About Steve :: Actor ::
Guest Appearance 
Aspen Comedy Festival 2001

 Every year in Aspen Colorado, funny people from around the world meet to discuss the biz, honor their own, and just plain perform.  Steve goes pretty much every year, and every year he is one of the participants.

In 2001, he performed with his Singing Balls.
 

    
   
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS (Denver CO)
March 3, 2001, Saturday
Local; Ed. Final; Pg. 53A
PRYOR TOP COMIC, NEWHART SAYS
By Michael Mehle, News Staff Writer

Clean cut, polite and the epitomy of a different era of entertainment, Bob Newhart had a surprising answer when asked which comics he held in high esteem.

"To me, the most influential comedian of the last 50 years is Richard Pryor," said Newhart, who was honored at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival on Friday. "Once you get past the language which really didn't bother me he was brilliant. He introduced me to his world."

Newhart's high praise for Pryor was one of many pleasant surprises to unfold already at the seventh annual comedy fest, which has drawn Steve Martin, Martin Short, Billy Crystal and dozens of other comedians to town for a long weekend of performances and tributes.

Friday, Newhart was on center stage, talking about his stammering stand up routines, stints in Las Vegas, relationship with Don Rickles and two super successful sitcoms.

Dressed in his typical uniform with an open shirt and sport coat, he took questions from moderator David Steinberg, heaped praise on past co stars and puzzled over the appeal of Newhart characters Larry, Daryl and Daryl.

"They were inexplicable," he said. "They reminded me of Deliverance."


And, finally, he left the crowd studded with entertainment industry executives and stars such as Martin Mull with one last nice surprise, confirming that he's "having discussions" with the networks about yet another sitcom.

Some early honors and observations from the first few days of USCAF, which wraps up tonight:

Best laugh without a word: As part of a late night / early morning revue at the St. Regis hotel, Steve Martin set the microphone up at belt level and pretended that his private parts were singing Mr. Sandman while the song played over the sound system. The audience roared for four minutes, then Martin left the stage without ever opening his mouth.

Best break from one liners: Whose Line Is It Anyway?'s Wayne Brady brought a fast, furious and funny improv act to the Wheeler Opera House late Thursday. Made up hip hop songs, Broadway tunes about a sponge bath and a '70s action flick performed forward, backward and in slow motion were part of a performance that was just as funny when the jokes flopped as when they were dead on. (And he brings the show to Denver's Fillmore on Sunday).

Best dig at Aspen: Billy Crystal appeared as Sammy Davis Jr. at an early morning performance Friday and said he had returned from the dead for the weekend to help double the number of black skiers on the Aspen slopes.

Three names to watch for: The comedy trio of Matt Price, Jason Nash and Mike Blieden returned to Aspen and stole the spotlight at Janeane Garofalo's winter comedy pageant and, later, at Catherine O'Hara's Late Night Lounge. Whether playing the part of faux jazz singers or a boy band with a ballad about making love in their robes, Price, Nash and Blieden showed why they're already working on a show for Fox.

On tap for today: Tributes to American Graffiti (that, barring a last second surprise, will be absent its biggest stars, Harrison Ford, Ron Howard and Richard Dreyfuss, the groundbreaking television show In Living Color and Billy Crystal.
 		    
  The Denver Post
March 3, 2001 Saturday 2D EDITION
DENVER & THE WEST; Pg. B 04
Comic cracks 'em up at tribute
Bill Husted

ASPEN Bob Newhart brought his buttoned down, self deprecating sense of humor with him to Aspen.

At the U.S. Comedy Arts Tribute Friday afternoon, he shared dozens of show biz tales with host David Steinberg stories of stand up, TV series, roasts and hijinks, all told with Newhart's impeccable, signature sense of timing.


At many of these tributes, honorees sit and talk about when they were funny. At Newhart's, the crowd laughed for 90 minutes straight.

After watching clips of Newhart's TV shows, Steinberg asked Newhart what it made him think of. 'I've got to get rid of those ties,' said Newhart. No kidding. And those suits!

Newhart has always been an unlikely comedian. Steinberg wanted to know how a good Catholic boy even thought he could be funny when all his friends and fellow comics were Jewish. Newhart said his pals always told him he was funny, so he gave it a try.

In a telling anecdote, Newhart remembered appearing on a talk show with Buddy Hackett years ago. Answering questions, Newhart confirmed on the show that he had gone to college and earned a degree as an accountant. Hackett turned to him in disbelief and said, 'You mean, you don't have to do this?'

Nope. But aren't we lucky he did.

RESERVATIONS: So where are the funny people eating, drinking and partying?

Steve Martin and his gang had dinner Thursday at Olives. He dined the night before with Martin Short at the Caribou Club.

Billy Crystal has booked the private Whiskey Room at the Caribou tonight for 16 people. Expected guests include George Lucas, Short, and others too funny to mention.

The 'In Living Color' gang has reserved a private room at the extra expensive Matsuhisu. Imagine that laugh in at the world's toniest sushi bar. Can you say wasabi?


LIFT LINES: Michael Keaton slipped into the St. Regis Bar Thursday night almost unnoticed Bruce Willis is in town, just enjoying the party dangerous, as ex wife Demi Moore is seeing the son of an Aspen uber doctor Judith Light of 'Who's The Boss' was spotted at many venues. She has a pad here and is a longtime regular at the fest You know you're in trouble when you're in the St. Regis Bar and 10 people are screaming like Gilbert Gottfried and Gottfried himself is the calmest guy in the room Fred Willard of 'Fernwood 2 Night' is having a ball here and flat out excited about showing off his Elvis As a Stand up Comic routine at the Wheeler tonight Is there anything funnier than seeing Wayne Brady do his Sammy Davis impersonation while talking to fans? After Aspen, he's playing the Fillmore Sunday in Denver, tix at the door 'Simpsons' writer and comic Harry Shearer is back for his fourth year. He says the Comedy Fest is 'just like a convention. Without the booze.' ... Tell that to the 200 people who showed up Thursday night at the Comedy Central fete at Eric's. It was Party Central NEWS FLASH! Aspen Daily News reports that Aspen visitors are getting richer. Year 2000 tourists had an average income of $ 161,000, up from $ 131,000 in 1997. T shirt stores and bar sales are flat while fur and jewelry stores have 'significant business increases.' ... A sit down of 'Sopranos' people are in Aspen including Lorraine Bracco, aka Dr. Malfi, having dinner at Jimmy's. We gotta talk.
 
  http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/exclusives/wahoo/
archive/2001/11/archive15.shtml
Late Night with David Letterman
The Wahoo Gazette Archives
Thursday, November 15, 2001 / Show #1709
by Michael Z. McIntee

News From The Late Show Home Office; Steve Martin; and Earl Scruggs and Friends.
PLUS: More Oprah log; An Audience Show and Tell; and a Top Ten List.

QUEST TO GUEST:
Dave continues to pine for the day he is a guest on Oprah. As you know, Dave has been keeping a daily log on his travails to make it to the seat on the show of the Queen of Daytime Talk. Entry for Day 8: "Did not hear from Oprah." We see a "dream-shot" of Dave chatting with Oprah. Oh, please don't let it remain a dream. Christmas is coming. Are you listening, Oprah? Oprah?

AUDIENCE SHOW AND TELL: We haven't done this in a while and it's about time we did. We have the most interesting and talented audiences in America and this is a great way for us to take advantage of them. 4 audience members are chosen, unknown to Dave, who have a talent we think would entertain late PM viewers. Come show time, the person will present what they do to Dave and the home viewer. It's that simple.

1. First up is a buy named "Bob." Is his name Bob? I don't know. I was away from my usual viewing station at the time and watched from a muted monitor. I did notice that the audience guy looked a lot like a guy who works on the show named Rick Scheckman, or whom we at the Late Show like to call, "Rick Scheckman." His talent? "I can eat this entire sandwich." Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you the guy was holding a big hoagie. How big? About a foot and a half. Dave says he would like to see this and away "Bob" goes. With simple and polite nibbles from the sandwich, it looks like we're in for a long visual. Even Paul's playing of the "Sabre Dance" doesn't move to any quicker dining. Dave interrupts "Bob" and asks how long this will last? Says Bob: "About 45 minutes." Dave tells him to go take a seat.

2. A fellow who goes by the name Chang Cho has something he wants to show Dave. After some clarification of the name, Dave wants some personal info on Chang. What's he do? "I'm a part owner of a bar." How about a free plug? A happy Chang responds, "Fred's Bar in Mountainview, California." (I asked Chang after the show and he said it's about 30 miles south of San Francisco.) Chang looked a lot like Late Show website producer Walter Kim, whom we at the Late Show like to call, "Walter Kim." What does Chang have to show us? He has an invaluable autograph book. Who's in it? "Julia Roberts, Robert DeNiro, Tom Cruise, Bill Clinton, Frank Sinatra..." Dave catches on and tells Biff to "bring me the book and I'll sign it." Biff walks over to Chang who won't give it up. Chang and Biff struggle for possession of the autograph book like kids shimmying their hands up a baseball bat to see who bats first. Chang finally regains possession with of cry of, "No, you'll ruin it!" and storms out.

3. An elderly woman has something she wants to ask. "Can I show a photograph of my adorable grandson?" she asks. Dave says, "Sure." She holds up two pictures of Alan Kalter in his diapers. Alan says, "I love you, grandma." "I love you, too, Alan" she replies.
I didn't catch the name of the woman but I played her during rehearsal. By "played her," I mean I stood in for her.

4. I didn't catch the woman's name but I do recall her initials were "J.B." and she's form Connecticut. She's the mother of 3 lovely girls, ages 11, 9, and 7 (I'm paraphrasing their ages) Says J.B., "I'm having sort of a problem." A concerned Dave asks, "Oh, would you like to come up and show me?" J.B. makes her way up on stage and Dave meets her at the monologue mark. J.B. says to Dave, "I'd like you to feel my hands." Dave complies and says, "They're cold." J.B. replies, "You're goddam right they're cold! Turn up the heat, you idiot."

And that's how we play, "Audience Show and Tell."

TOP TEN: Least Effective Opening Lines For Telemarketers
#10. "How would you like to own land in Afghanistan?"
#7. "Meow"
#5. "Do you have 3 hours to talk about insurance?"

STEVE MARTIN: Steve has a unique talent and he's here to share it with us. It's Steve Martin and his Singing Balls! Steve walks onstage, lowers the microphone to just below waist level, and lets his balls take it away. They sing a lovely duet of "Mr. Sandman." I'm not sure if I ever saw balls sing before. One of the stagehands thought it was done in poor taste and made a derogatory remark. I told him, "Don't get testy." Did this really happen? Was there really a stagehand who didn't like the performance? No, but I couldn't think of any other way of using my "Don't get testy" joke. At the end of the song, Dave walks over and shakes Steve Martin's HAND and throws to commercial.

Steve is in the new movie, Novocaine which opens Friday (today). "The same day as Harry Potter," laments Steve. He continues, "Harry Potter has a very specific audience - - EVERYBODY. We're aiming at the people who don't fall into the category of 'Everybody.'" Steve has also written a bestselling novel, entitled, Shopgirl. It comes in hard cover, soft cover, and pamphlet form.

Dave touches upon the Anne Heche/Ellen Degeneres/Steve Martin association. Steve dated Ms. Heche before she was a lesbian, Ellen dated her while she was a lesbian, and now Anne got married while post-lesbian.

Something I did not realize was when Martin Short was on the Regis Millionaire show, Steve Martin was Martin Short's lifeline for Art questions. Paul was Martin's lifeline for Music questions. A question came up about literature and Martin Short first went 50/50, then phoned a friend - Steve Martin. The question: "Which of these books is written in the first person?" The choices were The Great Gatsby or The Native Son. Instead of saying, "I don't know," Steve offered the wrong answer. I didn't see the episode but I heard it cost Martin Short about 3 million dollars. Celebrity Millionaire is for bigger stakes I think.
Dave knows Steve often plays cards with Johnny Carson and Dave asks how he's doing.
Steve says Johnny is enjoying life. Steve had asked Johnny if he would appear on the Academy Awards when he hosted. Steve's idea was that Steve would say in front of the audience, "I've just been told that I am the greatest host the Academy Awards has ever had." He would go on and on until Billy Crystal walked out and he would say, "No, I'm the greatest host the Academy Awards ever had." Then Johnny Carson was supposed to walk out and top them both, saying, "No, I'm the greatest host the Academy Awards ever had." I "Played the Dave," expecting Dave to say, "Why didn't you ask me to be a part of that?" Nope. I lost.

EARL SCRUGGS AND FRIENDS: From his Earl Scruggs and Friends CD, the group played "Foggy Mountain Breakdown." I like the bluegrass but I must admit I do not know much about it but I knew enough that what was on stage last night was Hall of Fame quality. Joining Earl for "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" was Harry Stinson (drums), Glenn Duncan (fiddle), Marty Stuart (mandolin), Vince Gill (electric guitar), Randy Scruggs (acoustic guitar), Steve Martin (yes, Steve Martin on banjo), Albert Lee (electric guitar), Gary Scruggs (harmonica), Jerry Douglas (dobro), Paul Shaffer (piano), and Will Lee (bass). It was one of the top performances I've seen on our stage.
Others performing on the Earl Scruggs and Friends: Elton John, Sting, Melissa Etheridge, John Fogerty, Johnny Cash, Don Henley, Dwight Yoakam, Billy Bob Thornton, Leon Russell, Travis Tritt, and Rosanne Cash. I think I'll be plunking down some dollars for this CD. I won't even try to "borrow" one here from the show. This one is worth buying.

And that was our show for Thursday November 15, 2001.
 
     
   
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