Stu Bykofsky: On Comedy Night, candidates want in on the jokes
YOU KNOW YOU'RE running a successful enterprise when customers beat down your doors. It was like that with the iPhone 4, and it's also like that with Stu Bykofsky Candidates Comedy Night, a fund-raiser for Variety, the Children's Charity. (Except my comedy show actually works.)
YOU KNOW YOU'RE running a successful enterprise when customers beat down your doors.
It was like that with the iPhone 4, and it's also like that with Stu Bykofsky Candidates Comedy Night, a fund-raiser for Variety, the Children's Charity. (Except my comedy show actually works.)
Three years ago, Pittsburgh created an identical event, also to raise money for children. State Supreme Court Justice Max Baer launched that, after first inquiring if I would mind. I didn't. It's for the kids.
To avoid an overly long show, each year I have to make some choices about which candidates to invite. I passed on the 7th Congressional District this year.
That lasted until Democrat Bryan Lentz and Republican Pat Meehan found out. They demanded in.
They are running for an open seat, currently held by Democrat Joe Sestak, who's running for what had been Arlen Specter's Senate seat. The last time Sestak performed, he won. I'm sure he's hoping for the same result again. I'm also sure his Republican opponent, Pat Toomey, is hoping his first-time appearance will click for him.
In the 8th CD, I had reported that Republican Mike Fitzpatrick would skip the show, but that information flowed from bad communications. Mike has an unbreakable date for a trip with his three sons, but will send a surrogate to the show. His opponent, incumbent Democrat Patrick Murphy, has been doing the show even before he was on the ballot. In 2005, he asked if he could appear even though he wouldn't be a candidate until the following year. I waived the rules in recognition of his military service in Iraq. We owe our veterans.
A current state representative, Lentz is also an Iraq vet and the brother of Gavin Lentz, of the Center City law firm Bochetto and Lentz. (I hope one day to be inviting George Bochetto as a mayoral candidate.)
Meehan is a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District and had the pleasure of being in my old column just once - when he showed up at Front and Water streets where Attorney General Mike Fisher (another comedy-show veteran) was being honored. Instead of the Waterfall Room, Meehan found a strip club. Someone neglected to tell him the event was at South Water, not North Water. A quick cell-phone call got that straightened out.
Other candidates are scheduled to attend this year's 20th anniversary show. Gubernatorial candidates: Dan Onorato, Democrat, and Tom Corbett, Republican; Congressional candidates: 1st CD Democratic incumbent Bob Brady, no Republican running. 2nd CD Democratic incumbent Chaka Fattah, Republican Rick Hellberg. 6th CD: Republican incumbent Jim Gerlach, Democrat Manan Trivedi. 13th CD: Democratic incumbent Allyson Schwartz, Republican Dee Carson Adcock.
At this point, about half the tickets for the show are gone and the rest are moving fast.
The Candidates Comedy Night will again be staged at Finnigan's Wake, 3rd and Spring Garden. The date is Tuesday, Aug. 10, at 8 p.m. This year's co-host is Daily News columnist Jenice Armstrong and the all-pro comedy headliner is Joe Conklin.
Tax-deductible tickets are $75 each, a table seating 10 goes for $750. The show has almost zero overhead, as everyone works for free.
Checks should be made out to "Variety" and mailed to Variety, c/o Jennifer Bykofsky, 2nd floor, 1520 Locust St., Phila., Pa. 19102. For credit-card orders, call Bykofsky at 215-735-0803, ext. 10.
Finally, sponsor of this year's show is Geno's Steaks, owned by Joey Vento, who people know is controversial. Not so many know he is also charitable.
E-mail stubyko@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5977. For recent columns: