Marc Maron to Receive Inaugural Richard Lewis Award PLUS Theo Von WNBA Talk

0:01 Hello, I'm Johnny Mac with your daily comedy news. Mark Maron will be honored with the inaugural Richard Lewis Award at the Comedy Gives Back Gala. The Richard Lewis Humor and Humanity Gala, dubbed a night of comedy and neurosis, will take place at the Hollywood Improv in L.A. November 15th. Jeff Garlin will be your host. Nick Kroll will present the award. Mark Maron, in a statement, said Richard Lewis was one of a kind. He was fearless, painfully honest, and could make you laugh about the things most people are afraid to talk about. To receive an award in his name is incredibly meaningful, especially knowing it supports comedians who need help. Richard Lewis passed away in February of 2024.

0:45 He was an early supporter of Comedy Gives Back, and he served as a member of the organization's board. Comedy Gives Back's Richard Lewis Humor and Humanity Gala is being sponsored by HBO and the Johnny Carson Foundation. WNBA star Sophie Cunningham went on Theo Vaughn's This Past Weekend podcast. She has admitted she was bothered by how frequently Theo Vaughn steered the conversation towards the WNBA dating scene, particularly its lesbian relationships. Cunningham said he has such a good heart. I really loved him. I had a great time with him. But then he kept coming back to lesbians. I'm like, dude, there's so much more to our league than that. Theo Vaughn asked, you wonder how much of the lesbian espionage is going out there? You know, is there a lesbian mafia in the league? Is there any animosity between someone who is straight, bi or gay? Sophie said, he's hilarious, and he doesn't mean any harm by anything. His intent is just funny and good, and he loves people, and I had a great time with him, truly. Later that night, I went to his show. We did a couple of shows.

1:38 I brought all my friends, and we went there, and we kicked it in with him for a little bit. It was a really fun night. From the Sun, which, as you know, is a newspaper. It's also the star in the sky, but the star in the sky does not usually share comedy news stories. This one from the newspaper, the headline, Comedian Tricked Into Truman Show Style Prank For Four Months. Four months in all caps. In Denmark, comic Rasmus Walbridge was led to believe he got offered the chance to direct a movie. Unbeknownst to him, the opportunity was an elaborate hidden camera TV prank. 149 people, including some of his closest friends, were secretly playing along for four months, tricking Rasmus. The show, titled Everyone Loves Rasmus, has been pulled from Danish TV after outrage, with people saying it was not what he had agreed to. This poor guy also missed the first four months of his newborn baby's life to film the show, unaware the whole thing was a stunt. The show's director said the editorial team had a psychologist who closely followed Rasmus and made sure that he wasn't filmed alone. She said he also had the opportunity to say no to the project being made public. The Sun says Rasmus has taken a step away from fame and is not available for interviews at this time. In Pittsburgh, a comedy club is facing backlash on social media after admitting a patron dressed as a famous World War II 1940s leader. The guys at YouTube don't like when you say that person's name. You know, the guy with the stash?

3:00 Him? Yeah, somebody won his that for Halloween. It's Steel City Cellar, a new comedy club on Pittsburgh's north side. Do you think they're looking for publicity here, and maybe this is backfiring? Perhaps, possibly, maybe? I don't know. I don't work there. I don't know what their thoughts are. Just kind of interesting that they're making national news just as they open a comedy club. Who knows? Anyway, an image circulating on social media shows a club patron dressed as a famous 1940s German leader with a mustache, with users saying the woman was not removed from the club despite her costumes. The woman was there with her partner. Her partner dressed as Lindsay Clancy. If you're like, I know that name. Who's that again? That's the Massachusetts woman accused of killing her three children.

3:42 That person was also not kicked out. And I just want to point out these two. You made some choices with your Halloween costumes. Me and two family members went as the three little pigs. I had pig ears on if you were at the USA football game on Saturday. And you're like, who's the guy with the pig ears on? That guy's weird. That was me. We did not choose to go as a 1940s German leader with a mustache, nor Lindsay Clancy. Know what I'm saying? Just make choices, people. Well, the brand new comedy club got covered in USA Today. They said on social media, this individual should have been immediately removed from the venue because 1940s German political parties have no place in our club. Halloween is a night when people push boundaries, but context doesn't erase the impact of such imagery. Whatever the intent, allowing that costume into our venue is inconsistent with the welcoming environment we want to create for our audience and performers. They added, going forward, anyone wearing symbols of that 1940s-era political party or other hate symbols, regardless of intent, will be denied entry. USA Today reports, as of November 2nd, Steel City Cellar had a 5.0 rating on Google Reviews, with the most recent review being published on October 28th. Maybe I'll check that right now, see if it has changed in real time. Yeah, they still have a 5.0, 25 Google Reviews. Jake said, I came for the soft opening. It was an open mic night and was packed. Drinks were flowing. Food looked great.

5:02 Carla posted a month ago, what a wonderful Tuesday night we had at the Cellar Comedy Club. We had a night with the devil and dark comedy. The comedians were funny. I so do enjoy dark humor. On Yelp, the comedy club's rating has dropped to a 1.7 with multiple reviews raising concern about the situation with the costume. I think that's worth a visit. It seems that the reviews on Yelp are taken down. There's a big red circle with an exclamation point in it, and it says public attention alert. This business recently received increased public attention, resulting in an influx of people posting their views to the page. So we have temporarily disabled the ability to post here as we work to investigate the content. I'm going to click got it. Thanks.

5:42 Raina posted it. You let 1940s German enthusiasts stay at your bar. You guys are terrible. Also, quit deleting people's reviews. Take accountability. It's so embarrassing and sad you guys just opened. This is how you're treating the situation. Stop hiding behind a screen, blocking people, removing reviews, and take some responsibility for your actions. They did put out a statement. I like Jim's comment here. He wrote, And a 1940s German enthusiast joins them, and the comedy club doesn't ask them to leave or say anything. There are six 1940s German enthusiasts at the club. Well said, sir. Chelsea Handler. You know, anytime I think about Chelsea Handler, she's always spreading goodwill and cheer to the world. She's one of those comedians that every time she comes up, she's involved with, oh yeah, Chelsea Handler was at the pet adoption fund and raised over $ 2, 000 for animals in need. You know, it's always a story like that. So she was recently on the Let's Be Honest podcast and decided to share her bad celebrity date story involving a certain Food Network alum. That certain Food Network alum is Bobby Flay. Chelsea Handler said, I went on a date with Bobby Flay. That was pretty bad. She explained they were connected by a mutual friend.

6:48 Handler said, we were talking on the phone, flirting a little bit. I was at a hotel with some girlfriends. He knew the hotel well, and he wanted to order room service food for us. He was like, let me order your food for you. I love that hotel. But when the food arrived, Chelsea was handed the bill. She's like, I'm like, what? And then somebody was like, oh, yeah, he's really cheap. And I was like, oh, I hate cheap. She adds, if you're penurious. Big Scrabble word there. I'm not interested in you. I'm generous and I like people to be generous with their money. She did let the room service incident slide and later met Bobby Flay for a dinner date, but said it was not a match. She was asked about the specifics of the meal. Handler laughed and said it was just messy. Suspiciously vague. It's Thursday, which means there's Thursday night football. And I was curious, how's Matt Friend's postgame thing going? Remember two weeks ago, Matt Friend was on Thursday night football postgame and was Some people said really unfunny and terrible and his impressions are OK at best. Some people say that. So I checked.

7:44 He doesn't appear to have been on last week. So I don't know if he's on this week or not or if it's one and done and we're all going to pretend that didn't happen. But Johnny Mac is always going to remember that Matt Friend did Thursday Night Football and will bring it up forever. I want him to come back because I like the content. What's the game tonight? Jaguars Ravens. The Ravens are on their fourth string quarterback and they've had three days for this guy to get ready. Oh, I'm watching that. Okay. Speaking of TV, if you were watching The Gilded Age on HBO and you're like, hey, who's that guy with the long scruffy beard? He kind of looks like David Letterman. That was David Letterman. And joining David Letterman in 19th Century Overcoats and Hats was Matt Damon. They appeared as uncredited background actors on the HBO historical drama season four premiere. About eight minutes into the episode, you will see Matt Damon and David Letterman cross the street just outside of George Russell's home. According to My Next Guest Needs No Introduction showrunner Isabel Richardson, Dave first had the idea to be a background actor after seeing his friend comedian Gary Muldeer appear in Annie Hall in the 70s. Richardson said Dave was tickled by the fact that this guy was recognizable to him in the shot, but that most people didn't recognize him. As they were prepping for an interview with Matt Damon, they found out that Matt began his acting career as a background extra. They presented Matt Damon with the opportunity to appear alongside David Letterman as an extra. Gilded Age executive producer Kate Churchill said, People really locked arms and both studios saw it as a fun collaboration where we could

9:15 help each other. Dave has a fabulous beard. For Matt Damon, however, they had to create a period-specific mustache after he had unfortunately shaved his beard that he grew while filming The Odyssey. When's The Odyssey coming out on Blu-ray, by the way? We're going to get that done. I could look that up. Oh, The Odyssey will be out on November 17th, and the Blu-ray pre-order is $ 25. Johnny Mac's doing some shopping right now as we speak. The one I really want is Digger. Have you seen Digger yet? Go see Digger. Digger's fantastic. Speaking of movies, Project Hail Mary has entered the Golden Globes as a comedy. John, did you say comedy? Why is Project Hail Mary? a comedy that's a great question you'd have to ask them but they have submitted it as a comedy it's actually in the comedy slash musical category i don't recall no there is a great song in it right the german lady sings and she's fantastic maybe it's for that she was really fantastic now back at the 2016 golden globes The Martian was permitted to contend in the comedy-slash-musical field, winning the category's Best Motion Picture Prize, as well as lead actor for Matt Damon.

10:28 Also being submitted as a comedy is I Play Rocky. Have you seen the trailer for this, where the guy does a hell of a Stallone? That looks pretty fun. That has also been submitted as a musical-slash-comedy. The Golden Globes will be hosted by Nikki Glaser one time. They were hosted by Joe Coy, who told this horrible mean joke about Taylor Swift. As you know, we came on after a football doubleheader. The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL, on the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots. Of Taylor Swift. I swear. There's just more to go to. And a lot less fun, a story bubbling up out of San Francisco. Two comedians with SF roots are facing sexual assault allegations. Some clubs have canceled their shows. The SF Chronicle reports two women have made separate accusations against the two comedians. I will not give anyone's name in this story. The men deny the allegations. The organizer of the San Francisco stand-up comedy competition announced it had ended promotion at future bookings involving the performers in question without naming them. One of the comedian's shows at Chicago's Comedy Bar and San Diego's Laugh Factory were canceled, according to those clubs. Other bookers have said they would stop working with the comedians. Some venues have continued booking one of the comedians. So keep an eye on that one. And that is your comedy news for today. See you tomorrow.