 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
March 18th, 2004 - Part 2 Fake Reality: The Man Behind The Myth
I want to start off by thanking everyone who has submitted information, or posted on the forum since part 1 was released. This scandal is all over the press! Drew Carey is telling every entertainment outlet about the shenanigans that took place at the Vegas finals. God bless him, Brett Butler, and Anthony Clark for revealing what a sham this show is. Ross Mark himself emailed me and told me " Please get your info correct before writing about Bob and I and Last Comic Standing." I replied and told him he can clear up whatever misinformation I posted in part 1, but he never got back to me. Hmmm. I have gathered a great deal of information from my friend Google.com. In the last piece I mentioned John Heffron having a developmental deal with NBC, but I didn't have confirmation. By simply searching: "Bob Read" "Ross Mark", your first result should come up with the following: Peter Engel Productions, a joint venture of NBC Enterprises, has acquired the domestic and foreign television rights to the "That Guy! Game." That Guy! is a popular scavenger hunt card game for women, created by stand-up comedians Joel Zimmer and John Heffron. The principals are developing a reality game show based on the cards. This information is from before Last Comic Standing season one debuted, but it confirms the link between Heffron and several LCS executive producers. We all know Gary Gulman's Manager is Barry Katz. If you Google: "Gary Gulman" "Barry Katz" you will get the following article that was posted in October of 2003: National Lampoon is partnering with producers Barry Katz and Brian Volk-Weiss to release four comedy-show DVDs next year. "National Lampoon's The Dirty Show," hosted by Rich Vos and featuring comics Paula Bel, Craig Gass, Daniel Dugar, Joe Diaz and Brian Holtzman, is slated to be the first in the series to hit retail shelves, scheduled for March.
Keep in mind that was after LCS season 1 concluded. Let's take a look at some of the names involved in that press release: - Brian Volk-Weiss is the Vice President of the Barry Katz Entertainment Group (BKEG) in Los Angeles - Rich Vos, Dat Phan, Tess Drake & Rob Cantrell are obviously there from LCS season 1 - Susanna Brisk is married to Barry Katz - Brian Hotlzman, Bert Kreishcer, & Steve Byrne are (or were) managed by Katz Here comes the best part: - Gary Gulman, Alonzo Bodden, & Bonnie McFarlane are rumored to have made it into the house for the upcoming season It looks like our boy Barry had a good look at those 3 performers long before season 2 was put into production. Ant, the gay comic, didn't make it into the house last season. He hired a new manager right after he was cut, and will be one of the finalists for season 2. Guess who his new manager is? Let's now get to know more about Last Comic Standing Executive Producer Barry Katz. Barry currently owns the Boston Comedy Club in Manhattan. The once powerful Katz used to represent top notch talent such as Dave Chappelle, Tracy Morgan, Wanda Sykes, Jim Breuer & Jeffrey Ross. All of them fired Katz due to financial issues. Dave Chappelle was burned so badly by Katz, he even used to talk about how evil agents are in his standup routine a few years back. BKEG has a few businesses under it's umbrella including Barry Katz Management, Barry Katz Productions, The Boston Comedy Club & New York Entertainment. In late 2002, Matt Frost & Bryan Billig purchased New York Entertainment, which at the time was Katz's most solid branch. Instead of eventually losing their jobs, Frost & Billig have since turned NYE into one of the top College booking agencies. They also handle several headliners at the world famous Carolines on Broadway. They exclusively book performers like Jay Mohr, Dane Cook, Robert Kelly, Steve Byrne, Keith Robinson, Kevin Brennan and many more. Those are just a few tales of Katz's horrible legacy in the world of comedy. There's plenty more stories to be told but we will wait till another time for that... Nowadays, Barry's top clientele consists of Jay Mohr, Bobcat Goldthwait & Louie Anderson. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Mohr has pretty much failed every project he's been involved with since his Saturday Night Live days. Goldthwait defines the term "hasbeen." Anderson's career has tanked since he left his spot as the host of Family Feud. Since then he has dealt with scandal (propositioning men for homosexual acts) and his health has also been a recent concern. We wish Louie all the best in his career, as he's reverted to his standup roots. I will give Katz credit where it's due, Last Comic Standing is a highly successful show that garnered 8 million viewers an episode last year. In typical Katz fashion, it seems the bug known as “greed” has once again bitten him. It simply comes down to this: putting his clients on national television puts a lot more money in his pockets. We're onto him this time. The above views should not reflect upon any of the comedians/performers mentioned. This is all information I have gathered over the past few days, and I myself have based theories upon them. The next installment will include individual tales of comedians who were involved in the LCS 2 process. If you have anything to contribute, PLEASE send it in.
<<Click here to read part 1 | Click here to read part 3>>
Visit these sites for more articles on the LCS controversy:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
