SNL Guest Set....

Finesse Mitchell came by the club tonight and did a well received guest set.

We are happy for Finesse and are pleased to see that he is doing well. In fact, I think I worked with Finesse one of the last few times in Atlanta before he got selected for SNL.

Take a Trip With Me Back to 1983....

1983 was the second year that The Punchline was in existence. As it happens, I'm a little bit of a history buff, particularly as it relates to comedy at our club.

Last night, J. Anthony Brown stopped by for a visit and He, my partner Chris DiPetta, former Punchline owner Ron DiNunzio, and I enjoyed a little trip down memory lane. I mostly listened to be honest, as J., Chris, and Ron enjoy a 20 year plus history together. Two good things came out the conversation. The first is that I think we'll see J. back on stage at the club this year. The second dovetails with my list from yesterday. I dug this list out of my files for your perusal.

It's the headliners list from 1983. I'm going to list last names only and see if you can fill in the first names. It just so happens that the New Year's Eve headliner in 1983 was none other than Jerry Seinfeld. Now, I'm not saying that Craig Robinson will turn out to be the next Seinfeld, but I am saying why not?

Here is the list:
Amoros, J.A. Brown, Parks, Miller, Irrera, McDonald, Leno, Coulier, Walters, Morey, Seinfeld, Restivo, Mack & Jamie, Shydner, Addotta, Saget, Aleck, Dunlop, Dubac, Reiser, Bolster, Hemphill, O'Brien & Suvera, Provenza, Park, Wall, Koenig, Kelly, Wuhl, Clarke, Bartlett, Weiner, Shaffer, Sayh, Wolfberg, Paulsen, Schmock & Vallely, Leslie, and Bergeron.

One Notable Feature: Carol Leifer.

One Notable Host/MC: Jenny Jones.

Comics We Paid in 2004....

Here is list of all of the comics we employed this year. When I have the chance I will go back and link to websites. Until then:

Headliners:
Robert Hawkins, Tim O'Rourke , Earthquake, Jeff Dunham, Dom Irrera, Wendy Liebman, Tommy Blaze, Frank Caliendo, Brad Stine, Grant Turner, Henry Cho, Jeff Wayne, Craig Shoemaker, Craig Robinson, Pauly Shore, Doug Stanhope, Jon Reep, Richard Jeni, Jim Gossett, Jerry Farber, Diane Ford, James Gregory, Ken Rogerson, Ricky Kalmon, Al Ernst, Special K, Tim Wilson, Mary Ellen Hooper, Pablo Francisco, Eddie Brill, Jimmy Shubert, Billy Gardell, Freddy Soto, Flip Orley, Kathleen Madigan, Killer Beaz, Tom Rhodes, Heath Hyche, Jim Norton, Darrell Hammond, Greg Giraldo, Kid Dave Miller, Joe Rogan, Jackie Mason, Greg Morton, Nick DiPaolo, Dave Attell, Emo Phillips, Jim Gaffigan

Features:
Roy Wood Jr., Tim Northern, Poppy Champlin, Pat Brown, < a href="http://www.artistmi.com/shuff.htm">Stewart Huff, Karen Mills, Pat Dixon, Brian McKim, Lois Bromfield, Josh Sneed, Frankie Paul, Zooman, James Johann, Tig, Will Mafori, Tommy James, Monte Hoffman, Claude Shires, Steve Scales, LA Hardy, Jamie Kaller, Flip Schultz, Glenn Jenson, Mike Young, Mo Jones, Paul Lyons, Mike Stork, Greg Lawson, Sean Rouse, Rich Brooks.

Hosts:
Matt Parrot, Bob Place, Ronnie Jordan, Alice Jankowski, Maria Borgio, Andy Hendrikson, Jeff Justice, Dan Menghini, Julia Gorin, Traci Skene, Jason McCarthy, Diesel, Jack Lynch, Ben Beall, Ray Grant, Larry "The EBay Wedding Dress Guy" Star, Matt Davis, Heather Lawless, Brian Malis, Erin Brown, Tim Miller, Matt Lumpkin, Genevieve Perrin, David Smith, April Hearn, Landon Lyon, Manny Olivera, Nica Russell, Jason Kanter, Joel Stice, Wynn Reichert, Andrew Ford, Clint Nor, Chris Kauffman, Eric Hunter, Jeremy Essig.

Dual Roles:
Tom Simmons, Cash Levy, Joe Morrison, Mike Speanburg, Rob Cleveland, Vinnie Cappolla, Paul Lyons, Howie Marmer, James Sibley, Steve Mingolla, Keith Alberstadt, Reno Collier, Jamie Bendall.

That's 128 in all, not including any of the open mike comics, or guest sets.

New Year's Eve - What's Your Resolution?

I hope it isn't I'm never going to let another opportunity to see Craig Robinson pass me by. You've no reason to miss it.

Plus you get Josh Sneed.

Plus you get 5 Star Iris.

Save the resolutions for other things.....

Josh Sneed on Comedy Central...

Josh Sneed will be with us this week (Craig Robinson headlines New Year's Eve) and his Premium Blend just premiered on Comedy Central earlier this month.

We are happy for Josh and I'd like to encourage you to strike while the iron is hot.

Ishtar....

We had an interesting decision to make this year since Christmas happened to fall on a Saturday night.

We knew that people love to go to the movies and we know that in general people love to take a break from their families by the time Christmas evening rolls around by laughing.

Thus, we decided to go ahead with a show. We wound up with great talent, and a great concept and then we rolled it out the people.

We were right on the money. People did want to go out and laugh. Fockers.

Sunday Night Quarterback....

We hope that everyone had a great holiday break. If you are a celebrant of Christmas, we hope that you find what you were hoping for under your tree.

We had a pretty good week all in all.

It is hard to believe that this is the last week in 2004.

I trust that 2005 will bring continued success for all of our friends and guests.

Christmas Week, and the 25th specifically....

We've got a good week of shows planned this week.

Many will be busy with last minute shopping and early morning unwrapping - but for us, come 8:30PM on Saturday night we'll be kicking off a great show.

Some might think, I thought everyone goes to the movies on Christmas Day. Not us. We think, what better way to continue the holiday ho ho ho, than to go get some ha ha ha....?

Al Ernst, Paul Clay, and James Sibley will be among those entertaining on Saturday Night.

We'll all be taking Friday night off, but other than that - it's reasonably close to business as usual for us....

We look forward to seeing you.

Comedians As Union Members...

When I was still in college, I wrote a paper about the comedian as a product.

I felt it was a pretty good paper, and tried to address some of the distinctions between showcase comics and road comics. This was a gross oversimplification, but it was a device sufficient to move the paper along.

Today, there was an article in the New York Times that discussed the efforts of some comedians, 300 or so to be more specific, to form a coalition, or union to force the club owners in New York to pay the comedians more money. In a city like New York comedians do not typically have week long engagements, but rather will do sets at a variety of clubs, and will be paid a comparatively small amount of money per set.

The whole article is interesting in my view, and I encourage you to go read it.

I'd love it if we could do a better job of coordinating the efforts of local comedians. I don't see a reason why we couldn't be featuring the work of our good local comics in those more abbreviated sets on a more frequent basis. We've started working on this, and you'll likely see the results of our efforts during 2005.

Then, when we've created a comedy community large enough, then some subset of that community to come forward for a greater amount of pay - but first things first.....

The James Gregory Chrristmas Party...

I had a really great time at this comedy holiday tradition.

James Gregory is a terrific host at wonderful holiday party.

It was great seeing old friends and being able to put a name with a face for some new friends.

I typically view myself as a peer of my comic friends, particularly those that I have performed with over the years. I still haven't gotten totally used to being introduced as an owner of the club by those folks to a spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend.

Our New Telephone System.....

We've replaced the old telephones and finally we have voicemail.

It's been interesting however, to see how attached people are to the old system.

Please bear with us as we all adapt to the new technology.

The good news is that you don't have to wait on hold if all you want are directions or show times.

The other good news is that you can now leave a voicemail for pretty much anyone on the staff who is likely to get a voicemail.

The less good news is that you may get dropped inadvertently is you push the wrong button while we get all of the paths programmed correctly.

We are working on it and thank you for hanging in there while we iron out the kinks....

It's been a while....

So, there is much to catch up on.

First, I thought the Three Day Weekend went really well.

Oh sure, I'd like to have heard my voice or seen my face, but then we know that isn't what sells tickets or keeps people interested in the club.....

Second, through your generosity we raised nearly 10,000 minutes for the "Heroes Call Home." The cards are scheduled to be distributed to the soldiers before Christmas.

Third, Billy Gardell had a real decent weekend for us. Oh, I'd bet at least a few of the 80,000 or so people who went to see the Falcons squeak by the Panthers in overtime might have enjoyed the show as well, but they'll have to wait until next time.

Billy is just getting stronger and stronger each time we see him. It's like watching one of those Discovery Channel programs....

Turner South Three Day Weekend Featuring The Punchline

Thursday night is the premiere of the episode of Three Day Weekend that features, in part, our club.

Check it out.

Wednesday Afternoon Quarterback

This recap of the weekend is coming a bit late.

I feel like I have been under some sort of spell, or in a fog.

I am told that I have spent the last few days clucking like a chicken whenever someone said comedy.

Ok, fine. It's a corny reference to Flip Orley's recently completed week.

We've spent the last few days working through a new telephone installation. We are moving out of the tin can string era at long last.

Flip had a real nice weekend. Lots of folks out with their co-workers enjoying a end of year holiday get together.

I'd make reference to the rest of the line-up but it was just Flip - his is a one man show of sorts.

This week we've got Billy Gardell, and I wonder if anyone saw our piece on ComCast on Monday night.

Running Out Of Tang...

I am certain that there are dozens of comedians this weekend poking fun at the plight of the astronauts who are running out of food in the International Space Station. TANG references no doubt abound.

As a comedian myself, I am reading the story looking for an angle that is both humorous and appropriate. These folks are hurtling through space without enough to eat. Earth, and it's myriad food choices, illuminated below.

I do note that each astronaut gets to pick favorite foods before leaving for space, and that they are currently waiting for a cargo ship to bring groceries. I don't know which is harder to get my hands around, the fact that packets of food are considered fresh groceries or that one of the astronauts selected jellied pike perch, in a packet, as a food they couldn't live in space without.

An Amazing Statistic...

I was reviewing the 100 Greatest Comedians of All-Time as listed by Comedy Central. It is amazing to me how many of these comedians have played The Punchline. You don't realize it at the time perhaps, but when you look at the history of this club...

We'll go in to detail with greater specificity a later date.

Friday Night Update....

Really good shows tonight.

Flip was on his game and the staff was really hitting on all cylinders.

I enjoy this time of year because we get to see so many groups out celebrating a holiday outing.

A Quick Comcast Hit...

One of the interesting things about hosting a hypnotist is that some of our regular media appearances are curtailed.

It's a little weird in our opinion.

While we agree that perhaps hypnotism doesn't translate exactly on radio, the fact is Flip Orley has helped an incredible number of people with issues that can be addressed through hypnosis.

Granted, Flip isn't here this weekend helping people lose weight or quit smoking, but the fact remains that there is something potentially beneficial to having hypnotist on the air for a minute or two.

In fact, one of our local stations this week hypnotized someone to help that person overcome a fear of Santa.

The point of this post, is that I did a quite piece on Comcast Sport Nite to air next week.

It Is With Regret That We Announce....

We will be unable to book Japanese comedian Shimida after we read this article.

We do want to comment that perhaps the author of the article consider a career in comedy as a comedian who was "slapped" with a fine for assaulting someone is just the kind of writing some people pay good money for. In addition, we would have granted bonus points for getting the choice quote in which the comedian not only apologizes for the crime he committed, but also "his act."

For the record, Shimida is not the same comic who travelled for years playing the Japanese Tony Clifton.

Heroes Wrap-up Part IV.....

I don't want to forget the radio stations who took the time to mention and/or support our Heroes Call Home event. I am asking that you support these stations with your ears....

Steve and Vickie with a special assist to Tom Sullivan.

Bandy and Bailey

Rhodes and Southside Steve

Rhubarb and Dallas

Mayhem in the AM

Mike Malloy

On The Cusp....

Flip Orley begins his year end run at the club tonight.

Historically Flip has been the most popular hypnotist among our customers, and the large crowds are usually indicative of that.

This weekend looks like it is shaping up to be another opportunity for Flip to retain his crown for another year.

I hope that you got a chance to hear Flip on 96Rockthis afternoon.

A New Comedy Network On The Horizon.....

Via Shecky Magazine we see that there is a possile new outlet for those who are our favorite comedic performers.

Let's hope that this does in fact come to pass and that we will continue to see more and more people embrace broadcast comedy.

Wednesday When It Works......

Wednesday nights have been the night that we feature bonus showcases that aren't a part of the regular Punchline line up ever since we stopped doing it on Tuesday nights. Sometimes the performers are newer to regularly performing and aren't ready for the responisbility that comes with performing all week long. Other times it is because the comedian wants to get cleared to be booked and so is popping in to do a guest set. On still other evenings, you'll get one of our regular headliners who pops in to do a guest set.

Tonight was a night that just really come together nicely. A very larger crowd turned out, and everyone had a lot of fun.

It's Ringing....

The Heroes event last night was a lot of fun. Thanks to the efforts of many of you we were able raise over 100 hours of long distance time for our soldiers recupperating at Walter Reed.

We have agreed to continue publicizing this giving opportunity until December 20th, and you can still give a donation at any Bank of America branch when you ask for the "Heroes Call Home" account.

I want to thank Pat Dixon, Vinnie Coppola, Joe Morrison, Tyler, and Karl Douglass for putting on a great show for a real worthy cause.

Heroes Call Home....

Tonight we have the opportunity to do something for the benefit of our men and women in uniform who have been injured and are recupperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Comedian Special K approached us after he learned that our soldiers at Walter Reed do not have the ability to make long distance telephone calls without a calling card or other method of payment.

Karl has put together, with a little help from us, a very special night of comedy to thank those who are helping those who make the real sacrifices with a ten dollar calling card, or a ten dollar contribution in lieu of admission. We expect that comedians Pat Brown, Pat Dixon, Kid Dave Miller, Mike Speanburg, Henry Welch, and Karl Douglass are expected to perform. Karl Douglass will also be signing copies of his new book "100 Problems, 100 Solutions" and donating a portion of the proceeds to the purchase of telephone cards for the soldiers.

Karl has also established an account through Bank of America for the purpose of collecting donations for the soldiers. If you cannot make the show, consider visiting a Bank of America branch and making a donation to the Heroes Call Home account.

Monday Morning Quarterback.....Tuesday Afternoon.

I am day late with this post, but this past weekend was pretty terrific.

The folks at the Ugly Mug had the second Punchline Neighborhood Comedy Series, and around 100 people turned out to see Vinnie Capolla and Tim McCarthy. We are pleased that this is turning in to a real nice event. We continue to have discussions with our next additions to the series, and hope to have an announcement about those establishments soon.

I did a gig on Saturday night over at 103West at the last minute for a comedian who was not able to make the gig. It went pretty well as holiday parties can, and I have several more gigs of this type over the next couple of weeks.

Always remember that if you are looking for a comedian to come to you, we have access to nearly everyone in the business.

Finally, Jim Gaffigan had a great weekend. We were just nearly sold out the first show Friday, and both shows on Saturday were sold out. The people who came to see the shows this past weekend really got a great show from top to bottom, as Rich Brooks and Jason Kantor filled out the show nicely.

I don't think that we'll book Jason back with an act like Jim however. Gaffigan is very much in the Brian Regan mold - namely smart, without being gratuitously graphic. Jason takes a different approach.

The very busy holiday season is in full swing for us.

Jeff Justice Tonight....

The most recent graduation class of Jeff Justice was sold out so this is the second show.

Jeff does an excellent job of teaching people who have an interest in turning a desire to perform in to the reality.

Visit his website to learn more about your options.

Jim Gaffigan arrives tonight.....I am at the A.I.R. Awards

Jim Gaffigan begins his week here at the club. We are excited because it has been over a year since Jim was here last. His career is really accelerating. I also appreciate the mention he made of us last night on Conan's show.

I will be at the A.I.R. Awards, hosted by Punchline favorite and Atlanta favorite son, Tim Wilson. I am not nominated this year for "Best Weekend Show" for my work on The Legal Edge, so I don't expect to win anything tonight. Once I get nominated, then I'll worry about winning - though it will be an honor just to be nominated.

I will post later about where you can hear Jim on the radio tomorrow.

An Important Notice About Ad Force America....

1. WE TERMINATED OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH AD-FORCE AMERICA IN FEBRUARY 2004 DUE TO A DISAGREEMENT WHICH WAS UNABLE TO BE RESOLVED.

2. WE WILL CONTINUE TO HONOR ANY TICKETS WHICH HAVE BEEN PURCHASED AS TWO FOR ONE TICKETS.

3. THE PUNCHLINE HAS NEVER EMPLOYED OR BEEN PART OF A RELATIONSHIP WITH ANY PERSON WHO SELLS TICKETS FOR AD-FORCE AMERICA. THE PUNCHLINE DOES NOT TRAIN, OVERSEE, OR OTHERWISE CONTROL THE ACTIONS OF THE PEOPLE WHO SELL TICKETS FOR AD-FORCE AMERICA. PEOPLE WHO MAY ATTEMPT TO SELL YOU PUNCHLINE TICKETS WITH READ "AD FORCE AMERICA" ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO DO SO BY THE PUNCHLINE.

4. WE ARE INTERESTED IN DOCUMENTING ANY EXPERIENCE YOU MAY HAVE HAD WITH A PERSON WHO SELLS TICKETS FOR AD-FORCE AMERICA. PLEASE PROVIDE US WITH YOUR NAME AND TELEPHONE NUMBER TO ASSIST US IN ENSURING ONLY THE BEST TREATMENT FOR ALL OF OUR CUSTOMERS.

5. IF YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU WERE MISLEAD, OR OTHERWISE MANIPULATED INTO PURCHASING A TICKET, ESPECIALLY IF YOU WERE TOLD YOU DID NOT HAVE TO BE AT LEAST 21 YEARS OLD OR COULD USE DISCOUNT TICKETS FOR SPECIAL EVENTS, MAY WE PLEASE HAVE YOUR NAME AND TELEPHONE NUMBER SO THAT WE MAY FOLLOW-UP ON YOUR COMPLAINTS.

WE ARE SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT ASSOCIATED WITH OUR BUSINESS MAY HAVE CAUSED YOU.