tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72092712009-11-08T09:21:43.765-05:00Dedicated to the glorification of standup comedy. SHECKYmagazine.com--Standup comedy...seriously! Published by Brian McKim & Traci Skene Copyright 2005 Independent Together ProductionsBrian McKim & Traci Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08551129938810580569noreply@blogger.comBlogger2754125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7209271.post-24282315037289190532009-11-05T11:06:00.004-05:002009-11-05T11:33:59.413-05:00

The article that is rocketing around the WWW, today's offbeat news nugget, is about the guy in South Carolina, Rodell Vereen, who got caught (on videotape!) "abusing" a horse... for the second time!Listen to Barbara Kenley, the owner of the horse, who says she wished that Vereen had gotten more jail time, then follows that up with this:"I've been through hell for the last year and it's caused a

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From Steve Roye, the inventor of the odious "PAR Score" software comes this absolutely hilarious throwdown:You know, I have put up with a ton of crap from Traci Skene at Shecky Magazine for awhile now.She has lamely attempted to ridicule me, ridicule my software and accuse me of being sexist, in spite of her blatantly racist remarks on her blog about people across the globe using my Comedy

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A week ago, we compared Jay Leno to Robert Duvall's character in "Apocalypse Now." Ample validation of our comparison is contained in Ben Grossman's Broadcasting & Cable interview.It's a fascinating look into Leno's brain and temperament and work ethic. Read the whole thing.Drudge linked to it for the provocative "I wouldn't trade places with Dave Letterman" quote, but this jumped out at us:I'm

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Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee, after his spectacular performance last night against the Yankees:To me, there's no reason to be nervous. If I did all the work, the game is a time to go out there and have fun. Let your skills take over. I've never been nervous in the big leagues. It's kind of weird.

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For some reason, the TV critics are all in a snit about the numbers that Jay Leno is getting at ten o'clock. They're determined to make it appear as though the move by NBC is a giant mistake and they're quoting all kinds of naysayers to "prove" their contention that the move by NBC was a bad one.The most recent article, in the NYPost, beats the same drum. The title and subtitle, "A Leno letdown

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This time, it's Jimmy Carr who owes someone an apology.An article in the UK Mirror describes the hubbub... and includes the joke:A former Army commander yesterday called for Jimmy Carr to quit for making fun of soldiers who have lost limbs.Patrick Mercer, Conservative MP and chairman of the Commons subcommittee on terrorism, said certain subjects should be instinctively "off limits" for stand-up

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Jim Farber, writing in the NYDN, says that Motel 6, in an effort to "shake up their image," will offer free hotel rooms to rock bands.A new promotion links the budget chain Motel 6 with budding rock bands, in hopes of helping poor musicians while also giving the frumpy chain a hipper image. (Right now, the average age of their guests is 35 to 64.)Initially, the promotion gives rooms to three

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Drudge is linking to a story in The Politico that says that David Cross snorted cocaine forty feet from the president of the United States of America. How do we know this? Because Cross bragged about it from the stage of D.C.'s Warner Theater Wednesday night.Folks on the right will cite the incident as indicative of a general corrosion of decorum in D.C. "This is what happens when you elect a

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Soupy Sales died today at the age of 83.When the comedy business went into hyper-drive in the 80s, Sales quite a few personal appearances. (Although it's not mentioned in his Wikipedia entry.)We recall (perhaps incorrectly) that framed clippings of a Sales appearance hang on the wall at the Comedy Club at Shooters in Saginaw, MI. And we further recall that Sales may have been the headliner on

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Paul Provenza dreamed up The Green Room, first as a live show presented at Edinburgh, then at Montreal's JFL. We recently learned that he's taped six editions of it for Showtime. It should be interesting to watch. It will be a hipper, sharper version of similar past shows like the Robert Klein-hosted Stand Up/Sit Down or Alan King's College of Comedy. But we don't have Showtime. Perhaps we

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FOS Jason Pollack picked us up at the airport. As we zoomed past Citizens Bank Ballpark (with the radio tuned to the WPHT broadcast of the NLCS Game 3), Carlos Ruiz caught a pop foul for the final out and the stadium erupted in fireworks. A harmonic convergence. Phils win 11-0.We started out the day in Vegas. We took our sweet old time checking out of the Courtyard on Paradise, as we had a 2:

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It turns out that Richard Heene, the father of the kid that the media has dubbed "Ballon Boy" (and that we have re-dubbed "Hot Air Boy"), was well-known to many of the comedians who reside in Los Angeles.According to our sources, Heene and his wife, Mayumi, put together reels for comedians-- editing, sweetening the audience response, that kind of thing-- throughout much of the 90s via a

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We're in the common area of the South Hall of the Vegas Convention Center... free wireless... And about fifteen feet to our left, Kevin Pollak is setting up something for Kevin Pollak's Chat Show. Pollak himself has just finished stalking the exhibition floor.It's a live streaming video talkshow seen every Sunday at 5PM PST. Tomorrow's guest is Paul F. Tompkins. Other guests have included Seth

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We were bloggers when the word was coined but not quite in circulation. Back in 2000 or so, in our quest to pump up the traffic to SHECKYmagazine.com, we took our popular "Like We Care" page and made it front page. And we decided to update it on a daily or near-daily basis. (We did so manually. We were leery of adapting the Blogger technology, thinking that it would complicate the process

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An article in Time magazine asks if the president is "in trouble with his late-night comedy base." Disturbing though it may be that the pack of monologists that reaches the largest number of comedy consumers via major television networks and cable outlets is referred to as the big man's "comedy base" (and that they're joking about him signifies that he is "in trouble,")... at least they're

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We went to the Stella Adler Studio last night after wangling our way onto the guest list. (We're practicing our FULL DISCLOSURE in anticipation of the new FTC rules that require bloggers to disclose any free services or goods. Violators will be charged with fraud and may be subject to a $11,000 fine. Does anyone feel a breeze? A chilly one? Anyone?)Anyway, it was the same intimate theater

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They should call him "Teabag Tommy Tiernan," as he is frequently in hot water.Here's the quote from the Herald article that kicked it all off:In an interview with Hot Press at Electric Picnic he had waxed lyrical on what he would have done in the Holocaust."These Jews, these f *cking c***s come up to me, Christkilling bastards. F*cking six million? I would have got 10 or 12 million out of that,

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Darren Carter (aka "The Party Starter," aka "The Rooster") extended an invitation to the Halves of the Staff to do guest sets at the Irvine Improv last night. We took him up on the offer.Carter closed the early show at the plush Orange County comedy palace and we, along with Justin Worsham and Toogie Jackson provided what the Brits call "support."We had a splendid time onstage and off. And

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Heresy!That's what this article in the Independent (UK) by John Walsh no doubt is to some folks. On the 40th anniversary of the first airing of the first episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Walsh slips in a tape of that first shot fired in a comedy revolution and compares what the 55-year-old Walsh thinks with what the 15-year-old Walsh thought.The Halves of the Staff happened across some

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An article in the Financial Times says that Hollywood is in a budget-cutting mood. (It's surreal being in Los Angeles... we had forgotten what it was like-- we lived here for five years long ago-- as we listened to the all-news radio stations on our way to Universal Studios yesterday, the big news was was the resignation of two top execs... at Universal Studios.)Apparently, this past summer was

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We wangled a coupla tix to see a taping of Tonight yesterday. (Who's on first?) Monday morning, we got an email from Jimmy Pardo saying we would be on the VIP list! (We found out Saturday evening that Pardo has been doing warmup. So naturally, we were enthusiastic about attending a taping.)We've seen a Johnny-hosted Tonight taping, a taping of Arsenio Hall's talker and a taping of Martin

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So... comedians are finally doing their job (at least Fred Armisen is) and what happens? Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room gets off its ass to do a "fact check" segment (3:48 in length!!) and analyze the veracity of the claims made by an SNL cast member in the show's opening monologue.That is a lot of time to devote in a nightly broadcast to the dissection of a comedy sketch. What exactly is going

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The Halves of the Staff touched down in Vegas late Thursday afternoon, then, after dining on pho noodles at Little Saigon, we skittered partway across the desert to stay at Whiskey Pete's near the Nevada/California border ($15 per nite, $16.80 with tax). Our eventual goal: Van Nuys, CA, and the Airtel Plaza Hotel-- our base for two days while we performed at the Laugh Pack comedy clubs in

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The fact that we have to ask ourselves the question means that it is possible that the big electronic media have grown weary of the story.To answer the question: They're 85 per cent contained.So now it's time for some folks to do the natural thing-- call for "a federal investigation into what they say was a poor initial response to the blaze." Of course! Perhaps a nice, fat lawsuit is in the

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The New York Underground Comedy Festival kicks off Saturday with a show hosted by Richard Belzer (who, according to Festival head Jim Mendrinos, "embodies the artistry and fortitude that every comic aspires to"). There follows ten days/nights of 50 or so shows in six or seven Manhattan venues.Hey, who is that on the NYUCF website splash page? The third guy from the left? It's the Male Half of

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