The Daily Grill

The Thin Yellow Line

Kudos to The Simpsons! Fox TV today announced that they are re-upping the primetime series for another two seasons. That brings the show to a total of 22 years on the air, a record carrying it past "Gunsmoke" as the longest running show on American television. Cowabunga!

Welcome to the Sickfare State

The NYTimes is reporting today that last year's bloated bailout and the imminent overstuffed stimulus package is not enough. Banks, carmakers, insurance companies -- they're all whining for more. If this sounds familiar it's not echoes from the Great Depression. It's a very similar sound to the people who insist they have eight kids but want welfare instead of a job to feed them.

FREE Introductory Improv Class on Feb. 23rd in San Francisco!

This Monday, February 23rd, the Free Range Improv School & Company (FRISCO) is hosting a FREE introductory Beginning class at the San Francisco Comedy College! Starting at 6:30 pm and running until 8:30, any and all attendees can check out what we've got in store for the succeeding six week Beginner course. And we'll touch on what will be covered in the Intermediate and Advanced classes to follow.

There is no charge for this introductory class, but we'd love it if you could call the SFCC at (415) 921-2051 and reserve your spot. We'll be at the SFCC, 414 Mason St., on the 7th Floor.

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Answers to questions you didn't ask:

Q: Weren't you supposed to start your Beginner level classes LAST Monday?

A: Okay, yeah, so we had somewhat of a false start. Part of the problem was probably scheduling our start on a three-day weekend. The bum economy isn't helping. And other than the fantastic Sammy Wegent, most of the crowd at the SFCC isn't familiar with the FRISCO teaching staff. As a result of those and other factors, we're going to do a bit of a re-boot.

Q: Why are you calling it FRISCO?

A: Years ago, a San Francisco Chronicle columnist, the late legendary Herb Caen, railed against those who dared to call the City by the Bay "Frisco." (His first book, published in 1953 was even entitled "Don't Call It Frisco") What was his trip? The stigma against using the nickname, which has been around since the rollicking days of the Barbary Coast, made no sense and now, more than 50 years later, it still doesn't make sense. So, in the tradition of improvisational comedy AND the city where nothing is forbidden or taboo, we're bringing back FRISCO.

Q: Why are you doing these classes?

A: The idea came about when Kurtis Matthews was thinking of adding a regular system of improvisational comedy instruction to the SFCC curriculum. In part, it's to formalize the great work that Sammy Wegent has been doing with his classes over the past four years. The intent is roll out, over the course of the coming weeks and months, a step system featuring a Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced level of classes.

Q: What's the point of structured classes?

A: Not only will these allow performers to bring a solid progression of skills to the table, but it also serves to prepare players who are interested in auditioning for the new FRISCO performance troupe. Not only will this troupe be appearing at The Clubhouse regularly, but our hope is that we'll be able to book it into club venues and corporate gigs around the Bay Area.

Q: Who are you?

A: I've been performing and directing improvisational comedy groups since being part of the Seattle TheatreSports crew back in 1983. That's also when I first met FRISCO's co-founder, Steve Smith, who is now a national comedy headliner. Back then, we formed the Fabulous Gooey Ducks, a improv comedy duo that performed up and down the West Coast.

Leaving Seattle, I headed back to my hometown of San Francisco, whereI joined The Comedy Underground as its director in 1985, which was the house group at The Punchline. We had such improv luminaries as Greg Proops, Michael McShane, Debi Durst, Barbara Scott and were visited regularly by Robin Williams.

Since then, I've helped to found a number of other groups, including The Bargain Basement Players in LA, the Oxymorons in Santa Fe, and The Riffington, the house group at Cobbs Comedy Club when they were in the Cannery. In addition to being a staff writer and performer with North Hollywood's Fries On The Side sketch group, I also write comedy material and screenplays with Dana Carvey.

Nailed It

Check out Lee Redmond's fingernails in this AP picture from August 2006. Each is about 30 inches long. Or was. Seems Ms. Redmond was in a traffic accident recently in her hometown of Salt Lake City and her nails broke off. The cops said her injuries were not serious. Not serious? I know women that freak out when they break A nail -- imaging losing all ten and that they were three feet long! No word on how the women got in the accident, but what are the chances she was filing her nails?

Technically Support

Man, don't you love outsourced technical support? Especially when your call is routed to India? It seems like a bad hackneyed comedy bit but I had to call Adobe tech support today when my Photoshop CS3 refused to fire up after their own Adobe Updater stalled out and fried the app. Talked to THREE people in one call, all with heavy Indian accents. One guy even proclaimed that he was "Nicolas". Right. I've seen Slumdog Millionaire. I know what's going on. The best giveaway to my being a strange caller in a strange land was when one of the folks on the call, after pulling names and numbers and addresses out of me and, just prior to handing me off to yet another tech support person, said, "Thank you for your obedience!"

Sports Idol Fail

Alex Rodriguez (popularly known as A-Rod) of the NY Yankees admitted to ESPN (and the world) that he used illegal performance enhancing substances while playing for the Texas Rangers in 2003. "Back then it was a different culture. It was loose," Rodriguez told ESPN. "I was young. I was stupid. I was naïve. And I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time." Guess that doesn't come across so well now. Maybe if he puts air quotes around "greatest". At least he came clean about it -- if it had come out through other means A-Rod may have been regarded as more of A-Dick.

Pushy, Pushy

First former prez Bush ramrodded last year's bailout bill through Congress, to everyone's regret (except the banks and other unaccountable recipients of OUR largess) and now White House Resident Obama is calling the delay in rushing his stimulus package through "inexcusable." Plunking out almost a trillion dollars shouldn't be like asking a pal for a loan. Instead, doesn't that just raise a platoon of red flags and make you want to pick it apart even more to see what pork is hiding therein? It took us years to get into this financial cesspool -- let's take a little extra time to make sure the ladder doesn't collapse when we try to get out.

Here We Goad Again

I heard a lot of grumbling when Tom Daschle pulled out of the running as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Grumbling which became articulated speech when White House Resident Obama said, literally, that he'd "screwed up" and that he had to own up to his mistake, by trying to support Daschle even in light of  his not having paid taxes. I actually heard one friend of mine say, "Here we go again." As if nothing had changed between the previous administration and the current one. Excuse me? When did He Who Shall Not Be Named ever apologize for any move he made during his entire eight years in office? Have people forgotten his self-dubbing as The Decider? Come on. If the guy in the big white house can't be infalliable, it's at least refreshing to know he's savvy enough to call himself on his own shit.

Still #1

It's nice to know, in the face of all the negativity and animosity that's been aimed at America in the past few years, that we're still regarded as being at the top of the heap. At the just completed World Economic Forum in Switzerland, both Russia and China proclaimed that the good ol' US of A was responsible for the global recession. It's not because they're jealous. I think it's because they miss the Cold War.