Back in the early 1980s, we hooked up with a troupe who were doing a 1/2 hour comedy show called "Big B's Traveling Sideshow" (Or "Travelling." We never quite settled on that). They had a sponsor. They had four people who could do characters, impressions and seemed to be able to perform comedy. They had a music guy who wrote them a theme. They had head shots. And they were ready to take on the world of Manhattan Cable TV, where porn ruled.
We are set up in a new studio after having the show on "hiatus" for what felt like months. It was third show for Big B's. More on that with the next chapter on the cold open. John Rawlins and I had written this sketch a while previously and we both always loved it. Inspired by those stock photos they put in the picture frames you buy, it was an idea for a ridiculous product to solve a ludicrous problem in a totally ineffective way. I always loved the line about developing her first roll of color film. And for reasons that elude me, I'm in the sketch with the wacky Jordan Auslander. Big B herself, Bea Bevis, was paired with Carole Real.
I'll be honest, I'm a ham at heart, so I was very excited to be in this sketch. I worked hard on it. I had a new perm flown in. I thought we pulled it off, DESPITE the fact that you can actually HEAR the control room on the audio (This was the "new" studio that they had found and it was barely an improvement over having no studio). I remember getting a copy of the show and bringing it home to show the family. Now, you have to know, the family wasn't too big on compliments. They showed their love via insults and put-downs. After I showed them this sketch, they began calling me Otto. And not in a fun way. After that, I didn't share much of my writing life with them for a long while.
I once again note: the picture ratio is off, like your smart TV that gets confused between new TV shows and old TV shows.
I'll be honest, I'm a ham at heart, so I was very excited to be in this sketch. I worked hard on it. I had a new perm flown in. I thought we pulled it off, DESPITE the fact that you can actually HEAR the control room on the audio (This was the "new" studio that they had found and it was barely an improvement over having no studio). I remember getting a copy of the show and bringing it home to show the family. Now, you have to know, the family wasn't too big on compliments. They showed their love via insults and put-downs. After I showed them this sketch, they began calling me Otto. And not in a fun way. After that, I didn't share much of my writing life with them for a long while.
I once again note: the picture ratio is off, like your smart TV that gets confused between new TV shows and old TV shows.
