​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.    

He has appeared on over a thousand national T.V. shows, from The Tonight Show to a seventeen-year stint appearing on and co-hosting The Jerry Lewis Telethon. Currently, he can be seen on Showtime in Billy Gardell’s Road Dogs. His numerous film credits include Joe Dirt with David Spade, Stephen Soderberg’s The Informant playing Matt Damon’s attorney. Currently starring with Eric Roberts in 23 Minutes to Sunrise. He also has a documentary about his 35-plus year career, Close But No Cigar.
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Having performed in all 50 states & D.C., plus 7 countries from England to Israel, and headlining shows from Las Vegas to Atlantic City, he’ll bring years of experience and the FUNNY. No stranger to radio, he has appeared on the Bob & Tom Show with his Zany Report, plus numerous other radio stations across the country.

Comedian/Writer/Actress Erin O’Connor told her first joke for money in San Francisco 28 years ago and became addicted. She abandoned her career as an Advertising Copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather and hit the road. Her travels as a road comic took her to 41 states and eight countries: Japan, Korea, Germany, England, Denmark, Scotland and Canada. And during her travels, she fell in love with food.

In 1992 she married comedian Bob Zany and cut back on road work, allowing time for another passion, acting. Favorite jobs include a recurring role on In Living Color, a pilot co-starring her comedy idols Fred Willard and Martin Mull (just the three of them…improvising!!!!) and a quick but memorable flash as the Crazy Cat Lady (speaking of type-casting) in Green Day’s award-winning music video, Time of Your Life.

Over the last two years, Erin’s love of animals prompted her to once again ditch meat entirely and attempt to cut out dairy and eggs. The result was her 100 Day Vegan Challenge, designed to put a New Face on an Old Vegana. Can a part-time animal product-free lifestyle improve your health and dispel the myth of the beastly, hairy, Croc-wearing vegan once and for all? Follow her often hilarious, but determined ride and find out. (On FaceBook The Vegana Monologs and twitter @VeganaMonologs)

Why a monolog you ask? Because Erin has never required another person to carry on a conversation.
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Currently, Erin and her husband co-host The Bob Zany Show with Erin O’Connor podcast, sitting down for thirty minutes of serious with comedians. Guests include The Unknown Comic, Last Comic Standing winner Alonzo Bodden and Teen Wolf Coach/Dream Boat Orny Adams. Erin is also tip-toeing back into stand up and working on a metaphysical fairy tale for kids, “Henry David the Rottweiler,” as well as a line of vegan dog treats.
Erin and Bob share their San Fernando Valley home with Rottweiler mix Henry, Dalmatian mix Frankie and five formerly feral felines. Spare time is filled with animal rescue, spay/neuter activism, The San Francisco Giants, cooking, movies, Jeopardy, the Pacific Ocean and lots of churchy stuff.

With over 30 years of experience, Tim Grable is a veteran of the Speaker’s Bureau and Entertainment Agency industry. With a vast range of experience including concert promoter, marketing, merchandise development, career management, and development, agent (speaker, literary, entertainment, commercial and film), it is hard to find a side of the business he has not worked.
In addition to his continuously active contribution to the Grable Group Blog, Tim is a regular writer on a copious amount of other writing networks including, but not limited to: a regular Celebrity Access Column and the GoDaddy Blog as well as running his YouTube Channel.
Tim created and spearheaded several organizations including founding The Nashville Speakers Bureau, an event services agency whose success was recognized with a Music City Future 50 award. He also guided The Nashville Group in providing an invaluable network of entertainment resources for aspiring talent. He assumed the role of President of Nashville Agency, solidifying his reputation as an honest and capable leader with the experience and resources to deliver his vision of small-town feeling with very big results. He has an unmatched eye for career development, profit building and is an expert closer, consistently meeting expectations and enhancing future relationships.
Tim Grable founded The Grable Group, an organization dedicated to bringing agency representation back to its roots as a service focused on personal development and mutual benefit. His philosophy, which revolves around retaining a select group of comedians, entertainers, unique variety acts, talent and personally nurturing their careers, has successfully proven the viability of an ethical and genuine approach to vocational development. Tim utilizes a comprehensive background in business and entertainment sectors to locate and develop endorsements, licensing, and film and TV resources.

Rocky LaPorte’s appeal comes from his everyman, streetwise style of comedy. Delivering laughs in his trademark Brooklyn accent, he has become one of the most sought after comedians in the country, and he just recently appeared on on the season 8 of NBC’s Last Comic Standing! Rocky received 5th place out of 10 contestants. A former Chicago truck driver and dock worker, Rocky has accumulated a slew of performances throughout his career, including being a featured comic on Showtime‘s The Godfathers of Comedy, a special starring five of America’s most hilarious Italian-American comics. On the big screen, he has been seen in two Tim Allen movies – Crazy on the Outside and The Shaggy Dog.

Performances
Rocky traveled with Drew Carey to Iraq to entertain the troops and was seen on the Showtime special Patriot Act: A Jeffrey Ross Home Movie. Rocky has filmed his own Comedy Central Presents special and was voted the network’s second most popular comedian in a nationwide poll. He has performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and appeared on A&E‘s Evening At The Improv and VH1‘s Stand-Up Spotlight, along with sitcom appearances on Cheers and his own NBC pilot called the Rocky LaPorte Show.

Rocky has opened for the likes of Garry Shandling, Drew Carey, Tim Allen, Louie Anderson, Hootie and the Blowfish and the Righteous Brothers, just to name a few. His clean, blue-collar style of comedy continues to increase in popularity as he travels the country.

​(www.RockyLaporte.com)

Growing up in Nashville Tennessee, Joby worked in the family business assisting his father in the collection of used motor oil. We were part of the earliest Environmentalists although were we’re called other names. Joby read of Harry Houdini, the stage and was performing children’s magic shows most weekends by age 12.  Joby say’s “Dad would build the props, and mom would give me props”.

When the tricks didn’t work the laughs started flowing giving Joby the outlet to do what he really wanted, comedy.

Movies/Television

• Thou Shalt Laugh   -Warner Brothers- Los Angeles Ca.
• Comedy Central- Los Angeles Ca.
• Bananas with Thor Ramsey -Sony Studios
• Comedy @ Large w Thor Ramsey- Guardian Studios
• CMT -40 sexiest Videos-Guest comentary  Nashville TN
• ABC News Now-Alphabet Soup w/ Alyse Mandel -New York NY
• Vidiots-  All ages, all nations  Creator, Producer.    Mackinac Island MI.
• Crook and Chase- Nashville, Jim Owens Productions
• Abraham and Sarah    (The Movie)   “Egyptian Slave”  EFM Productions   Miami Fl.
• Stand up for Families Chonda Pierce Presents- Dove Channel
• Stand up Nurotica TV Pilot for Netflix  - Comedy Club Headliner  Lubner Productions.

Being beat up too often on the basketball court by his High School classmates for going for laughs instead of points for the team drove Joby to compete as a bodybuilder winning the Mr Mid Central USA Title at age 19.

Returning to the stage it was comedy writer Mike Price and Disney Star Jim Varney that encouraged him to leave Nashville to pursue stand up after becoming a regular at Zanies Comedy Club. Zanies and Zanies manager Lenny Sisselman gave Joby the opportunity to perform with the top comedians at the time, Tim Allen, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Rob Schneider, Paula Pondstone.  Concert promoter Steve Moore hired Joby to open for his concerts, Steve Moore later becoming head of CMA Association. Soon Joby was headlining all the top Comedy Clubs and was a regular guest on Nashville Networks Ralph Emery, Crook and Chase and many others.

Living in Los Angeles, working as a comedian, Joby Saad started a company called Village Entertainment. He instructed his roommate to answer the phone that way — “Village Entertainment” — whenever anyone called.”Frequently, what would happen is, the phone would ring and Rob would answer and say ‘hello.’ And I, in the background would shout, ‘You idiot!’ And then the caller would say, ‘Let me speak to the Village idiot.’”

“My father used to give me a hard time. He would always call me an idiot. Or, sometimes, he’d say, ‘You’re a fool,’ and I’d get upset. ‘I thought I was an idiot?’… ‘Well, you’re both!’ ‘Great! Now I have to redo my résumé.’”

Thus a concept was born. Saad became the Village Idiot. He was destined for it, he says, thanks to his dad.

George Shapiro of Shapiro/West Management (Jerry Seinfeld’s management) took notice of Joby’s talents at a performance at the Ice House in Pasadena California. “George made calls, and the next thing I know I’m auditioning for network sitcoms, say’s Joby”. Joby’s big break came from his starring role on an episode of the family friendly television series Bananas Comedy in 2005. Then in 2006 came the Warner brothers “Thou Shalt Laugh” starring Patricia Heaton from “Everybody loves Raymond”.  Featuring seven of the nations top clean comedians it went on to become the highest selling comedy DVD within its genre.

There were moments in my career that may not seem that significant to others but mean a lot to me. Like being introduced by Jay Davis at Dublins on Sunset blvd and having to follow Dane Cook, or just to hold my own in the same room with the same audiences with so many of the best comedians of the day.

From that Joby launched his own television series “Vidiots”  ”It’s silent comedy.  I love being able to tell a story and reach an audience of all ages and all languages.  The humor is universal and continually reaching an international audience. Having been broadcast on cable, however its popularity on youtube is what has gotten Joby stopped and recognized on the streets of New York city.

Known for his expressive, rubbery face. Makes sense that he’s a big fan of physical comedians such as Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, and Tim Conway.

His stand-up, like his films, involves a lot of physical comedy. He frequently closes his shows with an inspired bit where, in pantomime, he removes one pair of pants after another, becoming a new character each time. But everything he does is clean.

“The smartest dumb guy comedy I’ve seen- comedycritic.com

Joby has had the honor of performing for our troops in Honduras, entertaining the children of 101st airborne, Fort Campbell Ky, The children and families of St. Jude Hospital, and Le Bonheur children’s Hospital in Memphis is what I’m most proud. Five years on the stage at Lifest, the largest Christian music festival in Oshkosh Wisconsin.

Recently Joby has performed on several Moth shows in Santa Monica Ca. which is that gold standard for storytelling and launching storytalks.org with fellow comedian Alyse Kenny in New York City.

Radio/Live performances. Frequent guest on the syndicated  “Daren Streblow  comedy show” on I-heart Radio.

Most recently Joby was chosen out of hundreds of comedians to be featured on a new television series “Stand Up Neurotica” that follows the behind the scenes exploits  of a comedy club staff, Joby being the night club comedian. Shot on location at New York city’s famed “Stand Up New York’ on the upper west side, where Seinfeld and many others built thier reputations. Look for “Stand Up Neurotica” in 2016 on Netflix.

Joby’s is constantly growing and touring and challenging himself with new ideas to bring to his audiences. This is a show from someone who loves his mother and has lived and breathed comedy.

(www.JobySaad.com)