That's not a photo of Jack Benny. That's a photo of Eddie Carroll. I've mentioned Eddie before here. He's the actor-writer who does a superb impression and re-creation of the legendary comedian. I am generally not a huge fan of extended impressions but there are exceptions. One, which I've mentioned many times here, is Frank Ferrante, who tours in a show that replicates Groucho Marx. Equally astounding and entertaining is Eddie Carroll's one-man Benny fest…a whole evening of "Jack" telling his life story, performing some of his best material and even, God help us, playing the violin.
Eddie does his show all over America and for years now, I and other friends have nagged him to do it close enough to Los Angeles so that we could go see it without spending more for gas than Mr. Benny ever would. Well, we have our chance but for one night only.
October 19, he's doing two shows at the Scherr Forum in Thousand Oaks. Originally, it was just going to be one matinee performance but tickets sold so briskly (there are only a few left) that an evening performance has been added. Since it hasn't been well publicized yet, there are good seats available for the evening show but they will almost certainly sell out. In fact, I just bought a large block of them for a bunch of my friends and me…so you'd better act quickly. Go to this page at Ticketmaster — where, by the way, they also have seats for one show he's doing in San Diego on December 7. And check out Eddie's schedule to see when he'll be Bennying in your town or hamlet.
Almost every time Frank Ferrante does his Groucho show in some city, I get an e-mail or two from someone thanking me for recommending a visit. Well, this is the same kind of recommendation. If you love Jack Benny, you won't want to miss it. And if you don't love Jack Benny, then…oh, forget it. There isn't anyone who doesn't love Jack Benny.