I think that dj/senator Rick McCarthy does a dis-service to some/(a lot?) of foreingners here in Taiwan by blacklisting us.
It hasn’t been easy getting started here in comedy. By the time I won Bliss’ Talent Show in April of 2005 beating out 17 other contestants, Rick Monday had already rejected my comedy and refused to promote it.
Carmen Russell, who was one of the judges in that talent show, wrote about my success a few days later in The China Post. As I/we grew, and continued to improve, Carmen also continued to write about us from time to time. However, Rick Monday continued to only promote Hartley Pool & Chris Garvin, (i.e. as the only comedians).
I/We continued to practise our comedy at The Living Room where we got to meet other funny/talented people. Then we put together all the comedians on the island for a Saturday night show on April 1st, 2006 and called it CSI Taipei. Comedy Show In Taipei featured 6 comedians plus a surprize REAL (PRO!) Hollywood/NY Jewish comedian. Carmen Russell was so impressed, that he did a full page (for his “Pick-of-the-Week”) story including a huge picture of me, (THANK YOU CARMEN RUSSELL & THE CHINA POST!).
However, not only would Rick refuse to promote the show leading up to the event, he wouldn’t even discuss me/the story when he interviewed Nelson Wu (editor of the Primetime sec.) on the day Carmen’s story appeared in print. (Back then Rick interviewed them on a Friday and he actually went through the Primetime section.). “…Well, we got on page 2, lets see …lets see what else is on…”
Actually, Rick did approach me one time about comedy…it was a couple of months ago at the Mr. Body Contest. He came up to me and out of the blue said, “Bob needs more time”…(a reference to the manger of The Post Home)…After a little small-talk about that pub, I added, “Look Rick…I don’t exactly know the history of our problem is, but (it’s probably about a woman since you state “women” as your “weakness” on ICRT’s website.) I’m not going away and I’d like to work with ICRT. Do you want to work with me or what?”
He nodded his head, grinned/snickered, said nothing and walked away. An hour or so later, he comes up to me with a serious/anxious _expression on his face, “Hey! I just met this guy who’s also REALLY into comedy. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”. (Dummy me followed him.)
Rick lead me through the crowd to some man standing on the side-lines. The 3 of us stood together (less than 2 sec.) just long enough for Rick to say to me, “Yeah! He’s into comedy too. I think you two would do well together.” Then he grins at me as he quickly takes off.
No formal introductions were needed because, to me, this was just a typical example of Rick’s sick twisted humour! (The joke is: “HA! I’VE BEEN BLACK-LISTING YOU FOR OVER 2 YEARS NOW, NEVER MENTIONING YOUR NAMES OR YOUR SHOWS, AND TELLING OTHERS NOT TO MENTION THEM WHEN THEY ARE ON AIR…AND NOW I’M GONNA FURTHER LAUGH IN YOUR FACE!”)
For Rick had lead me to one of the most “broken” men (this guy barely/rarely raised his eyes to make eye contact) that I have ever met…When he finally spoke a few words it was quite clear that he also had a speech impediment. When I approached Rick later to call him on how mean that was, Rick said, “What’s the problem? I couldn’t tell (he had a problem), I thought he was a funny guy.”.
When Carmen Russell, was on ICRT about a month ago for his final Thursday, Rick once again only listed the comedians here in Taipei without calling our names on that curt list. The camel’s back was broken.
Metrosexual
p.s.
[color=black]…One day, three elderly Taiwanese sisters were out in the lane killing a chicken when the eldest one started to brag about her grandson’s English,
“Y’know, my little Fu’s English is so good that he just graduated from Taiwan’s top university with a TOEFL score of 2000!”
“天啊!”, belched the middle sister, but quickly added, “Well, that is truly great, but my big Fu not only dreams in English, but also works at an English speaking radio station whose primary mandate is to serve the expatriate community in Taiwan, while assuming the official duties of serving the foreign community here in Taiwan and forging a cultural link between the Chinese population of Taiwan and English-speaking residents of the island.”
The youngest sister simply smiled and said, “Wow. That is a mouthful. However, my little one’s English is so good, that he knows that radio station sucks!” [/color]
I mean, it’s great that you beat out 17 people at Bliss’s Talent Show, but I’ve seen comedians on American TV networks with no talent at all, and I’m sure the screening process is even tougher. I’m not saying that you DO suck, just that it’s a possibility. And what if your brand of humour doesn’t have universal appeal? What if your brand of humour is funny only to a small group of people? What if your brand of humour is funny only to the people you hang out with? Surely it’s within Rick’s rights to promote comedians he finds funny, and ignore the rest. If it were my show, I wouldn’t waste two seconds of airtime on a comedian I didn’t think was funny. Why should Rick?
