Californian makes stand-up comedy debut in Buenos Aires; videos posted to YouTube

Fan of Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and Bill Hicks overcomes early nervousness and only forgets two lines of 11-minute routine.

One Sorry Blog News Service

Buenos Aires – Californian and One Sorry Blog editor Paul Rivas made his stand-up comedy debut Friday at El Bululú comedy theater in Buenos Aires. Playing before an almost-full room of 60 people as a substitute in the Ponele onda! show, Rivas opened the hour-long program.

The Californian, who has been living in Buenos Aires with his girlfriend and muse, Clare Nisbet, since early 2006, had grown increasingly nervous in the few hours immediately preceding his debut.

“Only once I started waiting backstage for the show to start did I realize that it was possible that I might forget everything,” Rivas recalled. “But once I was on stage and people started laughing, things got much easier and the 11 minutes flew by.”

Nisbet was not surprised to see Rivas struggle in the early moments, given that he had apparently given no thought to what performing for a crowd with stage lights in his face might be like.

“All he thought he had to do was write some funny shit and memorize it,” said Nisbet, shaking her head. “Most people would have shit themselves worrying about the crowd, but all he was worried about was whether or not the stuff would be funny.”

Whereas Nisbet was quick to say that she was proud of Rivas, the stand-in comedian himself said that except for the early nervousness, which he hadn’t anticipated, the debut went as expected. He was disappointed to have forgotten two lines of his “Ana con doble N” bit and that the crowd did not take to his “¡toma!” line in reference to a statue of Jesus being whipped at the Holy Land theme park in Buenos Aires.

Rivas has no further performances scheduled and is hesitant to consider doing stand-up in English, stating: “I’m not funny in English.”

One Sorry Blog’s resident vanguard film expert Ryan Hernández bugs out at new “Thriller” video

A One Sorry Blog News Service Special

Buenos Aires – The Buenos Aires desk of One Sorry Blog received word early Thursday morning that not even the groundbreaking blog’s resident vanguard film expert, Ryan E. Hernández, could make heads or tails of an important new YouTube video showing a unique rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”.

According to One Sorry Blog editor Paul Rivas, the complete text of the email Hernández sent alerting the aforementioned media outlet to the video read as follows: “Seriously, what the fuck is happening here?!”

“I’m proud to say that Mr. Hernández has been an associate of mine since the third grade at Foothill School,” Rivas elaborated, “and let me just add that he knows weirdness when he sees it. If he’s flummoxed by this vid, well, then I recommend everybody stop what she or he is doing and watch it.”

One Sorry Blog has posted 75 news, film, food, TV, music, gambling, Scrabble and corporate office work columns since late February, of which only three (3) have included video.

“Video’s not really our deal,” volunteered Rivas, “so when we post a video, you can rest assured it’s something we back pretty heavily. In fact, if you don’t think this is the most stupefying video you’ve ever seen, ever, I’ll personally give you a dollar. Send me a message on my new Facebook account saying so, and I’ll get a dollar to you before you can say, ‘The Philippines’.”

Over one million people have already viewed the YouTube video in question, which was posted only one week ago. Other videos backed by One Sorry Blog are the comedian Frank Caliendo on Letterman, and Emil Dauncey on the red website Aporrea.org.

British Venezuelan Solidarity Campaign member and One Sorry Blog associate Emil Dauncey interviewed by red website Aporrea

British Venezuela Solidarity Campaign member and One Sorry Blog associate Emil Dauncey is on the ground in the Bolivarian Republic, and was recently interviewed by revolutionary website Aporrea. To read an English transcript of the interview or learn about the international Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, check out the VSC website. Watch the interview below.

Miembro de la Venezuela Solidarity Campaign (Campaña de Solidaridad con Venezuela) y asociado de One Sorry Blog Emil Dauncey se encuentra en plena República Bolivariana, entrevistándose con el sitio web revolucionario Aporrea. Para leer más acerca de la campaña internacional de solidaridad con Venezuela, visita el sitio web de la VSC. Mira la entrevista abajo.

On the Campaign Trail

There was a story in the New York Times this week about a real estate agent who makes $60,000 per year but cannot get health insurance for less than $27,000 because she once had cancer. One sixth of Americans do not have health insurance, and one third of those have household incomes of more than $40,000. Many realtors are independent contractors and do not have health insurance. OK, so the U.S. needs a real health care system, and that’s a big issue these days, but wouldn’t the point have been better made by highlighting the case of a group of folks a little less despicable than realtors?

Thomas Eagleton died this week, and it turns out he may have been the sanest politician ever. He won three elections after his 18-day trip as Vice Presidential candidate in the immortal McGovern ’72 campaign, and quit the Senate when he decided he didn’t like the role money was playing in politics. One of his Republican friends – Eagleton wasn’t crazy, but he was still a far-out dude – said Eagleton “saw the ridiculous in things.”

I wonder what was a bigger disappointment for voters my parents’ age: McGovern in ’72, Gore in ’00 or Kerry in ’04. I didn’t vote in 2000 because I figured the absentee ballot I’dve had to send from Mexico wouldn’t get counted. That was a mistake. Not because my California vote would have won the election for Gore, but because I didn’t “stand up and be counted”. I swore I’d never not vote in a Presidential election again. When 2004 rolled around, I was walking out of my polling place at 8:00 a.m. high on what passes for democracy. Needless to say, that night I was sick to my stomach. Feeling I’d prostituted my principles by not voting for Nader, I swore I’d never vote for the Democrats again.

But come 2008, put me down for Obama. I’m already looking forward to voting FOR someone for a change. And I know we can’t call him “articulate” because he’s (half) black, but I think that after six years of Bush it’s fair to get excited about an “articulate” candidate.

Here’s Frank Caliendo doing Bush on Letterman: