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

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

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

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

Hit his website here.

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

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

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

A reader writes:

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

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

Seriously, though, we replied:

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

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

Have a good day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ross doesn't make it into the story's lede. Nor does he make it into the "other contestants" paragraph.

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

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

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

Read our interview with Ross here.

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

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

From the press release:

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

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

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

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

Bookmark the under-construction Mottley's website.

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

From Jay Lyman, blogging for The451Group:

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

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

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

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

One thing is for sure, Biden had better be all-business and no funny if he hopes to help Obama occupy the White House.

Back in July of 2006, we posted about Joe Biden's ill-fated attempt to make with the funny while raising funds for a future WH bid. In the clip we linked to, he says:

You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.

Click on the posting to stroll down memory lane and read our analysis of Biden's comedic aptitude.

Also, check out this clip in response to Biden's gaffe. It's from Raj Bhakta's ill-fated run for the 13th District Congressional seat in Pennsylvania and it contains a better-lit version of C-Span's Road to the White House Biden/7-Eleven/Dunkin' Donuts clip. Now that's funny.

Of course, all this could be a head fake on the part of the Obama campaign. It does seem rather unlikely that Biden would be the running mate. And, of course, AP has been wrong before. And they are quoting "official who spoke did so on condition of anonymity, preferring not to pre-empt a text-message announcement the Obama campaign promised for Saturday morning." And there have been all sorts of fake text messages going out today. We'll see later on today whether it's a joke or not.

In an article in the Dallas Morning News, Tom Maurstad, "Media Critic" opens thusly:

There are comedians who joke about airplane food and a guy walking into a bar. And then there are comedians who joke about current events and the everyday absurdities that are...

Snip.

Considering that airlines have all but ceased serving food on airplanes (and have done so now for years), is it not time for the "media critics" and others in the MSM to find a new cliché to use as shorthand when identifying hackneyed comedic premises supposedly used by standup comics?

Maurstad manages to use a cliché from standup's Cretaceous Period (airplane food) and the Triassic Period (a guy walks into a bar). Perhaps if the DMN's media critic were to go to a comedy club once in a decade, his copy wouldn't be encrusted with such linguistic fossils.

(P.S.: We figured since the article's about Dennis Miller, the obscure references to the Mesozoic Era were highly appropriate.)

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

This year's crop:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See the SHECKYmagazine interview with Cavett here.

Thanks to Jamie Bendall for pointing us toward the column.

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

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

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

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

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

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

And they love you, too, Bill.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From the website comes this more detailed explanation:

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

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

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

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

Rian Malan, writing for the WSJ.com site, provides a lengthy overview of at least one segment of the comedy scene in South Africa. Malan sets the scene:

After losing power in 1994, South Africa's white right-wingers withdrew into psychic exile, leaving the chattering classes to pursue a political agenda so correct that it sometimes verged on insanity. Newspapers were soon filled with great billows of soft-left pabulum. Talk show hosts routinely used appalling terms like "gendered" or "Othering," and almost everyone observed an unwritten law stating that it was unfair to criticize black people on the grounds that any failings they might exhibit were attributable to poverty, oppression and bad education, otherwise known as "the legacy of apartheid." In time, I came to feel as if I were suffocating in a fog of high-minded pieties, a condition that often reduced me to cursing and throwing things at the TV set.

Into this arid comedy wasteland stepped a group of young, black comedians who are shaking up South Africa and ignoring all the "rules," jabbing fellow South Africans (black and white) in the ribs and practically forcing them to laugh. On a continent in which nearly every country has " 'insult laws' to protect the dignity of its leaders," this could be viewed as either very difficult or a piece of cake.

One thing if for certain, it's not always easy to do comedy while standing on eggshells.

Jokes rooted in pain are nothing new, but it was extraordinary to have a banquet-hall of glamorous black-tied Africans laughing at the notion that South Africa is now in such a pitiful state that even they might want to flee. Is this not a sign that they're transcending victimhood? "Learning to laugh at yourself is a great sign of human evolution," says Kagiso Lediga. Jews and the Irish went through the process generations ago. Black Americans made the critical breakthrough in the seventies. Indians followed suit about 10 years later, and look at them now -- rising giants of international trade and authors of every third work on the West's best-selling book charts. Take this as a joke if you like, but I think the crew might foreshadow a similar renaissance in Africa.

Thanks to Terry Reilly for the heads up!

There may have been a time, way back in this nation's history (we're talking the 50's here) when the Fairness Doctrine might have seemed like a useful and responsible tool to shape and sculpt the public debate. Things were simpler then.

In 1949 (the year the Doctrine was cooked up), most televisions had three channels, maybe. And radio was limited to one band-- AM. It might have made a lot of sense to force the broadcasters of the day to "devote some of their airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest, and to air contrasting views regarding those matters." The "scarcity rationale" seemed reasonable.

But by the time the Doctrine was (rightfully) obliterated in 1987, we lived in a brave new world-- FM radio had dwarfed AM. Cable television was just getting up a head of steam and, even if your TV wasn't "cable ready," you could still pull in dozens of channels on VHF and UHF.

Since then, the broadcast world has gotten braver and newer. And we have this other thing called The Internet. (Not quite broadcast, not quite printing press. It's a bizarre and fantastic hybrid of both, with a little bit of pamphleteering thrown in.)

So, it is most disconcerting to find that some folks want to bring the Fairness Doctrine back.

It gets better.

Apparently, the name Fairness Doctrine is not Orwellian enough. The new champions of fairness and equity have decided on "net neutrality."

We have been mystified by the debate over net neutrality. Mainly because the combatants have been an unlikely amalgam of left and right, of conservative and liberal, of democratic and republican. You can't tell the players without a program!

This editorial, from City-Journal.org, is, so far, one of the clearest delineations of the net neutrality debate we've seen thus far. Entitled "A Fairness Doctrine for the Internet," the article is written by Adam Thierer and it details a situation which led to the unlikely pairing of NARAL and the Christian Coalition in calling for government regulation of content on the internet. And the NY Times lent its support.

The Times apparently needs to brush up on the First Amendment. It’s certainly true that any government action restricting online speech in this fashion would be unconstitutional. When government censors, it does so in a sweeping and coercive fashion, prohibiting the public, at least in theory, from seeing or hearing what it disapproves of and punishing those who evade the restrictions with fines, penalties, or even jail time. Not so for Verizon or any other private carrier, which have no power to censor sweepingly or coercively. A world of difference exists between a private company’s exercising editorial discretion to transmit—or not transmit—certain messages or types of content and government efforts to censor.

Now, it seems, some folks want to not only revive the Fairness Doctrine, but they want to disguise it with new language so that the internet might be included.

Says FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell:

I think it won't be called the Fairness Doctrine by folks who are promoting it. I think it will be called something else and I think it'll be intertwined into the net neutrality debate.

We intend to keep an eye on this. McDowell asks this chilling question:

So, will Web sites, will bloggers have to give equal time or equal space on their Web site to opposing views rather than letting the marketplace of ideas determine that?

We don't really see just how the federal government could possibly regulate each and every website and determine its content, its editorial slant. It would seem to be a gargantuan task, a major headache. But, given the fact that the federal government is this nation's largest employer (1.8 million civilian employees, not even counting the post office), it's probably not a task they'd shy away from.

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

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

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

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

Which, translated from the German, means "Men are primitive, but happy." It's the title of German comedian Mario Barth's show, which, according to Deutche Welle (a German TV and radio conglomerate), sold out Olympic Stadium on the 12th of last month.

We thought the article might be a slick hoax. There were typos in the piece, but we eventually chalked them up to mere bad translation. (It is, after all, an English language article on a German website.) Barth is real. He sounds like a cross between Rob Becker and Andrew Dice Clay.

A sharp-eyed reader sent us the link. We figure he mainly wanted us to see this part:

The 35-year-old comedian had been touring Germany with his show since the beginning of 2006. And despite critics lambasting the comedian's material for lacking depth, his shows are consistently sold out and the audience, seemingly, can identify with his jokes.

Emphasis ours. Critics are the same the world over. And, even after selling out a 70,000-seat venue, this particular author can't resist slipping in the qualifier "seemingly." Is that priceless or what?

And this delusion that critics have any influence over anyone but a thin crust of the population is truly precious. (Did he kick off that introductory clause with "Despite?" Someone has a serious misunderstanding as to how this whole critic-consumer relationship works.)

The article is full of such digs at Barth. And there's even a half-hearted attempt to find a critic-friendly explanation of why Barth is so popular and how so many Germans can be so... wrong.

Perhaps achingly hip Berlin is tired of having to be edgy all the time.

"He's about as anarchic as a building loan contract," complained one critic recently.

Then it's quickly back again to the poor, moaning critics, who insist that any comic who isn't "anarchic" isn't worth our time or money.

Thanks to Adam Ward.

From Jeffrey Ressner's interview with Dennis Miller on Politico.com:

A lot of popular comedians seem to be conservative: Drew Carey, Adam Sandler. And SNL creator Lorne Michaels has contributed to the McCain campaign. Why do you think many comics tilt this way, while liberals seem to dominate the film and TV business?

We’ve been heckled. And I view terrorists as really aggressive hecklers that we occasionally have to shut up. For the good of the show, they have to be silenced [laughs], dispatched with extreme prejudice, as we say in the trade. There’s pragmatism in stand-up comedy-- it’s really Darwinian, it’s the Serengeti Plain, you exist from moment to moment, living from joke to joke. If you’re an impressionist you can turn around and nobody is really going to boo; singers have the trappings of the song. Comedians are out there foraging for the truffle that is the laugh and it makes us pragmatic.

Ressner's mistaken when he says "a lot" of high-profile comedians seem to be conservative (note that he only cites two while talking to a third). If there are more, they're keeping it real quiet. Miller's theory, however, is interesting.

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

It was like a strike-shortened baseball season. Sure, they determine a winner at the end of it all, but there'll always be an asterisk. Just what would the asterisk indicate in the LCS record books?

Well, for one, it would note that the contestants (Cast members? Participants? What does one call them?) hardly got a chance to show their stuff. Between goofy competitions (Immunity challenges, in the by now tired lingo of the reality TV genre) and eye-glazing footage of "life inside the house," there was a bit of actual standup wedged in there. But it was all too brief and it was on that surreal, expansive stage at the Paris in Vegas.

Also, the early stages, where the producers emphasized nutiness rather than standup ability, left a bitter taste which really didn't go away the entire run of the show, at least not as far as we're concerned.

And lastly, we had the infamous "pink underwear" factor.

Joel McHale, though he seriously butchered one of his opening gags (about Tavaré being the second-creepiest guy on LCS), was sharp as always-- thanks, no doubt, to his writing team. (The contrast between his team and that of LCS's writers was sharp when McHale threw it back to Bellamy and Cotton-- it was like letting the air out of a giant comedy balloon.) McHale should have been hosting-- the show would have benefited from a bit of snark. The only bright spots in the entire 90 minutes were, in order: McHale, Triumph (savaging the comics to their faces!) and Jon Reep, who demonstrated that he's been working like a dog for the past 10-1/2 months.

But getting back to McHale's Standup Soup presentation-- he quite vividly demonstrated the show's inexplicable lack of a sense of humor. And when he showed the montage of Shlesinger clad variously in her underwear and a bikini, he threw another shovel of dirt on the show's credibility.

Indeed, after seeing that montage, Shlesinger herself should be embarassed. Regardless of whether or not she won, she will, for the foreseeable future, mount the stage with the knowledge that a significant number of her votes were motivated not by a genuine fondness for her humor but by a momentary and primal lust for her body parts.

You do what you gotta to win. But, for those folks who are prone to extrapolate and try to determine the larger socio-cultural implications of Shlesinger's victory (Bellamy himself was quick to bellow about her being the show's first female winner), it's a sorry moment.

Sure, she showed a certain minimal level of "toughness" in fending off the challenges (if you want to call it that), but we will always wonder (as will the general public) what the outcome would have been had she not colluded with the show's producers to engineer the cheesecake clips in the house segment of the show.

It was obvious, from the very beginning, that this show was "cast" to appeal to a very narrow (read: young) demographic. But, judging from the anemic numbers the show garnered, it didn't work. Or, it worked, but too well-- it may have gotten the youths, but it got few others.

On Saturday, May 31, we posted the following about an interview that LCS exec producer David Friedman did with RealityTVWorld.com's Christopher Rocchio:

Were Friedman's words twisted by Rocchio, or do we have genuine controversy going on here:

Friedman said the talent on the show this year shouldn't disappoint and hinted that the sixth season might produce Last Comic Standing's first-ever female winner.

"I think this year we did see a lot of strong women," he said. "I mean, we really did and I think that's a great sign for everyone in the comedy business because it has been a difficult sort of thing for women to break through. But I think this year we have a great talent pool."

We don't see anything in Friedman's quote to indicate that this season might produce a female winner. And, since (so far as we know) there are only two females among the top twelve finalists, Friedman's statement (and Rocchio's conclusion) makes little sense.

Apparently, Rocchio saw it coming. We were skeptical.

We must admire Jon Lovitz for giving standup a try this late in his career. But that set clearly demonstrated just how far he has to go in becoming a comedian. And it was lengthy! Should not that time have been used to give a minute or two to the comedian who won "Last Comic Driving?" (Can it be called "product placement" when the perfomers actually perform inside the product?) Might they have thrown Whitney Cummings a bone and let her stretch her legs, get out of the cramped car and actually do a standup set standing up? Hell, they even let Theo Von and Josh Wolf do sets when LCS dallied with an interactive, online component a season or two ago.

Do we have to point out that both the Last Comic Standing and Last Comic Driving winners were... female?

And what the hell happened to the footage from the Secret Auditions?!? We knew they were keeping them a secret, but we didn't think they would burn the tapes and disavow any knowledge of the entire venture! Those people who participated (The Male Half included) and those who were advanced to the larger auditions in other cities were screwed from the start. There probably was never any intention to use anything from the various auditions-- and their faces never made it on but for a few fleeting glimpses here and there. A colossal waste of time for all involved. (And a colossal waste of money and good will for the show, since all involved were sworn to secrecy. So, not even the host clubs were able to make P.R. hay. Of course, the crowds who were present at the time got to see the TV star and got the tingle from participating in a network competition, but that's not all that much bang for the buck when you crunch the numbers.

Perhaps it was our frame of mind in the early weeks of the show's run. Perhaps it was the show itself, or a combination of all the factors, but we just aren't that worked up about LCS and we aren't too enthusiastic about this season's impact-- one way or the other-- on live standup in the near term or the mid-term.

We're inserting space, so you don't see it right away... to avoid spoiling it for you. It's 5:36 PM EDT, and the show doesn't air on this coast for another 2-1/2 hours.













Iliza Shlesinger

First voted off of tonight's show: Louis Ramey

Second one voted off: Jeff Dye

Third: Jim Tavaré

Fourth: Marcus

We'll still blog tonight, but we thought you might like to know.

Or is he just issuing statements to drum up publicity for his upcoming roast on Comedy Central? According to Digital Spy, Saget...

...released a statement criticising Ross's comments.

"Anybody who talks about my TV kids - that upsets me. I am very protective. I love them very, very much," he said.

Trouble is, Bob, they're big girls now... and they're billionaires. And, we assume, quite capable of defending themselves. (Although we don't hear them speak very often. We only see their images-- looking rather like those paintings from the seventies of the girls with the huge heads and the giant, soulful eyeballs.)

...things have gotten out of hand.

According to a Canadian news website, Artie Lange is in rehab.

Those who listen to the Howard Stern Show on Sirius will know that his co-workers have been pushing him to go into rehab for quite some time.

He's also cancelling a bunch of upcoming gigs, including the Bob Saget roast to be aired on Comedy Central.

Tonight at 8PM EDT is the season finale of Last Comic Standing. Last week's numbers (as reported by Hollywood Reporter) were up over the week prior, but nothing to shout about.

The rising tide seemed to lift "Last Comic Standing" (5 million, 1.9/6), up 12 per cent for the week.

As for NBC's freshman reality series "The Baby Borrowers" (5.4 million, 2.1/6), the show that launched with bang concluded with a relative whimper, matching its season low.

Could this be the series finale as well?

We predicted early in the season that the winner would get "Bodden-ed"-- his/her victory wouldn't make it to air. That won't happen this season. However, this season does seem rather... truncated. It is odd that tonight's episode is heralded as the finale when there are still five finalists left. Last year's contest ran a lot longer-- we posted that Jon Reep was the winner on September 19!

It's butting up against the Olympics, obviously. They forked over $900 million for the right to broadcast the games and they're going to spend $100 million more to bring the games into our living rooms and onto our computer screens.

They're giving the "wrap it up" sign to the comedians.

Will it be back next year? And at its previous length? (We can't imagine that NBCUni is saying, "Give us that 1.9 rating and 6 share in '09! And give it to us for seven more weeks!" But it's an entirely new TV landscape out there now.)

We're not making any predictions here. Feel free to put yours in the comments. Who will be this season's LAST... COMIC... STAAAAANNNNDDING?

Appalachian Trail, that is.

Last summer, Brian Malis set out from Georgia and, by summer's end (or fall's beginning!), he had conquered the famed trail. Now another comic, with his wife, has headed north out of the Peach State to through-hike to Maine.

The caption under their "trailer" reads thusly:"Johnny Millwater and his wife Debbie are currently hiking the 2,175 mile Appalachian trail. It probably looks a little like this!"

The Millwaters are, as far as we know, still at it. The most recent blog entry (on Johnny Millwater's MySpace) contains the following, under the heading "500 Miles Down":

There is very, very little internet time available on the AT; so little, in fact, that I haven't been able to blog or even update my pictures on photobucket. Due to technical difficulties, I have 4 GB of video and photos I can't even access, yet alone post. Thanks for caring! I hope all is well, and I'll update when I can.

That was dated May 25.

Readers may recall that on February 20, we posted about FOS Max Alexander and his quest to find someone to donate a kidney.

In an article in the Riverdale (NY) Press last month, we learn that Max finally did get a kidney-- from his brother, Rabbi Moish Drelich.

He had been on the list for a new kidney since the previous July, and 10 other friends-- plus two strangers-- had already volunteered their organs. His brother wasn't a perfect match, but he was the best one.

Rabbi Drelich said the decision to donate wasn't hard once his wife, Debbie, was on board. Having gone through with it, he said, he'd encourage others to consider becoming donors.

Both patients are doing fine and are about three weeks away from resuming their lives. Alexander will need to take serious medication two times a day for the rest of his life and avoid crowds-- tricky for a comedian-- but, the article says, "the worst seems to be over."

From Moviehole comes this quote from Judd Apatow on his upcoming movie about standup comics:

It's about comedians and funny people and it's about how one comedian has a near-death experience and how he reacts to it. There's some standup performance. Yeah, it's based a little bit on [my experience doing stand-up]. That's what I'm going to direct. I'm writing and directing Funny People and that starts end of September. I'm very excited. Janusz Kaminski is shooting it, which is very-- very- It'll be the Schindler's List of stand-up comedy movies.

(Kaminski has been director of photography on many fine films, "Schindler's List" among them.)

Perhaps we'll finally be able to put the memory of "Punchline" to rest once and for all.

Folks in Zanesville, OH, are all atwitter because Robin Williams is coming to Ohio twice during his 20-city tour. The Times Recorder ran a short piece from the Cincinnati Enquirer announcing the veteran comic's road trip.

I'll talk about everything that's going on. The election. The choices. What are we going to do?

And he'll find a way to say that Obama's pants are so tight he can tell what religion he is.

And, according to the Live Nation site, the pair will kick off the tour in Philly (at, we assume, The Tower, since the article lists "Upper Darby" as the location of the venue).

Don't you know we'll be gigging that night? Damn! It's history!

And it might be a good idea to see them early in the tour... things sound a bit volatile:

Marin told the Associated Press that the pair has tried to reunite in the past, but always ended up fighting too much with each other.

"It takes about 3 minutes for that to happen. There's this veiled hatred," he said. "We've kind of resolved that."

Kind of? The folks insuring this venture can't be too happy with that quote! Get a front row seat-- it's kinda hard to discern veiled hatred from the back row! (Hell, there might even be a mid-set walk-off halfway through the tour!)

Marin adds: "We've gotten to the age where we don't feel like fighting anymore because the end is a lot closer than the beginning." We're betting that not even the prospect of their impending demise can enable the pair to overlook their "veiled hatred." Get to the show early and don't even leave to use the bathroom.

It was a short item in Thursday's South Bend Tribune:

MISHAWAKA — A local comedy club that's been open for about 15 years has closed its doors.

The manager of the Funny Bone Comedy Club in Mishawaka told WSBT News a dispute over money led to the closing. She said the owners of the nationally based comedy club chain couldn't come to an agreement with the building’s landlord in Mishawaka.

It's still possible the club could reopen in the future under a different name. In the meantime, 28 people are now without jobs.

The Funny Bone opened in 1993 on the south side of South Bend at the old Scottsdale Mall. It moved to the 100 Center in Mishawaka in 2004.

We have no idea what "a dispute over money" means. Some folks have taken the closing of this club, after a decade and a half of operation, and news of the closure of other clubs here and there (in Rochester and Buffalo, for instance) to be signs of the apocalypse. We're not so sure.

In the case of the two upstate New York venues (and in the case of the recent closure of the Bone in Boise, ID), they closed not because folks weren't coming through the doors. They closed for reasons unrelated to the relative health of the economy or the comedy business in particular. (The economy is far stronger than the media would have you believe-- not only are we not in a recession, but we are experiencing growth. Modest growth, but growth nonetheless.)

And, along with the news of comedy clubs closing is news of comedy clubs opening. We've reported on them here in this publication over the past few years.

Having lived through the comedy boom of the 1980's-- and the subsequent bust of the early- to mid-90's-- we are understandably cautious when making predictions. But having paid close attention to the business since at least 1999, we are convinced that the business is the healthiest it's been in some time.

Dave Schwensen's "What's So Funny" interviews comedians and intersperses the conversation with audio clips of the comedian's favorite comics. The Male Half and The Female Half submitted to the interrogation when they were in CLE, headlining at the Cleveland Improv last month.

The episode featuring The Male Half will air on WELW 1330 AM at 4 pm & 11 PM EDT today, and then again on Sunday, August 3 at 8 PM. If you can't be around a radio (a radio in Cleveland) at that time, you can catch it online at WELW.com.

We had loads of fun taping the shows. The Male Half requested clips from Mitch Hedberg, Steven Wright and Jackie Vernon.

Watch this space for word on the dates of the airing of The Female Half's interview.

We're coming up on the end. (But, we're in Hawaii... Both Halves... A third of the way around the globe...) So, we implored our most distinguished columnist Dan French to lend his considerable analytical skills to this Last Comic Standing affair and blog in our stead.

Dan, for those of you who don't know, is a comedian and writer who now is devoting most of his precious time to IWorkWithStandups.com, a comedy writing and consulting business. When you are done mulling over his dissection of the search for America's funniest comedian, hop onto his website, will you?

Now, on with Dan's analysis:

Are you ready, America? Are you? Are you super-excited for this blog? Is this the best blog in America?! Then let me hear it! Yes!

Sorry, I just thought maybe that's how it's supposed to be done.

Here, on the Last... Blogger... Typing!

To tell you the truth, I'm a little lost at this point in Last Comic Standing. They've done everything this season except have the contestants come out in Olympic leotards. Wait a minute, is that why they got rid of Sean Cullen? To save us that middle-aged muffin man mind-branding? Next week Jeff Dye and Eliza Shlesinger in rhythmic gymnastic pairs? Jim Tavare and Marcus, synchronized swimming, full thong. Louis Ramey, wrestler's tights, snatch and jerk?

Maybe so, America. Maybe so.

Anyway, next week is apparently the finals, which means this week was the final performance, which means next week the performances won't mean anything, which means it's over, but it ain't over until it's over, and that's just the beginning. It's just the beginning because all the winners are now signed to touring contracts by NBC, so, less cash bonanza, until your fame fades, then okay, go forth.

Damn, sorry, I should get to the analysis, but they've got me in the filler mode.

Okay. Here we go.

First, whoever had Danfinity open the show with a song and dance number needs to be shot in their sleep. The idea of singing a Last Comic Standing original song, and then having the comics deliver an awkward one-liner bragging about their comic prowess while the music continues? Seriously. Let's all go find an effective weapon, tape flashlights to our heads, and track these people down.

Until that happens, here we go with ... the Last... Analysis... Analyzing!

First up, we got to see Marcus do his thing, which I'm not really sure what his thing is, but he sang some impressions (Eddie Vedder is hard to understand? at least I think that's what he said), and he kept getting cheers for great songs that I don't think he wrote (did he? Marcus is kind of a black guy name, maybe Marcus wrote for Motown?). He also threw out a lot of gang signs, or maybe they're heavy metal signs (how is heavy metal not a gang, I'd love to see a hair band rise to power and retake the streets of LA).

Marcus? Gosh, I don't know. Is it necessary to mix that much cheerleading/grandstanding into standup? We shall see, because he's on to the finals!

Oh, poor Jim Tavare. The man obviously has a brain under that "should have been a supporting character in Cuckoo's Nest" head of his, and he looks to be in such pain whenever he's around the hamming it upness of this show. He had a solid set of very throwback standup, joke, joke, joke, a touch of music, and he ended with a prop. He went on to the finals. I don't think he wins this thing, but, as they say across the pond, he acquitted himself nicely enough. And by pond I'm talking the pond where my English teacher drowned himself back in good old Kentucky (sorry, that's a little dark, wouldn't have played well on LCS, are you listening, Adam Hunter?)

The first elimination? Ron G. And his endless cavalcade of characters who all sound strangely exactly alike -- male, female, Southern, Californian, all blend into “stare at the camera and over-energize”! Apparently not enough there, America ditched him. And his self-created entourage. At least now he'll have time to go in search of a couple of jokes to pad his show.

Next up, and on to the finals, Louis Ramey. Which I still don't quite get. Sure, he's a pretty innocuous guy, nobody getting hurt here, but it's just so 80's club comedy. Stand in one place, look right, look left, linger on the punch, get your breath, here comes another. It's almost nostalgic. And the jokes are so familiar – Amish gangs, rednecks are good with guns. I can't see him winning, but I have to say, he did on that stage what I'm sure he's done on a thousand stages before, and that has to stand for something. Somewhere. For someone.

Adam Hunter came to the end of the line, and I'm not just talking cocaine, although I could, because that's about all he does talk about. Well, drugs, rappers, strip clubs, sex – all the greatest hits of what doesn't really function that well on prime-time network TV comedy. Not that you can't get those jokes on the air, but he just came across as a little too dysfunctional. And his outtake interview – “Any night I tell jokes I never go to bed unhappy.” I thought this guy was a comic. How does a comic not go to bed unhappy? Every night.

Next, Jeff Dye. Wow, there is so little in this set, it's like watching a teen girl's boyfriend do a set for her friends at a sleepover. If he played the cute card any harder he would have to legally be considered a cast member of High School Musical. It's kind of gaggy to watch, and he did racist-lite jokes, but he's in the finals, and man, maybe it's all teen girls voting out there? Their fingers are small enough to text really fast, so watch out, this could be the biggest upset since Dat Phan.

Okay, I'm almost done, as was Sean Cullen, who I guess ran out of songs and this week had to switch to Sean Connery impressions? Not nearly as much fun to watch, but he's gotten some exposure here, and hopefully it helps, he seems like a decent guy, and I have a feeling is far funnier in club sets than in this venue. We sing to thee, oh Great Musical Mugger. You've mugged well. Go now, ask for $300 more per week, we hope you get it.

Finally, it was Eliza's turn to bounce onto stage, and if teen boys are voting, her shirt wins it all. I know I keep harping on her boobing it up, but good lord, for once let me listen to the jokes without feeling like I'm also being smothered. I don't know that it makes or breaks her, but this was by far her weakest set, lots of what seemed like older jokes, and she took shots at women bosses, which, eh, you're safer going after the gender opposite of yours if you're gathering votes. But... she's earned the win, and you can tell she believes this, too. And she's gotten the most exposure, don't know if that hurts or buoys, but by now you know what's she's bringing to the yard, my friends.

So, the final five: Dye, Ramey, Shlesinger, Tavare, Marcus (is that his last name, too? Marcus Marcus?).

Who wins?

Tune in next week, and find out, by reading the Best... SheckyMagazine ... on the Internet!

We'll be back in New Jersey next week. We'll be commenting on the finale and on the implications it may/may not have on the business of standup! Aloha!