SPECIAL ETV SERIES: Jerry Lewis: The Devil’s Genius - Chapter One: NOBODY’S PATSY

A lot has been said about my life-changing experience in working with Jerry Lewis; and primarily by yours truly.  Truth is, actions speak much louder than words.  And no action speaks louder than sex.  It was a lovely London Sunday morning.  The last of the drunks had waddled home from the pub and were neatly tucked away into their own warm blankets of vomit hours earlier.  A horse-drawn hearse clip-clopped across the cobble-stone by my Notting Hill multi-level flat, taking some lucky English soul to that big pub in the sky.  The electric milk truck quietly spun its rounds, dropping off fresh milk and cream to my new neighbours, Madonna and her Brit-Gangster flick director husband, Guy Richie.  My lovely girlfriend of five years, Emma, had just given me the greatest “wind-employment” since Hurricane Katrina herself, as a prelude for some foreboding news she was about to impart my way.  Sitting down on the couch next to me, as if she was about to announce she was secretly pregnant with Prince Harry’s child, Emma let me know, in no uncertain terms, she was leaving me.  The reason was Jerry Lewis.  Emma was sick of hearing my Jerry Lewis story.  She was sick of my talking about it, writing about it, performing a one-man show about it, and most of all: Emma was sick to death of hearing of a “film I was developing with an Oscar winning producer based on my historical life-changing misadventure with Jerry Lewis.”  She could care less and thought my obsession with Jerry Lewis was well beyond the pale of normal comedian madness and suggested I immediately seek psychiatric help, which I did, but my psychiatrist then left me for the same reason (he was a Dean Martin fan), but there was no “wind-employment” there, and why should there be, that would be just wrong, let me continue.  You see, for me it was all business.  Jerry Lewis was the biggest thing to ever happen to my career.  When Jerry Lewis collapsed at the London Palladium, September 8, 2002, it made international news.  Go ahead, Google it.  We’ll wait.  Ladies and Gentlemen, while the skeptics can’t wait, let me thank you, my loyal readers, who will politely wait until I’m done.  Oh, they’re back.  Was I right?  ‘Nuff said.  When Jerry Lewis collapsed at the London Palladium it created a flurry of questions hurled at me from all ends of the comedy industries in London, New York and LA; all repeating the same mysterious and annoying mantra, as if I, a “still-trying-to-figure-it-all-out-comedian” had somehow possessed the answer to the meaning of life itself:

“Did Jerry Lewis fake his collapse?”

 
1a Mortimer Square was a multi-level “maisonette” with a loft office under a skylight, a very high open gallery living room, and an indoor BBQ in the kitchen.  I loved my home.  It was the first bit of property I ever owned.  But, I got carried away (or should have been!).  Notting Hill had been a very low-rent district for 30 years.  But, in the ‘90’s (much like New York’s Soho district in the 80’s) it became hip and prices went through the roof.  There are two modern historical periods for Notting Hill, the former home and subject matter of George Orwell, Thomas Hardy and G.K.Chesterton.  Before and after the eponymous film starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant.  Lissen up Hollywood moguls:  One.  Buy as much property as you can in the worst section of LA. Two. Package a romantic comedy set in that section of town. Three.  Collect your money.  I had bankers coming round my flat every six to eight months offering me 100,000 Pounds just to live there.  Of course I stupidly signed on the dotted line.  After losing my home in London three years ago, I came back to LA to take care of my sick mother, to resume dating a woman I was newly in love with (in other words: she really didn’t know me that well yet) and to try and co-produce the film based on my experience with Jerry Lewis, alongside and under the mentor-ship of a very well respected and accomplished Oscar winning producer who looked like Danny DeVito and talked like Joe Pesci.  Steven Alan Green and Julian Krainin’s “How I Nearly Killed Jerry Lewis” or “Why Dean Drank” had the buzz of top Hollywood actors and directors; as it was/is a great story of Shakespearian proportions.  A very dysfunctional comedian is saved by his childhood hero, who ultimately befriends him, then lets him down, nearly dying in his arms, causing the comedian to reconcile with his dead father.  Hilarious right?  In real life: Jerry Lewis was both my best friend and worst enemy.  And, thus that became the pervasive narrative in my head:  Was Jerry Lewis ever really my friend?  And in the end, who in Hollywood is EVER our “friend”?  And, I thought I had it all categorized and sorted.  But, when I started to lose my mind…Scratch that.  I don’t think you ever can notice when you “start” to lose your mind.  I think its more like suddenly noticing the cat licking itself.  Maybe I better not talk too much about my own sometimes questionable mental health.  The best way people can get to know me, and to trust me, is to simply be me for one day.  Be the man who nearly and accidentally killed Jerry Lewis. 

Lisa Coburn, a great lady, good friend and daughter of the late great James Coburn, called me up, inviting me to her Christmas party.  Lisa says to me, “Steven, I would love to have you come to my Christmas party…..but you have to promise me you will leave Jerry Lewis at home.”  What on earth was she talking about?  I don’t live with Jerry Lewis?  Lisa explained to me that apparently (I have no proof of this unfathomable fantasy one way or the other) I had gained a reputation of constantly talking to anyone and everyone about what Jerry Lewis did to me, my life, my show, my business, etc, etc and that I had been boring her friends to tears, almost as badly as if I were indeed Jerry Lewis himself showing up uninvited for breakfast, fast-talking about film theory, when you’re just trying to chew, swallow and transport.  Once I realized Lisa was right, that I must have engendered said reputation, I fessed up and said, “You know what, Lisa…I can do that.  No problem!”  So, I gets (not a typo) to Lisa Coburn’s and it’s a full party.  John Barrymore, Mellissa Torme March, Stephen Hawking: all sorts of interesting showbiz and literary people and plenty of traif.  What more could a nice non-practicing Jew want.  (oy, I’m gonna get emails!)  I sit down on the couch, biting my lip until it nearly bleeds, thinking of Willie Mays, as I repeat over and over in my head: “Do not say the words: Jerry Lewis”.  Rick Overton sits down next to me and talks with another comedian.  “Did you see that comedian on HBO last night?  I’m telling you, man, he was amazing!  His physical movements…just like Jerry Lewis!”  I slowly get up and zombie walk (continuing to repeat my mantra) to the other side of the living room where there was the entrance to the video lounge.  I went in for shelter.  They were playing blues videos.  Guess who was on.  Jerry Lee Lewis.  I about faced it like Bilko getting busted and who should coming running after me, but none other than Lisa Glucksman, daughter of the late Ernie Glucksman, who directed Jerry on the ground-breaking Colgate Comedy Hour.  “Steven!  Let me tell you what Jerry did to my father!  You know my father blah, blah, blah, and Jerry blah blah blah blah”  I picked up my coat, left Lisa’s party very quietly and proud that I fulfilled Lisa’s wishes of my not mentioning Jerry Lewis to anyone.  I didn’t have to; everyone else did it for me.  And that would continue to happen again and again and again and in more bizarre ways.

In 2009, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences was honoring Jerry Lewis with the Jean Hersholtz Award for Philanthropy, for all the great things Jerry Lewis has done to help bring awareness, and most importantly money (which buys invaluable life-saving and life-improving research) to his life-long pet cause, that of finding a cure for Muscular Dystrophy.  Jerry Lewis has saved and bettered tens of thousands of lives; make no mistake about that.  I’m sure Jerry was fully appreciative and humbled of receiving recognition for his massive philanthropic achievement, but I betcha, inside, Jerry was secretly a little miffed, as I know I would be.  The Academy has never honored him artistically for his incredible worthy life’s body of film work.  I mean, the comedian who broke the modern forth wall?  Or the comedian who appealed to all ages at once?  The comedian who has run the gauntlet of the critics, whom he all proved wrong?  The comedian who succeeded in all areas of ShowBiz?

All

.  Or the irrefutable fact that Jerry Lewis remains the only person to ever dominate both movies and television at the same time.  Jim Carrey never did that.  He was one, then the other.  Jerry Lewis was number one in television and movies

at the same time

.  Forget the Video-Assist.  Jerry invented the Comedy-Assist.  Jerry Lewis, for all his faults; for all his flaws: Vanity, compulsiveness, erratic and condescending behavior, are really only minor blips (if not indicators of) of one of the greatest comedic science minds of all time.  If the Oscars had a comedy category, Jerry would dominate, but they don’t and Jerry would agree with me that the reason they don’t is that they don’t understand comedy and how it works.  I got news for you all.  Nobody does.  Pure Comedy as a value unto itself sometimes gets lost in Hollywood, in the very same odd way the MDA spookily erased the patron saint of sick children Jerry Lewis from their future branding.  What numbskulls.  That’s just dumb business.  The Tonight Show With Jay Leno is a completely different show than The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.  Johnny was the star.  Jay is just “with”.  Maybe that’s ‘cause Jay is more of a regular guy than Johnny and Jay’s tip of the hat to his hero.  Be that as it may, beyond a doubt, Jerry Lewis is living proof, that just like nuclear power, you have to accept the bad with the good with everybody.  Jerry just happens to be better at both than most.  That’s his sin.  My sin was yet to be revealed.  As my friend and oft personal guru, Beano says, “I like people.  It’s their behavior I sometimes have trouble with.”  And Hitler was an excellent dancer.

Here I was, in the third balcony of the Kodak Theatre, peering down upon the man who was both the greatest and worst thing to ever happen to me.  The man who helped me create a disaster.  The man who broke my dream in two.  The man, whom I seriously thought was the bestest friend I ever had.  Imagine being a kid getting drunk with Santa Claus.  That’s what being friends with Jerry Lewis was like.  A nobody comedian of no time, connecting on a very deep level with the greatest comedian of all times.  As I watched Robert DeNiro extol his appreciation for and to Sean Penn, I flashed back seven years ago, to when I was happy and hopeful and frankly, building a business.  Like all the horrible events in life (war, funerals, marriage) things usually begin with a formal invitation.  My misadventure with self-proclaimed “Super Jew” himself, a former skinny kid from Jersey not known as Joseph Levitch, the man who brought laughter and salvation to the once tear-stained cheeks of a little boy lost in the middle of an horrific divorce, the great Jerry Lewis was no different than a Christmas party, and too required a formal invitation. 

……and so in closing, in honor of your great accomplishments in Comedy and Charity, I hereby invite you to come to London (First Class travel and accommodations) to perform at The London Palladium and receive the first ever High On Laughter Award.  I thank you for your kind consideration and very much look forward to hearing from you.
Cheers,
Steven Alan Green

As I drove down to meet my childhood hero, little did I know, I would be drafted and braced to go down in Show Biz History, as the man who inadvertently nearly killed Jerry Lewis.

September 8th, 2002

.

Sunday night at the London Palladium

.

The audience had been enthralled by twelve great comedians from the US and the UK, including Zach Galifiniakis, Bobcat Goldthwait, Emo Philips, Paul Provenza, Rick Overton, Boothby Graffoe, Earl Okin, Rick Right, Jim Gaffigan, Shelagh Martin, and the pretty-great yours truly.  All of us went up on that great plank of wood still scuffed by the shoe tattoos of Laurel & Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Judy Garland; and of course, Martin & Lewis.    This was my show now, not Budd Friedman’s or Mitzi Shore’s.  I was the producer.  The man in charge.  Over eight months of prep-work, investing my life savings by re-mortgaging my Notting Hill multi-level flat along with the hardened experience of two previous years’ High On Laughter shows, made this show the biggest of my career.  Career?  Who was I kidding.  I was a mid-forties comedy refuge and this was just another pathetic —albeit, very expensive—showcase.  High on Laughter is a comedy-charity show I created that benefits Turning Point Scotland, a drug and alcohol charity launched by Princess Diana.  I had gained a small buzz, doing my infamous “farewell performances only” stand-up act, where I told every audience I was “addicted to the laughter and had to quit” and every show was my last.  I performed over 5,000 “farewell performances” in 16 years, and now I wanted to help real addicts as a poetic gesture of goodwill.    Plus, the charity endorsed me.  Peter Grahame, one of my best mates, who runs the oldest and best comedy club in London (Downstairs at The Kings Head) slowly makes his way over to me backstage that Sunday night of “The Palladium Incident.”  I could see the look in his face.  It wasn’t good.

“Steven, Jerry won’t come out of his dressing room until you leave the theatre.”  I looked Peter in the eye; he was dead serious.  One of the most jovial and trusted movers and shakers on the British Comedy Scene was now telling me something I just couldn’t believe I was hearing.  My star (and one-time childhood idol) the one and only Jerry Lewis, the man whom I was giving a lifetime achievement award to for all his contributions to Comedy and Charity, had told my show-runner, that before he’d come out of his dressing room to accept the award I was giving him, I, the producer of this show, the financier of this show, the creator of the show, would have to immediately leave my own theatre.  I can still feel my own eyeballs popping out of my head like a Tex Avery cartoon character.  This was my baby, my pride and joy!  Not his!  This one I was filming for television.  But after three months of working with Jerry Lewis I was at the end of my rope.  Jerry had pulled out of the show one too many times.  He would call me up daily, either in tears over the state of his career (“What am I gonna do, sell men’s shoes?”) OR frothing at the mouth angry with me for what reason I never knew (“I eat people like you for breakfast!... or lunch!…depending on when I wake up!”)  OR as the most gentle, professional and courteous collaborator I ever worked with (“Steven, you and I stand on the same part of the stage.”).  But, I managed to survive the inconsistencies in Mr. Lewis’s personality.  I finessed my way around; I cajoled Jerry by reminding him how “They’re gonna love you in London!” or by laughing at his truly funny banter.  He was a handful, for sure.  But, I think that’s exactly what he liked about me.  I too was a handful.  A handful of piss and vinegar and for once in his lifetime and career-time, he was not dealing with the usual types: sycophants that stars – legendary stars – surround themselves with.  The biggest, most obnoxious ShowBiz ego of all time had finally met his match.  A short-tempered, unappreciated in his own country comedy loser, who found respectability, fame, and a fleeting fortune in a European country.  Jerry Lewis was dealing with Steven Alan Green.  God save his clownish soul.  I camouflaged myself amongst the bizarre Tim Burton-like sets and props from the West End production of “Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang,” and what I was about to see was one of the saddest things I’d ever witness in my entire life.

Driving down to San Diego to meet Jerry three months earlier, I was starving.  Jerry had told me to “Bring a big appetite!,” and so I inhaled a muffin, washed it down with some instant and got on the 405.  My heart was doing 90 in the slow lane.  Time was beginning to change all around me.  I’m going to meet the great Jerry Lewis!  On his yacht!  Wow, Steven, how far you’ve come!  (Oh, no.  I haven’t even passed through Irvine.)  I get to the big hotel, I ask for “Jerry Lewis’s yacht” and was pointed where to go.  I went to a gate where I was met by Jack, one of Jerry’s assistants, who walked me to a beautiful classically appointed boat, representing the world-class accomplishments of a great man.  I go on board, down the stairs to the cabin.  And, right there, sitting at his computer, was Jerry Lewis.  Now bloated beyond belief like some surreal Thanksgiving Day parade balloon (the result of him taking Prednisone, a steroid that saved his life), Jerry pointed a camera at me and shouted, “Say cheese!”  A flash went off and I was now, and forever, in Jerry’s World. 

The first story Jerry told me was about Steven Spielberg.  How after E.T. premiered in Cannes, the Jaws-dropping director got an incredible standing-O, which just wouldn’t stop.  Spielberg, as if he were merely an actor who had just performed Richard III for The Queen, directs the audience to a royal box and elegantly bows.  King Jerry stands up and waves graciously to his loyal subjects.  I snap out of it.  Where’s this flippin’ lunch?  Jerry asks me if I’d like another Popsicle.  A what?  Two-and-a-half hours of Jerry telling me this story and that story.  How he got drunk with Peter Sellers, partied hard with Jack & Bobby Kennedy, Peter Lawford and, of course, Marilyn.  He was handing me loose chapters of his upcoming book, “Dean and Me,” assistants were giving me more and more popsicles, so much so, that I had to excuse myself several times to pish, and once in his bathroom, I couldn’t help but notice the multitudes of antibacterial hand sanitizers.  When I came back to the main cabin, Jerry does what Jerry does best.  He takes over.  Jerry Lewis listed – as if I was his Errand Boy – what he needed from me.  Seven people traveling with him, First Class, Five-Star accommodations, 24-hour limo & security, a giant video screen, plus a 36-piece orchestra.  On exit, I told him I was filming the entire thing.  He said, “Fine!  But I charge $150,000 for 12-month worldwide rights!”  I was okay with that.  I had Jerry Lewis.  What was I worried about?  I left in search of a burger and drove back to LA.  The next morning, he calls me up, his voice all nasty-like.

“Steven Alan Green?  This is Jerry Lewis.

”

And without missing a beat, I said, “Good!  Who the hell needs

!”

Jerry laughed and we became instant friends.  Scratch that…we became partners.  Scratch that too.  He became my boss.  He’d be calling me up every day.  I was going on Buffy auditions, the phone was ringing off the hook, I was praying it wasn’t Jerry Lewis.  The High On Laughter Award?  Jerry wanted me to call it The Charlie Chaplin Award, but when I checked with The Chaplin Estate in Paris, and they said “No way, nes pas?”  Jerry harrumphed and said, “That’s Okay.  We’ll call it The Jerry Lewis Award!”  (“And the nominees are: Jerry Lewis…Jerry Lewis….Jerry Lewis…Jerry Lewis….and Myron Pickleman.”)  I was actually giving Jerry Lewis, the first ever Jerry Lewis Award.  (Can you see why my last psychiatrist actually fired me as a patient?)  Meanwhile, my publicist in London never even heard of Jerry Lewis and thought I was bringing over Jerry LEE Lewis!  And it turns out most of modern day Britain never heard of him either.  After all, England is another world; they never even heard of Jay Leno or Dennis Miller.  Why?  They don’t get HBO or NBC over in England.  I needed a film star.  A legend.  And because Jerry had reneged on his very important promise to give me two weeks for press interviews, to be there for me, even though he said: “Steven, nobody knows what it’s like to produce a big show like I do, I’m gonna be there every step of the way,” on the word of our publicist, just for insurance, I booked a gifted British comedian sight unseen, who had just won the prestigious Perrier Award up at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  Daniel Kitson’s opening line, as Jerry had locked himself in the dressing room with my wife Tamsin, telling her he was upset with me for making the advertising say: “Starring Jerry Lewis” but he wanted “Honoring Jerry Lewis” (which he never told me) the two bodyguards in my employ were now telling me, “We work for Mr. Lewis now” and not allowing me access to my star…The British dysfunctional comedic genius Daniel Kitson’s opening line was: “

.”  And indeed, it seemed as if that little joke was all about to sadly come true…

The stage was set.  The 18-piece orchestra sat in front of a giant projected “High On Laughter” logo, instruments in their laps, no musical charts because someone in Jerry’s crew forgot them and when I asked Jerry about them at rehearsal, he screamed at me again, but this time in front of the entire crew: “I’ve been in Show Business for 50 years!  I’ll give you a show and you’ll like it!”  Bobcat Goldthwait (whose earlier set stole the show) returned to the stage to the mass approval of the audience.  You could just feel the anticipation.  Showing sincere appreciation for his chaotic comedic soul-mate, Bobcat introduced the clips, explaining that, “Jerry Lewis didn’t just pave the comedy road we’ve all conveniently travelled on; he pretty much invented it.”  The giant video screen descends and my heart literally stopped, as I realized that this was a huge moment, not just for me, but for my friend Jerry.  Black and White Buster Keaton Jerry, Vegas Nightclub Jerry, Telethon Jerry, Errand Boy Jerry, Cinderfella Jerry; all of them, sparkling like comedic Rushmore moments in time; Dean Martin mysteriously absent from them all.  The live audience at the Palladium laughed alongside the relatively ancient audiences recorded in some of the video.  I was seeing my dream come true.  That I, Steven Alan Green, once considered the worst thing you could call a comedian: unfunny; having discovered the ugly duckling truth that another country – a much smarter and older country’s culture, would appreciate even a lowly wretch like me for what they saw as, “Brilliant!”—was now sharing my archeological find (the great British comedians and audiences) with the world.  I believed that, indeed I was in fact resuscitating the fallen career of my childhood hero.  Looking back at it now, I must’ve been crazy, and if you can add all that up and hold it in your mind’s breath for just a moment, then let the reality of the following situation become your exhale.

As I hid in the wings, watching the comedy genius who turned my childhood tears to laughter, stand on the opposite end of the Palladium stage, staring up at the video clips on the giant screen, of himself fifty years previous, thin, young and at the top of his game…then watching The King of Comedy wistfully look out at the less than sold-out house, and then…and then….he

!  To the floor!  I literally said out loud to myself: “I’ve just killed Jerry Lewis.”  Oxygen (which he conveniently had demanded last minute before he’d get on the plane from Vegas) was rushed to his side.  I had to go out on stage and announce that “Unfortunately, Jerry Lewis was taken ill and taken to hospital…pray for Jerry,” that announcement getting on the AP and reported worldwide.  Jerry was stretchered out to an ambulance, briefly smiling while removing the oxygen mask, simply to whisper to his filmmaking friend Pierre Etaix (whom I flew in from Paris at Jerry’s request) “I’m okay, Pierre!”  But, I wasn’t so sure my friend was okay.

The bodyguards (still on my payroll and yet mysteriously now in Jerry’s control) were now guarding the ambulance at the back of the Palladium as if it was a mobile Rat Pack wet-bar and I was Jack Carter.  They wouldn’t let me near King Tut.  The ambulance screeched off down Oxford Circus, slowly strobed by a pathetically small flutter of paparazzi flash, which magically seemed like Medieval fireflies as seen through the prism of light English drizzle.  The official report from the London Ambulance service was, “a man whom we cannot name, was picked up at the stage door at the London Palladium on or about 11pm on the 8th of September, 2002, was treated on site for minor exhaustion and taken directly back to the Dorchester Hotel.”  I can’t prove it, but my guess is that passenger was probably Jerry Lewis.  My announcement made international news as The King of the Pratfalls flew back across the pond home the next day on my dime, without so much as a “would you like my autograph?”  I later heard he told Gareth Valentine, the orchestra leader, moments before, “If I fall, just leave me there.”  And the endless repeating question began, as every comedian, every comedy agent, and every club owner asked me the same exact goddam question.  A question, which, to this day – nearly 10 years later – I still cannot begin to answer.  “

?”  My answer to everyone was always, “Jerry Lewis is the greatest comedian to have ever lived.  Jerry Lewis is my friend,” and then I’d walk away wondering if they bought any of it.  After all, although every contemporary comedian is completely fascinated with Jerry Lewis himself, few of them will ever admit he indeed is their secret comedy pleasure.
     
Tamsin and I sent the award to Jerry’s address in Vegas, but we never heard from our friend again.  As I stood on Chelsea Bridge, watching the London sunset vaguely illuminate Big Ben in eerie orange, I thought to myself: “Now I know why Dean drank.” I smiled and laughed to myself then walked down to the nearest pub for a nice cold glass of Guinness and a Cuban cigar.  Little did I know that my future would so be forged of these events.  But, that’s Life, isn’t it.  Just when you think you’re on top…You’re reminded, that just like the rest of us schmucks, you’re always gonna be somebody’s patsy, sometime.

Enjoy the Veal,

Steven Alan Green
8/12/12

Part Two of “Jerry Lewis: The Devil’s Genius” to be published next month.

The Palladium Annoucement

5-min High On Laughter Promo Reel (contains some adult language)

BBC News of Jerry’s Collapse at the London Palladium

FACEBOOK TWEETS OF THE WEEK:

It’s Barton Fink hot!

Until this country accepts mental illness as a real illness and offers unabashed treatment for those who think they might be mentally ill, there will continue to be crazy public massacres, as well as Romney supporters.

Gun violence, over-medication, mental illness, financial strife, bitter politics…America. The greatest country on the planet! Well, at least we have Montel Williams. And some Olympic gold. And Betty White. And Burning Man. And Taco Bell. As I was saying, This is the greatest country on the planet!

I’m tired of all these so-called “Hate Groups” here in America. From the KKK to the Tea Party. How ‘bout a “Love Group”? We can organize and we can….You know what? Let’s just have Group Love.

Everything’s like midget porn out here in LA. Nobody wants to give an inch.

LATE BREAKING NEWS: The Mars Rover Curiosity has discovered Mitt Romney’s tax returns!

One of the primary missions of the Mars Observer is to see how dim Mitt Romney is from outer space.

THIS WEEK’S COMEDY RECOMMENDATIONS:

Beth Lapides’ Uncabaret upcoming shows:

: Mary Birsong, Michelle Lee, Carlos Kotkin
Uncabaret

Perry Kurtz @ The LA Comedy Awards @ The Hard Rock Cafe,

. The Hard Rock Cafe, 6801 Hollywood Blvd #105, Hollywood. Red Carpet at 7pm. Showtime 10pm. No Cover. Parking: You’re on your own.
Read the ETV Interview with Perry Kurtz

ODDZ ‘N ENZ:

Regarding Caleb Medley, the local Aurora, Colorado stand-up who was severely wounded in the so-called “Batman Massacre,” I’ve spoken with some of his friends and he’s hanging in there.  Please, if you can, the Medley family has a huge hospital bill.  Donate directly to the Caleb Medley fund set up by his family.  Thank you.
Help Caleb Medley

To hire a comedy writer or to complain about anything: sag@thelaughterfoundation.org