They grow up so fast!

Our short film, “A Man And A Woman,” will be shown tonight at the new Boston comedy club Mottley’s as part of the Boston Comedy Fest’s Imagine Movie Night. It will be among 12 shorts shows this evening, with the audience fave receiving $1,000!

So, hop on over to Mottley’s (check the link above for location and show times) and watch the movies and vote for our hopping windup toy epic!

Ron White gave an interview to the Atlanta Constitution-Journal while staying at the Buckhead Hotel in Atlanta. He sat down with the AC-J’s Christian Boone to clear the air (Cough! Cough!) after his arrest in Vero over the weekend.

White claims the bust was set in motion by disgruntled ex-employees, namely two pilots he canned in May.

But until now he’s been silent about his dispute with two former employees who piloted his private jet, the “Tater Air,” for more than a year. The pilots have alleged that on May 11, as they flew over New York, an intoxicated White burst into the cockpit and threatened to fight them and crash the plane.

White denied the pilots’ account.

“Do I look like somebody who wants to die?” he said. “My life is in my prime. I’ve never had more fun in my life than I’m having now.”

That’s a shot of the screen aboard White’s plane that tells you where the Raytheon Hawker 400 is in relation to the mortals on the ground. It’s from Kid Dave Miller’s first-person account of an excursion aboard Tater Air that ran in this magazine back in February 2006.

According to TCPalm.com:

VERO BEACH — Comedian Ron White told police the marijuana he was carrying with him when he stepped off his jet Wednesday was for medicinal purposes, according to the arrest affidavit released Thursday.

The Vero Beach Police Department arrested the “Blue Collar Comedy Tour” star on charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. White, whose home address was listed on the affidavit as Beverly Hills, Calif., told officers the marijuana was for medicinal purposes, but he could not provide a prescription.

The story says that an “anonymous tipster” told the Vero cops to be waiting at the airport when the plane landed. The story doesn’t say where the plane took off from.

It’s two misdemeanors– possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to his spokesperson, who told SHECKYmagazine that White spent two hours in jail but was released in time to do that evening’s show, if a half-hour late.

In a related story– Sylvia Cochran (“A mom and opinionated freelance writer, she juggles dirty diapers, mom taxi duty, and the next deadline looming large.”) conflates Ron White’s arrest with Andy Dick’s trainwreck of a public meltdown and speculates thusly on Associated Content:

At this time, Ron White is probably wondering who is the fink that turned stoolpigeon and ratted him out to “the man.” Andy Dick should be wondering what kinds of friends he has that they did not help him to stay away from illegal substances and also booze, seeing that he had already done a stint in rehab. I am wondering about drug use and touring comedians.

Time Magazine did an excellent article on the darker side of the comedic life. Even as there are allowances to be made for hectic touring schedules and all the show business nonsense that goes on, there are the fights, the drunken brawls, and sadly also the suicides that stand in direct contrast to the funny man image.

And, of course, among the non-comedian population, NONE OF THAT GOES ON!

What a maroon.

We are wondering about stupidity and freelance writing.

From the Appleton (WI) Post-Crescent comes Eric Klister’s assessment of the current state of comedy. He presents a roundup of all the comedians coming to the area in “What’s so funny? Plenty, as standup comedy steps to the forefront.”

The latest issue of Rolling Stone says we’re in the new golden age of comedy. But we don’t need a magazine to tell us that. All we have to do is look at the entertainment schedule for the next few months.

It’s a huge season for standup comedy, and the timing couldn’t be better. With fall and winter right around the corner, uncertainty surrounding the Packers’ season (Monday night’s win notwithstanding) and no end in sight to the nation’s economic downward spiral, we need something to make us laugh.

Here’s a look at where to find the funny.

Klister then cites upcoming appearances by Iliza Shlesinger, Jeff Dye, Jim Tavare, Louis Ramey, Marcus, George Lopez, Robin Williams, Mike Birbiglia, Jerry Seinfeld, Carlos Mencia, Kathleen Madigan, Drew Hastings, Jim Gaffigan, Frank Caliendo and Brad Garrett.

Huh? Obviously, Klister misinterpreted what Rolling Stone has decreed. (Or he didn’t read the issue very carefully.) According to the RS Comedy Issue, the comics cited above are all (with one or two possible exceptions) examples of what is the old guard. Too punchline-dependent, too slick, too polished. Totally unashamed about appearing to be telling jokes and, therefore, passé and hopelessly last century. They are all what is wrong with comedy, according to the oracles at Wenner Media.

Apparently, both Klister and the folks who produce shows in Appleton and Green Bay are utterly out of touch with the current trends. We suspect that the fine citizens of northeast Wisconsin will shun such offerings and demand that promoters bring in foul-mouthed ex-junkies and various other purveyors of awkwardness and uneasy pauses.

From Asia Times Online comes the mysterious, one-named Spengler, whose latest column is called “A comedy of areas,” in which he channels the late George Carlin and quotes from both Carlin and Sam Kinison to illustrate his points.

Who are these countries, and why are they there? They don’t seem to want to be there much longer. The late Kinison’s “World Hunger” routine comes to mind:

You want to help world hunger? Stop sending them food. Don’t send them another bite, send them U-Hauls. Send them luggage, folks. Send them somebody like me. I’ll walk out there. Send a guy that says, “Hey, you know, we just drove 700 miles with your food and we realized there wouldn’t BE world hunger if you people would live where the FOOD IS! YOU LIVE IN A DESERT!! UNDERSTAND THAT? YOU LIVE IN A ***** DESERT!! NOTHING GROWS HERE! NOTHING’S GONNA GROW HERE! Come here, you see this? This is sand. Nothing grows in this *****. Here, eat some of. Taste it. You know what it’s gonna be 100 years from now? IT’S GONNA BE SAND!! YOU LIVE IN A ***** DESERT! We have deserts in America, we just don’t live in them, *****!

Only in the context of over-the-top black humor do Americans ask the obvious question, namely: What are certain countries doing there in the first place? Merely suggesting that some of them might not need to be there made Kinison, who died in a 1992 car crash, the deepest foreign-policy thinker of his generation.

We never thought we’d see Kinison mentioned in a column on foreign policy. Or Carlin who, Spengler says, “was the closest thing stand-up comedy had to Goethe’s Mephistopheles…” and that…

Everyone isn’t going to make it, Carlin tells us, and those who don’t can go ***** themselves – desert countries where there isn’t any food and former Soviet republics where there aren’t any babies, for example.

Not everyone is going to make it. That should be America’s mantra. America was settled by people who didn’t think that Europe was going to make it, and decided that the better part of valor was to bail out and start something new. Georgia and Ukraine are not going to make it. They are past the point of no return. Nothing will save them. They do not like life well enough to perpetuate it. ***** them.

Again, we never thought we’d see anyone use the words (both real and imagined) of George Carlin to take down Wilsonian idealism. It reminds us of the English teachers of the ’70s who attempted to use comic books as a means to instill a love of reading in grade schoolers!

On the occasion of the release of “Do You Believe in Gosh?” the final comedy CD by Mitch Hedberg from Comedy Central Records, Dave Itzkoff writes about the in the NYT about the circumstances surrounding the release.

For Mr. Hedberg’s colleagues and loved ones, however, the album is a climactic step in a lengthy grieving process– an acknowledgment that this influential comedian really is gone.

“You know what it is,” said Lynn Shawcroft, Mr. Hedberg’s widow. “It’s part of letting go. And losing control a little bit.”

There’ll be a show on Tuesday night in NYC at Comix celebrating Hedberg. Call (212) 524-2500 or go to comixny.com for info.

The MSM loves Rolling Stone. Some of the editors at some of the larger dailies can probably still remember when it was a thick, newsprint tabloid, purchased in “head shops,” the patchouli incense thick in the air.

Those associations die hard. Most of them still associate the magazine with the counter culture, with daring, with acid and dropping the needle on a fresh copy of “Are You Experienced?”

The most recent issue has Robin Williams featured on the mega-gatefold cover.

It’s. Over.

Why do we care? Because they’ve come out with their Comedy Issue. And the MSM slavishly features chunks and snippets and links to the online tease, assuring the magazine will hit its circulation marks. It’s a hefty circulation. They’re a power house among magazines. (Heck, until very recently, publisher Jann Wenner was making all kinds of noise about building a casino in Vegas!) But their motto may as well be “All the cognitive dissonance that fits.” As a barometer of what is hip, RS is about as accurate as the Kohl’s circular that shows up in your Sunday paper.

So, when they turn their attention to comedy, we grudgingly pony up the $4.50 and cringe as we wade through their rather cursory survey of the current comedy zeitgeist. It’s predictably dopey.

On the front cover, they trumpet “The Golden Age of Comedy,” but the content provides little justification for such a claim. Oh, sure, the case could be made that we’re in a golden age of comedy, but RS certainly doesn’t make it.

There’s that little matter of Robin Williams on the cover. And Martin Short.

And, between the covers, there’s more of the same RS drivel and arrogance– The over-arching theme is “What’s Funny Now.” Could a publication be more arrogant? And, when one realizes that the people, the memes, the products and content are all so obviously placed by networks and agents and studios, the whole enterprise is somewhat embarrassing.

Get a load of this quote, from the flagship article (entitled “What’s Funny Now”), which is subtitled “Is the punchline dead? From The Office to Judd Apatow to Garfield Minus Garfield, the new golden age of comedy is more about uneasy pauses than rat-a-tat jokes. Meet the new awkward.”

“As with indie rock and punk before it, the new comedy’s impoverished look signals its lack of show business phoniness.”

We have no problem with niches. This awkward thing is a niche, a cultural speed bump. This nonsense about comedy’s “new impoverished look” or it’s “lack of show business phoniness” is laughable. And their eagerness to declare that good, solid standup is dead– and that some form of rumpled, pseudo-authentic, Kerou-whackiness has replaced it– is pathetic. (NBC has been pushing the “awkward is the new funny” meme for some time now.)

The first person quoted in the article is Lorne Michaels. Lorne Micheals! Could they find a bigger network whore than Lorne Michaels? Could they dig up a more tired, more formulaic, more dead-behind-the-eyeballs purveyor of warmed-over crap than Lorne Michaels? Who really cares what the quote is? They’ve managed to utterly demolish their sub-head premise with just one attribution!

Venturing further into the article, we leard that Kristen Wiig is the hot new thing! (Pay no attention to the several hundred thousand dollars worth of advertising inside the front and back gatefold!)

Patton Oswalt is quoted. Of course. We have a love/hate relationship with Oswalt. We love him onstage. We despise the claptrap he peddles to the press. We suppose it works for him. (He is, after all, quoted in the latest issue of Rolling Stone!) But his quotes are often infuriating.

“I put years in on the road, just being onstage constantly, and it was all about having to get laughs no matter what,” says Patton Oswalt, who has headlined the Comedians of Comedy Tour for the past four years. “Then I just burned my act down to the ground.” Like other standups of his generation, Oswalt developed a deep distrust of punchlines. “What you’re saying is, ‘I need you guys to like me.’ Those are really ugly aspects to a comedian.”

This is right in Rolling Stone’s wheelhouse! He maintains that every great comedian that came before him was a pathetic, needy cockroach that submitted to the tyranny of the punchline out of a need to be accepted. And the corollary is that those who shun the punchline (or artfully create the illusion of doing so) are, by comparison, worthy warriors in the new Golden Age of Comedy!

If Oswalt truly didn’t care what the audience thought– if he didn’t especially “need you guys to like me”– he would have soldiered on in the clubs and been gleefully despised by one audience after another. Instead he made the switch to so-called alt venues– where people liked him.

RS could have actually made the case for a golden age. They could have written rapturously and with wonder about the eye-popping opportunity that exists– for performers and consumers alike– in the 21st century’s sprawling comedy marketplace. Instead, they offered a narrow, parochial survey of what’s out there, packaged as a hipster’s guide to what’s funny.

From the Independent (Ireland), comes this news of another study involving humor:

Forget the big car, the big heart, or even the big house. The quickest way to a woman’s heart is the ability to poke fun at yourself.

Anthropologist Gil Greengross, who conducted a two-year study into the art of seduction, has discovered that self-deprecating humour is the most attractive trait in a man.

The less serious he is, the more women seriously want him. A witty man can, apparently, have us laughing all the way to the bed.

Article author Siobhan Cronin quotes from the New Mexico University study and even provides examples and an archetype or two (think Hugh Grant’s character in “Notting Hill”).

It winds up with a pitch for exactly why comedians should consider self-deprecating humor, or, as the Irish put it, “taking the mickey out of yourself.” Explains Irish comic Jarlath Regan:

“Well, if there’s one thing Irish people hate more than anything, it’s someone who talks themselves up,” he says.

“It makes us uneasy. We struggle to know what to say when someone starts to tell you how great they are.”

He says the same rules apply to stand-up comedy. Self-deprecating humour is essential for a stand-up comedian to convince the audience that they are not simply on stage because they think they’re brilliant.

There’s always going to be someone who doesn’t like what you’re doing or thinks you should be doing what you’re doing differently.

This even applies to the folks who do Christian comedy.

You might figure that all Christian comics get along… that they’re all part of the same gang, all in agreement as to how to approach the task of making Christians laugh. You’d figure wrong.

From VideoBusiness.com, is an article by Chris Gennusa titled “Godly Humor– Christian Comedians Keep Their Comedy Acts Clean.” The occasion is the release of four DVD’s which, in one way or another, deal with religion or feature one or more Christian comics.

Jeff Allen is one of the four comics featured in “Apostles of Comedy: The Movie.”

Depending on where Allen is performing, sometimes more than just the comic’s “potty mouth” is left on the cutting room floor. “If I go into a comedy club, I do the same show I would in front of a church group, but I don’t share my [religious] journey at the club,” says the veteran comic, who says he “found Christ” 12 years ago, after doing stand-up since the late ’70s.

Not every comic agrees, however, that leaving your religious beliefs at the velvet rope is a wise choice. “I think a Christian comic is someone that makes you laugh while sharing the story of Jesus,” stand-up comic Bob Smiley says. “I try to do that at every show I do. If you are going to add the ‘Christian’ part to your job title, then you ought to have the message of Christ in your show.”

We interviewed Allen way back in 2000. (Pardon the broken image links… it’s from the Wayback Machine!)

SHECKYmagazine: You found God…how much material did you lose?

None, there really isn’t one piece of material that I used to do that I haven’t been able to rework for the churches. It actually made a number of them better because I had to get a thesaurus out and use the language, which make for better stories.

Speaking of Christian comics… or comics who happen to be Christian, we ran into Taylor Mason the other night (see photo below). Mason, who was recently featured on early episodes of this season’s Last Comic Standing, was performing locally. In addition to doing standup, Mason is also doing a bit of writing on the side for a website called New Christian Voices (“dedicated to taking a lighter, joyous, humorous look at spirituality.”) which employs a handful of comedians to generate their content. Among the other comics are Brad Stine and Teresa Roberts Logan.

Terry Boyd, writing in Business First of Louisville, details the opening of a new club in that city’s Fourth Street Live complex. It’s not the first time that venue has had a comedy club– Rascal’s briefly opened there a few years back.

The new one is called Stand Up Live. The owners also have interests in comedy clubs in Nashville, Marco Island (FL), West Palm, and Lauderdale. They see the Louisville market as “underserved.”

The comedy club will feature “A” list talent, Bachkoff said, such as Comedy Central regular Sinbad and Jimmy Fallon, the comedian and actor who got his start on Saturday Night Live.

On the opening weekend, Pat Godwin is scheduled to perform. Donnie Baker from the nationally syndicated “The Bob and Tom Show” is scheduled during the Ryder Cup weekend, Sept. 19 and 20, Bachkoff said.

The new venue is 2.5 miles from the Comedy Caravan comedy club, which has served Louisville for two decades.

“It’s not your average comedy club that sells popcorn and beer,” said managing partner Joel Bachkoff. Ouch! It seems to be the new strategy: Open up in one of those complexes that feature retail, restaurants, parking, maybe a multi-screen movie theater– and provide a high-end experience which includes, “expensive materials for a high-end look, including premium restroom fixtures, stone floors and wood accents.” It’s the maturation of the standup business. Whereas before (in the early ’80s) funky was the order of the day (think of the old Catch A Rising Star on 78th in Manhattan), now stone floors and daiquiris and banquettes are offered. It’s a strategy for the long haul.

Oseyiza Oogbodo, writing for ModernGhana.com, interviews Mandy, “the undisputed queen of comedy in Nigeria.”

Talking about the problem on a wider scope, what are you actually doing to breed new female comedians?

I can’t breed them. Comedy is not like you go to university to learn theater arts. It’s a gift. You have to be funny.

Do you think there are other female comedians out there, apart from the three or so of you that we have now?

We are more than three. We have Helen Paul, she is very good, she does mimicry of a little baby. We have Dudu Evans, the albino girl. We have Deola Chatterbucks, Najite Dede that’s now into directing and the rest. We have females.

Now let me just use this as an appeal. Anybody that’s reading this, and you are a female and you know you are funny, what I mean funny is that your friends comment on your ability to make them laugh, that’s the first sign for you to know you are extraordinary, you have it inside you. So please if you know you have that, just get in touch with me.

At times, the interview seems somewhat contentious, but we think it might be because of translation problems. It’s a fascinating look into the various markets that are developing on the continent. Comparing their progress to that of the U.S., some countries seem to have arrived at the early ’70s, some seem to have developed as far as 1981 or so and still others seem mired in th ’50s. From what we’ve read in other articles, South Africa is the market that seems to have come the furthest.

One thing is for sure: Deola Chatterbucks is our new favorite comedian name! (Dudu Evans is a close second.)

Associated Press is running an article, “Philly school rekindles same-sex education debate” which describes Boy Latin, one of four single-sex schools in the Philadelphia School District.

Because it’s a single-sex public school – one of four in the city– Boys’ Latin faced huge opposition and almost didn’t exist.

Critics contend it’s unfair for taxpayers to fund a prep school curriculum for boys only. Supporters say Boys’ Latin is desperately needed in a city where 45 percent of students drop out and male academic achievement badly lags that of females.

“Obviously something had to be done differently to engage these young men and prepare them for graduation, and for success beyond high school graduation,” said David Hardy, Boys’ Latin co-founder and acting principal.

We cite the article here because Hardy practiced the fine art of standup comedy before founding Boys Latin. Performing under the name of David P. Hardy, he was, throughout most of the ’80s and part of the ’90s, familiar to Philly (and east coast) audiences as a witty, soft-spoken and immensely likable comedian by night and was a teacher and family man by day.

Check out Boys’ Latin’s website here.

Hardy is pictured below (with the Female Half of the Staff) at the November ’06 Paul F. Tompkins Philly Comics Reunion.

We always thought it was some sort of old-fashioned public relations campaign… something to enhance David Spade‘s reptutation (or create it!)… this idea that was always floated, through text and pics, that Spade was a serial dater of hot chicks, super-models, etc.

Turns out it’s real. (Or perhaps we, and Associated Press, have been snookered.)

(Spade) is the father of Playboy playmate Jillian Grace’s newborn daughter.

That’s Grace at left. Odd that Spade’s photo accompanies the AP story and not Grace’s. Doubly odd, that when you bang someone slightly more famous than you (even when you are the more attractive), the wires run the pic of the more famous of the two of you. We will make up for this injustice by running this pleasant photo of the new mom. And, of course, it’s unique visitor bait!

Not Dan St. Paul, but St. Paul, MN, the city that will host the Republican National Convention. Quite the schedule– Durst just finished up four days of wreaking havoc in Denver at the Democratic National Convention.

His interview with the Sun-Times earlier this month demonstrates his superb ability to give good interview. He is always prepared with a pithy quote, some bio info, an insight into standup and, of course, a zinger or two.

Durst reads at least three newspapers a day and promotes his stand-up as “comedy for people who read or know someone that does.”

Electing to do topical humor, he admits that he’s obliged to do all that homework. “If something happens and I don’t talk about it, I’m bogus,” said Durst. “Sometimes I don’t even have to have a joke. All I have to do is acknowledge that it went on.”

Hit his website here.

the folks at TheStreet.com report that Jerry Seinfeld earned $267 million in 1998.

In the ongoing grind to create content, they have created Stockpickr, an anonymous guy who chooses… a celeb, a regular person, an object… and speculates as to what stocks he/she/it might own or want to own.

In this case, they chose Jerry. Fascinating. Kinda geeky, but, hey, money geeks gotta have their version of fantasy football or a rotisserie league.

A reader writes:

What do you have against Greg Giraldo? After looking through about 2 years of your blogs, you not only fail to include his work, but you seem to leave him out of projects intentionally.

That’s us! That’s what we do– we leave folks out of projects intentionally, hoping that their star will fall. It’s one of the things we started the magazine for! One of our goals was to rid the standup world of that pesky Greg Giraldo!

Seriously, though, we replied:

Worked with Greg back in ’96. Great act, great guy. Ran into him at Richie Vos/Bonnie McF’s reception at Caroline’s a coupla years back. Still a great guy! Ran a nice photo of him from that party.

Just used the Google tool bar on our site and checked the radio button next to SHECKYmagazine.com and up came 25 references to Greg Giraldo… Hmmm… perhaps you missed some references to him

Have a good day.

Just a reminder– Use that Google toolbar at the top of the page to plow through our archives. It’s been at the top of the page for five years or so and it’s invaluable!

Is it not the dream of every radio show– migrating from radio to the small screen? Superstation WGN will air a compilation (an “edited, same-day one-hour version”) show taken from each that day’s Bob & Tom Show.

The addition of “Bob & Tom” is emblematic of Tribune Co. efforts to develop a new identity for the national cable channel known as Superstation WGN until it was rebranded in late May.

Calling Kevoian and Griswold “the best comedians in America,” Compton said the “timely best-of show will appeal to their extensive fan base and further expand their nationwide audience.

Sounds grueling! Videotape the show for four hours, then carve it up into an hour show for airing that evening!

Thanks to blast from the past Vince Vieceli for the tip!

There is a tremendous article in USA Today which describes the difficulties faced by the producers, writers, correspondents and host of The Daily Show doing their show on the road from Denver.

Problem is, all that love is interfering with their task at hand: catching unguarded delegates in funny outfits acting foolish. This is the show’s sixth road trip, having covered the 2000 and 2004 conventions (including one in the show’s home base of New York City) and having gone to Washington and Columbus, Ohio, for midterm elections in 2002 and 2006.

But as the show has grown more popular– averaging 1.8 million viewers this year, up 13 per cent from last– things have changed. Among a certain crowd of news media, politicians and educated young viewers courted by them, it’s a sacred institution.

And, as it becomes more holy, Stewart becomes more uncomfortable and just a bit cranky. But Stewart can’t help himself. He courts his sacred status by doing things like having breakfast with a couple dozen political reporters from across the country and berating them. He takes the news orgs to task and bemoans “that false sense of urgency they create, the sense that everything is breaking news… The 24-hour networks are now driving the narratives and everyone else is playing catch-up.” Professor Stewart must be amused by just how much abuse the media will take from him. (And he must get a tingle when dishing it out.)

Not all are amused. The SF Chronicle’s Phil Bronstein:

But, get this. He “declared his love for newspapers,” the Post story said. OK, we’ll take it as a win for our struggling medium, but doesn’t that make him an old fogy? What else did he say: Network newscasts are “obsolete.” Cable TV news is a circus and Fox News is not “fair and balanced.” Oh, and some journalists get too cozy with their subjects.

How many millions of times have you read that critique? I look to Jon for great irreverence, brilliant, rapier-like insight and hilarity. Please, Jon, don’t start saying what everyone else says. Unless you’re going to satirize yourself.

Associated Press is reporting that Jeff Ross will be among the 13 contestants who launch the new season of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars.

Ross doesn’t make it into the story’s lede. Nor does he make it into the “other contestants” paragraph.

The other contestants are Cloris Leachman, Kim Kardashian, Ted McGinley, Brooke Burke, NFL champ Warren Sapp and two Olympic athletes: Misty May-Treanor, who won her second gold medal for beach volleyball at this year’s summer games in Beijing, and Maurice Greene, who won two gold medals in track at the 2000 games in Sydney.

Rounding out the cast are chef Rocco DiSpirito, Cody Linley of “Hannah Montana” and comedian Jeffrey Ross.

That’s right, he’s “rounding out the cast.” They should mike him throughout the whole ordeal, as he’ll probably be conducting mini-roasts of his competitors along the way.

Read our interview with Ross here.

On the 15th of this month, we linked to the Phoenix article that detailed Bill Blumenreich’s migration from his Faneuil Hall Comedy Connection room to the huge Wilbur Theater location.

Now we receive word that a new comedy room will open up in Faneuil Hall, but in a smaller, 100-seat venue downstairs. Mottley’s is the creation of Tim McIntire, Jon Lincoln and Jeff Fairbanks. The first two are comics.

From the press release:

“We think we can fill a void not only in Faneuil Hall but also in the Boston comedy scene,” said Lincoln, a touring comedian and 2004 Northeastern University graduate who (with Fairbanks) formerly owned the Cape Cod Comedy Lounge in Hyannis. “Mottley’s Comedy Club will be a showcase club for the city’s best comedians, in an environment that encourages creativity. Sound, lights and staging will be top notch, and the quality of comedians and atmosphere will be a level above what you’ll find anywhere else in town.”

The grand opening will be Sept. 15-20, with special shows as part of this years Boston Comedy Festival.

We recall that in the Phoenix story, Blumenreich was quoted as saying, “I love the Boston comics, but the day of Boston people flocking to see local comedians has come and gone. You can’t squeeze blood out of a stone.” We also recall thinking that was one of the dopiest things we’d ever heard anyone in this business say. Apparently, three entrepreneurs from Boston also thought it rather dopey.

The booking policy will include bringing in acts from out of town, but we understand that the club will, quite logically, pack their calendar with a mix of local acts from the town’s alternative scene and from that city’s corps of peerless “legacy” acts.

Bookmark the under-construction Mottley’s website.

There is much speculation as to exactly why Microsoft is handing $10 million to Jerry Seinfeld to star (and, we assume, help to punch up) a series of adverts designed to rekindle enthusiasm for the company’s Vista operating system.

From Jay Lyman, blogging for The451Group:

So can Jerry Seinfeld help Microsoft make Vista a little more fun and a little more popular? I’ve seen Mr. Seinfeld recently on late-night doing funny new material, but there is always that immediate flash back to Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer, a return to the 1990s when ‘Seinfeld’ the TV show ruled the ratings, a time when Windows was at perhaps the peak of its desktop dominance with Windows 95 and 98. That dominance carried through to Windows XP, largely unencumbered by competition from Apple’s Mac, Linux or anything else. However, we live in today, and I think Jerry Seinfeld harkens us back to different times (better times if you’re Microsoft). Now with Mac gaining more significant market share and Linux creeping into the desktop market with momentum in some segments such as netbooks, Microsoft lives in a different world. Maybe the company thought it could transport us back to the days of Windows 95 and Windows 98, but regardless of new software or new material, Seinfeld may just remind people of old times and the old Microsoft.

Seinfeld is an icon. Sure, his series may have ended in May of 1998, but it lives on in syndication (and subsequent generations of viewers don’t look at syndication as the content graveyard that previous generations did), and on DVD, making it much fresher and more relevant than expired series of the past may have appeared.

Since his show went off the air, he’s appeared on late-night talk shows doing new material, he’s gone on the road doing an entirely new set and turned that experience into what might be the greatest ever documentary on a performer (rivaling D. A. Pennebaker’s “Don’t Look Back?” Anyone? Comments?). And he’s produced a hit movie.

Microsoft and Seinfeld will counter the PC/Mac series from Apple. It oughta be interesting.

They’ll be taping Comedy Central Presents next week at New York’s Hudson Theater (adjacent to the Millennium Hotel) at 145 West 44th Street. And you are cordially invited to attend.

This year’s crop:

Sunday, August 24 (arrival time: 8:00 p.m.)
Joe DeRosa & Brian Scolaro

Monday, August 25 (arrival time: 6:00 p.m.)
Dan Levy & Bo Burnham

Wednesday, August 27 (arrival time: 6:00 p.m.)
Anthony Jeselnik & Doug Benson

Wednesday, August 27 (arrival time: 8:00 p.m.)
Kurt Metzger & Tom Rhodes

Friday, August 29 (arrival time: 6:00 p.m.)
John Mulaney & Kristen Schaal

An AP article by Nicholas Geranios tells of a study by researcher Nancy Bell that found, among other things, that…

…jokes that fail to deliver humor are a violation of a social contract, so punishing the teller can discourage similar behavior in the future.

The article is very kitchen-sinky. (It even references Maxim’s “12 Worst Comedians of All Time” article that we commented on two years ago yesterday. They call it recent!) And the “study” seems very rickety by scientific standards.

But, at the heart of it, there’s something that we here have always maintained– folks get very hostile when their sense of humor is assaulted or their funny bone isn’t tickled to their liking.

This social contract of which Bell speaks is taken very seriously. Ever more so when the contract involves actual cash– a cover charge– and certain other provisions, real or implied– offering “professional” comedians at a comedy club, for instance. Of the dozens or hundreds (or perhaps even thousands) of micro social contracts we enter into– and perhaps break– on a daily basis, none engenders such strong feelings as that between attempted humorist and audience, whether at the water cooler or at the comedy club.

Kliph Nesteroff’s blog entry on George Carlin deals with George Carlin’s early years, from 1956 to 1970.

Unfortunately no official biography has been written to date on Carlin’s life. The earliest years of his career have yet to receive any comprehensive exploration. In a 1998 interview with Tom Snyder, Carlin said that he had a biography he was “working on now” in collaboration with Tony Hendra. It was the first time he mentioned the project and it has not been referred to since. Until the time when such a book comes to fruition, we can merely piece together tidbits from the several hundred interviews he conducted and some of the ancient footage that has survived in order to trace the path of the baby faced, clean cut, early George Carlin.

Lots of factoids about Carlin’s career, lots of quotes from the man himself and plenty of links to odd videos from Carlin’s appearances on multiple variety shows in the 60s.

Our favorite quote (we’re not sure where from, since it’s not footnoted):

The hardest years of my life were the three or four years when I was doing straight, mainstream, bullshit television shows,” he remembered, “I didn’t know my head was different. I didn’t understand that. If I thought about it at nine years of age [the dream of being on television] must still be valid at twenty-one, but it wasn’t– that clicked in… from the acid. Thank God for acid.

According to movie fan site Chud.com Crowe is working with a writer from New Zealand on a biopic (that’s BYE-oh-pic, not bye-AH-pic, as we’ve heard some morons say) on the life of Bill Hicks.

The folks at Chud thank Flicks News for pointing it out in the first place.

It all comes from an off-hand comment that Crowe made to the Sydney Morning Herald. (Of course, no comment made by a box office star to a major international publication is ever off-hand!)

Crowe is spending time in his home in Woolloomooloo, the town that always looks misspelled!

Dick Cavett expounds on his brief foray into standup and why comics become comics in the New York Times.

And when it works and when, as the great Lynn Fontanne — of that unsurpassed pair of stage comedians, Lunt and Fontanne– phrased it on a show of mine, “on those nights when you’re going high” the thrill is one you don’t get in the pants business.”

Of all the conclusions Cavett makes here, this might be the one closest to reality. We are moved to drag out Occam’s Razor:

…The explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory.

For the flip side of Occam’s Razor, check out the many comments under Cavett’s piece. In particular, check out the blowhard “Rob L” from entertainment hotspot N. Myrtle Beach and Elizabeth Fuller, who writes:

My impulse is to whisk the comic off stage to give him or her a hug and then a good talking to. Your column didn’t satisfy my need to know why I react this way, but it’s nice to know someone else sees the brutality and pain involved in the whole enterprise.

All these folks leave out the very obvious fact that, when one gets good at standup, doing it is fun. Travel, good conversation, no boss, freebies, drinking on the job, appearances on television and radio, cameraderie of fellow comics, lots of laughs– No one ever mentions these perks! Brutality? Pain?

We’re of the opinion that the comments feature after an opinion piece like the one in today’s NYT is like a Rorshach test– the commenters’ own fears, hopes and demons are revealed in the course of expounding on one of their greatest fears, that of standing and addressing a roomful of strangers.

See the SHECKYmagazine interview with Cavett here.

Thanks to Jamie Bendall for pointing us toward the column.

In March, we linked to an article in the Globe about how Bill Blumenreich, the man behind Boston’s Comedy Connection was considering bugging out of his Faneuil Hall space and hopping over to the Wilbur. Well, according to The Phoenix, Blumenreich…

…has signed a 20-year-lease for the venerable old (it was built in 1913) theater at Tremont and Stuart Streets. He’s moved his base of operations from the 490-seat club– which had been the biggest comedy club in the country– to a 1200-seat theater, which he says is now the biggest comedy theater in the country. At the Wilbur– Blumenreich may rename it– he’s left alone the balcony and mezzanine, but ripped out the floor seats to put in tables and chairs. He also had four split-levels sections built for better visibility.

Just how does Blumenreich expect to fill these seats? With a super-duper, blockbuster booking policy, that’s how.

“If you take the biggest 100 names in comedy, you’ll see 90 of them here in the next couple of years.” For instance, Sarah Silverman– “hot as a pistol,” quips Blumenreich– will likely be paid more than $100,000 to do a two-show night this fall, with tickets priced between $45 and $65. Craig Ferguson will play (and film) at least three shows here in October.

Hey, Bill, while you’re at it, why don’t you burn a bridge or two and diss the local acts?

“I love the Boston comics,” says Blumenreich, “but the day of Boston people flocking to see local comedians has come and gone. You can’t squeeze blood out of a stone.”

And they love you, too, Bill.

FOSJoe Starr shot out a bulletin in which he draws attention to his cousin Vincent Hancock, of whom he is justifiably proud. Hancock, it seems…

“…is on the USA Shooting Team in Beijing. As of this moment he is in 1st place after the semi-finals of the Men’s Skeet. Later tonight he goes for the gold.– G.O.L.D.”

UPDATE: Hancock won the gold (see photo at left) yesterday afternoon in Beijing, sometime after 3 AM our time.

Hancock is big news in the niche world of skeet shooting– his photograph appears (at least for today) on the front page of the NBC Olympics page devoted to the sport.

We’re trying to determine if skeet shooting is one of the sports that NBC will bring to online viewers. Nothing seems to be scheduled online… yet. We here at SHECKYmagazine HQ have been watching the games on the telly, with a laptop connected to the internet by our side. NBC has finally entered the 20th century and is offering hours of programming– both taped and live– via the internet. It’s fascinating and much of the video is offered raw, uncut, with no commercials. And it’s free of the constant nattering of announcers, color men or former medal-winners. (A lot of it is eerie– sweeping shots of the venue before the event begins, lots of footage of practice and warmups, long shots of athletes and coaches in the downtime between competitions. We prefer it this way!)

Hop onto NBCOlympics.com and download the Silverlight video player and check it all out!

It’s got it all right there in the title: ComedyFilmNerdsDotCom.com.

From the website comes this more detailed explanation:

The founders of Comedy Film Nerds are Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini, two filmmakers who are also comics. Or are they comics who are also filmmakers? Who cares? Anyhoo, we started this site for comedy and film fans. And to make money. Oodles of it. Disney money. Well, not really. We started this site because what we wanted to see in a comedy and/or film website didn’t exist. So here we are.

Mancini started doing standup in the open mikes of Philadelphia before migrating to Hollywood and plunging into the world of making movies. His DVD compilation, “Myopic Visions,” features a good chunk of his work (and features a handful of Philly comics in various roles!) and is available here.

Hop on and read the interviews, buy a CD, a DVD, a book, a T-shirt. download free videos! See the people behind the website perform live at the Comedy Film Nerds premiere live show, September 5 at the UCB Theater in Los Angeles, featuring live standup from Mancini, Elwood, Mike Schmidt and Jackie Kashian.

A week from tomorrow, Friday, August 22, at the Broadway Comedy Club, will be a “Star-Studded Kensington Kitties Benefit.” featuring (among others) Lord Carrett, Rob Cantrell and Tom Ryan. Kensington Kitties is a “cat rescue and adoption group,” according to the splendid posters that are circulating. Tickets are $20 with a two-drink minimum and the doors open at 7:30 PM. It’s a good chance to see our old buddy/columnist Tom Ryan and help out some doomed cats! How often does one get to do that in one evening?

We couldn’t find an online presence for Bernie Mac’s charitable foundation, but the address is:

The Bernie Mac Foundation for Sarcoidosis
40 E. 9th St., Suite 601
Chicago, IL 60605

If you’d like to contribute to the FSR (Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research), click here.

Here is our post about Bernie Mac’s death from Saturday.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Bernie Mac has died at the age of 50 in a Chicago hospital. He had been suffering from pneumonia. We posted in 2006 that Mac had been diagnosed in 1983 with sarcoidosis. Mac’s publicist had been denying that his recent troubles were serious and had been predicting his imminent release from the hospital. Sarcoidosis attacks the lungs and the immune system.