for 14 June 2000. Updated every WEEKDAY.
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Filler
Subject: comment on the FILLER cartoons/columns I would find it very useful for you to mention how MANY pages the story is on, on the first page. That way, one knew how much reading there were to be done, and could digest to that, or probably choose not to read it. You could eg. say the number of pages in the browser title line (or what's it called) like page 1 of 7, page 2 of 7 etc. BTW, do you have a steady schedule for each week on SUCK.com? Also, how many staff workers are there at SUCK.com? Jonas Skov Madsen <Jonass@vip.cybercity.dk> Yes, that's a great idea. Let's add information at the start of an article that will increase the likelihood that someone will choose not to read it. You're pretty savvy. You must have a business degree or something. Polly  Dear Polly, I quit therapy. My job is pointless and tedious. Like most people my age, I lack commitment and patience in dealing with relationships. I'm sort of a dull person, really. I drink way too much coffee. Hey, that key was huge, man! Tiny E. P.S. I grew up in the bible belt, and I don't believe it extends to the Southwest, either. I lack commitment and patience in dealing with email, let alone fucking obnoxious pain-in-the-ass relationships. OK, I skipped the coffee today - big mistake. Better make it to therapy. Polly Like most California types, you don't understand New Mexico at all. Sante Fe has a little bit of a lesbian flavor, but most of the gays there are male. The Taos gay demographic favors girls. Kinda like San Francisco compared to Santa Cruz. Snake skin boots are way more popular than lizard skin boots, but only the California transplants and metal band wannabes wear them. The high dessert tan comes from a booth. The technical term for natural high dessert tans is melanoma. O'Keefe did most of her work in either New York City or Abique. She just followed the herd to Sante Fe when it was time to die. If you choose to follow O'Keefe's lead, don't worry about the drive through AZ because the area around Barstow is much worse. Finally, the AOL call center critters in Albuquerque tend to be sullenly waiting until their gig at the Victorias Secret call center comes through. Little do they know, Victorias Secret only hires old ladies and trains them via AOL support. tainting the gene pool <prozac@ectopia.com> On any other day, I'd take offense at your statement. But today, I'm going to stand up and admit that it's true. I don't understand New Mexico at all. Thanks for setting me straight, in more ways than one. No coffee, not funny. Polly Last Man Standing Dear Suck.com: As the editor and publisher of SHECKYmagazine.com, and having just spent five days covering the Chicago Comedy Festival, I must tell you that the person who wrote the article on standup has crafted a wonderful-sounding article that says nothing. The readers of Suck.com would probably like nothing more than to believe that standup is dead. I must tell them that, in spite of what their favorite online magazine says, they will find that their next trip to a comedy club will probably be a wildly entertaining one. It's just a matter of exercising a little more care in how the entertainment dollar is spent. It sounds as though your columnist has based many of his conclusions on "one recent performance of a long-established gay and lesbian comedy night in Seattle." I would caution him/her to do a little more field research. This column has repeated the same nuggets that have appeared in countless analyses of standup over the last 15 years, only it used a slightly larger vocabulary and a few more semicolons. Your columnist betrays his hatred for standup with the introductory clause: "The bleakest future of them all, and therefore the scenario we prefer..." You'll get no points for honesty from us. Take it from someone with his pulse on the business, standup has never been healthier, either as a business, an art form or a springboard to success; and, according to our calculations, it's only going to get better. Sincerely, Brian McKim Editor, Publisher SHECKY! A magazine about standup... http://www.sheckymagazine.com <Editors@sheckymagazine.com> Thanks for writing, Brian. And thanks for noticing those semicolons. 40th Street Black Another nail in the coffin: Margaret Cho's unwatchable concert film I'm The One I Want — which turns out not to have an ironic title. It demonstrates that even a gay audience — one of the last audiences for standup, since they can go out at night without having to get a babysitter or without fretting about what the urban vandals are doing to their SUVs — even they can be as easily stroked, cosseted and otherwise sucked up to as much as any Las Vegas audience in the 1950s. Good piece... Richard Von Busack <regisgoat@earthlink.net> Thanks. By the way, I think Cho clearly had the requisite combination of self-loathing and outsized personality to be a major sitcom star, but her producers forgot that broadly appealing spouse/lover (Meadows, Goodman, Richardson) to let the audience know not to be scared of her. 40th Street Black Dear 40th Street Black: Your article was both amusing and engaging. As a comedy producer (I produce shows at UC Berkeley through www.squelched.com), I frequent the San Francisco clubs and will readily admit that it is an overwhelmingly depressing and anemic scene. However, there is that 1% that really makes the art form worth it. Nationally, it's people like Dave Attell, Rick Overton, and Patton Oswalt who write well and take their jobs seriously, while in San Francisco, guys like Jim Short and Dan Rothenberg are amazing. Some are clean (Rothenberg), and some are a parody of the form itself (Attell), but all are respectable artists. Whether or not the media infrastructure will support them in the future is uncertain. Whether or not that support is wise is another question. I saw Robin Williams drop into the Punchline San Francisco for a guest set several weeks ago, and it was completely unremarkable and tedious except for the fact that it was Robin Williams. Most people who can't make a living doing stand-up don't deserve it. That also applies to most who can and do. I guess in closing, I don't really care about your article or stand-up comedy that much. I was just a little bored at work. Yours, Luke Filose Superb-Squelch Presents Comedy Producer <lfilose@newventuremarketing.com> p.s. I would love to work for Suck some day. Just so you know. I know Oswalt and Attell's work, and I enjoy David Cross, too. I'm sure there are others. But like you indicate, the percentages are just tough. If an upside of one percent was enough to make people happy, I'd have way more friends. But here's my real question: Was Williams working new material? And if so, whose? 40th Street Black Points well made on the death of standup, but you forgot to give some much-deserved heckling to cable channel Comedy Central as a prime suspect. Notice how, when CC bothers to run taped standup anymore, it always seems to be reruns of routines from years back? Oh, look, there's Drew Carey ca. 1994! Ralph Ward <rward@boardroominsider.com> Most days I agree with you. Others, I'm absolutely certain that Gallagher re-runs are the only thing that stands between America and a major class war. 40th Street Black In your wonderful article, you wrote: "In this future, the number of comedy clubs dwindles even further, and the remaining, little-paid stand-ups write increasingly elusive and nuanced material completely inscrutable to all but a highly-knowledgeable and devoted fan subculture." I was wondering if you weren't referring to Suck, in a backhanded way? Do I get a prize for getting that? Or just insulted in the Fish, which is a prize, in it's own way. Russell May <russmebs@hotmail.com> You're halfway there, Russell! Not only was I referring to Suck, I was referring to my own contributions to Suck and the cadre of high school classmates and bored relatives which will make up the entirety of my fan base. You know, John Burgess-style. 40th Street Black It is not surprising that stand up comedians are forced to explore means of income non-traditional to their field. With riveting comedy like "Why A Beer is Better Than Women" and "Redneck Jedi Quotes" popping up in mail boxes, often completely unsolicited, how can the laboring jokesmith expect to squeeze out a cover charge? However, the loss of the comedy club may turn to the comedian's advantage. The urge to perform comedy is, after all, seated in insecurity and the fickle reinforcement dished out at these places is not dissimilar to gang or drug cultures. The only difference is gang members grow up and move out of LA while comedians finally move out of their parents house and camp out on the highway with a sign that says LA or Bust. Maybe if those punch line houses didn't exist Chris Farley would be a happy web designer in Cleveland. Maybe not. In any case, the timing of the decline of comedy with the rise in Prozac may not be a coincidence. Laughing on the inside, Clay Niemann <clayn@dillonet.com> Very salient points, Clay. I know the decline of comedy in my own life is directly attributable to a rise in Prozac. 40th Street Black |
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![[Tim Cavanaugh]](/fish/staff/images/tim.gif)
![[Phillip Bailey]](/fish/staff/images/phil.gif){kind=small}
