Subject: Re: Comedy Writer
From: "Mark Edelman" <tlmedelman@gmail.com>
Date: 12/16/08, 02:38
To: "Barrett Brown" <barriticus@gmail.com>

Thanks for your reply.
 
Our show is called 12 O'CLOCK JUMP. It's a one hour live variety show produced in the upstairs bar/club at the Mutual Musicians Foundation Building in the historic 18th and Vine Jazz District in Kansas City. The building was the home of the Black Musicians Union beginning in the 20s. Every major African-American jazz artist from the 30s on hung out there: Count Basie, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Cab Calloway, Fletcher Henderson, Bennie Moten, Andy Kirk, Jay McShann, etc. Charlie Parker met Dizzy Gillespie in this building. It's "hallowed ground" for the jazz fans who know about it. Here's a link to the MMF:
 http://www.umkc.edu/orgs/local627/foundation/
 
For decades,  local musicians-- black, white, Latino, etc-- have been coming here after their Saturday night gigs and jamming til 6 AM. Our show- a twist on the name of Count Basies' theme song "One O'Clock Jump"-- runs from 12 midnight to 1 AM. It's mostly music: each week we celebrate a jazz artist's birthday, play a couple of tunes from the KC jazz songbook (Moten-Basie era), and bring in two younger players to jam with our house band. We also do a jazz calendar of events for other clubs in the area and a jazz-related interview. The room seats about 50. Admission is free; the Foundation gets the bar.
 
The music takes up about 3/4 of the hour. For the other 15 minutes, we have a stable of local comedy actors who do improvs and sketches. I'm looking for sketches for these actors to do together and with our host, a well-known local TV weatherman who is also a musician. Stage is small; we only have room for two, maybe three actors at a time.
 
The sketches should create characters that have some loose tie to jazz or a jazz-oriented scene, including characters from the past. For instance, we've got a prop wall that an actor uses in a bit called "If These Walls Could Talk"-- we set up the "hallowed ground" history of the room in a solemn opening, then the "wall" starts talking to the host or audience for a two-three minutes of stand-up. We're working on a character (see script attached-- pp 3-4) called Mister Jazz who's the beat version of the Jon Lovitz know-it-all from SNL-- claims to have known every jazz artist, was around for everything. Unfortunately, neither "If These Walls" nor Mister Jazz works--that's why I'm looking for sketch comedy writers.
 
If you write a three to four minute sketch (including musical theme that intros and outros the piece) and we use it in the show, I'll pay you $100 for it. This is work-for-hire; we'd own the copyright, characters, set-ups, etc. (once we paid you for them, of course). If you come up with something we like, we'll commission more work for that character or concept. At this point, we have three slots a show-- that could go to four, if we have enough material. We'll probably continue to include improv sketches (see "Born to Be Blue" and "This Is Your Song" in script) in the show as well.
 
We are producing three more pilot shows: Jan 24 (featuring music of Antonio Carlos Jobim), March 28 (Sarah Vaughan) and April 4 (jazz organist Jimmy McGriff). Local public radio stations will be auditioning the show for a regular live weekly slot. If we get on the air here, we will make the show available on the Public Radio Exchange and start promoting its network broadcast. Our goal is to be on the air on a weekly basis beginning July 1.
 
What am I am looking for? Character sketch comedy--especially topical stuff-- that works without alot of visuals, since we are aiming, ultimately, at public radio (though the show will always play before our live club audience). Think of it as a mostly-music SNL or PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION with a jazz, urban sensibility. The cast, crew and audience are all racially diverse. No blue material, since we are aiming for a radio audience.
 
Here's a great piece I saw on Comedy Central's CHOCOLATE NEWS. This is one example of what I have in mind (though you'd have to translate the visuals and tone it down a bit for our purposes). Anything funny that relates to/uses/references the blues and jazz idiom will do. If you're interested in submitting materal, let me know how you'd like to proceed.
 
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=209683&title=uncensored-toots-to-poots
 
Mark Edelman, President
Theater League
913-338-1801
816-916-6275 (cell)
913-338-1803 (fax)
Enhancing the quality of life in the communities we serve with the thrill of live! theater

On Sun, Dec 14, 2008 at 12:33 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
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Howdy-

I understand you're in need of a comedy writer to compose weekly sketches for your variety show, and I'd like to be considered. My work has appeared in National Lampoon, The Onion A.V. Club, McSweeney's, Skeptic, and dozens of other publications, and I've also served as a contract writer for a humorous animated financial program which appeared on the Fox Business Channel as well as for television performer Sati Achath. My first book, Flock of Dodos: Behind Modern Creationism, Intelligent Design, and the Easter Bunny was released last year to praise from Rolling Stone, Alan Dershowitz, The Huffington Post, and other sources.

Please let me know if you'd like to discuss the gig further.

Thanks,

Barrett Brown
Brooklyn, NY
512-560-2302

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--
Mark Edelman, President
Theater League
913-338-1801
816-916-6275 (cell)
913-338-1803 (fax)

Enhancing the quality of life in the communities we serve with the thrill of live! theater