Ed Sullivan On Acid at Freddy’s Backroom, the longest running stand-up comedy show in Brooklyn has been on the verge of being shut down most of its run. What is threatening Freddy’s is the Brooklyn famed Atlantic Yards construction. And Freddy’s, a perfect Prospect Heights bar with creative graffiti all over the bathroom (above the hand dryer are dozens of suspected shooters of JFK) stands right in the way.

One thing that makes Freddy’s the perfect spot for a comedy show is the patrons. Freddy’s, being a drinker’s dream local bar, gets some fun characters that are always looking for a big laugh. Guys come to Freddy’s for a drink, stay for Ed Sullvian on Acid and then spend the night drinking with the comedian’s on the show. After two cans of PBR the regulars often prove to be just as funny as many comic’s they see and are told to get on stage sometime. But they’re just there for a good laugh.

Every other Monday night Bostonian comedian Pat O’Shea hosts a series of local New York comedians in the bar’s back space since 2004. Even then they expected the bar to be closed by the city within the year. There have been articles about the bar in the New York Times, NY Post and New Yorker magazine. They hang on the wall in the back room like a patriotic flag. There have been protests in and outside a bar; protests where protests should be, the bar.

Pat himself is a comedy foot soldier. He began performing stand-up in Boston where he was quickly welcomed with open arms. In 2009 Pat released his first comedy album Not Friendly. During the day Pat writes jokes for iPhone application iLarious.

I found this article in the Financial Times, which is a British daily, their Wall Street Journal equivalent.  It’s an article about a new and horrifying phenomenon that’s infecting high-level Cricket matches across the island nation. I’ve copied the text for you, although I’m not sure that’s actually allowed or not, but I think it’s been cited properly. Here the link to the original article. I find it hilarious on so many levels – the funny words I don’t understand, the complete shock and incomprehension from the author that this could happen in a sporting event, the fear and anger,  just the basic and fundamental differences between Americans and Brits. Give it a read.

It’s Not Cricket

Published: August 6 2009 19:05 – Financial Times

The cricket authorities in England are awaiting the opening of Friday’s Test match with Australia with a mixture of anticipation and dread. Anticipation because the cricket this summer has been superb – and another England victory would clinch a rare triumph in an Ashes series against Australia. Dread because the English supporters have taken to ill-mannered booing of the Australian players, and this match will take place at Headingley, where the crowd is notoriously drunk and rowdy.

Cricket is a game that has always prided itself on its tradition of sportsmanship, captured in the very phrase – “It’s not cricket.” The chairman of the English cricket board has appealed to the crowd not to barrack Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, when he walks to the wicket. But the chairman may be disappointed.

Now comes an unexpected twist to the story. Leading members of the Australian team have said that they do not mind the barracking from the crowd – some even claim to find it inspirational. Shane Watson, Australia’s opening batsman, has said that “It’s a great part of being here in England.”

Being insulted by a drunk Yorkshireman in a polyester replica shirt is not normally counted as one of the highlights of a visit to England. But if the Australian team do no object to the abuse, do the rest of us have any right to complain?

Actually – yes, we do. It can be a real pain to sit anywhere near the “Barmy Army”, the rabid England supporters who do most of the chanting. At their worst, they are drunk, foul-mouthed, mindlessly partisan and curiously uninterested in the cricket. If they are allowed to set the tone at matches, supporters who prefer to watch in a more civilised atmosphere will simply stop going.

To be fair, on good days the Barmy Army can be funny. When Mark Waugh, an Australian player, was caught up in a betting scandal a few years ago, they came up with the song: “Mark Waugh is an Aussie/He wears the baggy cap/But when he saw the bookie’s cash/He said I’m having that.” This is Wildean wit compared with the one-word chant of “Ingerlund” favoured by football supporters.

The trouble is that too many England cricket fans crossed the line between “banter” and boorishness a long time ago. Chanting and booing the opposition have their place – at football matches. But if Test match cricket abandons its own tradition of sportsmanship, it will lose a large part of its charm along the way.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

One thing Dan and I like to do a lot is make silly faces. Here are some old ones:

I’m also doing a show at 31 Rockwell right in Downtown Brooklyn. 31 Rockwell Place.

Also, Transcendentalist Television is tomorrow!
Saturday, May 9th
11 PM
The People’s Improv Theater
254 W 29th St.
Manhattan, NY
$10

Buy tickets ahead of time here.

Featuring:
Brent James Sullivan
Zachary Sims
Molly Knefel
Jon Clarke

We’ve also got three videos for you in our serialized series: Cacophony of Transcendence. It’s gonna be a great show! Come out!

I saw a great piece of scribing the other night coming home on the G train. The ad was for the mini-series Make ‘Em Laugh that PBS is currently showing. The Public Broadcasting System appreciates the hard work Charlie Chaplin put in for all of us and so should you!

Their ad campaign is a series of thank yous to the butts of numerous jokes. Some are long, (Thank you Bill, Thank you Hillary, Thank you Monica, Thank you fat people, Thank you skinny people, Thank you New Jersey, etc. etc.) and some are just three in a row.

The ad I saw went:

Thank you geeks
Thank you jocks
Thank you women with big… hair.

But someone had changed it to Thank you women with big… hair BOOBS!

Thank you that guy.