John Debella of WMGK and C.F.O. proprietor Clay Heery, AKA Captain Cranky

One show Friday, one show Saturday. Clay Heery (pictured above at right, with Friday night’s emcee John Debella), the former proprietor of the defunct Comedy Factory Outlet produced this weekend’s Comedy Factory Outlet Reunion Shows at a club in Norhteast Philadelphia.

David E. Hardy picks up where he left off many years ago, slaying Friday’s crowd

Performing over the two nights were CFO mainstays David E. Hardy (pictured above onstage during Friday’s show), Maria Merlino, Jim Daly, Nick Pawlow, Norm Klar, and the Male Half of the Staff, along with headliner Chris Rush. Raucous crowds filled the room both nights and it was just like 1987 again.

CFO regulars Maria Merlino and Jim Daly reminisce after Friday’s performance

The Male Half of the Staff brought two thick volumes containing more than 200 photos, many of which were Polaroids from the era. (The Male Half carried one of a handful of Polaroid cameras with him at all times for a two-year period in the early ’80s, snapping instant photographs of many of the folks who populated the Philly comedy scene at the time.) It is the photo albums that Debella and Heery are gazing at in the top photo… not, as some suspect, Heery’s penis.

Norm Klar (“The World’s Greatest Magician”) and ventriloquist Nick Pawlow

A good number of employees showed up for the shows– waitresses, bartenders, crowd wranglers– and a handful of comics sent their regrets that they couldn’t be present for the get-together.

Chris Rush and The Male Half of the Staff after Saturday’s show

Both shows were closed out by the legendary comic Chris Rush. Rush was among the many regular headliners that added to the reputation of the CFO as a consistent purveyor of high-quality, original standup during the city’s golden era of standup comedy.

We needed a third elf for this year’s ElfYourself, so we uploaded a photo of Last Comic Standing host Bill Bellamy (in a picture snapped earlier this year at the Punchline in Atlanta.

A Guardian column by Mark Fisher dumps on Jack Straw for turfing the comedy classes in British prisons.

Comedy classes have been on the go in high-security prisons since 1998– presumably without dangerous outbreaks of levity– but in a knee-jerk reaction, Straw has asserted that “prisons should be places of punishment and reform”. By suggesting that standup is incompatible with rehabilitation, he seems to misunderstand not only the nature of reform, but also the nature of comedy.

Last month, I visited Polmont young offenders’ institution, where Edinburgh’s Traverse theatre was running a playwriting workshop. Prison governor Derek McGill told me he supported music and theatre in all the prisons he had worked in. He believes participation in the arts triggers behavioural change among inmates and affects the mood of a whole establishment. These are surely the criteria by which such work should be judged, rather than Straw’s undefined declaration that the courses “must be appropriate”.

Emphasis ours.

Straw was reacting not so much to the idea that comedy might be taught to prisoners, but to the idea that standup was taught to inmates of a maximum security prison (among them a member of al Quaeda who was jailed for 18 years for his participation in the “Gas Limo” plot).

Would Straw object to standup classes for folks who’d been caught jaywalking or who can’t seem to avoid being popped for possession of small amounts of coke? Probably not. But, we’re pretty sure that, as Straw implies, teaching hard core criminals (and folks who plot to blow up hundreds or thousands of Brits and Yanks) how to write and tell jokes might be a tad inappropriate.

They’ve cooked down six seasons of the squiggly, animated series into one disc containing 18 episodes. According to the press release, Dave Attell, Louis C.K., Dave Chappelle, Margaret Cho, David Cross, David Duchovny, Susie Essman, Janeane Garofalo, Kathy Griffin, Denis Leary, Richard Lewis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kevin Nealon, Conan O’Brien, Patton Oswalt, Brian Regan, Ray Romano and Sarah Silverman are featured.

And, in a cruel irony, it will hit the stores on December 2, the 20th anniversary of the wedding of the Male and the Female Half. We say cruel irony because, on Feb. 1 of 1996, we found ourselves in the Dr. Katz studio, for the purpose of taping a segment for the popular Comedy Central show. After much back and forth and faxing– only egghead scientists and geeks (like us!) used email extensively back then– we were invited to the offices of Tom Snyder Productions in Watertown, MA, to lay down some tracks. After some tentative attempts to voice the pre-approved scripts, it was decided instead that we should improv some stuff. More specifically, it was requested that we improvise an argument or two between us.

Disaster!

(We have no doubt that our improv skills are adequate, but improvising something so utterly foreign– like an argument– just threw fine-grain sand into our gears.) After several uncomfortable moments and a lot of shuffling, hemming and hawing, it became obvious to all that the afternoon was a trainwreck. No usable tracks were laid. No appearance on the Peabody Award-winning show would be in our future.)

Springing the improv on the actors may well have been the producers’ method for extracting a more authentic-sounding soundbite. And may well have been the secret (or one of them) to the show’s wild success. And, had we had proper warning (and at least a hint as to the subject matter), we may have pulled it off. (And, if we had been called upon to concoct in advance an exchange where we were “fighting and acting as though we don’t like each other,” we probably would have created something that matched the specs quite well.) As it was, the session was an aesthetic calamity!

It goes down as one of the top three disappointments in our career.

The Female Half received a review copy of “Is It Just Me, Or is Everything shit?” It’s authored by Steve Lowe and Alan McArthur with Brendan Hay. (The reason for the “with” authorship is that the first two are the authors of the “runaway bestseller” British version of the book, while Hay is the fellow who was commissioned to Americanize it for consumption on this side of the pond.)

Hay has written for The Daily Show, The Simpsons and Frank TV. The subtitle is “Insanely Annoying Modern Things.” The items are arranged in alphabetical order.

One of those modern things, (on page 47, sandwiched between “Colors of the Season” and “Coppolas: The Next Generation”) is:

Comedy Clubs

In every comedy club, the MC always kicks off with the lie: “We’ve got a great bill for you tonight.” His icebreaking banter involves asking the audience where they have come from. Perhaps inevitably, the answers rarely provoke high comedy, so the conversation very soon starts resembling distant relatives who haven’t met for many years exchanging pleasantries at a funeral. “So where did you come from?” “Minneola.” “Great.”

The first act begins by explaining that he’s “trying out new material.” Sadly, though, somewhere in his mind the phrase new material has become entirely disassociated with the concept of “jokes.” Fairly soon, it goes so quiet you can hear people pissing in the toilet.

After a few more minutes of no jokes, a bachelor party starts yelling: “Fuck off, you suck.” “No,” the comedian shouts back, “you fuck off.” When this has finished, the host returns to try to simultaneously to convey the two sentiments “Don’t do that or I’ll have to get tough” and “Please, for the love of God, do not turn on me.”

The pattern is repeated three of four times until the arrival of the headliner– or, rather, the pseudo-headliner, the actual headliner having canceled (a fact advertised by a small hand-written note stuck on a wall behind a curtain).
The bachelor party’s “fuck offs” will grow in intensity until you realize, as they trade unamusing insults with another bastard working through their “issues” by inflicting their paper-thin personality on people who have never done anything to hurt them, that you have paid good money to sit in a dark room listening to people bellow “fuck off” at one another.

Ron Reid writes that the 29th Annual Seattle International StandUp Comedy
Competition is rounding the bend and has selected its five finalists.

They are, in no particular order:
Lars Cailliou, Edmonton Alberta
Nate Jackson, Lacey WA
Todd Johnson, Boise ID
Justin Rupple, Issaquah, WA
Tommy Savitt, Los Angeles CA

All have won a minimum of $1250 and are vying for the Grand Prize of $5000 and a recording contract with Uproar Entertainment.

All together $15,000 in cash prizes will be handed out.

Finals begin Tuesday November 25 with a private event at the Washington Athletic Club, followed by shows Wednesday Nov 26 at the Vashon Theater on Vashon Island; Friday November 28 at Kirkland Performance Center; Saturday November 29 at The Admiral Theatre in Bremerton; and ending Sunday November 30 at The Comedy Underground in Seattle.

Go here for more information.

They’re making a movie for HBO about Sam Kinison’s life.

Variety reports that “Brother Sam: The Short, Spectacular Life of Sam Kinison” will star Dan Fogler

The script will be written by the same people who wrote “American Splendor,” there’s hope that it will be quirky and believable.

An article in the London Telegraph details the embarrassment of prison and government officials who discovered that al Quaeda member Zia Ul Haq, jailed last year for his role in a plot to bomb London, was discovered to have been among 18 prisoners enrolled in a standup comedy class.

The course was shut down after just three lessons. Justice Secretary Jack Straw was quoted in the Sun:

Prisons should be places of punishment and reform. Providing educational and constructive pursuits is essential but the types of courses and the manner in which they are delivered must be appropriate.

We suppose that al Quaeda members would be good at that “awkward comedy” we’ve heard so much about lately. (And, as for speaking truth to power, well, just check out any of the videos by bin Laden or his number two al Zawahiri. Of course, each could use a little punch-up. And Zawahiri’s gotta layoff the “house negroes” thing. References like that have the potential to turn an entire set into a bomb. Figuratively speaking, of course.)

Erstwhile SHECKYmagazine columnist Tommy James sent us a link to a Variety article that reveals the behind-the-scenes jockeying at the major comedy festivals in North America.

HBO, says Variety, continued to brand the Vegas fest with their logo only out of contractual obligation. TBS, they say, is stepping up and providing the funds both for this year’s Vegas blowout (and subsequent years’ events) and for the Just For Laughs foray into Chigago a year from now.

On the other side of the continent, Comedy Central is pouring some dough into the New York Comedy Festival, although the suits at C.C. say it’s not in response to TBS’ muscling into their territory. Comedy Central’s GM explains it thusly:

“There’s a whole generation of consumers out there who don’t watch a lot of TV,” says Ganeless, whose network launched a live-events division to better tie its on-air promo power to its talent’s tours, DVD releases, online activity and merchandise sales. “Young guys spend a lot of time online or playing games. You have to be everywhere at once to get that audience.”

So… in order to be “everywhere at once,” Comedy Central will spend a pittance on a five-day fest in mainly two venues.

Meanwhile TBS is sponsoring two major fests (one in flyover country, one in Vegas– which is where flyover country vacations), one of which is co-branded by Just For Laughs (which is the recognized name in festification). The judges give the decision to: TBS!

We love Ganeless’ argument: Nobody watches television anyway, so what’s the big deal? (She seems slightly annoyed at her elusive audience.) It’s all part of Comedy Central’s plan to go Multi-Platform! (She seems somewhat annoyed at her young, male audience. Never a good sign!)

We skipped on over to the NYCF website and checked out the lineup– an assortment of Comedy Central’s greatest hits. (And we realized that Katt Williams’ appearance at Carnegie Hall– the gig he almost missed because of his weapons offense arrest!– was part of that fest. Hmmm… he gets arrested in Manhattan, gets sprung on bail and barely makes the performance… but the fest doesn’t get a drop of ink in most or all of the wire stories on the incident!)

TBS and their “Very Funny” branding effort just might succeed to the point where more folks identify comedy (and standup!) with them rather than with Comedy Central!

So says a Sumter, SC, attorney Garryl Deas whom the comedian consulted after a brief encounter with the police at the Mount Vernon Inn on Friday morning. The Item (“Serving Sumter and surrounding areas”) published a lengthy story on November 14 by staffer Mary Dolan that described Williams’ bizarred behavior during a weekend visit to the Palmetto State.

Employees of the hotel called the cops. The cops looked into the matter but made no arrest. Later on, Williams showed up at Deas’ office.

By that point, the actor was “speaking gibberish,” Deas said, though he declined to guess whether the actor was intoxicated.

Deas said the family was seeking an order from a probate judge to force him to be seen for a mental evaluation. Sumter Probate Judge Dale Atkinson, however, said neither he nor any of his staff issued a pickup order for anyone by the name of Katt Williams.

Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis said, however, that an order was issued by the probate court and that because his department becomes involved with these type of matters, his office was called.

Dennis said the call came in around noon and deputies arrived to transport Williams to the hospital. Though he was vocal in his desire not to go, Williams was not physically aggressive.

British comic Frank Skinner, writing for the TimesOnline (UK),

I spent the back end of last year doing a stand-up comedy tour of the British Isles– 69 gigs over a three-month period. One night in early October, at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, I decided to conduct an experiment.

The tour had been going well but, 20 gigs in, there is a danger that an act can become a bit too comfortable. Anything that makes it feel fresh or unfamiliar is worth a try, I thought. So I removed a key element.

The “key element” is swearing. When Skinner removed the majority of swearing from his set, he stumbled up on a variety of surprising insights.

Now, I should make clear, at this point, that I am not– nor have ever been– a shock comic. My aim has always been to do sugar-coated smut– or offensive material that doesn’t offend. I have always found that this sensibility tends to shine through even a blizzard of swearwords.

However, the removal of the swearing seemed to oil the wheels of this process, allowing the more self-consciously respectable members of the audience to loosen their corsets and really enjoy themselves, despite the subject matter.

Swearing is apparently rampant on British television. Skinner concludes that this flood of profanity on the telly over the last decade makes for much less contrast between the his live act (and the club acts of his fellow comics) and that which can be seen in one’s living room.

The whole thing is well worth a read.

Jennifer Stafford, also known as “The DomiKNITrix,” runs a website devoted to knitting.

One of the patterns Stafford offers (among those for Che Guevara, Malcolm X and Bruce Lee) is that of Andy Kaufman (see illustration below)

This isn’t actual size. For that, you must click on the above link. (It’s free, so all you knitters can download it without guilt.)

The Female Half of the Staff started blogging one year ago today, setting up “Road Atlas Shrugged” as an outlet for her “profound analysis mixed with sheer idiocy.”

365 days and 348 posts later, she celebrates her blog’s one-year anniversay today by inviting one and all to hop on, browse around and bookmark the site.

Go here to be part of a viral marketing campaign for (and to enter to win a walk-on role in) the new Judd Apatow film, “Funny People.”

It’s the film’s MySpace profile. Go there, befriend it and, in the comments section, tell them, in 100 words or less, why you should be in the movie.

It’s being billed as “The third film from the writer/director of ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’ and ‘Knocked Up.'” We suppose that’s because, since the success of those two pics, some of the folks involved with Apatow have written, produced or directed their own projects (and billed them variously as being “From the people who were in some way, shape or form involved with ‘Knocked Up’ and/or ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin…'”) that Apatow might’ve thought that a little clarification was in order.

Is there a TV genre that has been pronounced dead more often than the variety show? The treatment of the sitcom is kind compared to the way TV writers and historians regard the variety show. (And both genres diproportionately benefited standup comics… hmmm… could there be a correlation?)

Rosie O’Donnell will host Rosie Live on NBC at 8 PM the night before Thanksgiving. The network is saying that they’ll see how the ratings are before deciding to grant O’Donnell a regular slot on the schedule.

O’Donnell will bring back the grand tradition of the variety show format to television, like such iconic series as The Carol Burnett Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, while including brand-new elements for a new generation of fans. The special will feature a topical monologue, musical production numbers and hilarious comedy sketches.

NBC has hired a medical examiner to be on hand to quickly pronounce the genre dead.

Critics will anxiously cite Dolly Parton’s ill-fated attempt at firing up the variety show twenty years ago as evidence that no one wants to see this kind of program. It’s like they almost hope it will fail.

Announced guests include Kathy Griffin, Jane Krakowski, Ne-Yo and Alanis Morissette. Sounds like a lineup the entire family will enjoy!

The commercials promoting the special are actually funny (we saw them during Life and during 30 Rock), so maybe there is hope.

A Washington Post story, “In India, a World of Hurt Over a Perceived Obama Slight,” is all about how the president-elect has spoken to 15 world leaders since Wednesday morning… but not India.

What caught our eye was paragraph four:

“You found time to call Pakistan,” chided Azhar Usman, a visiting Indian American stand-up comic performing at a New Delhi college campus Sunday. “Why not call India?” he said, wagging his finger. “We are waiting.”

Apparently, it doesn’t take long for a country (a U.S. ally in this case) to get huffy when the new pres doesn’t pick up the blower and chat for a few minutes– especially if a similar call was placed to the next door neighbor (and sometimes enemy) Pakistan!

Usman is one of three comics on the Allah Made Me Funny tour and, according to Wikipedia:

His parents are originally from India. He graduated from Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois in 1993. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Dave Blazek’s “Loose Parts” is described as:

A wacky one-panel for the more erudite reader (that) combines literary references with bad puns and brings together everything from nursery rhymes to ’60s elevator music.

We like one of the comments under the cartoon– Someone identified as Char32 typed, “I apparently don’t get out much. Who is Shecky?”

Apparently, you don’t know what Google (or Wikipedia!) is, either. We wonder if this person gets out at all!

(Thanks to readers Terry O’Neill and Melanie Thompson for sending us a heads up almost simultaneously!)

“Snubbed DAILY SHOW Fan On Rampage” is the line on the DrudgeReport.com that links to an NBCNewYork.com article that details the travails of Sharilyn Johnson, a Canadian journo and FOS that got shut out of the dual Election Night taping of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

Johnson made reservations seven months in advance, took some vacation days, volunteered for Obama and flew to NYC from Toronto to sit in the audience for the special event only to watch as VIP’s were given top priority and mere fans were shut out. Repeated attempts to get some sort of justice or an apology were rebuffed.

She did what any journalist would do– she tapped out an essay on just how burned she felt and put it up on her blog. The tale of woe got picked up by the folks at Huffington Post.

Then, NBC in New York ran something on it today.

The mocking tone of the NBC/Around Town item is gentle compared to the comments on Gawker, which ran an item on her HuffPo piece. Johnson’s retelling attracted many sympathetic comments and just as many that were brutal, ugly and unnecessarily harsh and personal.

The Washington Post’s account of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor (to the late George Carlin) ceremony on Monday night contains this sweet story from presenter Lewis Black:

Black recalled that he couldn’t persuade his elderly father to travel to a ceremony at which Black was to receive a comedy award. Told that Carlin would be there, his father lit up. “Do you think I could meet him?” asked Black’s dad. Told he could, the old man eagerly agreed to the trip. “An 82-year-old groupie!” Black said last night, concluding, “Without your presence among us, George, the world is a less funny place.”

Author Paul Farhi noted that there was much foul language. And, in a somewhat incomprehensible move on the part of the Kennedy Center, the producers showed Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television” clip and bleeped out the naughty words. We’re aware that a pared down version of the proceedings will be shown on public television in April, but did they really have to bleep it for the folks actually in the house? Especially when the folks who are presenting seem unconcerned about editing their speech. If you’re worried that those in attendance will be offended by foul language, perhaps you should think twice about giving the award to Carlin. But who in their right mind would attend a ceremony to honor Carlin and expect any kind of proscription of language?

Read the Chicago Trib interview with Jeffrey Ross and you’ll be rewarded with such info nuggets as:

My grandfather always said to me, take a banana for the ride. So there are always bananas in my house, and everybody who comes or leaves is offered a banana. Older comedians told me back in the day that if you eat a banana, it slows down your heart rate and makes you less nervous before you go on stage. Gotta have coffee, like I said. And turkey, Swiss cheese and mustard for the Jeff Ross toasted pita.

Legendary comedian Chris Rush will headline two Comedy Factory Outlet Reunion shows on Friday and Saturday (November 28 and 29) at the Northeast Comedy Cabaret. From the Comedy Cabaret website:

For many, many years in Philadelphia, the word “Comedy” was always associated with “Factory Outlet,” as the center city club played host to such comedy luminaries as Andrew Dice Clay, Tim Allen, Robin Williams, Howie Mandel, Chris Rock, Bobcat Goldthwait, and marked the comedy club debuts of Larry “Bud” Melman, Monty Python’s Graham Chapman, director John Waters, and Adam McKay (writer-director of “Anchorman,” “Talladega Nights,” and “Step Brothers”). The club itself is long gone, but for one weekend only, the NE Philadelphia Comedy Cabaret will be hosting a “Comedy Factory Outlet Reunion” featuring some of the most popular acts in the CFO’s history.

Both Halves of the Staff were intimately connected to the C.F.O.– The Female Half did her first open mike there and The Male Half regarded it as his “home club” for the better part of the decade known as the ’80s. The club took an unorthodox approach to booking– a product of the subtle genius of proprietor Clay Heery (aka “Captain Cranky”)– and it attracted large and loyal crowds for most of its run into the early ’90s.

While the club’s main competition, the Comedy Works, worked the obvious angle– a roster heavy on acts with network television exposure, movie credits, commercial credits– Eddie Murphy, Richard Belzer, Paul Reiser, Rich Hall, Rita Rudner– Heery’s Outlet for the most part sought out somewhat obscure or cult-status headliners– acts that might have been as yet undiscovered but no less exciting or capable of delivering, sometimes booking the room more like a bizarre, post-modern salon (John Waters? Larry Bud Melman?) rather than a comedy club.

The C.F.O. also placed an emphasis on local talent. The club’s “Midnight Madness” show was a rare open mike opportunity after the second Friday that gave many an up-and-comer the rare chance to perform to a weekend crowd (or at least that portion that chose to stick around!) and the Thursday night open mike show often attracted sold-out crowds– unheard of for the time.

In its location on Bank Street in Olde City Philadelphia (and at the earlier location at Cavanaugh’s at 32nd and Market), the Male Half recalls getting a comedy education– seeing such acts as Harry Anderson, Dr. Will Miller, Jim Tam, Grover Silcox, Joanne Deering and Emo Phillips. The Female Half logged many an hour in her formative comedy years watching such acts as Rosie O’Donnell, Dom Irrera, Klaus Myers, Bobby Collins and Andrew Dice Clay— sometimes for four shows in a weekend– from the riser at the back of the house.

And, perhaps most importantly, the Comedy Factory Outlet is where the Male Half and the Female Half first met!

We look forward to November 28 and 29.

On SixShot.com, you can read a brief summary of the recent legal trouble for Katt Williams. On Thursday, his red Escalade was parked in Manhattan with no tags. It and his nearby Mercedes Benz “party van” were discovered to contain three guns. Six weapons charges and $25,000 bail later, Williams was released and onstage an hour late for his appearance at Carnegie Hall.

This also explains why Williams stiffed Conan the other night, as some of our astute readers informed us.

This marks the second time Williams has been arrested on a gun charge. The comedian was found with a handgun in his suitcase during a security check at the Los Angeles International Airport in 2006.

What we find most startling about the story is not that Williams might be a gun fancier (and, we assume, an ardent defender of the 2nd Amendment), but that he was booked to perform at Carnegie Hall! When we hear Carnegie Hall, we think Yitzhak Perlman or Judy Garland or Duke Ellington or Lenny Bruce. Katt Williams?

We ventured across the Ben Franklin Bridge last night to hang with Rich Vos and Bonnie McFarlane (and their tot, Rayna) as they began their stint at Helium. When we arrived, we were told that they were around the corner at the Barnes & Noble, checking out the book signing on that establishment’s third floor.

When we got there, a line snaked in and around the book shelves and terminated at a large table where Jim Norton was signing his new book, “I Hate Your Guts.”

Just behind the comedian/author, Club Soda Kenny loomed over the proceedings (providing security and assistance), as one gushing fan after another obtained Norton’s signature, shared a memory or posed for a picture.

From Botswana comes this tale about two comics who have struck out on their own.

Ribcracker and MOD, the two Maitisong comedy club comics who have remained active since the club’s inception last year in June, have officially broken away from the club that helped cut their teeth as stand up comedians.
The two have enlisted a manager and launched their own club, “Laff a lil’, laff a lot” comedy jam.

It’s a story that the comics here in the U.S. can relate to (and that we’ve posted about on more than a few occasions)– comics come up in a club, take a disliking to this or that policy, then fire up their own damn venue. Even the comics halfway round the world have these problems and deal them with in much the same way.

This is especially interesting:

As for their material, Ribcracker says they do not intend to lighten up on their topics because that is the essence of stand up comedy, “Unfortunately, someone has to be the brunt of the jokes,” he says rather unapologetically.

“We do not insult our subjects or use swears words, maitseo ke selo sa ntlha,” he said. He recommends that people view them as they would a satirical cartoon or column in the newspaper. “Comedy is meant for laughter,” he said.

“We also hope that people also keep an open mind. We have had people come to our shows expecting material similar to Chris Rock‘s. We have unique styles and strengths,” says Ribcracker. “My partner MOD thinks on his feet, he engages the audience easily, speaking directly to them. While I do a lot of somersaulting of everyday mundane objects and issues.

Even the comics in Botswana are laboring under the expectations that they’ll perform material similar to (and in a style similar to) Chris Rock!

After 2.9 million votes, the contest between incumbent Norm Coleman and challenger Al Franken ended up with Coleman ahead by a relatively razor-thin margin of 475 votes.

This triggers an automatic recount.

Win or lose, you gotta hand it to Franken. Most celebrities wise guys merely carp from the sidelines or threaten to move to France if they find the outcome of the elections not to their liking. Franken sucked it up and entered the rough and tumble world of electoral politics.

An article on msnbc.com is entitled “Standup comedy takes seat in front of computer.” The subtitle of the story is “Viral humor spreads faster than you can say Numa Numa, but is it good?”

It seeks (or rather, its author, Michael Ventre seeks) to answer the question, “Is the internet a good thing for comedy and is comedy a good thing for the internet?” At least that’s our take. It seems that standup figures too promintently in the article.

It doesn’t exactly get off to a good start:

Dying is easy, comedy is hard, goes the old saw. But dying while doing comedy on the Internet is infinitely easier than doing it in front of a nightclub full of liquored-up revelers.

It’s hard to tell exactly what questions were put to the interviewees Albert Brooks, Kevin Pollak, Craig Ferguson and others. (Actually, the questions– and answers– are taken from an article in the abovementioned RS issue!)

Ventre further outlines his premise:

Sometimes the comedy comes in the form of rehearsed sketches, sometimes it’s a standup routine, sometimes it’s an improvised skit. They have all found their places amid the reality-based clips of skateboarding squirrels and rapping toddlers.

But is this comic migration having an adverse effect on the comedy itself?

We’re puzzled as to why standup is even included in this discussion.

Pollak says:

“I can’t imagine developing a point of view by just submitting work on the Internet and checking blogs.

“But it’s happening and it’s a new generation.”

Is anyone seriously trying to become a comedian by “submitting work on the Internet and checking blogs?” We’re skeptical.

Sam Reich, director of content for CollegeHumor.com seems to have a handle on things.

Online audiences’ tastes haven’t evolved much from the era of bears dancing on trampolines,” he said. “We still want to see something visually exciting, and standup isn’t that.

“Secondly, standup isn’t one joke, it’s a collection of jokes, which means I’m less likely to forward it to a friend for a specific reason, and therefore it’s less likely to go viral.

We know of no one who posts parts of his act online hoping to become The Next Big Thing– in the virtual world or the real world. Posting portions of one’s act online is, however, good for driving people to live shows or demonstrating competency in hopes of getting bookings (essentially replacing the ol’ VHS tape or the DVD in the mail). Sketch comedy, short films, etc. are a different ballgame.

Earlier in the article is an Albert Brooks quote the recent Rolling Stone comedy issue.

I think the Internet is slowly going to take down all creativity,” he told the magazine. “You can take any artist in the history of the world… and if you can have widespread opinion on their first time out, you can kill the great spark that makes them who they are… Large amounts of opinion early in an artist’s life is like a cancer.”

There’s a solution to that, Albert– Disable the comments!

It’s the first Tuesday in November of an election year. Back in October of 2001 we interviewed the man most associated with political standup (perhaps, even he will concede, after Mort Sahl), Will Durst.

It won’t take but a few minutes to read the whole thing. Here’s an excerpt:

Q. You’ve never been shy about your liberal political leanings. There seems to be a spirit of bipartisanship in Washington and among pundits and the like, do your jokes need to be more bipartisan as well? How long before this dissolves into rancor?

A. A week. No, I think you might have that perception wrong. I’m not strictly a liberal. For twelve years I railed against a Republican administration and I can understand the rep, but I did the same thing as an opposition butt burr during Elvis’ reign. I’m a populist. A blue collar schmoe who tries to translate the government blah blah into layman’s language. I’m the “Will of the People.” Yeah, right. But as far as mocking and scoffing and taunting the President, that will have to be put on the back burner for awhile. He may be a pinhead, but he’s our pinhead, Goddamit and I’m going to support him. For a while.

SPECIAL BONUS: If you hit the “Shecky Home” link on the upper lefthand corner of the page, you’ll be taken to the index for the October 2001 issue of the magazine (back when we published on a monthly basis!). We can’t guarantee that any of those links will work, but have fun clicking on them and trying!

Good news for travelling road dogs across America. Gas (with the ethanol blend) has not been seen at this level in some parts of the country in four years, so says the Omaha Herald.

Rose White of AAA Nebraska, which uses prices of regular unleaded in its surveys, said prices averaged $2.28 a gallon statewide Tuesday. Prices were lower in some places, such as Omaha, where there is strong competition, White said.

It’s down to about $2.09 a gallon here in Jersey.

We don’t do any gargantuan road trips that much any more (we’re flying a lot more these days), but it’s nice to know that if we gotta, the option to drive is still there.

The Male Half just completed a week at the Borgata in Atlantic City, working with Willy Farrell (pictured at right below) and Angel Salazar. The Borgata Comedy Club still lives up to the designation we gave it in the 2005 USA Today article that listed “The Top 10 Places to Sit Down and Watch Stand-up” and the crowds were healthy and responsive all week long. (On Friday, the room was given over to K.D. Lang. On Saturday, David Byrne took the stage. See the Female Half’s account of that concert here.)

The Male Half in the Borgata green room with Willy Farrell

Farrell hails from Des Moines and is a regular in Vegas and Atlantic City and a successful corporate comedian as well. (See this site for details on his involvement in a recent project “Stand-Up Guys”)

Photoshopped into the famous Sands pic are (l to r): Frank Santorelli, Paul D’Angelo, Farrell, John Caponera and Rocky Laporte.

From an article in the Western Washington University school newspaper on a gang of crazy kids who are doing the coffehouse open mike, comes this quote from WWU junior Alex Haley:

“My uncle was a comedian and I guess that’s where I got my first exposure to stand up comedy,” Haley said.

He said when he was in the sixth grade, his teacher made a deal with him in which she would let him do stand up for the first 10 minutes of class as long as he would stay quiet for the rest of the day. He said he usually would tell his uncle’s jokes regardless if his fellow classmates got them or not.

Reporter Talithia Taitano doesn’t follow this up with a question as to exactly who this uncle is! Brian Haley, perhaps?

We want to know, if for not other reason than to express our condolences– woe to the standup comic who encourages (accidentally or otherwise) a nephew (or a niece!) to go down the standup path! (There will no doubt be an uncomfortable holiday dinner or two in this comedian’s future as the distraught parents fear that the WWU tuition money is all for naught!)

The article is noteworthy because all the young comics seem to have their heads screwed on right and seem to be approaching this standup thing with a startling maturity and purpose.

There’s a festival going on in Vegas toward the end of this month. It’s the one sponsored by HBO and TBS and AEG Live, centered around Caesar’s. As in past years, there will be lots of big names appearing in the big rooms. And, appearing at the Emperors Ballroom at Caesars Palace (which they are calling the “LOL Lounge”), Nov. 21-22 are:

Jeff Garcia, Pete Correale, Tammy Pescatelli, Ian Bagg, Matt Braunger, Whitney Cummings, Jim David, Dana Eagle, Bret Ernst, Kirk Fox, Don Friesen, Ron G., Eddie Gossling, Brian Haner, Robert Hawkins, Gayla Johnson, Jesse Joyce, Kristin Key, Simon King, Veronica Mosey, Tim O’Rourke, Karen Rontowski, Carl Rimi, Ken Rogerson, Malik S., Dwight Slade, Paul Varghese, Laz Viciedo and Johnny Walker.

The Broadcasting & Cable article says that:

Comedy Central is planning a relaunch of Jokes.com, the centerpiece of which will be an extensive video archive of the network’s standup comedy material.

Comedy is hoping to leverage the Jokes.com URL with its standup credibility to create the go-to place for comedians’ content online. The new site is slated to be formally unveiled in December.

The Jokes.com URL started as a collection of the Web’s largest collection of jokes. In 2004 it was “merged into Comedycentral.com.” The distinction that is being made– the point of the press releases and the announcements– is that this is a “relaunch” of that portion of the comedycentral.com site and that it will be a “standalone” site specifically for jokes and standup clips. What the execs like to shorthandedly refer to as a “vertical.”

The VP of digital programming for MTVN said that “Our heritage is standup and our future is standup. We should be a conduit for you to put up your content as a standup comedian and get it placed next to the comedians you care about.”

…aspiring comedians may get the chance to upload their own original material to personalized pages, though the network is still working out the final details for the site.

We predict this will be taken off the table before relaunch. When space doesn’t really exist in “cyberspace”– This site is adjacent to comedycentral.com which is adjacent to amazon.com, which is adjacent to every other site on the WWW– the idea of putting up one’s clip “next to the comedians you care about” is nothing to get worked up about. Traffic? Sure, but without any compensation, traffic is a hollow victory, especially if all it does is divert more cash to MTVN’s 122 channels, more than 100 Web sites, broadband channels and mobile content providers.

It wouldn’t be the first time they floated an idea then pulled it. Four years ago they announced plans for a cable channel devoted solely to standup. Perhaps that idea has morphed into a “vertical standalone” called Jokes.com.