Ghouls night out

New Kid supports Komen cause

A good night to party

Publick’s ‘Virginia Woolf’ up in the air
One man stands in the way of the Publick Theatre’s production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,’’ and surprisingly enough, it’s the playwright, Edward Albee. Much to the dismay of the Publick - which is supposed to open a run of “Virginia Woolf’’ on Thursday - the now 81-year-old Albee rejected the theater’s licensing request at the last minute. The unexpected “no’’ shocked Publick Theatre artistic director Diego Arciniegas, who told us yesterday that this is the first time in his career that a playwright has denied his request to perform a work. “We were told that Mr. Albee is in negotiations with a larger theater company for ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.’ The thing that I’m not clear on, that I don’t understand, is that up until a little over a week ago, we were led to believe that the rights were available.’’ According to Arciniegas, Albee had made an unusual request to see headshots of the actors before agreeing to license the show. Arciniegas said he met Albee’s demand and had no reason to believe there might be a problem until he got word of the rejection. Arciniegas has e-mailed Albee a plea to change his mind. If the writer can’t be swayed, “Virginia Woolf’’ star Tina Packer has offered up a substitute production - her own show “Women of Will,’’ which is about female characters in Shakespeare. Arciniegas said Packer will write the four “Virginia Woolf’’ actors into her production so that everyone gets some stage time. “Everybody has just banded together to support one another,’’ Arciniegas said.

Slate drops a bomb in her ‘SNL’ debut
Based on recent history, we assume that Milton native Jenny Slate will not be fired for accidentally saying the F-word during her first appearance on “Saturday Night Live’’ over the weekend. Slate, who graduated from Milton Academy as its valedictorian in 2000, unintentionally said the very bad word during a sketch about biker chicks that called for her and castmate Kristen Wiig and host Megan Fox to say the word “frickin’ ’’ about 10 times in every sentence. One of Slate’s attempts accidentally turned into something else, causing the audience to gasp - and Slate to become an overnight YouTube sensation. Bloggers have since been questioning whether Slate will be dropped from the show because of the slip-up. After all, the late Charles Rocket lost his job shortly after a similar mistake in 1981. But more recently, actors and television personalities have been given a pass for accidentally saying the word. Bono - who happened to be Saturday night’s musical guest with U2 - accidentally said it during the Golden Globes in 2003. Irish actor Colin Farrell, who’s a big fan of the word, said it during an interview on CNN last year. And just a few weeks ago, longtime New York news anchor Ernie Anastos uttered it on the air. For the record, Anastos meant to say “plucking.’’ Whoops. No word on whether Slate will be punished for her potty mouth, but her castmates seem to be supporting her. Bedford, N.H.-native Seth Meyers - who was in Boston last night for a performance at Northeastern University - had his arm around Slate during the “SNL’’ closing credits.

A fond, and final, farewell for WBCN
The last of the WBCN farewell parties took place at the Paradise on Friday. Former morning man Charles Laquidara hand-picked a 600-strong guest list that included longtime program director Oedipus, comedian Steve Sweeney, musicians Peter Wolf and Dennis Brennan, and concert promoter Don Law. At one point during the night, former ’BCN leading lady Tami Heide grabbed the mike and yelled, “WBCN was the best radio station in the world.’’ No one argued with her.

Globe Correspondent Steve Morse contributed. Read the Names blog at www.boston.com/namesblog. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.