Laugh

Editor's Note: Numerous instances of plagiarism have been discovered in Dan Kimber's “Education Matters” column, which ran in the News- Press from September 2003 to September 2011. In those columns where plagiarism has been found, a For the Record specifying the details will be appended to the piece. I discovered long ago how easily embarrassed teenagers are. I was once 17, a lifetime ago it seems (or was it just yesterday?), and I was at war with myself. There was the me who wanted to be myself, wanted to assert my individuality, wanted to claim an identity that was all my own. And there was the other, conformist me, who did not want to stand out, who wanted desperately to fit in. The battle lines were drawn, with the conformist usually winning out over the individualist.

The always outrageous and sometimes shocking R-Rated comedy of Ian Bagg will be showcased at The Ice House Comedy Club from July 27 to 29. Because he is a master of "off the cuff" comedy, you never know what Bagg might say. Having been described as "sarcastic, witty and just plain funny," Bagg began his comedy career in 1992 in his native Canada and soon made his way to New York City. There he made several appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, HBO's Louie Anderson's Comedy Showcase and Doctor Katz on Comedy Central.

The article on Jay Drayman was a little incomplete and it made me feel uncomfortable, although I'm not sure why. I know the paper had no intention of irritating its readers, but you somehow didn't get the picture of Jay with your coverage. I knew Jay well and went to school with his daughter. I remember clearly being driven to a school dance by Jay, with other kids in the car. He was speaking in some kind of made-up dialect to a man we had passed on the street corner.

If you're in the mood for laughs and have cash to blow, round up some friends and see "Scary Movie 4." Parents and grandparents can skip this flick. They won't be amused. "Scary Movie 4" is a comedy-spoof mix of horror movies and pop culture. If you've seen the previous three films, you know what I'm talking about. As expected, there isn't much of a plot, just a bunch of jokes thrown together making fun of films ranging from "The Village" to "War of the Worlds." Even though the film has "Scary Movie," in the title, the only scary things are the bad jokes and the dull humor.

Comedy is not easy. Just ask any professional comedian. Whereas so much relies on the jokes, the energy in the room is just as important. Let?s face it, people like to laugh, but not when nobody else is. ?Comedy Night in Glendale? may be the only place in town to watch live stand-up, but if what I saw Friday was supposed to make me or anyone else in attendance laugh, then go with the safe bet and take in a movie. You?ll chuckle more with the ensemble cast in ?Valentine?s Day?

?He who has achieved success has worked well, laughed often and loved much.? ? Elbert Hubbard ? This last Monday, April 14, many members of the Montrose-Verdugo City and Crescenta Valley chambers came together to laugh and enjoy each other?s company as we welcomed Richard and Susann Mandeville, owners of The Fat Dog, for the ribbon-cutting at their new sports bar and lounge at 2265 Honolulu, Montrose. There were over 75 people in attendance enjoying the wonderful fare at this updated lounge in the heart of Montrose.

I spotted this gem of a statement/protest by an anonymous artist near the corner of Chandler and Victory boulevards in Burbank. Made me laugh, I have to admit. And, just so you know I'm not glorifying graffiti. it's in chalk. I checked. 

When was the last time you laughed during a difficult moment in your life? You?ve probably often heard the old adage, ?Laughter is the best medicine.? Well, it truly is. There is nothing like a good belly laugh, a silent giggle or the reaction to a bad joke to lessen the stress of any situation. Difficult moments are the most difficult to find a laugh in, but if you can manage it, it feels like a ton of bricks have magically disappeared from your shoulders. Several years ago I had a friend who was in the hospital with a potentially life-threatening condition.

I am writing this week's article from the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, where I am doing makeup for some of the funniest people of our time. Here's a question: Who makes you laugh? Peter Sellers, falling off the back of a couch? Jerry Seinfeld, elaborating about "nothing?" The stylings of comedy have changed monumentally over the years. Bathroom humor, sexual humor, sophisticated wordplay, comedians that go just plain crazy on stage ? it's all out there. Christopher Guest is releasing his new film called "For Your Consideration" this Friday.

A garden shed in a northern-beaches suburb of Sydney, Australia, may sound like a remote connection to a Three Stooges film festival being held at Glendale's Alex Theatre on Nov. 30, but the rare find by a film collector there has fans of the zany comedy trio rejoicing. The Three Stooges, a former Vaudevillian troupe, made 190 short films in their long Hollywood career. One film, the Technicolor “Hello Pop,” an MGM 18-minute backstage musical made in 1933 was thought lost forever when a fire at MGM studios in 1967 destroyed what was then thought to be the last print.

In real life, there's nothing funny about identity theft, as anyone who's gone through it can attest. (Believe me, I learned the hard way.) Unfortunately, if the new comedy "Identity Thief" is anything to go by, there's nothing funny about it on screen either. OK, not nothing funny. Let's be generous to director Seth Gordon and screenwriters Craig Mazin and Jerry Eeten and say there's not very much funny here. It's a film built around a simple log line: average nice guy must share a road trip with the resourceful sociopath who has destroyed his credit rating (and pretty much everything else in his life)

The Crescenta Valley community turned out en masse Wednesday to celebrate the life of a boy that family members described as a doting brother, an outdoor enthusiast and a champion of the marginalized. “He always wanted to take care of the underdogs, the ones that were kind of left behind,” Cindi Rivas said of her nephew, Drew Ferraro, who authorities say committed suicide last week by jumping off a three-story building during lunch period at Crescenta Valley High School. “He would go over there and make himself one of them just because he didn't want them to feel uncomfortable.” The standing-room only crowd at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Tujunga included hundreds of students and staff from Crescenta Valley High, where the 15-year-old was a sophomore, as well as dozens of officers from the Los Angeles Police Department North Hollywood Division, where his father works.

Police are searching for a man who has allegedly grabbed the buttocks of three young women in separate incidents as they were walking on city streets. Each time, the man approached the women - who ranged in age from their late teens to early 20s - as they walked alone between 10:45 p.m. to 1 a.m. on busy streets. After grabbing their buttocks, he laughs and runs away, police said. “He is looking for the girls who are by themselves and not paying attention to their surroundings,” Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

“Occupy” movements in New York, Oakland and all over the country are growing and gaining momentum, but the folks in Washington seem to have their eyes shut and their fingers in their ears. Do we have to wait until we completely lose our middle class to take measures against the death grip big banks, corporations, lobbyists and corporate-controlled media have on our government and our futures? Americans used to be able to rely on hard work, ethics and a good education as a means to get ahead, but the system we have in place now does little to provide for the future success of our country.

Mountain lions aren't just wandering out of the hills above Burbank and making appearances in nearby residential areas. One of these big cats was struck by a car and killed Wednesday morning after attempting to cross the 405 Freeway near the Getty on-ramp, The Los Angeles Times reported. The 15-month-old male, known as P-18, was one of three kittens born last year in the Santa Monica Mountains and had been tracked since he was a few weeks old. Trees or puppies?

An intricately woven tale of deceit and familial control issues is on display in “The Walworth Farce” currently playing at Burbank's Theatre Banshee. Playwright Enda Walsh's disturbing and sometimes shocking story of an Irish expatriate living in London with his two adult sons is a lesson in dramaturgical complexity directed with clarity and vigor by Tim Byron Owen. Played by Tim Cummings, Dinny is a housepainter who has kept his sons confined to a seedy Walworth Road flat since childhood with the constant threat of the outside world's unknown horrors.

I spotted this gem of a statement/protest by an anonymous artist near the corner of Chandler and Victory boulevards in Burbank. Made me laugh, I have to admit. And, just so you know I'm not glorifying graffiti. it's in chalk. I checked. 

Dina Morrone invited me to come see her new play, "Moose On The Loose," in Hollywood to write about it for Beverly Hills Times Magazine, one of my many freelance jobs, but it was so good, I'm writing about here too. Morrone wrote and performed in the play along with some excellent actors, many of which you've seen on television and in films. I love L.A.! Check my name, I get the humor around Italian immigrant characters and so does Morrone because she nails every line and cast the perfect actors for each member of the lively Tappino family as they come together over a moose on the loose.

In celebration of National Foster Care Awareness Month, Counseling4Kids hosted an event for 200 foster children and their families at Flappers Comedy Club in Downtown Burbank. This was an outreach event for clients and families of Counseling4Kids, officials said. The event was inspired by healing through laughter and celebrated those who make a difference in the lives of Los Angeles County foster children by serving as foster parents, relative caregivers, advocates, volunteers and the children themselves.