4:50 A.M., July 21, 2000
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SHECKY! A magazine about standup... treks to Montreal for the second straight year to bring you daily slices of the world's largest comedy festival!

\Weasel Appears!

\Shatner Sighting!

\Comedyworld.com Party!

\Faces Nouveau!

SHECKY! editor BRIAN MCKIM snaps a pic of himself and future CBS star JIM GAFFIGAN at Comedyworld.com soiree at JFL HQ.

Comedy legend LENNY SCHULTZ and future comedy legend JOE STARR of Governors Comedy Club.

Phormer Philly phunnymen TODD GLASS and AL CAZ pose with Philly gal/SHECKY! editor TRACI SKENE at JFL HQ.

PAULY SHORE flashes obscure gang symbol at the camera while posing with SHECKY! editor BRIAN MCKIM.

MONTREAL--While waiting in line for the Really Late Show, a limo pulled up and slowly disgorged an entourage which included William Shatner! It was our first William Shatner sighting. He was in his hometown to host the Thursday night gala which included Jim Gaffigan, Paul Rodriguez and John Pinette. (There is considerably less of Pinette these days, as he has dropped 140 pounds.) It was not the first live sighting of Shatner for SHECKY! editor Brian McKim: Once, while slinging a mop in the kitchen in the Prout Hall cafeteria, McKim stepped aside while Shatner was escorted to the backstage area of the Grand Ballroom of Bowling Green State University's Student Union. Shatner, several years removed from his Star Trek experience, was picking up gobs of cash touring college campuses and lecturing, reading poetry and answering endless questions about whether there will be a Star Trek movie.

Pauly Shore hosted the Really Late Show at the New/Nouveau Club Soda. The nouveau location for the Club du Soda is, how you Americans say, "colorful." A cab driver described the denizens of the intersection of Boulevarde Saint-Laurent and Rue Ste. Catherine as "hookers and junkies." We would say that this is fairly accurate. The venue itself is splendid.

Just up Saint-Laurent, at the headquarters of the Just For Laughs Festival, the folks from Comedyworld.com threw the first bash of the week. The elevator was operated by a shirtless male model-type and the giant lofty-type space on the third floor was stocked with liquor, smoked meat and, inexplicably, transvestites and more shirtless males! What is up with that?

One thing we've noted about these dot-com types, they are, by and large, a pleasant lot with none of the pretense or bitterness or paranoia that a good number of the entertainment folks seem to exhibit. That all may change in years to come, but, for now at least, they are swell people to hang with. And they throw good parties.

The first New Faces Shows were hosted by Dom Irrera at Cafe Campus. Here's the raw data: Orny Adams, Chris Addison, Lester Barrie, Fred Belford, Kate Bradshaw, Pete Correale, T.J. Cross, Earthquake, Angie Harper, Correy Holcomb, Danielle Hoover, Jake Iannarino, Sarah Kendall, Dwayne Kennedy, Mike Lukas, David J. Nash, Jon Reep, Retta, Tony Rock, Anthony Szpak, Sam Tripoli, Allan Wells, Stefanie Wilder and Mike Young.We haven't gone yet, but the buzz is similar to the buzz from last year: The bloody industry folks up in the rafters won't shut their yaps during the show and too many of the New Faces are almost too new and, as such, are making too many rookie mistakes. Hmmm...

Adam Dubin, co-writer and director of the short film Sidesplitters, starring comics Lewis Black and Jim Norton proudly exhibited his work in the DeBussy Room of the Delta Hotel at 11:30 PM. Anyone who is interested in seeing Sidesplitters or any of the other films in the Eat My Shorts or Eat My Twisted Shorts film series can hop on up to the DeBussy room and speak to a Mr. Levy who will be happy to throw in the videotape you request! Call ahead for the hours. It sure beats humping down to the National Film Board Cinema over there on St. Denis in the Latin Quartier!

Raw Data: Susan Jeremy, Rich Hall and England's Harry Hill performed their one-person shows as part of the Fringe Series. Kathy Kinney (Mimi of The Drew Carey Show) hosted An Evening At Eve's Tavern over at Kola Note (The old, non-hooker-laden Club Soda location).

We are looking forward with great anticipation to the Andy Kindler State of the Industry Address and the Jeffrey Ross Roast and the Comedy Central bash. Stay tuned.