We heard last night, hanging out with a few comics at the Borgata, that Lucien Hold, the GM and talent coordinator of New York’s Comic Strip, passed away just a few short days ago. We hadn’t seen anything on the wires, so we were going to hunt something down on the WWW when we got the chance. On the way home from Atlantic City, we decided that perhaps the best way to run something on Hold’s death would be to ask someone, a comic (of course), to write something up on him and reflect on what his life and death might have meant to the writer and to the comedy community in general. For some reason, we decided that we’d send an email to Ross Bennett. A couple of other matters got in the way an we neglected to send out the email.

So we were quite surprised when we received an email from Bennett today… and doubly surprised when the email turned out to be an alert to a piece that he had posted on his website concerning factual errors that had occurred in some of the mainstream press’ obituaries of Lucien Hold.

When Lucien told me this story he spoke of how some comics “rise to the occasion.” And this is what Chris (Rock) did. Lucien said that Chris had always been hot and cold when he had seen him. Sometime his anger turned off audiences, and he was still learning how to balance it and his act. In fact Lucien had said that a very important manager had only earlier that night said disparaging things about Chris in terms of him not being of the level of talent that could make it, asking why Lucien gave him any attention and access to the COMIC STRIP stage at all. Why did he even let him do late-nights?

Fascinating. Read the rest here.

We couldn’t let the passing of David Brudnoy go without some sort of comment. He was the best radio talk show host in America. His night time talk show on 50,000-watt WBZ blanketed 28 states. He died sometime in the last 24 hours, after a short bout with a vicious form of cancer.

If we need to justify his inclusion in this magazine, well, comics spend a lot of time in cars (and elsewhere) listening to talk radio. Plus, John Curtin, a Boston comic who did some hard time in the radio biz, has written a brief tribute to Brudnoy here. We second what Mr. Curtin said.

An article in Metro, the Silicon Valley’s Weekly Newspaper, talks about comic Beth Schumann‘s incorporation of her bipolarity into her hilarity.

What’s more, Schumann found that many of her fellow comedians were also on medication for some mental health issue or another—a fact that probably won’t surprise many standup comedy fans—and she helped put together a performance troupe called Mixed Nuts.

They had us until the “a fact that probably won’t surprise many standup comedy fans” crack. Let’s face it, there are a lot of people out there with bipolar disorder. The only reason that people might think there’s a higher incidence of bipolar and other mental disorders among standup comics is because of the tired cliches that the press loves to perpetuate. Their dreadful lack of imagination keeps them coming back to the “laughing on the outside, crying on the inside” hook for an alarming number of feature stories on comedians and other entertainers.

Give Schumann and her compatriots credit, though for finding a hook. From our perch, we suggest that they ditch the clubs and go the corporate/non-profit route. How many mental health associations would love to book these guys (for an eye-popping amount of money!) into their annual fundraiser shows?!? Work a couple of morals and lessons and some audience participation (and on the spot diagnoses!) and you can pitch the whole affair as “An Afternoon On Mental Health for the Employees of (Fill in the name of the Fortune 500 company here)!! We can see the boards in the Doubletree lobby now! Gotta change that name, though… there’s a comedy troupe in the Philadelphia area already using it… and they do corporate. Read the rest here.

The Canadians are cautiously circling satellite radio. The New York Times reports today that, when (no longer if) it’s approved, it’ll be a great thing for Canadian artists. They mainly see a benefit for the musicians. Due to the

One comedian eager to see the technology expand here is Ben Miner, who for the last year has been traveling around eastern Canada honing his standup comedy routine in small clubs and sharing motel rooms with other comedians to save money.[…]

Mr. Miner is passionate enough about the technology that he appeared in November at the radio commission’s hearings, decked out in his only suit – a three-piece pinstripe – and a gold tie, gold shirt, and gold pocket square, to speak in favor of allowing satellite radio in Canada.

“We need to be able to export things aside from maple syrup,” he joked.

While we realize that Mr. Miner is only joking, he is seriously mistaken if he thinks that Canadian comics aren’t exported regularly. Jeremy Hotz, Jim Carrey, Harland Williams, Caroline Rhea, Howie Mandel— all are Canadian comics and all are regularly featured in American media. Not a tidal wave, to be sure, but pretty good representation. The revolution that Canadian satellite radio would bring wouldn’t be so much on this side of the border. It might provide more outlets north of the border, however. But it would still be subject to the tightass restrictions of the Canadian government.

We wonder if Mr. Miner is aware of the fact that, if he were to send a clean, digital copy of his act down to D.C. (Joel Haas at XM), he would probably be considered for inclusion in the XM play list. (As far as we know, XM has no restrictions as to the country of origin when it comes to considering programming.)

Read the rest here.

Since April 1, 1999, the day we launched our magazine, we’ve always had a tremendous number of readers from Canada or residing in Canada. (And, although Bonnie McFarlane hails from Alberta, she has never really dwelt on the Canadian comedy experience– so we haven’t had a columnist who speaks directly to our readers about what it might be like to be a comedian from up north. Until now. Peter Anthony (website) currently resides in Toronto and, in this, his first installment of “North of the Border,” he delivers a wake up call to “Canuck comics.”

Outside of the Yuk Yuks, there are 10 independent clubs, several agencies for corporate and college work, and whatever the ambitious comedian can book for him or herself. Most Canadian bookers, unfortunately, can’t see the benefit in sharing talent, in giving comedians the autonomy they inherently crave. The result of this forced loyalty is damaging to comics. Having only one option creates precipitous dips in work.

Read the rest here.

We got a hit from someone in Burkina Faso the other day. Once in a while, we see some countries represented in our stats that we aren’t immediately familiar with, so we hop on over to one of our favorite websites, The Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook and get the skinny on this country or that.

We knew it was on the African continent…somewhere in the west. Turns out it’s landlocked, surrounded by Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Mali and Niger. And it’s not doing so good these days. (Which makes us wonder why someone in Burkina Faso would be at all interested in standup comedy. Hmmm… Maybe when your country has a wickedly high poverty rate and is harboring rebels from the conflicts in Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia, you need all the yocks you can get. Perhaps it was all just a misunderstanding– we often find ourselves on the “wrong” website.)

We were flattered, however, that a country with only 65,400 telephones, 48,000 internet users and a 26.6 per cent literacy rate would be reading our humble publication. Hello to our Burkinabe (that is how one refers to a resident of Burkina Faso) fan or fans!

The editors of SHECKYmagazine.com want to wish everybody a Happy Hanukkah… Okay, not everybody… Just our readers who celebrate Hanukkah. (But, really, what’s the harm in wishing everyone a Happy Hanukkah?) If you hunger for info on the holiday, click here.

Linda Moss, writing in Reed Business’ multichannel.com (subscription required), writes that:

MTV Networks is exploring spinoffs from Comedy Central, including launching a stand-up network, and it is looking for new opportunities to better target Hispanics and Baby Boomers, officials said Monday.

We’ll believe it when we see it, of course, but if they follow through on this, it will be significant for the business of standup– live standup, recorded standup, standup concert movies, etc. It will also be a return to the roots of Comedy Central which, you may recall, was a hybrid of two channels– Viacom’s Ha! Television and HBO’s Comedy Channel– both of which had a heavy emphasis, in the early days, on standup comedy. It is an indication that standup comedy has climbed back to the levels it reached at its peak back in 1991 or so, and may have, in some respects even surpassed those levels. But wait, there’s more:

Comedy Central, a fairly recent addition to MTVN, “doesn’t have a digital platform associated with it, and its Web site (www.comedycentral.com) “is just beginning,” according to (MTVN CEO Judy) McGrath. So MTVN is trying to build Comedy’s Internet play and looking into wireless.

“And certainly, maybe there’s a stand-up channel in the future,” she added. “I think the brand has such value, largely through Jon Stewart and Dave Chappelle and some other obvious hits, that I think there’s a lot of interest in seeing Comedy Central travel even internationally.”

Hmmm… I wonder if they’d be interested in acquiring a plucky and wildly popular website about standup comedy for a giant sack of cash?

(Editors note: There’s an update on Joke-e-oke! Click here to see the latest revoltin’ development!)

We came across the following in the San Francisco Examiner, amid the listings (which, we’re pleased to note, contained a healthy amount of listings for real comedy):

Joke-e-oke!

A hilarious fusion of karaoke and standup comedy.

9 p.m. Saturday at the Off-Market Theater, 965 Mission St., San Francisco. Tickets are $5. Call (415) 896-6477 or visit www.cafearts.com.

This particularly odious form of entertainment has been attempted elsewhere in the past. As soon as we log off, we’re calling. We intend to find out if they use the material of real live comedians. If they do, we’ll be very disappointed. (We hopped onto their website and noticed that their calendar didn’t mention Joke-e-oke, so maybe they came to their senses. Or, maybe Carrie Snow, who just finished a long run there on the 4th, registered her disgust at the idea of amateurs appearing funny while appropriating the material of real comedians. Hmmm…)

According to the lore, Craig Ferguson, perhaps best known as “Mr. Wick” on The Drew Carey Show, got Montreal within a year of plunging into standup. That led to fame and fortune, first on British TV, then on American TV and movies. Now Hollywood reporter says:

It appears Craig Ferguson can get comfortable behind the host’s desk on The Late Late Show.[…]

Following (Kilborn’s) departure, more than 20 guest hosts appeared on the show until early last month, when the network whittled the field of candidates to four: Ferguson, Damien Fahey, D.L. Hughley and Michael Ian Black. The four finalists were then invited to return for multinight hosting stints last month.

On this side of the world, we had Puffy telling us to “vote or die.” In Iraq, they have this, from the Wall Street Journal:

Iraq has drafted in a local comedian to star in a series of adverts designed to drum up enthusiasm for elections due next month.

The set of four TV spots, launched on Wednesday, feature a popular Iraqi comic encouraging Iraqis to think positively about their elections and ensure they are registered to vote.

In the first one the comedian, known as Udai, is talking to his much taller girlfriend who mischievously reminds him that he’d said things would get better after the elections.

Employing plenty of innuendo, Udai tells her Iraq’s recent difficulties have been keeping him down but after the elections are successful he’ll grow much bigger.

Who knew that Iraq had even one comic, let alone a popular comic?! There is so much the press isn’t telling us about what’s going on over there. Read the rest here.

Chigago’s 50,000-watt flamethrower WGN (720 on your AM dial) has entrusted the 11 PM Friday to 3 AM Saturday slot to Nick Digilio and Gary Lee Wright. They’ve seen fit to interview the occasional standup comic… at least we know for a fact that they interviewed Franklyn Ajaye. And you can listen to it here.

Speaking of Franklyn Ajaye, he sends word from down under that he’ll be in Melbourne until the first of the year, after which he’ll venture to the U.S. to resume work as a member of the cast of the HBO series Deadwood. Ajaye just finished a stint as the opening act for Julio Iglesias’ Australian tour, playing in Melbourne, Brisbane and Newcastle, ending the tour at the Sydney Opera House just last week.

I suppose that, since Nichols has been a director for nearly 40 years, folks run out of things to ask him… so they eventually gotta ask him about standup again. Ian Caddell interviews Nichols for Straight.com on the occasion of the release of his latest movie, “Closer”

“I think the line that connects to films like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and [1971’s] Carnal Knowledge is that I started as a comedian,” he says. “All the best people started out as comedians, even surprising people like Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, and Harold Pinter, to name but a few. When I worked with Elaine May, I wasn’t very good at standup comedy. But we worked on what we called ‘people scenes’, and because we were a man and a woman, we did scenes that required a man and a woman. It was what we were best at and what interested us the most. It went on to be a part of our other work. Elaine’s movies The Heartbreak Kid and A New Leaf are on the same subject. It wasn’t particularly about the sex. I think that more than anything else, it was living in a relationship, or, in the case of Carnal Knowledge, a series of relationships. I think that’s where it came from and why it continues to interest me.”

Nichols (and, to a lesser extent, May) were the early models for those who left comedy for film after making an initial big splash. If, as Nichols maintains, he “wasn’t very good” at standup, he was good enough (or the team was good enough) that they made multiple, high-profile television appearances, cut a comedy album and probably flirted with a sitcom pilot or two before putting standup in the rear view.

If you’d like to read an article that does for the Baltimore comedy scene what HBO’s The Wire does for the Charm City in general, take a peek at this profile of Johns Hopkins student and part-time standup comic Adam Ruben! We extracted this gem for your immediate enjoyment:

Ruben has performed at the Baltimore Improv, a gig that included one of his strangest experiences in stand up comedy. “The [Baltimore] Improv would give homeless guys unlimited alcohol for them to perform,” Ruben said with a straight face. “One time I tied for third with a drunk homeless man who mooned the audience”

Sounds like fun! When is signup?!?

Ruben is a fourth-year biology grad student who was bitten by the comedy bug some time ago and he says he wants to do “biology by day and comedy by night.” Then we saw the last paragraph of the article:

He is also considering a Masters in the Fine Arts in playwriting and wants to continue writing comedy as well as performing it.

Forget it. The kid’s hooked. For Ruben, biology is… history.

Word comes from New England that the bloated government of the tiny Boston beltway town of Dedham is nickel and diming their pub owners to death:

DEDHAM — Hosting a comedy show or inviting a celebrity to town for a business promotion apparently requires more paperwork and fees than some local business owners had originally thought.
Selectmen this week scolded Piccadilly Pub for trying to start a standup comic night without obtaining the required entertainment license. They also pointed to the Dedham Community Theatre, which plans a comedy night of its own, and also lacks the permit.

The nerve! The next thing you know, there’ll be anarchy! Horrors!

Piccadilly managers quickly remedied their situation by apologizing and successfully picking up a license Wednesday night from selectmen.

But Selectman Marie-Louise Kehoe said she was not pleased the restaurant had at first tried to have the show without contacting the town for the permit.

She’s “not pleased?!”SHECKYmagazine says, “Marie-Louise Kehoe can bite us!” Extract your stinking fee and shut your yap, you bloodsucking, bureaucratic leech! (Sorry… We’re posting this from New Hamppshire… must be something in the water… or my proximity to the offices of the Manchester Union Leader!)

Is it too soon? We don’t think so. Although details are scarce on their website, we can determine that the 2005 JFL will take place July 14-24. And, as usual, if all goes well, if the folks at JFL deem us worthy, we’ll be there from the 21st through the end, slinging text and pics up to the website. Can you believe (if all goes well, if the folks at JFL deem us worthy) that we will have been providing SHECKYmagazine readers with the finest coverage of Just For Laughs available anywhere for the seventh year in a row?!?!?

The Boston Fest people haven’t announced the new date yet. Nor have the folks at Calgary. Stay tuned for information on these and other fests.

Below is the only wedding picture that Traci will allow to be displayed in our house. We run it today because on this day, 16 years ago, we were joined in holy matrimony by the Rev. Richard B. Elsner in the shadow of Diamond Head in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Trivia nugget: Elsner’s claim to fame was that he was the bass player for the Golddiggers, Dean Martin’s backup band/dance troupe.)

Why this picture? “Because we look so horrible,” says Traci. And, it has the extra added feature of a slight exposure of her left nipple (see arrow). We also display our framed marriage license in the bathroom, just above the toilet– causing puzzled guests to ask why we display our marriage license just above the toilet.

This would be our second favorite wedding photo. For obvious reasons. (For the visually impaired, the giant palm seems to be a giant penis. There. Are you happy? Juvenile, to be sure.) On the same trip, Brian went and auditioned at the now-defunct Honolulu Comedy Club, on the top of the Ilikai. Some might say that it’s wrong to go and audition on one’s honeymoon, but we say that, since it resulted in five or six more return trips to our beloved Hawaii (gigging each time, of course), it was well worth it.

The Sun has a nice mini-profile of comedian Ron James in conjunction with his appearance at clubs in Red Deer and in Edmonton this week.

For some comedians – and for that matter, some actors, musicians, writers and interpretive dancers – saying “I’m happy to be successful in Canada” is code for “I want to make it in the United States so badly that my failure to do so causes me to weep bitter, stinging tears.”

Not so with Ron James…

We saw James close a Gala at JFL a couple years back. It’s the kind of act that stays with you for some time. He’s singular. Read the rest here.

Press release from Ron Reid:

After 24 shows, 3600 miles, 6000 audience members, 72 judges and the tightest race in years, the $15,000 25th Annual Seattle International StandUp Comedy Competition has yielded a winner.

Gabriel Rutledge, 30, of Olympia, Washington, has taken the crown in one of North America’s most prestigious comedy events.

In winning the $5000 Grand Prize, Mr. Rutledge narrowly defeated Jen Kober of Lake Charles, Louisiana, who came on strong at the end and was very nearly the second woman in history to win. She had to settle for runner-up and $2200, squeaking by 3rd Place Winner Tony Boswell of Chicago ($1700), 4th Place Joe Klocek of San Francisco ($1400), and Vancouver B.C.’s Vic Lippucci ($1200).

Prizes were awarded in front of 400+ audience members at Monday night’s Final show at the Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn, WA. Taking the microphone in response to thunderous applause, Mr. Rutledge said, “To my wife Kristie – this is just as much you as me – and I don’t mean it only because we have joint checking.”

Mr. Rutledge will appear as the headliner at Seattle’s Comedy Underground in the near future, per his existing performance schedule.

From the Vail Daily (Yes, there is such a publication):

The U.S. Comedy Arts Festival has announced that the stoner comedy duo of Richard “Cheech” Marin and Tommy Chong will reunite for the first time in 20 years at the upcoming festival in Aspen.

Read the rest here.

Just got an email into Like We Care:

I just found your magazine online through Yahoo and thought that I would write. My brother moved to the New York Area in November of 2003 to live his dream of becoming a professional stand-up comedian. Since his relocation we have had a falling out and do not speak to each other, but I am interested in finding out how he is doing. I do know that he has frequented the following clubs in NYC (HA! Comedy Club, New York Improv, New York Comedy Club). If possible, I was hoping that one of your writers or editor’s might be willing to do a piece on him so that I could find out from a non-biased person on how he is doing.

My Brother’s name is Mike Milton

Sincerely,
Scott Milton

We run this letter in the spirit of the holidays, in hopes of reconciliation. But, since an alarming number of comedians have had a “falling out” with one or all of their family members, we fear it will touch off an avalanche of letters that begin:

Dear SHECKYmagazine:

My (brother/sister/son/grandson/other) moved to (NY/L.A./Vegas/Chicago/London/Toronto) to pursue his dream of becoming a standup comic. Unfortunately, we had a falling out…

If we don’t hear from Mike or from anyone qualified to accurately (and in an unbiased manner) assess his progress, we’ll tell you this: While we think it’s nice that you want to hear an update on your brother’s pursuit, we can say that if he were doing anywhere near good, you would have gotten an “in your face” letter by now. (At least that’s what we’d do!) Seriously, though, the first year of any comic’s New York adventure will undoubtedly be an interesting one and the way he measures his relative success might only be understood by another comedian. (Non-comedians tend to only understand “sitcom,” fame, gobs of money, etc.) We fear that your attempt to contact him is merely a desire on your part for an “I told you so” letter. We advise you to just get an address and wish him well– without any investigation into his income or his status. (Hey… Maybe we are Dr. Phil!)

And, if this is merely Mike Milton himself using an anonymizer-type program to disguise his identity in a tawdry attempt to have us “do a piece” on him, we are simultaneously impressed and horrified.

From a press release floating around on the WWW today:

SavvyInsider Media Group, LLC, a startup media and entertainment company devoted to the lifestyle of today’s savvy singles, is about to revolutionize single life. The Company announced today the launch of its website, www.SavvyInsider.com, which offers original thinking, an edgy personality, and an experiential brand radically different from the status quo for singles.

We’re not quite sure what an “experiential brand” is– it sounds like some of that warm gas that inflated the dot-com bubble. But, we hopped onto Savvyinsider and prominently displayed on the front page is a photo of the interior of a large (empty) theater with a clickable link that enables visitors to “enter the comedy club.” We clicked on it and found the lovely visage of Jimmy Shubert, a short schedule of upcoming Shubert gigs, the giant version of his bio and links to his site and his email. (Also offered was a clip of Shubert which never did play.)

What is this all about? The press release attempts to clarify things by calling the site a “A groundbreaking and refreshing change from the myopic quest to find a mate to the exclusion of other fulfilling aspects of a single person’s life,” and we’ve always been of the opinion that a night at the comedy club makes a great first date, but we’re not sure how it’ll work online. We’re pleased, however, with the sites attempt to “inject humor to the cerebral stimuli with an innovative comedy showcase featuring the country’s hottest standup comedians.” Having seen Mr. Shubert perform on several occasions (and been wildly entertained, we hasten to add!), we’re not sure if he’s the ideal singles or date night comedian… or is he? It might be that female comedy fans who attend Shubert performances are frequent recipients of riotous oral sex. A disclaimer at the bottom of the page reads:

Disclaimer:Please be aware that SavvyInsider.com in no way represents comics that appear on our site. We are an information site providing comics a chance to be seen by a greater audience. To obtain more information about a comic or to arrange a performance please use the information provided above.

Addendum: Savvyinsider.com does not condone Mr. Shubert’s use of the term “beef curtains” to refer to a particular part of the female anatomy. Bon apetit!

An article in the St. Petersburg Times explores the dual life of Tampa’s Ken Reed.

None of this is factual, of course, but it gets huge laughs for a man who set out to be an airline pilot and wound up a planner and noise officer at Tampa International Airport by day and a standup comedian by night.

Nearly everyone who has ever used TIA has met Reed, or at least his voice. He made that incessant recording that plays outside of the arrivals and departures doors reminding motorists that curbside parking is for pickup and dropoff only.

Nice clip for Ken Reed. And it will drive folks to the clubs in the Bay area. (But, why do the editors deem comics unworthy of ink unless they’re either starring in a sitcom or have a day job? Merely being a working comic is never enough to capture the fancy of the typical newspaper editor.) Read the rest here.

For those of you who have been away from the computer because of the holidays (or injury, or general malaise, or incarceration…), we remind you that there are three new columns for you to enjoy. Dan French has reported in on his recent job move– from Kilborn to Miller! Traci Skene speculates on how things might have been had we a first lady that knows how to say “Shove it” in five languages! And our newest columnist, Doug Hecox premieres with a standup comedy innovation that is bound to land him in the comedy hall of fame! Note: Our first posting on French’s new column had a bum link, so we assure you that this one is working! Also: We’ll be uploading even more new content soon, so stay tuned!

We crossed the Delaware last night to hang at the New Wave with a good chunk of the Philadelphia comedy community, all of which were drawn to the location by one Paul F. Tompkins, who appears, groundhog-like, every year at this time. Behold the photographic evidence of the gathering. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

SPINS NITELY tries vainly to plant kiss on our gracious host PAUL F. TOMPKINS while DAVID P. HARDY tries vainly to bring some semblance of dignity to the proceedings

SHECKYmagazine editor BRIAN MCKIM takes self-portrait with DOM IRRERA


DENNIS HORAN (left, a very, very funny comedian) with UNIDENTIFIED MALE (who, according to him, is “very, very funny, but not a comedian.”)

SHECKYmagazine editor TRACI SKENE with JOEY CONKLIN

The Syracuse New Times, that city’s alterna-rag, grills Tom Kenny, who is white-hot with the release of the SpongeBob movie. Syracuse, as you hardcore standup fans might know, is Kenny’s hometown. So, who better to subject him to a Q & A?

He also turned up on the Nov. 16 edition of Fresh Air with National Public Radio’s Terry Gross, where he chatted about watching Salty Sam on local television and his longtime friendship with fellow East Syracusan Bobcat Goldthwait (in one fourth-grade gym class memory involving sides being chosen for a sports contest, Kenny and Goldthwait were passed over in favor of a girl with a hook for a hand).

Read the rest here, it’s worth it for the details.

Friend of SHECKYmagazine Steve Ochs alerted us to an item about “Harrington & Storm: Two Guys Doing a One-Man Show.” That would be Pat Harrington and Howard Storm, two comics, each with a resume a mile long and enough stories to… fill a one-man/two-man show.

Their new stage show at Theatre West is its only area appearance prior to a schedule of dates on the East Coast. It is a chronicle of an extraordinary friendship that has spanned decades. It is a collection of show business anecdotes (like the time Pat’s dad, Pat Sr., had to sing “My Yiddishe Mama” for gangster Dutch Schultz). It is a compendium of a unique period in the histories of live entertainment and television. It is also the framework for a collection of their best stories and funniest, laugh-out-loud sketches.

We met Howard Storm one evening about four years ago, when we were invited to a meeting of Yarmy’s Army (a loose affiliation of accomplished standup comics and actors who frequently gather for charity events). Also in attendance that night were Shelley Berman, Gary Owens, Peter Marshall, Don Knotts and the late Ralph Stanley Ross (the guy who created the Batman television series!) Harrington, although a member of the Army, wasn’t present that night. But we’re sure you know him from his years Schnieder on One Day At A Time. It’s fascinating to read the rest of the story just to check out Harrington and Storm’s credits. We should all be so accomplished!

Dan French, whom we have not heard from since our trip to SoCal in August (and whom has not submitted a column since April or May!) has checked in with another installment in the saga that is the French quest to land the ultimate Hollywood writing gig.

But through it all, there was one constant– everyone on staff pretty much knew we were toast after a new host was picked. It’s just instinct for most people who want to host a comedy show that they will want to handpick their writing staff to make sure they have their same voice. And, as Adam Corolla put it during his final monologue when he hosted, we all had the “stench of Kilborn” on us.

Dan has ended up a writer with Dennis Miller‘s just renewed CNBC show. It’s great to have another “What Works!” Read the rest here.

SHECKYmagazine editor and co-founder Traci Skene‘s newest column is up! She

I witnessed this frustration up close last Thanksgiving when I accompanied my 87-year old mother-in-law (named Helen) and her 88 year-old friend (also named Helen) to the Philadelphia Amtrak station. As we were sitting on the rock-hard benches admiring the indoor pigeons, we were approached by a college-age young lady who handed each of us a Clark bar with a tiny picture and bio of Presidential hopeful Wesley Clark stapled to the packaging. Her request was simple and straightforward: “I would like to ask you to vote for Wesley Clark for President.” My mother-in-law, in all seriousness, asked the twenty-something campaign worker, “Are you his wife?” “No,” she said, “I just want to help Wesley Clark become President of the United States.” The other Helen, equally as serious, chimed in, “Does he live around here?” “No,” the volunteer said slightly slower than before, “Um… he lives in Arkansas and… um… he’s running for president.” The first Helen studied her Clark bar more intently. “So,” she asked, “does he make candy?”

For more of Traci’s observations about politics and humor and humorous politics, click here.

The following came from Ron Reid:

The top five comics were picked last night, November 21. Interestingly they all have websites– no amateurs here

Gabriel Rutledge
Jen Kober
Tony Boswell
Vic Lippucci
Joe Klocek

Woe to the comic who doesn’t have a website! It’s almost 2005, get ONLINE! Congratulations to the finalists! According to Reid, the finals begin on the 23rd. And they eventually end. When, we’re not sure.

From the Newark Star Ledger’s “Ricky Retro, a weekly pop history quiz,” comes this paragraph:

After an appearance on “The Tonight Show” in late 1973, he landed the role of Chico Rodriguez, a young, energetic Chicano who worked at a garage in the Hispanic barrio of East L.A.

If we take “late 1973” to mean anywhere from July 1, 1973 to December 31, 1973, and if we note that the series debuted in September of 1974(!), we can say that no more than 14 months passed between the time Prinze did The Tonight Show and the premiere of his hit show. And when one considers that Prinze was 20 years old when he had a sitcom built around him, it is a little easier to understand why only 28 months passed between the debut of the series and Prinze’s self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Inevitable? Not by any stretch. Tragic? To be sure. Read the rest here.

SHECKYmagazine announces a new regular columnist, Doug Hecox. The D.C.-based comic and author (“Graze Expectations,” “Star Spangled Banter”) needed an outlet for certain humorous observations that only comedians would find funny. We’re sure that both comedians and comedy fans will want to check out Doug Hecox: Writer of Wrongs” on a regular basis:

My goal is not only to do a knock-knock joke on stage, but to do one that is nearly a half-hour long. That way, I won’t have to bother with remembering a wide variety of jokes in my usual set and I won’t have to worry about messing up the order. The goal is one big knock-knock– a 25-minute set-up, and a 5-minute punchline. It may not be possible yet but, like science fiction, we know that nothing is impossible. One day it may become so. In fact, one day, knock-knock jokes will be expected of every stand-up comedian, like Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonations and references to Viagra are today.

Check out his website at Dougfun.com!

From the Washington Post comes this heads up about the Christmas Day release of a theatrical, live-action movie, Fat Albert:

Based on the popular animated television series of the 1970s, this is about a group of adolescent boys living and kickin’ it in a Philadelphia neighborhood. The ringleader is Fat Albert (Thompson), whose friends include Rudy, Mushmouth, Bill, Bucky, Old Weird Harold and Dumb Donald. The show and the movie are based on the standup routines and reminiscences of Bill Cosby, who grew up in Philadelphia. It will be interesting to see if Cosby’s script makes any references to some of the hard-hitting and controversial speeches the comedian has made in recent years about the state of African American culture.

Any references? The script, if it stays true to Cosby’s original routines, will make very loud and very clear statements about “the state of African American culture.” The world Cosby so vividly depicted– that of Philadelphia’s Richard Allen Homes in the 1950’s– is idyllic compared to what that project evolved into over the last 20 years. If Cosby can convince viewers and critics that his version of his early life is only slightly idealized (and that the movie is more a historical document than a fantasy), his movie will set off far more controversy than his recent public pronouncements.

We note that Philly comic Keith Robinson is a member of the cast. (In his early days, Robinson did material based on growing up in another of Philly’s public housing projects, Southwark, so his presence should lend some authenticity to the proceedings!)

The Seattle Times has a nice interview with Don Rickles, a compact and peppy chat with a nice compendium of Rickles’ career achievements.

Rickles tried a variety of jobs while he was scouring for an acting gig. He pitched cosmetics, cars and insurance. “I was a lousy insurance man because I could never close. Somebody would say, ‘I’ll think about it.’ I’d say, ‘Fine,’ and I’d leave.

“My father was a great insurance man. He said, ‘What did you do? You should’ve stayed there with him until he closed.’ I didn’t have that spark to make them buy it.”

With the passing of Rodney and Alan King, Rickles is the grandaddy of all comics now. His name has lent itself to an adjective (“Ricklesian”) and, at 78, he’s gigging regularly and acting as well. All hail Rickles!

Ya think ya know someone. A press release bouncing around the WWW heralds the return of James P. Connolly to Iraq to entertain the troops. We’ve met Connolly and worked with him once, but we had no idea of his history:

…Retired U.S. Marine Officer turned Stand-Up Comedian James P. Connolly… formerly with Camp Pendleton’s 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, will leave Los Angeles for Iraq this Sunday, November 21st. His mission– to brighten the spirits of troops overseas and let them know they’re appreciated back home…

Connolly grew up in San Mateo, California, graduated from Harvard University on a Marine Corps ROTC scholarship and then served four years as a Marine Infantry Officer.

Turns out Connnolly, while enroute to the first Gulf War, was asked to write one-liners skewering fellow officers for a dinner roast hosted by his Commanding Officer. A classic story! He sees the Colonel kill with his material and is thereafter determined to become a comic and deliver his own damn jokes. The rest is history. (Any chance the press release writer might name the other four comics Connolly’s touring with?)

We’re having trouble with our local phone service… we suspect that the heavey rains last weekend may be the culprit, but what do we know? Anyway, we’ve been experiencing lots of static in our line and we’re constantly thrown offline… it’s not only made getting mail near impossible, it’s made surfing and posting out of the question! Verizon says they’ll have it fixed by this afternoon… We’ll test it out tomorrow morning! We suspect that Verizon will do what they promise!

The Daily Orange, the student newspaper of Syracuse University, ran a post-mortem on an appearance by Dustin Diamond, familiar to college-aged Americans as Schreech from the syndicated series Saved by the Bell (and its later incarnations, one of which even made it to a network).

“I thought it was OK,” said Arielle Smith, a junior fashion design major. “I wasn’t really sure what to expect. He kind of talked a lot about himself, but not in a good way. It was awkward to see Screech not be Screech.”

Awkward, indeed. We take a dim view of celebrities hitting the comedy circuit. While the celebrity does bring new people into comedy clubs, they should at least be good at this thing called standup. (There was a story a few years back that Diamond, compensated handsomely for a headlining gig at a Midwest comedy club, dropped down to emcee and let another comic on the bill close the show. Apparently he realized his limitations. This gig isn’t a comedy club, though, so it seems that someone– his new management, perhaps?– has gone the college campus/lecture followed by Q & A route. This is a much more sensible strategy, but it still leads to some cognitive dissonance:

Following Diamond’s act, many students left the auditorium wondering what exactly they had just experienced.

“I didn’t see a point to his speech,” said Marc Serber, a sophomore in The College of Arts and Sciences. “I didn’t find a message.

Someone tell us why Mr. Diamond can’t take some of that college gig money and buy some material?!? Read the rest here.

Spongebob Squarepants freaks, click here for an article in advance of the release of the feature-length Spongebob movie:

Tom Kenny, who supplies SpongeBob’s high, nasal voice, was a standup comic who worked with Hillenburg on the 1993 animal cartoon series “Rocko’s Modern World.” When SpongeBob started in 1999, Hillenburg remembered an obscure character Kenny did years earlier, and envisioned it as the voice of his weird sea hero.

“It was in one episode in a crowd scene,” Kenny recalled. “In the voice-over world we call the sound ‘walla,’ just a crowd of people mumbling and grumbling. Steve remembered I had done this squeaky, helium-voiced elf guy. Just a total throwaway voice.”

Here’s a nice twist to the story: Kenny had to go back and rewatch the episode to see exactly what it was that Hillenburg found so engaging. The moral of the story is that you never know what will lead to fame and/or fortune.

Kenny is riding the wave of publicity surrounding the release. We even caught him and Clancey Brown (voice of Mr. Crabs) on the nationally-syndicated Tony Snow Show on the radio on Friday. During the interview Kenny said that, while he found the initial call to audition for Spongebob intriguing, he never suspected that it would lead to the cultural phenomenon that it is today. (For the record, SHECKYmagazine editor Brian Mckim guessed correctly that Patric the Starfish is voiced by former Coach co-star Bill Faggerbakke, who played the third lead, Boomer.

From the first paragraph of a comedy.co.uk article about the Britich Comedy Awards:

How time flies. Just as the harsh injustice of Ant and Dec winning a British Comedy Award and the disbelief that a comedy awards were held with no award for standup are beginning to fade into repressed memory along they come to do it again.

If we can parse this statement: Near as we can figure, the Comedy UK folks feel the same way we did when we applied for press creds to the American Comedy Awards of 2000 and found out, much to our horror, that they were no longer giving out an award for Best Standup Comic. We boycotted the whole affair. We suggest our compadres across the pond do the same.