Call her crazy, but Nurse Nancy is on a mission to promote sex education for pets through YouTube and Facebook by pushing Tom Cat Condoms.
Nancy, whose real name is Amy Angelilli, an improv comedian and executive director of the Feline Fix, a program of the Rocky Mountain Alley Cat Alliance, is spreading her safe-sex message through “finger cots,” protective rubber finger guards for food-industry workers, packaged as cat condoms.
Besides raising awareness of spaying and neutering, the program is designed to drive traffic to low-cost spay and neuter clinics along the Front Range.
The website lets viewers sign up online for an appointment to have their pets spayed or neutered.
While Angelilli is dead serious about her mission, she sends home the message via hilarious YouTube videos showing the absurdity of attempting to get a condom on a cat.
“PetSmart Charities did a national market- research study about spaying and neutering,” Angelilli said about what triggered her to spread the word. “They found that animal owners ages 18 to 34 are the least likely to get their pet fixed.
“Once that information became available, the Animal Assistance Foundation and I got to talking about how to reach that market. We knew we had to be edgy and funny, and Nurse Nancy was born. It’s a great way to make a topic that’s not very sexy, sexy.”
Angelilli combined her passion for animals and her marketing savvy when she created her alter-ego.
“In Colorado, they put down over 24,000 cats last year. That’s double the number of dogs,” she said. “A dog is a member of the family. Cats have different personalities; they need identification, need shelter and need to come home at night, if you’re letting them out and about. I’m raising the status of the cat to the level of the dog.”
Gritty.
The Denver Press Club’s 2010 Gridiron Show is a conglomeration of journalists, politicians and other public officials making fun of anything and everything grabbing headlines.
This year’s show features appearances by four Colorado governors: Bill Ritter, Bill Owens, Roy Romer and Dick Lamm, beginning at 6 p.m. Oct. 29 at the Denver Marriott City Center. The four guvs will sing “Battle Hymn of the Republic” with new lyrics.
“We all could use some laughs these days, given the state of the nation and the world,” according to the Press Club’s press release. “And geez, look what’s happening to journalism.”
Other performers include Mayor John Hickenlooper and his band members Andrew Hudson, Neil Westergaard (Denver Business Journal) and Tom Clark (Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce). Former Post writer Fred Brown will emcee.
Tickets: .
Ritzy ribbon.
The Four Seasons Hotel Denver officially opens with a ribbon-cutting by Hickenlooper at 11 this morning at 14th and Arapahoe streets.
Edge, the steakhouse restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, is fabulous, based on a taste test I did with hotel general manager Thierry Kennel last week. One menu feature of note: surf and turf sushi.
Of the 102 residences, nearly 50 percent have sold, according to spokeswoman Dana Berry.
EAVESDROPPING
A man at a downtown Denver lunchroom:
“I don’t eat just to eat. I eat to caress my palate.”
Penny Parker’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-630 AM. Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail pparker@denverpost.com.
