America Makes Some Good Babies

Dane Cook. Apparently he is Harmful If Swallowed, a little Rough Around The Edges and much more, to over 450,000 fans that pay for his hit stand-up comedy series. Dane Cook is known for being a very energetic comedian, with a style that is very original. "I wanted to create a stage persona for myself that allowed me to really speak about anything I want... So I can be a storyteller, I can be jokey, I can be corny, I can be a little vulgar, I can be a lot vulgar. And I'm not afraid to go anywhere to get the point of the joke across, even if I have to just blabber like an idiot until it becomes apparent that I'm telling a joke and that the audience should laugh" says Dane Cook about himself. He hit the nail on the head. Taking influence and inspiration from such people as Steve Martin, Bill Cosby, Johnny Carson and George Carlin, Dane Cook sets the path as the best selling comedian in 27 years from hitting double platinum on his album Retaliation that dropped mid 2007.

This icon is important to me because it shows me that you don't have to be an engineer, a scientist, a chemist, a computer tech or a lawyer to make a living. You have to be able to laugh and make others laugh as well. I was watching a movie at the movie theater and a Dane Cook quote came across the screen. It went something like, I would rather re-live high school than ever re-learn stand up. That struck me because it seems like it comes so naturally to him, but apparently it is something that took him years upon years of practice, success, failure and hardship. Dane Cook wove his way into American culture very subtly. He began his career when he was 18, traveling doing small gigs as any craftsman does to promote himself. From actor, to musician, to comedian to hit sensation with over 500,000 hits on his website and over 2,300,000 myspace fans, I think it is fair to say he has made an impression on several people.

Willi Fleming. Local Hero, Musician, Pioneer and most importantly...inspiration. Willi began playing trombone freshman year at Saint Augustine high school here in San Diego. There, he joined the school band and met fellow band members Lucas, Ivan, Frankie, Ernie, Kevin, and Ernesto. Their first day of band, their instructor gave them words of wisdom. He told them, the most important rule in music is "Bucket Of Fish," a Latin percussion fill with a catchy name. It stuck with all the men in the band enough to use as a band name.

Today, 3 years later, they have played with bands such as Dr.Skavra, EPZ, Straight Trippin, The Skank Agents, Captain Squeegee, Grim Luck, Social Green, Mike Pinto, Half Past Two, Buck- O- Nine and many more. I don't expect many people to know of any of the bands listed, but to me and many other people who are fans of beautiful, loving, happy music, it is nothing but inspiration.

Willi takes inspiration from all those bands and more such as Sublime and Bob Marley, pioneers in the genre of music he chooses to play. Instead of singing about getting women, and gang banging(which I know is awesome) he sings about things such as superhero manatees that come to save the day against supervillain sea creatures, songs that have that special "rudi-ring" that lift you off the ground on a bad day, as well as historical figures such as Ferdinand Magellan. He inspires me because he loves nothing more than playing music. We often joke about his fame in San Diego which is slim, although wherever me and my band go with him, we will publicly announce his arrival at any sort of event like a celebrity. We spread such rumors of him walking on water or floating upon clouds in heaven that only the Willi Fleming fans would believe with every ounce of their soul. I would consider his vote for presidency if the day ever came.


Steven Colbert. America in a man. He studied acting at Northwestern College, then went off to join the Second City Comedy group birthing many celebritys such as Mike Myers, Eugene Levy, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Nia Vardalos, Steve Carell, Andy Dick and Bill Murray. In 1995, him and colleagues Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello formed the sketch comedy Exit 57 on Comedy Central. When this show ended after its two seasons, he got a job starring as "the new guy" on The Daily Show with John Stewart. After several years there, in 2005 The Colbert Report was created. A show of his own which tunes in an average of 1.5 million viewers.

He is an iconic figure because he does what not many people can do. He turns polotics into something laughable. He is not only an actor or comedian, he is a dancer, singer and writer. He brings all of these to his comedy show which makes him different than all others. He can entertain like most cant. I think it is something that leaves people laughing about him later. I find that a skill that will benefit you more than knowing how to find the area of a triangle or knowing what the quadratic formula is. Just my opinion.

Steven Colbert draws inspiration from a lot of the people or alumni of The Second City comedy group. You can find a full list of members at http://www.secondcity.com/