Comedy Celebrated

Richard Jeni

I didn’t know Richard Jeni and I have only one Ricahrd Jeni story, so I’ll tell it. On Friday, September 15th, 2001, a bunch of comics gathered on Sunset Blvd. outside The Laugh Factory for the nationwide candlelight vigil. We, like you, were badly shaken and all we knew how to do was light a candle, sing songs about America and put a flag on our car. We were comedians, standing outside The Laugh Factory and we didn’t know if anything would ever be funny again.

Later, we wandered inside and the show started. Nobody was sure what to do, where to look, how to act, what to say, what not to say or when not to say it because how could anything ever be normal again? Then Richard Jeni took the stage. He came armed with 30 minutes of brand new, raw, perfect, cathartic comedy about terrorism, Osama, America, hate, fear, hope, life, everything, and the crowd’s laughter was thunderous and eruptive. As I looked around, I realized that none of us had laughed for over three days.

We hadn’t wanted to and we hadn’t dared to but it’s not natural not to laugh and that night, Richard Jeni showed us that not only is it OK to laugh, it's essential, and he reassured us that there will always be a way to laugh.

That is quite a gift. It took a talented man to find the way to laugh that night and that's how very good he was.

If you would like to know more about Richard Jeni, watch a little of his genius here…



And read what his friend, Elaine Boosler wrote about him in her blog, here…

Comedy Nights: Santa Barbara

Trained Comedy Killers, Christy Murphy, Brett Gilbert and Marty Laquidara apply their training

Brett Gilbert and The Trained Killers Comedy Tour came to Rocks Nightclub last week and they kicked up some hilarity while attracting a unique and specific crowd, including a Dirty Dancing fan hardcore enough to have Patrick Swayze tattooed above her ass crack.

I wish I had been kidding

Bricks Audience, mid enjoyment

Meanwhile, at Bricks, it’s getting very difficult to find a seat, so get there early on Thursday nights. This week we had Jason Gillearn, Rob DaRocha and Matt Iseman and it was a barn burner. (no barns were actually burned in the typing of this cliché) We would love to see you at Comedy Nights.

Weezy and The Swish

Adam Barnhardt, Me, Tim Kelly, Laura Swisher

Recent podcast guests have included Adam Barnhardt and Brian Reichle from redban.com. We’ve been streaming live on www.talkshoe.com as well as posting the show at www.weezyandtheswish.com, creating a groundswell of excitement amongst at least a lot of people. My former Premiere Radio partner, Tim Kelly also popped by to step in, whip us into shape and enjoy snacks.

Comedy Kids

Months in the making, the great comedy short, “Friendly Tourette’s: The Kindly Killer” has finally been released to the public on Youtube. The film is based on a joke by Kid Comedy Master Class Member, Tyler Connaghan and it stars the members of the Luther Burbank Middle School Boys & Girls Club. We are all very proud of it. Enjoy…

"I love your eyes."