New Orleans weighs in on Comic Relief

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on November 21st, 2006

From FOS Bill Dykes:

Let me state for the record that watching Comic Relief (both live and on tape) was akin to having a Shrimp Po Boy served with frozen shrimp on WonderBread. Where was the local representation? Not even a nod to the local scene and the work we have done in the last year– United Way fundaraiser w/Marc Maron, successful shows w/(Doug) Stanhope, Todd Barry and others, three working comedians calling this home.

Just a bit disappointing.

It felt kind of… empty.

Reuters felt we were newsworthy, though!

Dykes refers to an item on the wires yesterday (“Dark humor brightens life in battered New Orleans”) that details the revival of that city and its comedy scene.

Navigating government bureaucracies, battling over insurance claims, and watching politicians roll out recovery plans that are never put into practice have all whetted what was always a large appetite for the ridiculous and the absurd.

Bigger-than-ever audiences attend comedy shows, residents are devouring humorous blogs and satirical newspapers and growing numbers of amateurs are trying stand-up routines, comics say.