Articles written about Misplaced Comedy Comedy troupe goes global with new 'Afghan Files' CD
Published Fri, Dec 21, 2001
By JIM TATUM
Gazette staff writer
The Misplaced Comedy Group, a Beaufort-based
improvisational comedy team, went global last week
with its CD "The Afghan Files."
The group, formed in 2000, consists of local
actors/comics Steven Grabo, Jeffrey Prekop, Dave
Prekop and Jennifer Feliciano.
Grabo, a classically trained actor, created The
Misplaced Comedy Group with Jeffrey Prekop after
winning National Awards at the Millie Lewis AMTC
National Convention (Savannah Chapter),
held on Hilton Head Island in 2000.
Dave Prekop is Jeffrey's brother and worked as a stand-
up comic for a number of years before relocating to
Beaufort. Feliciano is an actor/comic whom Grabo met
at the opening of Night Moves,a local club which
features a variety of live entertainment, including
comedy. The troupe is busy these days, according to
Grabo. "We're actually doing two things," Grabo
said. "We do live shows, stand up and live action
theater games, which are something along the line
of 'Whose Line Is it, Anyway,' and studio work, which
is what is being featured on MP3.com."
Depending on what package the club owner or event host
purchases, the troupe will do stand up, theater games
or a combination.
While the theater games have been successful with
audiences, it is something of a new idea for the area,
Grabo said. "We're hoping to do a mini-tour of the
east coast this spring," Grabo said.
Grabo said the studio work also has enjoyed some
success of late, so much so that they recently
released a full length CD. In fact, one of their
parody tunes, "The Bin Laden Banana Boat Song," has
been MP3.com's top requested comedy file for more than
two months.
The group plans to donate the proceeds from "The Bin
Laden Banana Boat Song" to the American Red Cross,
Grabo said.
For more information, visit the Web site at:
www.misplacedcomedygroup.com.
Jim Tatum can be reached at 986-5532 or
jtatum@beaufortgazette.com.
FREE MP3 OF THE WEEK (Daily Dirt Magazine 11/5/2001)
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"POP CULTURE: And The Misplaced Comedy Group"
BY ERIN BECKER, The Island Packet
Published Thursday, December 13th, 2001
LADY'S ISLAND -- Armed with wit, humor and access to
the Internet, Steven Grabo and Jeffrey Prekop decided
to launch their own attack on Osama bin Laden.
Grabo and Prekop, co-founders of The Misplaced Comedy
Group, and the three other actors in the group, Dave
Prekop, John Gradick and Jen Feliciano, recently
released "The Afghan Files" on www.mp3.com, a digital
music Web site.
The CD, which was recorded in Grabo's home studio,
includes 16 tracks of song parodies and skits. While
Grabo wrote most of the material, Prekop had the
initial idea to do a Taliban parody set to Harry
Belafonte's 1950s hit, "Day-O (Banana Boat Song)."
Some of the substituted lyrics include:
"Bomb all night, now to get that scum.
Someday soon, now you're gonna go boom.
Drop our bombs 'til the camels come home.
Someday soon, now you're gonna go boom.
We drop six bomb, seven bomb, eight bomb, boom.
Come Mr. Taliban, give me bin Laden."
"I'd say the whole CD was done in a month," Grabo
said. "Our theme was 'Comic relief for America's
grief.' We were trying to fight back terrorism without
being violent."
Two of the CD's more popular tracks are the "Bin Laden
(Banana Boat) Song" and "Friends in Blown Up Places,"
sung to the tune of Garth Brooks' country hit.
"We didn't expect it to go as big as it did," Grabo
said of the CD.
Lyrics from the "Bin Laden (Banana Boat) Song" have
been by DJs at radio stations as far away as Arizona,
Grabo said. He also said the song was used on
www.twistedhumor.com and mentioned on CNN's Headline
News.
Some of the skits include "Muslim Barbie -- Commercial
No. 1," "Leave it to bin," "The Afghanistan Dating
Game" and "Afghan Realty!" in which a real estate
agent sells a piece of blown-up land in Afghanistan to
a couple.
Prekop said the dating game skit is one of his
favorites. Hosted by Abdullah Madullah, bin Laden has
his pick of three ladies. The first is an in-your-face
New Jersey girl. The second is a Muslim woman who
can't talk, and the third is a woman named Sammy.
After he picks date No. 3, bin Laden discovers that
Sammy is really Uncle Sam and gets his butt kicked,
Prekop said. "I enjoyed that one," he said, laughing.
While Grabo and Prekop said they hope this CD will
make people laugh, the pair said it also helped them
deal with their own grief after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"It was definitely healing for me," Prekop said. "It's
hard to find the humor in something like this, but to
me, the most important part of healing is laughing ...
that's what we hope we've done."
In addition to having a good time, the comedy group is
raising money to benefit relief efforts. When visitors
listen to the "Bin Laden (Banana Boat) Song" online,
half a penny is donated to the American Red Cross. To
date, the group has raised $200.
"The Afghan Files" can be purchased at www.mp3.com as
an interactive CD-ROM ($7.99) or as a netCD ($4), an
online version of a CD. The CD-ROM includes pictures,
stories and lyrics to the parodies.
Contact Erin Becker at 706-8125 or ebecker@islandpacket.com.
Misplaced Comedy Group takes a shot at Osama bin Laden
Special to The Packet
The Misplaced Comedy Group is, from left, Dave Prekop, Steven Grabo, Jen Feliciano and Jeffrey Prekop.
+ Enlarge Image
Special to The Packet
The group has released "The Afghan Files" on www.mp3.com as well as their own Web site.
