Thursday, March 6, 2014

35 Years of Joyous Laughter


Middlesex County College.
2600 Woodbridge Ave.  Edison, NJ 08818-3050


FROM THE
ARTICLE:
middlesex_now-spring_2014.pdf


35 Years of Joyous Laughter


By Chuck O’Donnell ’91

Improvisational comedy is like taking a running leap of faith into the unknown – in front of a live audience. Luckily for Joe Bevilacqua, Jim Folly and Kenny Savoy, they have always been each others’ safety net. It didn’t take long after they met in the Theatre Department at Middlesex County College in the fall of 1978 to realize they shared a calling to make people laugh. And the harder, the better.

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Soon, they were spending all their free time – even cutting some classes, truth be told – to write skits and create characters. Where the improv stopped and real life began was hard to say. Didn't matter.

They formed a comedy troupe, dubbed themselves Liquid Comedy and got ready to take the stage by storm.

In the tradition of “The Carol Burnett Show” or “I Love Lucy,” the strength of their bond and the magic of their friendship – being able to read each others’ expressions and feeding off each others’ energy – only heightened the spontaneous and sometimes unpredictable nature of the art form.


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Or, in laymen’s terms, it made them funnier.

And all the students who sat and watched them perform “Mary Heartburn, Mary Heartburn” in Bunker Lounge in College Center could see it. So many people began to come to their performances that, as Mr. Savoy ’81 puts it, “We would call ourselves The Beatles.”

And why not? When comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld and Gilbert Gottfried came to perform at the school, Liquid Comedy would do “Gilligan’s Elevator” in between their acts.

photo, circa 1978, from left:
Jim Folly, Tom Giannazzo,
Joe Bevilacqua, Gary Bihler
and Kenny Savoy. 
They went on to create radio skits that aired on the College radio station, landed prime roles in the Theatre Department’s productions of “Equus” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and even convinced Ed Drake, the head of the department, to allow them to use the stage for a variety show.

“I think we just felt calm and natural with each other so there was no pretense,” Mr. Bevilacqua ’80 said. “None of us were trying to be better than the other. There’s no ego. We’re not looking for compliments. We’re not trying to impress each other.

“We’re just being and it comes out and it fits like a puzzle. Like a hand in a glove.” Many years have passed since their college days. The wrinkles on their faces are like road maps of the places life has taken them. But through it all – births, deaths, illness, everything – their friendships have never wavered and their chemistry has never waned.

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Mr. Bevilacqua, Mr. Folly ’80 and Mr. Savoy collaborate on “The Comedy-O-Rama Hour” Internet radio show that streams live each Monday at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. on dreamstreamradio.com. The shows are also available for free download through iTunes, or can be uploaded to your digital device via a free app.

At the start of each episode, the off-key strains of the blaring bugle is a call to order for the off-beat array of characters living at Camp Waterlogg.

Sgt. Lefty, Ellis the Boatkeeper, Chef Ron Drysdale, Stinky, Lil Jimmy, Butch and all the others are brought to life by the voice acting of Mr. Bevilacqua, Mr. Folly and Mr. Savoy. Two founding members of Liquid Comedy – Gary Bihler and Tom Giannazzo – no longer perform with the group, but Mr. Bevilacqua’s wife, Lorie Kellogg, has stepped in. She does the voices of Olive Pitts, Lkie and many others.

Jim Folly, Lorie Kellogg,
Joe Bevilacqua and Kenny Savoy.
In a world where buzz words like “edgy” and “dark” dominate the popular culture landscape, Camp Waterlogg is a breath of fresh air at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. The characters who live here may be misguided or bumbling, but they never hurt anyone. Ridiculous without being malicious.

“The culture has gotten very angry and afraid,” Mr. Bevilacqua said. “Everyone wants to watch shows about people doing harm to each other. Everything is very dark on television and in movies. There’s not a lot of happy stuff going on. You can see that as, ‘Oh, God, we’re so depressed and I can’t do anything about it.’ Or you can see it as an opportunity to be different.”


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Different is a good word to describe the show. Mr. Bevilacqua edits and produces the show at their home in Ulster County, N.Y. It’s the real-life Camp Waterlogg, complete with 17 chickens running around in the back yard. When Mr. Folly, who lives in New Brunswick, and Mr. Savoy, who lives in Piscataway, can’t make the 90-minute drive, they’ll simply record a skit and send it to Mr. Bevilacqua, who will splice it into the show.

Mr. Bevilacqua will sometimes enlist the help of some of the comedians he’s met over the years to join them on the show. Al Franken and Rick Overton, among others, have cropped up on past episodes.

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More recently, Stuart Pankin (“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Desperate Housewives”) called Sgt. Lefty after having acquired the movie rights to his life story. When Sgt. Lefty revealed that he had lost his right arm in an automated potato peeler accident in the mess hall – and not in some heroic act on the battlefield – Mr. Pankin pretended to be outraged.

Pankin: “Do you know how much money I’ve already put (from) Pankin Productions into the Lefty story? Now you’re telling me this was a kitchen peeler accident! You understand, that means I have no reason to make this movie anymore.” Sgt. Lefty: “Gee, does this mean I’m not going to get my robotic arm?”

Pankin: “I don’t care about your robotic arm. I’m a little more concerned about the $500,000 I’ve already put into the movie, which is gone. It’s not even tax-deductible any more!”


Here is our Stuart Pankin video
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Other characters who appear on “The Comedy-O-Rama Hour” can trace their origins back to MCC.

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For instance, Mr. Folly and Mr. Savoy were influenced by the chemistry between Jackie Gleason and Art Carney on “The Honeymooners,” so they channeled that buddy humor into a skit about two madcap Italian bakers and developed it into part of Liquid Comedy. To this day,
Mr. Folly has trouble remembering if he’s supposed to be playing Marcello or Luigi. Either way, that act, and the characters, are still alive today.

So are their memories of MCC. The zenith of their time at MCC may have been when they put on “The New Looney Tunes Show,” with spoofs and skits influenced by everything from Saturday morning cartoons to “Saturday Night Live.”

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“We ended with Gary Bihler and me doing ‘Who’s on First’ as Abbott and Costello,” Mr. Bevilacqua recalls. “And it was a big success.”

After a few years, one by one, the members of Liquid Comedy graduated from MCC. Mr. Bevilacqua has made a living doing everything from extra work on TV to audio book reading. Mr. Savoy plays the stock market. Mr. Folly works with Youth Stages, a children’s theater company based in
Princeton.

Mr. Bevilacqua has been plotting a return engagement on the stage at MCC.

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“We could do some of the old material and mix it in, but it would mostly be kind of a variety show slash radio theater,” he said. “We could even record it for the radio.”

Truth is, life hasn’t been one long spoof. Sure, there have been a lot of laughs, but also some tears. Through it all, these three friends have stuck together. “We’ve suffered through some tragedies but we’ve also had some great things happen,” Mr. Folly said. “So it’s not just about us doing comedy, it’s about us being human beings and being friends and looking out for each other.”




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More than 75 audio titles are available from Joe Bev at http://joebev.com/buy.html



Monday, March 3, 2014

Rare Interview with Bud Abbott Highlights The Week's The Joe Bev Hour Airing on Radio Worldwide

 All the Waterlogg Titles can be found here...

Abbott and Costello
The Joe Bev Hour is six different different shows per week--syndicated worldwide--on Dream Stream Radio, Sound Stages Radio, WHRO-Norfolk, The 1920s Radio Network, Toon Radio, Radio Book Channel, Pawling Public Radio, Radio New Zealand, WGTD, more.

The Joe Bev Hour produces five hours per week
on radio stations 7 days a week - around the world.







This week's six The Joe Bev Hour radio shows includes a rare interview with Bud Abbott explaining the origin of the classic comedy routine Who's on First? conducted by Ray Campi in 1971. Also heard in other segments remastered 78 RPM records of 1930s British dance bands, a Daws Butler Sherlock Holmes parody, radio drama and improvised comedy.

The internationally syndicated radio omnibus is produced and hosted by veteran award-winning personality Joe Bevilacqua (aka Joe Bev) and includes five unique programs each week: The Jazz-O-Rama HourCartoon CarnivalThe Comedy-O-Rama HourThe Joe Bev Experience, and The Joe Bev Audio Theater.

The series is also podcast free on the web at iTunes and others, including 

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The app provides information about Waterlogg Productions with and easy links to our audio titles and free podcasts.

ADVERTISEMENT.... (but it's all our good stuff for download or on CDs!)
More than 75 audio titles are available from Joe Bev at http://joebev.com/buy.html

On this week's shows:


comedy
CLICK FOR MORE INFO
LISTEN NOW FREE!

GET THE WHOLE SERIES:
Length: 29.5 hours
CD Set or Download
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The Comedy-O-Rama Hour...
Something Fishy at Camp Waterlogg or Ellis Goes Native

 PODCAST: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id572142422





Ellis and Elise's honeymoon cruise is interrupted when they are shipwrecked on a deserted island. Meanwhile back at Camp Waterlogg, Ranger Lorie sees three Ranger Joes in three different places at the same time! Meanwhile, Sgt. Lefty and Olive Pitts have dinner with Russ and Monica Damsky in Cragsmoor. The husband and wife team create a brand new hour of radio comedy every week, providing most of the character's voices, writing and improvising the story-lines and adding music and sound effects. This week's show also features Lorie Kellogg reading The Island of Inventions by Pedro Pablo Sacristan and the conclusion of Bev's parody of The Shadow. 

New & Old Time
Radio Collection 

Length: 8 hours
8 CD Set or Download
A tribute to the golden age of radio from veteran producer Joe Bevilacqua, The New Stories of Old Time Radio is a collection of radio dramas and parodies featuring beloved radio characters and shows.
The New Stories of Old Time Radio: Volume One, Set One
Produced, directed, and voiced by Joe Bevilacqua, with Lorie Kellogg, this is the first anthology of new fiction based on the beloved old-time radio characters and shows.
The New Stories of Old Time Radio: “Fibber McGee” and “Duffy’s Tavern”
A follow-up to the first volume, this radio theater production features two new old-time radio stories, complete with sound effects and music.

Old Time Radio Parodies: The Best of Comedy-O-Rama Hour, Season Two
Producer Joe Bevilacqua parodies some of the most beloved old-time radio shows, including The Shadow, The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, and War of the Worlds.
cartoon carnival holiday
cds

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LISTEN NOW FREE!

 AIR DATE CALENDAR---->

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The Jazz-O-Rama Hour...
British Dance Bands
PODCAST: 
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id611001393 



Joe Bev presents remastered 78 RPM Jazz, including:
Henry Hall and His Gleneagles Hotel Band: Home (1931)
The Ray Fox Band: Whispering (1933)
Ray Noble and His Orchestra with The Freshman: Double Trouble (1935)
Henry Hall's BBC Dance Orchestra: Run, Rabbit, Run (1939)
Jack Hylton: Run, Rabbit, Run (1939)
Harry Roy and His Mayfair Hotel Orchestra : Run, Rabbit, Run (1945)
Ray Noble and His Orchestra: Haunted House (1931)
Billy Cotton's London Savannah Band: Sunny Skies (1928)
Henry Hall's BBC Dance Orchestra: I Like Bananas (1936)
Henry Hall's BBC Dance Orchestra: The Music Goes Round and Round (1936)
Ray Noble and His Orchestra: Rhythm is Our Business (1935)
Ray Noble and His Orchestra: Cherokee (1938)
Debroy Somers, Piccadilly Revelers, Kit-Kat and London Radio: Bless Her Little Heart (1928)
Ray Noble and His Orchestra: Let's Spill the Beans (1935)
Henry Hall's BBC Dance Orchestra: I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket (1936)


LISTEN NOW FREE!
The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes:
The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Best of the Comedy-O-Rama Hour, 
Season One
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The Joe Bev Experience...
Doug McEwan & This Here is Your Life, Sherlock Holmes

PODCAST: 
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id624696898



Joe Bev presents This Here is Your Life, Sherlock Holmes, written and voiced by Daws Butler, Douglas McEwan and members of The Daws Butler Workshop, including Billy Simpson, Pat Parris and Corey Burton, in 1976, on The 40th edition of The Joe Bev Experience. In This Here is Your Life, Sherlock Holmes, Ralph Backwards (Daws Butler)--along with Watson, Dracula, Jack-the-Ripper, and even Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman--roast the famous consulting detective, played by the great English actor Ben Wright. Douglas McEwan is interviewed during the hour about the 1976 recording. McEwan explains: ''I was hired as a writer, having been connected through to it by Sean Wright of the Sherlock Holmes Society. Daws took to my writing style immediately, and after hearing me read back pieces I wrote for it, hired me on to act in it as well. Daws and Mike Hodel, who plays Watson, and I all stayed good friends for the rest of their lives. I'm Oscar Wilde and Dracula in this show.''

This Here is Your Life,
Sherlock Holmes

INCLUDED IN:
The 2nd Daws Butler Collection:
Even More from the Voice of Yogi Bear!
Performed by Daws Butler, Joe Bevilacqua, and a Full Cast
Length: 6.43 hours CD Set or Download
The 2nd Daws Butler Collection is an extensive assortment of his performances, teachings, and writings, both rare and celebrated. Included are Daws Butler Teaches You How to Do Voices; Daws Butler: Voice Magician; This Here Is Your Life, Sherlock Holmes; Daws Butler Workshop ’76; and Huck, Yogi, and Quick Draw, the Lost Recordings.

cartoon carnival holiday
cds
am


LISTEN NOW FREE!

catroon carnival

Voiced by Joe Bevilacqua, Lorie Kellogg, Joe Barbera, Leonard Maltin, Bob Clampett, Stan Freberg, Daws Butler, Mel Blanc, Bill Marx, June Foray, Craig Marin, Janet Waldo 

Length: 2 hours & 51 min.
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 AIR DATE CALENDAR---->


Cartoon Carnival...
Ray Campi Hollywood:
Bud Abbott & Mel Blanc


PODCAST: 
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id624696898

RAY CAMPI

Joe Bev presents the first two profiles on Ray Campi's Interviews  with Old Hollywood Legends (2004) including Mel Blanc (1974) and Bud Abbott (1971), Mel Blanc in“Woody Woodpecker Out West” (1940s), the conclusion of Joe Bevilacqua reading “Tom Mix and the Mystery of the Bodiless Horseman” (2010), an episode of “Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales” (1960s), Daws Butler and Tip Corning in “Happy Grasshopper” (1940s), Joe Bevilacqua in “Punky Possum and the Mud Bath,” a musical Uncle Dunkle story by Daws Butler (2002), Mel Blanc sings “Daffy Duck's Rhapsody” (1940s).


“Tom Mix and the Mystery
of the Bodiless Horseman”

INCLUDED IN:

New & Old Time
Radio Collection 

Length: 8 hours
8 CD Set or Download
A tribute to the golden age of radio from veteran producer Joe Bevilacqua, The New Stories of Old Time Radio is a collection of radio dramas and parodies featuring beloved radio characters and shows.
The New Stories of Old Time Radio: Volume One, Set One
Produced, directed, and voiced by Joe Bevilacqua, with Lorie Kellogg, this is the first anthology of new fiction based on the beloved old-time radio characters and shows.
The New Stories of Old Time Radio: “Fibber McGee” and “Duffy’s Tavern”
A follow-up to the first volume, this radio theater production features two new old-time radio stories, complete with sound effects and music.

Old Time Radio Parodies: The Best of Comedy-O-Rama Hour, Season Two
Producer Joe Bevilacqua parodies some of the most beloved old-time radio shows, including The Shadow, The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, and War of the Worlds.
cartoon carnival holiday
cds




cartoon
LISTEN NOW FREE!





The Daws Butler 
Collection 

Length: 17.5 hours
18 CD Set or Download

From master voice actor Daws Butler, the voice of Yogi Bear, comes a rare collection of radio plays, cartoon scripts, and acting tutorials.



cartoon carnival holiday


cds

Downpou BUY
The Joe Bev Audio Theater...
Scenes from the Daws Butler Workshop
& Chapter 4
of  Ancient Rising



PODCAST: 
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id723057551



Scenes from the Daws Butler Workshop
The Care and Feeding of a Poet
George Who?
Two Hamburgers, Hold the Mustard
Ear-Bending at Nat'n'Als
Part of six hours of audio theater from the mind of Daws Butler, the voice of Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear and many other cartoon characters. In 1975, Butler began an acting workshop that spawned such talents as Nancy Cartwright (The Simpsons), Corey Burton (Old Navy, Disney), and Joe Bevilacqua (NPR). In this series, host Joe Bevilacqua presents performances of scripts Butler wrote for his acting workshop. A book of these scripts Scenes for Actors and Voices is available at waterlogg.com.
and
Chapter 4 of  Ancient Rising: A Joe Bev Audio Theater
by JC De La Torre
Produced & directed by Joe Bevilacqua
Narrated by Joe Bevilacqua

A widower is set of on an amazing adventure by a man claiming to be a god. Like Indiana Jones meets Clash of the Titans, follow Dan Ryan through Egypt, Greece, and the Mexican jungle as he unlocks the keys to finding the lost continent of Atlantis and the Gods imprisoned there. Bevilacqua introduces you to the Bev-O-Vision 3D audiobook experience, designed to completely immerse you into the story. He weeps when the main character Dan Ryan loses someone close to him. He cries out when Ryan exclaims in pain. He becomes Ryan, Doc Constant, Mina, Hermes, and all of the colorful characters. JC De La Torre takes you on a breathless search for the lost continent of Atlantis and Bevilacqua delivers each and every action packed moment. From the debut of the Greek God Hermes, to the pits of Hades and the rise of Atlantis, Ancient Rising puts you on course for action-packed fun.






LISTEN NOW FREE!





cartoon carnival holiday
cds

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The Joe Bev Hour Sunday Edition...
Cartoon Carnival
A Tribute to Joe Barbera & Rocky and Bullwinkle Live with June Foray


PODCAST: 
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id723057551




Joe Bev presents a profile on animation great Joe Barbera featuring Leonard Maltin, Hanna-Barbera cartoon clips and his 1990 interview with Barbera, Mel Blanc's demo tape, Daws Butler in a never-before heard cartoon with Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound (1959), Daws Butler teaches Joe Bev how to be a voice actor, part one (1975), a live performance of Jay Ward's "Rocky and Bullwinkle" with June Foray, Joe Bev., Corey Burton, Matt Hurwitz, and Lee Harris, Part one of "Willoughby and the Professor Meet Bartizan the Genie," (1975), the song "The Twitch" from "The Flintstones" (1961), and a parody/tribute to Laurel and Hardy.

INCLUDED IN:


The Best of Cartoon Carnival
THE INTERVIEWS
THE HOLIDAY SPECIALS
PIRATES, GHOSTS AND MOON MEN
THE SUPERSTARS
Length: 21.7 hrs  CD Set or Download

This collection includes all four volumes of The Best of Cartoon Carnival.


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cds
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 All the Waterlogg Titles can be found here...






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