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1. Collie + Lhasa Apso = Collapso, a dog that folds up easy for transporting

2. Spitz + Chow Chow = Spitz-Chow, a dog that throws up alot

3. Pointer + Setter = Poinsetter, a traditional Christmas pet

4. Great Pyrenees + Dachshund = Pyradachs, a puzzling breed

5. Pekingnese + Lhasa Apso = Peekasso, an abstract dog

6. Irish Water Spaniel + English Springer Spaniel = Irish Springer, a dog fresh and clean as a whistle.

7. Labrador Retriever + Curly Coated Retriever = Lab Coat Retriever, the choice of research scientists.

8. Newfoundland + Basset Hound = Newfound Asset Hound, a dog for financial advisors.

9. Terrier + Bulldog = Terribull, a dog that makes awful mistakes.

10. Bloodhound + Labrador = Blabador, not a popular dog with CIA agents.

11. Malamute + Pointer = Moot Point, owned by… oh, well, it doesn’t matter anyway.

12. Collie + Malamute = Commute, a dog that travels to work.

13. Deerhound + Terrier = Derriere, a dog that’s true to the end

Jack Zullo grew up not just watching, studying and loving John Belushi, but indeed actually being John.   His college days were filled with party-on philosophy and action and yet, Zullo maintained a keen observational overview that allowed him to study very carefully what in fact made the late John Belushi so beloved to begin with. John’s unabashed never quenched thirst for life.  And by life, we’re talking partying and making comedy. Of equal value. Sure, many other comedians have had their party days, but Belushi was equally as defined by his drinking and drugging as he was by his comedy. And that’s what made him even more compelling to watch. Because you just never knew when it was his final performance. The talent of full on participation and simultaneous keen observation is what makes a true artist and Jack Zullo is the best of the best.  With his newly revised show review, “With a Little Help…It’s John Belushi!” (a critical 2016 Hollywood Fringe success originally branded “Live From the Grave…It’s John Belushi!”), Jack brings back, in intense and accurate detail, exactly who John was at and on each stage of his early career and therefore what he was as a performer at and on each stage throughout his life. As we follow the storyline of the little big man from the suburbs of Chicago go from bit player to the biggest comedy star on the planet, we are given a keen insight into precisely what it took and indeed how much Belushi believed in himself and his talents before anyone ever did.  In as much as anyone in showbiz must endure and overcome obstacles to make it, as portrayed, John Belushi walked a very fine line of pissing off his allies and colleagues, which only a true chaotic comedy genius not just could, but would. Like The Marx Brothers showing up at Louie B. Mayer’s MGM offices completely naked to protest censorship or even just for the fun. John Belushi was so confident in himself and his talents, to an almost but not quite, arrogant degree. And even when he was unabashedly arrogant, his charm was always there to rescue and recuse him out of any awkward situation, whether it was convincing his girlfriend Judy with a kiss or displacing friend and life partner Dan Akylrod’s frustration by simply picking up a harmonica and blowing the shit out of it.  To step on or over anybody to get there, but to not be stepped on himself, as demonstrated when he confronted National Lampoon head Matty Simmons or defied an early Lorne Michaels’ cold indifference, which was bolstered by a tagging along GIlda Radner, by simple persistence. As far as a comedian advocate, John Belushi was the unintentional original. And the comedian he advocated for the most was of course himself.

The show opens with a raucous top-notch world-class blues band, helmed by Robin Russell and the Crazy Tomes Band, which tells us the audience immediately, this is gonna be a very fun night and indeed it was.  What the show is basically is a switchback template between narrator Zullo/Belushi telling us the audience what was next for him, then cutting to vignette and scene and then back to the center mic for a roaring version of Rubber Biscuit with sideman Dan. The idea here is actually quite unique, and this writer has never seen it anywhere. Jack starts the story at when John discovers his love for comedy and ends it at the height of his career, leaving out the nasty unfortunate stain of John’s tragic and way too soon Hollywood death.  What makes this show fun is that we’re taken along the journey to success from minute detail to minute step up.  From John first going to see Second City and asking his friend Dan to get him an audition, to John making up on his feet he’s part of an improv troupe called The West Compass Players.  He practices his Joe Cocker at home to the behest of Judy who wants him to come to bed.  Joyce Sloan from Second City admonishes him not to steal from their touring show. John is warned not to do “even a whisper of Second City material.”  So there is tension and set up for the underlying drama and when we see John forging ahead no matter what, it’s nothing less than inspirational. Rounding out the cast are a bevvy of wonderful young actors, as well as a few seasoned ones.  I’m not gonna pick and choose who I liked in particular, but if you imagine the creatives behind the scenes such as Tony Hendra, Lorne Michaels, as well as National Lampoon’s Matty Simmons, you get the idea that we’re also on an educational journey that informs the audience, that genius cannot exist with one man alone.  And indeed the show itself is exactly the same.  Context is everything in art and John’s first television appearance is him getting hit with tear gas at the ‘68 Chicago Democratic convention.  CUT TO: Belushi and cohorts doing one of their classic Second City sketches mocking police intimidation. John walked the walk in life, then talked the talk on stage.  That alone is the textbook definition of journalistic comedy and it should be memorialized, and Zullo does just that. John Belushi was no Bluto. He was a very smart political satirist who actually put his life at risk in real life and dealt with things through his comedy art.

“With a Little Help…It’s John Belushi!” lands smack in the middle of Hollywood history, as it prepares its ultimate journey to the Belushi Valhalla known as Theatre 80 in New York City this December, where it will be directed by Levy Lee Simon with a mainly new cast.  This show remembers the great John Belushi for his lust for life, not his playing with the devil which ultimately lead to his early death. And that alone makes “With a Little Help…It’s John Belushi!” as entertaining and daring as the man himself.

Cast members include: Jack Zullo as Belushi, Keith Saltojanes as Danny, Stephanie LeHane as Gilda, Joya Mia Italiano as Eugenie, Samantha Jane as Billie, Christopher DeMaci as Tino and Del Close, Carly Hatter as Judy, Kennan McCarthy as Lorne, Steve Whittle as Brian, Riley Schuett as Harold, Louie Mandrapilias as Bernie, Chad Little as Matty, Mark Towns as Dan Payne and Tony, Adam Lau as Steve and Christopher, Bryce David Harrison as Phil and Chevy, Chrisi Talyn Saje as Joyce, Ray Chao as Joe, Jeremiah Benjamin as Jim Fisher.  LA staging, documentor and director Eric Michael Kochmer, Lindsay Castillo-Dilyou Stage Manager, Rehearsal Tech and Show, Rachael Stein Stage Manager, Tech and Show.

For The Hollywood Dog, this is Steven Alan Green

September 27, 2019

hemi with puppy power

Image by Archigeek
If you want someone who will bring you the paper without first tearing it apart to remove the sports section…
then, buy a dog.

If you want someone willing to make a fool of himself simply over the joy of seeing you …
then, buy a dog.

If you want someone who will eat whatever you put in front of him and never says it’s not quite as good as his mother made it…
then, buy a dog.

If you want someone always willing to go out, at any hour, for as long and wherever you want…
then, buy a dog.

If you want someone who will never touch the remote, doesn’t care about football, and can sit next to you as you watch romantic movies…
then, buy a dog.

If you want someone who is content to get up on your bed just to warm your feet and whom you can push off if he snores…
then, buy a dog.

If you want someone who never criticizes what you do, doesn’t care if you are pretty or ugly, fat or thin, young or old, who acts as if every word you say is especially worthy of listening to, and loves you unconditionally, perpetually…
then, buy a dog.

But, on the other hand, if you want someone who will never come when you call, ignores you totally when you come home, leaves hair all over the place, walks all over you, runs around all night and only comes home to eat and sleep, and acts as if your entire existence is solely to ensure his happiness…

then, buy a cat!

Jeremy Gay Horse at Monday Night Tease. Hollywood, CA. 4-21-14. #Burlesque Ginger Liu #Photography

Image by GINGER LIU PHOTOGRAPHY

UKRANIAN PATERNAL GUIDANCE …

Image by mrbill78636
… this scene in the movie “Everything is Illuminated” has as little to do with the plot of the movie and is possible, but it is part of the humor of the characters in this nostalgic, historial, entertaining scenario that begins in the USA and ends up in the USSR Ukraine.

… for me this is a must see and must see again movie. Tonight I watched it for the third time. It has nostalgia, but is not purely historical. It has gross tragedy, but is a happy, uplifting movie and it has delightful humor, but is not a pure comedy film.

… the movie is dominated by a Ukranian grandfather, his grandson and an American Jewish boy. The Ukranians have a tour guide service for Jewish people looking for historical landmarks or searching for relatives. The young Jewish boy has purchased their services and is on a mission to find the woman who made it possible for his mother and father to escape death and flee to the US. Did I mention there was a fourth entity in the car with them on this journey? Also along as guest of the grandfather was “the bitch” which is the only name anyone ever used in referring to grandfather’s dog.

Rent it, buy it … see it, you’ll be glad you did. Here’s a link to more specifics.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_Is_Illuminated

AMAZON KINDLE BESTSELLER!
What if your dog died and then came back as a ghost…that could talk? Would you welcome him back with open arms, or run away scared to death?
This is the premise of IT’S JUST A DOG, a humorous, heartwarming new novel about love, pet loss, and one man’s ghost dog who rises up yapping from the grave as a talking dog.
Charlie Keefe is not just your typical dog lover –– he’s a world famous dog painter, a.k.a. “The Picasso of Pooch Portraits”. U

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