{"id":29064,"date":"2016-07-11T15:40:10","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T19:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2016\/07\/11\/two-necc-faculty-are-part-of-tv-comedy-pilot\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T15:58:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T19:58:41","slug":"two-necc-faculty-are-part-of-tv-comedy-pilot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2016\/07\/11\/two-necc-faculty-are-part-of-tv-comedy-pilot\/","title":{"rendered":"Two NECC Faculty are Part of TV Comedy Pilot"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_13806\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2016\/07\/Tony-and-Mike.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13806\" class=\"wp-image-13806 size-medium\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2016\/07\/Tony-and-Mike-300x214.png\" alt=\"Tony and Mike\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-13806\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NECC Chemistry Professor Mike Cross demonstrates a prank using chemical concepts to comedian Tony V.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Two Northern Essex Community College faculty members, Dave Rattigan, public speaking, and Mike Cross, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/academics\/courses-programs\/areas\/science\/liberal-arts-physical-science\/\">chemistry<\/a>, are part of a television pilot that will be filmed in front of a live audience on Thursday, July 14 at CinemaSalem, One East India Square, Salem, at 8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>Hosted by Boston comedian-actor Tony V, \u201cTony V\u2019s Project X\u201d is a comedy-educational offering that will offer real instruction mixed with a healthy dose of humor and advice on multiple subjects from the show\u2019s host. The live show will feature standup comedy, video segments from the show, and audience interaction, including Q&amp;A with Tony V.<\/p>\n<p>Rattigan, who is a stand-up comic in addition to being a teacher, is the creator and producer of the show along with Tony V and Paul Van Ness of CinemaSalem.<\/p>\n<p>Cross will be leading a segment on chemical pranks that will be educational as well as funny.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets for the CinemaSalem show are $19 and may be purchased at the box office at One East India Square in Salem, as well as online at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.CinemaSalem.com\">www.CinemaSalem.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will be funny, and people will walk away with knowledge even if they don\u2019t intend to,\u201d said Tony V., real name Tony Vivieros, a veteran standup comedian (Conan, Comedy Central) who has also built an impressive resume as a film actor. Included in that is a memorable scene opposite Melissa McCarthy in \u201cThe Heat\u201d as a precinct officer who is verbally eviscerated by McCarthy\u2019s crude and rude detective. He also appeared with Ben Affleck and John Hamm in \u201cThe Town,\u201d and opposite Robin Williams in \u201cWorld\u2019s Greatest Dad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTony is a great interviewer and also a very inquisitive guy, which makes him great in this format,\u201d said Paul Van Ness, CinemaSalem owner and a co-producer of the show. \u201cIn the first show, we cover chemistry, car repair, and self-help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said the plan is to shoot the pilot, get feedback from the live show, and market it to networks with an educational interest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe hides it well, but Tony is smart,\u201d Rattigan said. \u201cHe\u2019s also great at communicating complex concepts in a clear way, and adding humor to the learning process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith an educational segment, it\u2019s important to establish your priorities in advance, and ours were, number one, humor; and number two, safety,\u201d Vivieros said. \u201cIn the end, no one was badly hurt, and we all had a ton of fun. And I learned how to drench a friend without him knowing it was me that did it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTony V\u2019s Project X\u201d is, at this stage, a working title.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI could tell you we wanted to create an air of mystery about the project, but really we just couldn\u2019t think of a name,\u201d Van Ness said. \u201cWe have a few other titles in mind, but if I shared that, there\u2019d be no mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For more information, go to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.CinemaSalem.com\">www.CinemaSalem.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two Northern Essex Community College faculty members, Dave Rattigan, public speaking, and Mike Cross, chemistry, are part of a television pilot that will be filmed in front of a live [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":183,"featured_media":29066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - 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