popular thinking

WEEKEND READING

For your lazy Sunday reading pleasure, an overview of stories, interviews and reviews from me...

A one-woman harp show? It's actually pretty good, especially if you're part of the NPR-style boomer crowd that turned out Friday night for the debut of Deborah Henson-Conant's show at Jimmy Tingle's.

I met Jerry Bruckheimer and Josh Lucas a couple of months ago at the very beginning of their press run for Glory Road. Lucas sported a cast from screwing up the ligaments in his left wrist in filming the Poseidon remake, but he wasn't here to talk about that. They were chatting up the film based on the real-life story of the 1966 Texas Western college basketball team, which won the NCAA tourney and, in a way, paved the way for March Madness. Sort of. When I asked Bruckheimer, who has his producing hands on almost as many TV shows as he has fingers, if he had considered starting his own network, his glib reply: "Well, I sorta already do." Wait. What's that? Another episode of CSI is on? Alrighty then!

If you're near Dorchester, you might still have time tonight to catch the "Big Funny Sunday" show with Chris Tabb and Corey Manning. If not, there's always next week, and in the meantime, catch up with Manning, as I did, to find out more. OK, fine. Here are some samples from our interview last week:

Many Boston comedy fans know Corey Manning as part of "the dynamic duo of comedy,” with fellow stand-up Chris Tabb.
Does that mean they’re Batman and Robin?
"No,” Manning said. "We’re more like a DC Comic matchup of Superman and Batman.”
Which one is which?
"I’d be Superman because I have more powers than Chris,” Manning said. "And plus, Chris is a little more, uh, how should I say it. Actually, I guess he’d be Superman because he’s more PC - Batman gets carried away sometimes. Chris always says I’m willing to take it there. No matter what subject matter or issue, I’m willing to take it there.”
Where is there, exactly?
"Let’s just say I have a fondness for the ladies. And they have the same for me. I’m fully willing to give the women what they need, whether they want it or not,” Manning said.
Perhaps it’s his Southern charm that does it. He is from North Carolina, having moved to Dorchester five years ago.
"It’s great to go back down for the holidays, because I’m able to recapture my country-ness, which is different,” he said. ”I got my r’s back in my words.”
Does he feel at home in Boston yet?
"Oh yeah, I get pulled over all the time. I fit right in,” he said. "Down South, when a person shoots you or robs you, they do it nicely. And they use titles, like 'Mister, could I please have your wallet, sir? Thank you.’ ”
Manning backs the city on wanting to get rid of the "Stop Snitchin' ” T-shirts and likes the alternative "Wait Until You See My Degree” shirts.
"I might come up with my own shirt: Where Have You Heard My Jokes? Or maybe: Where Can I Fix My Credit? That’s a good one,” he said.
Manning mentors children, and he’ll host an upcoming fund-raiser Jan. 26 at the Comedy Studio for the Adoption and Foster Care Mentoring Program.
"It doesn’t take that much time to listen, not talk, but really listen to a kid,” he said.
He said he was funny even as a child.
"I was so funny, I used to do private shows at the principal’s office all the time,” he said. "It was an on-demand performance. Usually it was prefaced by an announcement over the PA system that I’d be performing at the principal’s office. Some people might call it detention. I’d say it was a performance.”
That’s what you see any given Sunday at the "Big Funny Sunday” show he co-hosts with Tabb at the Emerald Isle in Dorchester.
"Usually I get out of control, and then Chris has to come in and clean things up,” Manning said.
They have guest comics both from Boston and New York, "and of course, we have stars coming down from Maine, too. Most of them have their teeth."
He boasts that their show is the most diverse comedy offering in the Hub.
"You’ve got two black guys hosting a show at an Irish pub," he said. "How much more diverse can you get than that?"