Union Solidarity: Working Together
Reporting from the WGA Rally outside 30 Rock, a plea for mental health, and more
Wanda Sykes released her newest stand-up comedy special Tuesday on Netflix, but at midday, you would’ve found her promoting a cause larger than her own. Sykes was one of many speakers at a three-hour rally for the Writers Guild of America, who’ve now entered the fourth strike week of work stoppages.
Hosted by comedian and late-night writer Josh Gondelman, Tuesday’s rally outside 30 Rock attracted not just striking members of the WGA, but also SAG-AFTRA, DGA, IATSE, the Teamsters, CWA and even the PGA. Among the other speakers I saw: Cynthia Nixon, Ilana Glazer, Kal Penn, Warren Leight, and NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Penn read some of the more ridiculous studio notes he has received over the years, demonstrating the need for skilled screenwriters. Sykes led chants and told the writers, “Don’t give up! Keep fighting!”
On the West Coast, comedian and host of The Price Is Right Drew Carey has stepped up to offer free meals for striking writers at two LA locations. Kudos, Drew!
A Plea for Mental Health
The timing felt auspicious yet poignantly on point — Comedy Gives Back announced BRODYFEST 2023! on Monday, what would have been Brody Stevens’ 53rd birthday. The third annual Brodyfest includes an 818 Comedy Benefit Show on Aug. 18 at The Comedy Store, followed by the Festival of Friendship 818 Walk on Aug. 20 in Reseda Park with a star-studded softball game. You can register or donate at https://givebutter.com/BrodyStevensWalk, with proceeds directly benefitting the mental health resources and services of Comedy Gives Back.
It sadly feels as though those resources and services are needed now more than ever. Too many comedians are dying from their own hand, whether it be through substance abuse or suicide.
The New York City comedy community lost two young women last week.
I cannot say I knew Rose Morgan (born Rachel Morgan Cain) that well, but I recognized her face. Rose began performing from childhood with the Bay Street Players in Central Florida (they noted that she returned this March to perform in their gala), and eventually moved up to NYC, took classes at the Magnet Theater, performed in multiple shows at The PIT, and hosted her own variety show at Club Cumming. Rose was 29.
But I did come to know Jax Dell’Osso, having first met her when she organized and put on the Bad B*tch Revolution festival in 2019 at The Creek and The Cave.
But I also knew her as a talented sous chef named Jacqueline Beaubien. She was supposed to host a five-course “Sicilian-Inspired New American Tasting” at 437 Madison in July. Her bio for that event read: “Originally from Brooklyn, Chef Jacqueline was introduced to cooking as a child by her grandmother. After graduating from culinary school with a degree in Pastry Arts, they got their big break working as a pastry chef at a local restaurant along the Jersey Shore. From there, Jacqueline proceeded to work at some of the best restaurants in New York, including Kochi (1 Michelin Star) and Eleven Madison Park (3 Michelin Stars). She is currently a sous chef at Marea.”
Jax was kind. Jax was feisty. Jax was funny. She was all three in music videos she made like this one:
Jax also was in a lot of pain. For a long time. I’d messaged with her back-and-forth quite a bit in late 2020, where she revealed her mental illness to me, feeling it made her unlovable, while also ending some of her more depressing DMs with “lol.” I kept trying to encourage her back then, not to give up hope, not to give up on herself. Looking back on these messages in 2023, I obviously wish I had done more. I bet a lot of us feel that way about Jax, or Rose, or Brody, or Jak Knight, or so many others who left us too soon. I spiraled out of control mentally and emotionally when Robin Williams committed suicide in 2014, and I’d only met the guy a couple of times. We all share in grieving today.
For my friends in the comedy community, please, I beg you, never be afraid to ask for help. It’s the most important thing you may ever do.
Comedy Gives Back can help you with mental health resources, counsel on chemical dependency treatment, financial relief, and more. Please contact them. If not them, call or text a friend. Don’t isolate. Ask for help.
Yogi Berra, Revisited
Two new movies come out this weekend starring stand-up comedians (Bert Kreischer’s The Machine, and Sebastian Maniscalco’s About My Father), but there’s also a documentary currently in cinemas in limited release about baseball’s funniest player.
While I might have some bones to pick with the filmmakers of It Ain’t Over about their choices (did we really need that much Nick Swisher, for example?), the message of the doc, distributed by Son Pictures Classics, remains strong and noteworthy. To wit, Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra’s wit and affable nature somehow made too many of us disrespect him as a ballplayer, a coach, and as a human. We mocked him, made him the butt of the joke, and he seemed all too eager to go along with it, whether it came from the media or from his print and TV ad campaigns. Pop culture reduced him to a joke — and literally to a cartoon character. Even Yogi Bear’s “smarter than the average bear” catchphrase made mockery of his human namesake.
Yogi deserved better.
It also serves as a reminder and warning to comedians to take control of your own narratives. Don’t let the media or society make a punching bag of you just because you’re funny.
Industry News and Notes
Not so much, as you might imagine with the WGA strike, but the broadcast networks went ahead with their Upfront presentations anyhow. We’ll dig into those at a later date because it all feels so much in flux due to the strike.
Hulu announced upcoming premiere dates for its original series and movies. Among them in comedies: How I Met Your Father returned this week, competition show Drag Me To Dinner debuts May 31, FX revisits The Full Monty guys on June 14, season two of The Bear drops June 22, season 11 of Futurama on July 24, season two of This Fool on July 28, season three of Reservation Dogs on Aug. 2, season three of Only Murders in The Building on Aug. 8, and The Other Black Girl sometime in September. Movies Miguel Wants to Fight and Vacation Friends 2 are coming in August.
Paramount has cancelled Tooning Out The News and Hell of a Week with Charlamagne Tha God, both EP’d by Stephen Colbert.
The latest streaming purge is coming this week from Disney+/Hulu, with comedies such as Dollface (Kat Denning), Everything’s Trash (Phoebe Robinson) leaving Hulu, and Eliza Skinner’s alien talk show Earth to Ned leaving Disney+.
Last Week’s Specials
New on Amazon Originals
New on Amazon for rent/purchase
2 Moms 1 Mic (Selina Ringel, Kaela Crawford)
New on Dry Bar
New on YouTube
Gareth Reynolds: Ga’Riffs Live Vol. 1 (via All Things Comedy)
Chris Forbes Live! (SCOTLAND)
Handren Seavey: XI YRS (via Four by Three)
Tom O’Mahony: Clattered (IRELAND)
The past week also saw two big re-releases on YouTube: 1) Randy Feltface’s Purple Privilege via 800 Pound Gorilla Media (another 21k in six days there, following 3.4 million in past year on his own channel, and an initial release on Moment), and 2) Mike Vecchione’s The Attractives (33k in four days after original release on Nate Bargatze’s Nateland channel, 1.2 million in a month).
New on Channel 85
THIS WEEK: 16
LAST WEEK: 12
THIS MONTH (MAY): 22+16=38
RUNNING TOTAL for 2023: 280+16=296
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but so far in 2023, we’ve seen more comedy specials come out than mass shootings.
296 comedy specials. 241 mass shootings.
Fun Things To Do In NYC
This past weekend’s show(s) I plugged in The New York Times: Australian purple puppet Randy Feltface swung through NYC last weekend, with enough popularity now to sell out two shows at The Bell House, plus an all-ages show in the afternoon.
Coming up this holiday weekend, I encourage folks to interact with SNL rookie Devon Walker in his “Come And Talk To Me” shows at Union Hall late Friday and Saturday. Then on Memorial Day itself, Monday, The Bell House hosts comedian/podcaster Jamie Loftus (whom I spoke with earlier this month, celebrates the release of her first book, “Raw Dog,” a cross-country road trip examining America’s relationship to hot dogs!
Would you like to promote your comedy show or album or special or whatnot on this newsletter???
Please let me know and we can work out the details.
Thanks for reading!
Union Solidarity: Working Together
dear sean,
thanks as always for all the great comedy reporting INCLUDING (BUT NOT LIMITED TO) mentioning my new special out this past week!
you're the best AND NOT JUST TO AND FOR ME!
thanks and love,
myq