The Boston International Comedy & Movie Festival has a sprawling contest every year. The list of contestants takes up several inches. See below.

PRELIMINARY 1
Mary Kennedy
Chance Langton
Peter Dutton
Andy Hendrickson
Deb Ferrar-Parkman
Dan Sally
Mark Scallia
Willis Turner
Maria Walsh
Chris White
Bob Gautreau
Jack Lynch

PRELIMINARY 2
Steve Eblin
DJ Hazard
Steamy Bohemians
Robert Hagearty
Kelly MacFarland
Ira Proctor
Jean Louis Cauvin
Steve Coltrain
Phenecia Banks
Brian Joyce
John Turco
Matt Malley

PRELIMINARY 3
Tim Pulnik
Mary Beth Cowan
Todd Andrews
Boxcar
Mike McCarthy
Al Jackson
Nathan Trenholm
Larry Norton
Keith Alberstadt
Joe Wong
Eric Handler
Rob O’Reilly

PRELIMINARY 4
Larry Myles
Tony Boswell
Eskunder R. Boyd
Ryan Conner
Danny Hirshon
Tim Kaelin
Emily Singer
Danny Rouhier
Joey Carroll
Kevin Bozeman
Cesar Cervantes
Jennifer Grant

PRELIMINARY 5
Frank Santorelli
Mike Green
Jay Hewlett
Jesse Joyce
Dylan Mandlsohn
“Pretty” Paul Parsons
Jeremy Schachter
Matt Soni
Sugar Sammy
Rick Younger
Eric Schwartz
Mark Serritella

PRELIMINARY 6
Maria Borgio
Rob Little
Jamie Lissow
J. Chris Newberg
John Novosad
David Powell
Ryan Stout
Rosie Tran
Lamar Williams
Rick Gustus
Rich Aronovitch
Jack Byrne

PRELIMINARY 7
Josh Blue
Dana Eagle
Lamont Ferguson
Eric Riley Moore
Erin McGuirk
Mariano Rodriguez
Tom Simmons
Amy Tee
Korte Yeo
Leif Skyving
Felipe Esparaza
Denis Piper

PRELIMINARY 8
John Betz Jr.
Billy Bingo
Seamus Carabine
Stan Chen
James P. Connolly
Tissa Hami
Kerri Louise
Jake Sharon
Sean Sullivan
Darryl Lenox
Larry Deflice
Ryosuke Koike

The new show from Sketch Armstrong (the troupe to which SHECKYmagazine columnist Adam Gropman belongs) is “IRAQ, PAPER, SCISSORS” and you can catch it Thursdays, September 15, 22 and 29, and Tuesday, October 4 at 8 PM, at the Second City Theater, 8156 Melrose (next to the Impro), just W. of Crescent Heights. Cover is $5. Tell them SHECKYmagazine sent you.

Took the train down to Atlantic City on Thursday to dine with FOS Joe Starr and spouse Francine. Starr was gigging at the Borgata along with Eric McMahon and Bob Golub.

On the shuttle from the train station to the Marina District, we swung past a billboard emblazoned with the Borgata Comedy Club logo and the words “Great place to see comedy” and underneath that were the words “USA Today.” A quote (or a paraphrasing) from the Ten Great Places… article in the April 1 issue of the McPaper… the one that quoted SHECKYmagazine.com! Getting indirectly quoted on a billboard is kinda like seeing one’s name up in lights. Cool.

Also appearing in town: Mitch Fatel, Ronnie Bullard, Dena Blizzard (Comedy Stop at the Trop), Peter Fogel, Gary Ewing (Catch A Rising Star/Resorts). Joe Piscopo‘s regular Saturday night gig at the Sands has been extended. Coming in October to various locations: Don Rickles, Drew Carey, David Spade.

At the Shore, an entertainment freebie from the Press of Atlantic City, ran a great interview with Norm MacDonald in anticipation of his appearance at the Borgata this Saturday night. Our favorite answer involved Norm’s description of what it was like to work for Roseanne:

That was great. She hates Hollywood writers. She saw me do standup and liked me. There were two of us on staff who were standups, the others were Harvard writers. She only liked us two. She would berate everyone else, and talk about gigs with us two. Then all the writers hated us. I don’t know if she was crazy or not, but she was the best writer of her own show. That was a constant conflict in a battle with the writers. But she was invariably right. She was always funny. As long as you’re writing for someone funny, that’s okay. If you’re writing for a 19-year-old handsome kid, that’s hell on earth.

MacDonald’s opening act, according to all the billboards and newspaper ads, will be “Omy Adams.” We suspect they mean “Orny,” but the typographical error cat is well out of the bag by now. Unless of course Mr. Adams has changed his name to Omy. Would that me Omy, rhymes with Homey? Or Omy like in “Oh, my?”

The article in the Phoenix New Times (“Making it big in the valley’s comedy scene is no laughing matter” by Jimmy Magahern) is amazing! We just performed in PHX this past June. The Comedy Spot crowds were rabid, the room ran like a top and the whole experience was positive. And the comics we encountered were all very funny, hard-working people. The Phoenix depicted in Magahern’s gargantuan piece on that city’s comedy scene contains every cliche in the book.

The owner of the “A-club” who views all the comics in his backyard as insufferable hacks. (“What we’ve got here is all these frustrated comics around town… they’re just filthy, and they’re unfunny. They’re unwatchable.”)

The frustrated comic who teaches comedy to others for exorbitant fees– whom the A-club owner describes as “little more than a snake-oil salesman.”

The comic who runs a comedy room but in so doing incurs the wrath of all the comics who desparately need stage time.

The frustrated local comics who covet the stage time at both the A-club and the B-club and have nothing nice to say about the proprietors of either.

Of course, the truth lies somewhere in there, but the vicious, nightmarish portrayal of the Valley of the Sun is so bleak that it might result in a couple corpses turning up in the city morgue! It’s unrelentingly downbeat! And, to top it all off, local comic Nick Tarr comes off sounding the most reasonable out of all them. (We know Tarr from way back! Hey, Nick!)

We were contacted by Magahern for some quotes, but we never hooked up after several rounds of phone tag. We doubt anything we might have contributed would have brought any calm to the proceedings. Read the whole thing if you dare.

Washington D.C.? It’s 2-1/2 from Philly, just down the road from Balitmore and just about a 3-hour drive from NYC, if you don’t hit any of that monster traffic. (Or, if we’re talking 1987, it’s a short hop on a shuttle into Washington National!) So why isn’t it a standup powerhouse?

Our man in Washington, Doug Hecox, says D.C. and surrounding area is actually on the comeback as a hub for standup and a haven for comics.

Eight years ago, the comedy landscape in Washington was flat. The legendary Comedy Café had just closed, and returned to its former life as a nude bar. A couple of Headliners rooms finding temporary refuge in Holiday Inn bars in Alexandria, VA, and Bethesda, MD, did only modest business and are no longer around. Despite a mammoth population boom in the Nation’s capital, the DC Improv was the only room for miles around. One could easily count the number of local comedians on two hands.

It is a different DC today. The city still has the “takes-itself-too-seriously” vibe, but there are more local comedians than ever before in the Washington-Baltimore area and a surfeit of comedy rooms– ranging from open-mic shows to showrooms like the DC Improv and, up until September 1, the Baltimore Improv.

To bolster his contentions, he interviews three D.C.-area comedians, Ryan Conner, Danny Rouhier and Chris White. Check out the entire column by clicking here.

SHECKYmagazine.com columnist Adam Gropman has another life as a member of a comedy troupe called Sketch Armstrong. They’ve made a film, called “Terrorist Bloopers,” and it’s currently featured on IFilm.

Hop onto the film and make it climb the IFilm charts.

There’s another comedy festival in New York. It takes place in November (1 through 6) and has a really annoying website, but gobs of star power. (Denis Leary, Joy Behar, Andrew “Dice” Clay, etc.)

The most interesting thing might be their Andy Kaufman Award. The rules for submission, which we would have loved to have excerpted for this posting (but we couldn’t because the entire site is made outta Flash, so we can’t just control+ C anything!!), can be obtained by clicking on the above link, then clicking on the Andy Kaufman Award graphic. Look for it under Thursday, Nov. 3. Oh… first you must sit through their opening splash animation, then click on the “2005 Lineup” link. Is there such a thing as having a site that’s too fancy?

We finally got word directly from one of the NOLA comics we know:

Hey Brian & Traci:

Jodi Borrello here.

Thank you all for posting everything you all have thus far. It’s amazing. I think being so close to home, it hasn’t quite hit what the world is doing to help New Orleanians. My family & I are just truly grateful, and blessed that we are all accounted for, and as of noon tomorrow, we will all be together. We are in Opelousas, LA. I hooked up with Bill Dykes last night at a club called 307 Jazz Club in Lafayette, LA, that has an open-mic night, and Caroline Picard arranged a benefit show to put cash in our pockets, she closed the show. Bill & I each performed. All the New Orleans based comics left the stage with many tears yet to be cried. Also, a few other New Orleans comics were on hand, and it was overwhelming how wonderful it is to see those faces of fellow comedians that you just had no idea where they were. It was magical.

All the best to you all– and thanks for the updates, I am only able to check e-mails every few days, when it came time to putting money towards a computer, or clothing, pillows, and an ELO disk, I chose the latter. I am writing a daily journal from registering here at a new school (no bus service needed, thank you very much– ha!) to getting back up on the stage, quite a tale of events. I know I’ve said it already, but really from my heart thank you all– for the posts – it’s familiar, and that’s a good thing right now.

Jodi

We met Jodi when we gigged in Metairie for Payton the Comic a couple years back. After one of our shows, we headed a few miles down I-10 to a charity comedy show that was being held that night– it was packed with local comics like Muttzie and Rosie Tran and, of course, Borrello, all pitching in to help to raise money in one of the many charity events she organized. It’ll all come back and then some.

Shaun Majumder, Rocky Laporte, Rod “Rodman” Thompson, Ryan Belleville, Carl Barron and Scott Faulconbridge will tour Canada from October 22 to November 20 under the Lipton banner. The Lipton Just For Laughs Comedy Tour will kick off in Halifax and make its way to Vancouver, then loop back and hit Calgary. Every fall, a couple of big corporations cherry pick a handful of comics from JFL and book them into ambitious tours in venues large and small. Full details (dates, venues) are available at the Just For Laughs website

The New York Underground Comedy Festival will stage a “Hurricane Katrina Relief Night.” The following is a memo from NYCUCF producer Jim Mendrinos:

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. My name is Jim Mendrinos, and I am one of the producers of the NYC Underground Comedy Festival which runs from Oct. 2-10 here in New York City. As many of you probably know, the festival is not only an industry event, but also a fund raising organization for many charities. Thus far we have raised tens of thousands of dollars for charities such as MS Research, Breast Cancer Awareness, and our official charity, Operation Uplink.

This year we have designated the final night of the festival, October 10th, to “Hurricane Katrina Relief Night.” On that night, many of our host clubs such as Gotham Comedy Club, The NY Improv, and Laugh Lounge NYC will be putting together All-Star Benefits for the RED CROSS.

We would like you to be part of that effort. We are hoping to gather the efforts of as many clubs as possible world wide, and have each of you put together a show on Monday, October 10th, to raise money to help the relief effort in that devastated area. Collectively, the comedy community can aid in the long-term recovery of those affected by the disaster. The comedy community is more powerful than we think; lets take this opportunity to show how much we can help.

We have joind with pat Wildon to give clubs 2 dates to chose from, Oct. 10th, or Sept 28th. If you can’t do either of those, but can do anothe, please help.

What we are asking is for you to put together a show in whatever clubs you can that night. Let us help you promote it nation wide. Donate the proceeds to The Red Cross. You make the check payable to the organization so you can be sure that the money goes directly to them, and your accountants will be happy because that check will be a deduction for you come tax time. Remember, even if you can only donate a portion, your check will be added to others so no donation is too small.

We would ask that you commit quickly so we can attract media attention and drive more people out to the clubs on that night. With a month to put it together we can make this a tremendous success. Should you have any questions about this, please feel free to give me a call at 917-650-0759 and we can discuss it.

Pat Wilson, of Odyssey Entertainment in Washington, sent out a memo on the fifth. It’s making the rounds. Here’s the money quote:

On September 28, 2005, I am asking comedy clubs all over the country to produce a benefit with all the proceeds going to the people of New Orleans. We already have about 10 clubs that have volunteered their services on that date.

So far, the Improv (NYC), Helium here in PHL, the Acme in Minneapolis, the Bone in St. Louis, the Tempe Improv, the Punchline in Atlanta and the Theater in Bend, OR, have signed on. Contact Pat at (360) 221-8161 to lend assistance. She has a part time residence in NOLA, and a connection to the folks down there, so she’s eager help. She’s asked for suggestions for a suitable charity. We earlier recommended the ClintonBushKatrinaFund.org. (We caution that folks get the order of the names right. Some cab driver from Buffalo has purchased the URL with the names reversed. When you goof it up, it brings you to his website. Classy or what?)

Also pitching in to help is Dan Rosenberg, proprietor of The Comedy District in Culver City.

We are doing a monthlong charity event for the N’Awlins peeps. Since the first Comedy District was in New Orleans and I used to live there, as did Burt (Teplitzky, District partner), and a lot of our regulars (Pat Mellon, Carroll Sevin and Tommy James) we decided that instead of one show, we would do a month of shows. We are doing no cover, cash donation only at the door and 20 per cent of all sales. Our first weekend we had 2-1/2 packed shows out of three and we will be continuing this until the Oct 1st show (which ends our first anniversary weekend.)

The Kansas City Star reports that K.C. will be a three-club city (Free reg. req.):

…That’s because former Stanford’s GM Troy Winter and backer Don McAfoos are about to re-open the former Jester’s (and before that Stanford Glazer’s) comedy club at Metcalf South under the name Funny Farm.

“We’re opening up Wednesday,” Winter says. “We’ll have a free show at 8 p.m. All you have to do is buy your drinks, and the first 320 people get in free. Then we open up Thursday with Greg Giraldo.” […]

Strange market, that K.C. With the addition of a third club, at 320 seats, and 250 at Stanford’s and probably 400 at that town’s Improv, there’ll be nearly 1,000 seats available for comedy fans at 8PM on a typical weekend night. This oughta be interesting. In K.C., it always is. (We hazily recall stories a few years back of comedy clubs opening here and there, closing, lawsuits, intrigue, recriminations, general confusion, etc. We suspect we haven’t heard the last of this story. Stay tuned.)

Check out comic Will Durst‘s account of his harrowing departure from New Orleans on Buzzflash:

Driving down Decatur street. Nothing, not a thing open, at all… except Molly’s, but that’s to be expected. Nobody walking. Only us driving. Not even any cops. Plenty of parking spots. Not a good thing exponential factor five. Finally saw some life up near Canal at Lounge Lizards where “Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes” were wailing away to an almost full house including the Mardi Gras and a Half Girls dressed mostly in white feathers and boas. People milling on the sidewalk outside drinking out of to-go cups. Ahhh, semi- normality. Stayed till three.

They eventually get out. Reading it, we were relieved, as it appeared that two of the people we know from NOLA, comics Jodi Borello and Bill Dykes, seemed to have escaped the wrath of Katrina.

The emails we’ve sent to the people we know in the hurricane-damaged area are being bounced back, but, since the communications infrastructure is tattered, we are hoping that they’ve sought higher ground and that their servers are swamped (literally).

The Clinton-Bush Katrina Fund is only one of the many charitable organizations that are lending a hand down in New Orleans and Biloxi and surrounding area. Click on the above and investigate what you might do to help out down there. We’ve met a lot of fine folks in that part of the country and we’d like to send as many eyeballs to a website that might be abler to help out some of those who are less able to help themselves. We don’t know if any of you have been monitoring the destruction, but it’s bad. The two ex-presidents recently held a press conference (we saw it on C-Span). Their work on behalf of the the Tsunami victims was nothing short of miraculous, so they should be able to bring significant assistance to the people of the Gulf Coast.

For the second year in a row, SHECKYmagazine.com will host a show as part of the New York Underground Comedy Festival!

At 8 PM, on Thursday, October 6, The SHECKYmagazine Show will kick off at the Laugh Factory (303 West 42nd Street @ 8th Ave., call (212)586-7829 for info). The Factory has three separate stages in their comedy complex on Times Square, and it will be buzzing with activity throughout the sprawling festival.

Last year, we had a rollicking time, throwing a show at the Village Lantern (way down in the Village, of course). This year, we’re pleased to say that our show will be inside what might be considered the epicenter of the fest, in a room that holds 100 comedy fans!

The lineup will be announced soon, so check back regularly!

Anyone in the Los Angeles area wishing to donate and laugh at the same time might check this out:

Join comedians Steve Hofstetter and Adam Hunter as they perform to raise money for the Red Cross. On 9/20 at the MBar in Hollywood, Hofstetter and Hunter are taping their forthcoming TV specials for Comedy Express TV. And 100% of ticket sales will be donated to the Red Cross’ hurricane relief efforts. As you know, the southeast region has been absolutely devastated by the storms and after effects. Please come out and support a very worthy cause as we raise money to help. There are two shows – 7:30 and 10:00PM. Tickets are $20, and there are just 100 seats at each show. MBar is at 1253 N Vine in Hollywood. If you would like to attend the 7:30 show, please call 323-856-0036 to make dinner reservations. If you would like to attend the 10:00 show, just call that number to make show reservations. Thank you for your support, and see you there!

Hofstetter assures all that “If you already have comp tickets, you will not be charged to attend, though the Red Cross will gladly accept any donations you wish to contribute.”

Another club, offering to raise money for the folks on the Gulf Coast. If there are any others, let us know. This was on the PhillyComics Yahoo! newsgroup:

If anyone is interested, I’ve put an event together with Helium Comedy Club to raise money for the American Red Cross Disaster Fund. Helium has agreed to give all ticket sales for next Thursday (SEP 8)’s show to the fund. I have also been speaking with the American Red Cross to supply collection containers as well to raise more funds at the venue. Please come out and support the effort.

Read the post for details. We hope to attend.

CBS affiliate WJZ’s website has a story about the closing of the Baltimore Improv this past Friday. Oddly, the print story on the site doesn’t match up 100 per cent with the little video package that you can view there. (And you are forced to sit through an ad for Crest White Strips!)

A spokesperson for Baltimore Improv says they would like to stay in the Baltimore area. But they are not sure if and when that would happen

But then they follow up with:

Eyewitness News was not able to reach Improv officials.

Isn’t the whole idea of having a spokesperson so you don’t hafta deal with TV news weasels?

Anyway, the Improv apparently took potshots at the Power Plant on their way out the door (The Power Plant are the landlords that run a giant entertainment complex on the Inner Harbor), so it’s unlikely they’ll open up again anywhere near Balto. We don’t buy the bogus rowdy behavior story. There’s no reason not to finish out the weekend! Something fishy is going on in the Charm City!

From Associated Press:

PARIS (AP) – French writer Michel Houellebecq’s new novel about a standup comic and his clones went on sale in bookstores Wednesday, the most highly anticipated release of France’s annual literary season.

The book, La Possibilite d’une ile, or The Possibility of an Island, has been seen by some critics as a defence of cloning and the Raelian movement, which believes life on Earth was created by clones of extraterrestrials.

The English translation will be released in Britain in November.

We can’t wait.

Press releases fly around the WWW at lightning speed. Ya gotta read each all the way to its conclusion. We found the following at the tail end of the “Pacifica sports round-up,” from the Pacifica Tribune Online:

If you enjoy laughing, the Mckenna Theatre on the campus of San Francisco State University will be the place to be on Friday, Sept. 30, and Saturday, Oct. 1, as the SFSU Athletic Department host The Veterans Of Comedy Wars VIII at 8 p.m. both evenings. The event is a fundraiser for the schools Athletic Department Scholarship fund.

Associate Athletic Director at SFSU Doug Hupke, a longtime Pacifica resident and stand-out basebll player at Sacred Heart Cathedral as well as Skyline College and the University of San Francisco, is chairing the night of laughter and has lined up some of the funniest comedians and comediennes of that the older generations will surely recognize. Entertainers performing include Shecky Greene, Julius LaRosa, Kaye Ballard, Margaret Smith and The Unknown Comic. Also appearing will be George Segal, an accomplished actor who appeared in many films Host for the evening will be Ronnie Schell and the announcer will be Carter B. Smith, who enjoyed a long career as a radio personality in the Bay Area For ticket information contact the SFSU Athletic Department at (415) 338-2218.

Margaret Smith now qualifies as a “Veteran of Comedy Wars!”

At least one club is pitching in to help the Hurrican Katrina victims. in an email that circulating around the WWW:

Did you know that Western New Yorkers donate more to charity per capita than any other region in the country?

It’s not hard to see why. Even though we get bad rap about our weather, snow melts! Other areas of the country suffer through floods, tornados and earthquakes, events that cause far more lasting damage than a snowstorm.

This weekend is our Comedy for a Buck weekend. You can come to ANY show through September 4 and pay ONE DOLLAR for admission. All money collected through admissions will be sent to the areas hit by Hurricane Katrina.

It is a great show this weekend, so click on the link below to make reservations!

Make your reservations here!

If any other clubs are planning similar programs, send us a release.

Just kidding. The offices of SHECKYmagazine.com are finally DSL-enabled. For years, the folks who have had broadband have done their best to try and make us feel bad about ourselves for relying on dialup. (Actually, having dialup is enough to make one feel bad about having dialup.) We finally pulled the trigger on Earthlink’s DSL. It’s like lightning. And it hooked up and diagnosed itself in a matter of minutes. We’ve been accessing the internet via dialup since we first hopped on in 1995! First at 24 Kbs, then 33.3 and until ten minutes ago, 56 K. It’s a beautiful new world!

The New York Times is the only American paper that cares a whit about Edinburgh, for better or for worse. They’ve reported on “this year’s Perrier Award, sometimes called the Oscar of the comedy world.” (Not by us!)

There were no Americans on this year’s short list, but their presence is increasingly felt at the Perrier Awards: Rich Hall (“Sniglets,” “Not Necessarily the News”) won in 2000 and the downtown hipster comedian Demetri Martin did in 2003. With more American comics straying from standup into character sketch territory – as Ms. Solon herself had – there is growing concern over what the Perrier Award means.

“I think in 2006 we will introduce another Perrier,” said Nica Burns, the director and producer of the Perrier Award. “Some people want an international award, to separate the British from others, and others still want a pure standup award, with no slides or sketch comedy. It’s my job now to canvass opinion as to what it should be”

We’re confused by the phrase, “…there is growing concern over what the Perrier Award means.” Hmmm… is someone questioning the relevance of the award? Is standup eclipsing sketch comedy? Is sketch comedy eclipsing standup? (If it were, why then would they even consider a second award for standup?) And, we know this is the NYT, but what exactly is a “downtown hipster?”

From left: George Lowe (Voice of Cartoon Network’s Space Ghost and Atlanta radio personality), Heath Hyche (of Blue Collar TV fame) and Brian McKim (Editor of SHECKYmagazine.com) onstage at the Punchline in Atlanta Sunday night. (Photo credit: Holly Doss)

After returning to solid earth (after gliding a few hundred feet above the planet, courtesy of Kid Dave Miller), we headed to Atlanta for a week at the Punchline, sharing the bill with Birmingham native (and Blue Collar TV cast member) Heath Hyche.

The week was capped nicely by a guest announcer kicking off Sunday night’s show: George Lowe, the voice of Cartoon Network’s Space Ghost, did the opening announcements– as Space Ghost, of course! (He even identified the Female Half of the Staff as “my (Space Ghost)’s former wife!”) A real hoot!

The staff of the Punchline was, as always, gracious and friendly– even easing the pain of the Female Half’s 40th birthday (Saturday night!) with a smiley face-bedecked ice cream cake!

Hyche’s Elvis impersonator routine was one of those bits you made sure you were in the room for– as many times as possible!

Because of the westwad turn of hurricane Katrina, we’ll be driving home in sparkling weather tomorrow. We hope all the fine folks we’ve come to know in New Orleans are safe and sound and far north of the Big Easy and we hope they don’t sustain any damage!

Rob Hiaasen, writing in the Baltimore Sun, kicks out a top ten comedy albums of all time list in “From Newhart to Rock: These guys made us laugh”

Over the next four decades, people bought records from Jonathan Winters, Jackie “Moms” Mabley, Redd Foxx, The Smothers Brothers (“Mom always liked you best!”), Phyllis Diller, Cheech and Chong and Lily Tomlin (This Is a Recording reached No. 15 in 1971). Then came Flip Wilson, Sam Kinison, Rodney Dangerfield, Andrew “Dice” Clay, Eddie Murphy and, more recently, Larry the Cable Guy and Dane Cook.

Through our Vinyl Word feature in the early days of our publication, we sought to provide context for modern day standup. We still run the occasional album from time to time. Good to see the Sun paying respect to the comics who moved a ton of vinyl. Read the whole thing to learn what came before.

FOS Sharilyn Johnson writes:

Hey guys,

Just wanted to pass this along to you– word of mouth seems to be benefiting “The Aristocrats,” as it’s the only movie in the top 20 to have moved up since last weekend. Should hit $4 million soon.

For mathematical fun, it’s now surpassed the entire theater gross of “Comedian” ($2.7 mil). But combined, both films still come up short of the magic number of $21.9 mil — the amount Punchline made. Taking
inflation into account, that’s a good-to-crap ratio of approximately 1:5.

And I flunked 300 Math. Phhttt.

Follow the above link to Box Office Mojo, the site that charts the box office bucks.

Legendary standup comic and actor Shecky Greene has a website.

The turning point of Shecky’s career came in 1953 after he was signed to play the famed Chez Paree in Chicago as opening act for Ann Sothern. Those were the days when headliners like Joe E. Lewis, Sophie Tucker and Ted Lewis were mining gold in the fast-expanding Nevada gambling casinos. When the Golden Hotel in Reno offered over $1,000 a week, Shecky made a beeline for the Wild West. The owners tore up his four-week contract on opening night and made him a deal which insured him $20,000 a year.

Hop on to peruse bio, pics and other goodies. A CD will go on sale soon.

Dusty Saunders, writing in the Detroit News:

Like (Ray) Romano, Jerry Seinfeld and other TV comedy stars, James came to series work via standup comedy. He was signed for several appearances on Everybody Loves Raymond after getting rave reviews at the 1996 Montreal Comedy Festival. This was followed by a development deal under which he helped create King of Queens.

James returned to his roots as an on-the-road standup performer last spring and early this summer.

“The reactions of audiences are interesting,” he says. “I think Seinfeld said it best. They give you a lot of initial recognition because of who you are. In the first five minutes of my act, I can’t even finish a punch line because they’re clapping and going so crazy.

“But after they settle in you’ve still got to be funny, because for an hour just the fact they get to see you live in a theater is going to wear off if you’re not doing well.”

Read the whole thing. James may be second only to Drew Carey in terms of being a real trouper when it comes to his reaction to his treatment at the hands of the network he works for. While it’s true that neither James’ series nor Carey’s series were the cultural phenomenon that Seinfeld was, we’ve seen networks go apeshit over far less. Not only is James and co. not getting any kind of press push from CBS, the Tiffany Network has seen fit to change timeslots on the series yet again. (“Here’s your hat… what’s your hurry? BTW: I took a dump in your hat!”)

Photo credit: Dan Zink

“Let’s go flying,” Kid Dave says. He pauses, realizing he’d caught us off-guard, so he rephrased it as a question– “You guys wanna go flying?”

It was getting to be about sixish; dusk was approaching this corner of the country where Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama collide. We had just driven in from Winston-Salem all day. We fully expected to “go flying,” but we figured we still had another 12 hours or so to steel ourselves… or maybe even talk ourselves out of it. 20 minutes after Dave’s invite/proclamation, however, the Male Half of the Staff was doing lazy circles at 2,400 feet. The Female Half would follow minutes later and go even higher, reaching 4,000 feet. Surreal, to say the least.

We were gigging in Nags Head, NC, last week. We’re in Atlanta right now. But in between, we had three days off. So, we made arrangements to bunk at the home of SHECKYmagazine columnist Kid Dave Miller. Dave had graciously offered lodging… and flying! His sideline, his summer gig, his passion is flying the tow plane at Lookout Mountain Flight Park. (“Our complete desire is to help you realize your flying dreams and hang gliding goals.”) We had a foggy idea of what went on there– and what we might be in for. Had it been any less foggy, however (in other words, had we had any real clear idea of what we might be getting into), we might have declined!

For days leading up to our adventure, the Female Half kept saying, “They’re going to throw us off a mountain!” I would reply, “It’s not a mountain… it’s a cliff.” As it turns out, they weren’t throwing us off of anything. We ended up doing the Tandem Flight (“Soar like an Eagle in this purest form of flight!…Fly Tandem with a professional certified instructor pilot by your side”), but instead of running of a cliff, we were towed slowly into the air by a Kid Dave-piloted airplane, tethered by a 60-ft. line. When we reached our ultimate altitude, our tandem instructor signaled Dave and we were free!

The Female Half, dangling from the glider, at about 200 ft.

The wind on that day was non-existent. But that matters not to the hang glider. As we drifted slowly earthward, the wind (the relative wind) was about what you might experience if you stuck your head out the window of a car going at 20 mph or so. Or maybe piloting a bicycle downhill on a calm day. The view, as you might imagine, is startling. Downtown Chattanooga off to the east, green and rolling hills interrupted by the occasional hayfield or Trenton, GA, to the west. The equipment, our instructor assures us, is sound and eerily aerodynamic, nearly capable of flying without any meddling from us!

The treetops became more like those on a model train platform as we were towed higher and higher. It was nearly too much to process. And it all happened in an unhurried fashion and, except for our incessant chatter with our instructors, it was quiet. Leisurely and quiet, as opposed to, say, jumping out of an airlplane, which seems frantic and deafening. The instructors and Dave and the other hanggliders who hung out at the business end of the airfield were as calm as the wind, which takes the edge off of any panic. And the park’s reputation (and track record) instills confidence. The gliders and instructors and pilots all seem to have a cameraderie similar to that of standup comics– they’re all involved in an endeavor that has certain risks and that has a certain appeal, but that tends to scare off all but the most brave, the most suited. To put it another way– we’re all well aware that we’re engaged in an activity that most people would dearly love to try but is terrifying to the vast majority. It tends to make a group bond.

Kid Dave Miller writes: “Cool article! FYI the tow line is 200 feet long. Attached is a pic you can use. Shot by a man named Chuck Frew.”

Nice shot! Kinda gives one a feel for the whole process. You can see our Dave’s plane, dead center, as he tows a glider to its ultimate altitude over the misty mountains of GA/TN!

Photo credit: Chuck Frew

Tim Cuprisin, writing in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, says that former standup comic and, (briefly) former talk show host Michael Graham has landed a gig or two.

THE LOOSE LIPS UPDATE: KFI-AM, a Los Angeles talk station owned by Clear Channel Communications, is picking up fired talker Michael Graham for fill-in work, scheduling him for the 7-9 p.m. shift on Friday, according to Graham’s www.michaelgraham.com. He also says he’s doing an Internet talk show at rightalk.com at 11 a.m. weekdays starting Monday. He promises: “no liberal network execs, no advertisers, not even the FCC.”

As reported in Wednesday’s column, Graham was axed by ABC-owned WMAL-AM in Washington, D.C., for refusing to retract numerous on-air attacks on Islam.

We were familiar with Graham, catching him on occasion when cruising through the Richmond area during his WRVA afternoon drive show a few years back. We corresponded with him briefly when we discovered that he was a former comic. (He has since dropped the standup from his resume!) Click on this link to a transcript of an MSNBC debate on the controversy, check out what the industry rag says about in this Billboard article or read the original Washington Post story.

A reader, Adam White, writes:

Hi. I was reading about the blood drive at the Laugh Factory and it reminded me of something that Improv Olympic did in Chicago. They had a blood drive and everyone who gave blood got a quart of oil. It was the blood for oil drive. And then classes ended, so I never checked to find out how it went. Great story, I know.

For nice slice of comedy history, in this case, Chicago-style, take in the article in Sunday’s Chicago Sun-Times by Mike Thomas.

With its comedy-friendly blend of tight space and smart crowds, Kelly’s proved ideal for the brainy stylings of such rising talents as Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce, Shelley Berman and Bob Newhart, Joan Rivers and Phyllis Diller. In 1964, Woody Allen paid a repeat visit to make his first comedy record.

Lots of fun to read, complete with reminiscences from a bunch of the comics who played the room at its peak. Our fascination with Mr. Kelly’s stems from the fact that its mentioned in the liner notes on Berman’s albums and both he and Dick Cavett mentioned Mr. Kelly’s in their SHECKYmagazine.com interviews!) Clubs like it are rare.

In addition to optimal atmosphere, the tight-knit staff at Kelly’s made performers feel welcome and above all respected. Elsewhere, that wasn’t always the case. “I made some good friends there,” Sahl recalls. “It was a wonderful place. You never missed home when you were there. I was having a good time, and people were awfully good to me.”

Likewise, lots of show folks who stalked Kelly’s stage still have a soft spot for the night spot that gave them a shot when shots were rare, that paid well when pay was poor, that honed skills and bolstered confidence. Here, their memories of those thrilling and formative days.

Click the above link and wallow!

Hop onto the Comedy Central site to enter their Jet Lag Sweepstakes.

The Grand Prize winner will receive four round trip airfares to Montreal, Edinburgh and Melbourne, plus transportation, hotel accommodations, VIP tickets to multiple performances and $5,000 spending cash.

Mind you, it’s not just to hang out at those locations, but to hang out at the giant comedy festivals that take place there each year. Nice. Comedy Central is paying attention to standup comedy with a vengeance! Winners go to the Fringe Fest, JFL and the Melbourne Comedy Fest. Hell, we might even enter.

The first few grafs of a LA Times story on Howie Mandel’s new series is fascinating.

Not only did Mandel create and produce the show, he also owns it. In order to get it on the air without network meddling, Mandel acted as his own studio, which essentially left him paying to be on television. The Bravo license fee (less than $1.8 million for all six episodes) didn’t cover all of the production costs, which included many location shoots and salaries for Julie Warner, who plays his wife, guest stars such as Estelle Harris and Marlee Matlin, and the crew, according to Mandel, who wouldn’t disclose how much he spent.

Mandel is a bleeding edge television producer. Seems like the suits in Hollywood are slowly awakening to the decentralization of power. Multi-chip video cams and wildly powerful computers within the budgets of mere mortals are changing the way TV does business. Read the whole thing and you realize that latter day alternative acts got nothing on Mandel. (Thanks to Sharilyn Johnson for the hot tip!)

According to a release from the company that is administering the licensing to the tapes of the old Rascals Good Time Comedy Hour, XMRadio and Rascals have struck a deal and XM will air the audio of those shows.

Over 200 hours of classic comedy with Celebrities such as Ray Romano, Drew Carey, Tim Allen, Sinbad, Rosie O’Donnell, Brett Butler, Dennis Leary, Dice Clay, Jackie Martling, Rich Jeni, Jeff Foxworthy, Joy Behar, Darrell Hammond, Rich Vos, Wanda Sykes, all the BIG stars!

All the BIG stars… and several hundred stars who had only been doing comedy for about 18 months, but signed the release and taped the show anyway! The Female Half of the Staff did the show (with Vic Dunlap and Wayne Cotter) early on in her second year of comedy! She’s contemplating a pleading lettere to Joel Haas to leave her performance OFF of any satcast! (“I’d rather give blood!” says she. See below!)

The release also mentions in passing that the company “has also starting (sic) taping a new Rascals Comedy Hour.” No indication as to whether that will be audio and video, or just audio only. (Or, perhaps it’ll be video only! Woulnd’t that be something.)

From the LA Weekly:

There’s got to be a joke here: At the Laugh Factory’s Hollywood Cares Day, you give blood while comics perform onstage (we’re thinking about a “little prick” or “I laughed till I clotted!”). We promise it won’t hurt a bit. Every donor gets free Laugh Factory tickets, a goodie bag, food and a raffle ticket for pricey prizes. 8001 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood; Sun., Aug. 21, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Reservations recommended: Call Katherine at (323) 656-1336, Ext. 203.

Nice idea. Some years ago, the Male Half of the Staff heard that a blood drive was going on in Syracuse, so, during a radio appearance, he pledged to give a pint and urged listeners to do so. (Of course, he also pledged the same for the Female Half, but she has been banned by the Red Cross from giving– she tends to pass out. And they can’t find her veins… and her blood drips out too slowly… They finally told her never to come back.)

If you’re keeping track of the upcoming comedy festival in Vancouver, hop onto the CanWest ComedyFest website. So far, they’ve secured the services of Scott Thompson (hosting the “Funny and Gay Show,” Steven Wright and, on the “The Comics of The Late Show With David Letterman Show,” Jim Gaffigan, Eddie Brill and Jake Johanssen will bring the experience that comes from their combined 58 appearances on that late night institution. More shows and performers will be announced shortly.

A reader, Patty Wall, writes that Bob Saget did a chat on USAToday (Click it for the transcript) today. Wall’s husband, a member of comedy team Mixed Nuts, submitted the following question, which Saget answered:

Domskyville, PA: You started in comedy in Philadelphia as a part of a two-man comedy team. While you went on to huge success, fame and fortune, whatever happened to your partner?

Bob Saget: I can only assume this is him typing this question. Or a close friend of his. Sam Domsky is a dear friend of mine and responsible for a lot of what I have done because he brought me in as a comedy pal when I was going to film school at Temple University. Sam and his friends went to Penn — I was too dumb to go there and Temple did have a great film program which turned out great for me as I won a student Academy Award for a film I made. Sam and I did comedy in the dorm’s coffee houses, Pagano’s Pizza and he is part of group called ‘Mixed Nuts.’ They are truly hilarious and all could have gone into show business but chose to have normal lives and raise families. They all came to see my play in New York a few months back. It meant a lot to me, though that night I felt I was off my game because 50 people I knew were in the audience. A true professional, huh? Sam is now a dentist outside of Philly, kind of like Laurence Olivier was in ‘Marathon Man.’

The Mixed Nuts do indeed have somewhat normal lives. However, the team still occasionally performs, doing corporate gigs. Wall, readers may recall, cajoled The Male Half of the Staff into trying his first open mike, back in 1981!

From the Dark Horizons website, comes this heads up:

In his first proper film since “Narc,” Joe Carnahan will direct his script “Smokin’ Aces” for Working Title and Universal reports Variety.

Carnahan is casting the drama and targeting an October start date. Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven and Alicia Keys in talks to star and Ben Affleck planning a small role.

Reynolds will play an FBI agent supervising a manhunt for a standup comedian (Piven) who has decided to squeal on the mob. Before he heads off into protective custody, the comic goes for one last hurrah in the casinos at Tahoe, drawing a crowd of assassins. Keys would make her screen starring debut as an assassin.

When was the last time a standup comedian was a main character in a movie? We’re talking major here, not Leonard Barr playing Shady Tree in “Diamonds Are Forever.”

A sharp-eyed Doug Hecox sends this along:

USCAF/ASPEN SUBMISSIONS

Since its inception in 1995, the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival has
become known as a primary launching pad for comedic talent and
for hosting one-of-a-kind events. The USCAF will return to
Aspen, Colorado from March 8-12, 2006 for its 12th year.

To be considered as a performer for the 2006 U.S. Comedy Arts
Festival, please submit your materials (DVD, CD, VHS tape, press
kit, upcoming performance schedules, articles, etc.) to the
address listed below before November 7, 2005.

NO WRITTEN MATERIALS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Mailing Address:
Talent Department
U.S. Comedy Arts Festival
2500 Broadway, Ste. 400
Santa Monica, CA 90404