Facebook status reports are peppered with the news that Vic Dunlop has passed. The basic info on his Facebook page says, “I have been in the Comedy business for 37 years in one capacity or another. Stand-up comic, actor, writer, director, producer. I am also a COMEDY COACH.” He died from complications of diabetes.

Actors, writers, comedians Bill Kirchenbauer and Brad Slaight, posting as “Captain Glucose and Meter Boy,” said, “Vic took on the challenges of diabetes with great courage and never let it dampen his spirit or immense talent.” The diabetic duo (having Type 2 and Type 1 respectively) have crafted a multi-media campaign to raise awareness of diabetes.

Once again, Facebook serves as very real, very useful purpose– facilitating the grieving process.

We have a pre-school-age great niece with Type 1 diabetes and our late nephew also had Type 1. We’ve seen up close the challenges of managing the disease and we’re encouraged by recent advances made in the treatment and management of the disease. We urge our readers to participate in any of the various fundraisers that take place throughout the year or to cut a check on occasion to help fund the aforementioned research. At the very least, hit the above link to befriend the Captain and his sidekick and check out their website.

Who can resist clicking on a headline like “Playboy Playmate Shanna McLaughlin arrested in Fla. on gun charge.” Doing so brings you to CBSNews.com’s Crimesider, where we find a short piece by Casey Glynn on the arrest of the bumbling gun-bunny who was found carrying a .45 revolver with six hollow-points through security at MCO!

What struck us about the piece was this line, in the middle:

Thank God she didn’t try to bring any hairspray or over 3.4 ounces of liquid!

That’s a real head-scratcher there. It’s an attempt at a joke, but it’s such an utter failure that we couldn’t let it pass without comment. (And what’s it doing in the middle of a straight news piece?) We marvel when amateurs attempt to write gags. And when we see a gag like this one, we try to dissect it, to see if it makes an kind of comedic sense, on any level.

After the “joke autopsy,” we try to ascertain the author’s intent.

In the case of the above line, we suspect that Glynn is all hopped up about airport security. And that he (she?) has watched all his/her colleagues make all manner of wicked, edgy jokes about the TSA. So, when the opportunity to crack wise about the much-maligned airport security guards arose, it was just too good to pass up! Add in the fact that there’s a gorgeous (and, you know, probably stoopid) Playboy bunny involved and there’s the potential for comedy gold!

Trouble is, the airport security and the TSA actually functioned as advertised! (And the allegedly dumb bunny actually has a concealed-carry license… so we’re inclined to believe her “it’s my boyfriend’s gun” story!)

Some folks think that merely switching elements of a story around makes for a good punchline. In this case, it makes for confusion and embarassment.

Appropriately enough, comedy is like a handgun. Handle it with care and respect and nobody gets hurt. Or leave it to the pros.

The producers of the hit NBC sitcom Modern Family have re-cast “Lily.” (If you watch the show, you know that Lily Tucker-Pritchett is the daughter of gay couple Cam and Mitchell. They adopted the Vietnamese orphan, who was originally played by Jayden and Ella Hiller, and she appeared in the show’s pilot.)

The new “Lily,” according to Entertainment Weekly, is Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, daughter of comedian Amy Anderson and entrepreneur Kent Emmons. The new cast member is being introduced with great fanfare– check out the photo spread in EW’s hard copy when you’re in the checkout at the grocery store this week– by series creator Steve Levitan.

We hung out with Anderson last week at the Improv here in Vegas (along with Wendy Liebman and Jodi Borello). Emmons is an entrepreneur who presides over a comedy radio empire– he’s the “inventor” of the all-comedy/24/7 radio format– who we’ve had the pleasure to have met at a JFL or two.

Congratulations to both of them. (And if the tot turns out to be the next Olsen Twins– as some in the chat rooms and comments are speculating– then mega-congratulations to both of them, as Aubrey will preside over a $100 million-dollar pile of cash… or maybe just $50 million, since there’s only one of her.)

The Female Half told Anderson, “I hope the series runs on for so long that one day you can play Lily!”

There it is, at 0:50 of the clip: “Geechy Guy is, with the possible exception of Howie Mandel, the most annoying person we’ve ever had on America’s Got Talent.”

Piers Morgan delivers the line with a TOE-tah-lee straight face. And it’s quite ridiculous. How could Geechy Guy be the most annoying person on a show that is in its sixth season and which presented in the past a male, belly-dancing Shakira impersonator or someone who broke objects by squeezing them between his butt cheeks?

How could someone telling clever, original one- and two-liners be “annoying?” How could that same someone be “the most annoying… ever… on AGT?”

We understand that the producers have attempted to add texture to the show by making a big deal of a Mandel/Morgan enmity, even providing occasional behind-the-scenes video evidence of a feud between judges Mandel and Morgan. So, we get it that Morgan might be peeved when Mandel (a standup comic) champions (or at least fails to “X-out”) a comedian. But to proclaim that Geechy Guy is “the most annoying” goes a bit far.

Might there be something more to this?

Morgan also said the most uncomplimentary things about J. Chris Newberg, who was eliminated last week. And not just uncomplimentary– he called Newberg a “complete idiot.” We find both comedians to be hysterical and we thought Newberg’s shot on AGT was funny. But to call him a “complete idiot” seems somewhat over the top.

The writers for the show (and there are writers for the show, notwithstanding the fact that it’s a “reality” show) might be seeking to exploit the bad blood between the two judges. They might also be seeking to portray Morgan as a stick in the mud, a British tightass who just doesn’t get our American sense of humor.

But Morgan’s consistency when it comes to his dour assessment of comedians (and his choice of words) seems to point to something deeper. The man just might be a gelotophobe. Or perhaps he suffers from Frontotemporal Dimentia, or FTD. Those are two disorders we talked about in our book. Gelotophobes “do not understand the positive side of humor, and cannot experience it in a warm way but rather as a means to put others down.” FTDers, says a 2008 scientific paper, “have trouble reading emotions and are often unable to sense when someone is being sarcastic.” Sound familiar?

We’re reminded of a quote (again, which we found fit nicely into Chapter Two of our book) from English critic and writer George Saintsbury, “Nothing is more curious than the almost savage hostility that humor excites in those who lack it.”

We probably would not have reached this conclusion had we merely watched AGT and not suffered through an episode or three of CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight. The man seems befuddled by the simplest concepts. (It was particularly startling to watch his jaw drop when Charlize Theron insisted that she spoke two languages fluently. He was dumbfounded– and more than a bit skeptical– when Theron maintained that her first language was Afrikaans and that she speaks English without any hint of an accent, and that she spoke both fluently and that she could switch effortlessly between both. Dumbfounded!)

Isn’t it kind of silly to have a judge on a talent show– a show that regularly features comedians– that can’t grasp humor? It’s as bad as having a judge on Idol who is tone deaf. Or a judge on Top Chef who has lost the ability to discern between sweet and sour.

Most people are irked by the fact that none of the judges on AMERICA’s Got Talent are Americans by birth. But we’re more bugged that one of them lacks the ability to detect an obvious joke. He doesn’t just lack the ability to pick up on humor… he gets hostile! Saintsbury died in 1933. He may not have entertained the notion that there were people walking the earth with an actual, measurable physiological/psychological disorder that went beyond merely “lacking a sense of humor.” But we here in the 21st century just might be able to identify them.

It’s not a family-friendly show. Of all the shows on primetime American television, why shouldn’t a talent show strive to be family-friendly? Conversely, if it fails to be so– and it presents S & M “artists” and pole-dancers both male and female– why shouldn’t the comedians be permitted to do R-rated material? How about we even the playing field a bit?

We signed up for the streaming-only version of Netflix shortly after setting up our home in Vegas. In the four or five months since, we’ve watched a ton of documentaries and some movies when we get the chance (which isn’t often, as we’re so damned busy).

The Female Half was working out on the treadmill at the gym the other day when she noticed that the plasma screen was showing an old Andy Griffith Show episode. She had her headphones on, but she could tell that something funny was going on… Howard Sprague (Mayberry’s county clerk, played by Jack Dodson) was doing standup comedy. She caught the second half of the episode.

Turns out that Netflix offers all its streaming customers every damn episode of The Andy Griffith Show ever aired. We found it rather quickly… first off, it was in color, so we worked backward from the newer episodes.

It was Episode 27, Season 07, “Howard The Comedian.” (And it turns out you can watch the entire episode on Youtube! See below.)

Howard tears up the room while emceeing a recent “lodge meeting” and becomes the toast of the town for his deadpan delivery of old jokes and other drollery. Eventually, he’s encouraged by others to pursue this comedy thing further… and Opie suggests that Howard might represent Mayberry by appearing on regional television show “Colonel Tim’s Talent Time” as a comedian.

Howard agrees.

Later on, Opie, in the county clerk’s office to pay his annual “bicycle license fee” (WTF?) sees Howard sweating over his upcoming TV spot and suggests that he personalize his material and twist the old jokes (from his “Jokes For All Occasions” book) to be about the colorful characters that inhabit his hometown of Mayberry. He enthusiastically embraces this approach.

This proves to be his undoing.

His customized jokes cause trouble. All the subjects of his gentle ribbing– Goober, Aunt Bee, Miss Clara Edmonds, Floyd the Barber– take offense at being held up to ridicule. All except for Sheriff Andy Taylor.

When Howard triumphantly returns to Mayberry, he’s stunned to find that he’s shunned by all. Andy is puzzled by the reaction and their lack of a sense of humor. Howard is sickened by it and regretful.

The big twist is that all the subjects of his gibes quickly drop their objections when they become nearly as famous as Howard himself.

They then refuse to accept Howard’s apology and disingenuously insist that he honor his commitment to a second appearance on “Talent Time”– never explaining the reason for their change of heart. Indeed, they dream up all sorts of excuses while studiously avoiding the truth.

Not a fine moment for the citizens of Mayberry.

We were expecting to see the comedian shamed and humbled. Instead, we’re treated to rather shallow behavior by the comedian’s friends. Quite a different treatment of a situation that’s been dealt with on countless sitcoms through the past few decades. Maybe the reason that everything turned in favor of the comedian in this case is that the episode aired in 1967 and the star of the show was a comedian himself (as was executive producer Danny Thomas).

At the end, Andy can’t really explain to Opie exactly why everyone’s attitude changed so abruptly. He tries to couch it in terms of ego and pride, but he abandons the attempt.

And we suppose it would be hard to explain. The episode says far more about the audience members than about the comic.

It is also notable because it depicts a comedian in semi-rural North Carolina in 1967. He wows the lodge meeting by telling old jokes, he instantly garners the admiration of his friends for his bravado performance and he is immediately encouraged to pursue further opportunities– says Goober, “There’s no limit to how far a good comedian can go!” And he preps for his upcoming television debut by poring over a compendium of old jokes.

Strangely enough, in the next episode, he is depicted in a brief scene at the opening as working for Chuck Johnson! (Just how old is Chuck Johnson, anyway? We kid because we LOVE! If you object, we’ll change it to Tom Sobell!)

We incorrectly referred to Howie Mandel’s latest project as being based on a Dutch televisions how. We were mistaken. It’s a Danish television show. One of our astute readers (see comments) from Holland (and we’re sure we’re using that term wrong) told us he’d never heard of Celebrity Standup. We also forgot to link the description of the show. It’s from Hollywood Reporter.

* * * * *

Ever since NBC failed to bring back Last Comic Standing, the only chance for comedians to gain network primetime exposure (while actually doing standup) is via America’s Got Talent. The talent contest showcases two or three comics each season. (But there is a downside: Simpleton “judge” Piers Morgan goes into his “I don’t get it” act after each comic’s performance and says dumb and mean shit and expresses annoyance and befuddlement.)

One of the other judges on that show, Howie Mandel, is heading up a group that will attempt to develop a Dutch television show for American primetime television. When it aired overseas, it was called Celebrity Standup. From Hollywood Reporter:

The show’s concept has celebrities revealing personal stories about their lives, which, over five days, they develop into a stand-up act. The VIPs then battle each other on stage in front of a live audience, who vote on who to send to the next round.

Great. So, instead of showing actual, competent, professional comedians doing standup, Mandel will present, in a reality show format, a bunch of B- and C-list “celebrities” demonstrating just how difficult standup comedy is.

Here’s what we can hope: The professional dancers on ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” come across as looking really likeable, professional and entertaining (while their celebrity dance partners often appear clumsy and awkward). So maybe the American version of Mandel’s show will afford similar exposure to a gang of likeable and professional comics coaching the celebrity wannabes. It ain’t much, but it’s something.

Or… the clubs will be clogged with celebrities who have been christened “real” comedians by virtue of having done a handful of two-minute sets on a reality show without falling face-down in a puddle of perspiration.

Worse yet, the biggest of the trainwrecks might embark on a nationwide tours (a la Charlie Sheen). We can see it now: Newly-retired NFL star survives three weeks on Celebrity Standup– exhibiting ghastly timing while mangling jokes written for him by Conan staffers– eventually announces a 24-city arena tour. It can happen.

We fear it will be less like “Dancing With…” and more like “Skating With The Stars.” Lots of wobbly performances, lots of “injuries,” lots of wincing.

We were home for about nine hours total– between returning from a cruise on the Gulf of Mexico and heading out across the Mojave Desert for Los Angeles– so we were somewhat exhausted when we arrived in Redondo Beach on Friday afternoon.

The Male Half was scheduled for shows at the Comedy & Magic Club one town over, in Hermosa Beach, as part of that club’s monthlong birthday celebration.

Clinton Jackson, Laurie Kilmartin, Greg Hahn, backstage at the Comedy & Magic Club

As usual, the crowds were delirious and the lineup was befitting that august Southern California institution: Jimmy Brogan, Jim McDonald, Wil Anderson, Taylor Williamson, Diane Nichols, Jeff Dye, Ritch Shydner, Matt Fulchiron, Quinn Dahle, Ty Barnett, Daniel Tosh, Crystela Alonzo, Noe Rodriguez, J. Chris Newberg, Clinton Jackson, Greg Hahn, Laurie Kilmartin, Edwin San Juan, Angelo Tsarouchas, Alan Havey, Tommy Johnagin, Dennis Regan, Jim Edwards, on three shows over the course of two nights. If we left anyone out we apologize!

The signup clipboard

After the Saturday shows, we chugged down the Pacific Coast Highway and caught the last few minutes of Vinnie Coppola, as he closed out a show at Gaetano’s Restaurant. (It was a benefit for a movie– this is Hollywood, remember– called “Death To Cupid,” and we got to hang out with director Joe Gonzalez.) We also caught up on the past couple years with Coppola and with FOS/comedian Dave Smith, who we know from our days at a certain club in Atlanta. Smith and Coppola made the move west about 2-1/2 years ago.

J. Chris Newberg, The Female Half of the Staff, backstage at C&MC

In conclusion: Happy birthday, Comedy & Magic! AND: Comics and fans alike should check out one or two of the Twenty Hot Comics shows they’re putting on this birthday celebration month, every Friday and Saturday in July! The shows are fast-paced and oodles of talent populate each and every one (see list above)!

We visited Las Vegas last September to “observe” the World Series of Comedy, a six-day affair at the Alexis Park Hotel, dreamed up by comedian/producer/impresario Joe Lowers. We posted about it here and here, where we recapped the affair:

It’s generally agreed that the whole WSOC was a success and a lot of folks– talent and bookers alike– are hoping it repeats again next year. There’s some tweaking that needs to be done, but nothing major needs to change. There was surprisingly little bitching or strife when you consider that 101 comics went up, in a contest, over six days. No controversy– to our knowledge– and few if any regrets on the part of those who participated but did not win. This might be because, after elimination, the contestants found themselves in Las Vegas! It’s the ultimate place to grieve, to assess, to drown any sorrows. And– big bonus– eliminated contestants were still able to avail themselves of the other offerings– headshot session for thirty bucks, meet and greet with industry bookers/club owners, poker tourney, golf outing, etc. Though the main attraction may have been the contest, the overall feel was that of a convention. And many of the comics took full advantage of the gathering to network, to party, and to bond. It might be argued that upping the convention-type features might be a wise idea.

The winner was Andrew Norelli, who, since his success at the WSOC has appeared on late-night television and copped coveted headline spots at the Hilton in Vegas and at Comedy & Magic in Hermosa Beach. Cause and effect? You decide!

We mention it right here, right now, because it’s coming up again! Time flies like an arrow! Fruit flies like a banana! (Groucho Marx?)

Lowers has been augmenting this year’s WSOC with “satellite” competitions in various markets like Wichita, Raleigh and Scottsdale. But the big magilla will take place (as it did last year) this September (19 through 24) at the Alexis Park.

We had a blast at last year’s WSOC. But this year, we’re particularly enthusiastic because Vegas is now our home. Not quite sure how that works, but we’re excited.

Deadline for registration is approaching, and details for registration can be found here. The impressive list of clubs offering work to the winner(s) is currently at 39, but the website claims to be “working on 50 weeks.” And this year, one of the clubs is Jongleurs in England!

It’s been gone for four decades (as of last month). So the number of current, practicing comedians who received their first exposure to standup via The Ed Sullivan Show is understandably dwindling. It lives on via DVD’s and other media, but it’s impact was greatest when kids sat down in the living room– often with Mom, Dad and maybe even Grandma and Grandpa– and watched Myron Cohen or Alan King or George Carlin or Richard Pryor or Joan Rivers and secretly vowed, “THAT looks like something I’d like to do.”

Gerald Nachman has a piece in today’s L.A. Times about the show. And it’s shot through with references to comedians.

Few then had heard of — not to mention ever seen — Carol Burnett, the Supremes, Nat King Cole, Stiller & Meara, Jackie Mason, Eartha Kitt, Sam Cooke, Sammy Davis Jr., Phyllis Diller, Shelley Berman, Shecky Greene, Teresa Brewer, George Carlin, Keely Smith, Myron Cohen, Patti Page, et al. — when Sullivan escorted them into our homes on his national stage. His eclectic taste and a lust for the family audience inspired him to trot out acrobats, elephant acts, ventriloquists, along with the regulation comics and singers — plus, and perhaps most rarefied of all, little-known black performers.

Read the whole thing. Nachman is the author of, among other books, the seriously awesome “Seriously Funny,” an account of the cadre of comics who came up in the late-50s/early 60s and influenced our lives and the popular culture. And they nearly all owe a debt of gratitude to Ed Sullivan.

Did you Louis CK on Kimmel last night? He was talking about how, as a father, he constantly finds it necessary (and somewhat entertaining) to explain things to his daughters. He draws on his experience as an adult to explain the complex and the mundane. (As Kimmel characterized it, a parent is essentially his/her child’s “tour guide for life.”)

We’re piecing this together from memory. We recall that CK then goes on to say that he was driving around with his daughters and they spotted a cruise ship. He explained what a cruise ship was and he also added that comedians perform on cruise ships. When his daughter asked if her daddy performed on cruise ships, he said no. She asked why? It sounded so exciting, after all.

He then addressed that matter of why he (and so many other comedians) avoid performing on cruises. He explained that comedians have a “mean hatred” of comedians who perform on cruises. “We call them ‘boat acts,’” he said. He added that the cruise ship circuit is filled with comedians who “want to please everybody,” and that he wasn’t into “pandering.”

At this the daughter was puzzled. She asked, “Why wouldn’t you want to please everybody?” CK replied that, when he performs, he often upsets the people in the audience. The daughter then asked, “Why would you want to do that?”

CK was bemused. Kimmel was quite amused and said that it seemed that, in her naivete, the daughter was offering “clarity.”

The only reason we bring all this up is because we happened upon the interview quite by accident– we were scrolling through the channels on the television… in our cabin on a cruise ship. We’re performing on the MS Ecstasy this week.

A few years ago, such an exchange might have made us feel bad about ourselves. We might have taken umbrage at the characterization of comedians who work cruise ships as “boat acts” and the charge that they “pander” in their attempt to be all things to all people. But CK’s rant (if you can call it that) was funny, and his points were somewhat valid and he spoke some truth. But we couldn’t really work ourselves up over it.

Since we’ve plunged into the cruise ship milieu in the past six months (and since we started preparing for it in way back in July or so), we’ve gained some perspective.

It made us laugh.

We had been discussing these very issues with a group of comedians not 72 hours earlier.

We could go on to defend cruise ship comedians and say that there are actually a lot of great, honest, creative comedians who do cruise ships “under the radar” (out of necessity, for fear of being labeled a “boat act”). We could say that doing cruise ships has made us better comedians because it’s forced us to write and break in more material (both clean and dirty)– in a very short period of time. And that such an accelerated program has sharpened our skills and made us more versatile. We could also say that there are plenty of comics– in both the club scene, the alt scene and in college gigs– who pander like crazy in their attempt not so much to be please everybody but to survive and make a living. And we could also point out that “being all things to all people” presents its ownsignificant, unique challenges. (Trying to please a broad range of people or a diverse demographic doesn’t automatically lead to blandness or a lack of originality. Ask Brian Regan.)

To be sure, there is some justification in calling some cruise ship comics “boat acts.” (Stereotypes are often stereotypes for a reason.) But that is tailing off as more and more 20- and 25-year comics– many of whom have a more modern sensibility and perhaps a different work ethic– enter the sector. So we could present a fairly good argument against it.

But we realize that, as long as this meme persists, we’ll benefit personally. As long as the rumor exists, it will limit the number of comics who attempt to work on the ocean and will therefore limit the competition. More work for us!

We are sooo over caring about being labeled. What our fellow comics think of our approach to performing is none of our business.

And now, we shall shut the door behind us or, more appropriately, we shall draw up the gangplank. No more cruise talk, ever again. (Unless something funny or weird happens.)

Posted from poolside at No Name Sports Bar at the Barracuda Hotel in Cozumel, Mexico. It’s currently 79 degrees with overcast skies and winds out of the east at 20 mph.