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Pop Culture Blog: Music, Movie and Humor

Pop Culture Blog: Music, Movie and Humor

Leveraging low-hanging synergies outside the vertical fruit box since 1999.

Search Results for: davepye

Tough Crowd’s Last Episode – Guess Who?

by admin on November 7, 2004
in Television

I wanted to go into excruciating detail about our trip to NYC to see the last episode of Tough Crowd taping but had absolutely no time. What I’ll do is rewrite the previous article when I can properly do it justice.

In the meantime, here’s a screen shot from the final seconds of the show. When we arrived, they told us about a “bit” they were going to do at the very end. Colin Quinn read a snarky, petty, meanspirited and rambling goodbye, the regulars got up and walked out on him and then the audience followed. So basically, when Colin looks up from his notes – we were all gone and the studio was empty. It suited the celebratory yet sad mood of the evening, and you may even recognize two of the people walking down the stairs over Colin’s shoulder.

I captured this somewhat blurry picture from TiVo, but I imagine there’ll be a crystal clear “Best of Tough Crowd” DVD released – and this final scene is sure to be on it. And there you have Brunelli’s and my contribution to television history. For now.

Watch the final clip HERE.

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Tough Crowd’s Last Episode Taping.

by admin on November 5, 2004
in Television

I’ve gotten 200 hits today from people looking for information on Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn’s last episode, so I want to post something before I lose consciousness. We were in the car for a total of 10 hours today, and I’m shattered right now – but I’ll get something up and add to it tomorrow.

It was pissing rain all the way from Boston to New York City. Our directions were terrible. We got so lost, that at one point we almost gave up. But we decided we’d come all this way and we were at least going to find Sony Studios and let them tell us to frig off. By some miracle of God we found our way to a parking garage in the neighborhood a good hour and a half after we were told to be at the taping. We fought our way through the drenched, Blade-Runner-esque umbrella congested streets until we found it – a small, plain looking building near 9th and West 53rd. As we jogged towards the building, we noticed a woman with a headset and called out to her as she was heading back inside.

“You’re too late. We’re already taping the first segment” she said. We calmly told her we’d driven all the way from Boston to see the show. She was impressed, and probably a little creeped out, but she made a call on her walkie and told us we’d be allowed in to sit on the steps between the rows of seats during the next break. We raced to the nearby bathroom and then got back to the stage door just in time to be let in.

I’ll add to this article tomorrow. In the meantime – there’s a picture of Los Angeles, 2019 taken quickly as we were hunting replicants. And a blurry photo of Colin I took without a flash before I was jumped on and beaten by a stage hand. Then, Brunelli, Keith Robinson and myself outside after the show. His handler didn’t want him to stop for the photo (he had a train to catch), but he smiled when we told him we’d driven from Boston and posed with us while she hailed a cab. None of the other regulars came outside (Colin was in a BAD mood), so Keith’s gesture was much appreciated. More detail tomorrow. What an exhausting day – but fully worth it.

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Please Disperse: Tough Crowd’s Last Stand-Up.

by admin on November 4, 2004
in Television

We’re about to leave to drive to New York City for the travesty which is the final taping of Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn. We’ll trek three hours to get there, wait in the freezing cold for another two outside Sony Studios before getting right back in the car to drive home to Boston. Miserable. But nothing can make me feel worse today than knowing I won’t be able to watch this brilliant show ever again. So I just gots to be there.

I’ll give you a full report on this sad day when I get home tonight. All the regulars and folks who made the show what it is will be guests tonight: Jim Norton, Patrice O’Neal, Nick DiPaolo, Greg Giraldo etc. And I sincerely hope that Tough Crowd goes out with a bang. Comedy Central got this one all wrong, and they’ve lost me as a viewer. Not out of spite, either. There’s just nothing quite as funny on the network and I don’t like consolation prizes. Here’s hoping the show isn’t soon forgotton and ends up on another network. Regardless, thanks for the laughs, Quinn. We don’t all think you’re an unfunny hack, stupid.

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Fahrenheit Bowling For Ohio 911.

by admin on November 3, 2004
in Movies

Running a little sluggish today. I was up until 3 am watching the election results come in, surfing between 5 or 6 of the main news channels and trying to get a reasonable semblance of what was happening. Dan Rather, fighting back tears, said that Kerry still had a fighting chance. Larry King and Wolf Blitzer were hanging on by a thread, interviewing Democratic Party lawyers who were already plotting their antipathy. Al Franken was drawing an illegible map of the USA on a whiteboard and calling Kerry way ahead, all the while referring to any state he colored red as “one of the dumb states”. And all this was happening 3 hours after Fox had already given Ohio to Bush, pretty much sealing things up for another four.

Now, we all know that there isn’t, and never has been, the slightest inkling of a liberal media bias. So why then did Fox and ABC jump to give Florida and Ohio to the GOP, and why has the Bush camp now all but declared victory? Why is it now being reported that Bush has surpassed Reagan and broken the all-time popular vote total?

You guessed it. Space aliens.

But fear not – Objective crusader for truth, and definitely not an irresponsible partisan hack, Michael Moore sped to Ohio last night just as soon as he saw how smoothly tabulations were going where he was lying in wait for a scandal in Florida. Nope, the real mustard and material for his next Oscar-winning cinematic masterpiece would have to be manufactured elsewhere.

So as the whining begins in my home state of Massachusetts (I live about a 10 minute walk from John Kerry) I look forward to the giggles I’ll get out of the conspiracy theories that will undoubtedly start pouring in. My friend is having a contest on the subject, and I’ve already spotted a side-splitter while reading the news this morning. Then, of course, there’s always the possibility that Kerry will concede – that would be classy. Oh wait – he just did.

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The Big Haunt: Fun Photos For Fruity Friends.

by admin on November 2, 2004
in Heartwarming

Festivity photos keep rolling in like severed heads. So take a break from CNN’s election coverage – and wondering how you might look in a turban – to dig these latest shots from that oh so ridiculous evening.

First up we have beauty and the beast. Anneliese and Bryan square off for the best costume credential and both score big points for different reasons. Bryan looks exactly like the character he’s portraying: Ricky from Trailer Park Boys. Huge credit goes to Betsy who dyed and styled his hair. Whereas Anneliese looks exactly like what every man in attendance wanted to take home and rub peanut oil all over. Like I said – both winners in their own way.

And here’s another interesting paradox. People of Herb‘s distinguished ethnic background make unlikely Klansmen. And as for Adam – people who look so comfortable in hot gay biker attire are unlikely to finish the evening beating the living ladybugs out of some clown in my living room. Never judge a book by its leather chaps.

Nicole and Paris turned heads as their alter egos Brittany and Becky licked the frick out of anything with a pule. These two lovely lasses are big Boston bar fans, and it was good to have some regulars representin’ at The Haunt. It was also good not having to worry about anyone blaming me for stealing wallets.

OK – back to all the fair and balanced election coverage. Be sure to look for more party photos as the week progresses. And a certain Fendi purse.

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The Big Haunt: I’m a Horrible Person And Am Going To Hell.

by admin on November 1, 2004
in Heartwarming

I work with a young Indian lad named Nakul. He’s become a great friend and I like to get him and his wife out of the house whenever possible, as they’re new to Boston. He took a bunch of photos at the Haunt Saturday, one of which I’m posting here. He just told me this was the first hard alcoholic beverage that he’d ever had in his life. I am now officially a corrupter.

When I worked with a large group of Indian programmers 4 years ago, we used to take them out all the time and had great fun together. And I know they were very thankful to have a local who tried to include them in his debauchery. But now I’m a little torn. I feel like I’ve just ridden into an Apache village circa 1682 with a pony keg of Schlitz before trading it for Manhattan.

Actually look at him. Hard hooch and big old fake angry titties. He looks as happy as a lark, and I guess I should lighten up. So welcome to the liquor, Nakul. It’s a fickle friend.

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Endangered Species Spotted In Toronto.

by admin on October 29, 2004
in

My friend Peter, whom I previously thought was the only living Conservative working for the City of Toronto, sent me an interesting photo today. The backstory: Someone told Pete they saw a Bush/Cheney sign in the office window of a city councilman. Reeling from disbelief, Pete sought out the window in question and after an exhaustive search through hostile territory (Toronto City Hall) Pete located the politician in question.

I’ll let Pete name the aforementioned gentleman in a comment if he so desires. Barometrically speaking – for my American readers – the discovery of this rare breed of Canadian conservative is akin to a Nepalese sherpa stepping in Yeti doodies. Fair play to you, sir. You’ve got balls. Not to be confused with Yeti balls, which are generally covered in a shockingly white, light peach fuzz. Don’t ask me how I know that.

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Red Sox Revelry – This The Last Of It. Promise.

by admin on October 28, 2004
in

Yet another small batch of photos from last night that have made their way to my inbox. This should be the final set, but it’s going to be a very busy couple of days down here and I’m sure this site will be rife with images of Boston barfights and buggery spanning the rest of the weekend.

Comment from Kyle: “I just like the fact that Dave was the only one not drinking, but looks more liqued than anyone else“. I like it too – It seems I really don’t need alcohol to have a good time. Just plenty of clown porn and amphetamines. Have a look at the photo on the top left: In case you were wondering why the Red Sox won so easily, it’s because I’ve been rubbing my “lamp” all week. Oh… And that candle that was on the table at Tiernans, too.

And here we all are in the middle of the mess that was Faneuil Hall. I’ll be glad when Halloween is over, because I’m tired of looking like Jason Priestly on steroids. I need a haircut, a shave and a reason to stop TiVoing 90210.

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Red Sox vs. Office Productivity. Sox Win Again.

by admin on October 28, 2004
in

How hideously unproductive is your office or place of business right now? So far this morning, I’ve gotten 58 Red Sox related e-mails and probably as many instant messages. My boss is bleary-eyed and incoherent, our sales guy has failed to show up for a meeting and God forbid we talk about a client rather than the victory parade on Saturday.

I say we all pack it in and meet up on my roofdeck for beers and BBQ. How anyone is supposed to concentrate today is beyond me. Oh yeah, they’re called professionals. Know any?

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Curse This! – Boston Wins The World Series.

by admin on October 28, 2004
in

I won’t recap tonight’s game. I won’t repeat what I wrote last week about Red Sox Karma and deserving to win. I don’t need to delve into how much I respect Boston Baseball fans, who after being served up steaming hot disappointment for 86 years straight, still report for duty every spring as the most fanatical, faithful and fervent fans known to the sport. What I will do is share a few photos I took tonight for anyone wondering what it was like to be in the city of Boston the year the Red Sox finally reversed the curse, and won the World Series. I am surprised I made it home without being open mouth kissed by another man, hit over the head with a trash barrel or stomped silly by a police horse. Because that’s what usually happens to me on Wednesday nights.

Here’s Ris, Me, some old guy who kept trying to sneak into our photographs screaming about booze and hookers, and Ted. Or maybe it was Ris screaming about booze and hookers. I was caught up in the moment and don’t really remember. Six Diet Cokes will do that to a guy.

There’s Chrissy flying her colors in Tiernans where we all watched the game. I have a great video clip of the place erupting after the last out which I’m going to try to compress and post. Then there’s a guy sitting on someone’s shoulders waving a broom in Faneuil Hall. Get it? If the specifics of broom humor (I must have seen 30 people carrying them tonight) needs to be explained to you, Bob Saget might be more your speed.

What major sporting event championship would be complete without the obligatory “arsehole up the flagpole” photo? I’m sure this guy was dragged down and beaten by police like a flatulent stepchild shortly after this blurry mess was taken, but alas – my camera is absolute shite in the dark. I’ll post some better photos tomorrow as they’re e-mailed to me. And there are Ted and I amongst the swelling sea of ‘Revere Rickys’ screaming “fuck yeah dood!”.

What really struck me about tonight was an overwhelming sense of unity. Fans of all creeds and colors – with no personal connection to each other other than they were all simultaneously out of doors – high fiving, screaming in people’s faces, knocking each other over for a good dry-humping. And no one was killed by a stray pepper-spray packet which is always a bonus. It was all very touching. Jesus, there was a lot of touching.

The parade is Friday, and it’s going to be a long weekend of revelry – Boston championship style. See you all at The Big Haunt.

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Money Can’t Buy Class: Red Sox Beat The Yankees.

by admin on October 21, 2004
in

I am more of a hockey fan, but every fall I’ll get just a little fairweather and start watching Sox games if situations get interesting – and let’s just say it’s been a long week of TV. If you want to read a great Red Sox Blog, there are none finer than my friend Kent’s who has kept the faith remotely for years, all the way from Atlanta. So I’ll leave the excrutiating post-game analysis to people like him and just make a few high-level comments on why I think the Sox were able to mete out such a brutal pennant-winning, arse-whipping to the Yankees last night.

In a word: Karma. God, the powers that be, Miss Cleo, the Universe… whatever you want to call it… finally had had enough of Jeter’s snide expressions, A-Rod’s 22 million dollar blueberry yoghurt lips, pompous fans who forget that their now-toppled dynasty was bought rather than built and… um… that smug little Jeter bastard again. The looks on the faces of the NY crowd after the last out were just savory. It’s been so, so easy to be a Yankees fan for the last few years. And we were all so, so sick of you.

I remember in particular a shot of Billy Crystal in one of the luxury boxes, his face still pressed to the glass in disbelief a good 5 minutes after the game had ended. You can’t win all the time, Bill – I know it hurts. But I guess you already learned that lesson way back when The Legend of Curly’s Gold was released. Crystal is a great symbol for Yankees fans in general: Sitting high on their perch, looking down their noses at other teams instead of cheering their own, never dreaming they’d soon be unsurped by one of the greatest underdogs in sports history.

Popular Red Sox credos like “Keep The Faith” and “Cowboy Up” turn the attention and the onus inward. They’re meant to inspire and motivate the team and faithful fans alike. The best the Yankees can muster is “Who’s Your Daddy?” which just encourages people to dismiss and insult the opposition rather than root, root, root for the home team. And Jeter’s response to curious reporters last night? “It’s not always the best team that wins.” It’s not always the best team that comes back from a 3-0 series deficit to then whup the opposition by nearly double digits, either. Oh wait – you know what, Derek? It probably is. Sorry, I got caught up in the undertow of your ginormous ego there for a moment.

Too bad, so sad. What comes around already went around, and you lads get to spend the rest of the fall polishing your Bentleys. While the Red Sox Nation spends it showing New York that millions of dollars are never a match for perseverance, unity, character and class. Of course, I DID pass a guy on the way to work this morning wearing a “Jeter Swallows” T-Shirt. But for the sake of this article, let’s just keep that between us fairweather Sox fans.

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OK. Maybe Just Stay Out Of The Water.

by admin on October 20, 2004
in

There’s definitely a theme developing on Pye in the Face this week, and I apologize if you’re not fully into the aquatic motif. But as soon as terrifying and weird-ass forms of new sea life stop washing up on beaches around the world I’ll get back to the breast jokes.

This story comes to us from New Zealand, where some sort of behemoth from the hockey puck genus washed up near Farewell Spit on Sunday. It measured 3 meters across and the estimated weight was somewhere around a ton. A Department of Conservation worker noticed it on the beach while out for a bike ride, said it was a good specimen and “did not smell” – which unfortunately precludes me from any serious attempt at a Michael Moore joke.

The creepiest thing about this beast (which New Zealanders apparently call a Sun Fish), is the expression on it’s face and – Jesus – it’s mouth. Look at the lips on the damn thing. If I stumbled upon it while jogging down the beach late at night, I might mistake it for Angelina Jolie. Or an inflatable E.T. sex doll. In either case, the jog would then come to an abrupt halt in favor of push-ups.

I’d like to suggest that scientists around the world start wandering the beaches with Geiger counters or begin looking for whichever North Korean nuclear facility is firing pucks of uranium into the Pacific. Preferably before my petty daily financial and work-related stresses are replaced permanently with Godzilla.

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For The Love Of Quinn: SAVE TOUGH CROWD!

by admin on October 19, 2004
in Television

A lot of people saw and commented – via blog or IM/e-mail – on my post last week regarding the cancellation of Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. If you haven’t read it, please do so and save us all some time this post around. The nutshell: brilliant, topical, bi-partisan, current event debate show featuring the finest stand-up comics working today which is being canceled on November 4th.

I was lucky enough to get a ticket to the final taping and will be traveling down from Boston with Brukkake on a little daytrip, but that’s a small comfort. An associate of frequent Tough Crowd guest Jim Norton and the related website CringeHumor.net, was one of the people who found my article on Google and contacted me. Yesterday he IM’d me again to let me know about a new site which I wanted to pass along to anyone who cares. And judging from my server logs, a surprising number of you do.

The main goal of SaveToughCrowd.com is to get fans to email decision makers at Comedy Central and let them know just how many people truly love and support the show. The email addresses provided include Doug Herzog: President & CEO, Marc Leonard: Vice President of Program & Promotions Scheduling, Debbie Beiter: Vice President of Production & On-Air Promotions and Peter Risafi: Senior Vice President of On Air Promotion & Off Air Creative. Please visit the site and send a message of your own. I have.

Tough Crowd is being canceled because it loses too much of the audience which watches the show preceding it: the formerly-hilarious-and-currently-partisan-but-always-reprehensible Daily Show with it’s host Jon Stewart (who isn’t fit to sniff Tucker Carlson’s bicycle seat). The official show-biz term is ‘hemorrhaging’. But in this case I’ll settle for ‘catering to lefty college students’. The underlying argument is that the show never got a fair shot, with 98% of all Comedy Central’s marketing thrown behind Crank Yankers, Wanda Does It, Chapelle’s Show and Blue Collar Comedy Hour. And, as a frequent watcher of the channel, I firmly agree. So please do your part.

But if you’re a big fan of Larry the Cable Guy – you’ve got absolutely nothing to worry about.

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Attack Of The Humbolt Flying Giant Squids.

by admin on October 19, 2004
in

More squidiness for those of you who still can’t believe that I spent last Saturday night writing about defunct Disney World rides. Over 1,500 Humboldt jumbo flying squid washed up on Long Beach Peninsula, and have been doing so in British Columbia and Washington as well. I guess that’s squid pro quo being under attack from soggy suicide bombers. OK that was a new low.

They’ve become so commonplace off the West coast in the past week that, in typical human fashion, people have started contemplating eating them. “I sure wouldn’t eat them. It would be like eating a deer on the side of the road,” said Greg Bargmann, a marine fish manager with the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department. “But if you catch them live they’d be good.” Hoo wee! Them squid’s good eatin’! Forget about roadkill possum sandwiches, let’s take a couple of shotguns down to the beach and catch us an eight-legger then go back and watch the Nascar. Whoops, wrong coast.

But what if these things were washing up on the East Coast – say, in a seafood crazy city like our own Boston? The Barking Crab would immediately become “The Flying Squid”. Harpoon would begin brewing Squidtoberfest, Fenway would begin serving Flying Franks, Humbolt chowder would become all the rage at Legal Seafood and a new nightclub would open up in the Alley called “Tentacles” which would attract patrons from as far away as Pawtucket.

Here’s a gallery from the website of a guy who apparently spends more time obsessing about giant squids than even I am capable of. Note in particular the photo of the two humbolts laid out beside a cooler to add scale to the image. Make that a large calamari to go. I mean, to run screaming.

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Giant Squids & Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea Ride.

by admin on October 15, 2004
in Reminiscent

My sister went to Disneyland last weekend and confirmed what I’d heard for years and never wanted to believe. And no, it’s not that Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is much scarier when you’re six. I’ll get back to this point.

Listen – don’t you just love it when they catch the giant squids? Last week off the coast of British Colombia, a salmon fisherman named Goody Gudmundseth netted a 20kg, 1.5 metre long Humbolt Squid. Also known as the Jumbo Flying Squid. Flying squids? Oh, Goody! Eventually Gudmundseth turned it over to the Royal B.C. museum for study, but said that he’d almost decided to “use the squid for bait or to eat it as calamari”. I don’t know what he was thinking about when he gave it to science. I mean just look at that delicious grey thing. Can you also jar up the squid juice out of the tub so I can pour it over my mashed potatoes tomorrow?:

But in 2002 a giant squid was caught off the coast of Tasmania that makes Goodie’s look like a malnourished Sea Monkey. Actually, it just washed up dead on the beach. Which is a good thing – they would have needed Captain Nemo, seaQuest DSV, Das Boot and Red October to catch this monster. The friggin’ thing was 60 feet long and weighed over 550 pounds! Add that to the fact that it reeked like a hundred dead carps in the sun, and you can understand why I was so excited.

As you can see by now, I’m a bit of a giant squid afficianado (form a line to the left, ladies) and so I found myself recently reminded of my favorite Disney movie, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. The nutshell: Captain Nemo rescues Peter Lorrie and Kirk Douglas after he sinks their ship. He shows them his ultra-modern submarine – The Nautilus – holds them captive and then gets killed by a big giant squid at the end. That was really only half a nutshell. But I love the film and even had the LP when I was a kid which I listened to on a Mickey Mouse record player to no end like a good little Disney zombie. So I guess that’s where the whole squid fascination thing comes from. There are worse things to be fascinated by. Like shiny keychains or Kreskin, for example.

So I was understandably psyched when my parents took me to Disneyland for the first time in the late 70’s – because I knew full well there was a big, glorious 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea Ride waiting there for me. The nutshell: You’d force your parents to wait in line in the hot Florida sun for 2 hours because there were only 2 subs going around on a track which each probably held about 10 people. You’d get in and listen to Captain Nemo take you on a tour of the lagoon, during which you’d see sunken ships, mermaids, Atlantis and yep – you guessed it – a giant squid. It was, in all fairness, a pretty cool ride for 1971. And I always found it incredibly eerie (I made three trips to Disneyland and rode it at least 5 times, the last hurrah being in 1991.)

You can still take a tour of the old ride on a site made by a similarly disgruntled fan here. And this is a page full of horrifying photos a Disney employee made during the old lagoon’s final destruction just this past July. And I have to give full credit to this guy, who has assembled an amazing collection of videos he was sent in by folks who’d taped the ride pre it’s 1994 demise and some great footage from a former Disney employee who worked on ride maintenance (no small feat) for a decade.

So the first thing I asked Janet when she got back from Disneyland Monday was “Is it true that they closed the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea Ride?!” To which she looked at me like she’d just caught me dressing up like Captain Kirk and acting out scenes with imaginary Romulans or whatever they’re called. Which she hasn’t yet, by the way. And then replied simply, “Yes.”

Incidentally, that bastard Eisner has closed Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, too.

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