The Steve Allen Theater
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The Steve Allen Theater
The Steve Allen Theater at the Center for Inquiry in Hollywood, California, was a 99-seat theater which was developed by founding artistic director Amit Itelman. Moved to The Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan Theater. The Center for Inquiry is a nonprofit group founded by Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov to promote science and secular humanism. When paranormal investigator James Underdown became the Executive Director of CFI West in 2003, he named the theater after Center for Inquiry supporter and television personality Steve Allen and offered Itelman an opportunity to define an artistic vision for the space. According to the LA Weekly cover story ''Why Theater Matters'' - “Itelman has booked interdisciplinary acts (music, comedy and theater) that strike a particularly brainy and idiosyncratic chord." "A kind of theater that bounces off the walls." As described by the Los Angeles Times "''Theater of the Absurd'', Itelman's artistic credo reflects CFI's mission of 'not accepting things as they ...
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Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world's most populous megacities. Los Angeles is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With a population of roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits , Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, being the home of the Hollywood film industry, and its sprawling metropolitan area. The city of Los Angeles lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to it's east. It covers about , and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estim ...
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ...
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Mark Fite
Mark Elliott Fite is an American actor and comedian. Career Fite is a founding member of the comedy group 2 Headed Dog with comedians Jim Turner, Dave Allen, and Craig Anton. He is known for creating roles and performing in comedy shows including ''The Tony Martini Variety Hour'', ''Bob's Office Party'', ''The Rudy Casoni Show'', ''Girly Magazine Party'', Clowntown City Limits, and Wife Swappers. Fite has worked with several theatre companies in Los Angeles, including The Actors' Gang, Theater of NOTE, and Padua Hills Playwrights' Festival where he worked with writers Murray Mednick, Leon Martell, Marlane Meyer, and John Steppling. Fite has performed at multiple comedy venues and festivals around the country, as well as appearing at local L.A. favorites, Lucha VaVoom and Brookledge Follies. In the 1990s, Fite had a prominent role as "Mark the Trasher" on the MTV game show '' Trashed'', on which he destroyed the prized possessions of unlucky contestants. He has since app ...
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Jim Turner (comedian)
Jim Turner (born October 28, 1952) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is best known for his supporting roles as Kirby Carlisle in '' Arli$$'' (1996–2002) and as Larry in '' Bewitched'' (2005). Life and career Turner was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His father, George Turner, was in the Air Force and moved his family around often during Jim's youth to several locations, including Quebec, Arizona, and Iowa. Turner married Lynn Freer in 1992 and they have a son, Otto. He is a longtime member of the comedy troupe Duck's Breath Mystery Theatre. He co-starred for seven seasons in HBO's comedy series '' Arliss'' as Kirby Carlisle, an ex-football-star-turned-agent and an old buddy of sports agent Arliss Michaels (Robert Wuhl). Turner has appeared in 22 feature films and shorts, 28 TV series and appearances, 18 stage plays, one-man-shows, and comedy tours. He has created characters ranging from pinheads to Pinocchio. He has worked with Joel Schumacher, Robert Wuhl, ...
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Josh Fadem
Josh Fadem (; born July 19, 1980) is an American actor, writer, and comedian. Early life Fadem was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he attended Booker T. Washington High School. He has lived and worked in Los Angeles since 2000. Career He is known for playing film student Joey Dixon on the AMC series ''Better Call Saul'' and Liz Lemon's agent Simon Barrons on the NBC series ''30 Rock''. He has also appeared on the third season of ''Twin Peaks'' as Phil Bisby, ''Key & Peele'', ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', ''The Whitest Kids U' Know'', and ''Comedy Bang! Bang! ''Comedy Bang! Bang!'' (formerly ''Comedy Death-Ray Radio'') is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which originally began airing as a radio show on May 1, 2009.A Special Thing Forums:Comedy Death-Ray Radio starts today! Popularly known as ''Humanit ...''. He starred in the '' Misfits & Monsters'' episode "Patsy". Filmography Film Television References External links * 1980 births Livin ...
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Cartoon Brew
Cartoon Brew is an animation news website created by Amid Amidi and animation historian Jerry Beck that was launched in 2004. Cartoon Dump It also created ''Cartoon Dump'', a weekly podcast showing poorly made TV cartoons featuring ''Mystery Science Theaters Frank Conniff. Reception The site has published news articles, commentaries and reviews regarding the animation industry. The Comics Beat called it the "essential cartoon blog", while animator Francis Glebas cited it as "the place to go for the latest in animation news". Criticism On August 14, 2020, the site attracted criticism, firstly from Dana Terrace, the creator of ''The Owl House'', for their story, "Disney Executive Tried To Block Queer Characters In ‘The Owl House,’ Says Creator." Terrace clarified that her push for queer characters like Luz and Amity in ''The Owl House'' had been "extremely supported" by executives for the show, and that she was "excited for future shows" while Owen Dennis of ''Infinity Trai ...
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Cartoon Dump
''Cartoon Dump'' is an online comedy web series/video podcast created by Frank Conniff (formerly of ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'') and animation historian Jerry Beck. A live version was making monthly performances at the Steve Allen Theater in Los Angeles, California through late 2018 and premiered in New York City in January 2008. The show is currently running on the first Mondays of each month at QED Astoria in Astoria, New York, and hosted by Conniff. Story and format Set in a garbage dump, the show is a parody of stereotypical children's TV programming. The host of the show, “Compost Brite” (Erica Doering), despite being constantly cheery, obviously suffers from depression as well as anorexia nervosa. Compost Brite starts each episode with the show’s theme song, a jolly tune played on a theatre organ (however, Compost Brite is seen playing a guitar). Each episode features slightly different lyrics. After this, Compost Brite usually has a brief satirical discussion ...
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Jerry Beck
Jerry Beck (born February 9, 1955, in New York City) is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer. Beck wrote or edited several books on classic American animation and classic characters, including ''The 50 Greatest Cartoons'' (1994), ''The Animated Movie Guide'' (2005), ''Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons!'' (2007), ''The Flintstones: The Official Guide to the Cartoon Classic'' (2011), ''The Hanna-Barbera Treasury: Rare Art Mementos from Your Favorite Cartoon Classics'' (2007), ''The SpongeBob SquarePants Experience: A Deep Dive into the World of Bikini Bottom'' (2013), ''Pink Panther: The Ultimate Guide'' (2005), and ''Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons'' (with Will Friedwald, 1989) alongside ''The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons'' (2010). He is also an authority on the making of modern films, with his books detailing the art of ''Mr. Peabody and Sherman'', DreamWorks' ''Madagascar'', and ''Bee Mo ...
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Frank Connif
Frank Conniff Jr. ( ;) is an American writer, actor, comedian and producer, who is best known for his portrayal of TV's Frank on ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''). He is the son of journalist and editor Frank Conniff. Early work Although a native of New York City, where he had accumulated some experience in stand-up comedy, Conniff found himself in Minneapolis in the mid-1980s undergoing rehabilitation for substance abuse. He stayed in the city following treatment, working simultaneously at a fast-food restaurant and in local comedy clubs. Eventually he won out-of-town engagements across the upper Midwest. It was during this period that he struck up friendships with future ''MST3K'' stalwarts Michael J. Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, Bridget Jones and others, as well as Lizz Winstead, later co-creator of ''The Daily Show'' on the Comedy Central network. Conniff was appearing in a North Dakota venue when he was informed by ''MST3K'' head writer Nelson that he had been select ...
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Mystery Science Theater
''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. It then moved to nationwide broadcast, first on The Comedy Channel/Comedy Central for seven seasons until its cancellation in 1996. Thereafter, it was picked up by The Sci-Fi Channel and aired for three more seasons until another cancellation in August 1999. A 60-episode syndication package titled ''The Mystery Science Theater Hour'' was produced in 1993 and broadcast on Comedy Central and syndicated to TV stations in 1995. In 2015, Hodgson led a crowdfunded revival of the series with 14 episodes in its eleventh season, first released on Netflix on April 14, 2017, with another six-episode season following on November 22, 2018. A second successful crowdfunding effort in 2021 will bring at least 13 additional episodes to be shown through ...
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