Zeal, vigilance, ad-libbing, sexism all earn First Annual Folly Awards FIRST Edition

• Published in: The morning call (Allentown, Pa.)
• Main Author: RICHARD KEPLER BRUNNER, Special to The Morning Call - Freelance
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Allentown, Pa Tribune Interactive, LLC 30.12.2001
• Subjects: Trudeau, Garry; emmaus
• ISSN: 0884-5557

First, a housekeeping note: Every FAFA winner was invited to attend the ceremony and personally receive a FAFA -- a statuette of Folly, extending an overripe apple. Alas, every worthy (who responded) pleaded a previous engagement. Their absence in no measure diminishes their singular accomplishments. "Mizz Folly, pass the envelopes, please." The P.T. Barnum Sucker-Every-Minute prize goes to Garry Trudeau. The creator of "Doonesbury" was caught by the Lovenstein Institute of Scranton, Pa. This phantom think tank palpated President Bush's IQ, and named it puny. In his zeal to ridicule the President, the comic- stripper was ensnared by an Internet hoaxer and fell victim to the "common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance." Trudeau's mea culpa is notable for its duped-by-association excuse. The lapse, he says was "a regrettable error, although perhaps inevitable, given this feature uses the same fact-checking house as "Saturday Night Live' and The Drudge Report." Birds of a feather colluding together? The Ad-Libber winner is Matthew Breiner. "Bethlehem actor helps "Sopranos' keep it real," declared a newspaper headline. How real? Well, the show's director thought the line, "The kid's a loser," lacked zing. So, 17-year-old Matt, then a Bethlehem Catholic High senior, was encouraged to improvise. "In my first line," Matt told a reporter, "I get to drop an "F' bomb." With the added zinger, HBO audiences heard Matt utter his billingsgater, inserted between the "a" and "loser."