Jim Cranna and Beans Morocco aka Dan Barrows, The Committee’s 50th Birthday, San Francisco 2013.

Herbert Gold, novelist, poet, and general chronicler of Bohemia near and far, kindly agreed to chat with us on North Beach, the origins and development of The Committee from his perspective in the audience, and even shared a bit on sharing a room with Del Close in St. Louis, back in the heyday of The Compass Players.

Thanks for the generous block of time and green tea, Herb!

The Committee’s Mel Stewart and Hamilton Camp helped fill in the ensemble for the ill-fated, poorly-reviewed ABC sketch comedy show Turn-On! Some sources claim that the show’s quick cuts made viewers physically ill. Others claim that the show was cancelled in the middle of its first episode. In any case, here’s what exists on the web in terms of the actual footage of the show, from the never-aired episode 2. Thanks to our friend Keith Bearden for the tip.

“The extent to which comedy that promoted political activism was considered passe was made clear to Goodrow when, through Chase, he tried to set up an audition. “Don’t you think The Committee’s a little dated?” asked Franken, even though he, along with Chase, was considered to be the staff’s most politically engaged writer and was already a committed Democrat.” – from “That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick: The National Lampoon and the Comedy Insurgents Who Captured the Mainstream” by Ellin Stein.

Alan Myerson, co-founder of The Committee, walks the walk. We’re really inspired by his intense drive to shed light on injustice and make the world a better place. Here’s a piece he just put together documenting a direct action against Bank of America.

 

“This hero [Peter Bonerz] is wry and self-conscious, and automatically turns human relations into put-ons; he works up whatever situations he’s in into routines – his “life situations” have the rhythm of revue acts – and vice versa.” – Pauline Kael, The New Yorker, January 28, 1974

We caught Don Sturdy aka Howard Hesseman and his friend Rene Auberjonois trade off reading short stories, poems, and song lyrics at a benefit in Boonville this past weekend. A lot of fun stuff, including an amazing Roald Dahl short story and choice lines from the Billies Collins & Strayhorn. We caught Howard up on the progress of our doc and gave him a sneak peak of some rare footage that we can’t wait to share with you. In any case, here’s a look at the poster for the event. It just might be an annual thing, so you all should check it out next year if it happens again.

We rescued some rare analog recordings this week, including a live show directed by Del Close dated 4/2/68, more live material and a rehearsal tape from March 1964, and a 1971 interview with Alan Myerson about the FTA tour. Digging deep and loving it.

This, apparently, is part of making a documentary.

Sam Shaw with rewards for our Kickstarter backers on The Committee doc, ready to go out.