Monthly Archives: July 2013

Na Na Na-Naaa, Hey Hey

Steve Goodman was a very special person, artist and
performer.
He suffered from Leukemia the entire time he performed
and recorded and accomplished more in his short 36 years
than most people do in 100.
He wrote many hits that other folks made famous and
sung more than a few himself.
He had a very distinctive voice, great guitar work and
a personality to match.
I am fascinated by his performances, all done with a style
that was infectious.
Though he passed away in 1984 his material lives on.
This is a great little ditty written and performed by Steve,
a died in the wool Chicago Cubs fan, in the bleachers at
Wrigley Field.
A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request…!

You can be sure that I will be playing more of Mr. Goodman’s
material in the future!

It don’t make sense…

Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr, otherwise known as Gallagher, is one
of the funniest comedians to ever hit the stage.
I thought long and hard before I typed that sentence.
There are others that strongly disagree with that statement.
I attribute that to professional jealousy, a brain defect,
substance abuse or a myriad of other intellect ravaging maladies.
Comedy Central had him at dead last in the 100th Greatest Stand-up
Comedians of all Time list…AFTER David Letterman, Henny Youngman,
Joan Rivers and Adam Sandler!
REALLY?!
Of course any “Best Of” comedy list that does not have Brian Regan
on it is certainly not to be taken seriously.
I mean, C’MON!
I have always been a fan of Gallagher, from the very beginning his
approach held my interest…his use of props, his delivery and
subject matter was very unique.
Yes, the mallet smashing ending of his shows are a bit on the
elementary side but even that has its moments.
His subject matter is approached like no other comic, very smart
and as insightful as they come.
A highly educated man, degrees in chemical engineering and,
I believe, English Literature put him in the top echelon of the
brightest comics on the planet.
This piece is a great example of what he can do.
There are not many comics that can give you word play like this!
Classic stuff!!!

I interviewed him not that long ago and he was very pleasant
and engaging.
My God, the seats were wrecked…chocolate sauce, honey, whipped cream
and many other viscous substances!
I’m glad I didn’t have to clean it up!

Gallagher

He died with his Ding-Dong in his hand

Williams and Ree are a hard working comedic duo that have been around
since the late sixties.
They attended college together in South Dakota and formed what we now
know as The Indian and The White Guy comedy team.
Terry Ree is a Sioux Indian (The Indian) and Bruce Williams is a
white guy (the White Guy)…hence the names (Duh!).
At first glance one would think “Whoa, not politically correct at all!”,
but after really looking into it and watching them perform and interact
and seeing what they are capable of you could only conclude that
“Whoa, not politically correct at all!” is a freakin’ understatement!
And yet, somehow it really works.
They constantly jab at each other, building their humor on the
stereotypes that we all are familiar with…Indians drink a lot…
Caucasians take what they want…Indians cry when they see trash…white
folks are racist, etc;, but this isn’t for cheap laughs, it really is a high
form of parody and to a certain extent, satire.
We laugh at it because we know they, and other intelligent people, don’t
embrace the racist nonsense that lesser folks truly believe.
They ARE what they poke fun at…an Indian and a White guy, in all their
imperfect glory!
More power to them…

Check out their web page

Willams and Ree

It’s 11:30 and I’m still under the covers

There are too few great stand-up comedians out there,
and even fewer female ones.
Kathleen Madigan is at the top of that last list.
She has it all, delivery, stage presence and some killer
material make her a formidable humorist indeed.
I consider a few of her pieces to be classics, right up
there with the best of them.
This is a nice little slice of what she can do…

I play Kathleen a lot on the show and the listeners love her!
So do I.
Rumor has it her father writes her material.

Her web site…

Kathleen Madigan

Our mothers sent us here to study nature’s ways…

There is something to be said about older recorded comedy.
During the fifties and sixties comedy albums actually charted.
The recordings were pretty good, in mono, and they sounded great.
The artists themselves were established stars of the day and
made a decent living from their output.
Things have changed a lot since then.
Homer and Jethro were a duo that specialized in country humor.
They were so good at what they did that everyone bought their stuff.
Here they are, Homer (Henry D. Haynes) and Jethro (Kenneth C. Burns)
in all their corny glory doing a true Summer classic.

Pretty good lyrics!

Frankly Scallop, I don’t give a clam…

Pinkard and Bowden are a long time comedy duo from the deep south.
They write and perform parodies and original comedy music but their
roots are very much on the serious side.
Sandy Pinkard has written hits that famous country western stars have
made their own and Richard Bowden was in a band with Don Henley right
before Henley formed the Eagles.
They certainly have the talent, and their sense of humor ain’t so bad either.
I play them from time to time on the show and they are a worthy duo.
This one is so corny it hurts to type about it!

It almost hurts to watch it.
Almost.
Pretty funny, all in all.

Are you up…?

I have always considered George Carlin to be the top of the food chain
in the stand-up comedy field.
Nothing has changed my mind since his passing.
This piece is some of the best that he has done, and that is saying a lot!
His word play, voice and facial changes and general delivery make this a
true classic in every sense of the word.
There are not many comics that could equal this, and many have tried.
Carlin at his best!

Can you think of a better one?

George Carlin

It’s not against any religion…

I found a pristine version of a superb Tom Lehrer song
that I posted earlier in the year.
Absolutely sublime in its approach, presentation and performance.
This is what I live for, some of the best satire on the planet.
Before you click on it though, please read this excerpt from his wiki Bio.
This is Tom himself from an interview earlier this year…

“The copyist arrived at the last minute with the parts and passed them out to the band
… And there was no title on it, and there was no lyrics.
And so they ran through it, ‘what a pleasant little waltz’…
And the engineer said, ‘”Poisoning Pigeons in the Park,’ take one,”
and the piano player said, ‘”What?”‘ and literally fell off the stool.

That seriously cracks me up!

Or, check out this quote from Randy Newman…

“He’s one of the great American songwriters without a doubt,
right up there with everybody, the top guys. As a lyricist,
as good as there’s been in the last half of the 20th century.”

That is quite the compliment.

Here is Tom Lehrer at his BEST…

Wonderful, just wonderful!

Because he likes you…

I am a long time fan of Don Novello.
He acts, directs and does voice overs.
He was in one of the Godfather movies and has done TV as well.
Born in Ohio and a business school graduate, he worked as an ad-man
for a few years before he started to think about a career change.
In the early seventies he bought a second hand monsignor’s outfit at
a thrift shop.
That was a good thing.
In the mid seventies he was known as Lazlo Toth.
In the early eighties he produced one of my all time favorite TV shows.
It starred John Candy, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin
and many more superb comedic talents.
Did I mention that he likes to dress up as a priest?
Could be worse, he might of had a cowboy fixation.
Here he is, doing a comedy piece that I have played on the show many times.
FGS…

A classic!

We could die in an earthquake

It is not often when I can say that a local comic is really funny.
Juston McKinney is all that and more
Born in New Hampshire, he moved to Maine to become a police officer.
He eventually tired of eating donuts, moved back to NH and started
a comedy career.
I just saw him perform at the Flying Monkey, here in Plymouth,
and he is even better than when I first heard him.
And that is saying a lot.
I’ve been playing him on the show for a while now, one of the funnier of the
recent gang of newer stand-up comedians, and I consider him to be top notch.
Here is a video of him talking about, among others things, New England winters.

I sincerely hope that he makes it really big.
Seriously, his timing, material and delivery are very strong.
More power to him!