Don’t feel too bad for Richard Jeni and the cancellation of his “Platypus Man” comedy series on the UPN television network. He learned a valuable lesson:
“In the Hollywood hierarchy of entertainment, film is very high class. TV is kind of middle brow. Standup is somewhere between porno and dwarf-tossing. So having your own show definitely legitimizes you in the eyes of the Hollywood community.”
Jeni has a lot of ideas cooking, now that he’s free of the shackles of a series. One of them is an answer to the television infomercial where someone promises he can show you how to have a better memory.
“This is exactly what people don’t need. The only chance you have at being happy in the world is to somehow forget all the horrible things that have happened to you in the past.
“So I’m thinking of coming out with a tape called `30 Days to Total Denial: Happiness Through Not Dealing with Reality.’ Embarrassed because you screwed up in college? To hell with it! With my tape, you never went to college!”
And of course, there’s always the movies. Jeni played Jim Carrey’s best friend in “The Mask,” and there is talk Carrey is signed to do a sequel. But Carrey is also signed for a movie called “Cable Guy,” and word is he’s going to get $20 million for that role.
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“Okay, I did change my future plans,” replies Jeni. “My plans are to go to Jim Carrey’s house and beg.”
In the meantime, Jeni is doing a lot of touring around the country this summer with his very funny standup act. “I think it’s important to get out there whenever you need the mon . . . I mean, uh, get back in touch with my creative roots.”
Yes, Jeni’s a wacky funster. But he gets serious about his experience with “Platypus Man” (the show’s in reruns at 8:30 p.m. Mondays on WPWR-Ch. 50).
“You really don’t get to execute your personal vision of what’s funny and what’s important to say” on your first TV show, admits the 37-year-old Jeni, a standup for 13 years now.
“What happens is lots of times, people say what they have to say just to get the deal. And then they go off and do what they want. And the executive producer and writers of my show, I don’t think they ever really had any intention of having a meaningful cooperation with me.”
Jeni says he found himself doing and saying a lot of things that he “didn’t care for, and that’s something I never had to do when I do standup.” And the show was based on his clever standup routine of the lonely, goofy-looking mammal (man) who goes its own way in search for something meaningful in life.
And yet, they didn’t get Jeni involved in the shaping of the show, and they stretched his idea into having Jeni as the star of a fictional cable cooking show.
“They talked to me and sometimes they listened and sometimes they wouldn’t. But their attitude basically was, `Your job now is to be an actor in a show. And if you try and do our job, you’re gonna be trying to do too many things. Just trust us.’ So I trusted them. . . .”
But Jeni did find some good things about his experience with “Platypus Man.” He realizes how difficult it is to get any kind of television show on the air, so he’s lucky in that respect.
“I won’t say I was disgusted with (the show). It was a pretty good show. I’d say it was a `B,’ not a bad show. And if it had more time, it might have gotten to be a great show.”
And Jeni isn’t all that bummed out his show was axed: “The only consolation is (UPN) canceled every single show (except “Star Trek: Voyager”). And some of them they canceled before they even got to the air.”
Richard Jeni is making a special appearance Friday at the Fallout comedy club, 318 W. Grand Ave. For show times and reservations, call 312-645-1950.
Open up
It takes a special talent to open for a musical act. Basically, the audience isn’t there to see you. Vincent Cook realizes this and approaches the gig in two ways–with the way he uses his talentT, and with a little help from a “friend.”
“You’re getting a shot to go out and meet and greet and show your talents,” says Cook, 33. “Some comedians are wasting time (when they open). They’re just in the way. Whereas I go out and I’m an act . . . people are not there to see a comedian . . . but I go out there, I speak to them, I let them know who I am, I get the vibe set, and then I take them to the next level.”
To Cook, doing such opening acts is like being in a marathon. He begins the race and then passes the baton to someone to “bring it on home.”
In this case, Cook is passing the baton to Luther Vandross. Cook has been touring with the superstar singer since May, and they’re coming to the New World Friday night.
Now, we mentioned a “friend” that helps Cook when he’s going out there to perform for people who didn’t pay to see him. That friend is the ticket. The ticket may say “An Evening with Luther Vandross.” But it also says “And Special Guest.”
That’s Cook.
“They didn’t announce my name, but the audience doesn’t know who the special guest is,” says Cook, who became a comic in his native Washington, D.C., 12 years ago, and who has opened for the Whispers, the Temptations, Maze and Patti LaBelle.
“It’s like saying, `Hey, we have a special guest. Somebody that some of you may know, somebody that you would like to see. But whatever the case, this guy is great, he’s a special guest. Something’s special about this guy, so you’d better get here early so you can see him.’ “
Are you listening, all you people going to see Luther Friday?
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