Russ T. Nailz Uses Radio Spot to Rip Fellow Comic

Radio morning personality Russ T. Nailz’ new on-air character, “Rip Offwell,” a thinly veiled parody of well-known comic Rick Rockwell, is the talk of the local comedy scene, an insular world where comics often accuse each other of stealing material but rarely in such a public fashion.

For more than a week, Nailz, a veteran stand-up comedian himself, has been portraying Rip Offwell on XTRA-FM (91X). After Nailz tells a joke in the guise of Rip, Mike Berger or Jeff Prescott, Nailz’ morning show partners, say something like, “Wait a minute, didn’t I hear Jay Leno do that joke last night?” or “Didn’t I hear that on Letterman?” Each Rip Offwell joke gets a similar response.

The routine is clearly a parody of Rockwell, once a regular on the San Diego club scene, now a Los Angeles resident. As part of the routine, Nailz, as Rip Offwell, does a character named Skippy with a lispy, whiny voice. For several years, Rockwell did a similar character named Skippy for Larry Himmel’s now defunct KFMB-TV (Channel 8) show, “San Diego at Large.”

Nailz said that, to some extent, the routine is simply “a great way for me to do good jokes” in the guise of Rick Offwell.

But he acknowledged that the sketch is obviously aimed at Rockwell.

“Rick has a reputation of being a thief in comedy circles,” Nailz said. “He’s gotten a lot of guys (angry) and he refuses to admit he’s doing it.”

Contacted in Los Angeles, Rockwell, who was featured last year as a Russian sailor in a national series of television commercials for a convenience store, said it was “disheartening” to learn of Nailz’ parody. It is a small circuit of clubs in Southern California, and Rockwell talked to Nailz as recently as last month without hearing any indication that Nailz was upset.

“I think it’s unfortunate because I have no problem with Russ,” said Rockwell, who denied stealing any material. “He never said anything to my face and I think that’s kind of tacky.” Nothing is more sacred to comedians than their act. Behind the scenes comics often express suspicions--or, in some cases, outright paranoia--about the true origins of other comics’ jokes, nuances or shtick.

“The only thing comics have is a code of honor,” said one comic, who did not want to be identified. “You can’t copyright jokes.”

The accusations reach all levels; few stars are immune and bitterness runs deep. Just last year, Robin Williams publicly defended himself in a magazine article against the constant murmuring among comedians that he steals or reworks material.

Comics don’t even forgive the dead. When a veteran club comic notorious for stealing material died a few years ago, several comics took out an ad in an industry magazine saying that he “took a little bit of every comic with him.”

Although many agree that Cox Cable’s Digital Radio service, billed as the next great step in home audio, provides excellent sound quality sans commercials, response to the service hasn’t exactly been overwhelming. Since launching the service last July, Cox, the only local cable system to offer digital radio, has made 6,000 hookups. That’s not bad, but it’s not great for a system of more than 300,000 homes.

At one point, Cox’s Art Reynolds said, the system was actually losing digital radio subscribers, but now it has picked up again, as Cox has refocused its marketing efforts. Although it is no longer offering to waive the $10 monthly charge for the first month, Cox is still offering free installation and a “money back guarantee.”

KJQY-FM (Sunny 103) is once again a pawn in a giant corporate chess game. All or part of three different companies financed to different degrees by Robert Sillerman, including KJQY owner Command Broadcasting, merged last week. Capstar and Norm Feuer’s Force II were the other companies. If all is approved, KJQY will be owned by the new entity, CF Media, with longtime local media mogul Feuer overseeing it as the senior executive vice president of the new company. . . .

The season is young, but John Seymour’s early television campaign ads already qualify for a special cheesy award of merit. In the ads, Seymour, who is running for the U.S. Senate rails against Congress, invoking the “throw the bums out” theme that is so popular these days. But in a novel smarmy twist, nowhere in the ad does Seymour mention that he is in fact an incumbent senator. . . .

Russ Haberle is out as general manager of KFSD-FM (94.1), the “classical choice.” Hal Rosenberg, vice president of the Los Angeles-based company that owns the station, Lotus Communications, will take over most of the duties for an indefinite period, or at least through the America’s Cup. Rosenberg, who owns a house in San Diego, is reportedly a sailing enthusiast.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

GREG KAHN ERA DRAWS TO AN END

The Greg Kahn Era at That Museum in La Jolla Which Can’t Decide on a Name officially comes to an end Wednesday with a screening of Ingmar Bergman’s classic “Wild Strawberries.” Kahn, the Museum of Contemporary Art’s film guru since 1978, is being dropped by the museum, which is dissolving the film curator position. “Wild Strawberries” will screen at 7:30 p.m. . . .

The topics for Tuesday night’s mass communication forum at the University of San Diego make it clear that this is not going to be another pretentious discussion of the massive importance of the media in helping people make every decision in their lives, nor a whiny breast-pounding exercise about the poor abused and misunderstood press.

One discussion led by professor of philosophy Dr. Dennis Rohatyn (a regular on KPBS-FM) is titled “Bore and Peace,” and it will touch upon “the anesthetic properties of mass media. Other topics include “Rule by Mediocrity: The Uneasy Relationship Between Freedom and Information” and “Cable TV: Is Community Access Really for the Community?” The forum starts at 7 p.m. in the Hahn University Center.