Day: May 3, 2011

Please put your hands together and your knees where we can see them to read this important message about an important man. This is personal for me. I suppose every post is a little personal, as I decide it's worth spending my time and energy bringing you comedy news or analysis or even just something silly. But this is a bit more than that. Because it's about Carl Warmenhoven. If you have ever performed comedy in Seattle, then you likely have met, known, worked with and/or heard about Warmenhoven, the longtime assistant manager (or as he calls his job, Ass. Man.) at the Comedy Underground. Warmenhoven not only has started shows there with his own witty charm, but also has been very supportive of the comedians there for, well, decades now. He's a funny man. He's a fine man. He's a decent man. I can't think of anything but nice things about this man, who was there at the very beginning of my own career in and with comedy. Before there ever was an Improv Everywhere, Carl, Carl's son and I practiced our own public comedy on the unsuspecting visitors to Fremont's Summer Solstice celebration, urging people to sign our two petitions for the 1998 elections — one petition would amend Washington State's laws to remove the speed limit on light (why should the speed of light have limits,...

With the help of Robert Lopez and a cast led by Josh Gad, the South Park team of Matt Stone and Trey Parker have created Broadway's one truly smash success of 2011 with their musical The Book of Mormon — not just the hottest ticket of the year, but now also the biggest critical hit, earning a leading 14 nominations today in the annual Tony Awards. This season has witnessed an unusually large number of stand-up comedians making their Broadway debuts as well, but none of them earned Tony nods. Chris Rock's The Motherf**ker with the Hat, however, did receive multiple nominations, including Best Play, Best Performance By A Leading Actor for Bobby Cannavale, and nods for his co-stars Yul V√°zquez and Elizabeth Rodriguez. Robin Williams' co-star, Arian Moayed, also received a Tony nomination for his performance in the play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. But zip for Rock or Williams, or even Colin Quinn, Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman, Kathy Griffin, Jim Gaffigan, Kathy Griffin, or any of the other comedians. That leaves the focus squarely on Stone and Parker and the very real possibility that you'll get to see and hear them deliver a speech on live TV this June during the Tony Awards. Buckle...