Watch “TS!W 720: Herb Koss’ 80th Birthday from Top Story! Weekly Episode 240: “Crimea River”!

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!!

TS!W 720: HERB KOSS’ 80TH BIRTHDAY by Michael Hughes

Starring Brian Vestal (Herb Koss) and Phillip Wilburn (Phillip)

Directed by Michael Hughes

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Watch “TS!W 720: Marilyn Hagerty” with Emily Maya Mills from Top Story! Weekly Episode 215: “Twerked Lines”!

Back when I directed the old iO West Mainstage Sketch show, I had the great pleasure to work with the wonderful Emily Maya Mills, who the LA Weekly says “could be the next Carol Burnett.” Emily guested in the cast of Top Story! Weekly last Sunday and I got to write a desk piece for her where she played the 87-year old restaurant reviewer Marilyn Hagerty whose glowing review of the Olive Garden went viral last year. She is, of course, wonderful here, as she is in the other sketches she did.

TS!W 720: MARILYN HAGERTY by Michael Hughes

Starring Emily Maya Mills (Marilyn Hagerty) and Phillip Wilburn (Phillip)

Directed by Michael Hughes

Watch “Season Pass or Fail” from Top Story! Weekly Episode 194: “The Balcony Is Closed”!

A little confession for you guys: I first wrote this sketch for a class I’m taking and decided to tweak it for TS!W. It’s inspired by my own difficulties keeping up with all the TV shows we “have” to watch these days (I’m only halfway through season two of “Breaking Bad”!). Probably better in concept than execution, but take a look and enjoy!

SEASON PASS OR FAIL by Michael Hughes

Starring Kipleigh Brown (Amanda), Stacy Rumaker (Daphne), Julia Wackenheim (Karen), Sean Cowhig (Craig), Phillip Wilburn (Pete) and Brian Vestal (Walter Nielsen)

Directed by Michael Hughes

Watch “TS!W 720: “Jack and Jill” from Top Story! Weekly Episode 126: “Keeping Up With the Divorcians”

With our head writer Matt Blitz in the cast, and Adam Sandler’s “Jack and Jill” coming out this Friday, it was a no brainer to put Matt in a dress and have him play Jill. My apologies to my friend Andy Goldenberg who’s in the movie.

TS!W 720: “JACK AND JILL” by Michael Hughes

Starring Matt Blitz (Jill Sadelstein) and Phillip Wilburn (Phillip)

Directed by Kristina Adelmeyer

Watch “A Day Which Will Live in Comedy” from Top Story! Weekly Episode 118: “Are You Ready for Some Jobs Speech?”

We do a show every Sunday night at iO West based on the news of the previous seven days. And when I saw that this past Sunday would be September 11, it posed a quandary: we couldn’t just ignore the anniversary, but anything we did would have to be tasteful and respectful while still being funny. And then I hit on it: make the sketch about the very difficulty we were having on doing a comedy show on the anniversary of a tragedy, only set it on the anniversary of another, analogous tragedy. I’m pretty proud of the results; I got more compliments on this sketch than on any I’ve written in a while.

A DATE THAT WILL LIVE IN COMEDY by Michael Hughes

Starring Matthew Harris (Neil), Brent Pope (Larry), Brian Vestal (Gus), Shannon Ayers (Rosie) and Colin Contreary (Pete)

Directed by Michael Hughes