The only thing more surprising to me than Steve Sweeney's lawsuit against Comedy Connection owner Bill Blumenreich was the fact that Blumenreich had a contract with Sweeney, considering the timing.
The last time I saw Steve Sweeney, he was sitting next to me as we judged the Boston Comedy Festival contest finals back in September from a balcony perch at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, and Sweeney later went downstairs to deliver a short performance of his own amid the finals and a celebration for the Smothers Brothers.
Here is a 2006 clip of Steve Sweeney performing in Cambridge, showing how and why he has made people in the Boston area laugh for years. He has become quite the regional legend. But let's remember where he came from. After all, when I talked to George Carlin in 2007 and mentioned I lived in Boston, the first comic who sprang to Carlin's mind was Sweeney. Sweeney was in HBO's 8th Annual Young Comedians' class of 1983, which also included Bill Maher, Paula Poundstone, Carol Liefer, the Amazing Johnathan and Joel Hodgson, hosted by John Candy. He also appeared for a time as host of his own morning radio program in Boston. In 2004, one of his bits also became part of Comedy Central's Shorties Watching Shorties. You can hear him and watch the animation:
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