Day: November 18, 2010

With all of the talk about the TSA "Sophie's Choice" — have someone look at you through X-ray glasses better than the ones advertised in the back of a comic book, or have someone grope your boobs and balls? — at our airports this week, you might have missed this would-be joker who went awry last week in Utah. Meet Cardon Ellis. He's an aspiring comedic actor. He has made some "funny" videos with Lauren Scala — last seen filling in as traffic reporter on Today in New York on NBC's Ch. 4 — for a company called DiamondShark. Here's his wit at work:   Oh, you read the headline and want to know about that knife at the airport joke, do you? Here you go. Ellis was at the Salt Lake City airport to catch flights back to NYC last week, when he decided to test out the TSA security. He did so by bragging about it to a fellow passenger in line, according to the federal complaint. When the feds arrested and booked him, he claimed as an alias: "Good Looking." Here are the initial and follow-up reports from local TV in SLC.   And the follow-up.    ...

The Improv has launched a new contest that could fly you to Hollywood for a stand-up spot and a chance to get booked throughout the Improv chain. What's the catch? You have to sign up for an official Improv.com comedian profile if you want to qualify for "The 5 Spot," the comedy club's platform for up-and-coming stand-ups. But if you do, you'll be eligible to flown out to Hollywood, Calif. and stage time at the Improv on Melrose. "We‚Äôre going to give them a few minutes ahead of a headliner and also in front of the booker for the chain of 24 clubs nationwide," said the club's Roddy Swearngin. Swearngin said The 5 Spot will create a different challenge for the contest every few weeks or so....

Word from the Pacific Northwest has it that one of Seattle's longtime comedy clubs, Giggles, is trying to be revived by its original owner, but as Jiggles, a strip club. Here is the local TV report on the matter. Roll it while you got it!   The Seattle Times points out that Bob Davis, who founded Giggles in 1985 and repurchased the property in the city's University District after Terry Taylor sold and closed it in May, has fought area cities over the years to open other strip clubs. Every comedian who has worked Seattle has a Terry Taylor story, and some of them have weighed in on the comment thread of The Seattle Comedy Blog. Heneghen's comment cracked me up, as he was wont to do with his stand-up comedy when I was living and performing in Seattle in the late 1990s. My experience with Taylor was limited, since I was a Comedy Underground guy. Taylor had his favorites among the local stand-ups, and comics who regularly worked the Underground were not among them. It was an us-or-them thing. But I did stop by Giggles for the Sunday open mics, as well as selected weekend nights to sit in the back whenever a headliner I wanted to see visited town. Giggles usually booked higher-profile name comedians than the Underground, which always favored the cheaper up-and-comers. One thing I never...