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On The Air
By Joeth Zucco
Senior Editor ______
As one show winds down to the
tune of “1 spent my last 10 bucks on
birth control and beer” another
show winds up to:
“Good evening and welcome to
the ‘Six Ways From Sunday Show’
broadcast live from the spacious
KZL'M studios high atop the sewer
systems of downtown Lincoln at
10th and O streets with your hosts
King Kaos and Mr. Danno. Also
starring Al Lacart live from the
Pharroh Room al the Phantom
Hotel! Plus comedy from the toy
studio immediately following This
Date in History at 10.
“And now, here they are . . .
King Kaos and Mr Danno.”
It’s 9:30 Thursday night at
KZL’M and the “Six Ways From
Sunday Show” is on the air.
The studio seems to be in as
much kaos as the King himself. A
little boy is running around setting
off rocket fire with a little black
box. Dee-jays play musical chairs
and generally set up as the show
progresses.
The intro comes to an end and
all is calm King Kaos and Danno
take to the airwaves. Tonight’s
musical theme is famous songs by
other musicians. After a few open
ing statements, the show starts off
with the Beat Farmers rendition of
“Karma Chameleon,” originally
recorded by Boy George.
The show is coming upon its
first anniversary in June. King Kaos
said he and Danno started doing
comedy for the “Magic Dragon
Theater” with Marty Wells on
Monday nights. The two left when
they got their own show. King
Kaos said they wanted to gear their
energy toward one show instead of
two.
Between the two, King Kaos
handles the creativity and comedy
while Danno does the editing, pro
duction and “technical stuff.”
There is a third member of the
team, von Eric, who doesn’t go on
the air live, but appears vocally on
the taped skits.
The three meet on Sundays to
tape the skits. With King Kaos’ vast
library of comedy records span
ning back to the 1930s and up to
the present and Danno engineer
ing experience, the two create
vintage-sounding radio comedy,
commercials, and situation come
dies.
The show is essentially put to
gether day by day, King Kaos said.
Ideas for skits, jokes, or conversa
tion between songs come to him at
random times, he said.
The listeners are getting their
share of famous songs. I p to now,
Dcvo has done their tribute to MU is
with "Don’t Be Cruel,” Trio has
done the famous Little Richard
song, "Tutti Frutti,” the Beatles
have done a cover of "Mr. Post
man” by the Marvelcttes ami In
stant Funk has covered "Hard
Day’s Night" by the Beatles.
The red light flashes and the
phone rings in the background.
King Kaos comments that one of
their three regular listeners is call
ing. Actually, they said thev don’t
know how many people listen, but
they do get their dose of positive
feedback.
King Kaos said he doesn’t know
where comedy will take him, but
he might stay with it in radio He
said that it’s a good testing ground
for other projects he’s done
Groucho Marx is King’s most
prominent influence. 1 le said he is
drawn in by the unique brand of
humor - “they don’t care.’’
"1 like a lot of the old radio com
edy like Jack Benny. 1 liked radio
script writing back then. It’s a
good testing ground for t.v "
Danno claims to not have any
influences.
"He’s our straight man,’ King
Kaos said.
The two met during Fire Preven
tion Week, Danno said.
"He was on fire, I put him out,”
he said.
The hour and a half show is
coming to an end. Mark Knottier
and Chet Atkins strum “Imagine
by John Lennon, the Dead Ken
nedy’s slash out “Viva Las Vegas
then The Beat Farmers honor Led
Zeppelin with a medley of its hits.
The atmosphere has tensed up
as they try to get their last songs on
and the last skits played out. As 11
p.m. approaches, another night of
comedy goes down in the book
“The preceding was a copy
righted feature and may not be re
produced in whole or in part w ith
oul the written consent of the Six
Ways From Sunday Show’ . . . far
out.”
Punchlines for nothing,
Jokes for free
By John Bruce
Senior Editor__
New comedy, like any poten
tially marketable product, must be
tested.
So for no charge, the Harris Labs
of Humor lends its stage every
other Monday night to a comedy
workshop -- a forum for local tal
ents to try their trade.
It’s hip, it’s musty,.it’s cot vinyl
seats, but most of all, Duffy’s Tav
ern has got something different.
Starting around 9:30 pm., East
ern Nebraska’s aspiring comedians
perform a mixture of stand-up
comedy and humor skits spiked
with crowd participation and
crowd abuse.
For the audience, th : night of
fers cheap humor and reasonable
drinks-, for the comedians, the
night offers one more chance to
chase a dream.
Red Tolnai says that the comedy
workshop grew out of an "open
mike night” in which anyone could
jump on stage and do a stand-up
routine. Now Tolnai and seven
other young comedians appear
regularly at Duffy’s to experiment
and try new material.
Material that works will be
waxed and polished, punchlines
will be adjusted and then the new
and improved jokes will be taken
to professional comedy clubs like
Noodles, where comedians get
paid for being goofy.
All eight comedians perform
solo routines as well as group skits.
According to Reg McMeen, who
was waiting backstage in a little red
dreSs, the comics get together on
Sunday nights before tne work
shop to think up new ideas.
However, he said, much of the
show is improvised.
Some of the members are rela
tively new to the group. Others,
such as Mark Patton - “no relation
tothegeneral”--are veterans of the
Lincoln comedy scene. He started
“Bad Comedy Night” a few years
ago in a Haymarket pub. The
comedy night caught on and was
very successful, he said.
But with the influx of profes
sional clubs, “Bad Comedy Night”
went the way of the slide rule and
long guitar solos.
Tolnai said one problem with
the comedy workshop is that no
one knows it exists.
“There’s a definite lack of
press,” he said, “we need more
people, a different crowd!”
Patton agrees the comedians
would like to see a larger crowd.
However, he said, seeing the
same audience every other week
forces the comedians to come up
with new routines.
But ultimately, it’s the audience
that benefits. The jokes are free.
Many are even funny. And best of
all, there is very little juggling.
One improvisational sketch in
volved two comedians placed in a
hypothetical comical situation. The
two pit their comedic abilities
against each other, both racing for
the punchline ~ the comical jugu
lar. Next, someone yells freeze,
and one of the comics is replaced
by another who sets up a new
situation. Ideally, the audience will
laugh.
Bob Nelson
contributed to
this story
les & Jaymes or I
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April 25-30
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General Admission: $5.00 Adults
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