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Unemployment is locked in the double digits… Winston Churchill’s false teeth are up for auction… Oil is coating our shorelines while the BP Oil Chief Executive is walking away with about $ 18 million in ‘stepping down’ pay… and the donning of those saggy pants all the kids are wearing down around their ankles these days has been ruled legal, despite our best efforts, by a judge in New York. Well, to paraphrase President Obama, things could be worse. (you could be that poor Idaho thrift shop owner whose laptop was accidentally sold to a customer for $ 5. Geez!) Speaking of great deals… let’s see what our some of our Friars are up to, shall we?
FRIARS AROUND TOWN:
In the mood to watch some television? No problem. Check out these famous Friars on all their hit shows!
JON STEWART on The Daily Show; JIMMY FALLON, LARRY KING, JIMMY KIMMEL, LARRY KING, JOY BEHAR on their own talk shows; WHOOPI GOLDBERG on The View, MATT LAUER & KATHIE LEE GIFFORD on the Today Show. BRUCE WILLIS in the new action flick, The Expendables.
Then check out some great live theater featuring these great Friars:
Thru August 19-The Laurie Beechman Theater-407 West 42nd Street, NYC
JOAN RIVERS
Friar Joan Rivers presents an evening of her newest and most outrageous riffs on Hollywood, pop culture, celebrities, reality TV and award show fashions. A portion of the proceeds goes to Friar Rivers' favorite charities: God's Love We Deliver and Guide Dogs for the Blind.
On Broadway- “A Little Night Music”- The Walter Kerr Theater-
ELAINE STRITCH
Based on Ingmar Bergman's film Smiles of a Summer Night, A Little Night Music centers on the elegant actress Desiree Armfeldt and all the intrigue that surrounds her. Bernadette Peters and Friar Stritch have replaced Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury as Desiree and Mme. Armfeldt, and man, this show is gonna be great!
August 6th – September 2nd- “Happy”-Series B- 59E59 Theaters- 59 East 59th Street, NYC- www.59e59.org
ALAN ZWEIBEL
Some people have all the luck. For instance, there’s that guy who went to a garage sale and paid $ 45 for a bunch of Ansel Adams photographs that turned out to be worth about $ 200 million. Meanwhile, you went to the same garage sale, paid $ 60 for a set of broken ice cube trays because they were rumored to have been used during the Watergate break-in and, thereby, worth millions! Turns out, of course, they’re worth about 60 cents, and came, not from G. Gordon Liddy’s private Watergate ice cube tray collection, but instead, Walmart’s kitchen aisle. Well, don’t fret, Friars! Treasures come when you least expect them. Take, for instance, the new play, Happy, written by Friar Alan Zweibel- winner of the Thurber Prize, recipient of the 2010 Writer’s Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, and collaborator on the Tony Award-wining Broadway show, 700 Sundays, starring Friar Billy Crystal. Happy is a one-act play, directed by Fred Berner, starring B’way veteran Arthur French and Scott Adsit from 30 Rock, and it’s premiering as part of the prestigious Summer Shorts annual festival which showcases the world premiere works of eight award-winning playwrights. Happy is about a middle-aged baseball fan, Donald, who goes to a Boca Raton apartment building seeking out his hero, the building’s superintendent, Happy Halliday, an elderly man who once played Second Base for the 1962 New York Mets. With him, Donald brings a baseball signed by members of the team for which Happy played - a piece of memorabilia that will become more valuable once Halliday signs it. Simultaneously thought-provoking, moving, and witty, Happy explores the role of heroes in our lives, and the chance at redemption that a stranger can provide. So, purchase your tickets before they sell out and all you’re left with are your Watergate-less ice cube trays and some lice from that garage sale. And look for news on Friar Zweibel’s upcoming show, Sunday Nights at 8:00, to be directed by Jerry Zaks.
August 6th-HLN 9 PM and 12 PM- “The Joy Behar Show”
SAL RICHARDS
For those of us not sated by the release of certain Hollywood stars I Spent Three Hours In Prison- Boo Hoo memoirs, here is a book Friars can really sink their teeth into. Fresh off of his marvelous book signing right here at the Monastery actor/comedian/entertainer/author Friar Sal Richards will be appearing on The Joy Behar Show to promote his new book, Behind The Laughter, Hidden Tears. An accomplished film and television actor who has also toured the country performing comedy and is beloved by so many adoring fans, Friar Richards opens up his heart to readers with the emotional story of his life and family. To quote our very own esteemed Friar Marvin Scott, "With sensitivity, Sal Richards unmasks the face of a clown to weave an emotional story of courage and faith that bonds a family and enables it to overcome adversity. the story is as raw as the life he lived. It is a testament to the fact that after tasting the bitterness of life there still can be laughter" . We couldn’t have said it better ourselves! And in addition to penning a great book Friar Richards will also be spreading the laughs as he headlines this month at The Primetime Comedy Theater in Sayreville, NJ on Aug 28th (8 PM show- Call 732-721-6555/ or www.primetimecomedyonline.com for tix.) And check out www.SalRichards.com for all the latest on this most terrific entertainer.
August 7th- 7 PM “Thank You Lena!” The Metropolitan Room- 34 West 22nd Street, NY- 212.206.0440/ www.metropolitanroom.com
JO THOMPSON
A recent study found that no matter where you are in the country, you will never be more than 107 miles from a McDonalds. Well, clogged arteries and Happy Meal toys aside, if you’re within about 107 miles of the Metropolitan Room this month, you’ll be happy to hear that Friar Jo Thompson is debuting a new show, Thank You Lena!!! Conceived by her son, journalist Greg Dunmore, as a tribute to Ms. Lena Horne, who befriended Friar Thompson when both women were booked at Jack Goldman's Clover Club in Miami in 1953. A Backstage Magazine Hall of Fame inductee, Friar Thompson is one of a handful of working performers with firsthand recall of engagements at Sans Souci in pre-Castro Havana, Café Society in New York, the Stork Room in London and many other glamorous and historic post-swing venues from Beverly Hills to Paris. She acknowledges Horne’s combination of sass and sophistication as an influence on her own development. She’s a timeless, knockout beauty in the general neighborhood of 80 years old – who plays piano, and vamps, purrs and growls her way through fifteen cheeky standards on Jo Thompson Forever Fabulous, a new CD released on JazzJewels Digital with the J.C. Heard Orchestra under the direction of Walt Szymanski (order at www.jazzjewels.tv/jothompsonepk.html.) As Time Out New York says, “Jo Thompson is a stick of human dynamite….If you don’t get to her show, you’ll be missing out on the liveliest, lustiest hour in town.” Need we say more?
Thru August 8th-“Falling for Eve” The York Theatre-619 Lexington Avenue ( 212-935-5820/www.yorktheatre.org
DAVID MCCOY
It’s the most famous love story ever. God makes Man. Man gets bored sitting around in empty garden. God gets tired of Man whining. Takes one of Man’s ribs. Fashions it into a hot chick. Woman is born. Voila! It’s love at first fig leaf. Yes, the story of Adam and Eve is as old as, well, Adam and Eve. But you’ve never heard the Creation story told quite the way Falling For Eve, the esteemed York Theatre’s newest production, tells it! Friar David McCoy, Chairman of the Board at the York Theatre, brings us this wildly irreverent second look at the world's first love story. “A fresh and unconventional retelling of the most famous romance of all time, filled with unexpected twists and turns as Eve and Adam realize that "paradise" may not be a place after all.” Based on the play, Adam Alone, by David Howard, and directed by Larry Raben, Falling For Eve boasts a book by Joe DiPietro (2010 Tony Winner for the totally awesome Broadway musical, Memphis) with music by Bret Simmons (The Megan Mullally Show) and lyrics by David Howard (Galaxy Quest) The cast features Jennifer Blood (Susan and God), Krystal Joy Brown (Hair), Nehal Joshi (Les Misèrables), Adam Kantor (Next to Normal), Jose Llana (Spelling Bee) and Sasha Sloan (Ragtime). So, whether you’re a man… or a woman… or not quite sure, take a break from the sweltering heat at the York Theatre this summer. You’ll fall for Falling for Eve, just like the critics have! Just don’t mention the word ‘apple’ during the show. Please. That fruit is a bit of a hot button topic for Adam these days…
August 17th- Carolines on Broadway-212-757-4100
HARRISON GREENBAUM:
As the peaceful people of New Hampshire flee their beaches after a rogue giant jelly fish stung over 100 victims. we Friars here in the Big Apple are looking for some entertainment around town that doesn’t result in a panicked “OH MY GOD! WE’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BOAT!” call to the Poison Control Hotline. Well, look no further, ye of the joke-lovin’ ilk- for comedian Friar Harrison Greenbaum is performing at Carolines this month! After graduating summa cum laude (Latin for “I’m really studious”) from Harvard, where he co-founded the Harvard College Stand-Up Comic Society, Friar Greenbaum took his comedy to the big leagues, a featured performer on SPIKE TV, the Discovery Channel, and SIRIUS Satellite Radio. He was also a finalist for the Andy Kaufman Award and New York Comedy Contest, as well as a semi-finalist in the Boston Comedy Festival and a regional semi-finalist in RooftopComedy.com's National College Comedy Competition. Most recently, Friar Greenbaum headlined the sold-out "Andy Kaufman Funhouse" shows at TBS Just for Laughs Chicago and co-hosted the Times Square New Year’s Eve World Wide Webcast, broadcasting live to over 500,000 viewers (some of them so drunk they’re still in 2009). His humor has been seen in "Joke of the Week" in TimeOut NY, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, MAD Magazine, the Boston Globe, and on CNBC.com. Harrison is also the creator and co-producer of the longest-running, most successful weekly comedy show in Times Square, Sage Stand-Up (sagestandup.com), where he is a weekly featured act, and he created, co-produces, and stars in a weekly magic and variety show in the heart of the theater district called Manhattan Magic (manhattanmagicshow.com). So, rather than taking your chances swimming in the state that is about to change its license plate motto to “Live Free or Die… from the Sting of Our Serial Killing Sea Creature”, head on over to Carolines on Broadway to enjoy the summa cum laude comedy stylings of Friar Harrison Greenbaum.
A Bunch of August Dates
SCOTT BLAKEMAN
Friar Scott Blakeman is not only a very funny guy, but a really smart guy. Much smarter than, say, the Midwestern woman who just robbed two banks and then realized she locked her keys in her getaway car. Or the dingbat bank robber in NYC who dressed up as Darth Vader (“Luuuuuuuke, come to the dark side… of Riker’s”) You see, Friar Blakeman specializes in political humor- and who can’t benefit from a little of that these days, right? On August 18th tune into Friar Blakeman’s The End Of The Week As We Know It, where Scott hosts his political comedy talk show with a panel of liberal and conservative pundits, as part of the New York Underground Comedy Festival. You’ll not only laugh, but learn. (Gotham Comedy Club Vintage Lounge. 8 pm. 208 W. 23 St. 212-367-9000. www.nyucf.com) Then, on August 28, it’s time for Scott Blakeman: A Liberal Dose of Political Humor- as he brings his political humor from a liberal Jewish point of view to Martha's Vineyard. (Grange Hall, State Road, West Tisbury, MA.8 pm. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/119563.) Lastly, on August 30 & 31 Friar Blakeman is at the Theater Workshop of Nantucket, hosting the annual Susan Burns Comedy Extravaganza. (Methodist Church. 2 Centre St. Nantucket, MA. 8:30 pm. www.theaterworkshop.com.) Yes, he’s charming. He’s smart. He’s funny as heck, and has enough fashion sense to know that the Darth Vader look is sooooooooo 1970s.
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