NEW FACES PREMIER...OLD FACES CONTINUE PARTYING!

MONTREAL--The buzz here (or one of the many buzzes) is that Budd is opening a colossal chain of comedy clubs in the not-too-distant-future. He'll do it in partnership with a fellow by the name of Al Copeland. You've never heard of him, but you may have heard of his chain of restaurants called Copeland's.

Laissez les bon temps roullez!!

This guy Copeland throws a mean party. In the ballroom near the back of the Delta, Messrs Copeland and Freidman threw a New Orleans-themed party to let everyone know about this little venture. At least, we think that's what is was for. The food was great--lots of blackened this and creole that. And the booze was free as well. Everyone was there: We spotted Andy Kindler for the first time. We're thinking of pissing him off so that he'll mention us in his State of the Industry address on Saturday afternoon...stay tuned.

From the top: The Incredible Boris poses with Gala host Howie Mandel (amazingly, Mandel's FIRST Festival)...Budd flanked by Mike August and Brian Stern of William Morris Agency...Dom Irrera with fellow Philadelphian Traci Skene

New Faces at Café Campus

We took a packed shuttle to Caf é Campus (Kam-POOSE) to catch the first New Faces of Comedy. On the bill were Gary Owen, T.J. McCormick, Jen Kerwin, Mark Gross, Bryan Tucker, Eric Nieves, Rachel Arieff and Mike Estime for the first show and Dugar, Erin Foley, Dwayne Perkins, Vinnie Favorito, Steve Scott, Lynn Koplitz, Gavin Crawford and Chuck Roy on the second show. Ringmaster Dom Irrera tamed the seething crowd for both shows.

The Cafe Campus room is perfectly cube-shaped, packed with Stevie-Nicks- video-density smoke, and a great venue for comedy. Industry types packed the balcony and the rear of the house. In the Hollywood Reporter, Festival Grande Fromage Bruce Hills was quoted as saying

"The best show, without question, is New Faces...it's our main launch pad." The behind the scenes buzz is that New Faces lacks the cachet that it had in earlier festivals. Overheard in the lobby: TV exec number one: "Hey, ya goin' to New Faces?" TV exec number two: "No, I'm all new-faced out."

BEST OF FEST/Comedy Works

We shuttled over to the Best of the Fest show at Jimbo Skormowski's Comedy Works. The second floor room was tightly packed and MC Dan Whitney was at the controls. He brought on Steve Mittleman, South African John Vlismas, Arj Barker, Rich Fulcher, Sabrina Matthews and Sean Cullen.

Mr. Show writer Paul F. Tompkins gives us a SHECKY! thumbs up with STAR SEARCH producer Gary Mann... Rick Messina gestures at a recently-arrived comedy legend Lenny Schultz ...Industry curmudgeon Andy Kindler gives the SHECKY! thumbs up next to industry sweetheart Traci Skene.

Off to Tokyo Bar

The fine, fine people at Cartoon Network threw their After Gala Party at Tokyo. Throbbing music, Space Ghost on a giant screen, comics three and four deep at the semi-circular bar, free booze, finger foods with a vaguely seafood-y taste and disappointment because the light rain which was falling prevented us all from hardcore schmoozing on the "nouvelle terrasse Japonaise." We grabbed Paul F. Tompkins hailed a cab and went directly to Club Soda, where we once again were able to hang in the green room without pissing off Rich Miller (if he was pissed, he was gracious and skilled enough to hide it).

Tompkins, former writer for Mr. Show is doing a pair of Alternative Shows and a Gala. On the cab ride over, Tompkins left his credit card in the cab. The driver returned it and wouldn't take Paul's offer of reward money, restoring his faith in mankind...or at least Canadians.

Delta Bar: Take Three!

We found ourselves talking to Gary Mann, who produced Star Search. We thought it would be awkward since I (Brian) do a "Star Search bit" in the act. But Gary's heard it all and he had Star Search stories that were hilarious! (So far the hardest we've laughed!)

As we were taking our leave, Rick Messina spotted legend Lenny Schultz who was on his way to the elevators. Messina, normally reserved, was downright giddy as he hung with said legend. We grilled Lenny briefly and were on our way. It was late (4 AM) and I had split my pants (right up the butt!) so we really had to go!