Post Tournament Roundup

Not on the tourney, but all the news I missed out on while watching baseball and the championship game. I missed Summerland but it was worth it. Did anyone hear that Dick Vitale did not have tickets tonight?!?

Patrick Sparks and Saul Smith were featured in One Shining Moment as expected.

Jon Stewart was in Detroit recently.

The veteran stand-up comedian and popular fake TV news anchor had people laughing their hardest when he recounted that birthday night when his sleep was interrupted by his dog's explosive diarrhea.[...]

He also argued that TV news shows pit one extremist against another, regardless of the issue, which, he contended, makes for less than helpful discourse.

Like all good comics, Stewart uses humor to comment on the state of the world, and he thinks the world would be a better place if reason won out over extremism. He knocked politicians and Hollywood for being out of step with the country, and offered these thoughts on the president: "He's not stupid and I don't think he's evil. I think he's elitist and he hates to lose."

It wasn't all political, of course. Stewart hasn't survived stand-up comedy for nearly 20 years just making fun of stuffy politicos. He built his reputation as a keen observer of society and as a guy who can turn pieces of his own life - like trying to keep up with computer technology - into comic gold.

Second City was recently in St. Louis, Missouri and wasn't there for the tournament.

Never known to shy away from controversy, Second City tends to do social commentary more than mere fleeting topical humor, which would need continual updates. But broad political or social humor can be timely as well, and risk-taking is part of this. This kind of humor is intended to be thought-provoking rather than ridicule or mean-spirited. Where several years ago, lattes and self-absorbed business types might have been the center of jokes, this night featured more jokes about blinked world views, blind patriotism and religious conservatism. Some of this struck a comic chord with the audience but not all of it played as well here in Bible Belt Missouri as it probably does in more progressive Chicago. But that is the nature of pushing the humor envelope.

The shortest sketches are called "blackouts," a quick comic bit or twist that flashes across the stage as a bridge between longer sketches. Sprinkled throughout the evening, they became a feature themselves when the troupe offered a string of these quick comedy tidbits, provoking shock and laughs.

In addition to the sketches, the troupe also offered improvisation, calling on the audience to suggest a situation or even an object that was used to spark humor. Improv can be the most difficult of humor but also a rich source for the imagination. It is one of the strengths of Second City and it was amazing how quickly these talented folks could snatch something funny out of thin air. Of course, not every joke or bit worked but it was surprising how many did. The improv tended to be best when the full ensemble was involved in some way. One of best bits of the evening was the tag-team improv where two to three cast members created a tiny sketch that was then transformed when another cast member called out freeze and another cast member tagged a performer and took their place. The difficulty was that the cast not participating in the mini sketch were facing away from the action and could not actually see what the other comedians were doing.

The challenge of mixing improv and sketch comedy in rapid-firing mix is the key to Second City's ability to grow new comedians, with flexibility as actors as well. The Second City revue brought just the right touch for April Fool's Day.

What's that, Matt?

"Joe Lieberman has a secret: He's a pretty orthodox Democrat," Yglesias says, adding that on environmental issues in particular, the senator is a "liberal leader."

Yglesias also claims that most liberals know nothing of "this Lieberman" because he "has never emphasized this side of his record, instead parading his centrism to the point of seeming embarrassed by his party affiliation."

Never say never. In any case, I have strong family ties to the Senator from New Jersey.

Frank Lautenberg has not yet decided if he will seek re-election in 2008, but just in case, the 81-year-old junior U.S. senator from New Jersey has registered four Internet domain names he could use for his campaign site.

Lautenberg for Senate, Inc., has purchased these domain names: www.lautenberg2008.com, www.lautenbergforsenate.com, www.lautenbergfornj.com and www.lautenberg08.com, said Alex Formuzis, the senator's spokesman.