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Clifford Bell, the cabaret impresario, director and producer affectionately known as “Lawrence of Cabarabia,” died Sunday of natural causes at Cha Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, publicist Steve Moyer announced. He was 67.

“Clifford Bell was a force of nature!” Moyer said in a statement. “He lived and breathed music every day of his life to the very end.”

A 40-year show business veteran, Bell wrote and directed variety performances featuring the likes of Walter Cronkite, Colin Powell and Michael Eisner at the Honda Center in Anaheim and toured with Katey Sagal and her band.

As a cabaret director, he helmed shows for singers Gregg Marx, Todd Murray, Lois Bourgon, Carol Whitener, Joanne Tatham, Bonnie Gilgallon, Lauren White, Quinn Johnson, Chase Masterson, Lee Lessack, Bobbie Norman and Katrina Aguilar.

He produced albums for singers Betsyann Faiella, Eileen Barnett and Judy Butterfield and directed one-person shows starring Beth Lapides, Joan Hotchkis, Juliette Marshall,...

Exclusive: Emmy and Academy Award nominated producer David Permut and filmmaker Oscar Boyson are teaming up with author/filmmaker Mathew Klickstein to bring the San Diego Comic-Con origin story to life for the first time on screen in a new documentary based on the latter’s book See You at San Diego: An Oral History of Comic-Con, Fandom, and the Triumph of Geek Culture.

The See You at San Diego documentary will follow how a scrappy group of teenage fans, zinesters, illustrators, stoners, hippies, weirdoes, bookworms, and science buffs in the late 1960s joined forces with an unemployed thirtysomething comic fan to create what has now become one of the most influential pop culture events ever. San Diego Comic-Con has twice been recognized as the largest pop culture gathering worldwide by the Guinness Book of World Records in recent years.

Boyson and Oh Boy Productions will produce alongside Permut who...

When the classic NBC sitcom Friends was about to debut in 1994, no one wanted to be bothered writing or recording its theme. In fact, composer Allee Willis revealed last night at an event in West Hollywood, no one thought the show would survive anyway. Sitting down for an interview with Beth Lapides, the writer, performer and host of the podcast “Life and Beth,” Willis — a songwriter, visual artist and even early Internet pioneer, whose works include Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September,” the Pet Shop Boys’ “What Have I Done to Deserve This” and the music in the Broadway […]

The post Exclusive! Friends theme song composer Allee Willis reveals the shocking true story behind “I’ll Be There For You” appeared first on Monsters and Critics.

Amazon Instant Video has added four exclusive episodes of "UnCabaret," an alt-comedy showcase for the likes of Margaret Cho and Andy Dick, to its Prime Instant Video service. The show was created and hosted by comedian and entertainer Beth Lapides and features performances by such comedy stars as Sandra Bernhard, Garfunkle and Oates, Greg Fitzsimmons and Rob Delaney. Instead of punch-line driven sets, performers are encouraged to show off story-based stream-of-consciousness acts. Amazon Prime members will get free access to the titles. The episodes will  be available for rental or purchase for...

Getty Comedian Beth Lapides

“I’m not as smart as I used to be,” Beth Lapides confided to me during a recent conversation.

I doubt that. Lapides is as curious about the world as ever. “I want to figure things out, not just intellectually,” she told me. “People always tell me, ‘Don’t let your brilliance get in the way. I went to Brown. I grew up on the East Coast. Yeah, I am a smarty pants. I put the ‘art’ in smart.

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The Other Network presents long-buried TV pilots that were too controversial, too idiosyncratic or just too damn funny for prime-time TV. These fully-produced TV shows were never aired, never before seen and the closest thing to auteur pieces ever made. Each show screens with an exclusive intro from the writers/producers who created them, giving unique insights into Hollywood and the creative process.

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