Sunday, February 10, 2008
RAG Comedy
Labels: Robert George comedy, stand-up comedy
Friday, April 13, 2007
RAG's Improv & Stand-Up Schedule!!
1) Friday, April 13 & Saturday, April 14: Improv at its bet with the talented cast of characters from The Yes Show. If you're a fan of "Who's Line Is It Anyway" -- or would like to figure out what those folks on NBC's "Thank God You're Here" should really be doing -- please drop by.
Location: Stonestreet Sudios, 48 W. 21st Street, Eighth Floor.
Time: 8:00 P.M.
Cost: $15 gets you great improv AND free beer! What a deal!
2) Sunday, April 15: Some bipartisan biting stand-up featuring the good (though deeply misguided) folks from "Laughing Liberally" and their conservative counterparts! Last summer's "Laughing With The Enemy" was so much fun (catch the excerpt right here), we decided to do another go-round. Appropriately enough, it's on the traditional Tax Day (don't worry, procrastinators, taxes this year aren't actually due until the 17th, so you can come see the show! I'll be exploring such diverse topics as the articulateness of Barack Obama and the, ahem, "abortive" presidential campaign of Rudy Giuliani!
On the left will be:
Lee Camp
Costaki Economopoulos
Katie Halper
On the right will be:
Greg Banks
Robert A. George (Oh, yeah, that's me!)
Daniel Nainan
Location: The Tank, 279 Church Street (between Franklin & White) in Tribeca.
Time: 8 p.m.
Cost: $10 (more ruthlessly inexpensive humor -- though I can't promise free beer at this one).
I hope to see you!
Labels: political humor, Robert George comedy
Monday, April 09, 2007
A Robert George Comedy Weekend!!
You have a rare opportunity to catch your sort-of humble host -- politico, pundit & punster -- Robert George, three times this coming weekend (April 13-15) -- in two different comedic formats!
I'll be exploring such diverse topics as the articulateness of Barack Obama and the, ahem, "abortive" presidential campaign of Rudy Giuliani!
On the left will be:
On the right will be:
I hope to see you at least once this weekend!
Labels: political humor, Robert George comedy
Friday, March 16, 2007
THE NEXT SHOW
If you happen to be in New York City Tuesday evening and you feel the urge to "spring" into Improv, come on by!
A fun time will be had by all!
 | Surprising long-form improv!! | |||
Labels: improv, Robert George comedy
Sunday, February 18, 2007
No News Would Be Good News
Although my dentist will tell you that I have a very high tolerance for pain, watching FOX News' entry in the "Humorous Take on Today's Issues," The Half Hour News Hour, was only slightly less pleasing than Laurence Olivier performing a root canal. And no, it wasn't safe. Since its inspiration, The Daily Show, is essentially a parody of "regular" TV news, and FOX's program is their take on Daily, you're stuck watching a parody of a parody of a TV show. Talk about a dog chasing its own tail.
I knew things were going to go downhill when Limbaugh opened the show as The President of the United States. Limbaugh was a death knell for his own TV show, why would you have him open yours? It just got worse from there. Imagine an SNL Weekend Update sketch from the worst season of NBC's flagship comedy, that goes on, and on, and on ... with a horrible laugh track that was probably composed of canned recordings of 1950s TV audiences, some of whom are now deceased. We have laws against desecrating the dead, you know.
Perhaps they're using a dollar store thesaurus, but "PREACHY" is not synonymous with "HUMOROUS." While there were a couple of good laughs (The Air America joke comes to mind), the show just got worse and worse, and the show's "news anchors" have no sense of comic rhythm or timing. The Ed Begley-in-an-electric-car idea might have gone over well as a sketch, but not a lame description of an idea as opposed to its actual execution.And you know you're grasping at straws when you use the 28-year-old "Shiite Happens" joke. Hoo boy, I've only heard that one about 34,875,269 times since the Iranians invaded the Embassy in 1979.
And yes, there are very funny ACLU jabs. For example, this one.
The irony is that while FOX News can't seem to find a funny bone its entire body politic, FOX Network still has some of the best prime-time comedy on the air: The Simpsons, MAD TV, Family Guy, King of the Hill. Tonight's episode of American Dad had a very intelligent and amusing take on a famous misperception about black scientist George Washington Carver AND idiots (of any race) that believe in historical conspiracies.
Note to Mr. Ailes: Ditch the losers that scripted your first episode's stinkeroo and start raiding your sister network for writing talent. Better yet, hire Robert A. George, or read a book or two by P.J. O'Rourke or Christopher Buckley. Perhaps HBO can lend you some old tapes of Not Necessarily The News to study . Until then, the writers of The Half Hour News Hour might not only want to keep their day jobs. They might want to also see if Burger King needs extra fry cooks at night.
Labels: Fox, Robert George comedy
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Open Thread
And as a guest in the Ragged Thots House, I was remiss in my duty of NOT reminding everyone of RAG's presence on NPR (especially since he is not a "tooting-my-own-horn" type and forgets to remind us himself). As RAG was on with Glen Loury, one of the only Roundtable professorial types that I still have some academic reverence for, I strongly encourage everyone to partake of the dynamic duo by listening HERE.
I feel really bad about missing that one, so I'll make it up to our host by selling bootlegged DVDs of his stand-up appearances from the trunk of a car in Brooklyn this summer.
Labels: "News And Notes", Robert George comedy
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Comedy Saturday
I finally got around to getting my "Laughing Liberally/Laughing With The Enemy" stand-up show from last summer in my hands and in uploadable form! This is a good synopsis with my best bits included and good stuff from a few of the other performers.
Enjoy:
