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.

What to make of this recent item in a publication that calls itself The Australian Times?

LAS VEGAS-- Stand up comedian Eddie Warren, 49, said his struggle with finding decent material had led him to the fart joke.

"It is simple and it works. The KISS principle, keep it simple stupid," Mr Warren said.

Mr Warren, who goes by the name of Funny Eddy, said the fart was a simple act to perform and it always brought a laugh.

"It doesn't even need to be a real fart," Mr Warren said. "Sometimes I just push my tongue out the side of my mouth and make the sound. Laughs straight away.'

Las Vegas Comedy Corner owner Max Hilton said since Funny Eddy had changed his act he had continued to play to packed houses.

"This is really great for business. Comedy is win/win. We make bucks and the people are happy. I guess you could say the people are happy to make us rich," Mr Hilton said.

"I quite often have a chair on stage. As I pick up my foot to place it on the chair I fart," Mr Warren said. "Another routine includes making different farting sounds and calling them names like the wet fart, the sneaky fart, the George W Bush fart. It is really making a name for me."

Patron Jimmy Birkley of California said he had never seen anything as funny as the Funny Eddy show.

"I almost pissed myself when he did the funny walk across the stage and farted all the way," Mr Birkley said. "And the one when he tried to play the national anthem through his arse was hilarious."

If we were to take him on as a public relations client, we would dub him "The Gastro-Intestinal Wonder From Down Under." Can anyone in Vegas verify the existence of "The Comedy Corner?" We are loath to classify or categorize the likes and dislikes of an entire country's comedy community, but it seems that an inordinate number of comedians who make a splash up here do so either by jamming something into, or expelling something out of, their ass. We're reminded of the fellow from down under who made quite a name for himself at the Just For Laughs festival of a few years back by ending his set by igniting a roman candle which had been inserted in his "arse." (Sure, a lot of American or Canadian comics do the same, but it's usually offstage!)

Dan Anic, Los Angeles
Simon King, Vancouver, B.C.
Vic Lippucci, Vancouver B.C.
Kevin Shea, San Francisco
Joe Klocek, San Francisco

Tony Boswell, Chicago
James Inman, Seattle
Jen Kober, San Francisco
Gabriel Rutledge, Olympia WA
Mark Scalia, Boston

All have won a minimum of $500, and are eligible for the $5000 first prize.

They will perform in six shows starting Tuesday November 16.

Five will move on to the finals, which begin Tuesday November 23.

According to the Minneapolis Star-Turbine, Seinfeld's on Letterman tonight. If he gets bumped, blame it on them. We urge all who are serious about standup (from a performing or a viewing viewpoint) to watch and learn. (We might actually miss it, as we are fatigued from our recent trip to Saginaw/Flint. We just got home this morning and we're operating on five hours of quality sleep. And we've just stuffed ourselves with a basil chicken/sun-dried tomato/pasta dish, created right here at SHECKYmagazine HQ.) We witnessed the Return of Seinfeld-- the set he did on Letterman, his first after the series was cancelled. It was splendid. We urge all comedians with a well-meaning relative, to drop hints that the DVD of Seinfeld's documentary, "The Comedian," would make a wonderful Christmas/Hannukah present, if you haven't procured a copy already.

Kathleen Madigan, talking to the Rocky Mountain News to promote her Comedy Works appearance, has little good to say about her Last Comic Standing experience:

Unfortunately, the show was canceled before its final episode and Madigan said she and her teammates are still waiting to collect the prize money they won during the weekly competitions.

But Madigan rests easy knowing that former castmates Heffron and Ant are diligently trying to track down the cash.

Read the whole thing here.

Attention all non-profit charitable foundations: Standup comedy shows are a natural for raising gobs of cash. When booked properly, a charity comedy show can be a bonanza-- all the warm and fuzzy feelings the audience gets from all that laughing translates into fat checks. Killer Beaz headlined a recent show in Charlotte, at the Zone. We read about it in the Charlotte Observer online:

The Green Foundation's "Hilarity for Charity" event, which supports Michael Waltrip's "Operation Marathon" on behalf of Victory Junction Gang Camp, raised $25,000 on Oct. 18.

Click here to read the rest (Registration required).

Nadine Heintz, writing for Inc. Magazine, tells the story of one of New York's longest running comedy shows. Through three different locations and through the boom, the bust and the re-boom, Caroline's has offered standup in an upscale setting to Manhattan patrons for more than two decades. We worked the club when it was Caroline's on 8th, in the Chelsea district, and we worked it a few times at the Seaport location, before we fled to the West Coast in '88.

I opened a cabaret with two friends in the early '80s. They were both guys, and they wanted to name the club after a woman, so we called it Carolines. But the cabaret acts weren't really doing it for me, so I suggested we start doing some comedy. I had a feeling that there was going to be some sort of explosion, between Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno. Leno was our first act. It brought in a whole different kind of clientele. People in their late 20s and early 30s came out. I could feel it was the start of something.

Hmmm... no mention of Neil Hirsch, the eye-poppingly wealthy dude who, the legend goes, bankrolled the original club and was Mr. Caroline Hirsch at the time. We heard third- or fourth-hand that their marriage went belly up somewhere during the Reagan administration. Not sure if it was acrimonious or amicable. His conspicuous absence from the Inc. piece would suggest the former.

We skipped on over to competing biz rag Forbes, where Adam Leitzes and Joshua Solan wrote a fascinating piece about Neil back in December of 2000:

...Actually, try 1969. That was the year Neil Hirsch founded Telerate, a financial information service that provided securities prices for the international bond and currency markets. In a remarkable display of foresight, Hirsch helped usher in the age of electronic networks by building a global infrastructure of terminals. For more than 20 years, he helped Telerate become one of the most powerful brands in financial information and eventually sold the company to Dow Jones for more than $1.5 billion in 1990.

We remember Neil haunting the Chelsea club one week when we were on the bill. Rumor had it that he owned the first Mercedes stretch limo in Manhattan. We knew he had some jack, but whoa!

We don't bring up Neil to take anything away from Caroline's accomplishments. Far from it. She runs a hell of a club. Even had a TV show shot there! In fact, she lines up with us closely on one of our pet theories; says Caroline:

There was talk in the early '90s that there was so much comedy on TV that it diluted all the clubs. Not true. If anything, it's made us stronger. Even today, when I have young talent in the club who has been on TV, fans come out in droves. We recently had three of the standups from the reality show Last Comic Standing and they generated a tremendous amount of business. When a musician puts out an album, that album drives concert sales. It's the same thing with comedy -- people want to see the performer live.

And she caps off the article with this string of gems, for which she will always have our undying admiration:

I enjoy what I do, and I'm a big fan of comedy. If you don't like it, there's something grossly wrong with you. See your shrink. If people tell you they don't like it, run. Run away fast!

Run away fast, indeed! This would make a tremendous motto for this very publication! A great interview. If you like, you can read the rest.

As for Neil, he's a superstar in a totally different discipline-- global communications networks. He was into global communications before it was cool. A fascinating profile. If you like, you can read the rest.

SHECKYmagazine contributor Jim Mendrinos will be on BBC 4 this Friday, November 12th at 7:30 PM. The show is "The DVD Collection-- New York Special." Mendrinos will be commenting on the history of Saturday Night Live! We post this because an examination of our statistics lately shows a decent number of visitors to our site from the folks in England. (And Senegal, Taiwan, even Cote D'Ivoire! Curious!) If you haven't already, we encourage you to read Mendrinos' column, Jim Mendrinos IN NY.

We got a press release from CBS, breathlessly titled, " JAMIE FOXX SAYS HIS BIOLOGICAL PARENTS 'COPPED OUT' " Intrigued, we read the rest. Here's the money quote:

Despite all the disappointments with his biological parents, Foxx accepts the way his life has gone. Gordon asks, "Would you give up all of what you've accomplished all of what you've gained, if your life had been different and your parents had been together and you with them?" Foxx responds, "No. No, because I know now as a parent that, in a sense, they copped out. I don't cop out on my daughter no matter how busy I am, so, you know…I wouldn't do that…."

We're told that the boys at 60 Minutes got tears! Real tears! It's sweeps month gold! (How does one tell, we must wonder aloud, when one is interviewing an actor, if those tears are real? After all, there is an awful lot of Oscar® talk surrounding Foxx's turn as Ray Charles! Is that too cynical, even for comics?)

On the drive up to Easton, PA, we speculated on the order. Who would close? Who would open? And where do you put Prof. Irwin Corey?! When guessing the order of a bill containing this many comedy legends, there's a lot to consider. One thing is clear, however: a show presenting Bill Dana, Dick Gregory, Prof. Irwin Corey, Shelley Berman and Mort Sahl, and hosted by Dick Cavett, is noteworthy just for the sheer spectacle. The average age of the performers was 79! Sure, Corey is 91, but it's still a remarkable assemblage of comedy experience and talent.

The drive took two hours-- mainly because we crawled up along the Delaware to avoid Philadelphia metro traffic and because the deer are rutting-- so we had plenty of time to speculate. (We nailed it. The above title to this post has them in order.)

The State Theatre was part of the Keith vaudeville circuit in the '20s and '30s. It was totally restored to its original grandeur in 1990. It is a spectacular old theater and the people who book it have placed a tremendous emphasis on comedy. In her welcome essay on the first page of the program, Executive Director Shelley Brown recounts how the first act they booked in the new era was Bill Cosby. And the ensuing pages trumpet upcoming '04 and '05 season shows headlined by Drew Carey, Larry The Cable Guy, Ron White, Tim Conway & Harvey Korman, Pat Hazell and Cosby (again!). It's gratifying to see that this splendid venue, in a river town 40 miles north of Philadelphia, places a heavy emphasis on standup. And, from all appearances, it works. Friday's show saw a 75 per cent sellout crowd of mostly baby boomers (the older end, probably folks who listened to these comics when they were children, teens or in college).

Host Dick Cavett strolled onstage to a warm and lengthy round of applause. He was just as witty, just as calm, just as entertaining as he has always been, no matter what the situation. (He was even a bit edgy-- "I'll bitchslap you all the way to the curb!" was how he threatened an excited female audience member. Twice!) When he brought on Dana, he acted as his straight man, feeding lines to-- who else?-- Jose Jimenez, the politically incorrect but nonetheless well-loved character that earned Dana a career that is in its fifth decade. Cavett departed and Dana finished up by telling about a dozen "street jokes." Although, considering that Dana's been around for so long, we can't say for sure that they weren't originally authored by Dana himself. (Dana factoid, from the program: He wrote the script for the Emmy-winnning All In The Family episode "Sammy Davis Visits Archie Bunker.")

Next up was Dick Gregory. When you see legendary (and, let's face it, old) comedians, the tendency is to hover above the whole spectacle and try to assess in terms of how it might fly in a contemporary comedy club-- Is the material fresh? Is the delivery sharp? Is the crowd cutting him a break? These questions evaporate within seconds when watching Gregory. And the same held true for all the evening's acts. They may well have been awarded a few points before they even opened their mouths-- legendary status will do that. But none of them needed any kind of cushion. They were all tremendous. It should be noted that, even though these five are "legendary," it shouldn't obscure the fact that, at least in the case of Sahl, Gregory and Berman, they all still gig on a regular basis.


Most startling was Corey. When you watch him, you can't shake the fact that he's 91 years old! So, practically everything he does will inspire a curious mixture of awe, admiration, etc. But he came out and did his act in almost exactly the same way he did it in 1967! Dressed in the black high-top Chuck Taylors, with the rumple tails, Corey's timing was dead-on. His mixture of the physical humor, the double talk, the setup/punchline jokes, the political humor, added up to what was arguably the best set of the night, audience response-wise. (Which is not to say that the others didn't kill. They all killed. And each comic did at least one thing better than did any of the others. But Corey had the best time out there, if you consider laughs per minute and sustained laughs.) And he was the first one to say "fuck."

What can you say about Shelley Berman that hasn't already been said? He's amazingly consistent, a technician. We've seen him perform four times now, in a variety of situations. (His one-man show at the Chicago Festival, in a sweatshirt and jeans at a Yarmy's Army gathering in the room upstairs at Jerry's Deli in Westwood, in a function room at the Las Vegas Festival last year and in Easton.) He's the most theatrical of the group. His sets, no matter how short, are like miniature one-man shows.

We don't think it goes too far to say that Mort Sahl is what any political comic should strive to be. It's a well-known fact that Sahl's political sympathies lie somewhat to the left of center, but here in Easton, addressing what was clearly a conservative crowd, he got big laughs regardless of which side he was hammering. His demeanor was bemused, not bitter. Sahl proved that there is such a thing as a nuanced cheap shot. Clutching his trademark newspaper (ostensibly, in this case, the New York Times), he joked about the recent campaign and only three-day old election results, but also managed to touch on the ongoing Disney/Eisner/Ovitz lawsuit-- "Ovitz called Eisner a fascist in a Delaware courtroom. He may be a fascist, but he least he got the Monorail to run on time."

After a brief intermission, the legends were assembled onstage in a semi-circle for an all-too-brief session that was supposed to be a Q & A, but there were no Q's! There was, however, 25 minutes of smart, witty, back-and-forth (B & F?) among six of the greatest comic geniuses of our time. We'll take it. At one point, the conversation turned to the proper use of the word "fuck!" We have a suggestion for the show's producers: Solicit questions from the audience, in the lobby, before the show (or during intermission)-- or totally fabricate some questions!-- so that the Q & A appears to be a bit more interactive. We were told that this was the first such show on the tour, so maybe they'll tweak it as they go. Look for a Vanity Fair piece on the tour-- publicists with the State Theatre told us that VF was there on Friday night to shoot these gentlemen. Apparently there has never been such an aggregation of comic genius in history. We don't dispute that for one minute. And, in case you're wondering, Dana is 80, Berman is 78, Gregory is 73, Sahl is 77. Add Corey's 91 and divide by five and you have an average just a hair under 80. It's a comfort to know that, three decades from now, we might all be doing smart, fresh and snappy comedy before a wildly appreciative crowd of theater-goers.

We want to thank the folks at the State for playing ball with us. (And, we note that, prior to the show's start, a SHECKYmagazine reader, no doubt one of perhaps dozens motivated to attend by the glowing words on the pages of this very magazine, buttonholed SHECKYmagazine Editor Brian McKim in the lobby to heap praise on our humble publication and express his excitement at the upcoming show!)

Japan Times Online is following the soap opera revolving around Shinsuke Shimada, a wildly popular standup comic who has been accused of assaulting an employee of the talent agency he works for:

One of Japanese show business's greatest success stories is Shinsuke Shimada, a former juvenile delinquent who made his name as a comic during the manzai (standup comedy) boom of the early 1980s. Possessed of a nimble wit, Shimada has since become one of the most sought-after emcees on television. He currently hosts eight different quiz or variety shows, and until last spring helmed TV Asahi's Sunday morning news program. In addition, as a self-taught financial wizard, he has written several best-selling books about investment strategies for lay people.

The rest of the story is fascinating, not just for the window it provides into the Japanese comedy scene, but for the analysis of Shimada.

...Though his accomplishments are considerable, it's easy to discern a lack of self-esteem in Shimada's transparent efforts to come off as being just as smart as the college graduates he often works with. In the past, even the most successful comics never stepped outside comedy, which was considered a low profession...

It's gets even weirder! If you have five minutes, you can read the whole thing.

Two clubs gone in one week-- neither one due to lack of business. Hmmm... This time, it's Knuckleheads, the one at the top of the huge Mall of the Americas.

Knuckleheads closed after it and other clubs on the fourth floor of the Bloomington mall were sold by the Jillian's chain of entertainment emporiums to another emporium chain, Dave & Buster's, based in Dallas. The changeover occurred Monday morning. That afternoon, an insider says, Knuckleheads' managers were informed of the closing.

Read the rest here.

According to articles in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Akron Beacon-Journal, Hilarities in Cuyahoga Falls has been nearly destroyed by fire.

"The place is almost destroyed," said Pete Barakat, whose brother, Tannous, owns the club.

The Cuyahoga Falls police and fire departments and representatives of the Ohio Fire Marshal investigated the damage Thursday.

The fire started shortly after the club was closed. No one was hurt.

Lucy Bibbee, the club's marketing and sales director and booking agent, said management hopes to reopen as soon as possible and is considering other locations, preferably in Cuyahoga Falls.

And, it is hoped, near a hotel.

The following came over the transom, from George Sarris, Big Cheese at the New York City Underground Comedy Festival:

The NYCUCF would like to thank all the media, industry and fans for making this years festival a massive success. A special thanks to Chris Rock for his special guest appearance, XM Radio & Freddie Roman, Dean of The Friars Club.

Stand by for an announcement concerning the dates for NYCUCf 2005.

An email from a semi-finalist:

Hey folks...just an quick announcement:

The semi-finals for the Andy Kaufman Award being given by the New York Comedy Festival take place:

When: Monday November 8th @ 8pm
Where: The Marquee Theater, 356 Bowery (bet. 3rd & 4th Street)
Doors open to the public at 7:30. There is a $5 charge at the door. Seating is limited and is done on a first come, first served basis.

Contestants get 3 minutes. There are 30 semi-finalists.

Further info can be found at: www.nycomedyfestival.com

From the 30 semi-finalists, 10 will be chosen to perform in the finals later in the week @ Carolines On Broadway.

Thanks!

Jeff Rusnak of the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel found an interesting way to incorporate the recent elections into his (Entertainment) beat reporting:

If your candidate won, the laughs should come easily. If you lost and see the country careening off a cliff, then see as many shows as you can afford.

Read the whole story.

Just spotted this advertisement online:

New York Comedy Club, in Manhattan, is seeking people interested in producing shows at our venue. Primetime Friday and Saturday nights available. Top producers receive 100 per cent of box office. No rental fee. At New York Comedy Club, you will never be forced to add guest spots on your show. You control the entire lineup. New easy going management team. Dates going quickly. For booking info, contact Al Martin (718)979-9898.

You may recognize Martin's name-- he's one of the principles in the new Improv in Manhattan. Perhaps he's "repurposing" his New York Comedy Club instead of turfing it altogether. Whatever the case, it sure beats the hell out of a "bringer" show, which, as readers of this publication already know, we regard as evil. For further details on the venue, at 241 E. 24th St., see the club's website.

Our Canadian friends handed out some hardware at the Canadian Comedy Awards last weekend in London, Ontario. The winners, standup-wise:

Pretty Funny One-Person Show: "The Road Between My Ears"-- Ron James

Pretty Funny Newcomer: Ron Sparks

Pretty Funny Female Stand Up: Laurie Elliot

Pretty Funny Male Stand Up: Derek Edwards

Note: The use of the somewhat tepid "Pretty Funny" description is their idea, not ours! (We must agree, however, that it's pretty funny.)

In a Reuters article about Saturday Night Live,

The always fierce competition among comics to land a gig on NBC's Saturday Night Live is set to become the basis of a reality series for the network.

As Pat Cooper would say, "It's over!"

Has SNL appealed to anyone but children since '77 or so? This is the final nail in the coffin of a comedy show that was ever so briefly fresh. The recent flap over Ashlee Simpson's lip-synching controversy was the second-to-last nail in that coffin. Sure, Simpson handled the whole thing poorly, of that there is no doubt-- blaming it on her band, on acid reflux, on the lunar eclipse-- but in her defense, she just turned 20 years old 30 days ago. Not one of the stories on the whole fiasco even bothered to mention that somebody-- a highly paid professional-- in the control booth screwed the pooch big time! Not only has SNL escaped any blame for the goofup, they came back the following week and mocked her on national television! Talk about chutzpah!

What is going on over there? If somebody was unhappy with Simpson's appearance they could have easily quit the show. But exposing someone as a lip-syncher, on national television, is cowardly. Even if someone had a problem with Simpson guesting, that's bogus-- SNL's musical guests have largely been embarassing for the past decade or two-- Color Me Badd need we say more?

Then Lorne Michaels said that they had no idea that she was going to lip-synch and that the show would have never agreed to it. Huh? Michaels is lying to the press in order to discredit a 20-year-old girl that he invited to appear on his show!

When it comes out that 60 Minutes was trailing Simpson for a feature, it begins to appear that one thing happened: Simpson was set up. Pathetic.

Remember when SNL usta have standup comics on as guests? Kinison! Billy Crystal! Joel Hodgson! Steve Martin! Anyone care to guess who hosted the very first SNL? None other than George Carlin (October 11, 1975). And, on that very same show, none other than Andy Kaufman appeared and... lip-synched to the theme from Mighty Mouse.

If anyone in the NY/PHL area wants to buy tickets to "The Comedians" show this Friday, Nov. 5, (See Comedy Legend Overload! below) they can do so by calling 1-800-999-STATE or by hopping onto StateTheatre.org! We plan to be there.

We're still seeking respondents for our newest SHECKYmagazine Readers Poll. It's the one about how long you've been reading SHECKYmagazine.com. Click here to be taken directly to that posting. Or just seek out the poll itself over -----> there.

And wish to remind all that SHECKYmagazine content is now availabble for your My Yahoo! Click here and it will all make sense. Or, if you already know what we're talking about, the button to add our content is right over ------>there. Thanks!

Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, has an story about a curious program that uses comedy to educate consumers as to the dangers of scams and cons:

College students who specialize in the "sit-down comedy" style called rakugo put on shows in venues all around the capital area. They don kimono and kneel on a cushion to relate a comic tale, switching voices between the story's various characters. But, unlike traditional rakugo stories, these tales have a serious punchline.

In the project's nine years, last year was the worst yet for hapless consumers being cheated by crooks. A total 160,817 complaints were brought to the Tokyo Metropolitan Comprehensive Consumer Center in fiscal 2003.

Read the whole bizarre story at asahi.com! I suppose the Japanese would look askance at the Improv Driving Schools!

The New York Daily News reports that Larry The Cable Guy got into some minor hot water by making a crack about American Idol Clay Aiken during a recent appearance on The View:

Hey, it wasn't that bad. I said I was on the Clay Aiken diet. That's where you pop in a Clay Aiken CD and try to keep food down," said Whitney.

"I mean, is someone actually sitting at home bent out of shape because I did a joke about Clay Aiken," he asked incredulously. "It's like, all the crap goin' on in the world and that's what floats your ... boat."

The lesson here? We can't decide. Either you don't go on The View if your act has any sarcasm in it, OR, if you do, you must take care not to make fun of someone whose fans have the time and the wherewithal to make your life miserable by inundating you with hate-email (Housewives? Children? Teenage girls?). Read the gory details here. (Thanks to Sharilyn for the tip!)

We arrived at Henry W. Longfellow Elementary at about noon. The voting booths were set up in the gymnasium, as always. A couple elderly, white-haired gentlemen chatted outside the doors to the gym. Inside, there was no waiting. The atmosphere was calm, serene; poll workers chatted idly among themselves. There were two separate banks of cafeteria tables set up, one for each district (or precinct?) and we went to the wrong one initially. When we got to the correct one, we realized why-- the "M through Z" sign was obscured by one of the poll workers seated in front of it. She was a woman, maybe in her late 50s, African-American, wearing a pink velour jumpsuit. When we finally cleared up the confusion, we complained (in a joking manner) that she was the reason that we were confused! She laughed. (She immediately knew we were kidding!) We even accused her-- loudly-- of voter suppression! We all laughed heartily and she mock protested, "Don't let the TV cameras catch me!" All of us had a good laugh at that one. We produced passports-- even though ID was never required. We all swapped info about which kind of ID we had, and why we had it. Amid the jocularity, a guy wearing a badge that read "Poll Challenger" walked up and asked us our names. He skittered away and riffled briefly through a box of index cards. We procured our slips of paper and proceeded to vote. The whole process took maybe three minutes. Placid democracy taking place in the 'burbs of Southern New Jersey.

"But I don't vote... because I don't really think it makes a big difference. I think the