A Priest, a Rabbi and a Banker Walk Into a Bar ? and Bernie

Now that the bulge bracket is dead, in addition to taking jobs with middle market investment banks (while supplies last), some former bankers are stepping up to the mike to fulfill their dreams of becoming stand-up comedians and sketch-comedy performers. (And, as always, in down times or up, some are trying their hand at writing screenplays.)

Meanwhile, in a show that will garner few laughs, today in Washington, D.C., the U.S. House of Representatives began its investigation into the regulatory lapses that allowed Bernie Beelzebub Madoff to dupe investors out of billions of dollars. (Check it out live on CNBC.) So far, various members of Congress have told internal investigators at the Securities and Exchange Commission that they’re more than baffled at how the SEC could have missed Madoff’s monstrous Ponzi scheme, with some members even adding that they’ve completely lost trust in the Commission (and by their tones of voice, I assure you they would have said much more if their words were off the record). Here in New York, dressed in navy blue, Bernie made an appearance in federal court for a bail hearing, in which prosecutors asked that his bail be revoked, believing Madoff to be a flight risk.

Another man grabbing headlines today was Steve Munchlin, the mastermind of what the Wall Street Journal says might be a little too sweet of a deal—the one that sent the failed IndyMac from the government’s hands to a group of seven investors, including Munchlin’s Dune Capital, MSD Capital, J.C. Flowers & Company, Stone Point Capital, Paulson & Company, a fund controlled by George Soros and a fund run by Silar Advisors. Munchlin, now the CEO of IndyMac, might not be a household name (or a name easily pronounced) but he has a very deep resume that includes a nearly two-decade stint at the investment bank turned holding company Goldman Sachs.