NICK THUNE IS ON LENO THIS WEDNESDAY AND HE MAY SUCK

Television has become so damn predictable. It has. Now I know that when it's fifty-five minutes into the hour drama, they're just about ready solve the case and wrap things up for the week, or, in the case of the always cool 'Justified,' TIMOTHY OLYPHANT will probably cap a few more bad guys and be done with it, but most shows, especially comedies, are just painting by the numbers. If it's JAKE T. AUSTIN getting the laughs, well, that's fine by me because that kid's an original and the most likeable thing on Disney but most people on television today are as surprising as WILLARD SCOTT'S birthdays. (We get it, Willard, those people are all really fucking old. They fart dust. Their social security numbers are in the single digits. They dated BETTY WHITE'S grandmother. Got it!)

Talk shows, once loaded with lively and sparkling conversation, have become a place for celebrities to come plug their latest thing. Talk show hosts stick to the notes and never ask about that one thing we really wanna know, ya know? But it used to be different.

The Tonight Show starring JOHNNY CARSON was something. Here was the King of Late Night, the TV star who had the country's pulse, a comic with a team of writers, bombing from time-to-time. And it was...GREAT!

JEFF SOTZING, the president of Carson Entertainment (and also Johnny's nephew), has just completed a huge project digitizing all of the Tonight Shows. What a great resource for our American culture. I was reviewing some show recently and was thrilled to watch as some of Johnny's jokes missed. It felt so...alive!

Johnny Carson.com


THUNE IN

I see that on Wednesday, NICK THUNE will be appearing on JAY LENO's Tonight Show. Now Jay never bombs, or if he does, he's making way too much noise to tell. He paints with a pretty broad brush during his often sloppy monologues, sometimes reminding me of a Gallagher concert. But that's Jay, just too busy working hard to worry about being too funny.

Watching NICK THUNE is every bit as exciting as watching any great performer who is always ready to take a risk. He's like a jazz artist who leaves a familiar-and popular-melody to explore some related themes. Many of Thune's comedy pieces are pre-produced, and you can tell that the comic kept a hand in it all rather than just turning it over to some producer. I mean, the edits, the timing and especially the music are right- on, but every punch line isn't a knock-out because he's not playing the game that way. And he never plays to the back of the house. In fact, he brings his audience in to where he is, and where he is is beautiful, man.

I've seen NICK THUNE perform 'live' and also on television, in motion pictures and in short films made-for-video and I'll tell you, he is so funny that-and I swear this is true- I am laughing out loud as I type this, just thinking of things he's said, done. I once wrote to him about a video short he did where, at the end, he's singing to his beautiful girlfriend. My note was full of typos because as I was typing, I was laughing my ass off!

Nick Thune.com

Years ago, a home run in baseball was a rare thing. It was. Most players didn't hit homers; the game was played unlike it is today. I suspect that if he really wanted to, NICK THUNE could hit most balls out of the park, but he's playing a different game and he's doing it in his own authentic way.

Let's tune-into The Tonight Show with JAY LENO on Wednesday and watch NICK THUNE do his thing. I know it's gonna be beautiful. Oh, they'll be some great shots hit hard and high and plenty others softer and subdued down front. And there's the chance that he'll miss a few here and there and- well, that's gonna be exciting.


"NICK THUNE is subdued, not some dude."
(You may quote me).



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NICK THUNE IS A FREAK

'When you're born, you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat."
-GEORGE CARLIN



GEORGE CARLIN had the greatest line about the freak show. May I add: 'When you're in the entertainment business in Las Vegas, you get a backstage view."



I don't use the 'G' word to describe too many people. If you're not careful, words can lose their meanings and the 'G' word is overused as it is but I think we can all now agree that GEORGE CARLIN was a comic 'GENIUS.' My older brother had all of Carlin's records and I'd play the dirty parts for my friends (I can still hear my buddy Tim Wurth quoting the Seven Words) and my theft of the newscaster stuff for routines, skits and scripts continues to this day. So imagine how cool it was to be allowed in George's dressing room, here at Bally's and, at the very end of his career, at the Orleans. My great friend, entertainment executive SAM DISTEFANO knew George his entire career and thanks to the quick-thinking comic, Sam got immediate medical treatment for a condition Carlin recognized backstage during his final gig.

I'd admitted early on to stealing his stuff and George quickly replied with a Catholic joke, slowly followed by a serious point I'll always remember: we all steal.

GEORGE CARLIN considered himself an artist, and of course he was. The intricate rhythms began on paper and right up until the very end, GEORGE CARLIN was writing. It's no secret that I have a special place in my heart for creative types, especially fellow writers. Writing is lonely. It is. Quite lonely only, later-if you're lucky-there's a payoff when your words are read by others.

I've been keeping an eye on the freak parade- from the back of the house to back stage- and it's clear that comic NICK THUNE is the closest thing we have to GEORGE CARLIN. Nick is without a doubt the most creative comic working today. Here's why:

Some people, looking for a laugh, will look at things differently but Nick SEES the world in an entirely new way and his point of view allows for authentically humorous observations.

EYE THUNES

I always laugh when JAY LENO points out the funny typos in newspapers, but, in 'Headlines,' the joke comes from someone's error. In the world of NICK THUNE, the humor is found by seeing things through the eye of Thune, by recognizing the freak show we all are a part of.

There's a character that (too) many comic actors portray these days. You know the one: the nerdy guy who doesn't know he's a nerd, a not cool guy who thinks he's got a shot with the hot babe. The audience sees humor in the view down the road; they can see disaster looming. NICK THUNE is smarter than all that, and he respects his audience too much to go there. Nick has some great routines where the comedy lies in his character's inability to admit something to himself, like that he can't get the girl, or can't accept that she dumped him and in that subtle difference lies comic genius. I mean, 'G' he's a you-know-what, you know?

People love to be entertained and audiences will always appreciate those who don't talk down to them. In comedy, that's not always easy but NICK THUNE has established himself as the kinda-nerdy boy next door who also happens to be the smartest guy in the neighborhood. And that's freaking genius!