Tag: Barry Crimmins

Barry Crimmins & Jimmy Pardo

April 11, 2017 - Activists, Actors, Authors, Comedians, Comedy Writers, David Feldman Show, Journalists, Our Radio Shows

Comics Rhonda Hansome and Tom Ryan plus Professor Corey Brettschneider.
Today’s show covers Boston’s comedy scene, the Catholic Church, Matt Drudge, and Trump’s Travel Ban.

Barry Crimmins is one of American history’s greatest political satirists. Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait directed a documentary about Barry, it’s called Call Me Lucky and you can download it on all the streaming services. Louis CK just directed Barry’s new standup special it’s called Barry Crimmins: Whatever Threatens You and you can stream it over at www.LouieCK.net.

Jimmy Pardo is the host of the wildly popular podcast Never Not Funny. In addition to his comedy CDs Uno, Pompous Clown and Sprezzatura, in 2007 Pardo appeared on the comedy compilation CD Comedy Death-Ray. He last hosted the game show Race to Escape on the Science Channel.

Rhonda Handsome is an outstanding comedian BackStage Bistro Award winner and she has appeared on a few hit shows: Louie, Saturday Night Live, Caroline’s Comedy Hour, Stand-Up Spotlight, Arsenio Hall, Evening at the Improv, Showtime at the Apollo, and The Joan Rivers Show as her movie reviewer. She’s also opened for Anita Baker, Diana Ross & Aretha Franklin.

Tom Ryan has two Late Show with David Letterman appearances and currently opens for Larry the Cable Guy and Brian Regan in the U.S., and has twenty years of standup comedy experience under his belt. In addition to being the opening act for Jerry Seinfeld, Aretha Franklin and BB King, Larry the Cable Guy, Brian Regan and many more, Tom Ryan performs for corporate events and is a regular at all the top comedy clubs in the country.

Tom’s no stranger to television either having appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, Comedy Central, NBC’s Late Friday and Showtime’s Comedy Club Network. He now resides in New York City and recently released his first comedy CD entitled Downtime Enthusiast.

Corey Brettschneider is a Professor of Political Science at Brown University, where he teaches courses in political theory and public law. He’s also Professor, by courtesy, of Philosophy. He holds a Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Professor Brettschneider works at the intersection of constitutional law and democratic theory. He has also been a visiting professor at law schools, including The University of Chicago, Fordham and Harvard.

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Barry Crimmins Political Satirist

November 4, 2011 - Authors, Comedians, Full Interviews With Our Guests, Journalists, Most Recent, Our Podcast

Air America Radio writer and correspondent, internationally renowned political satirist and author of the acclaimed Seven Stories Press book Never Shake Hands With A War Criminal helped bring the Boston Comedy scene into the modern age when he founded two of Boston’s most fabled clubs: The Ding Ho and Stitches. Such acts as Steven Wright, Paula Poundstone, Bobcat Goldthwait, Kevin Meaney, Jimmy Tingle and many, many others cut their comedic teeth in the rooms Crimmins started and at shows he produced.
The Boston Herald’s Robin Vaughn’s review of one of Barry’s shows included a concise Boston Comedy history lesson.

“In 1979, Crimmins, a politically minded comedian from upstate New York, started booking Boston’s brightest, brashest young wits into the Ding Ho, a seedy Chinese restaurant in Inman Square. The club, run for and by comedians, was an unpedigreed underdog, but broke conventions of the day in paying its performers reasonable fees and maintaining Crimmins’ comedy booking standards. He was hell-bent on originality and unforgiving of plagiarism. It was boot camp for the best comics in Boston and some of the most successful standups in the country. ”

According to that same Vaughn review, Crimmins hasn’t lost any prowess as a performer.

“To his old crowd, Crimmins is the patron saint of original, creative comedy in Boston and a brooding ideologue. His wit is as sharp as his sense of social justice, which has been known to eclipse a joke or two. But his hour-plus show, ‘Chicken Soup for the Vegetarian Soul’, served as a persuasive example of what intelligent stand-up comedy, politically themed or otherwise, can be.”

After helping jumpstart Boston comedy, Barry left production to concentrate on performing. In short order he gained attention as one of the top political satirists in the country. He has made countless television appearances on everything from The NBC Nightly News to The HBO Young Comedians Special to The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. He has recorded two CD’s: Strange Bedfellows on A&M and Kill the Messenger on Green Linnet. His writings appear regularly in the Boston Phoenix as well as several other publications. He was a staff writer for the syndicated Dennis Miller Show and has toured in performance with Billy Bragg, Jackson Browne, Utah Phillips, Michelle Shocked, Steven Wright, Dar Williams and numerous others.
This show was edited by Ben Schultz.

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