(Note:Scroll down this page for the original posting concerning the death of Rich Jeni)

The Male Half carried a Polaroid instant camera with him at all times from roughly 1981 through 1985 or so. This picture was taken at D.C.’s Comedy Cafe, on K St., circa 1983.

After the Polaroid was snapped TMHOTS would take it home, insert it into an ancient Smith-Corona, and type a caption on it.

(The Male Half had started taking road gigs, opening in D.C. and Baltimore and other cities. One of his first official road gigs, at the Cafe, entailed sharing a hotel room with Jeni and feature act Joe DeLion. Being the opener, the Male Half was given a cot. That’s right… a cot.)

The Male Half says:

I also recall gigging at the Cafe with John Mulrooney about a year after the above pic was taken. During one of the shows on Friday, legendary porn star Candy Samples stopped into the club to catch a show. Mulrooney chatted her up after our show and she invited John to one of her afternoon performances at a nearby X-rated movie house/burlesque theater.

As I was the only one on the bill with a car (and as Mulrooney was obsessing about hanging out with dear friend Jeni– headlining across town at Garvin’s that weekend with Dave Kelley)– I was recruited as chauffeur for the trip to the Samples show.

We picked up a reluctant Jeni (and an even more reluctant Kelley) and headed to the show.

Predictably, it was a faded, ancient Vaudeville theater with sticky floors (from, it is hoped, spilled soda pop) and the joint was packed with a couple hundred middle-aged men. We found seats at about the middle of the house– Mulrooney wanted to sit up front, but that idea was vetoed by Kelley, who feared that the dancer might “dust our heads with her breasts” should we sit too close to the stage.

The house lights dimmed and out came Samples– by then a forty-something woman with grotesuely large breasts and scary makeup– wearing the classic many-sizes-too-small nurse’s outfit. She scuffed around on the stage for a few stripper-type numbers (to… music, I think). And, after dimming the lights, she also did rather curious (and overtly sexual) things with one of those Glo-sticks. Afterward, much to Dave Kelley’s dismay and deep-purple embarassment, she waded out into the crowd, stopping briefly to… dust Dave’s head with her breasts!

After the “dancing” portion of her presentation, she threw the floor open to questions. Mulrooney, naturally, couldn’t help himself. He called out, “What’s the square root of 27?!?” To which Samples replied, instantly, and much to her credit, “54, double D!”

After the Q & A, the announcement was made that Ms. Samples would be available in the lobby for photographs. Of course, Jeni and Mulrooney couldn’t resist. As a timid and worshipful clump of fans surrounded Samples, giving her a very wide berth, the two comics boldly breached the mote that surrounded her and immediately started yucking it up.

I took a photo of the two of them (with my own Polaroid) that is still floating around out there to this day– either in Mulrooney’s possession or among Jeni’s effects– that depicted the two comedians flanking the porn star, each one supporting one of her mammoth breasts with a strategically placed hand, each one sporting a ridiculous grin.

I never should have let that pic out of my sight.