She’s been officially designated as a “new friend of the show.” That’s what Howard called her as he wrapped up the show this morning. We also found out that she’s dating Rich Vos… at least that’s what she said on the air. Approximate total time of the appearance was 90 minutes. She’s appearing this weekend at the Hasbrouck Heights, NJ, Bananas, with Vos.

We are pleased to point out that both Howard and Artie seemed to indicate by a couple of statements or questions that they had been on SHECKYmagazine.com to check out some of Bonnie’s columns, even using some of her columnar musings to formulate a question or two. Stern was complimentary when it came to Bonnie’s writing, declaring it “very funny.”

Welcome Stern fans! You may have arrived here because you heard Bonnie McFarlane on The Howard Stern Show. Or you were driven here via a link on Mark’s Friggin website, who nicely linked to us when he found out that Bonnie was one of our columnists. If, in addition to being Howard Stern fans, you are also standup comedy fans, you might enjoy our site.

If our names sound vaguely familiar to any “old school” Stern fans, it may because, some years ago, our lives glanced up against that of The King of All Media. If you want, you can read the sordid details of our two degrees of separation from Stern.

At left, a photograph of SHECKYmagazine Editor Brian McKim with former Sternite Jackie Martling at the 2000 Just For Laughs Festival.

Stern fans note: We bear no ill will toward Stern! We are merely victims of history, Zelig-like characters who just happened to be associated, in one way or another, with other characters whose lives eventually bumped up against that of Stern. Save your famous vitriol for someone who truly deserves it! Thank you!

Advance buzz on Rodney Carrington‘s new ABC series Rodney was good. We videotaped it and we’re watching it now.

In the opening credits, he’s depicted onstage at a bar and somebody throws something at him! Not a good start.

Turns out Rodney has quit his job at the fiberglass plant to “pursue his dream.” Also turns out that Rodney used to be a comedian– something that his wife dismisses because, she says, “it was just an excuse to party.” It soons becomes clear why Rodney is a comic: He’s willing to walk into WalMart naked on a bet. What comic hasn’t done that?

In the second half, Carrington’s character, who just got offstage after performing comedy at a bar, is

Shorted $20 on his pay by the bar owner because there weren’t enough people in the audience

and

Punched in the nose by an irate audience member because “she paid $5 and she didn’t laugh once.”

What good is it to have a comedian at the head of a show if he perpetuates such nonsense? About the only true thing said in the half-hour was by the irate wife when she yells: “Let it go, Rodney! It is a pipe dream! You live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, you can’t be a comedian!” (Well, he could… but he’d hafta work for C.W. Kendall!)

The show ends with a short snippet of a song, most likely one of the songs that Carrington is famous for– by virtue of his multiple CD sales and his many appearances on radio.

Marc Berman (Programming Insider, MediaWeek.com) summed it up nicely when he said, “Although Rodney is no cure for the current sitcom drought, out of the compatible According To Jim this could be a good fit.”

Lots of posting going on… If you’re here for Last Comic Standing commentary, scroll down! Thanks!

Don’t forget: SHECKYmagazine.com is part of the 2004 NYUCF– We’ll be hosting a show, Wednesday evening, October 6, at the Village Lantern, 167 Bleecker St. (Corner of Sullivan St.), (212)260-7993. Scheduled to appear at the 8PM show are:

Kid Dave Miller
Adam Gropman
Joe Starr
Alex House
Joby Saad
Carole Montgomery
Traci Skene
Brian McKim

That lineup is subject to change! We might add a couple between now and then! We’re looking forward to being part of what looks to be an exciting festival!

Ant and Sean Kent are the “eliminated comics” on this week’s show. We’re not surprised… although we wouldn’t have been surprised if any of them got tossed.

Kathleen Madigan‘s impression of Ralphie May was a highlight in an episode that contained few such highlights.

At this point, we’d rather see Dat Phan‘s mother perform.

Another fucking roast? That’s right, next week’s format will be a roast. Half of each team hadda decide whether they’d perform tonight or roast someone next week. Good for Gary Gulman for volunteering to be a roaster. We thought that he did the roast perfectly last season and we were peeved that Norm Crosby so cravenly criticized Gulman’s performance in that roast (even to the point of contradicting his own statements that he’d made in the past about Friars’ roasts).

Is Jay Mohr even aware that his mike is on? He can’t be… otherwise he wouldn’t be screeching like that. He makes Joe Rogan look like Perry Como. Why did he keep mentioning jaymohr.com? Why is he so frantic?! Does he owe money to the mob or something? Yeesh!

Jay London summed up tonight’s episode succinctly when he said, “This is death.”

At the top of the hour, we were informed that Season 2′s perfect string is unbroken. They were awarded the chunk of cash for gathering the most votes. But, we were puzzled by the addition of two experienced, name comics onto each of the teams. We were witness to Louie Anderson going to bat for Season 1 and Carrot Top for Season 2. (We wouldn’t doubt that the evil geniuses who produce the show meant for Anderson to be an overwhelming plus for Season 1 and for The Top to essentially be a drag on Season 2– the better to even things out a bit and maybe make this a fair fight. Not so fast, evil geniuses: The Top crushed with his energy, his props and his gags. And here’s a newsflash: Season 2 will win again! Back to the drawing board!)

Performing next week will be… we forget already. It’s all so confusing. Let’s just say that three from each team will be roasting someone next week. And we’re dead certain that Gulman’s one of them.

And, we’re happy to report, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog will be a “guest roaster.”

Remember when, on week two or so, we said, “Bring back the dog from Season 2!” Well, they’ve brought back the dog. And he will POOP ON THIS SHOW!

Bonnie McFarlane will be on the Howard Stern show tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, sitting in on the news. Be sure and check your local listings to find out the show time. As you may recall, McFarlane (who regularly contributes to SHECKYmagazine.com), was the first (and only) comedian to voluntarily depart from the NBC (former) hit show Last Comic Standing, quite possibly making her the smartest person in all of standup comedy.

…signed by Kirsten Ames, who calls herself “Producer Of Festival Talent” of the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival (and we have no reason to doubt her). It’s a letter being sent out to all of the folks in the comedy business who might be in a position (club managers, bookers, etc.) to observe (and subsequently recommend) any talented people slaving away in the comedy trenches of Standup America.

We at the US Comedy Arts Festival have always strived to discover and foster new, unrepresented (emphasis ours!) talent within the entertainment industry. We are currently accepting VHS and DVD videos from up and coming talent throughout North America for consideration and involvement in the 2005 Aspen Comedy Festival. If you could please post this flyer within your comedy venue, and encourage local talent you are aware of to send in their tapes, it would be much appreciated.

The current deadline for submissions is October 15th, 2004, and the festival will be taking place February 9-13th in Aspen, Colorado. We look forward to receiving your submissions.

The document seems to have been created using Microsoft Word. (In the original, the “th” in “February 9-13th” is one of those superscript th’s.) And, from our expert analysis, it seems to be authentic.

What struck us as unusual about the document, however, is that word– unrepresented– in the first sentence of the first paragraph. If you’ve paid close attention to our grousing here at SHECKYmagazine.com, you know we’ve taken a somewhat dim view of the goings on in the mountains of Colorado with regard to USCAF. The main thrust of our discontent was that it was, for lack of a better word, elitist. It always struck us as odd that a festival that purported to be about comedy would choose one of the most expensive, most remote (and expensive) venues in all of the continental U.S. And, we were fairly certain that anyone who performed there was already blessed by Hollywood and was only there because they’d already secured fairly high-powered management and representation. So, regardless of what they had said in the past about “discovering” new talent, that was all largely window-dressing.

Then we stumble across this letter.

And along with the letter comes the aforementioned flyer. The flyer is a handsome production, in red and black and white that is headlined, “OPEN ROAD TO ASPEN” in large, bold letters. Beneath that it says, ” No Rep Required” in only slightly smaller, but equally bold letters. And, in the body of the flyer, which seeks “Stand-Up, One Person Shows, Theatrical Productions, Sketch Groups, Alternative Acts,” it says, “NO AGENT OR MANAGER NEEDED.”

Just what is going on here? Seems pretty clear. USCAF wants “new, unrepresented” talent. We may be mistaken, but we don’t recall USCAF making such a big deal about championing those of us without management or representation in the past. Might this be in response to a widespread perception among those of us in the comedy biz that USCAF is a “locked game” that merely serves as a ski holiday for Hollywood fatcats (and their clients)?

Regardless of what is going on, it’s a positive development. You can bet we’re going to send in a tape and a kit. If anyone else out there sends something along to the folks at USCAF, let us know how it turns out.

To which Ang replied (5:52 PM);

I actually wrote that letter. I am the talent associate for Kirsten Ames. Its for real. If you want to submit a tape, email me and I’ll give you the address. There’s no CBS conspiracy or “stuck up attitude” to worry about here. BTW, we were both hysterical for at least 10 minutes upon hearing about this post.

According to the latest news on the wires, Rodney Dangerfield is in a coma and has been for a coupla weeks. According to wife Joan,

Our family remains optimistic that Rodney will make a complete recovery and we are humbled by the love and support we have received during his hospitalization.

We’re still seeking responses to our poll (“Question: Who would you like to see do standup again?”). It’s over there ——> Take a moment, please, to click on the retired comic you’d like to see do standup again. (Nightly monologues don’t count, we’re talking real standup, in a club or a casino, with a real crowd.)

P.S. For the past week, ever since we initially posted the poll, it’s had two errors in it– “Who would you like to see do a staundup?” is what it said… with the superfluous “a” and the misspelled “staundup.” Why don’t our readers write to us with word of typos and other goofs? Sure, we bust balls when we get caught making silly errors, but, hey, it’s all in good fun! We’d rather have you folks call us on these gaffes. It’s preferable to having our copy sound like it’s been written by Charo!

P.S.S. We just checked on our correction and we find that we’ve misspelled it yet again, this time we spelled it “stundup.” What the hell is wrong with us? Are we okay? Must be allergies. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it!