If there’s no NFL season, we won’t get to watch the bolts play football on Sunday.
Well, every Wednesday night – you can hear thunder at Winston’s in Ocean Beach. That’s Topic Thunder, a new comedic, interactive talk show.
Long-time local Bill Driscoll, an inventor of many electronic devices, used to have a talk show at parties. It would have panelists and a hot seat, and it got people mingling and having more fun than they normally would have.
He wanted to bring this to a local nightclub, and he contacted native Josh Board – a former DJ in town and writer from the Reader – who is now doing movie reviews on Fox 5 and writing for SanDiego.com.
His boss at SanDiego.com was Ron Donoho, who’s now editor-in-chief for San Diego Home and Gardens. The two have won many San Diego Press Club awards and have written for national periodicals as well – including Maxim, Glamour, Autograph, and Men’s Journal. Board has written material for nationally known comedians, and things he’s written have appeared on both Leno and Letterman (although not at the same time).
They recruited local stand-up comedian Nicole Scaglione, to bring a womans perspective to the show, and they usually rotate the other panelist. Often times it’s a comedian, but one time it was a local hero who stopped a guy from shooting up an elementary school.
When people ask them to describe the show, you hear many different responses. One might say “It’s like The View, but without us interrupting each other.” Or “It’s like Chelsea Lately, but funny.”
Driscoll chimes in “I say it’s like Bill Maher, but not as political. We really want the audience to get involved. Our biggest challenge is to not have the audience feel shy or nervous about sitting in the hot seat. We aren’t going to grill them, but include them in the discussion. It doesn’t matter if we all disagree, we can be respectful while discussing it. And hopefully, funny.”
Who would’ve thought they’d get as many laughs as they did last week when discussing bin Laden’s demise.
There’s no cover, so check them out Wednesdays at Winston’s.
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