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January 2022
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![]() Jim Brogan is the son of John and Anne Brogan. He was born in New England, but at the age of six moved to Chicago and then to Cleveland. In a short period, he saved enough money with a paper route and a pyramid scheme to pay for his parents to join him. Jim grew up in a Catholic family and went to Catholic schools all the way through. His parents sent him to an all boys high school (St. Ignatius) and an all boys college (Notre Dame). It was a good life for the young lad, his Mom stayed home and made his school lunches and his Dad sold landing gear for a living. But Jim had other ideas of what to do with his life. Armed with his degree in Sociology, he moved to New York City to pursue his dream of scaling skyscrapers with suction cups on his hands and becoming a Human Fly. His fear of heights quickly put an end to that dream. While working day jobs as a tutor, a bartender and in advertising, Jim turned his attention to standup comedy. His first appearance on stage was with his Chinese-American friend, Larry Lee. They billed themselves as The Brogan Brothers. After one disastrous appearance, Jim struck out on his own. His first act was an impression of a priest from Notre Dame. That lasted two performances. His second act was about going to an intellectual high school. That lasted six months and even longer for the audience. After four years of doing standup comedy, Jim was taken under the wing of legendary comedy manager Jack Rollins (Woody Allen, Dick Cavett, Robert Klein, Nichols and May). Soon Jim was moving to LA to star as an Angel in an ABC sitcom called Out of the Blue. They made thirteen episodes and aired nine. They are evidently still saving four for the next sweeps period. Jim continued to do his standup comedy and did guest appearances on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman. He recently was in the movie Bridesmaids. He also got other TV jobs. He hosted Laffathon (Showtime), Comic Strip Live (Fox) and You Asked For It, Again (Family Channel). The perfectionist that he is, he won't be satisfied until he has been cancelled by all the networks. Deciding that he could save a few dollars by not hiring a lawyer, he worked for nine years as an indentured servant on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. His areas of responsibility included being a writer and talent coordinator (booking comedians for the show). Since leaving The Tonight Show, Jim has been busier than ever. Besides doing his standup, he has written two movies and seen three others. He also was a creative consultant on Yakov Smirnoff’s one-man Broadway show, As Long As We Both Shall Laugh. He found out exactly how long we both shall laugh. It was 24 performances. ![]() Steve's earned a rep as one of the best comedians around... He started touring in 1980 and has kept audiences laughing ever since. Comic Relief producer, Bob Zmuda: "One of the funniest I've worked with." Appearances on The Tonight Show with both Johnny Carson & Jay Leno and on David Letterman.. Led to Showtime specials, (Laff-off winner), HBO and on almost every standup show out there. Seasoned: Steve headlines country clubs, casinos, corporate events and private parties of all kinds: Birthdays, anniversaries, awards ceremonies, fund raisers, weddings, bar / bat mitzvahs and holiday shows. He can mc, customize material and work the crowd. Steve's worked with: Leno, Seinfeld, Ray Romano, Drew Carey, Ellen, Bill Maher and many more. Seinfeld: 'Mittleman is always funny !' - Steve Martin: 'He's funny!' Johnny Carson: 'My kind of comedian!' Variety: 'Mittleman is so funny!' People: 'One funny guy!' Chicago Tribune, Allan Johnson: 'Mittleman's forte, clever jokes delivered in a totally charming, manner.' the LA Times, Duncan Strauss: 'Clean, clever material.' Routines On: Traveling, newlyweds, marriage, dating, cruises, Europe, LA, sports, fishing, restaurants, family, his ex, getting engaged, birthdays and being a class clown. When you hire Steve, you'll hear more and be glad you did. Steve consented to be a star on ABC's Extreme Makeover: 'Who knew ABC stood for 'a bigger chin?' 'My worst fear? They cancel the show in the middle of my surgery. Steve's been on numerous sitcoms and movies, ie. The beloved hit film 'Roxanne' (as Ralston, one of the firemen) with Steve Martin... And about 50 commercials. Mittle-Math: Steve's honed his skills over 25 years, thousands of shows and millions of laughs. ![]() A Peabody award winner and a lifetime member of the WGA and Television Academy. Joel started out life as a stand-up comic. Having done the whole circuit of clubs and colleges in the eighties, Joel found as much fun writing jokes for others as performing them himself. One of those comics happened to be Rosanne Barr and she hired Joel to be a writer on her hit sit-com. From there Joel has gone on to create his own shows “Malcom and Eddie” & “Bruno The Kid’” as well as do rewrite work and “Set Punch-Up” on Judd Apatow projects. He has had the good fortune to work on films, television, and animation, in both comedy and drama genres. Most recently Joel was a writer/producer on the hit HBO series “Crashing.” Monica Piper is an Emmy Award-winning comedy writer and comedian. She’s written for Roseanne, Mad About You, and was the head writer of the #1 children’s animated series Rugrats.
She starred in her own Showtime Comedy Special, No, Monica, Just You and was nominated by the American Comedy Awards as one of the top five female comedians in the country. Her critically acclaimed one-woman play, Not That Jewish, ran to sell-out crowds in LA, before a hit 200 performance run Off Broadway. Congratulations to Griffin Sciarra for winning Leslie Norris Townsend’s Clean Comedy Challenge 2021!
In Nashille at Third Coast Comedy Club, June Colsen won the Clean Comedy Challenge 2020! What a fun time!
![]() Not Many Comics...
Well known in the entertainment industry as Hollywood’s top warm-up comic, Robert’s a veteran of over 1,500 episodes of such shows as The New Adventures of Old Christine, Just Shoot Me, Becker and The Drew Carey Show. His job is to keep countless audiences entertained for hours between scenes and costume and set changes with rapid-fire ad-libs and humorous interviews. No stranger in front of the camera either, Robert has been seen on the Bananas Comedy series, Showtime's The Joke's On Thee, VH1's Stand Up Spotlight, Comic Strip Live and a variety of roles on such sitcoms as Wings and Perfect Strangers. Robert has combined his Christian world view with his Monty Python sensibility and written many Veggie Tales videos such as “Little Joe,” “Gideon” and “Sheerluck Holmes.” To top it off, Robert just released his latest comedy project, “Wisenheimer” and just finished post production on “Can I Get A Witness Protection?” a full length faith-based screwball comedy feature he wrote and directed. Clint Hall is the winner of the 2019 Nashville Clean Comedy Challenge at Third Coast Comedy Club in Nashville.
Andrea Caspari Spears came to the world famous Ice House in Pasadena, California and outlasted all the competition to win the 2019 Pasadena Comedy Challenge.
For over 30 years, Lou Deck has been, "The Comic in Red Shoes." He was a Comedy Store Original Alumni. He performed in 100 cities a year in 10 different years! He's a Peabody Award Nominee (google it!) and he's done USO Military Shows in 15 different countries!
Lou will be serving as a celebrity judge in Pasadena. |