Lewis Black news

Not to name drop, but I just got off the phone with Lewis Black. Just wanted to report here that he said his opener when he plays the Centre here in Vancouver on May 8 & 9 will be Kathleen Madigan. How awesome is that? She's fantastic and a headliner in her own right, and one of my faves. That's some show. Black said there is a downside to having her on the bill, though.

For my money, she's the funniest woman in America. And that's tough, because I love Susie Essman and Joy Behar, Judy Gold... and there's a whole bunch... Maria [Bamford]. But Kathleen I've known for a long time. She's at the top of her game. She's a pain in the ass to follow, though. "Really? You had to be that funny, fucker?"

Here's a taste of both those comics. I'll write more on Black closer to his appearance next month.

April 12: me

After shattering the call-in record last week with a staggering five (5) phone calls in the hour for Darcy Michael, we need a break. So tonight there will be no guest. Instead I will take the opportunity to play deejay and spin some comedy discs. I'll play some classics, some you've never heard before, and some local acts, as well. I'll take requests, too, so feel free to call in again. Maybe we can break that week-old record. The studio number is 604-684-7561.

(The previous record, fyi, was four coincidentally set the last time Darcy Michael was on. That guy has a following.)

Next week, as you can see over in the right-hand panel, we have the legend that is Derek Edwards! He's one of the funniest guys in the world so that'll be a good one, I just know.

Roy Zimmerman... not

I was so excited yesterday when I walked into the library and spotted a poster of singing political satirist Roy Zimmerman. It said he was playing a little church in West Van on Tuesday for a suggested ticket price of $15, but they wouldn't turn anyone away because they couldn't pay. (In West Van, yet!) I've been a big fan of Zimmerman for a while now. The guy, like Tom Lehrer, writes really catchy, really smart, really funny, really timeless tunes. Plus, he's a helluva musician. Maybe that's why the L.A. Times called him "a latter-day Tom Lehrer." That's not journalistic hyperbole. He's that good. More people should know him. Why isn't he on the talk shows? He'd make a great singing correspondent on The Daily Show. Something. He's prolific.

I play from his CD Faulty Intelligence on the show all the time. On his website, I noticed he'd be playing Eugene on Saturday and then nothing until Tuesday's gig – his first ever – in Vancouver. So I wrote him asking if he'd be in town on Sunday and if so would he come on the show. Or at the very least call in. This morning I got the bad news. He wrote to say he's had to cancel this leg of the tour. Doh!

Hopefully it won't be too long before he makes it back here. And hopefully I don't have to rely on a poster in a library to inform me he's coming.

Meanwhile, take a look at some of his work. Zimmerman is an unabashed liberal and went to town during the Bush II administration, as you'll see in these clips. It'll be interesting to see what direction he takes under Obama:

Do not adjust your screen

Paula Poundstone

My story on Paula Poundstone, who plays the River Rock next Thursday, hit the newstands today. But you don't have to go out to your local newstand. It also hit the internet today. Read it here.

I had a great talk with Paula, who I've been a fan of for years and years. We bonded over Ping-Pong. Unfortunately, I had to get to the nitty-gritty details on her 2001 arrest. In doing some pre-chat internet scouring, I was surprised at just how many interviews with her didn't broach the subject at all. It was like the proverbial elephant in the room. The interviewer knew about it, Poundstone knew the interviewer knew about it, but nobody was talking about it. Strange, because she talks about it in her act.

I went into our conversation knowing I'd ask her about the charges. Where she took it was up to her. Maybe she'd not want to talk about it, I don't know. But I'd never know unless I asked. To her credit, she answered my questions thoughtfully, emotionally and frankly.

Of course, then I had a problem. My preference would be to write a story concentrating on her act because she is, after all, one of the top stand-up comics of her generation. But I couldn't ignore the elephant. There are people out there who, to this day, think she's some kind of pervert. They know nothing about the case other than the headlines it generated when she was first arrested. They don't realize that cops don't determine guilt; the courts do. Of course, by the time she got to court, some folks had already made up their minds.

She gave me such good quotes that I had to use them in the story. And the subject was so multi-layered I couldn't very well just touch on it in a sentence or two. So it is what it is. But if I could sum up my story in a sentence, it would be: Paula Poundstone made some mistakes, paid the price, isn't a creep, and is, in fact, still really, really funny and you should see her live show.

Anyway, here are some quotes that didn't make the final story. It gives you a bigger picture:

My manager called me the other day to say that nobody in Vancouver seems to know me and that this was going to cause a problem for ticket sales. So she said, "What if you made a film for YouTube about going to Canada?!" I said, "Why will that help?" And she said, "Well, it's better than doing nothing." Okay. I didn't want to seem like a person that wasn't go along to get along. I actually kinda got into it. So I spent two days using much more technology than I actually am skilled at. I spent two days making this film about sort of reintroducing myself (laughs) to Vancouver. I worked my ass off. I ignored the children and I finished it and I sent it to my manager, which I don't even know how to do and yet I sent it to my manager. She called me back. She said, "It's brilliant! It's genius! It's great!" And then she sent it to my agent and said, "Ooh, they thought it was great! They thought it was so funny, it's one of the best things you ever did. It was great!... Can you cut it in half?"

So then I cut it in half. I cut it in half at the airport at six a.m. I took two sections out entirely. Just sort of brutal cuts because I didn't know how to cut it down within each piece, so I just took two sections out entirely. And I call her and I say, "Fine, I cut it." She said, "Well, what did you do?" And I told her what I cut out, and she goes, "Oh, I wouldn't have cut that out!" At which point I said, "Look, if you all know so much more than me, which is fine with me, then you do it." I haven't even looked at the version that they made because it was too upsetting for me.

Here's the clip she made:

I have no hard evidence one way or the other, but anecdotally, at least, I think her manager is dead wrong. So many times, regular non-comedy people ask me what I'm working on, who's coming to town, etc. I mention some really big names in comedy and invariably they ask, "Who's that?" But when I've mentioned Paula Poundstone, they all know who she is.

I mention we bonded over Ping-Pong. She calls it the "second-greatest game in the world" behind basketball. So there was that bond, too.

Oh, man, it's too bad we're not in the same place because we have parties four or five times a year, sadly not more, that are Ping-Pong parties. My friends gave me an old, like from a high school gym, scoreboard that has lightbulbs for the numbers. Oh, it's the best. It's so much fun.

If I could, I'd play Ping-Pong every day. But it takes two. Still, I was intrigued about the Ping-Pong parties. She explained:

We have a tournament with a chart and we pick partners. We play doubles and we pick the names out of a hat for how to pair people. If I see a team that I happen to know is really going to be bad, then I cheat and reshuffle because I don't want people to have a not fun time. It's not fun to go out and just totally suck. And I have prizes for the winners. Several times I've been willing to not have prizes and then this friend of mine who helps me set up the party, he's always like, "Oh no, you've gotta have the prizes." It's usually like a Blockbuster card or something. When I moved into the first house that I lived in, which I bought because there was a basketball hoop in the driveway, by the way--

GM: Another great reason to choose a house.

Yeah! That's the selling point. When I moved into my first house, my friend gave me a surprise party on that night, which, looking back, I think is insane. But it was the only thing that I had set up. Obviously it was all boxes. But the only thing that I had set up was the Ping-Pong table. It was in a garage that you didn't use a car with. It was like a refurbished garage. And she just got my book and called people whose names she had remembered me mentioning at one time or another. She didn't really know everybody that I knew. So we had this really eclectic group of people that didn't know each other. And by the end of the night people were hugging and slapping one another on the back. You know, because when you play together you get so excited about... You're friends for life once you've been a doubles team. Especially if you're a winning doubles team!

And then, okay, for your party here's what you need to do. At the end, when all the glory's already been had, you do around-the-table Ping-Pong. There's no number who can play. Everybody can play. It's very fast. The good thing about it you lose and ten seconds later you're back in the game. It used to be you'd leave the paddles on the table, as I recall, but people say that's not good so instead you pass the paddles. Then when it's your turn you hit the ball and then you run and obviously if you miss, you sit down. But it's such a fast game that nobody loses and then doesn't play. You're around the table in a circle. It is so much fun.

My game's not what it used to be. I used to be sort of the ringer. And now sometimes when somebody's really good, I don't invite 'em back!

I run the show here! I hate to lose at Ping-Pong.

We talked about her early years on The Tonight Show. Most of her appearances were with Jay Leno, but her first couple were with the legendary Johnny Carson, who propelled the careers of many a stand-up comic. I wondered if she was one of them:

I don't think that 'propelled' is probably the right word. (laughs) I was on Carson a coupla few times. I think by the time I came around we were a generation or two apart and I was just sort of there, in terms of him, you know what I mean?

When Joan Rivers was first on, the next day everyone knew her. But no, by the time I came around it didn't have the same power that it once had. I mean, unless you were extraordinary when you did it, which I wasn't. I was just okay. You know, I was fine. I wasn't bad, but it wasn't the kind of thing where the handful of people that saw it talked about it the next day. It wasn't like that. It wasn't meteoric by any stretch. My whole career's been that way, though. Everything has just been one foot in front of the other. Plodding might be the right word. I don't say that by way of complaining because in fact I support myself and I have three children that I've been able to raise with the money that I make. And we have Ping-Pong parties. I'm doing this new silly stupid technology thing and I'm kinda having fun with it.

I consider myself truly the luckiest person in the world. Because it doesn't necessarily last forever, people wanting to come see you. Some people that I started out with don't get to do this job at all anymore. And, you know, my plodding pace has done it.

Despite all her successes, Poundstone remains humble:

I've never considered I quote-unquote "made it". And I'm so silly. You know, I still go to the mailbox with enthusiasm and I answer the phone with excitement as if there's going to be a letter in here or there's going to be a phone call wherein they say you've made it. And I wait for it every single day, I swear. It's the silliest thing in the world and it never happened. I have gotten to the point, because I'm 49, where I look around, particularly in this economy, and I'm able to go, "Wow. Lucky. Lucky, lucky, lucky." And I like when I see my stuff go up on YouTube or whatever. I mean, I don't know how to do that. I just recently learned so I didn't put most of that stuff up there. Somebody else did. But I look at my old stuff and I go, "Gee, I was kind of funny back then."

Yes, she was. And still is, judging from her last Bravo! special a couple years ago. Here's a clip of her from back in the day. It still holds up:

I mentioned that her legal problems came in 2001. Some of you might remember that year. When I suggested that she might be one of the few Americans to see the silver lining in 9/11 if only because it finally pushed her name out of the headlines, she said:

It took over the news. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's true that in the grand scheme of things what was happening to me did not belong on the news one way or another. So, uh, yeah. Although certainly I wouldn't wish to have anything precluded by that.

There's more, but I don't want to take away from your full enjoyment of the transcribed interview. I'll let you know when that gets posted on the Comedy Couch. Meanwhile, enjoy a clip of Paula from her last special. It's lie-down comedy of the highest order:

Bee's Knees Comedy Arrangement video

Monday night is my basketball night. For another few weeks, anyway. So I missed most of the big opening night of the Bee's Knees Comedy Arrangement at the Cellar jazz club. I got there as headliner Jamie Hutchinson hit the stage. There was a decent-sized crowd and the room, as I keep telling you, is really great. And Jamie was en fuego. Made me wish I had been there all night.

But now, through the magic of video, it's like I was. Each week on their website, they're going to show excerpts from the previous week. I love this idea. Hopefully, though, it won't keep people away, figuring they can just watch on-line. I'm sure the idea is to whet their comedic appetites, if you will, so they'll make it down to Broadway and Alma one Monday night. To that end, maybe they need to give smaller tastes of the acts, and edit them all together for some one-stop viewing. But I'm glad I was able to catch most of what I missed. Here are the first two on their page, all really funny.

City-TV superstar Charlie Demers:


Kelly "In my day" Dixon:

To watch all the other acts (minus Hutchinson, for some reason, and Dave Shumka for another reason), check out their video page. You'll see A.J. McKenzie, Paul Breau, musical act Janet Panic, Barry Greenfeld, and host Tim Rykert.

April 5: Darcy Michael/stuff

Stand-up comic Darcy Michael is going to attempt to make it down to the studio tonight for his third appearance on What's So Funny?. Hopefully his car cooperates. That was his excuse back on December 7, when he was last scheduled as a guest. But he assures us he will, indeed, be there tonight. We'll talk about his upcoming gig at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival and his brand new CD, among other things. It's always fun when Darcy drops by.

***

Heads-up on a couple new comedy rooms around town:

Tonight, The Bourbon on West Cordova hosts The Laugh Factory. And on Monday night, it's the grand opening of the Bee's Knees Comedy Arrangement at the Jazz Cellar on Broadway (near Alma). Now, I've never been to The Bourbon, but I've spent many an hour at the Cellar over the years. Not only is it a great room for jazz, it's almost perfect for comedy. Not too big, not too small, great sight lines, great sound, great menu, cool vibe. I'd love for it to work out just because it's a great hang. So if you're free, you should definitely check it out.

***

I interviewed Paula Poundstone a week or two ago. That story will be in the Straight this Thursday. Once it's there, I'll report back here with some extra tidbits I couldn't squeeze into the story – don't want to scoop myself, y'understand. So keep checking back.

Tomorrow I'll be speaking to one of the members of Spinal Tap. Which one? Good question. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. You'll hear about it soon enough. If you've got any questions you want me to ask, add them to the comments section and I'll try to squeeze them in.

March 29: Jamie Hutchinson & Tim Rykert

What a gorgeous day. I think, just maybe, it might be the time to hang the long-johns up for the year. That's always a special day. (If you're reading this from a far-off land, don't get the wrong idea. Vancouver is barely in Canada, temperature-wise. I just like to feel snug and warm all the time.)

Speaking of special days, since our show went on the air in 2004 I've been trying to get Jamie Hutchinson on as a guest. Persistence finally paid off. He'll be joining us, along with his good buddy, and former guest, Tim Rykert. The two of them have a new room opening up at the Cellar Jazz Restaurant every Monday night. I'm looking forward to it. Fans of Corner Gas may remember Jamie as Rocket Ronnie from season one. And if you've ever seen Brent Butt live, chances are you saw Jamie open for him.

Fans of The Newsroom might remember Tim as a recurring character. Or if you've ever seen Michael Bublé in concert, chances are you saw Tim opening for the young crooner.

There you have it. That's all you need to know.

Todd Allen

Yes, folks, that youngster we saw crossing home plate in 1991 was none other than Todd Allen. I had no idea who he was when I snapped that photo. Todd is one of at least five standup comics that I know of to come from my alma mater, Oak Bay High School. The others are Steve Ivings, Dr. Russ Kennedy, Jason Lamb and Kristeen von Hagen. When I was going to school, our rivals would call us Joke Bay, but for other reasons. Little did they know it was a hotbed of future comedy.

Here's little Todd making good last year on CBS's The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson:


Todd is also a three-time visitor to What's So Funny?. The last one isn't yet up on the podcast. Before that he guested in April of 2005. His first visit was with Phil Hanley was in November of 2004.

ADDENDUM: Oops, forgot James Ball, another standup comic alum of Oak Bay High. (Back then he was Jamie.)

Quiz time!

A friend of mine sent this to me this morning. It's a photo I took back in 1991 when my buddy was coaching a little league team (I won't say where because that might give it away). The player shown scoring above went on to become a stand-up comedian. Who is it? Make your guesses in the comment section below. Winners receive the respect and admiration of their peers.

(Click on the image to make it larger.)

Still more interviews

I'm slowly getting caught up on old podcasts and transcribed interviews. Today I offer you – free of charge, by the way – two new interviews. At least new to you. One is the second one I did with Colin Mochrie, of Whose Line Is It Anyway? fame. This one was conducted in November of 2007 (I told you I was getting caught up). Here's a random quote to whet your whistle:

The whole thing was just surreal for a little Canadian improviser to all of a sudden be doing a rap with Karl Rove. Then the next day he called us and invited us to the White House. He took us around. We went into the Oval Office and President Bush and Vice President Cheney were there, so we talked to them for a while. It was just surreal.

If you're so inclined, you can read the first one, from May of 2005, here. And a random quote from that golden oldie:

The best thing about improv is that once it's gone, it's gone. You can't think, 'What I should have done was...' To me, I just can't remember. Even great scenes I've been involved in, I can sort of remember parts of it but I could never remember what the suggestion was or how we got there. I'm sure there are sometimes where you go 'I got nothing.' And sometimes from that magic happens.

And then there's an interview with Harland Williams from November 2006. It was also the second time I'd interviewed the funnyman, but the first one, done years and years ago, is long gone so this will have to do. Finally, a random quote from Harland, on taking on the role in Half Baked despite not being a pot smoker:

At the end it was kinda my manager. He said, "You know what? It's just a movie role. It's going to really widen your fan base and a lot of people are going to see it." And taking that I kinda went, "You know, I've played a guy on Mars, I've played a cop drinking pee, I've played a serial killer in There's Something About Mary. You know what? They are just roles." And so I kind of justified it that way. It kinda helped. I look back on it and I've had a lot of kids come up to me in the streets and go, "Hey, man, thanks to you I got into the bud." I'm like, "I don't really like that." So it was a bit of a mixed thing for me.

Don't Podcast Yourself

I do believe not too long ago I mentioned the podcast that's taking the internet by storm, Stop Podcasting Yourself, hosted by Vancouver's own Dave Shumka and Graham Clark. Maybe that one mention got me booked on the program. Either that, or after 54 episodes they'd finally run out of decent guests. Be that as it may (and I think you'll all agree that it may), there I was on Saturday afternoon drinking brewskies* and eating Hershey's Kisses at Shumka's place, recording episode #55. Billed as "Vancouver's top comedy podcast", it's an hour-plus of shooting the shit. I was out of my element not asking questions and trying to keep up with two top comedic minds, but I hung in there.

Dave harangued me about not laughing, but here's the thing: I just listened to the show, and I gotta say I laughed (in my own inimitable way) at least as much as Shumka. Clark is in a league of his own, though.

Check out the show. If you haven't heard any of the previous 54, you should listen to some when they have actual funny guests.

Meanwhile, they have this posted on their latest blog entry, but it's deserves even more exposure. A little film by the name of "Fudge Cops", starring both Clark and Shumka, hit the YouTube station over a year ago and to date has 473 views. Let's get that number up, people. It's 1:12 of action-packed hilarity:



* I'm pretty sure Shumka would find that expression "douchey".

March 22: Toby Hargrave

Happy spring. To commemorate the season, we have a comic with one of the sunniest dispositions in the business.

Back in the summer of 2005, Toby Hargrave made the big move from Edmonton to Vancouver. I know this because he did our show that very week. He was already an established headliner at that point. Two months later, he rudely won the Vancouver edition of the Great Canadian Laugh-Off. Can you imagine? Those poor Vancouver comics who toiled for years in our city, and this upstart comes in and kicks their collective asses. But it was well-deserved. Five months after that, he was a finalist in Corner Gas's Comic Genius competition, too.

Toby is still a big presence on the Vancouver comedy scene. And tonight he'll visit us again to catch up on his career.

More podcasts, as promised

As reported on these pages earlier this week, the promised podcasts are upon us:

• from January 27, 2008, we've got the creator and producer of CBC radio's The Debaters, Richard Side (who also happens to be a very funny guy himself).
• from February 3, 2008, we've got American Dwight Slade, who was also the very first stand-up partner of the legendary Bill Hicks. Among other things, Dwight talks quite emotionally about his late friend.
• from July 22, 2007, we've got stand-up comic, writer and stay-at-home son, Phil Hanley, in a feisty tete-a-tete.

March 15: Irwin Barker

Okay, it's not a new one, but it's a good one. Tonight's show originally ran last February, but it's never been up on podcast so if you missed it then, now's your chance. I sat down with Irwin Barker in an empty Yuk Yuk's club on a Saturday afternoon and chatted for an hour. We talked about Irwin's terminal diagnosis, the writing process and his advice to young comics. We didn't talk about the award-winning documentary on his cancer odyssey, That's My Time, nor his comedy dvd Do the Math because they weren't out yet. But it's still a fascinating discussion. And just the other day Irwin told me that there will be another star-studded cancer benefit at the River Rock Show Theatre on June 13. Along with raising money, the show will celebrate the 2-year anniversary of him being given one year to live by the doctors. Stoopid doctors.

Meanwhile, I'm going to go buy Do the Math because Irwin is one funny dude. He's the only guy I know who appeals to every demographic. Once a friend's younger brother – a hard-drinking partier – wrote me saying, "I just saw this comic at Yuk Yuk's. His name was Irwin something or other. Funniest guy I've ever seen in my life."

Amen to that.

So tune in. All the info on how to listen is right over there ––> somewhere.

New Podcasts!

It's been a long time coming, but we've got two more podcasts up and running. The last one was from the end of December, 2007. But today starts a long process of getting caught up. We begin with a April 20, 2008 return visit from the Tony Randall of What's So Funny?, Graham Clark. Graham now hosts his own podcast (with lackey Dave Shumka) called Stop Podcasting Yourself, but to really get to know the man they call "Graham" you have to listen to our program, which you can do right here.

The second new podcast up is a very fun, and interesting, visit from first-time WSF? guest, Joel Walmsley. The Wombat dropped by our studio on February 10, 2008 and talked about street performing and Brent Butt's first ever time on stage, among other things. Hear that show right here.

Thanks to Raegan Birch over at comedycouch.com for getting these shows uploaded and for hosting them on her site.

Coming soon: Richard Side, Phil Hanley and Dwight Slade.

Patton Oswalt

A few weeks ago I wrote about interviewing Patton Oswalt, saying he wasn't the most forthcoming subject I'd ever spoken to. Well, now you can see for yourself. Will you notice? I'm not sure. As I wrote, he was polite enough. It was just a sense I had at the time. Now you can see for yourself. That interviewed is now available at a computer near you. In fact, probably on the very one you're at right now. Just follow this link and presto, you'll be taken back to February 21, 2008 to relive that magical moment. If you disagree with my assessment, feel free to leave a comment after the interview. Or right here on this blog, if you'd rather. Or ignore me altogether.

March 8: John Wing

We've got a good show for you tonight. How do I know? Because it's in the can, baby. Done. I can sit back and relax and listen along with you for a change.

After helping comedian John Wing choose a new chapeau on Granville St. yesterday, he and I sat down at a local coffee house for an hour-long conversation. And as luck would have it, it just happened to be recorded. So you'll hear us, along with background tunes, coffee grinders and bathroom doors being buzzed open. It's historic.

Wing is one of my favourite comics. Dry, thoughtful, sarcastic, just silly enough and a real wordsmith. The veteran of 29 years has been living in California for the past 21 years, but he's still a national treasure. He's done six Tonight Shows (one with the legendary Johnny Carson) and tons more TV and radio work. Not acting, though. He'll explain why tonight. We'll also talk about bow ties, poetry, and the perils of performing on the high seas. I think you'll like it. To warm yourself up, check out his YouTubeclips over in the right-hand panel.

Besides being a headlining stand-up comic, Wing is also a prolific writer, who's written five books of poetry (with one more on the way) and a memoir. Despite a BA in English, I don't "get" a lot of poetry, but I own one of Wing's books (A Cup of Nevermind; Mosaic Press)and I really like his work. I thought I'd end this entry with two of his poems, one about his job; the other about mine. Reprinted here without permission:

THE COMEDIAN by John Wing, Jr.

In the red brick room
where the lights bleed smoke,
I have spent my bloom.

I have shed my cloak
and exposed my plume
to amuse these folk.

For above the gloom
and the days on coke,
in the spotlight's broom

I am swept, and soak
in the yellow spume
for my hour's croak.

Is the stage a tomb?
Will the dry throat choke?
In the night's cold womb,

I revoke, revoke
the all-seeing doom,
where the lights bleed smoke
in the red brick room.


LETTER TO A CRITIC by John Wing, Jr.

Your assessment of my poems,
I am forced to admit, is quite correct,
although you tempered it by saying
it was not in any way a lack of talent,
but more an absence of emotion,
a lack of gutsy, visceral, true telling
of events with the poet unremoved.

I have spitefully reread 20 years
of work as though it was composed
by someone else, and you're right.
I am the wallflower, the high-horseman,
silent and between the lines, hiding
real feeling and heart, strangled
in form and rhythm.

I needed to hear this.
And the new perspective will free me,
allowing poems to come straight
from the heart, allowing me
to say what I've always wanted:

I hate you.

New old interviews

Finally getting around to posting some more transcripted interviews. Got more on the way, too. So if you haven't noticed already on the comedycouch home page, there are four new ones for your reading pleasure. There's Dave Coulier, of Full House fame, from October of 2007, Greg Behrendt, of He's Just Not That Into You fame, from November 6, 2007, Tom Papa, of... um... I guess Bee Movie fame, from November 7, 2007, and a new one from Brent Butt, of Corner Gas fame, from January of 2008.

Happy reading, everyone. Oh, and vote in the new poll over there on the right.

March 1: David C. Jones

March already? Seriously? That's good, I guess. Only six more months until summer!

Meanwhile, the show marches on. Tonight our guest is Mr. David C. Jones. I figure if you've got a middle initial, you need Mr. in front of your name. Even if that initial is for something as zany and kooky as "Comedy". My guess is he needed the C. in there to separate himself from diminutive dreamboat Davey Jones, of Monkees fame.

This Jones is a man of many, many hats: Actor, writer, producer, director, teacher, comedian, emcee. That's six hats, folks. And not one of them a baseball cap. Tonight we'll be touching on many of these chapeaus. One of the topics will almost certainly be this fascinating bit of merde disturbing Jones was in the centre of. We'll hammer out a solution and be saviours to thespians everywhere. We'll also talk about his upcoming gig in Rome. And he's bringing along the comedy stylings of Dudley Moore & Peter Cooke as well as former WSF? guest, Richard Side. And we'll play those very stylings if our equipment works. That's a promise to you, the listener.