A trend? We can only hope.

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on May 24th, 2006

Examine this:

The Gotham Comedy Club
Thursday May 25th, 7:30 PM

Each Show Features
Four 20-Year Veteran Headliners
Plus A Host
100 Years of Stand-Up Experience
On Each Show

Starring

JANETTE BARBER
5 TIME EMMY AWARD WINNER
(Head Writer, The Rosie O’Donnell Show)

MELVIN GEORGE
(CARNEGIE HALL, HBO, HOUSE PARTY)

JIM MENDRINOS
(HBO, COMEDY CENTRAL)

BARRY WEINTRAUB
(POLITICALLY INCORRECT, AIR AMERICA)

MC – VIC HENLEY
(THE MONTREAL COMEDY FESTIVAL)

208 West 23rd Street (Btwn. 7th & 8th Aves.)
For Reservations Call 212 367 9000

We don’t think you’ll find a more satisfying comedy experience in NYC that evening. (We hasten to add that, although it may not be readily apparent, Mr. Henley also has two decades of experience.) Might the same show pop up in Los Angeles?

We applaud Messrs. Mendrinos and (George) Sarris for dreaming up this crackpot idea and Gotham’s Mr. Mazzilli for going along with the gag. No one among the folks who have two (or more decades) of standup experience thinks that those without it are somehow less valuable as performers or commodities. We wish we could say the sentiments went the same in the other direction. (How many times have we heard someone express one or more variations of “if they were any good, they would have been huge by now.?” The timeless plaint of the up-and-comer with heat!)