PANAMA CITY BEACH — Clean and funny — those are the descriptions often given for Henry Cho's standup comedy shows, as if the two conditions were not generally associated with each other.
"I’m an Asian with a Southern accent. To a lot of people, that right there is funny," Cho has said.
The Martin Theatre presents Cho in two performances — 3 and 7:30 p.m. — on Friday, Feb. 5, at the Majestic Beach Resort, 10901 Front Beach Road in Panama City Beach. Tickets are available in advance at MartinTheatre.com for $32-$38 depending on seating.
Cho, a regular on TV network late-night talk shows, Comedy Central, Sirius XM and other venues, is no stranger to local stages and remains a favorite of area audiences. His 1-hour Comedy Central Special, “What’s That Clickin' Noise?” is currently running and on Netflix. He’s also a regular performer at the Grand Ole Opry.
“It’s adult humor, just clean. You can listen to radio and hopefully an 8-year-old will not get all my jokes. But you would not be embarrassed if they hear anything I say — edgy, but clean,” Cho told The News Herald in a 2015 interview.
He gave this example. “I was talking to a buddy at church who found out he was going to have a girl, after four boys, named Hallelujah. I said, ‘Maybe I should have named mine vasectomy.’”
Jason Hedden, a local actor, director and comedian — and chairman of the Division of Visual and Performing Arts at Gulf Coast State College — will open for Cho.
"I am excited to join our community in welcoming Henry Cho back to Bay County and thrilled to be part of the show as a local opening act," Hedden said. "I’m a huge fan of Cho’s work as a comedian and actor. He is clean and hilarious. It’s going to be a great show!"
The show will also feature Nashville-based comedian Aaron Weber, a stand-up comic born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama. In 2017, alongside other Nashville-based comedians, Weber helped break the Guinness World Record for Longest Stand-up Comedy Show. He regularly tours with Cho.
Still "homeless" while Hurricane Michael repairs continue at its Panama City base, the Martin Theatre has moved forward with its annual winter season, thanks to the Majestic.
Barbara McMinis, executive director for the Martin Theatre, said efforts to adhere to CDC guidelines for COVID-19 are part of the plan for the season of shows at the Majestic. Seating has been reduced and distanced, which prompted the scheduling of two performances for each show — half the seats but twice the opportunity, she said..
"We will also be offering hand sanitizer and will be following the mask mandate. We hope that this will alleviate some of your worries," she said.
Morgan is an Associate Editor at Reader’s Digest. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2016 where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. She writes for rd.com, helps lead the editorial relationship with our partners, manages our year-round interns, and keeps the hundreds of pieces of content our team produces every month organized. In her free time, she likes exploring the seacoast of Maine where she lives and works remotely full time and snuggling up on the couch with her corgi, Eggo, to watch HGTV or The Office.
Uprising rap & hip-hop star Malaynah has has embarked on a new journey with the release of her first single in 2021, "Ain't it Funny". The new single is being releases entirely independent through her own label, Eleven:11 Records, and will be the first of many this year, as she plans on dropping a new track every month, and looks to release her 2nd EP this spring.
With her new song, we begin to question the influence that internet personalities and new age rap artists have on young listeners while being hit with truthfully sobering lyrics, humbling even the most popular creators and releasing listeners from idolizing mind-numbing content.
"The reason I named the song "Ain't it Funny" is because I felt like it was time to address the elephant in the room and express how ridiculous it is that we've normalized nonsensical music," said Malaynah.
Malaynah has been on a constant rise since going viral with her freestyle, rapping over Cardi B's "Money", when Cardi B herself reposted, racking up over 12 million views. Catching the eye of Bay Area distribution company and record label, Empire, Malaynah released her debut EP, hitting over 1.3 million streams.
Paiing up with producer Geronimo, whose credits include DJ Mustard and Future, this fierce new track is a mix of her Latin roots and LA street culture. This Boyle Heights native is spitting lyrics about the hard truth of what we are exposed to everyday. The core of "Ain't it Funny" is that we are exposing and desensitizing ourselves and our society to these false idol influencers.
From Boyle Heights to the 1.3 million streams, Malaynah has given her fans a taste of her LA roots. With old school hip-hop freestyles and new school edgy beats, this west coast princess is fighting her way to the top. Malaynah is letting her lyrics prove that she has matured not only in her music, but within her own mindset.
While the 49ers won't be among the participants unlike last February's Super Bowl in Miami, this commercial promoting Sunday's game featured plenty of Bay Area flavor.
As you can see above, 49ers legends Joe Montana and Jerry Rice make a tremendous cameo, as well as Oakland native and Super Bowl champion Marshawn Lynch narrating throughout.
Super Bowl LV also will feature a familiar face who hails from the Bay Area in Tom Brady. The now-Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback is seeking his seventh Super Bowl title. Brady famously grew up a big-time Montana and 49ers fan.
Super Bowl LV, coming after a sobering and harrowing year, has presented a conundrum for the big game’s advertisers.
Is it wise to shell out major cash — about $5.6 million for a 30-second spot — if sales have been suffering? What’s the right tone to strike when the pandemic has brought so much grief? And what’s the right message to send when half the country can’t stand the other half?
“This year there are a lot of icebergs in the water,” said Derek Rucker, a marketing professor who teaches advertising strategy at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Advertising during the Super Bowl, a televised event that can draw 100 million viewers and is the single biggest marketing platform all year, is always a high-stakes investment. But between the pandemic, the storming of the Capitol, the inauguration, the impeachment and ongoing social justice movements, “I can’t think of a Super Bowl in history that has so much else going on,” Rucker said.
“With that level of tension in the environment, anything you do has the potential to be amplified, and if it is interpreted the wrong way it can damage your brand,” he said.
Some regulars, like Coke, Pepsi and Avocados from Mexico, are sitting out this year’s game. Super Bowl stalwart Budweiser for the first time in 37 years won’t run an ad during the game, opting instead to promote COVID-19 vaccination in ads leading up to game day.
Other companies, including DoorDash and freelance marketplace Fiverr, will make their Super Bowl debuts, a sign of how the events of 2020 catapulted their business and relevance in people’s lives.
The Monday morning marketing quarterbacks are eager to see how brands navigate this year’s land mines.
“I think the trend we will see is careful, cautious, not controversial,” said Alice Sylvester, partner at Sequent Partners, an ad effectiveness and metrics consultancy in New York.
Yet companies don’t buy a Super Bowl ad, which with production costs can run $7 million to $8 million per spot, to be forgotten. They have to figure out how to stand out from the crowd and be relevant without spurring a brand boycott at a time when consumers are unforgiving of gaffes.
“You have to take a stand but make sure it’s the right stand,” said Margo Kahnrose, chief marketing officer at Kenshoo, a digital marketing tech company that’s based in Israel and has an office in Chicago. “I think that’s why brands are opting out altogether. It’s very risky.”
The caution, as well as uncertainty about whether the game would go forward amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, plus the pressure on marketing budgets, seems to have caused ad buys to be slower than usual.
CBS said Wednesday it had “virtually sold out” of its national ad inventory, according to USA Today, whereas last year Fox announced it had sold out nearly two months before the game. Last year’s Super Bowl generated a record $449 million in ad revenue, up 33% from the prior year because the price of advertising spots was higher, according to Kantar Media. There are, on average, 87 30-second ad slots available during the game.
Some brands didn’t hesitate to participate this year.
Bolingbrook-based WeatherTech, maker of car mats and other auto and pet accessories, has bought not one but two 30-second ad spots to promote its made-in-America products, which will run during the second quarter and second half, plus a pre-kickoff spot.
The commercials feature the stories of employees and highlight its bedrock message that making products in the U.S. can be profitable, said Michael Magnusson, founder and CEO of Pinnacle Advertising, the Schaumburg-based ad agency behind WeatherTech’s Super Bowl ads for the past eight years. There was no concern over whether to participate based on the stress level of the nation.
“Nobody can throw stones at what WeatherTech’s message is,” Magnusson said. “It’s true, it’s to the heart, it’s all good. There is nothing controversial about making something in America and employing people.”
M&Ms also was quick to buy an ad and was one of the first to announce it was doing so. Mars Wrigley, whose global headquarters is in Chicago, selected M&Ms because it’s a joyful, humorous brand that could relieve some of the heaviness of the year.
“We believe people are still wanting to smile and have some fun,” said Sarah Long, chief marketing officer at the candy-maker.
The M&Ms ad, made by BBDO New York and featuring its spokescandies, “hints at the 2020 experience” and plays with “human truths we can all relate to,” Long said. It will play during the first commercial break after kickoff.
The company plans to premiere the ad on Zoom Wednesday to 50,000 people who register. A teaser for the ad, titled “Reveal Gone Wrong,” shows a table set up for an outside gender reveal party, then a boom and a puff of blue powder.
Striking the right tone is one of the biggest challenges as emotions run high, Rucker said.
It’s safe for a legacy brand like M&Ms to use humor because consumers are familiar with it, but a newer brand may put people off if it looks like they are making light of a serious situation, he said.
Yet there is also a danger in being too somber. There was a backlash against the pandemic-focused advertising in the early months of the crisis, as people grew fatigued talking about how hard everything was.
“All of these Zoom ads, and everyone saying we are in this together — that got old very quickly,” Kahnrose said.
Companies have a wealth of consumer data guiding their decisions. For example, research shows that people are interested in brands that encourage public health protocols, Kahnrose said.
For Budweiser parent Anheuser-Busch InBev, diverting some beer ad money to vaccination awareness could be a marketing win.
“By making a big statement, like this is not the year for a big splashy Super Bowl ad, they are giving off a very on-trend, current message,” Kahnrose said. “That’s a way to flex your reputation too, to hold back.”
The big kahunas of Super Bowl advertising are not just watching from the sidelines.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, traditionally the Super Bowl’s biggest advertiser, will still run ads during the game for Michelob Ultra, Bud Light and Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade.
PepsiCo, while benching Pepsi to focus on its sponsorship of the halftime show, is running an ad for Mountain Dew to promote its new watermelon flavor. The teaser, which leans into the brand’s penchant for the absurd (remember Puppy Monkey Baby?), features a watermelon-themed amusement park and googly-eyed dog with watermelon slices for body parts.
While many ads will stick to light and positive, some brands are taking stances on social issues.
Chipotle, which will be advertising during the Super Bowl for the first time, plans to focus on sustainable farming with an ad titled, “Can a Burrito Change the World?”
It’s become important for companies to have a purpose beyond the function of their products, as a way of appealing to values-centric consumers and differentiating themselves in a crowded market, Rucker said. But brands have to be careful, because savvy and skeptical consumers have little tolerance for efforts that seem opportunistic.
People were outraged when Ram Trucks, in its 2018 Super Bowl commercial, used a sermon from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to advertise pickups.
The Gap got blowback when, amid the election turmoil in November, it posted a tweet showing a red and blue sweatshirt and calling for unity. The company later said the sweatshirt was not for sale.
And OneUnited Bank, the largest black-owned bank in the country, was accused of being exploitative last year when it released a debit card depicting the face of abolitionist Harriet Tubman.
Another consideration this year is that fewer people will gather for Super Bowl parties, which traditionally are the No. 2 group party occasion, after New Year’s Eve. Watching a commercial alone, versus in a group, changes how people react to it because they don’t have social cues from others, Rucker said.
“In a group, if one person laughs others will too,” he said. “Seeing it alone means those group-level reactions may be harder to see, and you have to adjust your advertising to that.”
Once the holy grail of advertising, Super Bowl TV ads are now just one lever companies pull if it makes strategic sense for brands. And the spots are usually part of larger digital marketing campaigns that start days or weeks earlier, often propelled by social media.
Molson Coors, which is unable to air a national Super Bowl ad because of the NFL’s exclusive deal with Anheuser-Busch InBev, is nonetheless capitalizing on the event with an eyebrow-raising stunt that endeavors to infuse Coors branding into people’s dreams.
Marcelo Pascoa, vice president of marketing for Coors, said the team was skeptical when its ad agency first came up with the idea to use “targeted dream incubation” to trigger people to dream about Coors Light and Coors Seltzer on game day. The first question, he said, was whether it would actually work, and he was surprised when Harvard Medical School professor Deirdre Barrett, an expert on dreams who partnered on the project, said it might.
The campaign, promoted through TV spots and digital channels, invites people to watch a 2- to 3-minute video, then launch an eight-hour soundscape before going to sleep the night before the Super Bowl. The video shows images of mountains and rivers, emblematic of Coors’ refreshing brand profile. Participants, through a social media strategy, will be encouraged to share their dream experiences after.
Pascoa tried it and remembers dreaming of mountains, snow and, for some reason, his mom. The goal is to offer a fun, light experience that can take people’s minds off the year’s stressors and help them wake up feeling refreshed, he said
“And who knows, maybe they will wake up thinking about a beer,” he said. The video will become available Wednesday.
The idea is relevant to the current times, Pascoa said. He has been having anxiety dreams that he believes are driven by feelings of isolation caused by the pandemic.
Though it’s not an in-game ad, Chicago-based Molson Coors is spending 2 1/4 u00bd times its usual marketing spend for February to push the dream campaign. It wouldn’t be making that investment if it didn’t feel it had something meaningful to say about the experience people are going through, Pascoa said.
“One thing we have learned is that people need a moment to chill,” he said. “People need a moment where they can disconnect.”
Welcome toFix It, our weekly series examining projects we love — save for one tiny change we wish we could make.
We’re the Millers is a great movie with just one scene to “ragret.”
Director Rawson M. Thurber (aka the dude who brought you Dodgeball) delivered a timeless monument to joke writing excellence with his 2013 road trip comedy starring Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, and Will Poulter. The hilarious, yet oft-maligned flick — which has a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, but an A- on CinemaScore — tells the story of a small-time drug dealer (Sudeikis) teaming up with a stripper (Aniston), a misfit teen (Roberts), and a dweeb (Poulter) to smuggle marijuana from Mexico into the great state of Colorado. (Lol, 2013.)
By posing as a family of tourists, the four unlikely conspirators plan to trick border agents into letting them through customs riding an RV filled headlights-to-tailpipes with highly potent weed.
We’re the Millers is a great movie with just one scene to “ragret.”
It’s a simple premise executed remarkably well. Nearly 8 years later, We’re the Millers’ quick-witted dialogue and stellar casting continues to make it a worthwhile watch, immortalized on social media through its most quotable lines and meme-able moments. “Wait, you guys are getting paid?” is, of course, an all-time great.
Still, there’s one scene, arguably one of the film’s most iconic, that hurts its otherwise great composition. Yep, I’m talking about Jennifer Aniston’s nearly two-minute strip performance to Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion.” It’s a notorious sequence that was almost universally knocked by critics when We’re the Millers came out — but not for the reasons it should have been.
Jennifer Aniston is absolutely NOT the reason this scene didn't work.
Image: warner bros.
I'll admit, the scene (which involves Aniston’s character Rose doing an elaborate strip tease as a distraction for an escape plan) is objectively ridiculous.
It's a classic example of a joke gone wrong — an instance where the "straight man" delivered and the comedian didn't.
Set in a remote warehouse, the exquisitely choreographed number sees Rose sexily scale an industrial ladder, douse herself with water in a safety shower, and inexplicably start a small fireworks display with the push of a button — all while dancing in her underwear. Rose’s fake family and the gangsters holding them hostage look on in awe at the smoking hot strip tease, until Rose blasts the main bad guy with some steam and the group makes a hasty getaway.
In 2013, plenty of jerks used the sexy spectacle as an excuse to shame Aniston about everything from her feminist values to her weight. The sequence, heavily featured in the trailer, was largely regarded as a tasteless ploy to sell tickets. A critic for Time Out described Aniston's performance as “desperate-looking,” and another for the New York Times mused that it was taken on by the actor solely to "prove to the world that she has an amazing body." That sort of language, placing the failed joke squarely on Aniston’s shoulders and not on the rest of the creative team behind We’re the Millers, was a trend throughout reviews that was at best misguided and at worst akin to slut-shaming.
But the issue with this sequence, at least as I see it, has very little do with Aniston. Instead, it's a classic example of a situational joke gone wrong — a time when the "straight man" (in this case, Aniston) delivered and the comedian opposite her (in this case, the gobsmacked onlookers played by Sudeikis, Roberts, and Poulter) did not.
David! Give! Me! Something! Else! PLEASE!
Image: warner bros.
During the scene, Aniston plays the strip tease with total sincerity. There's no slapstick comedy or snarky remarks. It's just hot, top to (extremely toned) bottom. But with a staggering duration of almost two minutes — a hell of a long time for a sub-two hour movie — We're the Millers doesn't take enough comedic swings to make the most of the overtly funny situation. It's a shortcoming that tanks the scene and drags down the second half of the film.
These jokes are, in a word, fine. But they don't measure up.
Just two jokes, count 'em two, occur during the scene: (1) At the start of the strip tease, Sudeikis' character David does a straight-to-camera The Office-style eyebrow raise, as if to say "Can you believe this?" and (2) At the end of the strip tease, Poulter's character Kenny gets a boner and David says, "Have some respect. That's your mother!"
These jokes are, in a word, fine. But for a script that boasts Poulter cupping a pair of swollen testicles and crying "A SPIDER BIT ME ON MY BALLS!", they don't measure up.
See, Aniston's dance, which took two months of training and required a stunt double, is so well done that it heightens the comedic tension to a point where a slam-dunk joke is required — or else, the scene comes out like it did: an awkwardly titillating outlier in an otherwise not sexy movie. It's so sexy you need something to cut that tension, and a couple of half-baked jokes just don't do it.
What's worse, the energy of both of David's lines have a distinct "What're we even doing here?" tone. It's clear these were intended to be moments of self-aware comedy, underscoring the rest of the R-rated film's raunchy vibe. But, as the scene turned out, they're missed opportunities, dragging down the energy of Aniston's incredible performance with a sense of bizarre disinterest.
In effect, these half-hearted one-liners reverse the roles that would have made this scene work. It forced Aniston's not at all funny routine to be the punchline when it should have been the setup, and made Sudeikis' lines accessories to that joke's bad execution. Aniston's performance gets labeled unnecessarily suggestive and Sudeikis' wry character, who kills in almost every other scene of the movie, appears inconsistent if not a bit lazy.
Slay them, Jen. SLAY. THEM.
Image: warner bros.
Whether punching up these jokes would have calmed We're the Millers' most aggressive critics, I can't say. Still, I'd like to think fixing this scene would have helped the rest of this phenomenal movie shine as brightly as it ought to — or at least saved Aniston some undeserved hate.
All I'm saying? Make those jokes as tight as Jen's abs and you've got a winner, baby.
Saturday Night Live returned with host John Krasinski who led a solid episode
And we’re back! Saturday Night Live returned this past weekend for the first episode of 2021. John Krasinski, who was previously scheduled to host in March of last year, finally got his chance to grace the Studio 8H stage.
It’s somewhat surprising that Krasinski hasn’t already hosted SNL. The show has done plenty of The Office parodies, and Steve Carrell, Rainn Wilson, and Ed Helms all hosted the show during the hit sitcom’s run. Krasinski’s wife Emily Blunt also hosted the show once, back in 2016.
Last March, before Krasinski was originally set to host, Blunt was asked if she gave any advice to her husband prior to his Saturday Night Live debut. Unfortunately, all she told him was “It’s terrifying. It’s absolutely terrifying.”
It was clear from Krasinski’s first entrance in the cold open that he was, in fact, a little nervous. His hands appeared to be shaking, and his Tom Brady impression was rather muted. However, it seems like Krasinski steadied his nerves after that opening performance, and he went on to appear in every single sketch of the night.
Without further ado, here are the most memorable moments from Krasinski’s show.
Saturday Night Live with John Krasinski highlights: The monologue
It was a matter of when, not if there would be a reference to The Office on this episode. However, the joke of this sketch wasn’t really The Office itself, but instead the intense fan culture that surrounds it. It actually worked quite well, and SNL found a way to make a relevant sketch about a show that premiered almost 16 years ago. As Pete Davidson put it, “Everyone’s been stuck inside for a year, watching The Office non-stop.”
Usually I don’t enjoy when the host monologues feature other cast members too heavily. It often feels like a cheap cop-out that the writers use when they can’t think of an actual monologue for the host to deliver. In this case, however, the “audience participation” made for a really great sketch.
Of course, everyone is talking about John Krasinski’s moment with Pete Davidson. But Alex Moffat, Ego Nwodim, and Kenan Thompson were all hysterical as weirdo audience members asking Krasinski non-sensical questions about The Office. Moffat’s delivery of, “Follow-up question: do The Office!” and Thompson saying, “I got a question: kiss Pam!” were some of the funniest moments of the night.
Saturday Night Live with John Krasinski highlights: Pandemic Game Night
This sketch succeeded thanks to a genius premise and dedicated performances by the entire cast. A group of friends in a “COVID bubble” together meet up for a game night, only to slowly find out that every single one of them secretly participated in the storming of the US Capitol.
The cast members do a wonderful job reacting as this unfolds. Each friend accepts their arrest with absolutely no resistance, and no one in the group seems that bothered that their friends keep getting taken away. Krasinski’s line, “Well let’s start the game, shall we?” thirty seconds after his friend gets apprehended by the FBI was one of his best jokes of the episode.
However, the best line of the sketch belongs to Kyle Mooney, who bemoans that “One of them was my wife!” after two women get arrested. Which one Kyle? And why didn’t you say anything as she was being taken away? And why were you sitting so close to Heidi Gardner’s character for the whole sketch?
Saturday Night Live with John Krasinski highlights: Supermarket Sweep
This sketch was excellent on so many levels. Any sketch about Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant’s bizarre lesbian couple being mistaken for friends would be funny. An episode of Supermarket Sweep from the 90s is a perfect setting. And Bryant and McKinnon’s delightful friendship shines through in every scene they perform together.
The cherry on top was all the little jokes that weren’t directly connected to the main premise. The game shows coming up next on the channel are “Dogs vs Kids” and “The Great American Slime Race.” John Krasinski’s host asks the contestants to name “a breakfast oval,” and Ego Nwodim, playing a contest, chimes in with the answer (eggs, obviously) about thirty seconds too late.
Saturday Night Live with John Krasinski highlights: Ratatouille
This was barely a sketch. In fact, it probably could have been almost as funny as a tweet. I don’t mean that as criticism, however. This sketch was hilarious, and the writers knew to keep it short and sweet. Plus, they found ways to add some good jokes to surround the hilarious premise.
In fact, Chloe Fineman’s line “My expectations were really low considering you insisted on wearing your top hat the whole time, but seriously, that was amazing!” might have just been the funniest part of the whole sketch. Aidy Bryant’s character “Bugatouille” also got a big laugh out of me.
More thoughts after Saturday Night Live with John Krasinski
Could Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg become the new Eric and Don Jr. for Mikey Day and Alex Moffat?
Kenan Thompson calling Becoming by Michelle Obama “the good book” in “Blue Georgia” was great.
Beck Bennett, as usual, had so many great line deliveries. “I don’t know, maybe they’re homeschooled or something?” in “Twins” was my favorite from this episode.
The “Opening Credits Songs” sketch was a great vehicle for celebrity impressions, but the lyrics to most of the songs fell flat. However, I really liked “This is The Crown!” (to the tune of “This is The Voice!”) and Chloe Fineman’s Sex and the City song.
Krasinski wore a letterman jacket, a tight sheriff’s outfit, and an undershirt on tonight’s show. Something tells me the writers were just trying to find various ways they could put Krasinski in handsome costumes.
What did you think of Saturday Night Live with John Krasinski? Do you think he’ll be back to host again? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
