Hey! It’s been a while! But when our show’s most loyal fan, Herb Koss, celebrated his 80th birthday a few days before our March 9th show I knew we had to do something to address it. Brian Vestal does an absolutely amazing characterization of Herb here – even if you don’t know him, you’ll really enjoy it!!
I was in the show this week so I went to the writers’ meeting to generate some material. And out of that came this idea for a sketch about the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, which I co-wrote with our director Adam Campbell-Schmitt and one of our top writers, Sean Tierney. I was backstage so I didn’t hear how great the audience response was until I watched the video – and I was really happy with the results!
We had a very attractive cast in Top Story! Weekly this past week. So when I started thinking about how to make a sketch about Dick Cheney’s new book – especially about the gap between Cheney’s account of what happened and everyone else’s – I thought about having Cheney cast someone very handsome to play him in the movie version of his book. That lead to the sketch below, which got the show off to a great start. But Hartley Sawyer and Phillip Wilburn get all the credit for the movie trailer!!
When you have someone in your show who’s had a Top Five single on the Billboard charts, you want to have them sing! So we took a sketch concept we’ve done before, tweaked it a bit, and came up with this dynamite closer to the sketch portion of our show featuring Derek Reid “Dancing on the Ceiling” as Lionel Richie, Kipleigh Brown skanking it up as Ke$ha, and an awesome duet between Drew Seeley as George Michael and Phillip Wilburn as Elton John – plus Amy Seeley and Hartley Sawyer hosting. This was pretty great. Enjoy.
If we had to lose Elizabeth Taylor…at least it was in a week when the Top Story! Weekly cast including the amazing Artemis Pebdani to do her incredible impersonation! When trying to figure out how best to pay comic homage to Dame Elizabeth, the idea of reuniting her in heaven with Richard Burton was appealing. Using her friendship with Michael Jackson as a bridge I fashioned a little mini-“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” with the help of a great rewrite from Phillip Wilburn (who came up with a spot-on Richard Burton impression), and the results were something I think is both respectful and pretty darn funny!
Unfortunately the video quality’s not as good as usual – but you can still enjoy the awesome work done by our special guest, Nicholas D’Agosto from “Heroes,” “Fired Up”, “Election” and the forthcoming “From Prada to Nada” and “Final Destination 5!”
Unfortunately the sound is crappy on this one – the substitute video guy didn’t set up a mic near the stage – but you can still enjoy some fun work by our cast, including Nicholas D’Agosto, who you might know as West Rosen from “Heroes” and from starring in “Fired Up” and the forthcoming “From Prada to Nada” and “Final Destination 5”!
The California budget crisis means Jerry Brown is making state employees give up their cell phones – and a lot of other state perks that seem to be synonymous with being from California!
To see all the sketches from Top Story! Weekly as soon as they’re posted, subscribe to our YouTube channel!
CALIFORNIA CUTTIN’ by Michael Hughes – from Top Story! Weekly Episode 85: “The Age of Ophiuchus”
Elton John pays a visit to newly engaged Prince William and Kate Middleton with a special wedding gift – some specially updated versions of “Candle in the Wind.”
To see all the sketches from Top Story! Weekly as soon as they’re posted, subscribe to our YouTube channel!
CANDLE IN THE WIND 2010 by Michael Hughes – from Top Story! Weekly Episode 79: “Don’t Touch My Junk or My Lady Parts”
Mike Hughes' blog 
Watch “TS!W 720: Herb Koss’ 80th Birthday from Top Story! Weekly Episode 240: “Crimea River”!
March 13, 2014Hey! It’s been a while! But when our show’s most loyal fan, Herb Koss, celebrated his 80th birthday a few days before our March 9th show I knew we had to do something to address it. Brian Vestal does an absolutely amazing characterization of Herb here – even if you don’t know him, you’ll really enjoy it!!
TS!W 720: HERB KOSS’ 80TH BIRTHDAY by Michael Hughes
Starring Brian Vestal (Herb Koss) and Phillip Wilburn (Phillip)
Directed by Michael Hughes
Share this:
Like this:
Tags:60 Minutes, 80th Birthday, Amy Paffrath, Armando, Artemis Pebdani, Beer Shark Mice, Bennie Arthur, Blake Walker, Brent Pope, Brian Vestal, Christopher Biewer, Derek Reid, Grasie Mercedes, Herb Koss, I'm a Believer, iO West, Jared Nigro, Jen Cain, Jimmy Guidish, John Abbott, John Druska, Josh Rachford, Julia Wackenheim, Kipleigh Brown, Lauren Miller, Leo Margul, Markeia McCarty, Matt Moore, Matthew Harris, Michael Hughes, Micky Dolenz, Mike Besaw, Mike Hughes, Mitchel Baldwin, Monkees, Neil Garguilo, Opening Night: The Musical, Phillip Wilburn, Sean Cowhig, Stacy Rumaker, Tammie Smalls, The Amazing Race, Tommy Bechtold, Top Story! Weekly, TS!W 720, USS Rock n Roll
Posted in Comedy, Humor, News, News and Commentary, Top Story! Weekly Sketches, Video | Leave a Comment »