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The Comedy Wire
Writers' Bios
Laura Ainsworth was born in
Hollywood, but her family soon moved to the thriving
entertainment megalopolis of Grand Prairie, Texas. Her
father, a former member of the Tommy Dorsey and Freddy
Martin Orchestras, worked for CRC, TM Productions, PAMS, and
other Dallas jingle producers, playing and singing on
countless classic commercials of the 1960s and '70s. Growing
up, Laura watched her dad play lead sax in the famed
Fairmont Hotel Venetian Room Orchestra, backing such idols
of hers as Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett. She
received an honors degree from the University of Texas in
Radio/TV/Film and is a true triple threat: an acclaimed
singer, writer and actress/comedian, who has starred in
stage productions ranging from Susan Sontag dramas to "The
King & I" and "Swingin' With The Big Band," and whose
topical humor, news commentary and parody songs have been
heard on top radio shows worldwide. Her serious
albums, Keep It
To Yourself and Necessary
Evil, have enjoyed rave reviews and worldwide
airplay. Necessary Evil has been chosen for
national rerelease by Grammy-winning producer Jack
Kreisberg, founder of the legendary Half Note jazz label,
for his current label, American Showplace Music. He
will also oversee production and distribution of her third
album, tentatively titled New Vintage.
Laura wrote
and began performing her own one-woman satirical musical
show lampooning her pet peeve: the pressure society puts on
everyone to keep looking young and beautiful or else.
Teaming with pianist extraordinaire Brian
Piper (Jerry Jeff Walker, Cab Calloway, and many, many
others), she launched "My Ship Has Sailed." The
show played top music clubs and theaters around Texas, appeared on the main stage of the
prestigious Out-Of-The-Loop Theatre Festival, and been spotlighted at the Dallas and Las Vegas
Comedy Festivals. Laura has performed excerpts from it
on Q TV's "Jack E. Jett Show" and her own special on Dallas
Comcast Cable. It was called "a musical 'Defending the
Caveman' for women" by fans and dubbed "a potential
cult phenomenon" by the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram's StarTime
magazine.
Laura created another hit show when
she teamed with the fantastic singer/pianist/recording artist Michael Gott
in the sophisticated revue, "Cole
Porter: Elegance & Decadence."
Its
debut became the first show ever to sell out the new Stone Street
Theater in downtown Dallas. BroadwayWorld.com pronounced the
show "Dazzling," "Sublime" and "Truly magnificent
entertainment." Laura was hailed as "a gifted comedienne," "
a vivid personality with a wonderful stage presence," and "a fine
singer with an outstanding range and genuine wit." After two
performances at the Arkansas Governor's Mansion, Gov. Mike
Huckabee declared Laura and Michael "terrific," and said that if
he becomes president, "they for sure get the White House
gig."
Laura's
eclectic writer's resume includes published books, corporate
shows and videos, radio news and humor, hundreds of
commercial jingles and comedy radio ads, and lyrics for both
commercial songs and production music, including a
pre-"Space Jam" children's extravaganza entitled "Bugs Bunny
In Outer Space." Her video training programs won her
the ITVA Golden Reel Award in worldwide competition. She is
also a consultant and lecturer on historic home restoration
and decor, an active member in several Dallas historic
organizations and zoning committees, an expert on bird care
who writes the popular "Welcome to the Birdhouse" column for
Companion
Parrot Quarterly magazine, a cartoonist, and a serious artist who
paints photo-realistic portraits of exotic birds. She's
almost too talented!
Pat Reeder, on the other hand, was born in Dallas, and his
parents soon moved him to the middle of nowhere. Growing up
in rural Texas on the lonely shores of Lake Whitney, he
developed an annoying habit of talking to himself, which
naturally led to a career in radio. He worked his way
through college by holding down a number of seven-day-a-week
DJ shifts at 250-watt radio stations, doing every job from
gathering and writing news to washing the coffee pot to
playing Ray Stevens records on request. To everyone's
amazement, he managed to graduate Magna Cum Laude from North
Texas State with a degree in Radio/TV/Film.
While in college, Pat met fellow record collector and show biz history buff George Gimarc, and the two worked as a radio morning team, did scads of comedy commercials, and co-authored "Hollywood Hi-Fi: Over 100 of the Most Outrageous Celebrity Records Ever" (St. Martin's- Griffin), hailed by the Phoenix Sun as "the best weird book of 1996." Excerpts appeared in "In Style" and "The Star," and Pat and George were interviewed on "Inside Edition," "Day & Date" and "Good Morning Texas," as well as many radio shows. The two also co-produced the "Hollywood Hi-Fi" companion CD (Brunswick), featuring the inimitable song stylings of Bette Davis, Joe Pesci, Jerry Mathers, Jayne Mansfield and many other unlikely celebrity singers. Pat and George recently launched a Hollywood Hi-Fi website complete with book excerpts, audio clips and scads of rare singing celebrity videos, including their own video record reviews. An updated and expanded ebook edition is soon to be released. They also perform a hilarious live presentation for corporate and civic groups.
Pat has been a DJ, comedy voice talent, producer, commercial
writer, and music and production director for a number of
major market radio stations and syndication companies. His
material has been distributed by such top radio syndicators
as Stevens & Grdnic (All Star Radio), Dorsey &
Donnelly, and the American Comedy Network, and performed by
such stars as Jimmie "J.J." Walker, Tony Randall, Sandy
Duncan and even Barney the Dinosaur (although God knows, he
doesn't like to talk about that one). He was the editor and
lead columnist for "Skeptical Briefs" and "The North Texas
Skeptic" (visit the NTS website for his old columns
and to see Laura's "Up A Tree" cartoons!)
And his political one-liners have been used by Gov. Mike
Huckabee in speeches and presidential debates and quoted and
praised by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, London
Telegraph and other major media outlets. Gov. Huckabee was
so impressed with their work that when he signed to host his
nationally-syndicated radio programs, "The Mike Huckabee
Show," and "The Huckabee Report," the most popular
short-form syndicated feature in radio, he insisted that
Citadel/Cumulus hire Pat and Laura as contributing
writers/researchers.
Pat's latest
project is an updated paperback
and Kindle
version of Nine
Hallmarks of Highly Incompetent Losers, a book
that combines his and Laura's comedy writing with their
years of experience creating sales training programs,
marketing materials and other in-house projects for such top
corporations as GTE, Sylvania, Southwestern Bell and DLM
Inc. The book uses over 200 outrageous-but-true Comedy
Wire stories
to
illustrate nine easily-avoidable human errors that can bring
down anyone from a high school dropout criminal to a CEO
with a Harvard MBA. Pat performs a humorous live
presentation based on the book for corporate, civic and
charitable groups, with previous audiences ranging from the
Northrup-Grumman National Accountants Seminar to the State
Convention of the Optimists' Clubs of Texas. For more
information, check out his SPEAKER'S
PAGE.
Pat and
Laura met while both were working at TM Productions.
Pat later became head writer of the acclaimed radio prep
service "The Morning Punch" and Laura was his top free-lance
contributor. During their tenure, a national trade magazine
poll named that service the Best Scripted Topical Prep
Service in America. Eventually, they struck out on
their own, and The Comedy Wire was born. It
was used by top-rated morning shows and talk show hosts
worldwide. They reluctantly ceased publication in 2012
because their many other commitments were taking too much
time.
Today, Comedy Wire Inc. is the umbrella company for all of
Pat and Laura's projects, which encompass writing for radio,
books and the Internet; CDs; live shows; corporate
communications and entertainment; research and editing
services; and more. The husband-and-wife team work
out of a restored fabulous '50s home in the DFW Metroplex
that was once Laura's childhood home. They share it
with over a dozen lovable but loudly squawking parrots,
mostly disabled or formerly homeless rescue birds who demand
a lot of attention, so each day's work is a little
miracle in itself.
All material ©
copyright 2005-2015 by Pat Reeder & Laura Ainsworth.