By Tony Russo
It is with more than a vague sense of irony that I am rewriting this column. The short version
is that I was having trouble explaining why this week’s Todcast is called Take Two. For those
of you who haven’t been listening for the entire 14-or-so months we’ve been recording it is
important to know that sometime this fall co-host Todd DeHart and I really hit our stride. We
were better at getting guests and Todd cut his number of “ums” by at least two-thirds.
We were so adept, in fact, that I stopped checking every few minutes to make sure that the
recorder we use was on. “Pride goeth” and all that…
The only entertainment we actually provided in the first, unrecorded show, was to the few
people who tuned in to the live stream at www.gdcl.tv and got to watch my face turn white as we
wrapped up a mediocre show and I noticed that the recorder was off. Probably it was just as well.
We found our feet for the second show — the one that actually did get recorded — and owe a
debt to “Dave the Fruit Guy” our long-suffering guest who was kind enough to stay on and be his
charming self twice in a row.
Dave — in case you’ve somehow missed it on Page 9 in the Bayside Gazete April 12 edition —
was promoting the upcoming SOS! Suicide Prevention Comedy show to be held at Seacrets next
week. The show is a fundraiser for the Jesse Klump Memorial Scholarship Fund and one of the
more interesting fundraisers you’ll have the option of attending.
He literally found this year’s acts in the basement. Of course, it was the world-famous Comedy
Basement in N.Y. On a given night over the last several decades you could see pretty much
anyone from Jerry Seinfeld to Loius C.K. working out material as well as get access to some of
the best up-and-comers on the scene.
We also went over the week’s news (contained herein) as well as the State of the Beer which
included a brief review of “Gee Willy” named for the mayor but way more bitter.