Hal Sparks Hosting The Stephanie Miller Show

Current TV isn't long for this world, but it is still airing, and so is Talking Liberally: The Stephanie Miller Show. When Current gets replaced by Al Jazeera US, Steph will still have her usual 3-hour radio show, fortunately. More importantly, at least this week, the multi-talented, funny and adorable Hal Sparks (Queer as Folk, Lab Rats) is guest hosting this week. I know I'm late in pointing this out, but if you are up between 6 and 9 Pacific (9 - Noon Eastern) on Thursday and Friday this week, check out Hal and guest co-hostess Jacki Schechner. If it doesn't air in your town, seek out KTLK-AM on iheart.com. It's a hoot and a half (as is the usual show).

Hal Sparks' Reaction to Justice Scalia Comparing Homosexuality with Murder

Hal Sparks--if you did not know--is a very funny comedian (Charmageddon) and actor (Queer as Folk, Lab Rats). He's also a talented musician, and a progressive radio host. And though he is quite heterosexual, he's a gay rights activist, and a damned good one. Here he is on Talking Liberally: The Stephanie Miller Show, reacting to Justice Antonin Scalia's bizarre comparison of homosexuality to murder.

Talking Liberally with Stephanie Miller Debuts on Current TV Monday Morning!

If you're lucky enough to get Current TV (you obviously don't have Cox Cable. . .harumph!), set your DVR and/or automatic coffee maker for 6am Pacific, 9am Eastern to watch Talking Liberally with Stephanie Miller. Don't let the title fool you. It's The Stephanie Miller Show radio program on the teevee machine. And it isn't just Steph, it's also Chris LaVoie, voice deity Jim Ward, Lab Rats' Hal Sparks and John Fugelsang (who most recently derailed the Romney campaign with that Etch-a-Sketch moment).

I listen or record Steph every weekday, but sadly, I only get audio. Though with my Rachel Maddow habit, maybe I ought not be watching 4 hours of liberal television every day. Still. . .I want my Steph Current TV!!!

[Excerpt]

Stephanie Miller: 'I'm ready for my close-up!'

I’m on Current! Yes, me, Stephanie Miller, daughter of legendary conservative Barry Goldwater’s vice presidential running mate, Congressman William Miller, is now the host of “Talking Liberally: The Stephanie Miller Show” right here on Current TV.  . . .

Read more at: Current TV

Liberal Talk Radio Quake in San Francisco

Image from BradBlog

In 2008, my state of Nevada voted for Barack Obama. Were it up to the most populous county--Clark, home of Las Vegas--it would have been a landslide. But, Las Vegas has never had a liberal talk radio station. Conservative talk hosts and fans say that "the market has spoken," and that there is no market for liberal talk. But I don't believe that. In fact, it would be a difficult conclusion to draw, when a serious attempt at the format has rarely been tried on an equal playing field.

Air America Radio was an experimental liberal talk network, launched in 2004, ahead of George W. Bush's re-election. It was fronted by Al Franken (now a Senator), Rachel Maddow (now a successful MSNBC host), Janeane Garofalo (acclaimed actress), and Randi Rhodes (the queen of liberal talk). Unfortunately, the money guys and others behind the scenes weren't radio people. And most of the stations they secured were low-powered, with spotty reception. AAR hung on for several years, with much tribulation, and then went out of business. But by then, the stars were gone anyway.

Shows like The Stephanie Miller Show, The Ed Schultz Show, The Thom Hartmann Show and others survived (or were never a part of) AAR. They've managed to do well, but with a far smaller terrestrial radio reach. Most of the time, when the format has been tried, it has been on those low-wattage, smaller stations. When the format has succeeded in its market, often it is dumped anyway. In fact, a Madison, Wisconsin station dumped liberal talk, and ended up re-upping when the replacement format tanked. It then became one of the strongest liberal stations in the country. I have been listening to liberal radio since the birth of AAR on my computer. It's the only place you can get it here (well, and nowadays on your smart phones).

My image for my burned CD of the Sexy Liberal Tour.
Feel free to steal it, if you want it!

Right now, Stephanie Miller's Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour has been taking her show on the road, with John Fugelsang, Hal Sparks and local celebrity guests. The show is burning up the stages, outpacing many other established acts. Their online concert album is doing extremely well on iTunes and Amazon.com. They're selling out auditoriums in states that have no liberal media presence. But that didn't stop the owners of the only San Francisco liberal radio station from monkeying with the format. San Francisco. The most liberal city in America. See, there's no market for it. Bullcrap! "Liberal media," my gay, moonbat, lefty, liberal ass!

PS. Steph, bring Sexy Liberal to Las Vegas, please? And bring Chris LaVoie and Jim Ward with you!

[Excerpt]

Clear Channel Allows Progressives to Stay on Air in San Francisco, but Adds Glenn Beck to Line-Up 

You might call it splitting the baby. Sort of.
Progressive radio will be allowed to remain on our public AM airwaves in San Francisco, though with major schedule shake-ups, the removal of its popular progressive branding and several bizarre additions to the line-up, including far Rightwing extremists such as former Fox "News" phenom Glenn Beck in the place of what had been one of Green960's most popular morning shows. . .

Read more at: BradBlog

Stephanie Miller's Sexy Liberal Tour Rolls On

Funny people: Lily Tomlin, Edie McClurg, Stephanie Miller,
John Fugelsang and Hal Sparks. Image from LA Times

Years ago, my sister would tell me how much she loved The Stephanie Miller Show. When I'd visit her in Ohio, I'd catch the odd snippet, and it just seemed noisy. Here in Las Vegas, we don't have--and never have had--a liberally-oriented radio station. And TSMS airs at 6:00 here in Pacific Time, a bit earlier than I get up. But about four years ago or so, I started tuning in to the last 1 or 1-1/2 hours of the show. I was a nearly instant fan. The show is politically liberal, but it is also very funny, with improvisational humor by voice artist Jim Ward, Stephanie herself, and her producer Chris LaVoie.

The show features numerous guests, from Senators and Congresspersons, to comedians and actors. The comedy ranges from the high-brow to the basest humor allowed by the FCC. Regular guests like Edie McClurg, Aisha Tyler, Hal Sparks and John Fugelsang provide "must hear" appearances almost every day of the week. In the last year, TSMS has birthed a traveling stage show, called The Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour, featuring Sparks, Tyler (sometimes), Miller and Fugelsang. It's been selling out all over the country, and getting rave reviews. It's doing so well, Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Miller are attempting to rival them with their own tour. Except O'Reilly and Miller aren't funny.

This weekend, Sexy Liberal was in Los Angeles, which is the radio show's home base. And since they're in Hollywood, they got some liberal friends to join them: Lily Tomlin, McClurg and Rob Reiner. Even LaVoie and Ward got to get in on the act. I'm jealous. Hey, Steph! I live in Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world! Come entertain us! Please?


[Excerpt]

Can a comedy tour be 'sexy and liberal?'

At each stop on Stephanie Miller’s nationwide "Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour" -– launched at Madison, Wis.'  Barrymore Theatre in April -- a surprise comic guest shows up onstage. At the tour’s Southern California debut Friday night at the Wadsworth Theatre, the surprise guest was Lily Tomlin, who joined talk show host Miller and comedians John Fugelsang and Hal Sparks for a panel discussion at the end of the show. . .

Read more at: Los Angeles Times

Joy Behar and Panel Discuss Sarah Palin

You know, conservatives get all twisted in knots when Sarah Palin is discussed in unflattering terms. They get irritated when her family is "dragged into" the discussion. But Palin and her family keep putting themselves out there. We had Bristol on Dancing with the Stars. We've got Sarah Palin's Alaska. Sarah's on FOX "News" with some frequency, in addition to all the first and second-tier right-wing talk radio shows. And there's her new book, Across This Great Country of Ours, With Freedoms and Liberties, Also.  It's all fodder for the media mill, and they cannot expect it all to be glowing and supportive.  Plus, she thinks we're allied with North Korea. So man up, Sarah! You're a celebrity, and will be deconstructed accordingly.

Michelle Malkin vs. Stephanie Miller & Aisha Tyler

Image from ShortsShortsShorts

I'm a big fan of The Stephanie Miller Show radio program, even though I only get to hear about half of it at work.  Like lots of talk radio shows, if you aren't the one in the office actively listening, you'll probably be annoyed by it.  But unlike the voices of Michael Weiner Savage or Mark Levin (horrible, unlistenable) or Rush Limbaugh (windbag), you most likely won't be annoyed by the voices. The show uses lots of sound effects, snippets from movies and TV, and other pop-culture soundbites. They also employ a gifted impressionist, Jim Ward, to imitate--usually to hilarious effect--both celebutards and politicians.  So with all of these whistles and sounds, if you aren't actually listening, you could wonder, "what the hell IS that?"

But if you are listening, the show is a hell of a lot of fun.  I warmed up to it in a single hour, years ago.  As Stephanie says, "she grows on you."  It is political, but politics is just one of its many ingredients.  Lately, on most days of the week, Miller has adopted a celebrity guest, including "Mondays with McClurg" (character actress Edie McClurg), "Humpdays with Hal" (the adorable Hal Sparks), "Fridays with Fugelsang" (wry comedian John Fugelsang) and most recently, "Tuesdays with Tyler."

Image from SFWeekly

That would be Aisha Tyler, the lovely and talented actress and comedian.  She's a hoot, though I did notice a high amount of near-blue material when she was on.  Stephanie often describes her show as, "Senator. Fart joke. Senator. Fart joke" (and that's how I likes it!). With Aisha, it was just a little more so.  It was only when they started cracking jokes about Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh and other conservative creatures that I knew there'd be blowback.

There wasn't a thing that Stephanie, Aisha, Jim or Chris LaVoie (the show's producer) said that was possible to take as any kind of serious threat.  When Aisha said that if she ran into Malkin, she'd "kick her in the nuts," it's simply physically impossible to take seriously.  Unless you are a conservative and have no sense of humor. Guess which camp Malkin falls into.  The best part though?  On Thursday morning's show, they turned the excerpted piece below into even more comedy.  And Ms. Malkin, they're not laughing with you.

[Excerpt]

The vulgarity of liberal female “comedians”



Left-wing female comedians are proving that they can be as crude and stupid as their male counterparts. Who knew that striving for gender equality meant pursuing the dream that one day, someday, liberal women would be able to mock their conservative counterparts’ sexuality with the unfettered vulgarity of Andrew Dice Clay? . . .

Read more (if you can take it) at: MichelleMalkin.com

"The Flower"

This is an awesome video with a heavy message (hint: the message is marijuana prohibition).



Thanks to Hal Sparks via Facebook for the link.

Comedy Recommendation: Hal Sparks' Charmageddon

Image from HalSparks.com

I just thought I'd pop a clip up of a very funny comedy show, which recently debuted on Showtime.  Hal Sparks is best known for his run as host of Talk Soup, and his role as Michael Novotny on Queer as Folk.  He's also in a band (Zero 1), is a regular radio guest--and fill-in host--on The Stephanie Miller Show, and is a stand-up comic. He's talented at all of them, as far as I can tell. And while he's very political to the liberal side on the radio, his comedy special isn't, or at least not much. It's bawdy observational humor, and delivered with manic flair. Sort of like if Dane Cook was funny. Here's a clip to get you interested. Check it out if you've got Showtime.

Rachel Maddow & Hal Sparks: Trying to Prove She is NOT Running Against Scott Brown

If you've been here before, you know I love Rachel Maddow. And I love Rachel's guest in this segment, Hal Sparks, perhaps. . .uh. . .too much. Anyway, Rachel and Hal discuss ways to convince Sen. Scott Brown (R-Cosmopolitan) that she is not running against him for Senate. Maybe he'll get it this time?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Hal Sparks to Host Air America's Post Randi Rhodes Show

Photo from source, LTR

Love me some Hal Sparks. He was one of the primary reasons I watched Showtime's Queer as Folk, because he was just so funny and adorable. I have no idea how he'll do as a liberal pundit, but I may have to switch from Nova M Radio's The Randi Rhodes Show, if only for a little while, just to find out. And what is with that freaky tongue?

[Excerpt]

Maron, Sparks tapped for "Afternoon"

For those keeping track at home, the American Afternoon host wheel keeps spinning, as Air America has tapped former morning host Marc Maron and actor, comedian, musician and television personality Hal Sparks to hold down the fort for the next couple weeks. . .

Read more at: LTR