Saturday, June 14, 2003

More on Shelley Berman

E-mails are asking me about what I described as his "sadly-underdistributed CD." It was called Shelley Berman Live Again, Recorded at the Improv and no, I don't know where you can get a copy, except that it turns up occasionally on eBay. But then, what doesn't? It was recorded at the Improv in Hollywood on February 9, 1995 in front of a star-studded (well, me aside) audience. If you can find a copy, it's really quite wonderful.

Berman did about an hour, not all of which made it to the CD — but all of it was good enough to have been on there. It was a nice mixture of new and old material, all of it delivered with enormous expertise. Harvey Korman was sitting next to me and he was laughing so hard, I don't think he heard half of what Shelley said.

Which reminds me of the one truly funny line of the evening that didn't come from Shelley Berman. When he finished, the audience (mostly comedians) stood and cheered him and then almost everyone began to file out to join Shelley in the bar area and compliment him. But a few people stayed for the next act (at the Improv, there's always another comedian going on) and the guy who was stuck with following Shelley that night was a funny guy I've worked with a few times named Kevin Meaney. He gets up on stage as most of the crowd is leaving and yells towards the bar: "Hey, Shelley! Thanks for opening for me!"

• Posted at 11:13 PM · LINK

Rich Comments

Frank Rich talks in The New York Times about the recent scandals that have enveloped The New York Times. In particular, he discusses the media frenzy and makes some points that are more important than who edits The Old Gray Lady of Journalism. Here it is.

• Posted at 10:52 PM · LINK

P.S.

While you're over at Shelley Berman's website, read the story about the little soaps. It's better when you hear him perform it but it's still wonderful to read.

• Posted at 8:56 PM · LINK

Comic Website of the Day

A lot of once-great comedians wind up running on fumes: You laugh, if you laugh at all, not because they are funny but because they were. An exception to this is Shelley Berman, who practically invented the modern stand-up comedy act...in part, by not standing-up. He'd sit on a stool, pretend his fist was a phone and draw you into hilarious, insightful little scenes.

The last few years, I've been fortunate enough to see him live about a half-dozen times and I was in the audience when he recorded his recent, sadly-underdistributed CD. Even doing material off his classic record albums — material I know by heart — he makes me laugh as hard as anyone. He also has an amazing repertory of new, non-recorded monologues...and you know what's really neat? He actually answers questions on the message board over at his website.

That's Shelley Berman...designated by a leading, authoritative website as one of the all-time Top Ten Stand-Up Comedians.

• Posted at 8:49 PM · LINK

More of What the Butler Did

Joe Bevilacqua ("Joe Bev" to his friends) is a voice performer — one of the many who studied with the late, great Daws Butler. As mentioned here, Joe has recently co-assembled a book of scripts by Daws. Tomorrow morning (Father's Day) on National Public Radio, Weekend Edition is airing a ten-minute segment on Daws, Joe Bev and how the former inspired the latter in the creation of his series, "Willoughby and the Professor." For example, it'll be heard on KCRW radio in Los Angeles some time between 8 and 10 AM. You can find out more about Joe Bev and hear some of his work, including "Willoughby," over at his website.

• Posted at 8:28 PM · LINK

Real Live Squirrel

Elsewhere on this website, I have a section where I post photos of animals I've taken in My Backyard. I've just added some new squirrel pics to this page.

• Posted at 7:06 PM · LINK

Comic Artist Website of the Day

Jeff Smith. Bone. Doesn't get much better than this.

• Posted at 5:17 PM · LINK