The assignment would represent the first Oscar-hosting spot for Stewart, who headlines Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Stewart does have black-tie experience, though, having hosted the Grammy Awards in 2001 and 2002.ESPN may be having some company when Paul Mecurio gets his show on the air.
Oscarcast producer Gil Cates' choice of a host had become the subject of mounting suspense in Hollywood. Chris Rock, last year's host, was not asked to reprise the role. Reportedly, Billy Crystal, who has hosted eight times, turned down the honor. Speculation also had centered on such other previous hosts as Whoopi Goldberg and Steve Martin.
Now this rogue's gallery of well-paid, underperforming, overexposed athletes is in the cross hairs of comedy - and Paul Mecurio has his finger on the trigger.Mecurio's website can be found at paulmecurio.com.
The New York standup comic - a writer from the early days of The Daily Show who now warms up the crowd for Jon Stewart's news-satire program - has created Sports Central. The half-hour show, now being eyed by several networks for a 2006 lineup spot, skewers the sports world, leaving no mascot unharmed.
It does to ESPN and other sports-obsessed news desks what Stephen Colbert does to Bill O'Reilly-style punditry on The Colbert Report and David Spade does with "ET"-esque infotainment on The Showbiz Show.[...]
Mecurio (who states his age as "somewhere between an Olsen twin and a Barbi twin") came to comedy in an unlikely way. The Rhode Island native got a law degree from Georgetown, then worked as an attorney and investment banker on Wall Street. But he always had a secret passion - comedy.
"I led a double life," he says. "On dinner break from closing multibillion-dollar deals, I'd cab to open-mike standup nights at grungy bars. Then, reeking of beer and cigarettes, I'd change clothes on the way back to work."
In 1992, he thrust a page full of punch lines at Jay Leno when the Tonight Show host played a corporate event. Mecurio didn't have high hopes until Leno called a while later and asked what he did.
"When I told him I was a lawyer, he said, 'I knew it, your setups are too long!'" Mecurio says.
He began selling Leno jokes (at $50 a pop), and in 1995 sold his Armani suits and upper West Side apartment to live a standup's life. "It was like going back to school," he says. "I moved into a flophouse hotel to save money."
Mecurio's act was seen in 1996 by "Daily Show" co-creator Lizz Winstead, who needed writers for then-host Craig Kilborn's program. Stewart took over in 1999, and in 2000 the show's election coverage won awards.
Mecurio got an Emmy and a Peabody before striking out on his own in 2002. "It was a great training ground," he says.
Bloomberg takes a look at Sheriff Brad Ellsworth, a Democrat running for Congress.
Evan Bayh is leading a delegation to Iraq and he will be joined by Illinois Junior Senator Barack Obama.
Three leaders of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago will accompany Obama on a portion of the trip, taking him to view a project launched with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago in the northern Israeli town of Fassouta. Federation officials said they urged Obama during his campaign to travel to Israel.Carlene Bottorff has replaced her late husband in the Indiana State House.
"It's so important for our elected officials to learn about this and to experience on a human level what life in a place like this is all about," said Michael Kotzin, executive vice president of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.
Obama said he would talk to leaders from both sides of the Middle East conflict. He also intends to meet with Palestinian officials in the West Bank.
"I'm interested in seeing what kind of ideas both sides have in terms of moving the peace process forward," Obama said.
How Jack Abramoff affects Kentucky is still to be determined. Take a look at some of the reaction.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said through his spokesman that the money given to him and his political committee by three tribes will be donated to the Wayside Christian Mission in Louisville, which helps the poor and homeless. While federal records show McConnell received $18,500, his office's accounting showed $19,500, and that is what will be given to Wayside.Here's my advice. Just write a check from your campaign account. Is it that hard to do?!?
Darrell Brock, chairman of the Kentucky GOP, said $10,000 the party received from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan will go to the Hope Center in Lexington, which serves the homeless.[...]
Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., was the only member of the delegation to receive money directly from Abramoff, a $1,000 donation to his 2004 re-election campaign. Bunning was unavailable, spokesman Mike Reynard said.
Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher, a former 6th District House member, and Rep. Anne Northup, R-3rd District, each received $1,000 from tribes, according to records analyzed by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan Washington-based group that monitors campaign finance.
Fletcher and Northup said the money was gone so they could not return it.[...]
Fletcher spokeswoman Jodi Whitaker said the campaign account has been closed so the donation cannot be returned. Fletcher was unavailable for an interview because of his schedule, Whitaker said.
Northup, who received a $1,000 donation from a tribe for the 2002 election, said in a statement, "I do not know Jack Abramoff."
She said her campaigns since 1996 "have never received a contribution from Jack Abramoff. In 2002, my campaign did receive a contribution from the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. That money was entirely spent during the 2002 campaign and therefore cannot be returned."
I have to research this one but Attorney General Greg Stumbo believes that the members of the Public Service Commission should be elected, not appointed.
I'm up way too early and it was too hard to go back to bed so I will be taking a nap sometime today.
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