(overlapping voices)

(woman) Stand by, lights, for cue one.

(man) Welcome to The Tom Dobbs Show. Please have your tickets ready for the ushers.

(overlapping voices continue)

Please turn off all cellphones and pagers.

Take your seats, please. Tom Dobbs will speak to you before the show.

(man) This story might fall under the heading of one thing leads to another.

It started on August 20th.

At 7 p.m. Tom Dobbs, who had a successful cable show featuring political comedy,

was talking to the audience during the warm-up routine prior to the taping of his show.

Thanks for coming. This isn't the actual show. The cameras are pointing at nothing

and some critics have said that too.

But I'm just here to talk to you, warm up the audience, a little bit of foreplay.

- Sorry. - (laughter)

I'll back up now for harassment reasons.

The government said recently... Well, a lot of people said that we're cutting back spending.

But NASA actually spent $28 million

to develop a fountain pen to write upside down in space in zero gravity.

The Russians solved the same problem

(Russian accent) with five-cent pencil.