At the heart of the Oscarcast story? A comedian.

The catalyst in the Danish Muslim cartoon controversy? A comedian. (Scroll down, if you gotta.)

A player in the story about the recorded lecture of Colorado high school teacher Jay Bennish who compares Bush to Hitler in front of a bunch of high school students? A kid who has done standup. Of course.

Sean Allen got an I-Pod for Christmas, then got an Overland High School teacher suspended (with pay!) when the MSM played Allen’s recording of said teacher’s lecture and determined that he might have strayed slightly “off message” for a public school geography teacher.

The MSM googled Allen and found out that he fancies himself a standup comic of sorts. They found his myspace where he self-deprecatinglly refers to his nascent comedy career:

Im from Aurora Colorado or the A-town as we know it. Im the youngest stand-up comic that i know of at this point.Im a new comedian to the game. If thats what we call it…I also don’t know who “we” is. Maybe its “us”, but then who am I? Nevermind…Anyway I’ve done a couple of shows and am happy to say they have gone over well.

Now what relevance does this fact have with regard to the larger issue of a student taping his teacher then sending it to a talk show host (Mike Rosen, KOA) and a syndicated columnist (Walter E. Williams)?

Well, nothing. (Of course, we like to point out things like this because, well, that’s what we do here. If there’s a comedian, even an open miker, robbing a bank or hosting the Oscars or carving a statue of Mark Twain out of a 500-lb. block of butter, we’ll probably comment on it in the pages of this magazine.)

But some of the folks who are defending Jay Bennish (he’s the teacher) and trying to discredit Sean Allen (he’s the student) seem to be using the fact that he’s a standup comic against him. Paranoia again? We don’t think so. (Of course we don’t… we’re paranoid!)

But seriously, folks: If the fact that the 15 year-old Allen had done a coupla open mikes was in any way relevant when discussing the important issues of this controversy, we’d be glad to point them out and kick them around. But it’s not relevant. Which makes the references to his avocation all the more disturbing.

We’ll allow that, if the facts were otherwise, it might be relevant. If the kid was doing material about this or that or how his high school geography teacher sucks or whatever– it might have some bearing on the controversy. But, so far, all we’ve heard is some gag about beating a Jehovah’s Witness to death with the JW’s bible. (The ungainly setup is merely to get to the punchline, which is wordplay involving “Jehovah’s Witness Protection Program.” Not exactly the most original joke in the world, but the kid seems to be on the right track.) But so far, nobody can make a credible case that what he’s saying in his comedy act in any way impugns Allen or weakens his case.

(Here’s another weird thing– They’re mangling his joke. It’s a wordplay thing, that much is clear. But the folks who are referencing the bit focus on the violent setup. And totally leave out the actual punchline. Very odd.)

Often, they’ll drop the fact that he’s a comedian into the mix… and leave it at that. As if the mere fact that the kid fancies himself a wiseguy is enough to discredit him. Very unnerving.

Some folks are even going so far (so low?) as to imply that he’s doing all this to further his standup career. What standup career? He’s done a handful of open mikes… he’s 15! (Actually, he just celebrated his sweet 16.) Yeah… defending Bush and appearing on right-wing talk shows– ZOOM! To the top he goes! Why just this week in Aspen they had a Conservative Teenage Comics With Two Minutes of Material Showcase. Heavily attended, from what we hear!