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<p>Entries from October 1, 2005 - October 31, 2005</p>
<p>Monday Oct 31 2005  Inside With: Tanner Colby, Author of Belushi</p>
<p>Monday, October 31, 2005 at 8:06AM A few weeks ago, The Apiary received an advance copy of Belushi, a sharp looking and intimate, new biography on John Belushi compiled by Tanner Colby and John's widow, Judith Belushi-Pisano. It's filled with never before seen photos and hundreds of personal accounts by those who knew the icon best.How did you come to work on Belushi? What drew you in?I was writing the National Lampoon Radio Hour with Richard Belzer. Through that I met Judy Belushi Pisano. I introduced her to the publisher, Rugged Land, and the idea of a scrapbook/coffee table book on John evolved from there. Judy was sort of the den mother to Aykroyd, Murray and those guys back in the early days. The photos and keepsakes in her attic are amazing. But as I started going through them I realized they didn't do justice to the whole John Belushi. Like most people, my preconceptions of John were based on Hollywood mythology. It only took me a few weeks to throw all those notions out the window and realize there was a much deeper story that had never been told. A coffee table book would have just been the same mythology, with pictures. Somewhere along the way I convinced Judy to let me do what she hadn't trusted anyone to do in the past twenty years. I think she liked that I'm a comedy writer and not a journalist. I was more interested in understanding John than landing some big scoop. And so, quite by accident, I woke up one morning and found I was a biographer. I started calling around for interviews and asked the publisher to tack an extra year onto my deadline. Thankfully, they agreed.Have to say that this is a really pretty book. The text has the familiar layout as that of the SNL bible, Live From New York. Was this a conscious allusion?We decided to make the book an oral history, like the Shales book, because it's a very warm, intimate format. The design was inspired by Belushi-era Rolling Stone. John was an RS icon, appearing on the cover four times in as many years.Near the beginning of the bio, Judith makes the comment, "I once mistakenly gave the key to John's story to the wrong person," which, is clearly a slam directed at Pulitzer Prize winning Watergate journalist, Bob Woodward, and his biography on Belushi called Wired. How do you feel yours sets things right?This book sets things right because it's actually about John Belushi, and not just his drug habit. It's this icon cast in flesh and blood—and it's funny. John's life was a lot of fun until it wasn't anymore. Several of John's friends have emailed me saying things like, "this is John" or, "it was like reliving those years all over again." And I think even people who didn't know John will have that same impression. When you put the book down, you just feel like you've hung out with the guy for a few days. Woodward went the other way. Wired isn't a biography; it's an autopsy. For example: Wired gives us minute-by-minute coverage of a single 24-hour drug binge in the fall of 1981—a drug binge that was no more or less significant than any other of John's life; Woodward just happened to unearth the limo driver who did the driving that night. The account goes on for over five pages. By contrast, the entire filming of Animal House is covered in less than four. People accused Woodward of doing a hatchet job on Belushi. I disagree. I think Woodward thought he wrote an honest, compelling portrait of the man—and failed to see that he'd missed the point entirely. Woodward is a phenomenal investigator, and that's great for the morning newspaper, but as far as books are concerned he's a terrible writer and a miserable storyteller. There's a couple of good Woodward stories on our website.How did you go about gathering all the testimonials and accounts? How did you even know where to begin?Compiling a hundred celebrity interviews starts with cold-calling an endless list of agents and managers culled from IMDB Pro, some of whom are incredibly accommodating and some of whom are total pricks. Most of the celebrities themselves are incredibly nice, however. Working with Judy's endorsement, of course, made all the difference in getting people to speak on the record—and many were anxious to set the record straight after being hung out to dry by Wired. Fans of Monty Python will be happy to know that Michael Palin is a wonderfully nice man. Robin Williams and Harold Ramis also rank high in the good guy category. Start to finish, all the interviews took about eight months.Okay, just two more quick ones. You don't have to answer them. One: What is Richard Belzer like in real life?The Belz is The Belz. What you see on SVU is more or less what you get. He's caustic and cynical, but he tips well and he always picks up the check.And Two: Set the record straight—is Jim Belushi just misunderstood?I don't know. If you examine the roster of celebrity acting brothers—Jim Hanks, Don Swayze—you might argue that Jim Belushi's done just fine for himself. All I can say from my end is that in answering questions for this book he was incredibly helpful and very open about life in the Belushi family, which, as you will see when you read it, was not always a comfortable subject.Belushi hits stores tomorrow. For a closer glimpse, check out www.belushibook.com.</p>
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<p>The Apiary | 1 Comment in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary Monday Oct 31 2005  No Posers @ Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre - 10.28.05</p>
<p>Monday, October 31, 2005 at 6:54AM NOTES--No Posers is all-improvised indie rock with Brian Huskey on guitar, John Gemberling on vocals, and Rob Corddry on the skins. --Brian Huskey had a wife planted in the crowd, catcalling and hooting after every song. She later came on stage and rubbed herself all over the band members, and did some Rockettes' high kicks in Rob Corddry's wheelchair. She had sort of a Brian McCann vibe to her. --The band turned the houselights up and jokingly asked whether a fictitious record label representative was in the crowd. Someone swept up by the suggestive nature of improv, who was also probably not a plant, declared quite adamantly that they all sucked. It was a bit of a downer. They didn't suck!</p>
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<p>The Apiary | 2 Comments in Show Recap Friday Oct 28 2005  MotherLoad</p>
<p>Friday, October 28, 2005 at 1:43PM Since it is given that the very lifeblood of the internet is the funny JPG and its evolved cousin, the funny MPEG, it was only a matter of time before powerful media forces would discover this fact--a fact which the boys behind College Humor, Ebaum's World, and Something Awful discovered so long ago. Comedy Central has announced it will launch a funny MPEG site on November 1st called MotherLoad. It will serve as both an archive for CC's extensive backlog of programming and a launchpad for rising talent. A taping for internet-specific videos was done in NYC yesterday at a place called Ars Nova on the West Side. A source writes in:> I went to this taping for Comedy Central's new "web channel" yesterday; it was a pretty impressive line up. Highlights were of course Aziz and Andres Du Bouchet, also I was really impressed with Kristen Schaal and Brian Huskey. A solid show. I overheard a guy say that all the bits (which sat around the five minute mark) were going to be cut down to two minute bits and put on the Mother Load.</p>
<p>RELATEDA Special Thing Discusses MotherLoadAndres PreparesRead the whole Comedy Central press-release after the hump.</p>
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<p>The Apiary | 1 Comment | 3 References in TV/Film Friday Oct 28 2005  Jay Leno Has Left the Building</p>
<p>Friday, October 28, 2005 at 11:29AM Don't quit your day job for this event--it's too late. Just stay at your desks.Jay Leno on Being Funny--via Gentrified Rice</p>
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<p>The Apiary | 1 Comment in General Interest Friday Oct 28 2005  The 2005 Halloween Costume Contest Winner</p>
<p>Friday, October 28, 2005 at 8:50AM By a unanimous decision, this random, nameless, unknown woman pictured in the background of Round 1 of the contest, wins top honors for dressing like Elisabeth "Biz" Ellis, from the all-girl sketch group MEAT. Give yourself a round of applause if you voted.The REAL BizBefore this bit finally ends, here's one more picture of Stefan from Elephant Larry that needs to be published.He's the Go-Gurt.</p>
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<p>The Apiary | 2 Comments | 4 References in General Interest Thursday Oct 27 2005  Halloween Costume Contest - Round 3</p>
<p>Thursday, October 27, 2005 at 9:43AM He's the producer of the Rejection Show, he's been on all your favorite NPR PROGRAMMING, he wins awards, and what else? He organized the first annual DELICIOUS SANDWICH SOCIAL! It's Jon Friedman as...An Ugly ManVSAlthough you can not tell by the terrifying custom made latex applications on his face, you know him as one of the key writers and cast members of Saturday Night Rewritten and a contributor to Jest.com--it's Dan McCoy as...The Grim Reaper in a HoodieVSHe might look vaguely like Paula Poundstone, but he's actually the editor of this online publication and he's pictured telling the following joke: Why do Yugos have defrosters on their rear windows? Anybody? To keep your hands warm when you're pushing them!--it's Nate as...A Failed Standup Comic From the 80'sOnly one will move forward. The time for decisions is NOW!The winner of the costume contest will be announced tomorrow.</p>
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<p>The Apiary | 5 Comments | 5 References in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary Thursday Oct 27 2005  Look Who Stopped By: It's Chelsea Peretti and the rest of The Variety SHAC!</p>
<p>Thursday, October 27, 2005 at 7:39AM *KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* Whoooooooo is it??What a surprise! Didn't know you hang around this part of town--Chelsea Peretti... and uh, Andrea, Heather, and Shonali! Come in, come in! We were just preparing some lunchtime morsels. Er... it seems like you're hauling around lifesize papier mache replicas of the rest of the Variety SHAC--and golly! That's kinda weird!> Hey this is Chelsea Peretti, Andrea Rosen, Shonali Bhowmik and Heather Lawless--the complete 4-member crew of the Variety Shac--just stopping by to say 'hi' to the hardcore group of stand-up comics and UCB improvisers who read The Apiary. What's up, gang? Guess what? I lied. It's just Chelsea. I forgot to rally the Shac together. If you haven't already watched our short films, go ahead and check them out here. See what you think. Shhh! Don't tell us. There's also some fantastic merch avail on our site...</p>
<p>Oh boy! Hey Chelsea Peretti, don't mean to interject while you're talking about your merch, but there's a question we've been wanting to ask forever: Seeing as how SHAC is based off the first letter of each of your names, Why do you call yourselves Variety SHAC and not Variety CASH?> Variety CASH makes no cents. We felt that Shac would be more of a conversation piece and start cool conversations like this one. Also: We're not a rap group anymore.</p>
<p>Ah! Continue!> But here I go again, always saving the best for the end: UPCOMING...this Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 8:30pm...is our special 1 year anniversary show. We're excited to announce that THE STRAWBERRY FLOATBOATS WILL BE IN THE HOUSE. They're singing a theme song they wrote for the occasion. Our guests will be the talented: MICHAEL SHOWALTER & AD MILES Our short film this month is about the corporate world. It is the Enron movie, verbatim, but with several 20 min "extension segments" inserted throughout to make it a bit longer. We also have giftbags for the anniversary audience (first 50 to arrive), courtesy of MiaMarketing and Variety Shac t-shirts on sale with original art by R. Land. This is going to be a very fun show, and as an audience member, the potential chance of a lifetime. Backroom of Galapagos, 70 N. 6th St, L to Bedford, 8:30 sharp, free.</p>
<p>Wowie zowie! Sounds like a H-E-double L of a fucking time! What? You have to leave now? Where are you going? Oh well. It was good to see ya, Chelsea Peretti! Stop by again soon!</p>
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<p>The Apiary | 1 Comment in Look Who Stopped By! Wednesday Oct 26 2005  Tiny JPG of God's Pottery and Scott Stapp RELEASED</p>
<p>Wednesday, October 26, 2005 at 12:42PM Following up on yesterday's mention that God's Pottery was seriously doing a segment on NYC's K-Rock, 92.3 with Scott Stapp of Creed. Here is a TINY JPG released by GP of Gideon and Jeremiah making a SCOTT STAPP SANDWICH. MP3s of the encounter to appear on GP's soon-to-be relaunched website.God's Pottery has a show this Thursday, October 27th, 9:00 p.m. at The Slipper Room. Demetri Martin is said to be stopping by too! - $5</p>
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