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Hours 53 Through 77 Of Our J.F.L. Experience
SUNDAY
MONTREAL--We arose at
approximately 10 a.m. and poured the Saturday update into
the mold, finishing by 12:45. It was crucial that we hustle
over to the Delta, locate our Official Festival Buddy
Dan Rosenberg, grab a cup of coffee and plant ourselves in
the front row of the Opus Ballroom for this year's State Of The
Industry Address. (It was air conditioned this
year and the temp was a cozy...22 degrees...Celsius...we think.)
Andy Kindler was brought to the stage by Lewis Black. (Is
anybody in this business more confident than Lewis Black right now? He
is damn certain that when he opens his mouth, it will be funny. And,
by God, he's nearly always right! He's in a zone... a humor zone...
he's the standup equivalent of Tony Gwynn.)
Kindler was great at the 1999 JFL State of the Industry Address. And
he was tremendous (and particularly vicious) at 2000. The 2001
address, however, was the best one yet (among those we've
personally witnessed). He started (almost) on time, he stuck
to his notes and he finished early enough to let everyone make it to
the Industry/ Talent Basketball game. (Which he
proclaimed as "Just plain wrong!" and might possibly lead
to nasty cardiac consequences for the normally slovenly
Industry team composed of agents, managers and
various other execs.)
He trashed Jeff Zucker, Sex and the City, himself (naturally!),
Emeril Lagasse, Television in general and comedy clubs who telemarket
to the point of absurdity. And he did an absolutely devastating impression
of Jay Leno. (It wouldn't be a SOTIA without some
of that delicious skewering of the Tonight Show host.)
He reserved his most heartfelt
commentary for the folks at NBC. He read extensively from a
treasure trove of particularly moronic Jeff Zucker quotes (from a recent
USA Today article) and he pleaded with NBC and the entire medium
to come to their senses. When he begs Television to resume the
production of quality situation comedies, he betrays a curious
combination of weariness, hope and despair.
He spoke wistfully of his erstwhile "regular gig" with
Comedy Central's The Daily Show and managed to be hilarious
while conveying the obvious gut-wrenching and unsatisfying (and
inept) way in which they endeavored to justify the severance.
Suggestion to Hollywood Reporter: In addition to throwing a bash
for the attendees of the JFL, give a regular column to Andy Kindler. The
Hollywood Reporter exhibits zero (0) sense of humor in their
pages. Reserve a few column inches for the vitriol of Andy Kindler.
People smiling while reading the H.R.? It's like spreading the joy
of the Reporter's JFL bash over 365 days. (Dictate: "The
opinions of Andy Kindler are not necessarily those of the Hollywood
Reporter." There. You're off the hook.)
Black, in his opening comments, urged the assembled to "accept
Andy as their messiah." As the address progressed, it sounded
like less and less of an absurd proposition.
We uploaded the update in the hallway outside the Opus. The folks at
the Fest were gracious enough to provide a jack, with a live line,
enabling us to hop onto the cyberpike, sling the latest update onto
the server and check our email. We received word that Rusty Ward
(Routine) had
accepted an invitation from ABC's Good Morning America to
fill the 7 p.m. slot in their "Make Me Laugh All Night Long"
programming stunt (see Thursday's
J.F.L. Update!)
and a subsequent check of the phone later on in the afternoon
revealed that Ward had been chosen to be one of the
five finalist! Good luck, Rusty! (We will keep SHECKY! readers
posted!)
During a brief swing through the lobby, we were greeted by the
tremendous news that we had been deemed worthy of a pair of passes
to that evening's Gala! It was Gala No. 9 and it was to be hosted
by Eugene Levy, of SCTV fame! We had observed other galas (in 1999)
via closed circuit TV, but we would see this one from a comfortable
seat in the midst of a seething crowd at the cavernous Theatre St. Denis!
(And our first opportunity to witness a live performance by
Mitch
Hedberg!) We would to like to thank the lovely Ms. Peddle
and the rest of the harried crew at J.F.L. for their effort in
securing those tix!
The Gazette proclaimed Gala 9 "one of
the best shows this season." Gabe Kaplan was
particularly likeable and smooth; hard to believe his story that
he just returned to standup a scant five months ago. Rookie (his
first Fest) sensation Eddie Gossling delivered. (His dad,
also named Eddie Gosling, has read SHECKY! and
regularly does word searches using the keyword "Eddie Gossling."
So, "Hey, there, Mr. G!" if you're reading this!)
Mike McDonald, (dubbed "The Iron Man," because
he's been in 19 straight J.F.L. Fests!) came out and did a set
that seemed all too
short. He explained later on at the Delta that he saw "the
light" and, being the pro that he is, he wrapped it up! The Gazette
busted him (in a nice way) for doing too little time ("I wanted
more from Mike McDonald-- and so did everyone else!") We told
him we figured that, after 19 Fests he'd simply run out of material!
(Just kidding!)
SHECKYmagazine says: "Any set by Mike
McDonald is too short!" (Attention publicists: Feel free to
use any and all quotes for blurbs! Just get the URL right!)
The highlight, though, was seeing Hedberg live. It was like seeing
a rock star. The response was tremendous and he was forced to
step on the laughter to get all the material in. It was frenzied.
To top it all off, he's a nice guy. Ron James capped off
the entire evening with a solid set. The diminutive Nova Scotian
built to a fever pitch with material about the far reaches of
northern Canada and a wicked description of a flight on the
much-maligned Air Canada.
We adjusted well to the new restrictions that have been placed on
the Festival attendees. We put in for tickets on a couple of
must-see shows and we got them. We waited patiently for shuttles
and never had any problems. When they came up with Gala tix, they
actually dropped a message on our voicemail in Jersey! The shuttle
drivers were, across the board, congenial and agreeable.
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