Scott McLennan's article in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette gives readers some insight into the current configuration of the Boston comedy scene, detailing the opening (by Dick Doherty) of a new club in Worcester, about 40 miles west.

Doherty's mainstay in recent years has been the Comedy Vault at Remington's in Boston. Doherty started doing standup in the 1970s, opened a comedy venue in Hyannis around that time, succumbed to drug and alcohol addictions in the '80s, and resurfaced in the late '80s with his finger on Boston's funny bone. In addition to opening places for comics to work their craft, Doherty has managed careers, including the early days of Dane Cook.

The buzz around Boston a couple weeks ago was that one of two comedy venues branded by Steve Sweeney had just closed down. One door closes, another opens. What is that saying about the weather in Florida? If you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes. The same holds true for the scene in the Town of the Bean.

Kinky Friedman, the musician and novelist running as an independent for governor of Texas, has a greater appreciation for what is known as "opposition research." A blog, The Burnt Orange Report, has run an audio clip of Friedman performing in 1980 in which he uses what the press and others have dutifully stuck to calling "The N-Word." (There've been other, more recent, comments, but none seems as egregious, or as likely to turf his candidacy, as the older, moldier ones currently being circulated.)

Notable here only because the news reports insist that Friedman was performing as a standup comic when the statements were issued. Indeed, some reports refer to him only as a standup comic, totally ignoring his body of work as a musician and novelist over the past three decades.

We're not aware of his dabbling in standup. We've been aware of his work, but we could hardly be called fans. (We own exactly one Kinky Friedman recording, "Pearls in the Snow"-- a tribute album from 1999 that is quite good and features Willie Nelson's rendition of "Ride 'em Jewboy" and a killer version of "Rapid City, South Dakota" by Dwight Yoakam.) This may be another case of the media identifying someone as a comic only when the aim is to marginalize that person. It's not unprecendented. We're inclined to believe that the audio clip making the rounds is merely between-song banter from a musical set. Either way, it's a bit ridiculous that someone should be held accountable for statements made onstage in 1980-- 26 years ago. Had he made the statements in the capacity of a legislator or a judge or a zoning board official, perhaps we could see the relevance. But it was 1980 and he was fronting a band called Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, for cryin' out loud! One of his signature songs was "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore!"

And speaking of that song, its authorship has been attributed to Friedman in countless news accounts. But we read in an August 2003 Boston Phoenix article on bawdy female comics of the 1950s and early 60s-- "Funny girls talk dirty" by Michael Bronski-- that the song may have been around long before Friedman's musical career started.

A close friend told me that in the '50s, her parents would go to business conventions in Manhattan and loved to see Patsy Abbott's nightclub act, and that her unofficial theme song was "They Don't Make Jews Like Jesus Anymore."

The Daily Texan (the UT Austin student paper) has a fine opinion piece on the entire brouhaha, penned by econ grad student Garth Heutel that sums things up, offers some theories and considers the role of political correctness may have played/may be playing in the affair.

The truth is that by appearing "politically incorrect," Kinky could win more votes than lose. Being attacked by the NAACP and editorial pages (that is, the liberal media) will only raise his appeal among those demanding less PC in their politicians. Kinky Friedman might be an idiot for saying what he did, but he might be savvier than he's getting credit for.

And, in another case of art (if you want to call it that) imitating life, Robin Williams is about to hit the bricks next month to promote his latest film, "Man of the Year" (Watch the trailer.)

What would happen if one of the nation's funniest men became its leading one? Oscar winner Robin Williams reunites with the director of Good Morning, Vietnam to answer just that question in the comic tale of an entertainer's accidental rise to power, Man of the Year. Acerbic performer Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) has made his career out of skewering politicians and speaking the mind of the exasperated nation on his talk show. He cracked scathing jokes at a fractured system night after night until he came up with a really funny idea: why not run for president himself?

The capsule description above asks, "What would happen," but we all know what would happen. Ask Pat Paulsen fans. Ask Doug Stanhope fans what is happening as their favorite comic runs for the White House in '08. Tom Knapp, libertarian blogger speculating on the current crop of L(ibertarian) P(arty) candidates for FreeMarketNews.com, sums up Stanhope's chances, and the general feelings of the LP:

A comedian who has never been elected to prior public office running for the presidency of the United States is, and will be seen as ... a joke.

Why anyone-- especially a current or former comedian-- would want to run for public office in this age of political correctness is beyond our ability to comprehend. Folks in this country tend to like our comedians to make fun of politicians, not become politicians.

A sharp-eyed reader sent us a link to Sept. 3 The Los Angeles Times article (Free reg. req.) that might not be there for very long, so hurry.

It tells of a gang of comedians who regularly converge on Victors Liquor & Delicatessen in Hollywood every Sunday afternoon.

Soon, the table expanded. Author Marc D. Allan gets major points for name-dropping!(Alan)Kirschenbaum brought along L.A. music scenester Chuck E. Weiss-- the subject of Rickie Lee Jones' "Chuck E.'s in Love." (Jeffery) Ross came along, as did Lee Frank (a comedian who's written for cable TV's Reality Remix and Girls Behaving Badly) and (Don) McEnery, who used to headline the Wall Street comedy spot called Jokers and Brokers, where Ross got his start. McEnery persuaded his poker buddy Jonathan Solomon (comedian and writer for Mad About You and also a friend of Rowe's and Frank's) to come break bread.

We are envious of any comics who have such regular meetings with colleagues. It always seemed like a good idea to get together with peers, and not necessarily in a comedy club setting. (We wonder if the gathering has been ruined now that the secret's been spilled in the LAT!?)

FOS Clifford Fewel is seeking comics of any/all levels...

...to audition 2-5 minutes of material at Crystal Palace Theater Saturday, Oct. 7 from 10AM to 1PM for a two-night show in Aspen, Oct. 19 and 20. All material must focus on life, work, play and social classes in Aspen and beyond. A tape of the show will be submitted for entry in HBO Comedy Festival in February. Call Clifford Fewel for info at (970)274-8248.

Above is an editorial cartoon by Bruce Beattie of Copley News Service that ran in Friday's USA Today. And, we assume it ran in dozens of newspapers that subscribe to Copley's service. (Oh, sure, there was a caption-- a reference to the president's recent address to the UN-- but that's irrelevant to what we're discussing here.)

The depiction of the comic-- with his loud, checked sweater, bowtie, bald head and bug-eyed expression-- is something that has always bothered us.

And the recurring theme of the comedian being subjected to thrown objects is even more bothersome. What has us patricularly upset in this instance is the fact that the audience has hurled a tomato, a pie and a knife(?!?) at the performer.

Beattie is employing a set of visual stereotypes that might be as much as 75 years old-- The misshapen, bald head, grotesquely elongated nose, the dated clothing-- all hearkening back to vaudeville, a culture that ceased to exist in the 1920's! And the idea of an audience throwing objects at the comic probably pre-dates vaudeville!

We've seen this tired visual cliche used here and there in the recent past-- the original cover design for Richard Belzer's book on standup depicted a rotten tomato smashed against it. Subsequent reissues of the book removed the tomato.

Old habits die hard-- cartoonists, graphic designers and others seem incapable of letting go of the rubber chicken, the Groucho Marxian nose-and-glasses and the squirting flower as archetypes. In Jungian terms, these objects are "an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic imagery derived from the past collective experience and present in the individual unconscious." It is this toolkit that enbles cartoonists and others to conjure up entire sets of concepts and associations with just a few strokes of the pen-- it is their shorthand.

But our attention is drawn to that knife! Are we being overly sensitive? No, not at all. The illustration shows a comedian having a deadly weapon tossed at him. Had the person throwing the knife been accurate, it clearly would have hit the victim in the head! A pie in the face is bad enough, but it would have merely been humiliation and not serious injury or death. Same for the rotten tomato.

We must wonder why Copley, USA Today and Beattie felt it was acceptable to portray violence against a comedian. Is this indicative of some sort of a lack of a societal sanction against such an act? Are comedians so reviled, so despised that we're all comfortable with a deadly assault against one?

We believe that the entire standup community is owed a public apology from USA Today, Copley and the artist, Beattie.

Readers may recall that we posted a warning back on August 14 that the Hawaii Festival, originally scheduled for October 1-7, might not happen. It is now official. Following is an email we received minutes ago.

The Hawaii International Comedy Festival as originally planned is canceled. Registration fees will be refunded as soon as possible. We are unable to reimburse travel expenses. For comedians still planning to enjoy a Hawaii vacation, and for all Hawaii based comedians, Pipeline Cafe is still available as a venue for October 6th & 7th. If enough comic express interest in performing, we will hold shows and give money to The Life Foundation.

I am terribly sorry for the delays and inconvenience, but feel free to contact me directly at home at 808-842-1754 or email me at ozellamahari@aol.com.

Ozell Daniel

No, not God. Louis CK, the creator of the show Lucky Louie, says that the reports of the demise of his show are exaggerated. In a MySpace bulletin, CK vows that it will continue, but he declines to go into any detail.

Lucky Louie IS NOT DEAD.

Lucky Louie is the best thing I ever did. It is a great show. People love it.

I will be fighting for the next weeks to keep it alive.

There's a piece on Slate.com ("Stop Them Before They Joke Again") by a guy named Peter Hyman. It's kind of embarassing. He doesn't seem to have a sense of humor, the poor dear. (Unless, of course, he has some sort of hyper-intellectual sense of humor that we just don't get-- a sorta ultra dry, ironic, I-went-to-Harvard, advanced degree in funny kinda sense of humor where one doesn't actually get the joke in the traditional, throw your head back and cackle way, but in an arched-eyebrow, knowing smile kinda way.)

He gets a coupla things wrong.

He seems to think that "There is more comedy being broadcast today than ever before, thanks to the full flowering of the Seinfeld effect (everyday existence is funny) and the comedic explosion inspired by the show." Of course, this is horse hockey. He completely ignores the Survivor effect. The truth is that there's never been more reality television-- a genre that is tenaciously and drearily without a sense of humor. And, since television (even with several dozen cable outlets) is a closed system with only so many broadcast hours to go around, the preponderance of reality programming necessarily has meant a precipitous drop in comedy programming. Perhaps Mr. Hyman just feels the humor more acutely-- rather like the recently dumped lover (who thinks everyone is in love!) who can't even bear to see the squirrels in the park doing the nasty.

And then he makes the classic mistake of asking a professor about humor.

Andrew Stott, an English professor whose academic treatise Comedy explored the philosophy of humor, sees it like this: "Being funny is a means of avoiding scrutiny. It's a deeply concealing activity that invites attention while simultaneously failing to offer any detailed account of oneself. The reason humor is so popular today is that it provides the comfort of intimacy without the horror of actually being intimate." Thus, schlock-jock Opie & Anthony clones rule drive-time America while truth-tellers like Bill Hicks linger in relative obscurity.

Two things: Here all this time we've been told that we've been avoiding intimacy by joking all the time. Now, according to Professor Haha, we're "providing the comfort of intimacy" with our humor. Curious. Secondly... does Mr. Hyman think that Mr. Hicks is still alive? It would seem so. Mega-curious. (And, as for Mr. Hicks' obscurity, we daresay that Mr. Hicks is selling more CD's than a lot of comedians that are alive and well.)

We agree with Mr. Hyman on a larger point and that is that joking should be left to the pros. We've said in this very publication that folks like Joe Biden and others in positions of authority quite often make giant fools of themselves when they attempt to make merry.

But Mr. Hyman seems intent on bringing the entire humor industry down with his screed. He just comes off sounding like a master curmudgeon. (And one of the YouTube clips he sites as relying on "hacky premises" is actually quite well-done and rather funny! We realize humor is subjective, but, in this case, we think that Mr. Hyman actually misses the funny train on this one! Click on it and see if he rightfully singles out this clip for hackiness or if he simply misses the subtlety.)

The whole essay is a mess-ay, but we figured we'd hip you all to it. Is there anyone at Slate (besides Hitchens) that's making any sense?

Backstage at the BCF: Kathe Nelson of Comedy Blvd. with Norm Crosby. In background, Anthony Clark.

Also present at some of the BCF functions was Bill Dana. It's nice to have your picture taken with Lewis Black or Steven Wright or Denis Leary, that goes without saying. But if you spot a legend, ask if you can get in a two-shot with him/her!

So begins the joint pitch from Sierra Mist and MySpace.com as they seek to find "the next superstar of comedy from within the MySpace community." Click the above link for details.

Submissions begin September 25th and end October 6th. Voting begins October 18th! FIVE lucky winners will perform on a nationally televised special on TBS and one winner will walk away with $50,000 in cash, a TV development deal and their own DVD!

They want "performance tapes" up to five minutes in length. We would surmise that they want VHS (no Beta, please!) and that DVD's would cause smoke to come out of their ears. (Actually, we're just going on what happened last month in relation to the Bud Lite/Maxim search for contestants for their promotion when they specified "DVD only."-- not enough folks out there in Comedyland had DVD's, so they relaxed the rules, extended the deadline and solicited VHS tapes in addition to the discs.)

And, since this is the internet, there will be INTERACTIVITY!

...if you prefer to laugh rather than dish out the comedy, this is the contest where you're in control. You decide...who stands up and who sits down.

Also: In order to be considered as a contestant (or to vote on who wins/loses), you must have a MySpace profile and you must add the standuporsitdown entity as a friend. (It'll all make sense when you get there, trust us.)

No word on where to send the tapes yet. We suppose that, soon enough, standuporsitdown will let everyone know what's up.

For all of you who find it odd that we would help promote something so vulgar as a contest (after what transpired last week in Boston), let us stress that we never said contests were uniformly bad or tawdry or poisonous. Besides, from all indications, this one seems like it will be easy to enter and free. (At least we think so. We figure MySpace is in this whole thing to bulk up their membership and increase awareness of MySpace Comedy. And Sierra Mist is in it to reinforce their association with standup.)

Disturbing sidenote: MySpace Comedy's tagline is, "Find the funny only at MySpace.com." (Emphasis ours) Hmmm... We are troubled by the use of the word "only." Ah, but who among us has not indulged in such bombast?

While you're there... Don't forget to make SHECKYmagazine a MySpace friend.

What is it about that March 2006 Archive file that gives us so much trouble? (Correction: In earlier editions, we called it June. It is March we speak of.) It disappears once in a while. Apparently, The Male Half (who doubles as the SHECKYmagazine Head HTMelF) was tinkering in June and accidentally banished that month's archive file into some sort of server purgatory.

It's back now, though.

Once in a while, we find it fascinating to randomly pick a month from our archived blog files (There's a long string of them in the lefthand column. Scroll down and you'll see them listed.) and just take it from the top and read the entire month's postings in one sitting. It only takes a few minutes, but in that short time you see a snapshot of 30 days in the business of standup. (And it's surprising how much of it is forgotten so quickly!)

In March 2006, for example, we comment on Jon Stewart hosting the Oscars, a final Club Soda Kenny update, the rumors in the runup to Last Comic Standing IV-- we even manage to take a shot or two at Tom Shales!

We're always in a quandary when we get our haircut or attend a reunion or get stuck in an elevator-- How do we avoid talking about what we do for a living? Why are we so against letting people know we're comics? Is it a shortcoming on our part? Is it just us? Apparently not.

Chicago-based comic Matt Wayne provides well-meaning (and not so well-meaning) comedy fans and others with a few pointers on how to talk to a standup comic!

...In fact, I would rather tell people at a party that I am a garbage man. The conversation ends right there. Theres no "How did you get into garbage?" or "Who's your favorite garbage man?" or "Can you throw this away for me?"

It's SHECKYmagazine exclusive. Read the rest here.

Winner Mandy Stadtmiller blogs on her experience on Comedy Central's CCInsider and show producer and NYUCF publicist Ryan McCormick sent along some pics of the contestants and a lovely shot of The Male Half emceeing!


L to R: Ed Condran, Roger Clark, Ojinika Obiekwe, Mike Trainor, The Male Half, Mandy Stadtmiller, Nikki Egan, Robert George, Pete Kramer, Meredith Daniels and Paul Messina. Not pictured: Catie Lazarus. (Photo credit: Ryan McCormick)


(Photo credit: Ryan McCormick)

Check out Stadtmiller's blog, too. There's a clip from her Thursday night performance.

The Halves are participating in the October 15th Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk to Cure Diabetes! We're part of the Sam's Leaping Lizards team. Sam (pictured below with The Male Half of the Staff on a recent trip to Disney World) is the son of longtime friends Franklin Solomon and Alana Bradley-Solomon. He's one of the juveniles we're walking to cure!

A half-million other walkers across the country will be walking that Sunday morning to raise money for finding a cure for juvenile diabetes.



Any contribution to our team, of any amount, is appreciated! If you'd like to contribute, click HERE to go to our Team Captain's fundraising page! It's easy-- click the "Donate Now" link and take it from there!

Ahmed Ahmed, A.J. MacKenzie, Al Rae, Allen Morrison, Andrew Donnelly, Andy Kindler, Assaulted Fish, Aubrey Tennant, Ben Mills, Boyd Banks, Brian Posehn, Bruce Arthurs, Bryan Erwin, Bucket, Carter Hortie, Charles Demers, Chris Casillan, Cody Rivers, Craig Baldo, Crawford Twins, Dan Hershfield, Dan Licoppe, Danny Bevins, Darcy Michael, Darren Trumeter, Dave Shumka, Dave Kessler, David Cross, David Crowe, David Milchard, David Tsonos, Diana Frances, Dr. Russ Kennedy, Drew McCreadie, Dylan Rhymer, Earl Skakel, Eddie Brill, Eddie Gossling, Eddie Pepitone, Elvira Kurt, Eric Fell, Erica Sigurdson, Eugene Mirman, Fanny Fabulous, Geoff Keith, Gerald Varga, Graham Clark, Greg Kettner, Howard Kremer, Ian Bagg, Ian Boothby, Irwin Barker, Ivan Coyote, Jane Stanton, Janeane Garofalo, Jason Bryden, Jaz Halloran, Jeff Rothpan, Jeffery Yu, Jen Grant, Jen Kirkman, Jeremy Hotz, John Beuhler, Jon Benjamin, Jordy Fox, J.P. Mass, Julia Lillis, Jy Harris, Kate Flannery, Kelly Dixon, Kevin Foxx, Kevin Lee, Kristen Schaal, Kyle Dunnigan, Lachlan Patterson, The Lampshades, Lauren Martin, Leland Klassen, Marc Maron, Margaret Cho, Maria Bamford, Melody Mangler, Mike Black, Mike O'Connell, Morgan Brayton, Morgan Murphy, Nathan Clark, Patrick Keane, Patrick Maliha, Paul Bae, Paul F. Tompkins, Paul Breau, Paul Irving, Penelope Corrin, Pete Johansson, Peter Kelamis, Phil Hanley, Rachel des Lauriers, Richard Lett, Richard Van Camp, Rob Pue, Roman Danylo, Roy Wood Jr., Sam Brown, Sam Easton, Scot Robinson, Scott Thompson, Sean Devlin, Sean Proudlove, Shana Orlowsky, Shane Koyczan, Shashi Bhatia, Shaun Majumder, Shaun Stewart, Simon King, Simon Rakoff, Steve Byrne, Tim Rykert, Timmy Williams, Toby Berner, Toby Hargrave, Todd Allen, Todd Barry, Todd Glass, Trevor Moore, Tyler Fortin, Veda Hille, Veena Sood, Vic Lippucci, The Walsh Brothers, The Whitest Kids U' Know, Zach Cregger,

It starts today, goes through the 24th.

Dan Boulger won.

Check out this story, from the blog of a Boston comic, about how Boulger was denied entrance to the theater where the Lewis Black show was going on-- the same theater where, 30 minutes earlier, Boulger won the contest!

Door guy: Can I help you?

Rob: Yeah, this is Dan Boulger, he just won the comedy festival, and we'd like to come in.

Door guy: Yes, congratulations, very funny... didn't actually see your set, but I heard it was quite good...

Dan: Yeah, I mean, we could stand in the back upstairs, that would be fine.

Door guy: I'll check for you, sir.

(Door guy confers with a couple of women that look like they are in charge.)

Door guy: I'm sorry sir, the ticket office is closed.

Dan: We could stand in the back?

Door guy: Sorry sir, it's a bar code issue.

Dig that crazy Peter Max Lite artwork by John Alun Rennie! Laff Records A204 is "A Day At The Races," a 1979 recording whose back cover contains liner notes by Shelby Meadows Ashford. We googled Ashford and found that his/her work has been featured on several albums, even for "Belly Dancing in the Bacchanal Room."

It's from 1979, and the notes speak of appearances in Vegas and Tahoe and on Carson, The Mike Douglas Show and, in December of 1978, The Love Boat!

Our thanks to Dave Soltz (A/V man at Catch A Rising Star in Atlantic City) for scanning the album from his private collection!

Tonight is the night that the Bob & Tom Comedy Tour premieres on Comedy Central. That link will take you to Yahoo TV and not to ComedyCentral.com. (Why? Because ComedyCentral.com might be one of the worst-designed websites in the short history of website design. CORRECTION: It is merely annoying and not the worst-designed website in the short history of website design. Annoying and counter-intuitive. But not the worst. We apologize for the slagging. We don't know what came over us.)

Anyway, it's airing (cabling?) tonight at 9 PM EDT, and it will feature a lot of the comedians you've come to know and love if you have Bob & Tom in your market. At the very least, it will feature Drew Hastings! And if it only featured him, it would be well worth watching. Twice!

Ladies and gentlemen, the finalists of the BostFest contest:

Floyd J. Phillips
Daryl Lenox
Stewart Huff
Russell Bell
Brad Upton
Shane Mauss
Dan Boulger
Sierra Mist's "Next Great Comic" Ryan Hamilton

Frank Santorelli also made it into the finals, but we're told he dropped out due to another commitment. It appears that Brad Upton was not included among the announced winners from last night's semifinal, so we're assuming that he is taking Santorelli's place. It all goes down tomorrow night at 7 PM. (Correction: Upton performed in the second semifinal, and apparently did not substitute for Santorelli as we speculated earlier. Curious, as Upton competed against Santorelli in Bracket 6 on Tuesday night's prelim. If anyone can clear this up, you know where you can reach us.)

Earlier, we hopped onto the BICF website. Saw this, on the righthand column, under the heading of news:

Congratulations!

There follows a list of the contest prelim winners. Scrolling down, we see:

Prelim 5
Lamont Ferguson
Kjell Bjorgen

How very odd. How very, very odd. Stay tuned. It might just be a web jockey slipping up on a few keystrokes here and there. Scroll down on this page to read our account of Tuesday night's Prelim 5 if you're not familiar with the particulars.

Also: We noticed that The Male Half is listed as performing on the Festival Favorites show at Nick's, Saturday, 8:30 PM. We were not informed of this. It ain't happening.

After performing emcee duties last night at Gotham, The Male Half was reminded once again of FOS Dan Rosenberg's book, now available via Amazon.com, called "The Book On Hosting-- How Not To Suck As An Emcee."

We say that every comedy venue in America should purchase a copy and chain it to the wall of every green room. (Full disclosure: The back cover prominently features a blurb from the editors of SHECKYmagazine.com!)

The New York Underground Comedy Festival will pick up the pace even more tonight (FRI) through Sunday night, as they head for the weekend. Click on the above to browse through the schedule.

We were at Gotham last night, doing double duty-- The Male Half emceed the Funniest Person in Media contest and the Female Half served as a judge (along with NYUCF bigwig George Sarris and Gotham proprietor Chris Mazzilli).

That's "media," as in New York Post, NY 1, amNY, MSNBC, the Asbury Park Press, the Journal-News of West Chester, WB-11 and Newsday, all of which were represented quite nicely as eleven of the New York area's reporters, producers and writers mounted the stage and made like comedians. (Not to be confused with "Media," the small borough of 6,000 people 20 minutes south of downtown Philadelphia. The Funniest Person in Media, PA, will no doubt be suing Underground Festival organizers!)


Winners of the Funniest Person in Media Contest (l to r): Mandy Stadtmiller (1st), Nikki Egan (2nd), Robert George (3rd)

When the dust settled, it was the NYPost's Mandy Stadtmiller who took home the title, beating out MSNBC Senior Producer Nikki Egan and NYPost Editorial Writer/Columnist Robert George.

Show producer and Fest spokesman Ryan McCormack brought on The Male Half, who introduced WB-11 morning personality Tiffany McElroy to pump the evening's charity, Operation Uplink, then it was time to bring 'em up!

Mike Trainor (NY1 writer), Robert George, Catie Lazarus (amNY writer), Paul Messina (NY1 reporter), Ojinika Obiekwe (field producer, WB-11), Mandy Stadtmiller, Meredith Daniels (Newsday editor), Roger Clark (NY1 reporter), Nikki Egan, Peter Kramer (Journal-News reporter) and Ed Condran (Asbury Park Press features reporter) kept the level consistently high throughout. And the audience, consisting of media types, relatives and friends, never flagged. There were none of the deadspots that inevitably plague these amateur comedy contests. The judging was difficult and we congratulate all the participants. (Note to Mike Trainor-- Nobody has ever won a comedy competition after going on first! Don't know why, it is just an immutable law of comedy contests! That is why they refer to the position as "taking the bullet!")


So statuesque is fellow Fashion Policer Dan Allen that he is still a head taller than The Female Half of the Staff-- and he's scrunching down! (At Comix opening gala)

After a photo session in the Gotham basement and some post-show partying, we exited and headed south to the Meat Packing District, where Bobby Collins and Wende Curtis threw a huge, seething bash to celebrate the opening of Comix, a "New York Comedy Club and Corporate Events Venue," according to the title bar when you bring up their website.


Comix comedy club principal Bobby Collins with The Male Half of the Staff at Comix opening gala

We walked over in a slight drizzle and were guided to the exact location via a cellphone call to SHECKYmagazine columnist Tom Ryan. So large and volatile was the gala that we encountered a handful of comedy luminaries on the street before we even arrived at the venue a half-city-block away-- We formed a mini-gala on the sidewalk, catching up with Tony Camin, Todd Jackson of Dead-Frog.com and comedian Eugene Mirman.


Comedian Barry Weintraub and SHECKYmagazine columnist Tom Ryan at Comix opening gala

Once inside the sleek, ultra-modern vestibule of the new club, we staked out a spot amid the sweaty, chaotic bustle and spent some quality time with Ryan, Lynn Shawcroft, Barry Weintraub, Michele Balan, Dan Allen, Karith Foster, Steven Scott, Collins, Betsy Wise and Vinnie Brand. Spotted, but not contacted, were Alex Borstein, Todd Barry, Josh Blue, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, all of whom were on one or both of the evening's shows, along with Sarah Silverman, David Spade and Kathy Griffin. A video crew roamed the circus, capturing sound/video bites of the guests, quizzing them about their impressions of the new club.

The club brags about having all the latest, bleeding-edge A/V equipment and the menu uses words like "remoulade," "aioli" and "piccalilli." And they don't just offer "slaw," they offer "mango and basil slaw."

The premiere was top drawer, and, upon exiting, all guests were handed a groovy, Tyvekkian update on the old canvas bag, stuffed with a set (tops and bottoms!) of scrubs emblazoned (top and bottom!) with the Comix logo!

Tonight at 8 PM, at the Empty Stage Comedy Theatre, 2372 Veteran Ave., Los Angeles 90064, is a Comedians for the Cure show. Take a look at that lineup:

Ian Bagg
Maria Bamford
Owen Benjamin
Chris Bonno
Jim Coughlin
Erica Doering
Bil Dwyer
Brett Gilbert
Paul Gilmartin
Matt Knudsen
David Koff
Cathy Ladman
Sketchatorium
Andrew Solmssen
Kevin Shea
Nick Thune
Joe Wilson

Tickets are $25 at the door (cash only). Go to their myspace to purchase tickets in advance. Hurry! It's tonight.

We checked our email and there was a message from "Mr. Shecky Greene," saying he wanted to talk.

It took seven years, five months and twelve days, but we finally made contact with Shecky Greene. It was a thrill.

He's got a DVD coming out. Stay tuned.

Had we only taken the time to read our own magazine, we would have saved ourselves the trouble and expense of a trip to Boston.

Way back on July 12, 2005, we posted about the winner of Sierra Mist's quest to crown the "Next Great Comic"...

...Ryan Hamilton won and he'll be pumped through the 23 Improvs along with Jim Gaffigan or Aries Spears.

Fast-forward to the evening of September 12, 2006.

We enter the Comedy Connection. The Male Half is scheduled to be in Bracket 5 of the preliminary competition of the Boston International Comedy Festival Contest. On each table is placed a free bottle of Sierra Mist. The walls are festooned with Sierra Mist banners. (The front page of the B.I.C.F. website has a Sierra Mist logo prominently displayed, we hazily recall. Hmmm...)

And, going up onstage that evening, as one of the 12 contestants was... (Do we hafta finish this sentence?) ...Ryan Hamilton.

That's right-- The Male Half was about to compete in a contest (sponsored by Sierra Mist) that was part of a festival (co-sponsored by Sierra Mist) onstage at the Comedy Connection (flanked by banners bearing the Sierra Mist logo) in front of people who were drinking complimentary soft drinks (which were bottles of Sierra Mist, provided by Sierra Mist), up against 11 other comics... one of whom is The Next Great Comic, as determined by voters who visited www.nextgreatcomic.com, a website/shrine (erected by Sierra Mist) to honor The Next Great Comic, Ryan Hamilton (Pictured above, earlier this year, at the Improv with Pablo Francisco).


Bracket 5 contestants Jan Davidson and Mark Serritella flank Bracket 6 contestant Frank Santorelli, in the Connection green room which, as you can see, is actually green.

To make things even more surreal, one of the judges was Michelle Weissbaum of Levity Entertainment Group. (According to the Levity website, she's executive assistant to Robert Hartmann, one of two principal partners of Levity Entertainment Group. Hartmann, our more knowlegable readers may know, is a principal owner of, and primary booker for, the largest chain of comedy clubs in America, the Improvs. The Improv chain, our more alert readers may remember, was the very chain that Hamilton was pumped through as part of his "prize" for winning the coveted title of "The Next Great Comic.")


The Rev. Tim McIntire, Bracket 5 contestant Renata Tutko and Bracket 1 contestant Mike Dorval

Ryan Hamilton won the Bracket. Kjell Bjorgen was second.

We know what you're saying: It's a contest.

We know it's a contest. We're the first ones to say that contests are strange and capricious beasts. And we've said so in the cyberpages of this very magazine. To wit:

Keep this in mind: You were in a contest. Contests are notoriously unpredictable. Anyone who enters a contest expecting logic, order and justice is a fool. Yet we enter them anyway. We also buy lottery tickets, play the occasional hand of blackjack or go for the girl who is "way out of our league." Sometimes, things actually go your way.

So, we didn't expect logic, order or justice when we walked in last night. But we at least expected the appearance of logic, order and justice.

For the record: This is not the assessment of a sore loser. If logic, order and justice prevailed, Lamont Ferguson would have advanced to the next round from Bracket 5. He went on last. Feguson, the one-time winner of the Seattle Comedy Competition is a 24-year vet who proved he knows his way around a 5-minute contest set. And, under normal circumstances, we might have chalked up his failure to advance to the typical quirks, peculiarities, vagaries of The Contest. But, on this night, his expulsion just... looked... bad.

We were told that our introductions would include no piece of information other than our name. This, we were told, was necessary "to keep the playing field level." (How does this desire to level the playing field square with the situation described earlier in this post?)

We were also told that two comics from our bracket would advance. Yet, in Bracket 6 later that same night, three comics advanced. Both brackets contained 12 comics. Using rudimentary math skills, this means that the folks in Bracket 6 had a 1 in 4 chance of advancing, yet the folks in Bracket 5 had a 1 in 6 chance. This would be your unlevel playing field. (We're sure the Fest officials had some sort of explanation, but we hear from at least two sources that neither the crowd nor even the comics were apprised of how that discrepancy occurred.) We hear that similar discrepancies occured in other brackets. (Indeed, the Fest's own website front page congratulates the two comics who advanced from bracket 1 and the three comics who advanced from Bracket 2. Curious.)

We all have our reasons for entering comedy contests. And we enter competitions fully aware that, depending on how things go, we may end up feeling like a loser. But it is always our fervent hope that we don't go home feeling like a sap.

For a detailed account of the rest of the competition, check out Sean L. McCarthy's blog for BostonHerald.com

Editors note: The Male Half of the Staff was screwed by fate-- he drew the number one spot. Upon informing the Female Half of his number, she instantly replied, "I'll go pull the car around." Bracket 6-er Frank Santorelli, upon hearing of the Male Half's slot number, said, succinctly, "You're fucked." The Male Half later told Bracket 6-er Brad Upton: "If I had any advice, I would tell you to hold off picking your number until dead last if you can!" (Amateur statisticians may know better but the logic is that waiting until the last possible moment to pick the numbered pieces of paper out of the Tupperware tub increases the chance that other contestants will pull the number one.) Upton advanced, as did Santorelli.

We'll be in Boston tomorrow (Tuesday) night. The Male Half is entered in the contest and his bracket (Bracket 5) is competing at 7 PM at the Comedy Connection at Faneuil Hall. It should be a great night. Click here for details and ticket purchase!

We understand that there've been two prelims already. It says on the front page of the Fest's website that Prelim 1 winners were Matt Malley and Logan Jacobson and that the winners from Prelim 2 were Russell Bell, Frank G and Chris Tabb.

Blogging for the Boston Herald, Sean L. McCarthy is providing detailed recaps of the festival events as well as a blow-by-blow of Doug Stanhope's Abbey Lounge show the other night.

MSNBC.com is reporting that the Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Variety says that Steve Schirripa (identified as a "former" Sopranos star) is being pitched as the host of a Fox talk show.

The untitled talk show project will be executive produced by Hugh Fink, a co-creator of Comedy Central's The Showbiz Show With David Spade and former head writer on CBS' The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.

SHECKYmagazine columnist Doug Hecox has a column in today's (9/11/06) Washington Post. It's an account of his performance at the D.C. Improv on September 14, 2001.

In the five years since, I've performed in venues ranging from fire halls to Times Square, but that single show on Sept. 14 will forever be special. It was a tough room but a great audience. The people put aside their fears for the sake of a few laughs on a Friday night. That was truly noteworthy.

Read the whole thing .

First off, spelling "travelling" with one L or two L's is a personal preference. They (the O& A people) go with one. We're going with two.



In the maze of the backstage area at the Tweeter, there are maybe a dozen green rooms, another half-dozen offices, a large catering room serving hot food and an impromptu tequila bar set up off the concrete loading dock, just before the entrance to the real backstage-- the one with the thumping bass and the tech crew, the curtains and the thick cables that supply the juice for this gargantuan operation.


Robert Kelly and Rich Vos look on from the wings.

Security is tight-- not oppressive, but tight and unforgiving. There are, after all, at least ten well-known comedians and two superstar radio personalities back here. And it is a given that there will be a fair amount of scheming by the curious, the fanatical and the malevolent to get back here, into this area, and mingle among the well-known. (There was some talk that there were some counterfeit all-access O & A laminates floating around, so one can't be too careful.) Also milling about in this bizarre party atmosphere were media types, a two-man crew from MySpace.com, a dozen scantily-clad strippers, family members, radio station personnel (interns, a P.D., promo people), girlfriends, wives, fans and undefined "others."


Lynn Shawcroft and Traci Skene

We were backstage VIP's as guests of Bonnie McFarlane and Rich Vos. Vos emceed the first half of this evening's show. We hung out mostly with Bonnie and comedian Lynn Shawcroft (who opened for Doug Stanhope across the river at the Khyber Pass Pub Thursday night). A fortunate convergence of events and conditions led to our presence here on this evening-- we were idle this weekend, we live only minutes away from the Tweeter, the kindness of the Vos-McFarlanes, etc. That The Female Half of the Staff would be able to partially exorcise some residual O & A demons was icing on the cake. (See her column on her January O & A ordeal here.)



Jim Shubert interviews Dom Irerra for MySpace.com

The show featured ten comics-- Vos, Jim Shubert, Tracy Morgan, Ralphie May, Patrice O'Neal, Bob Saget, Robert Kelly, Dom Irerra, Bill Burr and Jim Norton. At least that's the comedy portion. The comics were split into two groups, with an intermission between and video packages kicking off each half. And there was some sort of a halftime bacchanal that featured the aforementioned strippers. (We're not convinced that eroticism and standup are the perfect combination. The brain shouldn't be asked to process humor and worry about an erection at the same time.) Hosting for the second half was assumed by the hosts/heroes Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony "Anthony" Cumia.

Coming out first on a show such as this one is an unenviable position, but at least Vos' workday was done by intermission. In the giant shed that is Camden's Tweeter Center-- half outdoor, half indoor-- with a crowd estimated at anywhere from 7,000 to 10,000, emceeing a show like this one might be the toughest spot anywhere, any time.


Dom Irerra onstage at the Tweeter

Add to this situation the fact that, with an O & A crowd, a set goes one way or the other. It's a maddening combination of Showtime at the Apollo and The Springer Show.

Vos killed. Shubert was booed for nearly his entire time onstage. Up. Down. Up, up, up. Down. A roller coaster ride, sometimes within the space of a single comedian's set. Dom Irerra, performing in the show's second half, was crushing until, mysteriously, the mood of the crowd turned ugly. What happened? No one could say for sure. The only certainty is uncertainty. It made for some odd moments in the wings, to be sure. When noted and competent comedians like Shubert and Irerra are treated so cavalierly all comics are necessarily... concerned.


Bob Saget flanked by WYSP promo people

We're in Camden, but this is, for all intents and purposes, a Philly crowd. The town that famously booed the Easter Bunny and threw iceballs at Santa Claus. Or was it booed Santa Claus and threw iceballs at Jimmy The Greek? Either way, they're tough bastards on their best day. Assemble a few thousand of them in a hot amphiteater, throw in a few thousand plastic tumblers of Bud Lite and some pole dancing tarts and you have, quite possibly, the mother of all hell gigs.

Shubert, the son of a Philly cop and a tough bastard in his own right, was also one of Sam Kinison's Outlaws of Comedy. If there was any comic who might have expected a warm reception from these folks, it was him. Shubert dealt with it admirably-- he bulled through, disregarded the hellish booing and did his time with the same inflection, the same timing, as if it had been a kill. When things got ugly for Dom, he chose to deal with the reaction head-on-- "Oh, one minute you love me, now you fucking hate me?" A brief reprieve, then the booing resumes, perhaps even worse than before. A bemused Irerra vows not to be intimidated, but eventually cashes in slightly early.

There was to be a third way of dealing with adversity on this night. And that was what shall forever be referred to as Bill Burr's Philly O & A Set. We can never capture Burr's 15-minute tirade-- the slow start, the immediate booing, Burr's quick realization that he couldn't turn the ship around after valiantly trying for the first 180 seconds or so.


MySpace.com's Jordy Fox talking to Bill Burr

And then... it started.

A gang of comics was slowly clumping near the giant P.A. cabinet at stage left, sensing that something significant was developing. Irerra, Kelly, Vos, McFarlane, Shubert, Jordy Fox, Cumia-- a dozen and a half comics, VIP's and others witnessed Burr as he turned the corner and launched into a vicious tirade that attacked all that Philadelphians hold dear. One by one, such Philly institutions as cheesesteaks, Rocky (Paraphrasing: "You're biggest hero and he's not even fucking real!! Joe Frazier's one of the toughest bastards in history and you put up a fuckin' statue of that 3-ft. tall piece of shit?! You racist fucks!" Here's a clip of the meat of it, on YouTube.), the Phillies, Donovan McNabb, the Flyers (Gasp!)-- even Ben Franklin and the Liberty Bell were blasphemed! It was magnificent in it's scope, it was positively evil in it's desire to inflict real pain.

Dead center on the stage in front of Burr, visible to all of us on near the P.A. cabinet, was a giant TV monitor that displayed, in 18-inch high characters, the number of minutes left in his set. At the 11-minute mark, Burr defiantly exclaimed, "I got eleven minutes to go, you fucks!" Cheers went up and battled the boos! It was electric. And so it went-- Burr going on his devastating stream of consciousness incantation, stopping only to announce that he was yet another minute closer to the end, each minute's announcement greeted with that cheer, each one prompting hoots and high-fives from the assembled comics as well. It was legendary.

And, although this declamation of Burr's was historical, although no one present is likely to forget him or his speech, we very much doubt that Burr had any fun presenting it. We daresay that Burr would have gladly skipped the battle and opted for a clean kill. We suspect the whole episode unnerved him somewhat, despite the acclaim that followed.


Comics Chris McDevitt and Pat House performed on the Helium side stage prior to the mainstage event

And though we were fortunate to be present for the spectacle that was Burr's smackdown, we were somewhat anxious, troubled about what effect "The Virus" might have on the future of comedy in general. They call it a virus, not us, so it is appropriate to continue the metaphor. Is it spreading to other venues? Other gigs? Do those infected with it behave similarly at other non-O & A events? Will comedians be forced to reckon with a rowdy, mob at every turn? Will polite silence be permanently replaced with catcalls and blood-curdling chants? We certainly hope not. For although the carriers of this virus were enthusiastically queued up afterward to get the autographs of all the comics involved, and although their response is certainly enthusiastic, it seems as though the relationship between performer and audience has been turned upside down. A certain amount of control has been ceded to the mob, specifically to a certain rowdy and intolerant element of the mob. On balance, it seems like that's a bad direction to go in for standup comedy-- for the audience members as well as the performers.


Burr, Patrice O'Neal, Anthony, Opie (standing), Jim Norton sign autographs to poster, pics, boobs, etc. after show

..."National Lampoon's Jokes, Jokes, Jokes; Collegiate Edition" by SHECKYmagazine columnist and FOS Steve Ochs? Well let's mention it now.

"From the vast collection of knucklehead comedians, pranksters and practical jokers that make up the contributing community of writers to the National Lampoon come party jokes, off color college humor, and decidedly un-PC punch lines that populate this comprehensive collection of jokes and silly anecdotes. For example, Q: What's the difference between Billy Joel and Great White? A: Billy Joel didn't start the fire! Or, while my roommate was doing laundry he yelled, "What setting do I put the washer on?" So I shouted back, "What does it say on your shirt?" And he replied, "University of Arizona!""

Larry Getlen's "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Jokes" hit bookstores this week! Love that cover! Click on the box at left and you'll be whisked to Amazon.com, where you can purchase it!

Getlen managed to get Gilbert Gottfried to write the foreword! Getlen is an author and a comedian who has contributed to SHECKYmagazine, as well as a few other publications like Esquire, Maxim, Variety and Salon.

The Boston Comedy Festival kicks off Sunday night with their film portion. Here's a list of films screening at the "Shorts" IMAGINE Movie Night at the Improv Asylum:

JUST YOUR AVERAGE ARAB, directed by Raouf Zaki, (19:00). Arab-American characters meet in the storage room of a convenience store to take an Arab American Survival Course post 9/11. Ahmed Ahmed stars. The film will make you laugh and think.

EMBEDDED COMEDIANS, (the trailer) directed by Joey Carrol and Jim McCue, (2:31). Two Boston Comedians get embedded with the US troops on a 30-day tour of Bosnia, Kosovo, Kyrgistan, Kuwait and Iraq. Starring Joey Carroll and Jim McCue and the US military and an angry Camel.

AVAILABLE MEN, directed by David Dean Bottrell, (14:59). A Hollywood agent (on the verge of being fired) is dispatched to a L.A. bar with strict orders to sign a hot new writer he has never met. On the same night, a sensitive gay man (with the same first name as the writer) arrives at the bar to meet a blind date. Hilarity ensues when these two men mistake each other for the other person they were expecting to meet.

MY PARENTS WERE POETS, directed by David Punch, (23:00). A highly stylized comedic spoof and well produced story of how two stand-up poets find each other, lose each other, and find each other again told with a lot of rhyme and feel of the time.

JUNIOR! THE WENDY'S GUY, directed by Stephen Stephanian, (15:15). A short documentary about a man who has attained cult status on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin through his speedy and unorthodox handling of the register at the Wendy's in the Texas Union.

FIRST KISS, directed by Stephen Stephanian, (3:30). Was your first kiss awkward? So what? You still got to kiss, didn't you?

MIME MASSACRE, directed by Colin Decker, (6:01). When it comes to mimes, people either love them or hate them. This movie is for the haters.

DIARY OF AN APRICOT CREAM, directed by JP Ouellette, (5:17). A spoof of "JAWS" and the retelling of an Indianapolis disaster, as told by an apricot cream.

MASK OF THE NINJA, directed by Kevin Anderton, (3:06). A Chinese Special Agent must defeat the ninja warriors of her nemesis, Master Plan, and save the free world.

MARINE ON THE SCENE, directed by Dario Russo, (5:17). Marine Biology students Troy and Grant have transplanted the brain of a killer whale into the body of a multimedia student.

EVERY THIRTY SECONDS, directed by Jeremy Corray, (5:49). Every Thirty Seconds. A man is hit by a drunk driver. This is that man.

A MAN AND A WOMAN, directed by Brian McKim, (3:23). Wind-up toys make a statement about life, love, and romance. (See it on