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- A YEAR LOCKED DOWNMr. Potato Head, Dr. Seuss, truth, common sense and trust have all succumbed to a totally different virus! Will history, art and "Breakfast At Tiffany's" be the next victims? Is that a light at the end of the tunnel, or is it the headlight of the Woke Express? Give us a listen and find out!
- Comedians Are Energy ConductorsIn Episode 18 of the SHECKYmagazine PODCAST, Brian and Traci vent about the 198-day (and counting) lockdown, flying, Sophie Tucker, ancient alien astronauts and ENERGY-- why we lack energy, why we need energy and how comedians are super-conductors. Tune in now-- but STAY AWAY from the CANS!
- Is It Over?Brian McKim & Traci Skene, podcasting from locked down Las Vegas, NV, consider whether standup comedy-- LIVE, the way it oughta be-- will ever come back from the Great 2020 Fear Porn Lockdown Pandemic Panic! Is life over? Is the career history? The future, as always, is uncertain. Listen in as we speak for the […]
The Authors
Shecky! Alumni!
Dan Rosenberg
…& Lester
Tim Cavanagh
Paul F. Tompkins
Mitch Hedberg
Mack Dryden
Jamie Alcroft
John Curtin
Joey Yanetty
Pete Fogel
Kip Addotta
Bob Zany
Wayne Cotter
Richard Lewis
Andy Kindler
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D J Hazard
Nehl Bobal
Sheila Kay
John Bizarre
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Jim Shubert
James Gregory
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Hal Sparks
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Paul Bond
Grover Silcox
Basile
Bobby Collins
John Wing
Brian Whalen
Rich Williams
Steve O.
Jeff Shaw
Ryan Wilner
Brad Slaight
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Joe Rogan
Triumph
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Rob Becker
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Dave Little
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Marc Jaffe
Dick Cavett
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Suzy Soro
Jeff Allen
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Kid Dave Miller
Brian Kiley
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Judy Carter
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Andrew Gropman
Rabbi Bob Alper
Dan French
Robert Hagearty
Chuck Savage
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Mrs. John Hughes
Jason Stuart
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Steve Eblin
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Tom Parks
Charles Viracola
Rusty Warren
Robert Dubac
Jeff Marder
Joe Dunckel
Evan Davis
Veronica Mosey
Troy Conrad
Matt Davis
Mat Becker
Lewis Black
Dan Carlson
Jan McInnis
Joe Dixon
Larry Getlen
J.D. Sidley
Jeff Klinger
Tony Camin
Bill Engvall
Pat Mac
Anwar Richardson
Mary Ann Nichols
Rita Rudner
Larry “Bubbles” Brown
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Brett Butler
Kathleen Madigan
Todd Barry
Roger Ritenhouse
Marc Maron
Doug Hecox
Tommy James
Emo Philips
Lord Carrett
Jim Gaffigan
Eddie Gossling
Tom Rhodes
Etta May
Ron Zimmerman
Ross Bennett
Franklyn Ajaye
Chris Zito
Argus Hamilton
Costaki Economopoulos
Laurie Kilmartin
Jimmy Pardo
Leslie Thomason
Bill Bunker
Vinny Badabing
Henry Cho
Jonathan Katz
Dave Pavone
Larry-Bob Roberts
Brian Hennigan
Kenneth Nichols
Rich Vos
Dave Mordal
__________________
Traci Skene & Brian McKim
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Holiday shopping suggestions
The Mitch Hedberg Calendar is “selected artworks inspired by the comedy genius of Mitch Hedberg.” The limited edition 2008 calendar is available via the Mitch Hedberg Tribute Blog. It features art by fans of the late comedian.
Comedy writer Jeffrey L. Gurian and journo/author Tripp Whetsell collected “jokes so dirty comedians and entertainers only tell them to each other.” It features gags from Alan Zweibel, Drew Carey, Tony “Paulie Walnuts” Sirico, Scott Baio and dozend more comics, actors and others.
The forward is by Paul Provenza and it’s available via Kensington Books.
“Balls! An In-Your-Face Look At Sports” is “a lovely penalty shot to the crotch of an institution rife with overblown salaries, steroids and sex scandals.” Written by comedian and Sports Illustrated.com columnist Steve Hofstetter, it’s available via National Lampoon Press. Hofstetter asks, “Where else can you see a grown man play a children’s game in a jumpsuit and complain that he’s not getting paid enough!”
Judy Carter’s Comedy Career in a Box is precisely what it says it is. It’s the “definitive interactive guide for comics, writers, speakers, actors and anyone who wants to make money from being funny” and it comes in a box that contains three interactive DVDs with six hours of step-by-step comedy instruction. Carter authored The Comedy Bible, arguably the best-selling how-to book on standup, and her boxed set is a portable, multimedia version of her Los Angeles Comedy Workshop. It contains industry trade secrets from 18 of Hollywood’s top managers, agents, casting directors, bookers and producers.
5 Responses
Reply to: Holiday shopping suggestions
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Traci Skene Kindle Single hilariously skewers traditional social and sexual mores as well as modern feminism. "This book is a prime example of quality over quantity."
"This book made me laugh out loud! ”
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Seriously, how helpful could the Judy Carter thing be? What “secrets” is she exposing? The way I look at it is if you are in the process of learning to be a comedian you are probably not ready to capitalize on the tips from “hollywood”…and if you are a veteran of comedy you have probably already heard the advice and don’t need to buy this.Has anyone bought the “Career in a Box?” Any reviews on it? Is it actually going to help your career?
Jonathan writes:<>Seriously, how helpful could the Judy Carter thing be? What “secrets” is she exposing? <>Perhaps the product is not for you. Perhaps it’s not for “a comedian… not ready to capitalize on the tips from ‘Hollywood.” Perhaps it’s not for “a veteran of comedy.”Our readers are many and varied and to be sure only a small percentage of them fall into the three categories you listed.Which leaves thousands of others who might purchase the product for their own use or for the use of a loved one–as a gift… the head on the post was “Holiday Shopping Suggestions”.Judy Carter is an experienced standup comic and corporate speaker and has been conducting workshops for a long time. Her book on how to do standup has probably outsold every other standup how-to book combined.The appearance of her latest release on the front page of our blog is hardly cause for such hand-wringing and hostility.
Sorry, but as a professional comedian, I believe Ms. Carter’s books to be less than helpful. The advice, if followed to the letter, at least in the arena of writing, will produce a cookie cutter 1985 act with no relevance to today’s comedy world. Perhaps her advice on the business side is better, but please, if you are a young comedian reading this, do not take her advice seriously beyond getting you warmed up to write. No one needs to open with “I know, I look like _____ had a kid with ______” No one needs jokes that begin with “I’m so ____that….” If you’re funn enough to think you can be a comedian, chances are you’re funny enough to come up with something more original than that. And no matter what, her book will not spare you the hundreds of hours of open mics that you will have to do, regardless. There is no homework in comedy. the only way to find out if something works for an audience is to do it for an audience. I did, however, find an excellent use for the Judy Carter (and Gene Perrett) books. If you can do a passable Carson, and so can a friend of yours, smoke one joint, and then take turns reading the sample jokes in the beginning of the books as Carson. You will be laughing as hard as you have ever laughed within minutes. For that purpose only, I heartily recommend any book by Judy Carter.
When i first started out I bought Comic Insights by Franklin Ajaye and it really help me learn more about joke structure, and was an interesting read as well. But for me the best teacher was getting up and just doing it.
Why is it how-to books on ANY other subject are OK, but when someone does one about comedy, everyone bitches that you can’t teach comedy. Tiger Woods has a golf coach, the top Doctors in the world read medical journals and even the President of the United States reads those picture books that Dick Cheney makes for him. That is my unbiased opinion. Oh yeah, my book “The Book on Hosting: How Not to Suck as an Emcee” makes a great stocking stuffer AND I am one of the 18 industry types giving out secrets on Judy’s Comedy in a Box. Here is secret #14: Aliens are here in the US and living in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.