Jimmy Tingle Makes Comic Sense of 2013

Cambridge, MA - Comedian Jimmy Tingle must be a glutton for punishment. He runs for President every four years. (On the "Humor for Humanity" ticket). He voluntarily went back to college as a middle aged student - the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, no less - to get his Masters degree in Public Administration in 2010.

And twenty five years after appearing on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, he continues to make people laugh by fervidly studying and gleefully skewering the often bizarre and inexplicable activities of our elected officials.

All of this serves a purpose, mind you. The veteran comic and commentator has for years done fundraisers for groups and causes he supports. Now, Tingle wants to create the capacity to formally meld together his name recognition in the entertainment business with his passion for progressive change.

He's been helping environmental groups, for example, who want to strengthen the statewide bottle bill. But as he relayed to an audience at ImprovBoston in Central Square recently, "I did one [a benefit] at the Regent Theater this year. And we filmed it, and it's great and it's on Youtube; 'The Battle for the Bottle Bill.'

But when I added up how much came in and how much we spent, it didn't work out."

Improving that formula, says Tingle, may mean starting his own organization; perhaps drawing on the business experience he earned while running a theater in Davis Square, Somerville for five years. Of course, as he so amusingly points out in his routine, he'll have to tame the warring factions in his brain: with the left - and more sensitive side - wanting to give his employees full health care benefits, and the right, more bottom line focused sphere attempting to keep wages as low as possible.

At the moment, Tingle has on his mind the year that is about to wrap up, He will perform his review of culture and politics on Saturday, December 28 at the Regent Theater in Arlington. "Making Comic Sense of 2013" will be recorded and then distributed by the Cambridge based Public Radio Exchange to public radio stations and audiences around the world.

Here's an excerpt from Jimmy Tingle's show, recorded by Open Media Boston contributor Chuck Rosina at ImprovBoston on December 19, 2013. [06:59]

[Disclaimer: Open Media Boston Senior Staff Reporter, Dave Goodman, is co-producing Jimmy Tingle's "Making Comic Sense of 2013" for national distribution.]