OnMilwaukee on Mancow's return

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: Funeral For A Friend : Up and down. Good and bad. Joy and pain. Yin and yang. What a day. Jerry Agar called at 6:30am to tell me he’s being replaced on WLS starting Monday morning. I was stunned to hear it but by the tone of his voice I could tell he wasn’t kidding. I’ve heard it before all too often. It’s become our tradition that the first person we call after a firing is each other. : I know I’ve been whining about how doing Jerry’s Kidders every week isn’t productive use of my time but that didn’t mean I wanted Jerry to lose his job. I was thinking how my spot could be filled by another comedian. This news really shocked me and everyone else too because I got calls about it all day. It was in the Chicago Tribune and everyone saw it. : What really infuriates me is that a no talent hack named Mancow is taking Jerry’s spot. I have no respect for that lowlife puke because when we got fired at the Loop he went on his show the next day and bashed us unmercifully. His company was the one that bought our station and we went to a group meeting after the sale and he was nice to our faces. : Then he went on the air and said a lot of mean things I don’t even want to repeat. It was unprofessional, uncalled for and WAY beyond the boundaries of ‘entertainment’. We had no chance to respond and we’re all still struggling to rebound from that whole ugly mess. : Now he comes along and blows Jerry off the air and was a bitch about that too. He went to the station and apparently offered to broker the air time himself and pay to be on the air because he is itching to get back on the air in Chicago. Jerry EARNED the right to be in a top market because he worked at it and was very good at what he did. Mancow bought in. : Jerry took the time slot he was in from #15 to #3 in just under two years. He was just on the brink of starting to settle in and more importantly his family was too. His kids have all settled in to new schools with new friends and now it looks like they might have to move yet again. I haven’t talked to Kipper McGee but I hear he’s not thrilled about any of this. : Radio is FULL of stories like this and it never gets any better. Max is still reeling down in Springfield from his encounter with his local idiot and now Jerry gets pissed on by his company from New York with a lowlife bully who is going to run it all into the ground. : I couldn’t be any more angry and sad at the same time. Jerry is a great friend and I love his whole family. They all have sacrificed so they could hopefully have a reward later and this was supposed to be it. Now it’s over and nobody has any clue what will happen next. : Allegedly the station is trying to make room for Jerry in a different time slot. I hope that happens but it’s doubtful. This move was made to save money, why would they pay him a salary when other shows already fill that time? His chances look Karen Carpenter slim. : Jerry is a stud at what he does and a hardworking honest person. I know he’ll find a job again somewhere but he doesn’t want to work ‘somewhere’. He wanted to work at WLS. : This whole thing rocked my world all day and I called and talked to Max about it. Max was blown away as much as I was to hear the news and he talked about how he is totally done with all the insanity of radio and never wants to go back. This was his last straw. : I’ve said that too but after this I’m pretty shell shocked. Jerry will keep going and is not looking to do anything else. He’s got a manager and a great reputation so I think he’ll be ok in the long run but for now it’s a major kick in the groin. It takes all the fun out of life. : I had an appointment today to see Lenny Sisselman who used to manage Zanies before Brian Dorfman took over. Lenny is now managing several Christian comedians and doing very well with it. He’s an honest upfront grounded guy and I always enjoyed working for him when he managed the club. He was very fair and treated me like a total professional. : He knew me when the whole bank robbery fiasco was going on and said then that he’d love to represent me in selling it as a movie script. We’ve kept in touch and I brought the latest incarnation of the script I got from my writing partner Rick. I gave it to Lenny and I know he’ll have some solid input on it. He always does. I am glad I rekindled our contact. : This is what I needed to do this week. Nashville is an entertainment town and there are all kinds of contacts to be made here. Just because it’s known for country music doesn’t mean that those people don’t know other people and most entertainment entities have an office in town somewhere. Lenny has always been a good contact and I respect his word. : I told him about the Uranus Factory Outlet idea and he loved that too. He has a concert series with the Christian acts and they have t-shirts and Lenny said he’d turn me on to the supplier so maybe I’d be able to get a deal because of his connection. I will contact them and don’t mind at all if Lenny becomes involved in this. I want the project to be a winner. : Lenny and I had a very upbeat meeting and I could tell he’s still excited about the script. If good vibe and karma mean anything Lenny is a guy I want to have involved with what I am doing. Jerry Agar is another one. So is Max. So are a lot of other people too. I will get my group of positive people around me and weed out the leakers. Mancow can get bent. : The show at Zanies tonight was totally fun. David Alan Grier is REALLY funny. I have a whole new respect for the guy and I’m glad I came to do this week. I knew of him from some of the TV work he did on ‘In Living Color’ but I’d never seen his standup before. : He has a hell of a presence and is very sharp and funny and charismatic and I watched a full house audience that liked me absolutely LOVE him. He is no pretender and I am very happy for him on his new Comedy Central show. He’s a talented guy and he deserves it. : He was very down to earth and friendly too. He didn’t have to be and I’ve been frozen out many times by someone who’s supposed to be a ‘star’. Not tonight. We got along fine and he even watched my set and laughed out loud. He didn’t have to do that either. I hope to make a connection here and it’s smart business to do that. But I still feel bad for Jerry. : (Dobie Maxwell, OnMilwaukee.com)

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