What: Right Between the Ears
When: 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Liberty hall, 644 Mass.
Tune in to: KANU-FM 91.5
Ticket information: 749-1972
radio Mag
Getting an earful
Acclaimed radio comedy show finds a new name but keeps the same attitude
By Mitchell J. Near
RIGHT BETWEEN THE EARS
mnear@ljworld.com
If there is one thing any performer does not want, it's to be saddled with a label that implies being average. How can you stand out in the crowd and grab the attention of fickle audiences if your name seems boring? That was the situation the rambunctious actors and writers of the award-winning radio program "The Imagination Workshop" found themselves in. They had great work, and people who heard them loved them. It was convincing listeners to get with the program that was a bit harder.
So they threw away the traditional name, and labeled themselves "Right Between the Ears." The name is perfectly suited as they are taking aim at subjects they so love to skewer.
"Earlier this year our market research indicated that those directors who run the show thought the No.1 liability was the name Imagination Workshop,'" producer-director-writer Darrell Brogdon says. "It's confusing and ambiguous. When program directors see the title, they need something that will grab them so they'll listen. It didn't help that it was also the name of a rock group. So the time came to make a change. We brainstormed, checked the Internet to make sure it wasn't in use, and that's right where we ended up."
They'll also end up at Liberty Hall this Saturday night, performing live and broadcasting their show over KANU 91.5 FM. Eventually, the show will be packaged and sold through National Public Radio.
The troupe, which includes David Greusel, John Jessup, Andi Meyer, Jim Moore, Kip Niven, Russ Tamblyn, Roberta Solomon and Teri Wilder, creates topical humor based around current events. Like Comedy Central's "The Daily
Show with Jon Stewart,"— only on the radio — they mostly take aim at politics and other societal issues. They are adept at writing comedy sketches right up to the time of the show, sometimes rewriting material even between performances if they think the humor is a little flat. That skill has been especially vital this month, since most of the current events making headlines will never be the stuff of comedic fodder.
When the terrorist attacks occurred, Brogdon estimates that the script was about halfwritten, and most of it, taking shots at politics in general — and President Bush in particular — had to be scuttled. The writers with razor-sharp wits felt, like so many other entertainers, that now was not the time for political humor. Accordingly, this
show will feature more standard bits that have become fan favorites.
"We considered, briefly, canceling the show," Brogdon says. "But if we don't do the show, then the bad guys win. So it's like jumping rope; we'll have to go about it in a circumspect way. Humor is a difficult topic, and it's hard to be humorous right now. But people need to laugh again, and they're ready to laugh."
Right Between the Ears has replaced some of the politics with archive favorites, including "The Case Book of Mobile Homes" and "Buck Naked," along with spoofs of "Weakest Link" and various infomercials. Listeners also can expect another episode of the rowdy "Frontier Psychiatrist."
"He's winning the West one psychosis at a time," Brogdon deadpans.
got back into the groove, they surprised themselves by cranking out a lot of new material. It may have been harder to get motivated, but the experience has actually proved cathartic.
Some entertainers have even gone public with their own self-doubts about their selected professions, reasoning that recent events have made their careers irrelevant. Brogdon does not buy into that line of thinking.
Once the group members
"It's really a mix of the new and old. But it's more new stuff than we thought. It's been horrible, not even wanting to write comedy. But that's nothing in the human scheme of things," Brogdon says. "I think one reason we have more new material is that the closer we get to the performance, the more our minds are on the show."
"I thought long and hard about that," he says. "Now, more and more people are depending on the media. And as people return to their routines, they will depend on their radios and TV, and hopefully we are a part of that."
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 20019