NYT brings cutting-edge 1983 references back!

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on February 8th, 2005

The NYT article on the latest developments in the New York Comedians Coalition has quotes from Cary Hoffman, Coalition co-founder Ted Alexandro and Gotham owner Chris Mazzilli. And insipid characterizations of standup comics by the article’s author Ben Sisario:

The union, which has more than 300 members– ranging from television stars to the piano-tie guy who asked you with a grin last weekend where you’re from – is to meet on Thursday to discuss all the clubs’ proposals.

The piano-tie guy?! The fucking piano-tie guy?! What is wrong with the people at the NYT? How could a reporter be so out of touch? How could an editor allow his reporter to be so out of touch?

Anyway, the goings-on in New York have been chugging on for a few weeks now. We’re curioius to see how it all shakes out. We recently had a long and spirited face-to-face with a comedian who was present at the most recent Coalition pow wow. A while back we commented on the earlier NYT piece on the coalition. The coalition was alluded to in a column by one of our very own columnists. Shortly after our comments ran, we went back and forth with a coaltion member via private email. And, just the other day, we had a lengthy phone conversation with one of the owners involved in the negotiations. We have yet to digest all of this and post further comments. Maybe later this week… or next week, we’ll cough up a blog ball about the whole thing. Stay tuned.