Chris Brown completes domestic violence program

LOS ANGELES — Chris Brown has completed a domestic violence counseling program required as part of the singer’s guilty plea to assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna nearly two years ago.

On Friday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg congratulated the 21-year-old R&B; performer for finishing the yearlong program.

As a result of completing the required counseling, Brown will no longer have to appear in court every three months for progress report hearings.

Brown is serving five years of probation after pleading guilty last year to assaulting pop star Rihanna in a rented sports car after a pre-Grammy Awards party.

City News Service reports the judge said she would consider lifting the protective order against Brown at a later date. The order requires Brown to stay at least 100 yards away from Rihanna.

Dempsey takes on role of producer in new film

ALICIA RANCILIO

PARK CITY, Utah — Actor Patrick Dempsey wanted to do something “completely different” with his new film “Flypaper,” so he signed on as one of its producers.

While promoting the movie at the Sundance Film Festival this week, The “Grey’s Anatomy” actor described the experience as sometimes “painful,” where there were days he “didn’t want to show up.” In the end he believes pushing himself outside his comfort zone was a good thing.

“Flypaper,” a comedy about a bank robbery, also stars Ashley Judd and Tim Blake Nelson. Dempsey believes the outcome of the experience was “very good” and would “probably” produce another film in the future.

Chicago TV show host in Egypt witnesses riots

CHICAGO — Chicago television travel show host Regina Fraser said Saturday that her tour group hoped to cut their trip to Egypt short after witnessing rioting as Egyptians called for President Hosni Mubarak to step down.

“We saw thousands of people on bridges, just packed people all over the place,” Fraser said in a phone interview from Luxor. “That made us think this is kind of scary.”

Thousands in Egypt have been protesting for five days in a rejection of Mubarak. More than 70 people have been killed and about 2,000 injured.

“When we were trying to get back to our hotel we saw a tremendous amount of people surging through the streets,” she said. “There were even people with children and families in the riot.”

Fraser, 68, co-hosts the Chicago-based, PBS-syndicated show “Grannie on Safari.” Her group arrived in Egypt on Wednesday and was to leave Feb. 4, but she said she hopes they can depart earlier.

“Who wants to be around gunfire and also tear gases? It’s pretty scary,” Fraser said.

Fraser said she is “on pins and needles to make sure our group feels safe.”

She said the travelers were from across the United States, including Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Texas and Washington DC.

Friends? Zuckerberg, Eisenberg face off on ‘SNL’

NEW YORK — Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his “The Social Network” doppelganger Jesse Eisenberg made friends on “Saturday Night Live.”

Zuckerberg joined host Eisenberg for the opening monologue of the show Saturday. The two said they had never met, despite Eisenberg playing Zuckerberg in the widely hailed, Oscar-nominated film.

Cast member Andy Samberg tried his own impression of the Facebook CEO but quickly left — exclaiming “Awkward!” once Zuckerberg took the stage.

Eisenberg told Zuckerberg that he liked him on “60 Minutes” and then asked if he had seen “The Social Network.” Zuckerberg, who has called the film inaccurate, responded that he had seen the film and that it was “interesting.”

Eisenberg accepted that answer and the two high-fived.

Comic David Frye, known for Nixon impression, dies

LAS VEGAS — Comic David Frye, whose impressions of Presidents Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson and other prominent political figures vaulted him to popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, has died in Las Vegas, his family confirmed Saturday. He was 77.

Frye died at his home Monday of cardiopulmonary arrest, Clark County Coroner Mike Murphy said.

Frye’s sister, Ruth Welch of Boynton Beach, Fla., said he was a born comic genius who wrote his own material and began by imitating neighbors in Brooklyn, N.Y., where they grew up.

“He had an eye for people’s movements and an ear for their voices,” Welch told The Associated Press on Saturday. “He could really get down people’s mannerisms and intonations.”

Among other venues, Frye performed at colleges and nightclubs across the country as well as on television programs such as the “Ed Sullivan Show” and “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”

He reached the height of his popularity doing exaggerated impressions of Nixon, with his shoulders hunched and face bowed down. He also devoted several albums to Nixon before Nixon resigned as president in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal.

Born David Shapiro in 1934 in Brooklyn, Frye also imitated such political and entertainment figures as Hubert Humphrey, George Wallace, William F. Buckley, Walter Cronkite, Kirk Douglas and Howard Cosell.

In a 1986 interview while playing the Riviera Hotel and Casino, Frye told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he rarely made television appearances anymore and therefore hardly ever worked nightclubs.

“I haven’t worked on a nightclub stage in years,” Frye said. “TV gives you exposure and in turn, drawing power. There aren’t too many shows left on TV where a guy like me can perform. So with no drawing power, I’m not in demand on the nightclub circuit.”

He recorded the albums “David Frye Presents the Great Debate” in 1980 and “Clinton: An Oral History” in 1998, but never again saw the level of fame he achieved in the Nixon years.

Welch said Frye was a “wonderful” brother who moved to Las Vegas about eight years ago from Beverly Hills, Calif.

“He was a generous person and a very good brother in time of need,” she said. “He was very much loved by the whole family, and he’ll be terribly missed.”