TVSquad

According to TMZ, Brian Dunkelman offended a Laugh Factory audience last week by bitterly joking during his stand-up routine, "If wishes came true Ryan Seacrest would have AIDS."

As you might recall, Dunkelman was Ryan's American Idol co-host during season one. After leaving the show, Dunkelman faded into obscurity while Ryan Seacrest went on to become one of the most recognizable faces on TV.

Michael Richards' recent experimentation with Tourette's Syndrome has one fortunate outcome -- it provides a good excuse for me to introduce myself to the readers of TV Squad! I've been a professional stand-up comic for the last four years, and as TV Squad's newest writer I've been asked to give an insider's take on Michael Richard's use of the "N word."

I think the most important fallout from what I will from this point forward call "the Kramer incident" is that Jamie Masada, owner of the Laugh Factory where the Kramer incident took place, has banned the N-Word from his club. A club owner has the right to ban any kind of speech he'd like from his stage (I've worked places where you had to be Disney-clean and places where every foul word on the planet was not only acceptable, but encouraged), but Masada's PR move is fear-driven and wrong.