Whattya know? After two months I finally get a sketch in Top Story! Weekly again!
Our writing staff is so good that I hadn’t been able to get a sketch in since November. But when Brian O’Connell guest directed I knew I could try to go a little dark. And when the story (which turned out to be a fake) about Justin Bieber fans cutting themselves to try to get him to stop smoking pot, I knew I had just the right angle!
This was one of my favorite sketches I’ve written in a long time, and people said some nice things afterwards. And it was a great example of how actors can and should generate their own material; Brian O’Connell suggested playing Clinton, Phillip Wilburn pitched the two Clintons, and the rest of the sketch fell together.
Tickets are just $10, so make sure you get them now!! Not only will you see an awesome show, but you’ll help a great cause – part of the proceeds will go to the Chris Farley House, a residential sober living facility.
The festival runs from Sunday, June 3 till Saturday, June 9, with amazing shows and workshops every night. The cast of Top Story! Weekly will be hosting all week. And we’ll also be performing in other shows, and teaching workshops that you shouldn’t miss. Check them out after the jump:
So this came out good…Mitt Romney’s “Corporations are people, my friend” gaffe was too good a gaffe to pass up without tackling a comedy sketch on the subject. In a lot of ways it’s a showcase for the actual beliefs of Brian O’Connell, as the words Sammy says are all pretty much things I’ve heard BOC actually says. He’s fantastic in this, as is Christopher Biewer, calibrating his performance between a precise impersonation of Mitt Romney and a concept of what Mitt Romney would be like as a kids’ show host. And don’t overlook the stellar work of Matt Moore and Rebecca Stevens as the other kids in the house. I’m very happy with this one.
Boy, having Michele Bachmann in the presidential race is making things fun! Especially since Kipleigh Brown does such an awesome characterization! Throw in Sean Cowhig’s hilarious Marcus Bachmann, Brian O’Connell as the photographer and that crazy Newsweek cover, and this one was easy to write!
We put our scripts together on Friday nights. And on Friday night, June 24, the New York State Senate was voting on gay marriage. Clearly it was a story we’d have to address in Top Story! Weekly if it passed. Originally, I wrote this sketch so that famous New Yorkers were urging the Senate to vote in favor of gay marriage. But as I was finalizing the script, the bill passed, so I changed it to a more celebratory sketch, which worked much better. But the real highlight of this sketch is the showcase of our cast’s awesome impersonations. I looked at who we had that week, thought of who they could do, and the results were awesome. The audience applause got louder with every entrance.
We have a lot of fun in Top Story! Weekly with Phillip Wilburn‘s characterization of Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger – so much fun that we had just done a Sully sketch the previous week when the JetBlue/Steven Slater story broke. But when Aires Flight 8250 crashed and all but one passenger survived…well, the temptation to go back to the Sully well was just too strong. And I’m glad I did since this sketch turned out really well. And fun fact: the real-life sister of the actor who plays the reporter who ID’s Sully was actually on Flight 1549!
The pilot who saved 130 lives when he crash landed Aires Flight 8250 on the Colombian island of San Andrés is hailed as a hero – except by a certain other hero pilot who crash landed a plane into the Hudson River to save 155 people’s lives!
To see all the sketches from Top Story! Weekly as soon as they’re posted, subscribe to our YouTube channel!
¿QUE EL HACHE? by Michael Hughes – from Top Story! Weekly Episode 66: “Lost in a Mosque-erade”
Mike Hughes' blog 
Watch “Cut4Whoever” from Top Story! Weekly Episode 182: “I’d Like to Give That Whore a Rusty Trombone!”
January 16, 2013Whattya know? After two months I finally get a sketch in Top Story! Weekly again!
Our writing staff is so good that I hadn’t been able to get a sketch in since November. But when Brian O’Connell guest directed I knew I could try to go a little dark. And when the story (which turned out to be a fake) about Justin Bieber fans cutting themselves to try to get him to stop smoking pot, I knew I had just the right angle!
CUT4WHOEVER by Michael Hughes
Starring Tommy Bechtold (Sean), Kipleigh Brown (Mom), Phillip Wilburn (Dad) and Mitchel Baldwin (Jack)
Directed by Brian O’Connell
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