By Rachel Sokol and Nick Orlando
Hello everyone! We hope your summer has been terrific thus far. The heat wave seems to have finally cooled off and the beach still looks mighty fine. Only a few weeks of summer left—make a splash and do something drastic on your few weeks of summer—July 4th may have come and gone but that doesn’t mean fireworks still can’t sparkle in your life. In the meantime, here’s some Tinsel town news.
More Fun Than A Barrel of Monkeys
If laughter is the best medicine than let The New York Comedy Festival be your Robitussin. The New York Comedy Festival announced its line of comedic talent to perform at this years NYCF which runs November 7th to 12th at locations all over Manhattan including the famous Caroline’s on Broadway comedy club. You can expect a whole slew of funny men and women this year including Queen Latifa, Denis Leary, Howie Mandel, Artie Lange and Jim Norton. In fact, the Resident spoke with Jim Norton about—what else?—the funny! “The thing I love about performing in New York City is that when you’re doing well it has the best audiences and is the greatest place in the world to perform, and when you’re not doing well they certainly let you know it,” he says. And when did Jim realize that he had “made it” as a comedian? “I don’t think that I’ve made it as a comedian yet,” he told us. “I’ll know when I’ve made it when I can have sex with a girl in Newark, then get on a plane and fly to Los Angeles and when I land, I immediately have sex with a girl there.” Ha. Ha. That’s funny. Uh…we think. Want tickets for all the laughs? They go on sale August 16th and can be purchased at nycomedyfestival.com. Over and out!
It’s A Big, Beautiful Day
When you hear the words “new” and “sitcom” you may cringe. You may think of the cast of Seinfeld. You may laugh to yourself that Joey failed. Or you may not think much of anything to be perfectly frank. But there is a new sitcom on ABC called Big Day and actress Miriam Shor is one of its stars. The premise is simple: Danny and Alice are getting married today, and just like any other wedding it will only take a single day, but we are going to break that single day down into 22 individual episodes as we watch all of the meticulous planning start to unravel throughout the day. Miriam plays cast-member, Becca. The Resident asked Miriam what she misses the most about NYC now that she’s out in LALA land. She named two restaurants for us. “Two of my favorite restaurants are Toons (417 Bleecker Street) and Westville (210 West 10th Street). Toon herself is at the restaurant most evenings chatting and hugging her customers. She’s a blast. It’s the best Thai in the city and it feels like home. And Westville is good ole Americana cuisine done with excellence. They have the best burgers and I love the corn on the cob with lime, cumin and cotija cheese—great fish too.” So if you go there tell ‘em Miriam sent you. And oh, yes, tune into her new show, Big Day which debuts Oct 5 on ABC.
Remember Those College Frat Parties?
Actress Simona Stratten stars in the new movie Beerfest, which opens in theatres this month. Beerfest revolves around two brothers traveling to Germany for Oktoberfest, only to stumble upon a secret, centuries-old competition described as a Fight Club with beer games. We asked Simona what type of beer she likes to drink. “I am not a beer drinker per se, but I do enjoy a cold Heineken with a pizza or Sapporo with Sushi once in a while,” she says. Simona rose to fame as a finalist in the WWE RAW Diva Search and also appeared in the movie, Chasing Ghosts and in an episode of HBO’s Entourage. We asked Simona what it was like to be a RAW Diva. “I have learned that being in front of such a huge live audience that there is definitely no room for error or shyness. It was a great experience to get to meet all of the wrestlers backstage, travel with them and be up close with the fans,” she told the Resident.
A Different Kind of Broadway
Slava Polunin’s critically acclaimed Slava’s Snowshow is currently playing at the Union Square Theatre (100 East 17th Street). We caught up with one of the principal clowns, Jef Johnson, in his dressing room and talked about where the show has played. “Snowshow has been in more than 30 countries and many cities; I think more than 80 cities around the world since the beginning. We just had a separate company of Snowshow close a run in Mexico which played to sold-out houses. It was very successful in Mexico. We were there recently at the time of the election. As I understand it, on Election Day, they said [not to] expect much of an audience [but] you couldn’t find an empty seat. The people were packing it in. It has recently played in San Francisco, just this past April. We will be touring the UK in September/October/November of this year. We will be in Los Angeles during the holidays this year, as well as in New York. It has been seen in many, many places and it is continuing.
This Gal Didn’t Faint After Being Crowned …
There is still time to see Miss Universe 2001! Denise Quiñones was crowned Miss Universe in 2001, has been named one of the “50 Most Beautiful” by People en Español and is now featured in Hermanas at this year’s New York International Fringe Festival. Quiñones phoned the Resident from Puerto Rico to speak about her latest project. She said that she could not put the script down! “It was very fast-paced. I love the way it went so fast, I couldn’t stop laughing and these characters are so alive. They just popped right out of the script as I was reading them. The story also has a very caring, sweet, undertone to it. I don’t have a sister, I have a brother, but family relations are so important and I can relate to them so well, being a Latina.” You can still catch Quiñones in Hermanas on August 24th, 25th and 27th. For more information, visit denise-quinones.com or hermanastheplay.com.
