Thursday, December 23, 2004

Funny Business

Comedians who work comedy clubs in New York are threatening to go on strike. Time to haul out the picket signs that popped up back in 1979 (?) when comics in Los Angeles picketed The Comedy Store, The Improv and other such establishments not for better pay but for any pay. The placards said things like...

• No bucks, no yucks
• No money, no funny
• Use a pun, go to prison (I never quite understood that one, even though I carried it one evening)
• Catch a rising scab
• Stand up for your rights

And so on. In hindsight, it seems amazing that human beings had to go on strike to establish that they should be paid when they performed the most important job at some very profitable operations. Even more amazing was that there were those who said, "It'll spoil the business if the comedians are paid." They even called it a "business," forgetting that in a "business," people get paid. Eventually, the comedians were paid — not a lot, but it was a nice precedent — and the dire predictions did not come true. I assume the current New York squabble will be settled with the comedians getting more, no matter how much the club owners may plead ruination.

• Posted at 11:28 PM · LINK

Bah, Hembeck!

Fred Hembeck invites comic art lovers to gaze upon The Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, MANY Faces of Santa Claus!

• Posted at 11:11 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Here are some facts about Social Security. Or at least, the authors claim they're facts. If anyone sees a substantive argument for the "other side," please let me know and I'll post a link to it.

• Posted at 1:23 AM · LINK

Marx Movie

Hey, here's a nice website devoted wholly to A Night at the Opera. Great film, great site.

• Posted at 12:08 AM · LINK