Assassination threats? Noise complaints? Comedy gold from old government documents

FOIA is a funny word — give it that.

Whether it's funny enough to be the basis for a night of comedy is a different question. Especially since FOIA is a word not much heard outside of newsrooms.

But FOIA — otherwise known as the Freedom of Information Act — is, in fact, comedy gold, says a Wantage performer who has created an entire evening of comedy and music around it. "FOIA Love: A Comedy Show About Public Records" is based on the government material that average citizens — journalists in particular — have had the right, since 1967, to request from their government.

"The music comes into it mainly because no one wants me to talk about public records for 90 minutes," said Curtis Raye, who has performed the show in Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles and Ontario. He'll be bringing it to Montclair on Saturday, July 23, at 7:30 p.m.

FOIA is basic to the work of journalists — "filing a FOIA request" is a key way reporters pry information out of government agencies, including stuff that some might prefer to keep buried. But anyone can file a FOIA request. Just as anyone can make any appeal to the government — appeals that all become part of the public record.

From these two facts, Raye has built a multimedia extravaganza.

With the aid of projected slides and video, some backup performers, and five bluegrass musicians (including Grammy nominee Chris Luquette) to give it the right Americana flavor, he has used quirky information he's obtained through FOIA requests to create a sometimes hilarious, sometimes poignant portrait of Americans engaging with their government.

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"FOIA just unlocked a roomful of interesting characters and premises to explore," he said. "In the public record, you find athletes, activists, politicians, serial killers. People you just want to know more about."

On the record

There was the guy who wrote a death threat to baseball great Roberto Clemente.

The document, obtained by Raye through FOIA, claimed Clemente would be assassinated on the baseball field Sept. 4. Clemente, alas, didn't open the letter until Nov. 8 — at which time he was still, embarrassingly, very much alive.

There were the folks — lots of them, apparently — who kept pestering the FBI about Jesse James.

"Gentlemen, we have a man appearing in person around through the country in picture shows saying he is the real old-time Jesse James. I would like to know if he is or not. Yours very truly, NAME REDACTED, Dallas Texas," reads one letter that Raye obtained.

With arched eyebrows, one imagines, J. Edgar Hoover replied: "The files of bureau do not contain any information related to the 'real old-time Jesse James.' I am unable to furnish you with the information requested. Very truly yours, John Edgar Hoover."

"I do truly admire the people who interact with the government," Raye said. "I appreciate the effort. While also asking myself out loud, 'What were you thinking?' "

Complaint department

Some documents are complaints — like the man who wrote the Federal Aviation Administration to report an airplane pilot who kept flying his passenger jet very low over a residential Maryland neighborhood.

"The government investigated and discovered he was doing it to rattle the window of his house so his wife knew he would be home soon," Raye said.

Others are appeals — like the case of the immigrant opera singer who applied for an O-1 Visa: given to "individuals of extraordinary ability or achievement." "Most of these applications are denied," Raye said. Including this one.

"I wanted to give the audience the chance to evaluate the talents of these immigrants," he said. "I show a video of the opera singer. It's on YouTube. What usually gets laughs from the audience is, after that, I show a picture of the government employee who denied their application. They don't look like an arbiter of operatic talent."

FOIA has also unlocked secrets closer to home. "I got FOIA documents of the name of every single dog in Wantage, which is a matter of public record," he said. "I guess Americans are very uncreative, because there's 40 dogs in my home town named Buddy."

One sub-theme of the show is just how much of our lives is public these days. There's a segment — and song — based on the images that customers leave on in-store smartphones, when they try them out. Obviously, such customers couldn't have imagined these throwaway pictures would be made public, on a stage, as fodder for comedy.

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"I don't know what's wrong with me, But I download these pics I see, And I write stories about their lives, About their friends, about their wives," Raye sings in the show (he also plays banjo during the performance).

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The right background

Clearly, it isn't everyone who would look at FOIA and think: "comedy motherlode." It would have to be a journalist — or somebody with some familiarity with the workings of government.

Check, and check.

"I graduated from George Washington University in 2007 in political communications," Raye said. "When I graduated, I wanted to be a character in 'The West Wing.' That was my dream job. Then you meet the real people doing those jobs and you say, 'That's not for me.' "

For the next 15 years he toggled between journalism and political jobs: writing for a real estate journal, doing field work for Hillary Clinton in Iowa in 2008.

That was the job that first made him aware of the odd ways citizens sometimes interact with their elected officials. Lots of comedy potential there, he decided.

"When I was working for Hillary Clinton, we could get letters," he said. "We got one from a guy who wanted her number one priority to be reducing the federal speed limit to 55 mph. He called it 'The Double Nickel.' Now, that's a phrase I could never have come up with as a comedian."

"FOIA Love: A Comedy Show About Public Records." 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 23. The Theater at the VTC, 180 Bloomfield Ave., Montclair. $20. foialove.com.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Public records requests are source of comedy for Wantage NJ man