describe why he looks like someone who might be a serial killer. If you’re in more of a dick and midget-joke mood, the excellent Dave Attell will be at the DC Improv.7:30 and 10 p.m., $25; 7:30 p.m. all ages, 10pm 21+

Sunday, October 23: Lewis Black at The Fillmore
I bet Mr. Black is a really nice, calm man. The angry-at-everything-for justifiable-reasons thing has been going extremely well for almost two decades, and at this point I doubt it’s sincere. It has to be a character. Black doesn’t appear to be on the brink of a heart attack. His manic hand gestures emphasize his salient points. His emphasis on punchlines isn’t much different than Bill Burr or Bill Hicks or Greg Proops: They’re thought out and intentionally placed. Whether his stage persona is a persona or really who he is, this show is a sure bet if you know and like what he does. If you’re in more of an once-a-former-alcoholic mood, the excellent Dave Attell will be at the DC Improv. 8 p.m., $39.50 to $55, all ages

Thursday, October 27: Cinematic Titanic at GW Lisner Auditorium

From the Peabody-winning creators of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (I had no idea either. Peabody? Wow.) comes Cinematic Titanic. If you like a bunch of funny Peabody winners (still can’t believe it) cracking wise over poorly produced horror films, look no further. 8 p.m., $10-$35, all ages

Your next seven days should be filled with laughter. The following could help.

Friday, September 16: Brandon Wardell and Friends at Velvet Lounge
The funniest man under 20 in D.C. is Brandon Wardell. D.C.’s best stand-up is Michael Foody. The show is at a venue that usually doesn’t host comedy shows. The cover charge is $5. All of these factors make this show a no-brainer, an excellent intro to the D.C. comedy scene that should even be pleasing to the most weathered vets. You’ll see odder performers like Foody and Adam Friedland, excellent joke writers like Wardell and Tim Messenger, and Andy Haynes and Alice Wetterlund visiting for New York. Shows like this pop up every once in a while and they’re great shocks to the scene. They’re fun, accessible to non-comedy nerds, and definitely worth the $5. Attend and maybe more will happen. 7 p.m., $5, 21+

Saturday, September 17: Overexposed: The Good, The Bad & The Naked at Chief Ike’s Mambo Room
This monthly variety show returns to Adams Morgan for another Saturday night of comedy-based acts. The very funny Vijai Nathan curated and hosts this event. It begins with a musical performance from Perfect Square and includes stand-ups, storytellers, and poets. 7 p.m., $15, 21+

Sunday, September 18: DC Shorts Funny Shorts at Atlas Arts Center
The final day of the DC Shorts Festival includes family shorts, best of the fests, and comedic shorts. The fest, reviewed program by program on this here blog, is yet another reason why D.C. is a pretty good place to be a cinephile.  2 p.m., $12, all ages

Tuesday, September 20: “Glee” viewing party at The Heights
The best show on television set in Ohio about high school kids that sing and dance and have no acne and are able to speak without stuttering and are mostly in shape and seem to have an endless supply of slushies and are able to choreography fantastical dance numbers with no practice and didn’t one of the cheerleaders have a kid in the first season returns for season 3! Come out and enjoy drinks inspired by the show, such as The Rachel Berry, The Tracksuit, and The Warbler. I’m assuming all of these contain enough high fructose corn syrup to make you a diabetic. Should be fun! 8pm, no cover, all ages

Thursday, September 22: Steve Byrne at DC Improv
Byrne is an extremely hard-working, motivated individual who doesn’t use his race (he’s Irish and Korean) as an excuse for success or failure. I know this because I listened to his episode of “WTF.” It was fascinating. I initially dismissed Byrne as an unfunny opportunist due to his appearances on Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Tour, quite possibly the worst comedy tour of all time. Turns out I was half-right. He is an opportunist but that’s not a bad thing. He’s not pushing the art form forward, but he’s also not holding it back. Byrne is a pitcher that can give you 200 innings a season and won’t kill your salary cap. Consistency is his key and it’s paying off. 8 p.m., $15, 21+, also September 23-25

"The combination of tech house, deep house, and nu disco in one night works out in a pretty awesome way—vibes and energy tonight will be deep, sexual, and weird," says Adams Morgan resident Morgan Tepper, aka DJ Lxsx Frxnk, about tonight's Lost and Sound party at U Street's Velvet Lounge. DJs Chris Nitti and Matthew "Mr. Bonkerz" Lipsit started the biweekly Tuesday party at the start of the summer to mix disco and deep house to "create a unique, weird sound and see how people reacted." U Street Music Hall co-owner Will Eastman recently spun at the party, which has regularly packed the venue's cramped dance floor.

Nu disco differs from its '70s predecessor in that it's a slower and percussively stronger sound, which allows it to blend well with the heavier edges of deep house. All the DJs on tonight's lineup, which also includes Nicole "Spaceagent" Patten, contribute to Eastman's Blisspop blog. Tepper says, "we're huge music nerds, digging for new forward-looking sounds."

Tonight, Chris Nitti says to expect DJs "playing all the strange and wonderful music we love, without compromise." Lxsx Frxnk's promo mix gives us a preview of tonight's soundtrack, and it sounds like a combination of Aeroplane, Maya Jane Coles, Maceo Plex, and the Motor City Drum Ensemble.

http://soundcloud.com/lxsxfrxnk/lost-sound-teaser

Lost and Sound takes place from 9:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Velvet Lounge, 915 U St. NW. Free.

Indie-folk duo Birdlips were based in Charlottesville, Va., for a time, but they've mostly been nomadic for the last couple of years, touring the country and occasionally settling in a place to write and record. Those efforts have yielded a series of gentle and spooky releases made in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Destin, Fla., and, of course, Northern Virginia. The latest, One Tongue, is through and through excellent.

The group, in town for the week, stopped by City Paper's office for one of our occasional Parking Deck Sessions—but the sun was about to set, and our roof looked a bit more appealing, and so we climbed up there. There's some hiss from the building's HVAC monstrosity that we weren't able to edit out—just pretend it's the sound of crashing waves—and a really well-timed police siren. Birdlips performs Thursday with Thurlow and Cinnamon Band at Velvet Lounge, 915 U St. NW. $8.

You might assume Bird Names is a D.C. band, given how frequently the psych-pop crew appears here. Nominally based in Athens, Ga., but more nomadic in their nature, Bird Names always seems to be coming through town, as if they're on an infinite tour loop.

For a while, the duo of David Lineal and Phelan Lavelle lived in Chicago, but last fall they migrated to south.  By touring frequently, Bird Names made lots of friends on the road, including the band of Athens musicians who play as Quiet Hooves and run the label Party Party Partners. Eventually Bird Names decided to join them. "I'm on spiritual second level with Chicago, like no other place," says Lineal. "But blood starts to pool in your feet when you stand in one place too long."

And Bird Names certainly doesn't, home base notwithstanding. The group doesn't actually tour year-round, just a lot. Summer's the busiest season, which might have something to do with the band's thing for solar energy: Their new album is called Metabolism: A Salute to the Energy of the Sun.

So, with a new album out, warm weather approaching, and South by Southwest on the horizon, Bird Names is in the middle of a 30-date tour. (You can see them tonight at Velvet Lounge). Want to tour like an indie pro? Here's some advice from Lineal:

On Time-Management
Foremost you need the will to organize the rest of your life around it. You need to make it jibe with your romantic life. You need to spend a lot of time booking shows. You need to plan five months ahead.

On Fitting Work Into the Picture
You can work a full-time job to save up a nest egg, or you can perform seasonal work, like the sugar beet harvest or Alaskan fisheries. You can do freelance work or part-time for a sympathetic employer…you can deal drugs.

On That Sweet Cheddar
You need money…you need to spend almost no money.

On Your Living Sitch
You need to make all your meals at home. You need to pay less than $300 per month in rent; ideally less than $200.

On Comprising Your Budget
"You need to not spend money at bars, buy new things, or indulge in decadence.

On Health
You need to never go to the doctor or the dentist. You need to bet on the good health of your early life.

Bird Names performs with Lithia Corsica, Weed Tree, and Sacred Harp tonight at the Velvet Lounge, 915 U ST. NW. 8 p.m. $8.

It's a slow day here at Arts Desk Central, so I'll point you to this clip of locals Phonic Riot, which is totally melting my brain this afternoon. FYI: Scene provocateurs Fan Death Records inform me via G-Chat that with Phonic Riot, they now enjoy three D.C. bands, up from two. We'll have to assume that they still think the rest of you are garbage.

TBD reports that noise limits could be lifted in downtown Silver Spring and Bethesda: "This bill would allow events at the Strathmore Hall, like outdoor films and concerts, to be as loud as 75 decibels between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m., April through October, as long as the performing arts facility files a yearly noise mitigation plan. The bill would also let the county executive, with a recommendation from the urban district advisory boards, designate specific spots in Silver Spring, Bethesda, and Wheaton that would get a blanket noise waiver. Urban districts would also have to file yearly reports detailing the types of events it will hold throughout the year, including dates, hours, and targeted audiences." Also on TBD is the tale of how scandal-ridden lobbyist Jack Abramoff met the Velvet Lounge (that is, via a rock opera penned by a journalist who also dabbles in music on the side).

Click Track attempts to crack the aura of Yeezy that has enveloped seemingly, well, everyone with some local alternatives.

Here on Arts Desk, Head-Roc shares local hip-hop artists worthy of your attention, the Pragmatist honors the upcoming holiday with three songs to fight the tryptophan, and  Fare Assessment concludes that Robin Givhan's latest trip to New York was worth only the Jersey Turnpike tolls.

Enjoy your Tuesday!