This Morning's News

Tim Parsons wrote a cover story about Scott Kennedy inviting me to perform overseas with him and fellow comic Graham Elwood that appeared in this weekend's edition of Action Magazine. Here's the story:

Jacked up on coffee as he is every morning, radio DJ Howie Nave begins playing that icky 1976 tune "Afternoon Delight.” After about 10 seconds, Nave screams into the microphone, “No — that song sucks!” And AC-DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” supplants the Starland Vocal band. Tahoe residents know Nave as the irreverent — yet sometimes political — morning radio announcer for KRLT- 93.9 FM. He’s also the host of The Improv, a six-night a week comedy act at Harveys Resort and Casino, the job that brought Nave to the lake more than seven years ago. Listening to Nave, he seems to be his regular self. But speaking with him in private, it’s clear that the funnyman has a serious task at hand. “I just made out my will over at (the law firm) Laub & Laub,” Nave told a friend. Nave was making preparations for his upcoming trip. On Sunday, Sept. 21 he travels to the war zone in Iraq.
For two weeks, Armed Forces Entertainment will present “Iraq Kuwait 2008 — Scott Kennedy’s Comics,” featuring Nave, Kennedy and Graham Elwood. “Both my sisters have been in, and are in, the military, so this is like my tour of duty, making soldiers laugh,” Nave said. “The way the country and the world is right now, people need to escape with laughter, even if just for a little while, especially those serving in the military.” Kennedy brings a comedy troupe to the war zone every month. This is his 22nd trip to Iraq, and he’s been to Afghanistan nine times. This will be Elwood’s fourth trip to the war zone.

To use a phrase the Tahoe comic often uses in his Improv column in Lake Tahoe Action, Nave is a “newbie.”

Kennedy feels relatively safe when he travels to Iraq and Afghanistan. “It’s dangerous because of where you’re at, but the way I look at it, I’ve got the best security in the world — the United States military,” said Kennedy, who performed at The Improv last week. “They take very good care of us, and, to be honest, I feel safer there than I do sometimes in Detroit or D.C.” Kennedy brings his act to frontline bases, tiny places where troops rarely get entertainment. He said he’s been in 148-degree weather but has never heard a soldier complain. “(The shows) are some of the more physically and emotionally tough things I have done, and also the most rewarding,” Elwood said. “I’ve been a standup comedian since I was 18, and I’ve never seen such a direct positive impact on doing shows as I have from going into the war zone.” Kennedy’s source of inspiration is his two nephews who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. “They said they didn’t get any entertainment while they were there, and I thought maybe I could change that,” said Kennedy, who has signed up through 2009. “I’ve personally shaken the hands of, conservatively, 22,000 soldiers who said, Thank you,” he said. “That’s more than Gen. Petraeus or the president ever has.” That’s very motivating for me to keep going.”

“Scott doesn’t have to be over there,” Nave said. “There are a lot of other things he could be doing with his career. I think it says a lot about a person who has been over there more than 20 times. I consider Scott a patriot.” Kennedy said it doesn’t take long after he steps out of a helicopter to see how tough it has been for the soldiers when he sees the amount of killed-in-action bracelets they wear for fallen friends. “Gen. Anderson told me that (the comedy show) saves soldiers’ lives because it gives them something to talk about,” Kennedy said. “They’ve all told their old stories to each other forever. They don’t have anything to say to each other. This gives them a break from the monotony.” Conditions have changed in the war zones over the past year, Kennedy and Elwood said.

“Afghanistan has gotten worse, and Iraq has gotten better,” Elwood said. “The surge is working in Iraq. I was there in November 2007, and there was a clear benefit of that. I’m looking forward to seeing more of this firsthand this week.” Kennedy also said the troop surge has worked. “I know that firsthand because it used to be every single flight that I went on had a fallen hero on it,” he said. “I’ve seen so many flag-draped coffins, it would make you sick. Since the surge, I’ve only seen two.” Elwood (pictured here at right on Howie's morning show) said his first trip to a war zone was the most difficult. “There is such an anxiousness about it, in terms of you really don’t know what to expect,” Elwood said. “I really didn’t have any idea what the military environment was going to be like, let alone a Third World country on the other side of the earth. I was scared but also naively ignorant.” Kennedy, who has known Nave for nearly 15 years, is confident in his decision to bring him to Iraq.

“Howie’s going to do good because Howie’s a people person, and I always say more than half of it is what you do offstage,” Kennedy said. “I can’t tell you how many, quote unquote, little brothers and problem children I have. I probably get 80 e-mails a day just from soldiers. You meet certain people who need somebody in their life to talk to. They don’t have anybody, and they’ve seen some really horrible things. Howie’s the kind of person people will talk to.” Nave said he has been writing new material, much of it relating to the Middle East. He plans to wear a talis when he performs.

“A commanding officer said I will help flush out the snipers,” he said.

Nave will be back on the radio Oct. 6. Kat Simmons and Scott Fontecchio will fill in at The Improv in the meantime.