I’ll admit, I’ve never seen Brent Weinbach perform. But I’ll totally pimp him anyway. Why? Because a lot of comedians I know say that this guy is hilarious. If you get that kind of praise by other comedians, it means that you’ve got a funny act that is something special, something different, and something probably fairly offensive. Sounds good to me. Performing with Brent will be a few of Sacramento’s best comics, so come out Saturday at 8pm to the new Sacramento Comedy Spot at 20th and J streets. (That’s correct, right on the midtown ice rink.) Tix are only $10.
Check out www.saccomedyspot.com for details.

photo credit: boost.dependent

Hilarious front-page story today in The Onion The Bee about the H1N1 virus and its effect on mall Santas: Mall Santas say H1N1 flu risks warrant early vaccinations

Santas everywhere are saying they should be first in line to get the H1N1 vaccine – even though many don’t fit the priority groups getting the shots.

The story, by the Bee’s Anna Tong, goes on to quote several national mall Santa organizations (there are several!) who are lobbying to get mall Santas their shots.

For the record, I am not looking to spin this as a story about government-run healthcare. To me this is a just a simple story about mall Santas wanting to steal important vaccines away from babies.

Once again we’ve been chosen by you readerfolk as the Best Of something in the News & Review’s annual contest! Specifically, we are the 3rd Best Web site (in a tie with sacbee.com, hilariously) and the 2nd Best Blog, in another heartbreaking loss to the formidable Heckasac who can of course be found at heckasac.blogspot.com. Taking home top honors in the Best Sacramento Web site category is none other than … The Sacramento News & Review. Congratulations on winning your own contest!

And a special sexxy congratulations to Stickie, whose alter ego “Daniel F. Scott” was named #2 Best sexy Sacramentan! (And as a reminder, catch Stickie’s sexxy brain in action at The Shack tonight and every Wednesday night for trivia!)

Continue reading “Best Of is Best!” »

In doing my homework on the slate of state propositions for the May 19 special election, I am starting to feel like repealing Proposition 13’s two-thirds restriction on the legislature for tax increases would be a good idea. It’s not because I think taxes should be greatly increased to get our state out of its fiscal woes, and I want to remove all impediments to doing that. It would take something stronger than waterboarding to get me to suppress my anti-tax reflex.

The reason I want to allow the legislature to raise our taxes by itself is because when revenue-raising ballot initiatives fail, the politicians blame it on us voters. Darrell Steinberg warns us that deep spending cuts will be needed if the ballot measures don’t pass. Arnold’s talking about legalizing pot so he can tax it, which he doesn’t think is right but he’ll do it anyway, if other people think it would be good. (I get the feeling his brain does not suffer the same condition as his other muscles, that one.)

Continue reading “Repeal the two-thirds majority component of Prop 13!” »

Something told me that it was going to be a great comedy weekend coming up.  No, really.  I had a dream that George Carlin was performing on Crondall Drive and had a really crappy turnout, so he gave everyone in the audience free CDs, then we played the piano together and I made spaghetti. If that’s not a harbinger of comedy gold, I don’t know what is.

Friday-Saturday: Bobcat Goldthwait @ Laughs Unlimited, 8 and 10:30pm

If you haven’t checked out Goldthwait’s seminal 1987 album “Meat Bob” lately, then it’s time for a refresher.  No matter how manic and absolutely nutso the guy seems, his stand-up was actually insightful and witty. Don’t let all the Police Academy movies fool you, Bobcat’s got chops. Don’t expect the screaming freak-out routine however, he’s calmed a bit with age.

Saturday: Louis C. K. @ the Crest, 8pm

My favorite comedian working today, Louis C.K. is appropriately blunt yet fantastically absurd, a perfect recipe for the times we live in. Yeah, his short-lived sitcom didn’t exactly win any awards, but that puts the former Conan O’Brien writer in good company. Anyone remember the George Carlin show? At $32.50 a seat, even in a recession, the price is well worth it.

Friday: Special Guests @ The Sacramento Comedy Spot, 9pm Continue reading “Totally Awesome Comedy Weekend” »

I guess the reason I don’t troll for hilarious Craigslist ads more often is that the only thing I frequently purchase that is not dinner, or cannot be made into dinner or another meal, is socks. Though I’m sure you can score some sweet socks on the CL. But I dig them fresh. Anyway, I find myself in the market for an antique typewriter and came across this ad:

For sale is an antique and/or vintage Royal typewriter.

It’s in good cosmetic condition. It types, though the carriage is loose and the ribbon is a bit dry. But you’re not likely to buy this to type with, unless maybe you need to do a ransom note and don’t want to mess with that tedious letter-cut-out-of-magazines thing. But that’s none of my business, so let’s forget I brought it up. Or maybe you’re going to go steampunk with it, which, again, is none of my business, so we can forget I brought that up, too. Dork.

Yesterday I saw the Official Gmail Blog post about a new “Mail Goggles” feature, designed to prevent Gmailers from sending that drunken “late night Friday email.” I chuckled, assuming that the jokesters at Google couldn’t wait until April 1 to launch another yuk-fest of a fake feature. I did notice a few news stories about the feature, but I didn’t think much of it.

And then just now on the KCRA morning news I saw Walt Gray report on it. Ha! I thought, just wait until I blog the heck out of this hilarious small town bumble from the gullible yoyos at the local news station. Before I did that, however, I searched again for news stories. Hmm, doesn’t seem like Information Week would fall that easily. Much less Wired. More importantly, the feature does appear in my Gmail settings. It was not a joke at all.

What? This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. Sure, I suppose it qualifies as “useful,” but it’s just so damn silly–geared for the intoxicated, set to be enabled on weekends only. I’m definitely not saying that because I was duped. Duped into thinking it was a hoax. Oh Google, you have bested me this time.

Having just returned from a massive road trip, I’ve got my favorite local band Jackpot on the brain. For some reason whenever I hit the road in Norcal it makes sense to have Jackpot on the stereo. Something about the mishmash of sounds–on “Shiny Things” and “F+” at least–and Rusty Miller’s creaky voice and memorable lyrics is quintessentially Sacramento to me. So Jackpot was in frequent rotation up through Glenn, Tehama, Siskiyou Counties and into Oregon. (Also: “The House at Pooh Corner” read by British actor Peter Dennis. Melancholy but hilarious.)

Continue reading “JACKPOT @ Blue Lamp Sunday, early show, $5″ »

Looking for a weekend of comedy? Of course you are.

Tonight at 9pm, come check out long-form improvisation at the Sacramento Comedy Spot. 1716 Broadway, tickets are $8. It’s hilarious, it’s educational, it’s reasonably priced.

Saturday at 9pm, ComedySportz at the Geery theater. 22nd and L. Tix are $12. Discounted to $10 if you use the coupon code “grape.” See improv comedy played as a competitive sport. Funny, fast-paced and clean enough for all ages (we hope, it is improv after all, you never know what could happen).

Sunday at 8:30pm, check out Gabriel Iglesias at the Punchline (Howe & Arden). What happens when you morph Ralphie May and John Leguizamo? This guy. Tix are $25.

This isn’t the first time that the racist idiocy that is the comments box at the Sac Bee has come to my attention. We here at the Rag, and other bloggers like Heckasac have often pointed out the problem.

Today’s racist idiocy comes from this story of the shooting death of a young woman in Oak Park: Continue reading “Sac Bee comments must be stopped – UPDATED” »