MUST READ!!! CRAIG GLAZER PICKS THE SUPER BOWL WINNER AND PREVIEWS THE COMEDY FOOTBALL WEEKEND!!!

TKC Note: Our pal Craig Glazer shares his insight into the big game and offers some perspective on a comedy kingpin.

Bobby Slayton: Pitbull of Comedy
And Super Bowl Sunday

In 1989, Bobby Slayton won the ‘Best Comedian’ Award at the prestigious Montreal ‘Just for Laughs’ Comedy Festival. Paula Poundstone won the ‘Best Female Comic’ there that same year. This morning on radio Bobby explained how elated he was to win that trophy in ’89 and how he took it home and put it on the mantle next to his other trophy for winning best act on ‘The Gong Show’ years before. He said he wasn’t really proud of the Gong Show Award, he just thought it was funny. Bobby explained the following year it was Carrot Top who won the Best Comedian Award in Montreal and from that point on, he used his trophy as a door stop.

Bobby Slayton may be the most under-rated talent in comedy over the last couple of decades. Slayton’s credits are most impressive. Some of his television credits include his Showtime special from last year, ‘Bad Bobby’, he also plays himself on ‘Family Guy’ and was one of the stars of HBO’s ‘Mind of the Married Man’. Bobby’s movie credits include playing Joey Bishop in the ‘Rat Pack’ along with Ray Liotta, the movie ‘Bandits’ with Bruce Willis, ‘Get Shorty’ with John Travolta and ‘Ed Wood’ with Bill Murray. This past season, Bobby even appeared with Marc Maron on his IFC TV series. Slayton has been on too many TV specials to list, but a couple of note would be the Tonight Show and a couple of Rodney Dangerfield specials.

Over the last ten years you see Slayton’s picture hanging in the McCarron Airport along with Seinfeld, Lewis Black and Rita Rudner. Yet with all that, Bobby has never had the public recognition that he has earned and more than deserves along with his contemporaries like Lewis Black and Bill Maher. It may be because Bobby’s aggressive brand of humor. Slayton takes no prisoners. He has been called a modern day Don Rickles. Bobby has been headlining Las Vegas theaters including the Tropicana, the Riviera and even the Hooters Casino. Not only is he one of my five favorite comics, he is also a favorite of other big comedians like Jay Leno, Lewis Black, the Smothers Brothers and Penn Gillette. This is a fact because they are all on a DVD that’s played before his shows in Vegas, roasting Slayton yet letting the audience know how much they appreciate his talent.

You may have his crazy antics on Kansas City television Friday morning or caught him on the radio. See him live at Stanford and Sons at the Legends Shopping Center, call (913)400-7500 or go to stanfordscomedyclub.com to get your tickets. Coming up next week, for the first time ever to Kansas City, the star for the last five years of the hit Comedy Central show, Workaholics, Eric Griffin. Valentines week the gorgeous red head from NBC and the Howard Stern show, April Macie.

Super Bowl Sunday

After two weeks of interviewing everybody from assistant coaches to former NFL greats and current stars, I think we’ve heard enough. I’m not going to rehash what you already know. So let’s get to it. Something I haven’t heard talked about much is this: the Denver Broncos never really faced any of the NFL’s top defenses all year. Those teams would be Seattle, San Francisco, Carolina and perhaps the Arizona Cardinals. In fact, the Broncos only challenging defenses may have been the New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs. I know, I know the Indianapolis Colts slowed down Peyton and company at Indy, but they are the same team that gave up a million points to the Kansas City Chiefs. So, yes, there is a big question mark surrounding Denver’s vaunted offense. Can they play as well against the NFL’s number one defense or any strong defense? The questions that surround the Seattle Seahawks center around two major issues. The first issue is can Seattle play as well on a road game as they do at home. The second issue: there seems to be a large disparity between the quality of play as quarterback; i.e. Seattle’s Russell Wilson, a second year pro, versus the master of disaster, Peyton Manning. Clearly, Manning would seem to have a huge edge; however, if Wilson, who can run, can get out to the edge and throw without being harried by the Denver defense, he certainly has the weapons to score when needed.

There is a reason why the spread in this game is only two to two and a half points. This is one of the lowest point spread differentials in Super Bowl history. The reason it is so low is nobody can figure this one out. So here is my pick. I believe Wilson will be able to get outside. We all know that Manning is not a mobile quarterback. I still have visions of Manning hitting Decker who beat the Chiefs secondary over and over again. I don’t think Seattle’s defense will be quite so generous. Now for the pick.

Seattle (+8 ½) and under 53 ½ on a tease

If I had to pick a winner, I think it would be Denver, but I like the points in this one. Enjoy the Super Bowl, hopefully a handful of people at your party will watch the game and not the commercials or the half-time extravaganza.
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Follow Craig @KCKingOfSting