1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
Stand-up comedy
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Stand-up comedy is a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. The performer is known as a comic, stand-up comic, stand-up comedian. In stand-up comedy, the comedian usually recites a grouping of humorous stories, jokes and one-liners typically called a monologue, routine, some stand-up comedians use props, music, or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is often performed in clubs, bars and pubs, nightclubs. Outside of live performance, stand-up is often distributed commercially via television, DVD, CD, in stand-up comedy, the feedback of the audience is instant and crucial for the comedians act. Audiences expect a stand-up comic to provide a stream of laughs. Will Ferrell has called stand-up comedy hard, lonely and vicious, a stand-up comedy show may involve only one comedian, or feature a headline or a showcase format. This is followed by one or two middle or featured acts, who perform 15- to 20-minute sets, followed by a headliner who performs for longer, a showcase format may still feature an MC. Bringer shows are another opportunity for amateur performers, the performer must bring a specified number of paying guests in order to get stage time. The guests usually have to pay a charge and there is often a minimum number of drinks that must be ordered. These shows usually have a showcase format and this type of show gives comedians better exposure than open mics because there is usually better audience turnout and industry professionals sometimes go to watch. Different comedy clubs have different requirements for their bringer shows, gotham Comedy Club in New York City, for example, usually has ten-person bringers, while Broadway Comedy Club in New York City usually has six-person bringers. As the name implies, stand-up comedians usually perform their material while standing, stand-up comedy has its origin in classic Parrhesia in 400 BC used for cynics and epicureans in order to tell the reality without censorship. Stand-up comedy in the United Kingdom began in the halls of the 18th and 19th centuries. The heavy censorship regime of the Lord Chamberlains Office required all comedians to submit their acts for censorship, the act would be returned with unacceptable sections underlined in blue pencil. The comedian was then obliged not to deviate from the act in its edited form, the rise of the post-war comedians coincided with the rise of television and radio, and the traditional music hall circuit suffered greatly as a result. By the 1970s, music hall entertainment was virtually dead, alternative circuits had evolved, such as working mens clubs. The alternative comedy scene began to evolve
3.
Portland, Maine
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Portland is the largest city in the U. S. state of Maine, with a population of 66,881 as of 2015. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to half a million people. The Old Port district is frequented by tourists, while Portland Head Light is also a destination, the city seal depicts a phoenix rising from ashes, which is a reference to the recoveries from four devastating fires. Portland was named for the English Isle of Portland, and the city of Portland, Oregon was in turn named after Portland, Native Americans originally called the Portland peninsula Machigonne. Portland, Maine was named for the English Isle of Portland, the first European settler was Capt. Christopher Levett, an English naval captain granted 6,000 acres in 1623 to found a settlement in Casco Bay. The settlement failed, and the fate of Levetts colonists is unknown, the explorer sailed from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony to meet John Winthrop in 1630, but never returned to Maine. Fort Levett in the harbor is named for him, the peninsula was first permanently settled in 1632 as a fishing and trading village named Casco. When the Massachusetts Bay Colony took over Casco Bay in 1658, in 1676, the village was destroyed by the Abenaki during King Philips War. During King Williams War, a party of French and Native allies attacked. On October 18,1775, Falmouth was burned in the Revolution by the Royal Navy under command of Captain Henry Mowat, following the war, a section of Falmouth called The Neck developed as a commercial port and began to grow rapidly as a shipping center. In 1786, the citizens of Falmouth formed a town in Falmouth Neck and named it Portland, after the isle off the coast of Dorset. Portlands economy was greatly stressed by the Embargo Act of 1807, which ended in 1809, and the War of 1812, in 1820, Maine became a state with Portland as its capital. In 1832, the capital was moved north to Augusta, in 1851, Maine led the nation by passing the first state law prohibiting the sale of alcohol except for medicinal, mechanical or manufacturing purposes. The law subsequently became known as the Maine law, as 18 states quickly followed, on June 2,1855, the Portland Rum Riot occurred. In 1853, upon completion of the Grand Trunk Railway to Montreal, the Portland Company manufactured more than 600 19th-century steam locomotives. Portland became a 20th-century rail hub as five rail lines merged into Portland Terminal Company in 1911. Following nationalization of the Grand Trunk system in 1923, Canadian export traffic was diverted from Portland to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the 20th century, icebreakers later enabled ships to reach Montreal in winter, drastically reducing Portlands role as a winter port for Canada. On June 26,1863, a Confederate raiding party led by Captain Charles Read, entered the harbor at Portland, more than 10,000 people were left homeless
4.
Bridgton, Maine
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Bridgton is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,210 at the 2010 census, a resort area in Maines Lakes Region, Bridgton is home to Bridgton Academy, a private preparatory school, and the Four on the Fourth Road Race. Bridgton is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area, the undeveloped land was first called Pondicherry. It was granted in 1768 by the Massachusetts General Court to Moody Bridges, settlement began in 1770 at what is now North Bridgton, where a tavern was built. The community was organized in 1779 as Bridgetown Plantation, named after Moody Bridges, Stevens Brook is only a mile and a half long, but it provided water power for 12 mill sites. It developed as a center, with sawmills, gristmills, woolen textile mills. Later, a corn and vegetable packing plant was built, in addition to a foundry, machine shop, shovel handle factory, sash and blind factory, and a coffin shop. Population increased when goods manufactured by water power could be transported to markets on the Cumberland and Oxford Canal. By the mid-19th century, the town contained about 3,000 inhabitants, when the Portland and Ogdensburg Railway bypassed Bridgton, the town built the 2-foot-gauge Bridgton and Saco River Railroad link to the national rail network in 1883. Summer vacationers arrived by rail and steamboat until automobile tourists began arriving after designation of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway in 1919, the convenience of highway travel caused abandonment of the canal steamboats in 1932 and the narrow-gauge railroad in 1941. Bridgton remains a resort area, with many childrens summer camps located along the shores of the beautiful lakes and Shawnee Peak Ski Area. Bridgton has several villages and areas that can be classified as neighborhoods and they are, Bridgton is the main, central area of town. It begins on Route 302, near Meadow Road, and continues up towards Main Street, passing Highland Lake and this is the central, downtown of Bridgton, featuring shops, offices and a movie theater. Also located in area is Stevens Brook Elementary School, Bridgton Memorial School, the Bridgton Community Center. It is bordered to the west by South High Street. Pondicherry Park is a 62+acre tract of land that includes forest, wetlands pastures, hiking trails throughout allow visitors to step from downtown Bridgton into quiet woodlands in an instant. Dogs are not allowed in the park, but a Dog Trail is opening in summer 2012. North Bridgton is located just south of the towns of Waterford, the main focal point here is Bridgton Academy. The area has magnificent views of Long Lake, South Bridgton is, as the name describes, to the south of Bridgton
5.
The Carol Burnett Show
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The Carol Burnett Show is an American variety/sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner. In 1975, frequent guest star Tim Conway became a regular when Waggoner left the show due to an agreement with the producer about the series not having reruns. In 1977, Dick Van Dyke replaced Korman for much of its final season, the show originally ran on CBS from September 11,1967, to March 29,1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in the fall of 1991. In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Carol Burnett Show number 17 on their list of the 60 Greatest Shows of All Time, in 1959, she became a regular supporting cast member on the CBS-TV variety series The Garry Moore Show. Departing the Moore Show in the spring of 1962, she pursued other projects in film, Broadway productions, Burnett signed a contract with CBS for 10 years which required her to do two guest appearances and a special a year. Within the first five years of contract, she had the option to push the button and be put on the air in 30 one-hour variety shows. After discussion with her husband Joe Hamilton, in the last week of that year of the contract, Burnett decided to call the head of CBS Michael Dann. Dann, explaining that variety is a genre, offered Burnett a sitcom called Heres Agnes. Burnett had no interest in doing a sitcom, and because of the contract, in addition to Carol Burnett, the cast consisted of, Vicki Lawrence Harvey Korman Lyle Waggoner Tim Conway Dick Van Dyke Comedic actor Harvey Korman had done many guest shots in TV sitcoms. From 1963 to 1967, he had been a semi-regular on the CBS variety series The Danny Kaye Show, when Kayes program ended in the spring of 1967, Korman was immediately hired for The Carol Burnett Show. Lyle Waggoner, who played a self-absorbed Adonis and often performed skit narration, was also signed for the series. Vicki Lawrence, a singer from The Young Americans wrote a letter to Burnett when she was 17. This led to her audition and getting hired to play Burnetts kid sister in numerous Carol, jim Nabors was the guest star on every season premier of the show. Burnett considered Nabors to be her good luck charm, in addition, several notable actors were used in the comedy sketches in featured roles, especially in the first season, such as William Schallert and Reta Shaw. Carol & Sis, Mrs. Wiggins, and The Family, Nora Desmond, a frequent repeated segment was Kitchen Commercials, in which cast members parodied TV commercials that drove a woman crazy. The long-running show was nominated for Emmys for best variety series. A favorite feature consisted of an unrehearsed question-and-answer segment with the audience in CBS Studio 33 lasting about three to four minutes at the start of most shows. Burnett stated that she borrowed the concept from Garry Moore, who did the same on his variety show, Burnett asked for the lights to be turned up and then randomly picked audience members who raised their hands
6.
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
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Rowan & Martins Laugh-In is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for 140 episodes from January 22,1968, to March 12,1973, on the NBC television network. Laugh-In originally aired as a special on September 9,1967. In 2002, Rowan & Martins Laugh-In was ranked number 42 on TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, the show was characterized by a rapid-fire series of gags and sketches, many of which conveyed sexual innuendo or were politically charged. The co-hosts continued the exasperated straight man and dumb guy act which they had established as nightclub comics, each episode followed a somewhat similar format, often including recurring sketches. The show started with a dialogue between Rowan and Martin. Shortly afterward, Rowan would intone, Cmon Dick, lets go to the party, the show then proceeded through rapid-fire comedy bits, taped segments, and recurring sketches. The Rompus Room cocktail party was similar in format to the Word Dance segments of A Thurber Carnival, at the end of every show, Rowan turned to his co-host and said, Say good night, Dick, to which Martin replied, Good night, Dick. The show then featured cast members opening panels in a psychedelically painted joke wall, although most episodes include most of the above segments, the arrangement of the segments was often interchanged. The show often featured guest stars, Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Larry Hovis, Arte Johnson, and Jo Anne Worley appeared in the pilot special from 1967. Only the two hosts, announcer Gary Owens, and Buzzi, Carne, Gibson, and Johnson, were in all 14 episodes of season one, eileen Brennan, Hovis, and Roddy Maude-Roxby left after the first season. The second season had a handful of new people, including Alan Sues, Dave Madden, All of the new cast members from season two left at the end of that season, except Alan Sues, who stayed on until 1972. At the end of the 1968–69 season, Carne chose not to renew her contract, the third season had several new people who only stayed on for that season, Teresa Graves, Jeremy Lloyd, Pamela Rodgers, and Byron Gilliam. Lily Tomlin joined in the middle of the season, Jo Anne Worley, Goldie Hawn, and Judy Carne left after the season. Arte Johnson, who created many characters, insisted on star billing. The producer mollified him, but had announcer Gary Owens read Johnsons credit as a sentence, Starring Dan Rowan. This maneuver gave Johnson star billing, but made it sound like he was part of the ensemble cast. Johnson left the show after the 1970–71 season, Henry Gibson also departed after the 1970–71 season. Johnson and he were replaced by former Hogans Heroes stars Richard Dawson and Larry Hovis, however, the loss of Johnsons many popular characters caused ratings to drop further
7.
Saturday Night Live
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Saturday Night Live is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11,1975, under the original title NBCs Saturday Night, the shows comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest and features performances by a musical guest, an episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, Live from New York, its Saturday Night. In 1980, Michaels left the series to other opportunities. He was replaced by Jean Doumanian, who was replaced by Ebersol after a season of bad reviews, Ebersol ran the show until 1985, when Michaels returned, Michaels has remained since then. Many of SNLs cast found national stardom while appearing on the show, others associated with the show, such as writers, have gone on to successful careers creating, writing, or starring in TV and film. The show format has developed and recreated in several countries. Successful sketches have seen life outside of the show as feature films, throughout four decades on air, Saturday Night Live has received a number of awards, including 50 Primetime Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and three Writers Guild of America Awards. In 2000, it was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and it was ranked tenth in TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time list, and in 2007 it was listed as one of Time magazines 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME. As of 2012, it has received 156 Emmy nominations, the most received by any TV show, the live aspect of the show has resulted in several controversies and acts of censorship, with mistakes and intentional acts of sabotage by performers as well as guests. From 1965 until September 1975, NBC ran The Best of Carson reruns of The Tonight Show, in 1974, Johnny Carson announced that he wanted the weekend shows pulled and saved so that they could be aired during weeknights, allowing him to take time off. In 1974, NBC president Herbert Schlosser approached his vice president of late night programming, Dick Ebersol, at the suggestion of Paramount Pictures executive Barry Diller, Schlosser and Ebersol then approached Lorne Michaels. Over the next three weeks, Ebersol and Michaels developed the idea for a variety show featuring high-concept comedy sketches, political satire. By 1975 Michaels had assembled a talented cast, including Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Michael ODonoghue, Gilda Radner, and George Coe. The show was originally called NBCs Saturday Night, because Saturday Night Live was in use by Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell on the rival network ABC, NBC purchased the rights to the name in 1976 and officially adopted the new title on March 26,1977. In 1975 and 1976, they were the most desirable demographic for television advertisers, NBC executives agreed with Michaels and decided to keep the show on the air despite many angry letters and phone calls that the network received from viewers who were offended by certain sketches. Chevy Chase left the show in November of the season and was replaced a few months later by the then-unknown comic actor Bill Murray. Aykroyd and Belushi left the show in 1979 after the end of season four, in May 1980, Michaels—emotionally and physically exhausted—requested to put the show on hiatus for a year to give him time and energy to pursue other projects
8.
Alan Cumming
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Alan Cumming, OBE, is a Scottish and American actor, singer/performer, author, and activist who has appeared in numerous films, television shows, and plays. His London stage appearances include Hamlet, the Maniac in Accidental Death of an Anarchist, the lead in Bent, on Broadway, he has appeared in The Threepenny Opera, as the master of ceremonies in Cabaret, Design for Living and a one-man adaptation of Macbeth. His best-known film roles include his performances in Emma, GoldenEye, the Spy Kids trilogy, Son of the Mask, a filming of his Las Vegas cabaret show, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, aired on PBS stations in November 2016. He has also contributed pieces to many publications and performed a cabaret show. Cumming was born in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland, the son of mother Mary Darling, a company secretary, and of father, Alex Cumming. Brought up in Angus, Cumming attended Monikie Primary School and Carnoustie High School, Cumming grew up on a country estate called Panmure Estate near Carnoustie on the east coast of Scotland. He describes the environment as feudal and he has a brother, Tom, who is six years older, and a niece and two nephews. His brother is a property manager who lives in Southampton, England, in his autobiography Not My Fathers Son, Cumming describes emotional and physical violence his father inflicted on him in childhood. His mother found it impossible to obtain a divorce until she was financially independent, Cumming said that after he reached his early 20s, he did not have any communication with his father until just before the filming of his episode of the series Who Do You Think You Are. He then found out that his father had believed that Cumming is not his biological son, later, Cumming and his brother took DNA tests that proved they were indeed his biological children. Cumming said that his difficult childhood taught him how to act by needing to suppress my own emotions, Cumming made his film debut in Gillies MacKinnons Passing Glory in 1986. American audiences first saw him playing the oleaginous Sean Walsh, a suitor of Minnie Drivers character, in Circle of Friends. Also in 1995 he played Boris Ivanovich Grishenko in the James Bond film GoldenEye, in 1996, he had a success as the Revd Mr Elton in Emma. His first film in the United States was 1997s Romy and Micheles High School Reunion, playing Sandy Frink opposite Lisa Kudrow, Cumming co-wrote, co-directed, co-produced, and co-starred in the ensemble film The Anniversary Party with friend and former Cabaret co-star Jennifer Jason Leigh, in 2001. The two starred in the film as a Hollywood couple, the film premiered at Cannes and garnered two Independent Spirit nominations and a National Board of Review award. He went on to star in and direct Suffering Mans Charity later released as Ghost Writer and he had prominent roles in the Spy Kids trilogy, X2, Stanley Kubricks Eyes Wide Shut and played Saturninus in the 1999 Julie Taymor film production of Titus. Earlier in his career, Cumming also directed two films, Butter and Burn Your Phone. The latter began its life as a drama on BBC Radio 4
9.
American Broadcasting Company
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The network is headquartered on Columbus Avenue and West 66th Street in Manhattan, New York City. There are additional offices and production facilities elsewhere in New York City, as well as in Los Angeles and Burbank. Since 2007, when ABC Radio was sold to Citadel Broadcasting, ABC originally launched on October 12,1943, as a radio network, separated from and serving as the successor to the NBC Blue Network, which had been purchased by Edward J. Noble. It extended its operations to television in 1948, following in the footsteps of established broadcast networks CBS, in the mid-1950s, ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres, a chain of movie theaters that formerly operated as a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures. Leonard Goldenson, who had been the head of UPT, made the new television network profitable by helping develop, in 1996, most of Capital Cities/ABCs assets were purchased by The Walt Disney Company. The television network has eight owned-and-operated and over 232 affiliated television stations throughout the United States, most Canadians have access to at least one U. S. ABC News provides news and features content for radio stations owned by Citadel Broadcasting. In the 1930s, radio in the United States was dominated by three companies, the Columbia Broadcasting System, the Mutual Broadcasting System and the National Broadcasting Company. The last was owned by electronics manufacturer Radio Corporation of America, in 1938, the FCC began a series of investigations into the practices of radio networks and published its report on the broadcasting of network radio programs in 1940. The report recommended that RCA give up control of either NBC Red or NBC Blue, at that time, the NBC Red Network was the principal radio network in the United States and, according to the FCC, RCA was using NBC Blue to eliminate any hint of competition. Once Mutuals appeals against the FCC were rejected, RCA decided to sell NBC Blue in 1941, the newly separated NBC Red and NBC Blue divided their respective corporate assets. Investment firm Dillon, Read & Co. offered $7.5 million to purchase the network, Edward John Noble, the owner of Life Savers candy, drugstore chain Rexall and New York City radio station WMCA, purchased the network for $8 million. Due to FCC ownership rules, the transaction, which was to include the purchase of three RCA stations by Noble, would require him to resell his station with the FCCs approval, the Commission authorized the transaction on October 12,1943. Soon afterward, the Blue Network was purchased by the new company Noble founded, Noble subsequently acquired the rights to the American Broadcasting Company name from George B. Meanwhile, in August 1944, the West Coast division of the Blue Network, both stations were then managed by Don Searle, the vice-president of the Blue Networks West Coast division. The ABC Radio Network created its audience slowly, the network also became known for such suspenseful dramas as Sherlock Holmes, Gang Busters and Counterspy, as well as several mid-afternoon youth-oriented programs. S. From Nazi Germany after its conquest, to pre-record its programming, while its radio network was undergoing reconstruction, ABC found it difficult to avoid falling behind on the new medium of television. To ensure a space, in 1947, ABC submitted five applications for television station licenses, the ABC television network made its debut on April 19,1948, with WFIL-TV in Philadelphia becoming its first primary affiliate
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