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!!
Mitt Romney’s jump-the-gun response to the attack on the Libyan consulate in Benghazi got me thinking: what if he was the sheriff coming in to clean up an Old West town? Here’s what I came up with. Mike Besaw did a great job with the sound effects on this one. And I like how Mike McLendon’s character’s name is a shout-out to his Harold team.
Mitt Romney’s troubles connecting with Southern voters, the Puerto Rico primary falling on the same day as our show, and the fact that two of our cast members of Latin descent were in the cast gave me the inspiration for this look at Mitt’s attempt to be kinda Puerto Rican!
When the reopening of the investigation of Natalie Wood’s death became such a huge story on Thursday and Friday – after our submission deadline – I had to think fast of a way to address it. Friday morning it hit me – have Matt Moore play Bernardo from “West Side Story.” And later I remembered that “West Side Story” has a very famous song that’s an argument…
When Brett Ratner stepped down from producing next year’s Oscars due to some ill-advised comments, I thought that a scene set in the acting class we had done just the week before would be a good venue. And the real highlight of this sketch was the relationship between Phillip Wilburn’s Byron Shelbyford and Brent Pope’s put-upon Lee.
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!!
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.
Phillip Wilburn and Matt Moore went to a taping of “Conan” and chatted with Jimmy Pardo, who was booked as our guest comic for the July 31 show. Jimmy said he’d also do a sketch, and Phillip suggested one where he played a game show host. Since his “Conan” colleague Andrés du Bouchet was also in the cast it was a natural to put him in the sketch along with Matt and Phillip. I did a first pass, Phillip and Tommy Bechtold polished it up, and the result is the six minutes of hilarity you see here.
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
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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
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