tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72092712009-07-02T08:23:58.340-04:00Dedicated to the glorification of standup comedy. SHECKYmagazine.com--Standup comedy...seriously! Published by Brian McKim & Traci Skene Copyright 2005 Independent Together ProductionsSHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.comBlogger2656125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-33060375684200111002009-06-30T18:37:00.003-04:002009-07-01T15:01:33.707-04:00

As part of the "Penn Says:" series of videos, the large, talking half of Penn & Teller holds forth on the greatness of Shecky Greene, upon seeing the great one perform last month at the Suncoast casino. It's six minutes and worth every second.(Of particular note: Penn expresses some regret that Greene wasn't included in "The Aristocrats," something we wondered about when we saw the movie.)Take

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-24003906400017460072009-06-29T23:01:00.003-04:002009-06-29T23:09:45.208-04:00

If you have 9:49, check out our very first episode of "Lying About: Standup," entitled, "Is It Too Soon?" in which we discuss, among other things, whether it's too soon for comics to make jokes about the death of Michael Jackson.The title of our venture is pretty obvious-- It's two people... talking about standup... while... lying about-- plus, it's got that vague, cool, double-meaning thing

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-51955073031456966212009-06-29T22:48:00.004-04:002009-06-29T23:01:31.181-04:00

OMG! U have got to see this!It's a video posted by Lisa Corrao called, "Ivan Hernandez Gets Scolded by Old Ladies About a Hitler Joke." It features Ivan Hernandez (obviously!) and Dave Kinney and it's shot and edited by Lisa. Call it comedy-related reality video. It's self-explanatory.

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-83970035950228465542009-06-29T10:27:00.003-04:002009-06-29T10:40:07.182-04:00

There aren't many impressionists around. When we were growing up, there seemed to be enough to have one on Merv's show at least once a month. And once a month on Tonight. And an occasional appearance on Steve Allen's show or on Ed Sullivan. Now, our impressionists are almost limited to weak, makeup-dependent turns on Saturday Night Live by sketch comics who often barely approximate the

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-2312661442092817752009-06-24T17:50:00.002-04:002009-06-24T17:59:41.304-04:00

Google has very tight security. Understandable, we suppose. So, when some sort of suspicious software is inserted into a website (with or without the knowledge of the site's owner), the Google alarms and whistles go off and, before you know it, your site is being labeled as some sort of internet pariah.About 36 hours ago, we made a "reconsideration request" to Google, asking them to rummage

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-28392964984236072302009-06-22T13:31:00.004-04:002009-06-23T19:08:00.164-04:00

We had Saturday off, so we motored up 295 to hang out with Bonnie McFarlane (who was headlining Princeton Catch A Rising Star). We brought along former Rascals Cherry Hill GM Jason Pollock. And we were joined by comedian Rabbi Bob Alper-- a longtime reader/supporter of SHECKYmagazine.com-- we had never met the Alper, but we've corresponded with him for what seems like forever; it was great to

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-76251260661270474892009-06-19T09:10:00.002-04:002009-06-19T09:15:14.013-04:00

We're in the middle of transferring SHECKYmagazine.com from our old server to a new one. In the meantime, Google is essentially blocking the site with a "This site may harm your computer" message. Google, we suspect, is being overly cautious. Apparently, there are a lot of servers out there with so-called "badware." (It might be part of this botnet thing we've been reading about over the past

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-41927645616167244292009-06-18T09:24:00.004-04:002009-06-18T09:40:44.207-04:00

The Jerusalem Post interviewed "Loud Fast Jews," the super group formed by four punk rock legends Handsome Dick Manitoba of The Dictators, Tommy Ramone of the Ramones, Blondie's Chris Stein and Patti Smith Group member Lenny Kaye, on the occasion of their appearance at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research last week.The four talked about their Jewish heritage and their influences:Indeed, all

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-4213548106129479662009-06-18T08:54:00.002-04:002009-06-18T09:06:13.567-04:00

The PWTorch website (that stands for Pro Wrestling), says that WWE legend King Kong Bundy is working on a career in standup comedy. They cite a story in the Poughkeepsie paper.Bundy says he's doing stand-up comedy across the Northeast U.S., including New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. "I'm laying pretty low. I'm starting my standup comedy. I'm getting back into that now," Bundy told Phil

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-57672613096108058002009-06-17T20:43:00.004-04:002009-06-18T07:32:53.370-04:00

Comedian Steven Crowder, writing for Steven Breitbart's BigHollywood website, says that "Republicans need to grow a sense of humor."As proof, he cites the reaction to three recent incidents involving very public joke-making that didn't go over so well.Exhibit A, Crowder says, is the reaction to President's Special Olympics gag during his appearance on Jay Leno's Tonight. Exhibit B is the offense

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-61988777301272492302009-06-17T14:52:00.003-04:002009-06-17T15:25:59.895-04:00

A sharp-eyed reader sent us the link to the Chicago Trib's rundown of the roster for the inaugural Just For Laughs fest in the Windy City. Click through the slide show and the third face you see is that of Andy Dick.The photo that the Trib chose to use the pic from the Murietta (CA) police department-- it's the photo from when he was charged with four misdemeanor counts of battery, public

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-51833166407697932532009-06-16T01:28:00.003-04:002009-06-16T10:38:19.224-04:00

Through all of this, we've been monitoring Twitter and Facebook and blogs. And here and there, we've seen some folks express the opinion that Dave shouldn't have had to apologize.We concur. But we also acknowledge it was necessary.It's an important distinction to make.Does he absolutely have to apologize? Hell, no. He's a comedian. He could have gone down, boots on, comedy guns blazing,

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-65910196070734865202009-06-16T00:21:00.002-04:002009-06-16T01:16:37.279-04:00

It would have been effective, had it been Apology Number One.Not so sure it will work, seeing as it's how it's Apology Number Two.It went over three minutes. However, since it was not just an apology for the initial offense but an apology that had to negate the outrage compounded by the initial apology, it was a bit lengthier by necessity.It was certainly better than the first one.Will it quell

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-75470838715357196122009-06-15T21:58:00.003-04:002009-06-15T22:59:41.037-04:00

From TVWeek.com, comes the transcript of a second apology, dropped into tonight's taping of Late Show:All right, here - I've been thinking about this situation with Governor Palin and her family now for about a week - it was a week ago tonight, and maybe you know about it, maybe you don't know about it. But there was a joke that I told, and I thought I was telling it about the older daughter

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-27484137353849133812009-06-15T19:34:00.002-04:002009-06-15T19:38:32.927-04:00

We are having trouble with search engines. Some sort of "badware" is on our internet service provider's server. There's no harm to you, of course, but it is wreaking havoc with our readers' ability to search through our archives.We have temporarily taken down the Google SearchSite toolbar at top of the center of our center column. Once the problem is solved, we'll put it back up.In the

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-55287384296591813402009-06-15T14:59:00.003-04:002009-06-15T16:07:05.898-04:00

Since posting about David Letterman's apology, a lot has happened.Tomorrow, there's a rally scheduled in Manhattan to exert pressure on CBS to fire Late Show host David Letterman. Should he be fired? It's not a question of "should." It's a business decision. And that decision most likely rests with Les Moonves, president and COO of Columbia Broadcast System.Moonves will no doubt consider

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-20115666944603604722009-06-15T13:54:00.003-04:002009-06-15T14:58:49.634-04:00

We were unaware of the contest that Comedy Central was sponsoring until we saw Tim Slaigle pumping his video via Facebook.It's the Open Mic Challenge.Welcome to the Jokes.com Open Mic Challenge! Are you an aspiring stand-up comedian? Show us your bits for the chance to appear on Comedy Central. Check back every month for a new challenge!We notice that there's not a whole lot of comments or views

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-41173051085744650542009-06-15T13:01:00.003-04:002009-06-15T13:23:28.175-04:00

... or just a sputter or two before it dies down?We were alerted to a column in today's New York Post, written by Andrea Peyser, about how, while David Letterman was telling jokes that riled up a good chunk of the nation... His struggling brother up the dial, Conan O'Brien, on Thursday night was having a blast slurring women and Jews-- two groups that may constitute the last permissible

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-52043983931792910802009-06-13T19:03:00.004-04:002009-06-13T20:07:54.283-04:00

We heard from FOS Jason Pollock that Jake Johannsen was in town, just across the river at Helium.This set off a fortunate chain of events.Before that, we heard that Lord Carrett and Nick Cobb were headed down the NJTPKE to do a private party in Center City Philadelphia.And Pollock told us that he was headed over the bridge Friday night to catch the MST3K live show at the Trocadero (featuring Joel

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-59179235281698368762009-06-11T22:17:00.003-04:002009-06-11T22:36:20.430-04:00

There seems to be some uncertainty as to whether Best Week Ever is gone for good. The blogosphere is reporting, in one or two places, that it's gone. But VH-1 is saying it's gone until January 2010 but even they're not sure. But Tompkins himself, via his Twitter account, is saying:Thanks to everyone who stayed with Best Week Ever with me as the host. Please watch tomorrow night. I am not

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-44590121492832702062009-06-11T11:26:00.005-04:002009-06-11T12:53:36.756-04:00

David Letterman got himself into some hot water the other night. He made a joke about Sarah Palin's daughter. The Alaska governor and her daughter attended a Yankees game earlier in the week and the Late Show host used the occasion to make a crude joke about the daughter being "knocked up by Alex Rodriguez." (There were other sexually-charged jokes, aimed at the governor, but they're not the

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-61362688389810557102009-06-11T00:49:00.003-04:002009-06-11T01:01:27.705-04:00

Flint, MI, comedian/radio host Rusty Thomas hipped us to the Wikipedia entry on the term "Deadpan," because there at the bottom, under the heading of "Notable Deadpan Comedians," is none other than "Brian McKim, American stand-up comedian and writer."Listed first, no less!Deadpan is a form of comic delivery in which humor is presented without a change in emotion or facial expression, usually

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-21682047462937290852009-06-10T13:55:00.003-04:002009-06-10T14:11:20.046-04:00

Sean L. McCarthy's Comic's Comic blog reports it here that Michael Roof, the comic popularly known as "Chicken," has died. Buzz is that Roof took his own life.We recall that Roof made quite a splash (literally and figuratively) at the 1999 (?) Just For Laughs Festival, signing a development deal at the fest after taking a dip in the fountain on the Terasse de la Jardin at the Delta Hotel during

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-33695791118413279092009-06-10T13:42:00.003-04:002009-06-10T13:50:08.467-04:00

"Preparation, confidence and creativity can give you an edge in effectiveness," is the theme of a book aimed at CEOs, written by Roger Edward Jones, called "What Can Chief Executives Learn From Stand-Up Comedians?"Jones doesn't strike you as someone with a comedic streak. His book's title, What Can Chief Executives Learn From Stand-Up Comedians? is not exactly a thigh-slapper. But he's got street

SHECKYmagazine.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-73925495818544282782009-06-10T00:58:00.003-04:002009-06-10T01:04:36.782-04:00

We finally got around to watching the John Landis documentary "Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project."We urge all to watch it, even if you've seen it already.It's the kind of movie that makes one happy to be in the entertainment business.And we figure that if every comic in America watches it between now and Friday, the shows in each and every comedy club and college and country club and private

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