CCOM Backstage: Paul Mecurio's "Permission to Speak"

(Recorded on Aug. 15, 2024) Welcome to the inaugural episode of CCOM Backstage: What's happening at the Butler Arts & Events Center. Paul Mecurio is an Emmy Award winner for his work on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and his current position with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He joins the College of Communication's Ross Hollebon and Eva Hallman '25, journalism major, to share some laughs and provide an intimate sneak peek into his upcoming performance at Butler University's Schrott Center for the Arts in Indianapolis on Saturday, Aug 24th at 8 pm. Paul has teamed with an all-world group to produce his award-winning Broadway Show - "Permission to Speak" - directed by Frank Oz (Director of "Bowfinger," "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, "The Score," Creator and voice of Yoda, "Muppets" creator/puppeteer). It is a show involving the audience but not a traditional crowd work show. In this show the audience and Paul are telling their own stories that are fun, crazy, bizarre, and at times relatable. After some of Paul's stand-up, the premise is: we are nameless and faceless to each other, and at times divisive and disconnected. But if we get together and share stories we realize we have more in common than we think—and maybe don't have to be so divisive. The show is comedic, not political, but it is also NOT a "kumbaya" show. It showcases a multimedia set by 23-time Emmy-winning set designer Jim Fenhagen and creative visual effects and animation by famed animator JJ Sedelmaier (Beavis & Butthead, SNL TV Funhouse Cartoons). After each show strangers talk and connect after hearing their stories and having a lot of laughs in the process. Through making connections we create a better, less hostile world/environment for us all to live in. Schrott Center for The Arts - Butler University - Indianapolis Saturday, Aug 24th at 8:00 pm.