These five, from the Los Angeles auditions, have made it to the semi-finals, from what we can piece together:

Eddie Pepitone


Esau McGraw


Jackie Kashian


Ron G


Erin Foley

One of our "correspondents" says the following, following the latest LCS audition in Los Angeles last night:

Making it through to the showcase was Ben Glieb, Ruby Wendell, Thai Rivera, Bob Purkell, Rosie Tran, and Tom Clark .

There is some uncertainty as to the last comic, Clark, making it in and there may have been more comics than listed here.

We also hear that the number of well-known comics will be kept to a minimum this season, and that there may more of a focus on the backstories of the comics on the show, due to the WGA strike. (We're not quite clear on how that works, but there it is.)

CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS: Now we're hearing that neither Clark nor Purkell made the cut.

And we're hearing that Jackie Kashian, Eddie Pepitone and Esau McGraw were advanced to the big show. Ruby Wendell is mentioned as possibly advancing. Anyone know for sure? Drop it in the comments!

Back in April of last year, we posted about the scene in Jamaica. Now, we learn, via an article in the Jamaica Gleaner, that a promoter in Jamaica is bringing U.S. acts to Jamiaca.

According to Daley, the overseas acts are like 'well-oiled machines', as "they have a very deep culture of comedy in the U.S., they are more free in their subject matter and a lot more X-rated. Our audience can't really take what pushes the borderline. Our comedy needs to graduate in terms what our audience is used to, but it takes time to build that understanding."

Acts such as Will Sylvince and Shang have made the trip.

The importation will lead to exportation, says comic/empresario Christopher "Johnny" Daley.

Daley believes that the link will help the comedy community overseas to be more aware of Jamaican performers. "We want to push that link so that we too can go overseas to perform," he elaborated. He agrees that the Jamaican comedic community welcomes international acts with open arms.

Shang says they're ready for primetime.

They're calling it the "Trump Comedy Series," which, we suppose, means that it will be a regular thing at the Trump Marina. On Saturday, Feb. 2, they'll bring in Mitch Fatel, Pete Correale and Lynne Koplitz for one show at 9 PM.

That's not the only comedy the Trump folks are bringing to the Jersey shore-- Mike Birbiglia will perform at the Theatre at Trump Plaza on Saturday., March 8, and Trump Taj is bringing in Larry The Cable Guy in May.

Maybe the Borgata's heavy emphasis on standup-- both in their 7-night comedy club and their heavy booking of such standup comics as Kathy Griffin, Jim Norton, Norm MacDonald, Lewis Black and Kevin James-- is so successful that it's inviting imitation.

CORRECTION: Mitch Fatel has cancelled, or so the Trump VP of Entertainment has emailed us. The site still has Fatel listed... Although the Trump Marina website can't be relied upon for decent information-- under the Fatel/Correale/Koplitz show, they have several paragraphs about Greg Giraldo and Christian Finnegan?!? WTF?!

An article on the Boston Globe's Boston.com titled "Testing the limits of tolerance for a laugh," kicks around the topic of offensive humor.

The issue of cultural sensitivity has become an increasingly complicated one in the world of comedy. Comic Michael Richards generated controversy in late 2006 for silencing black hecklers with a racial epithet. The owner of Laugh Factory, the comedy club where the Richards incidet occurred, swiftly banned use of the slur in comedy routines. The Comedy Central shows Mind of Mencia and The Sarah Silverman Program have faced criticism for incorporating blackface and ethnic or racial slurs into skits.

Editors all over the country will continue to use the Richards incident as a hook for a story on standup comedy (or entertainment in general) for years to come. Writer after writer will take a whack at it, with varying results.

This time, Vanessa E. Jones gives it a try, interviewing New England-area comics-- including frequent SHECKYmagazine commenter (FSC) Myq Kaplan.

Kaplan no doubt endears himself to Jones by citing the Carlin quote-- "I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately."

Of course, we take issue with this. It certainly is incumbent upon a comic to know where the line is. (If a comic doesn't know where the line is, he has no business being a comic.) It is up to the comic as to whether he avoids the line, tiptoes up to it but never crosses it, or crosses it.

Kaplan also says:

"Words and stereotypes can be used positively, and there are many comedians black, white, and otherwise that I respect a great deal who use the N-word constructively," says Kaplan, using as an example a joke that David Cross does about former US Senator Trent Lott. "If that intent is clear and the audience understands that intent, then that is positive. You have a responsibility to communicate clearly and make sure that happens."

On this we can agree.

Last night, we caught the last five minutes or so of Russell Peters' set on HBO's Def Comedy Jam, in which he did a bit about the word "nigger." No "n-word," for Peters-- he used the whole word. It was exceptionally well-done. The world didn't come to an end just because a non-African-American used the word in a comedy routine. And it killed.

We take all this to mean that perhaps Political Correctness is finally dying. And it is none too soon.

However, we are a little nervous when it comes to determining "intent." We have guffawed at Sarah Silverman's outrageousness and we have never questioned her "intent," assuming that she had one intent and one only-- that is, to make people laugh. On the other hand, Dan Whitney is not accorded such immunity. For some reason, Silverman is shining the harsh light of truth on the ignorant. Whitney is a racist panderer who is fomenting hatred. Both cross the line. Both do so with hilarious results. (And, we hasten to add, most of the criticism of Whitney comes from fellow comics.)

It seems that comics are the only ones keeping political correctness alive.

In an article on the changing nature of entertainment booking in Atlantic City, Vegas and other gambling spots, Michael Pollock of Spectrum Gaming Group, a Linwood-based casino industry advisory business, says that country music acts are now a viable booking choice for casinos.

The nature of the gaming industry and its customer base is changing, and that is reflected in and driven by its entertainment offerings.

It's not just Shecky Greene anymore. It is a reflection of the fact that destination resorts are becoming more a part of the mainstream entertainment industry, and entertainment is an effective way to target your demographics and position your property in the marketplace.

Was it ever just Shecky Greene? (We know that, at one time, Greene was one of the highest paid, highest profile acts in Las Vegas, but Pollock's choice of Greene as emblematic of casino entertainment is... curious.)

On the rare occasions when we're paid for a standup engagement via PayPal, we are moved to sing that method's praises. No hauling around gobs of cash, no humping a check to the bank and waiting for it to clear, no waiting for a check to arrive in the mail. It's so 21st century-- sending cash via email!

We've been paid via PayPal on a dozen or so occasions over the past two years. There are drawbacks-- PayPal takes a point or two for their trouble (have the club/booker tack on the difference!) and transferring money from one's PayPal account to one's bank account is not instantaneous. It is certainly not ideal for all situations. But the benefits outweigh the negatives as far as we're concerned.

We had been wondering if Ant and Kathleen Madigan and Alonzo Bodden would be back as celebrity judges this year.

At the Feb. 7 auditions in New York, two of the judges for the auditions will be Steve Schirripa and Richard Belzer.

This will be interesting. Note to performers: Do not start your set off by addressing the judges as "Bobby Bacala" and "Detective Munch."

Addendum: As Kaplan points out, it is indeed on the nbc.com site, right under the announcement for the Gotham audition.

Angela Kinsey and Oscar Nunez are listed for tomorrow's Los Angeles audition.

Has anyone heard of other new judges? Perhaps a new judging system?

Here are the rest of the audition cities/addresses/dates (from nbc.com):

Toronto, Canada - Feb. 14th
Yuk Yuk's
224 Richmond St.
Toronto, ON M5V
416-967-6425

Minneapolis, MN - Feb. 19th
Acme Comedy Club
708 N. First St.
Minneapolis, MN 55401
612-338-6393

Houston, TX - Feb. 22nd
Houston Improv
7620 Katy Freeway, Space 431
Houston, TX 77024
713-333-8800

Tempe, AZ - Feb. 26th
Tempe Improv
930 E. University Ave.
Tempe, AZ 85281
480-921-9877

San Francisco, CA - Feb. 29th
Cobb's Comedy Club
915 Columbus Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94133
415-928-4320

Nashville, TN - Mar. 3rd
Zanies
2025 8th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37204
615-269-0221

Who knew that the Commissioner of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services was Charles Bronson? We have a script idea for Death Wish IV: A New York architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad/consumer advocate after his wife is murdered by street punks.

We googled "Charles Bronson quotes" in order to get a Bronson quote that might enhance this posting. Maybe something from one of the Death Wish series... or maybe a good one from "The Great Escape!" We found the following on ThinkExist.com, a website whose tagline is "Finding quotations was never this easy!"

We're not playing games, we're not giving warnings, ... If somebody's out there price gouging, they are going to be charged, and if it is a criminal offense, we will get the attorney general's office to carry those charges on to court.

Charles Bronson quotes (American Actor, 1921-2003)

The moral? Never send a robot to do a living, breathing human being's job.

We're in Georgia. We're at the Loft in Athens tonight and we're looking forward to it. Doug Benson was there last week and he had a good time.

Then we head to Memphis, for a weekend at Comedy Tennessee. We haven't been in Memphis since about 1988 or so! The club has set up a busy media schedule for us. How about that? A club that aggressively hustles for media coverage! How 1988 of them! It should be a blast.

Stay tuned. After that, we're headed to Atlanta, West Virginia and Detroit.

Congratulations to our winners:

John Markham
Jason Marcus
James Blumenfeld

Roseanne (Barr?) is apparently used in a stunt in an episode of the UK version of Big Brother. According to this BB fan site, the "American comedienne" hijacks the house and sets them up for their latest task:

The hijacker asked the housemates to get into pairs and each prepare a stand-up comedy show for her in two hours' time. Roseanne told them that the funniest couple would be the winners, but warned them: "I'll heckle you if you suck."

Comedians are becoming more ingrained in the pop culture. Sure, it's England, but there's much cross-pollination.

At the top of the Cleveland.com page (the Cleveland Plain Dealer's website) is this series of items, by Mike McIntyre, who is identified as "Plain Dealer Comedy Reporter."

The PD has a comedy reporter? This is certainly good news.

There's news of comedy-related happenings in Cleveland, Cuyahoga Falls-- in the clubs and elsewhere and there's a mini-interview with Dom Irrera on the occasion of his stint at Hilarities. Irrera ponders the differences between message comics and just plain comics:

I saw George Carlin last week. He is absolutely brilliant. I think he is a level or two above anyone I have ever seen as far as just being brilliant. But the bad thing is he's lecturing so much that I'm thinking I understand why people would want to go see somebody just to make them laugh.

Read the whole thing.

It's a portal (does anyone use that term any more?) for all things related to disabilities. We accidentally found out about it while reading the Eonline item about Jay Leno's settlement of the Judy Brown joke book lawsuit (see below)-- there was an ad on the righthand side of the page that depicted Josh Blue and it asked the question, "Is there anything funny about disability?"

The ad is part of a campaign, launched today, to promote the site. Blue is the face of the campaign.

Judging from the "Shareholder FAQ" and the slick layout, they seem to be serious about making money off this venture. And, when you think about it, there are hundreds of products and services out there just aching for a chance to hook up with the millions of disabled Americans.

Gina Serpe writing for Eonline.com tells of the resolution of the lawsuit that Leno (and NBC and a gaggle of other comedians) brought against joke book author Judy Brown. The deal involves cash (going to charity) and an agreement from the publishers to cease the distribution, manufacture and sale of the 19 joke books that were published by three different publishers.

"I thought it was important to make it clear that jokes are protected like any other art form," Leno said of the case. "On behalf of the tremendous and talented group of writers we have at The Tonight Show and many other hardworking comedians, I'm very glad we've been able to stop this practice once and for all."

Leno's lawyer said:

The settlement sends a strong message that the intellectual property rights of comedy writers must be respected.

We missed this. But SHECKYmagazine contributor Bill Bunker certainly didn't.

So now he's among the ten Chicago comedians competing in the Chicago's Funniest Video contest, which is part of the RD's Funnfest. Other comics include Haji Outlaw, Patrick McGann and Julianna Forlano.

Bunker dropped us a line and cautioned that the folks at RD "seem to think that standup is best presented by one person alone in front of a camera, sort of al Quaida hostage style." (His way of preparing us for the spectacle of all the comics' clips-- they appear to be performing in a vacuum! It's eerie-- They're all floating among a backdrop of inky blackness!)

Anyway, hop to it and vote for Bunker! He'll win 500 clams!

And, when you're done there, hop on over to here and check out the Nashville finalists.

If you answered yes, then hustle on over to TurboTax's YouTube page, set up to harvest solicit videos for their TaxLaugh contest.

Jay Mohr is the face of this project. The winner gets a $10,000 (minus, we suppose, 40 or 50 per cent to pay federal taxes) and "a chance to open for Jay Mohr."

Hit the rules here.

Last year's figurehead was Vanilla Ice, and the contestants were asked to make a rap video about taxes. This year, it's a humorous video, not necessarily using rap. (You can view last year's winner-- and the runners-up-- by clicking on the "Most Viewed" links in the lefthand column.

America's Got Talent is looking for victims... er, auditioners. They're coming to Orlando (Jan. 26), Nashville (Jan. 30) and Charlotte (Feb. 2).

They'll look at (and feature on the show) comedians. You'll recall last season's dust-up between celebrity judge David Hasselhoff and standup comic Ricardo Aleman.

See the application and details here.

A friend sent along an email speculating on just what's transpiring in the spooky photo above, taken last night at the Brokerage by comic/photographer Rob Cioffi (up on Cioffi's Picasa page here).

The Female Half seems to be cowering in fear as the Male Half lectures/admonishes/menaces her. Of course, it's a trick of the light, an illusion, a strange convergence of expressions, posture and lighting that conveys an unreality.

Eerie!

The guest of honor, Melvin George, II (Photo credit: Rob Cioffi)

Last night, we trekked to Bellmore, NY, on Long Island, to the Brokerage where 17 friends, associates and/or colleagues participated in the ancient art of the roast. The guest of honor was Melvin George, II.

For two hours plus, the crowd of friends, relatives, fellow comics and other (quite possibly horrified!) onlookers watched as host Peter Bales brought up Chris Monty, Paul Bond, Alex House, Joe Starr, Rich Walker, Joe Bronzi, Rich Minervini, Harry Freedman, Joey Kola, Dan Wilson, Ray Grins, Ed Ryan and Steve O to say the most vile and insulting things about George and about the other roasters. Also contributing to the thrashing were non-comics Bill Jaye (George's attorney), Tom Ingegno (George's agent from Omnipop) and Brokerage owner Mark Lund.


Steve O and Dan Wilson (Photo credit: Male Half)

The irony of "roasting" a black man on Martin Luther King Day was not lost on anyone present. George, a comic for three decades and a fixture on the comedy scene on Long Island (and the nation), is, it safe to say, beloved by the many comics who have had the pleasure of working with him. So it was that nearly every roaster made mention just how hard it was to come up with something nasty to say about such a fine and fun-loving gentleman as George. Of course, they all managed to do so. And the results were hilarious.


Harry Freedman (l) with Joey Kola (Photo credit: Male Half)

Bales is the consummate roast host-- his familiarity with all those on the dais and his encyclopedic knowledge of the history of comedy on Long Island combined with his innate ability to craft pithy and razor-sharp put-downs make him the obvious choice. He kept it moving as all 16 roasters took a whack. And never did the show lag, even though nearly 2-1/2 hours had passed by the time the victim took to the podium to make his heartfelt closing remarks.

It was fascinating to see how many different approaches were taken. Some went old-school Dean Martin, some adopted a conversational style. Props, music, photos-- nothing was out of the question. And nothing was out of bounds.


Melvin George, II, approaches the podium to a standing ovation (Photo credit: Male Half)

The show was produced and tirelessly promoted by Chris Monty. And whoever determined the order was either exceptionally insightful or lucky or both-- the flow of the show was seamless and it never lagged. Special props go to Steve O-- even though he hadn't been onstage in 14 years, he delivered a rollicking set and essentially closed the show (Attorney Jaye and agent Ingegno went on after, but O was the last pro to go on.)

Among other comics in attendance were John Trueson, Billy Garrin, Richie Byrne, Eric Tartaglione, Stacey Prussman and Tim Homayoon.


Partial shot of the dais-- Monty, House, Starr, George, Kola, Bronzi(Photo credit: Rob Cioffi)

We'd like to thank Rob Cioffi for providing some of the above photos. Check out the rest of the pics here!

We are giving away three 2008 Mitch Hedberg Fan Art calendars! Send in the following information to tmskene(at sign)hotmail.com:

NAME
MAILING ADDRESS

And put the words "Hedberg Calendar" in the subject line.

Do that by 11:59 PM, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008 and we'll pick three winners at random.

For details on this lovely calendar, click here We've got one and the drawings, photos and graphics by the Mitch fans is high-quality and quite imaginative.

The Boston Globe's Nick Zaino writes about Conan writer Brian Kiley's return to Boston this past weekend. Kiley, like other striking writers, has been hitting the road doing standup because the WGA action has meant no paycheck for the past ten weeks.

"I've been pretty lucky doing stand-up, getting pretty good gigs," he says, "but now I'm taking everything and sometimes it's like, oh, that gig sucked. That was a long drive. I'm remembering now, I forgot how hard stand-up is."[...]

His style of comedy also makes headlining a bit more difficult. He is a gifted one-liner comic, which means he has to write a lot more material than a comedian who tells longer stories.

"The nice thing is, if you get on TV, you have a bunch of quick punch lines, which is what they want," he says. "The bad thing is, in the clubs sometimes they're like, oh, can you do 10 more minutes? It's like, oh, what, 40 jokes? That makes it tricky, believe me."

We had the pleasure of working with Kiley in NE many times, before he became employed in late night television 13 years ago.

He nutshells nicely the dilemma of the setup/punchline comic.

"Stand-Up Guy: John McCain's Campaign Trail Comedy" is an ABCNews.com analysis (by Ron Claiborne) of the standup of Republican presidential hopeful John McCain.

The analysis is so even-handed (and, at times, insightful) that we can forgive the graphic, which depicts McCain with an arrow through his head, holding a microphone in one hand, with a rubber chicken in the other.

(We suppose Steve Martin shares some of the blame for this. Although, Martin use of the arrow through the head was "postmodern" (or should it be regarded as a "meta-joke?") In any event, the MSM didn't quite "get" Martin 100 per cent, so now, we're all stuck with the arrow through the head. We would wager that half the graphic artists who use the rubber chicken have no idea of its origins or what it symbolizes.)

The Telegraph (U.K.) has a similar article "by Tim Shipman in Aitken, South Carolina and Philip Sherwell in Las Vegas" which is a re-working of the ABCNews.com piece.

There's also an AP article about how Barack Obama is using humor on the campaign trail, this time, in his appearances in Nevada. The "jokes" Obama uses are less like the gags that McCain employs and more like monologue material. And, while we haven't seen any video, in print the alleged jokes fall flat. Perhaps his style depends more on delivery-- nuance that can't be conveyed via the page/monitor/browser.

Is this a trend? Two major candidates portrayed as "comedians!"

Huckabee is getting plenty of mileage out of the "If they tell us what to do with our flag, we'll tell them what to do with their pole!" line. Out of all the candidates, the former Arkansas governor is most adept at sliding obvious material into his "panel" appearances.

This focus on appearing funny, on appearing to have a sense of humor, is all about appearing human, approachable, real. (Odd since, these same qualities-- appearing funny and having a sense of humor-- when exhibited by a standup comic are sometimes cited as obstacles to appearing human, approachable and real.)

It was in all the papers. Some guy, a Greeley, CO, businessman named Bill Farr, did some schtick at a banquet this week honoring CU president Hank Brown. Anyway, the guy does a bunch of fake telegram gags and one of them causes the audience to gasp-- "If Obama wins they might have to change the name of the White House."

Weak joke, told poorly. The gasps may well have been from comedians in the audience, horrified not only by the mangling of the joke, but by the audacity of Farr in pilfering a joke that is at least 44 years old. (Although he is an amateur.)

From a May 2004 article on CommonGround.com, a re-telling of the John and Yoko in bed story on that story's 35th anniversary:

They had been there, in bed, for eight days, receiving scores of visitors. There were politicians of every stripe, from local MPs and MNAs to Quebec separatists. There were young, long-haired fans, journalists from a dozen countries; groups and individuals representing a spectrum of religions and peace groups; show-business luminaries from Tommy Smothers to legendary New York DJ Murray (The K) Kaufman, who styled himself The Fifth Beatle, and black comedian Dick Gregory, who four years before declared himself a candidate for the presidency. ("First thing I'll do is paint the White House black.")

The beleaguered Farr says, "I am not a politician. And I must not be much of a comedian," and that "he got the joke from a political cartoon and didn't think his remarks was (sic) 'politically incorrect'."

We'll set the stage: A bunch of plucky German comics get together and, for lack of a comedy club circuit in their native land, start producing gigs at laundromats (sounds familiar!), and eventually they produce a television show based on the gigs called Nightwash.

The show is aired on regional local access television and it gets a following. We'll let "German standup king Klaus-Jurgen 'Knacki' Deuser" pick up the story from there:

"It was a strange thing. We were on late and WDR kept moving us around, but the ratings were always great," Deuser says. "We were on a regional channel, but traveling around the country, I noticed everyone knew Nightwash. We had become a brand." A brand that seemed tailor-made for Comedy Central when it launched a German-language channel last year.

"Comedy Central was looking for something unique that would make them stand out, give them a name in Germany, and give them access to the latest new comedians," Deuser says.

Now, instead of moving from wash salon to wash salon, Nightwash has a swanky home in Cologne's Gloria theater. It is bigger than ever and can boast of being the launching pad for a new generation of Teutonic comics.

Emphasis ours.

Jaw-dropping!

TV execs in this country do stuff like this all the time. We recall that NBC pulled a similar move when they greenlighted the idea of broadcasting a freewheeling standup and music show that had been ongoing at L.A.'s funky, neo-Bohemian Largo then taped it at the cavernous, studio-like Knitting Factory, stripping it of its charm and transforming it into a tightly formatted standup show that was virtually indistinguishable from any that had preceded it.

They can't help themselves... it's what they do.

Part of the fun of Nightwash, writes Reuters' Scott Roxborough, "was seeing the puzzled stares of night owls passing by outside. It soon became the favorite of insomniacs." Part of the fun? It was probably as integral a part of the show's charm as the comedians themselves. Now, with the helpful meddling of clueless German TV execs (no doubt with some tutoring from New York and L.A. suits!), Nightwash will have been laundered, dried, starched, ironed and folded-- making it just like all the others that have come before it.

Regarding that ill-fated Knitting Factory show on NBC, it is helpful to check out this article (second item, scroll down), which appeared in the New York Observer on Dec. 10, 2000-- just 20 months after we first launched SHECKYmagazine.com!

(The item provides valuable insight into the state of comedy affairs in late 2000. And it also might give readers who haven't been with us since the beginning some insight into why we are like we are, and why we decided to fire up this magazine in the first place.)

The quote from NBC's executive vice-president of casting, Marc Hirschfield is particularly galling/enlightening (depending upon your mood):

Mr. Hirschfeld said the NBC show will deviate from that tiresome mike-and-a-punch-line format, spotlighting the creative, sometimes arch alternative comics who have popped up with increasing frequency in recent years at places like the Luna Lounge in New York and Largo in Los Angeles. Mr. Hirschfeld described the kind of comedy the show is seeking as "free-form, a little less joke-telling and a little more storytelling."

Of course, Hirschfield's network ended up producing a standup show that was rather similar to standup shows of the past.

Mind you, we rather like the standup shows of the past-- three, maybe four, standup comics doing what they do best-- standup comedy! We just wonder why they feel the need to bash the format (and the performers) when they set about pitching, greenlighting and subsequently promoting the venture.

And, in the case of the Largo show and our German colleagues' Nightwash project, why do they meddle to the point of destroying that which attracted them to the show in the first place?

Former SHECKYmagazine.com columnist Rusty Ward is now the anchor of a slickly-produced, two-minute Daily Show-style current events internet program called The Ward Room.

The show is but one small portion of the offerings of BarelyPolitical.com, an online venture created by former Philadelphian Ben Relles. (We had the pleasure of working on a couple projects with Relles while he was still obtaining his MBA from Wharton back a few years ago.)

Ward is listed as the head writer for the site, which seems to be concentrating on politically themed music videos and mp3's. We notice that the BP site distinguishes itself from other, similar ventures by producing content with fairly high quality graphics, music and production values. Clicking around on BarelyPolitical is actually a tour of the future-- quality content, virtually indistinguishable from that which is offered by major conglomerates, offered via the internet. As they used to say in the Antique Media, stay tuned.

We found a Reuters article about a study by some researchers in England that "found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable."

And that, "The study, reported in the Nursing Standard magazine, found all the 250 patients aged between four and 16 they quizzed disliked the use of clowns, with even the older ones finding them scary."

Emphasis ours. Has there been a study in the history of studies that found universal agreement in a sample size this large?

Comedy clubs might take this into consideration when they choose the clown motif when decorating (or re-decorating) the room. The number of comedy clubs that have-- for reasons that are unfathomable-- chosen to associate modern standup comics with clowns is disturbing.

We here at SHECKYmagazine HQ have never been fearful of clowns. Our attitude toward them has been a mixture of annoyed and bored from a very early age.

Perhaps the four most unashamedly maligned groups over the past 35 years have been lawyers, mimes, clowns and comedians. Probably in that order. So, you'd think we'd have a little sympathy. But, with very rare exceptions, comedians do not relate to clowns, not one bit. And it's always baffled us as to why we are in any way associated with them. (And spare us the comments about the Auguste and the contra-Auguste and the ur-victim and the anarchist-- we ain't buyin' it!)

The Female Half Googled her name yesterday. Coming up fifth in the list was her "JibJab video." She was not aware that she had a JibJab video, so she clicked on it and discovered that someone using the screen name "Zattaz" had found her video somewhere and uploaded it to JibJab, where it resides (along with another two-minute chunk of her set) in the site's Joke Box section. The Joke Box is hailed as "The largest joke-sharing community in the universe."

This Zattaz character, if he does indeed exist and is a real, live person, is a sexagenarian from the United Kingdom who has uploaded 1,154 items to the site. Two of those are clips of the Female Half, one is a clip of the Male Half. It is difficult to determine the origin of the clips. We suspect it was poached from our YouTube clips or from one or two other sites which are authorized to run our clips. But, they seem to have been excised from longer clips.

Each of our YouTube clips have a provision for embedding-- if a blog or a website (a comedy club, for instance) wants to embed the clip, they very easily can. But these clips seem to have been wrenched from their original mother clips and presented, with no context and not other information, in a shorter format, on a site that is generating traffic and revenue for the host. (In this case, JibJab.)

And, perhaps most disturbing, the clips that Zattaz has uploaded invite viewers to vote, giving the clip either a "Jib" (a positive rating) or a "Jab" (a negative rating). We have a similar option on some of our clips on YouTube, but it is by our choice on our terms and under our control.

The Male Half registered on JibJab and immediately sent an email to Mr. Zattaz, asking him to take down the clips in question. (And we're not sure, but, since the Male Half received $5 in free JibJab credits just for signing up, we suspect that Mr. Zattaz has been receiving those same JibJab credits for scouring the web and providing content for the Spiridellis brothers. And we assume he can use same toward the purchase of JibJab mugs, stickers, t-shirts, etc.)

The Northeastern News, the Northeastern University student paper, has an article on The Naked Comedy Showcase, held the first Wednesday of every month at the ImprovBoston Theater. It's standup comedy, featuring Boston-area comics, and they perform naked.

The creator of the show, Andy Ofiesh, has been putting on naked shows since 2002, after the idea came about during the entertainment portion of a clothing-optional retreat he attended nearly 10 years ago.

"I just tried it," he said of performing stand-up in the nude. "It sort of came about by accident."

We are being brave and trying not to imagine just what "it" refers to in that last sentence.

No female comics were quoted in the piece. We suspect that's because no female comics have taken the naked challenge. If one did, says The Female Half, "it would be the only show where she wouldn't hear 'Show us your tits' shouted from the back of the room." She adds that she has had nightmares about performing naked and news of Ofiesh's naked, on-purpose showcase brings shudders.

We're not prudish when it comes to this latest gimmick. Far from it. (In fact, judging from the quotes that author Cynthia Retamozo has gathered, neither is the Boston public-- the reaction seems to be one of tolerance, mild curiosity or, at the very most, declarations by critics that the shows might be "in poor taste.") We can't get all that worked up about it. We might even be inclined to declare that the concept is... dated, perhaps?

But, even in the face of tepid reactions from students, critics and others, some feel the need to defend the showcase, even dropping the A-bomb (Art!). To wit, this comment from Myq Kaplan, a regular commenter on these pages and one who took the naked standup plunge:

"...there is nudity in art, award-winning films and explicit music lyrics. If someone has a problem with their performance, he said, then they shouldn't bother seeing it.

"Every art form pushes boundaries in certain directions," he said.

A quote from Northeastern architecture major Nicole Fichera is telling: "I think I would maybe cover my eyes a few times, but it would probably be funny."

To which we reply with a question or two: "Would it be funny with the eyes closed?" And, "Would it be funny if the comedians were clothed?" The answer to both questions is "Yes," which leads us to conclude that the nudity adds nothing to the proceedings, making it neither more nor less artsy than, say, standup comedy performed by fully clothed men and women.

An article on HometownLife.com pumps the first annual Detroit International Comedy Festival.

Festival sponsor David Moroz of Aspen Talent said last summer's four-night Comedy Idol competition held at Mark Ridley's was a big success, drawing industry attention, crowds of comedy fans, and stand-up comics from across the United States and Canada, many of whom were motivated to come by the opportunity to work on Ridley's stage. This month's International Comedy Festival is not a competition, he said, but rather a showcase of talent and validation that Detroit is a centerpiece of stand-up comedy around the country.

We were as surprised as anyone to hear that this was coming up. It starts next Sunday (Jan. 20) and runs through the 25th.

In addition to hometown favorites Bill Hildebrand, Keith Ruff, Mike Green, Chrissy Burns, Bill Bushart and Dave Landau, the fest will feature Dave Coulier, Leighann Lord, Kivi Rogers and Ryan Hamilton, among many others.

We're looking forward to our debut at Ridley's Comedy Castle February 14-16.

An article on CanadianPress.com (with no byline?!?), loosely pegged on the WGA strike, kicks around the matter of gender in the writers' room. There are plenty of quotes from female picketers, including this, from Sarah McLaughlin, who wrote for That 70s Show:

Sitcoms typically draw their writing talent from standup clubs, where women are scarce, but that doesn't mean that witty women aren't plentiful, she said.

To which we say, "Balderdash!" (Or Balderdash X 2!)

1. Women aren't "scarce" in standup clubs.

and

2. Sitcoms typically don't draw their writing talent from standup clubs.

We've commented in the past on this annoying trend among producers on more than one occasion. The trend has been to draw talent from "alternative" sources-- The Ivy League or The Onion or workshops or anywhere but comedy clubs.

We suspect that somewhere along the line (probably when the fifteenth or sixteenth article about how Letterman's staff was made up entirely of Harvard grads or the twentieth piece on The Simpsons that mentioned the Ivy League pedigree of the writers and show runners) the buzz in H-wood was that, in order to field a "fresh" and "new" creative team, they had to have marinated in the irony that is unique to Cambridge.

And, in true Hollywood fashion, a trend starts to resemble a rule after a while (think Groundlings or Second City).

We also suspect that in addition to the pull, there was a push-- If you want to field a fresh and funny creative team, the last place you want to look would be among all those "jokey" and "set-up/punchline-y" wretches that ply their vile trade in the comedy clubs.

We say, if you're going to hire a female writer, you can't get a tougher one-- who is more suited to a writers' room-- than a standup comic. A real one, not a comic who goes up onstage in L.A. because her manager told her it was a good idea. A comic who has a tough hide from a few gigs in flyover country where the audience provided a little... resistance.

And, when, as McLaughlin states, "a male writer says flat out, that women aren't funny," you can bet a female comic will have a rejoinder. It's a nifty trick she picked up by doing all those hell gigs. Would a female comic run from the room? We think not. Regardless of whether that room is "more like (a) locker room, where writers cultivate a competitive atmosphere to squeeze the best jokes out of the staff."

How's this for a solution: Hire nothing but female writers. Problem solved. No competitive atmosphere, no locker room, no meltdowns. Throw in a token guy writer or two, just to make it look good.

Tonight, they kick off Comedy Central Presents at 10 PM EST with Dan Cummins and Stephen Lynch.

The press release mentions some of the rest of the acts that will be featured on this season's CCP, but then they just use "and many more" instead of listing all of the comedians. Would it have killed them to list all of them?

And forget about trying to find the names on the broadband headache that is comedycentral.com! (We get the Comedy Central press releases in our inbox, but we confess that we usually delete them immediately. Perhaps we have learned our lesson... or perhaps they wouldn't have listed all the comedians on the press release, either!)

From our posting in August on the taping of the series in NYC, comes the following list. Perhaps it is indicative of who ends up on this season's ...Presents.

Billy Gardell
Jo Koy
Jay Oakerson
Chad Daniels
Robert Kelly
Leo Allen
Eugene Mirman
Dan Mintz
Jordan Rubin
Brian Posehn
Nick Thune
Lavell Crawford
Hard 'N Phirm
Bonnie McFarlane
Joe Matarese
Rich Vos
Sebastian Maniscalco
Juston McKinney
Kirk Fox
Zack Galifiniakis
Mike Birbiglia
Michael Showalter
Shaun Majumder
Nick Griffin

We took the liberty of extracting Cummins and Lynch.

The Columbus Dispatch interviewed Kathleen Madigan in anticipation of her first theater gig in Columbus tonight.

Naturally, she talks about her experience as a "talent scout" for the most reason season of Last Comic Standing. Madigan claims she "had a tough time tolerating the inexperienced."

"Stand-up comedy is not like singing," she said. "Some people who work at the post office, let's say, actually can really sing. It's astonishing.

"Yet even if you're funny, if you've never done stand-up the way you do stand-up, you can't go on national television for 15 weeks and wing it.

"I'm not saying you have to be a headliner, but at least you have to have done it for a couple years."

Brilliant move on Madigan's part to invite the local DJ's to open! That should assure a packed house at the Vern Riffe Center.

The frigid weather is here, so that means that Last Comic Standing is holding auditions. Check out the casting information on the nbc.com site.

Then come back to this site when the degradation begins!

Rick Overton is listed as one of the hosts of Comedy Walk, as is SNL-er Garrett Morris. We also notice that Early SHECKYmagazine Columnist (He was the first Big Move writer) Rich Williams will be among the dozens of performers.

Comedy Walk is held in cooperation with the Los Angeles Downtown Art Walk, a monthly event that draws a crowd of 3,000 people to the streets of Los Angeles. Art Walk is from noon to 9pm at thirty participating downtown Los Angeles art galleries. Comedy Walk is from 8pm to 9:30pm at six participating downtown venues. Art Walk and Comedy Walk are on the second Thursday of each month. Both events are FREE, part of an effort to revitalize downtown Los Angeles.

The article in Hollywood Today says Comedy Walk is, "six simultaneous 90-minute variety comedy shows. With breaks at the half-hour, audience members can stretch their legs to walk to see a show at another nearby venue or stay where they are." It's tonight.

It's a statement of fact and it's the title of Dan Bialek's latest MySpace profile! We'll let him tell the story (from DBHMS):

My name is Dan Bialek. I was the number one ranked comedian on the Myspace Top Comedian rankings from October 27, 2007 to January 8, 2008 when Myspace deleted my account after I made fun of two of their most famous comedians in a blog article on an unrelated site.

To become number one I used a process called "viewjacking." A lot of comedians on Myspace use it to inflate their video counts and place themselves higher on the Myspace Top Comedian charts than they should be. Myspace knew about it for weeks (probably months) before they deleted my profile. A lot of their "top" comedians still featured on their site still use it today to bolster their positions on the site.

He goes on in some detail about his contempt for MySpace Comedy and how their system is, to put it mildly, corrupt.

He also includes a video that "will show you and anyone else who has a high speed internet connection and a spare computer lying around how to become 1 on Myspace Comedy and how to get millions of video views for free."



Although the blog entry he references is rather dour, his YouTube video is simlutaneously subversive and cheerful! Bialek is delightfully upbeat while urging the potential destruction of a slice of MySpace! (And, if we get our profiles bumped off of MySpace for driving people to it, we'll find him on his tour and kick his ass!)

But seriously, Bialek has pointed out what everyone has known all along: The internet is wondrous, but it is also so susceptible to manipulation-- by the artist, the fan and the conglomerate-- that such fantasies as "Comedian of the Month" or online comedy contests are about as credible as 1950s-era "nationwide talent searches" or swooning bobbysoxers or brawls at a heavyweight fight weigh-in.

Dave Mosher, writing for Live Science, reports on a study out of Haifa:

New research conducted by brain researcher Avi Karni of the University of Haifa in Israel explores the possibility that naps help lock in sometimes fleeting long-term memories. A 90-minute daytime snooze might help the most, the study finds.

It's all about what the eggheads call memory consolidation-- "the results of this research suggest the possibility that it is possible to speed up memory consolidation."

Let's just say that the labcoats discovered that 90-minutes naps are a quick and easy way to lock in certain kinds of memory and make them "immune to interference and forgetting."

Next time someone busts your balls for napping in the middle of the day, just tell them that it's important for your memory consolidation and that without it, tonight's set might be vulnerable to intereference and forgetting.

Or just tell them to stick it.

Hollywood Reporter says that Barry Katz has successfully pitched a sports-themed standup comedy show to be shown on the 4-million subscriber New England Sports Network.

Each week, All-Stars will feature three comedians from Boston and nationwide performing stand-up routines with sports-only topics. Gulman and the other top comics also will participate in remote pieces focusing on Boston teams and in sports-themed comedy sketches.

The show is set to go into production Sunday through Thursday at the Comedy Connection located inside Boston's Faneuil Hall and at other locations throughout New England.

Gary Gulman will host and the show will also feature taped segments.

They must find (have already found?) 30 comics who can do sets entirely revolving around sports. A tall order. If they can do it anywhere, they can do it in Boston.

St. Charles (MO) city councilman Richard Veit has proposed a ban on swearing in that city's bars.

Marc Rousseau, who owns bar R.T. Weilers, said he thinks the bill needs revision.

"We're dealing with adults here once again and I don't think it's the city's job or the government's job to determine what we can and cannot play in our restaurant," Rousseau said.

The proposal would ban indecent, profane or obscene language, songs, entertainment and literature at bars.

A meeting to discuss the proposal is set for Jan. 14.

A ludicrous proposition, of course. Veit will be a laughingstock for suggesting such a law. The bar owner quoted has more of a feel for the Constitution than the elected official. No surprise there.

The implications for standup are obvious. But, while stories like this one brighten the day for AP editors, the followup stories, where the councilman is shunned and his proposal is held up to brief public ridicule, never make the wires.

Here's YouTube video of a comic getting what looks like a glass tossed at him from an irate audience member.

It's Toronto-based Darren Frost, and the email that someone sent said it took place "in a comedy town in the north." Looks like a Yuk Yuks.

Here is one of those New York Times "Vow"articles where they talk about some famous or near-famous people getting married. They talk about the ceremony, but they also talk about the romance that led up to the blessed day.

In this case, the victims/subjects are Ardin Myrin (MadTV) and her comedy writer, groom Dan Martin.

What struck us (in addition to the oddly detailed and personal romance story, of course) was the caption under the pic at the top. The photo depicts Myrin at her wedding, clutching a microphone at her Dec. 30 wedding at Round Barn Farm in Waitsfield, VT. It's the happiest day of her life and the 140 in attendance are most likely joined in that delirium. The caption reads:

The bride, a comedian, takes advantage of a captive audience.

We wish it were an ironic cap.

Here's a heartwarming slice of an Orlando Sun-Sentinel account of a recent audition at the Improv in West Palm to compete for a spot in the South Beach Comedy Festival.

Comedians were asked to prepare 3 minutes worth of clean material in front of Comedy Central executives and festival organizers.

Laer walked on stage and improvised for a few minutes before poking fun of stand-up comedian Dane Cook.

He said Cook had originally inspired him to do standup but after watching him live in Los Angeles, Laer said "I can do this, I'm funnier than this guy."

So, of course, they bump the kid to the next level.

Which is the more important question:

"Why does a comic think he can get away with trashing a fellow comic at such a high-profile event?"

or

"Why would Comedy Central reward such rude, stupid behavior?"

The latter question is especially pertinent, considering how much money Cook makes for the cable outlet and how heavily he is identified with them.

As for the first question, comics (and, for the sake of argument, we'll allow that Laer is a comic) feel that not only can they get away with such trash talk, they are encouraged to do so-- by other comics, by some particularly rude fans and, astonishingly, by small and petty cable television suits.