From the Dope Show producers and comedians Tere Joyce & Jeffrey Peterson as posted on MySpace.
Willamette Week article April 4, 2007
This week’s scalding brand of shame lands on radio station KUFO and CBS Radio parent for stopping local radio personalities from participating in a comedy show to raise money and awareness for Pot Legalization. Organizers of the so-called “Dope Show” had obtained commitments more than a month ago from Levine and Willig of KUFO’s Howard Stern-inspired Marconi Show…
(To read entire article go to www.wweek.com/news)
The article pointed a finger at KUFO and CBS Radio not The Marconi Show Hosts. There was no negative comments made toward Marconi show hosts by Dope Show performers or producers. Fellow Dope Show performer and Portland producer Mark “The Mustard Man” Kikel was quoted: “We will miss their participation, but The Dope Show’s Portland 420 tour will go on.”
The day that the article went out, Marconi Show hosts decided to respond with on air character assassination of Mark Kikel. We as Dope Show producers felt that The Marconi Show hosts may have misconstrued our reason for contacting the press. The email that was sent by Dope Show producers was as follows… April 5th, 2007
Dear Kristine Levine,& Big Jim Willig,
I am sending you this email, because I would like to clear up some confusion surrounding The Dope Show.
First of all, I want to let you know that I am a fan of The Marconi show. I don’t know if you remember me or not, but I participated in The Drunken Mexican hat dance you did on the air last Cinco De Mayo. I think I may have grind and bumped on Big Jim’s lap during the dance. That was a happy day in my life, for now I know why they call you Big Jim Willig. That moment was so special to me, that I proudly sleep in my Marconi Show T-shirt. For these reasons, I was so looking forward to having the two of you perform on the Show.
The Dope Show is a stand-up comedy variety show that uses humor and satire to promote awareness of marijuana reform laws. We wanted to create a show for the cannabis culture, which we believe is a political movement aimed at decriminalizing the responsible use of marijuana, and legalizing the plant so that it can be regulated and made ‘market safe’. We are also seeking to ratify common-sense uses for marijuana and hemp as both medicine and industrial materials which have benefits that go beyond simple personal use.”
Fellow comedian Jeffrey Peterson and I are the creators of The Dope show. We have been refining the show at The IceHouse Comedy Club in Pasadena for approximately one year now. The show is directed and produced by veteran comedian Vic Dunlop. Vic in association with Creative Artist Agency, will soon launch The Dope Show as an under-
ground sitcom via the Internet. Ironically, Vic Dunlop will be headlining at Harvey’s Comedy Club the same week that we will be doing The Dope Show in Portland.
Jeffrey and I chose Portland to do a 420-celebration tour because Oregon was the first state to decriminalize marijuana. I personally wanted to do our show in Portland, because I have a fondness for your city, and a respect for your comedy community.
What we believe is special about The Dope Show is that it includes local talent in every show. Our goal is to showcase the best talent of each city. Not only will there be some of your best comedians on the show, but also appearing will be Portland based rock band Stolen Rose.
In the past we have had nationally known comedians on our show such as Mo Collin’s from Mad TV, Brad Williams from the Mind of Mencia, Jen Kober, and Last Comic Standing alumni Jay London, Chris Porter, and Ty Barnett.
We contacted the press about your cancelled performance on The Dope Show. Mark “The Mustard Man ” Kikel took no part in this action, and we are sorry to hear that he has suffered for the consequences of our actions. Mark has been our Portland co-producer of The Dope Show, and has put a lot energy, and heart into making this show happen. He was the one who found our sponsor Mary Jane’s House of glass. It was Mark who suggested that we make our Portland tour a benefit for Oregon NORML.
My creative partner and I were under the impression that the two of you could not perform on our show, because new management felt that the subject matter of The Dope Show was not in line with the image of The Marconi show radio broadcast.
We contacted the newspapers because we wanted to shed light on the negative perceptions that society has on the marijuana reform movement. I do realize that a show called “The Dope Show” can be misinterpreted, but that is exactly the reason why we chose the name. We liked the fact that the word “dope” has multiple meanings.
Our show is about freedom. It is about the freedom to make our political choices, and the right to express our artistic voice. We asked the two of you to perform on our show, because we thought that The Marconi Show stood behind the same ideals.
There was no mal-intent on our part in contacting the press about your decision to withdraw from The Dope Show cast. We are saddened to hear that our motives have been misconstrued.
We hope that you will allow us speak on your show, and let us set the record straight. If we can’t express our voice personally, then we hope that you will send this message to your listening audience.
Sincerely,
Tere Joyce & Jeffrey Peterson
We asked them if we could go on the air to get the record straight, or if they would at least let the listening audience get our message. I listened to the show today, and heard a segment where the webmaster of the site does news stories on emails that were sent to him the night before. They chose to cover stories emailed to them by local strippers, but failed to mention our email. Since they have not contacted us yet, we are beginning to assume that The Marconi Show Hosts are not going to allow us to peacefully comment on why we contacted the press.
There is anger and backlash towards the Dope Show producers from at least two of the Portland Comics whom have now decided not to perform on The Portland 420 tour. We feel that this is happening, because The Dope Show’s words have been silenced. Help give The Dope Show their opportunity to speak the truth by reposting this bulletin. You can also take action by emailing the Marconi Show at marconishow@kufo.com.
Thank you,
Tere Joyce & Jeffrey Peterson
To support the Dope Show, visit the following links:
Click HERE to check out the Comedian Forum. Leave your comments and/or suggestions to show your support.
Click HERE to check out and join the blog group. Join this blog group to show your support.
Click HERE to check out the topic in our Re-Legalize It group. JOIN this group and leave your comments and/or suggestions to show your support.
