98.7 WFGR Classic Hits

Laughfest Comedy Spotlight -Jimmy Pardo

Craig Russell — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:11:45 +0000

Seventh in a series

Laughfest and 98.7 WFGR Welcome the Bob and Tom Comedy All Star Showcase, presented by Wolverine Worldwide, Saturday at Fountain Street Church! Hosted by Kristi Lee, The showcase features Tommy Johnagin, “The Mayor” Drew Hastings, and Jimmy Pardo! All on one stage for your dining and dancing pleasure!

Get tickets HERE, and listen to Craig Russell’s interview with Jimmy Pardo Here!

jimmypardo.com

Laughfest Comedy Spotlight – Anjelah Johnson

Craig Russell — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:44:04 +0000

Sixth in a series

Anjelah Johnson, former Oakland Raider cheerleader and MAD TV star, is on her way to Grand Rapids! Laughfest welcomes Anjelah (pronounced Angela) to the Fountain Street Church on Thursday @ 7:30! Anjelah was a live action character in the film ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKQUEL alongside Jason Lee and the voices of Justin Long, Anna Faris and Amy Poehler. Johnson was also starred in OUR FAMILY WEDDING. She plays the feisty sister of America Ferrera in this comedy about two families coming together for a wedding.

But one of her first loves is standup. Here she talks to Craig Russell!

myspace

Laughfest Comedy Spotlight – Full Frontal Nerdity

Craig Russell — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:08:58 +0000

Fifth in a series.

The Midwest’s best nerd comedians strike back! The geeks shall inherit the Earth in this night of silly pop culture comedy that you won’t want to miss! TONIGHT at the Pyramid Scheme! Starring Midwest comedy star Mike Bobbit! Here’s Craig Russell and Laughfest’s Joanne Roehm’s interview with Bobbit! Bobbit! Bobbit!

Laughfest

Laughfest Comedy Spotlight-Patti Vasquez

Craig Russell — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:16:22 +0000

Fourth in a series

Patti Vazquez returns to Laughfest with special guest Greg Morton for a first! The first Laughfest show in Lowell at the Lowell Performing Arts Center on Friday March 16! Patti is a Chicago native, and she got her start over a decade ago at Zanies Comedy Club. Since then she has gone on to perform several hit solo shows including “Pregnant Party Girl: From Stoli’s to Stirrups” and “Tequila and Shamrocks” written and performed by Patti for theater audiences. As a regular guest on the wildly popular Bob and Tom radio show, Patti reaches audiences around the world.

Now she and Greg are doing a clean comedy show at Laughfest! Get tickets here at the Laughfest website! Craig Russell talked to Patti a couple of weeks ago!

Patti Vazquez

Laughfest Comedy Spotlight Laurie Berkner

Craig Russell — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 23:11:15 +0000

Third in a series.

Yes, it’s true, Laurie Berkner and her band aren’t comedians. You might not even know who Laurie Berkner is. Her band are kids’ favs all over the world. She has appeared on Nick Jr. and the Disney Channel more times than she can remember. And her kids’ CD’s sell in the millions. Why is she coming to Laughfest? Because it’s a festival of Laughter. And she makes kids smile and laugh. Pretty simple!

The Laurie Berkner Band plays at Devos Hall Sunday March 11. Click HERE for tickets and Laughfest info! Here’s Craig Russell’s Interview with Laurie!

amazon.com

Laughfest Comedy Spotlight Martin Short

Craig Russell — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 23:43:18 +0000

The second in a series.

Martin Short and Kevin Nealon with special guest, and original SNL writer, Alan Zweibel will headline Laughfest’s “ALive in Grand Rapids! It’s Saturday Night” This special fundraising event is a unique SNL themed evening which includes dinner, a one-of-a-kind live show as well as many unexpected surprises – with all proceeds benefiting Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids.

The Afternoon Hustle, Craig Russell, got a chance to talk with Martin last week!

For more about Laughfest and the ALive from Grand Rapids show, go here: aLive from Grand Rapids…It’s Saturday Night!

flickr

Laughfest Comedy Spotlight – Marc Maron

Craig Russell — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:00:57 +0000

First in a series…

Marc Maron will be at Laughfest on Thursday March 15th AND Saturday March 17th!
Thursday will be Marc’s Standup show, and on Saturday Marc will tape his award winning podcast “WTF” LIVE from the Wealthy Theatre! Get your tickets HERE and see Marc!

Listen to the interview right HERE!

flickr

More Laughfest Fun! 1 Month Away!

Craig Russell — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:40:18 +0000

More Laughfest fun with Joanne Roehm! She’s a pretty high up at Gilda’s Club in the Laughing department. She came into the studios and talked about some Laughfest performers you might not be aware of. And even though she was a little under the weather, her smile brights up a room like 34 candles! Seriously!

Here’s the interview with Joanne! Enjoy!

Tickets and info here: LAUGHFESTGR.ORG

Jumbo Wings From Quaker Steak And Lube Could Be Yours!

Craig Russell — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:46:47 +0000

How would you like to win 100 Jumbo wings and your choice of sauce in time for your “Big Game Party”? Email “matt@wfgr.com“ to win from Quaker Steak and Lube and WFGR! Not only will you win great food from the Lube, we will also deliver it to you just in time for your big game party!

AND not ONLY will we deliver it, Coop from QS&L will do the delivering! How cool is that?

Cortney from QS&L came in to the studio and we put her on the air…silly us!

cortney/qsl

Laughfest Tickets Now On Sale! [AUDIO]

Craig Russell — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:35:47 +0000

Laughfest individual tickets are now on sale! Yippee! All the shows including the newly announced Kathleen Madigan show are on sale now!
Joanne Roehm from Laughfest was in the studio talking about tickets and shows and Laughfest Community shows!

Here’s the interview

And to buy Laughfest Tickets go HERE: laughfestgr.org

Laughfest…seriously funny!

laughfestgr.org

Laughfest Update–Community!

Craig Russell — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:00:55 +0000

Great day to laugh in West Michigan! Laughfest is a little over 3 months away! Ticket packages are on sale and you can be involved in the annual festival of laughter benefiting Gilda’s Club of West Michigan! Festival Operations Manager Joanne Roehm and comedian Matt Lauria stopped by to talk funny with us!

Here the interview HERE

And for more ticket info go to Laughfest’s website

smile!

Mick Jagger Teams Up With Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am for 'T.H.E. (Hardest Ever)'

Joe Robinson — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:00:54 +0000

Frederick M. Brown / Kevin Winter, Getty Images

Get ready to be hearing lots of ‘T.H.E. (Hardest Ever),’ a song off ‘#willpower,’ the new solo album by singer Will.i.am of the pop group Black Eyed Peas. The track features none other than Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger singing a verse, plus additional vocals from pop artist Jennifer Lopez.

This tune is obviously targeted at fans of the Black Eyed Peas’ distinct brand of quirky, glitzy, bass-thumping pop, and ‘T.H.E. (Hardest Ever)’ is definitely not a rock song. That said, we still can’t help but wonder what Jagger was thinking in taking part in this monstrosity.

We don’t expect his rapped vocals — “Hard like geometry / And trigonometry / This is crazy! / Psychology” amongst them — to be poetry, but the whole thing just seems ill conceived and overall pointless.

You may remember the Black Eyed Peas from this year’s disappointing Super Bowl halftime show, after stellar halftime gigs in recent years from the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and the Who. Slash also appeared with the Peas this year, but even the Guns N’ Roses legend couldn’t save that mess.

Jagger previously hooked up with U2 plus Will.i.am and Fergie of Black Eyed Peas as a surprise guest singer at the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 25th Anniversary Concert in New York, for a run through of the Stones classic, ‘Gimme Shelter.’ Watch video of that stellar performance here.

Come to think of it – that took place at the same show which featured Metallica and Lou Reed rocking together for the first time, on the Velvet Underground classic ‘Sweet Jane.’ It was that performance which inspired the combo’s ill-fated ‘Lulu.’ Maybe those crazy Hall of Fame performances are more dangerous than we thought.

Listen to will.i.am’s ‘T.H.E (The Hardest Ever) (featuring Mick Jagger & Jennifer Lopez)’ here:

Source: UltimateClassicRock.com

R.I.P. Elmer Lynn Hauldren…You Knew Him Better As The "Empire Carpet Guy"…

Craig Russell — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:54:49 +0000

Hauldren passed away yesterday at 89. If you grew up anywhere in the Chicagoland area, or in an area where Channel 9 (WGN) was carried on your cable, you knew he was. When I was growing up in Kalamazoo, we ALWAYS had Channel 9 on our cable…Bozo, the Cubs, and Empire Carpet commercials…

He was the “Empire Carpet Guy” he did the commercials, and then the jingle he wrote would be stuck in your head for days…

“588-23 Hundred…EM-pire!”

It was later changed to “800 5-8-8, 23 Hundred…EM-Pire!” Always with the singer that sounded like they were out of 1940′s musical…

Not only did Hauldren star in the commercials and write the jingle, he was the one who came up with the whole character to begin with. He was an ad man who starred in over 200 Empire commercials, and then they created a “claymation” version of him after he got too old to appear in the spots. Kinda like what they did with Col. Sanders after he died…Creepy.

And Merv Griffin is still dead.

TV Shocker 2! First Sheen Back On "2″, Now ABC Cancels "One" and "Children"!

Craig Russell — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 21:13:41 +0000

ABC thinks soap opera’s are on their way out. And they are opening the door for 2 of the longest running ones.

ABC announced they would be cancelling “One Life To Live” and “All My Children” soon, replacing them with a food show and an information show.
What will Susan Lucci do now? This is the only real acting job shes had in about 60 years…

Here’s Susan winning the Emmy after being nominated 19 times

And here’s a caller concerned what to tell his mom about the soaps demise…

What will she do now?

Chick McGee From The Bob And Tom Show On Live With The Afternoon Hustle

Craig Russell — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 20:52:01 +0000

Chick was on the Afternoon Hustle talking about his upcoming appearance at Laughfest, as part of the Bob and Tom Comedy All-Star Showcase!

The Show is Friday at GRCC’s Ford Fieldhouse…get tickets HERE!

And here is the Interview!

West Michigan Home And Garden Show Starts Today–Hear My Interview With Carol Alt!

Craig Russell — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 23:30:00 +0000

Not THAT Carol Alt…she’s with the WMH&GS At Devos Place this weekend…Here’s my interview with her!

Craig's Interview With Laughfest Comic Stephen Lynch

Craig Russell — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:58:29 +0000

Now to someone who is TRULY funny…Michigan native and WMU Alum Stephen Lynch, who will be at Laughfest March 16 @ Devos Hall.

Listen to 98.7 WFGR for your chance to win Laughfest Tickets to Stephen Lynch, Kathleen Madigan, Mike Birbigila, and the Bob and Tom Comedy All Star Showcases!

John Russo Talks About A Wine And Food Tasting [Audio]

Mark Roberts — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:22:21 +0000

John Russo stopped by the studio on Tuesday and talked with Mark Roberts about the Wine and food tasteing Event this Saturday (March 5th) at the St. George Banquet Center on 334 Lagrave near downtown Grand Rapids. Listen as John talks about this great event:

John and Greg Russo at John Russo's Wine Warehouse and Deli

Margaret Cho LIVE On The Afternoon Hustle…

Craig Russell — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:11:27 +0000

Here’s my “5 questions with Margaret Cho” who is coming to Laughfest Saturday March 12 at the GRCC Fieldhouse!

Man Calls 911 To Ask Questions About His Marijuana Plant [AUDIO]

gary.chenoweth — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:40:22 +0000

WVIT

Robert J. Michelson wanted to know how much trouble he could get in for growing one marijuana plant. So he called 911 and asked.

The dispatcher tried to dissuade him for using the emergency service for a non-emergency, but he persisted, and admitted he was growing marijuana before asking her what the legal ramifications of doing that would be.

Not long after his misguided call, the cops traced his number and showed up at his house.

Michelson was arrested and charged with variety of drug related crimes, including illegal cultivation of marijuana. Keep reading for the tape of the 911 call.