Scoop: They Stole Our Credit Card and Went to Lardo.

Shane Torres
  1. TORRES ON TV: Local comic Shane Torres—who placed second in WW’s Funniest 5 poll last November—will appear on NBC’s Last Comic Standing, which returns this week after four years off the air. The elimination-style standup comedy competition is Torres’ first television appearance. Though he says he was mostly “hell-bent on not screwing it up,” Torres noted that judge Roseanne Barr gave him particular praise. “Roseanne was really nice to me,” Torres tells Scoop. “She was very complimentary of my set. She said she really liked my subject matter and my writing.” As for the other contestants, Torres said there mercifully aren’t any freak-show acts or “weird guys in chicken suits” this year. “Everybody was a comic,” he says. “Everybody had some credibility.” The show premieres Thursday, May 22. Portland audiences can also catch Torres at the Hollywood Theatre on May 30. >> In other comedy-on-TV news, NBC’s Undateable, co-starring former Portland standup Ron Funches, will make its debut May 29. The show had been pulled from the spring schedule so the stars could build enthusiasm with a live comedy tour. The network will air the episodes it ordered last year back-to-back.
  1. TABOR BUBBLING:Vancouver’s Mt. Tabor Brewing may be returning to Portland—though not to Mount Tabor. Brewmaster Eric Surface started the brewery on Southeast Stark Street in the Mount Tabor neighborhood, but moved across the river to cut costs. But on May 12, Surface filed a liquor license application to open a second, 15-barrel brewery in Buckman, at 124 SE 11th Ave. Surface says he expects to open a tasting room by November and will move main production to Portland while brewing “fun stuff” in Vancouver. >> Meanwhile, First National Taphouse in Eugene plans to open a second location near Portland State University at 1962 SW 5th Ave. Seating for 168 patrons is planned, as is live music. The location in Eugene offers growler fills from 28 taps and a stock of single-barrel whiskeys. >> Coalition Brewing is planning to give up its taproom on Southeast Ankeny Street and become a distribution-only brewery. Last call will be May 31. You’ll still be able to get a beer at the location, though, which will become a pub called Tap That. 
  1. TWO-WAY STREET: Multiple local news organizations are trumpeting Portland’s position as “most courteous driving city,” as self-reported by Portlanders in a 2,500-driver survey, conducted by a roadside-assistance service and released May 12. (Houston was the worst.) However, a study released this month shows Portland’s driving courtesy may be selective. A U.S. Department of Transportation-funded study by PSU’s Tara Goddard and Kimberly Barsamian Kahn showed that among 168 pedestrian attempts to cross a street in downtown Portland, cars approaching crosswalks were half as likely to yield to black males as white males.

WWeek 2015

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