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If you watched the first ten minutes of Reality Bites Back, but still aren't quite sure exactly what the show is all about, fear not. RBB contestant Kyle Cease gave an interview to Punchline and broke it down thusly:
What kinds of things can viewers who maybe aren’t familiar with Reality TV or Comedy Central expect to see on Reality Bites Back?
This show is awesome. I really had a blast shooting it and enjoyed
getting to be out of the box and putting my ideas in it, versus just
acting. I really hope that it’s edited right though. If so, this show
will be unreal. I can’t tell yet though. It’s always an honor to do
anything for Comedy Central though. That last part was completely
irrelevant to the question. So is this future sentence. I am a light
version of all of the best styles. See. The sentence after that (See.)
was relevant to the point that I was making three sentences before it.
Oh yeah, my answer to that question….They can expect to see a bunch
of great off the cuff comedians in both situations they do and don’t
want to be in. The minds of 10 different comics can be pretty powerful.
For more of the interview, check out Punchline. And be sure to watch the series premiere of Reality Bites Back this Thursday night.
You’re traveling through to another [place]. A [same place], not only of sight and sound, but of [noun]. A journey into a [adjective] land whose boundaries are that of [noun]. Next step, [TV show]!
You’re traveling through to another mammal house. A mammal house, not only of sight and sound, but of monkey doo doo! A journey into a penisy land whose boundaries are that of birth of Satan! Next step, Scare Tactics!!!
"Scaring people is funny!" says Tracy Morgan, the new host of Scare Tactics, a sick fusion of Candid Camera and Twilight Zone. "It's because I guess it's not happening to me..." So true, Tracy, so true.
Imagine yourself as a nurse in a hospital. You get pulled into a room where a woman is in labor. You hold her hand, while a huge sinister preacher eyes you from another room. Doctors rush in as woman cries in pain. She squeezes out something…it’s a 28 inch Satan baby that demands you praise it!!! You’re scared to death.
But watching this happen to someone else, suddenly dread is replaced by hilarity. And who better than the dreadfully hilarious Tracy Morgan? "I'm a big fan, long-time fan of 'The Twilight Zone,' so this is my rendition of Rod Sterling..."
So if you’re prepared for a sassy, funny, black Rod Sterling hosting a sci-fi reality show, watch Scare Tactics! People will get wood-chipped, and you will laugh your ass off!
The latest installment of Punchline's great new web-show A Tight Five is now online for your enjoyment. This week's guest is Paul Mecurio, who talks about his family, stand-up and working on The Daily Show.
These are two things I know about Tom Hanks: 1. He hasn't won an Oscar in 14 years. 2. He hasn't made Money Pit 2 yet. If those things are unrelated, then I didn't earn my degree from Harvard Blog School. Anyway, Tom Hanks is 52 today. Happy Birthday, Uncle Ned.
Did Larry David reinvent the sitcom twice? I'm pretty sure he did. How is there not a Nobel Prize for that? Nelson Mandela really ought to recognize what's what and hand his over. The point I'm trying to make is Larry David is 61 today, so here's a clip of him at this year's Night of Too Many Stars, followed by a 1998 Charlie Rose interview.
Our friends at Punchline Magazine have just launched a weekly video interview show called A Tight Five, which is exciting. Even excitinger is that the first interviewee is the hilarious Mike Birbiglia. Eat it up.
The Cleveland Free Times has published a new interview with Mike Birbiglia, and despite the fact that they classified it under the “Music” section, it's still a great interview.
I recently caught Mike Birbiglia in New York’s Comedy Central Park event. He is an amazingly funny and gifted comedian. Birbiglia’s strength lies in his honest and straightforward storytelling style, which he highlights in the interview:
"They had me tell a story. I told the story of this girl in high school that I dated. I met her parents and her other boyfriend and only then realized I was never her boyfriend. At this point, I realized you can take stories that are gut-wrenching and get the biggest laughs."
The interview was to promote Birbiglia's performance last night in Cleveland, the home of Howard the Duck, Superman, and, I assume, Grover Cleveland. Tonight, his tour moves on to Detroit.
Last night, Coldplay joined a very exclusive club. Not The North American Society for the Appreciation and Preservation of Matt LeBlanc--I'm afraid I had to reject their application. No, Coldplay became only the third musical act to perform in an official capacity on The Daily Show. After the jump, check out past performances by The White Stripes and Tom Waits, but first, here's Coldplay doing "43" and "Lost."
Jason Bateman was a guest on Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night, and in the middle of a chat about Will Smith and Hancock, David Cross showed up and joined the fun. Hilarity and Arrested Development movie discussing ensued.
Wow, are Bateman and Cross good together or what? Someone should really put them on a sitcom together and then cancel it after three seasons. That would be the best.
Representative Robert Wexler returns to The Colbert Report this Thursday to promote his new book, Fire-Breathing Liberal: How I Learned to Survive (And Thrive) in the Contact Sport of Congress. As The Hill reports, back in 2004, Wexler got into hot water after implying he breathed in more than just fire. While complying with Stephen Colbert’s instructions, Wexler stated, "I enjoy cocaine because it’s a fun thing to do." Wexler then continued adhering to Colbert’s requests, adding, "I enjoy the company of prostitutes… because it’s a fun thing to do."
I, for one, am sick and tired of politicians saying one thing and doing another. In his entire term representing the 19th district of Florida, not once has Wexler been caught enjoying cocaine or prostitutes! Instead, Wexler squandered tax payer’s time and money on such important issues like The Sunshine in Litigation Act, which prevents dangerously defective toys and automobile parts from reaching American consumers. In fact, the closest Wexler has even come to employing a streetwalker was when he voted to help small businesses gain access to investment capital.
Not very honest, Representative Wexler! If Representative Wexler is even your real name! Call us when you start snorting coke and boning hookers, or at the very least lying about it like the rest of Congress.
To see what lies Wexler cooks up next, tune into his interview with The Colbert Report this Thursday at 11:30 pm. And to watch Wexler's first appearance, click past the jump.
As you've no doubt heard, the legendary George Carlin died yesterday at 71. A lot of people in the comments on my first post have asked for a tribute, and I think it's only appropriate. You can expect several more Carlin-centric posts to follow this one, but I thought we should start with a video retrospective.
So sit back, pour out some of your 40oz and have yourself a bittersweet laugh.
Holy shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits, I did not see this coming. George Carlin died yesterday after being admitted to an LA hospital for chest pains. He was 71 and leaves behind an unrivaled comedic legacy. His stand-up shattered taboos, paving the way for countless comedians who followed. He'll also be remembered as the host of the first ever Saturday Night Live.
Carlin appeared on The Daily Show three times. Here are those interviews.
UPDATE: We've put together a video tribute to George Carlin. You can see it here.
UPDATE II: For some of the most famous George Carlin quotes and misquotes, check out this post.
UPDATE III: Here are two more Carlin posts from today...
Holy shit, this is going to be good: Rashida Jones, Super Dave, Scott Thompson, Niecy Nash to join already announced Sarah Silverman and Norm MacDonald for new Match Game, hosted by Andrew Daly. [iF Magazine]
Jon Stewart's Bush impression is almost better than pancakes, right? It's great. Marrying that impression with a superhero comic book about the Bush presidency? Well, that's officially reaching pancakes-level awesomeness.
Also on last night's show was Mike Myers, who's promoting The Love Guru. That interview is after the jump.
Turns out the Bruno movie isn't called Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making
Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay
Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt after all. [Defamer]
The Arrested Development movie is rumored, rumored to be in talks... But if the fans want it, all they have to do is tell Fox to make it happen with a letter-writing campaign. Or, legally, don't hold me to this, because you can't, but threaten Fox.
It's not embeddable, so check out EW for the full clip.
As for the movie, I'm trying not to get too excited, because there's such a great chance I'll be let down. That's one of the most valuable lessons I learned in the orphanage.
Via Videogum, this NPR video(gum) shows Lewis Black on Talk of the Nation handily handling some jerk who called in to accuse the Root of All Evil host of degrading the culture. Once again proving what I've always said about jerks and phones not mixing. Know what does mix with jerks? Knuckle sammiches.
Indecision2008 has passed along the sad news that MSNBC's Tim Russert has died of a heart attack at age 58. Here he is on The Daily Show about one year ago:
On the recent MTV Movie Awards show, sometime-couch-hopper and manic Scientologist Tom Cruise presented Adam Sandler with a Generation Award for his body of work. "Ladies and gentlemen" Cruise said, "I present to you, the Sandman." All hail the Sandman.
The SNL veteran is known for an off-beat, often brutal form of comedy that pokes fun at stereotypes. His movies however, mostly dissect the internal issues of his characters. His latest, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, has many slapstick and caustic jokes, but the Sandman has something to say about that. "My intention is never to hurt anybody." Sandler told NewsOK.com in a recent interview. "I'm happy when people are having a good time, and I've got to tell you, if someone comes up to me and is offended by anything I've done in the past, I listen to them."
After the jump, check out Sandler's recent Daily Show appearance.
Its time to get crunk. If getting crunk means, nodding your head to the super-suburban young-white-male-turns-rapper-on-the-Internet
music style that seems to proliferate so nicely in the YouTube
universe. This is in respect to Bo Burnham, whose debut Comedy Central Records album Bo Fo Sho releases June 17. The young artiste has racked up millions of YouTube hits since posting videos of himself (mostly in his room)
playing guitar and dropping rhymes to his loyal internet flock.
Despite having the support of a large studio behind him, Bo still wants
to keep things real. "I'm still a kid in his bedroom, writing songs and
playing them," he told Wired. "If the album were
anything else, it would lose the whole DIY effect of how it started
out." Don't worry folks, "DIY" isn't esoteric gang slang copped by Bo
to give him more street cred. You can check out Bo's six song digital EP
June 17 when it becomes available for download on iTunes.
Joe: Oh, yes. Here's the thing about The State DVD: it was supposed to be out last year. It's finished, it's completely packaged, we've got commentary and unreleased sketches; it's a really cool package. But they wanted to wait until we do a special, which right now is slated to happen sometime in the fall for Comedy Central. They wanted to do some kind of cross-promotion when the special comes out. The whole group can't wait for it to come out.
Again, w
hen I can lick it, I'll agree it exists. No sooner, no later.
For more with Joe Lo Truglio, hop on over to CHUD.
Is Virginia Senator Jim Webb the next Vice President of these States United? That I can't say. But I will say this: He could probably beat you in an arm-wrestling match. With both arms tied behind his back. Like, if it was Jim Webb's zero arms against your two arms, you'd probably still walk away looking like that dude in The Fly. Anyway, here he is on The Daily Show last night.
Eugene Mirman will soon begin shooting the second season of Flight of the Conchords. Meanwhile his latest comedy album and DVD supplement En Garde, Society! is
out on Sub Pop and his first book,
"The Will to Whatev," will be released next year by Harper Collins. He'll be playing a benefit show tonight at Southpaw, but not before giving an interview to Alexandra Richmond.
Alexandra Richmond: The phone calls on your site, of you engaged
with the anti-gay phone company American United Technologies, or the "Faith,
Family and Freedom" telemarketing campaign, are super entertaining.
Apparently they got your phone number because you donated $50 to Alan
Keys' presidential campaign in 2000?
Eugene Mirman: Yes, that is true.
And I really donated to his campaign just so I could make jokes about it.
AR: Have you donated money to a political campaign since, or did
you learn your lesson?
EM: I've actually donated to Obama. it was the
first campaign I donated to thinking it it would help. Instead of donating
money to a crazy person like Alan Keyes, who is crazy.
Did you know Jeff Garlin has been on The Daily Show a whopping four times? After his next appearance, I'm pretty sure he gets a free car-wash. Either way, he's an hilarious stand-up and awesome on Curb Your Enthusiasm, and today Jeff Garlin turns 46 years old. In reverse chronological order, here are all four of those aforementioned TDS interviews.
People these days cannot get enough of unearthed footage of Bill O'Reilly being a sock-sniffing douchebag. I know it, you know it, and you better believe Stephen Colbert knows the shit out of it. And being that he lives to serve mankind (It's a cookbook!), on last night's show, Stephen aired a snippet of never-before-seen footage from his 2007 interview with O'Reilly. As Stephen says, out of context, the clip makes Papa Bear O'Reilly "[seem] like a real tool."
I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty confident with my diagnosis that Terry McAuliffe has bats in his belfry. Where else would all the bat shit up there come from? As Jon Stewart said, "Your strategy right now appears to be: If we act deranged enough, maybe they'll just give us the country."
Did you see it? Scotty "The Body" McClellan made his hotly anticipated second Daily Show appearance last night to promote his new tell-all book about the Bush Administration. It's pretty much all you're going to be talking about today, so if you missed it, now's the time to catch up. First, before the interview, attention must be paid to Fred Schneider's dramatic reading of the tome.
Jon Stewart's full interview with McClellan can be found after the jump along with the former White House Press Secretary's first TDS appearance from 2007. Compare and contrast.
A few years ago, I went to SXSW and caught Don Hertzfeldt's hilarious Oscar-nominated short Rejected. It was my first exposure to Hertzfeldt, and I was left completely awestruck. Atom Films recently got the rights to some of Hertzfeldt's films, which means you get to watch them and I got to interview him. Congrats, you and me.
Lily and Jim is the first of Hertzfeldt's films to make it onto Atom. You can watch it below and then click past the jump for the interview.
He turned 35 on Sunday, tonight and next Tuesday he'll be at Rififi in New York, and today The Daily Show's Demetri Martin is Gothamist's featured interview. It's a pretty funny jokey-joke interview that I enjoyed reading, personally. Here's a bit:
Any regrets? Not that I know of.
What’s your movie project, Will, about? Oh, shit.
You just reminded me that I should have written that script better. That’s a
regret. So, okay, one regret.
And Moon People? Crap. Make that two.
Now that you’re a well-known comedian, do you feel like you have to
be ‘on’ all the time even when you don’t feel like it? I’m not even
‘on’ all the time on stage. That makes it easier to be ‘off’ or just between
‘on’ and ‘off’ most of the time off stage. (That could be called ‘onff.')
James Lipton, who apparently still exists as an actual person and has not been completely subsumed by Will Ferrell's impersonation of him, has interviewed some of the finest actors of our time. But this month he turns his penetrating gaze to a true titan of modern cinema: Mike Myers.
In anticipation of this watershed event in the dramasphere, we've prepared a list of questions we'd like to see the bizarrely charming Mr. Lipton use to penetrate the depths of this legendary comic mind:
"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." "I coulda been a contender." "Are you talking to me?" Iconic lines, all, but did you ever suspect that none would quite capture the zeitgeist of its era as breathlessly as "It's a man, baby!"?
All great actors must at some point confront the demons within to craft characters which embody that heart of darkness. But plumbing the depths of one's soul is not without danger--was there ever a moment when Mike Myers was in danger of being utterly consumed... by the fat Scottish baby-eating dude?
Just as Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm von Liebniz may have simultaneously invented the fundamental theorem of calculus, it has been said that Wayne's World and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure sprouted separately but organically from the fertile cultural soil of the late 1980s. As a true progenitor of the phenomenon, tell us, which was more bogus, and which more heinous?
As Byron famously said, "Farce follow'd Comedy, and reach'd her prime. In ever-laughing Foote's fantastic time; Mad wag! who pardon'd none, nor spared the best, And turn'd some very serious things to jest." Will there be a Cat in the Hat 2?
And most importantly,
Beyoncé's booty: did you get to touch it?
And since he's also interviewing Dave Chappelle:
Alexander Pope once described "a long, exact, and serious comedy; In every scene some moral let it teach, And, if it can, at once both please and preach." Can you say "I'm Rick James, bitch!?"
When John McCain appeared on The Daily Show last week, he fumbled his way through an odd joke about Dwight Schrute being his running mate. Well, Rainn Wilson was on The Tonight Show a few nights later and accepted the offer:
Conservative icon Grover Norquist was on The Colbert Report Wednesday and has nothing but good things to say about the experience:
"It was one of the most challenging interviews I’ve ever done because it’s so unpredictable and he’s so bright," said Norquist. Still, he thinks he held his own. "I think Colbert was off his game, perhaps because I appeared on the same day that the Bush administration listed polar bears as an endangered species." (Colbert famously jokes on his show about his fear of bears.)
Norquist explained why "The Colbert Report" is a more challenging interview than "The Daily Show." "Stewart will challenge you from a moderately liberal position, but I face that everyday talking to the New York Times," said Norquist. "When Colbert asks me an oddball question, he starts by saying 'You and I agree on something,' than he says something odd. … He’s amazingly quick and you have to be prepared for the unexpected."
Per Darryl's leadership advice to Michael on last week's episode of The Office, Craig Robinson talks to IGN about his gang connections...
GN What's it like being both a Newsie and a Warrior?
Robinson: Well, it's tough man, you know, when you go through
those kinds of different things. I didn't even mention that I was a Jet
and I was a Shark, you know what I'm saying? When you a Jet, you a Jet
all the way, so it's been a tough life.
IGN: I bet. Were you also a T-Bird?
Robinson: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And one of the ladies. What were their names? IGN: The Pink Ladies.
Robinson: The Pink Ladies! I was in that too.
You can read the rest of the street-bustin', cop-smokin', can-you-tell-I'm-from-Connecticut-yet interview here.
Last night's interview with Iraq war mastermind Douglas Feith was a doozy. In fact, some of it was simply too hot for TV. And by "hot," I mean long. The interview ran long, but nothing is too long for the Internet (Fact: The Internet has an endless vaginal barrel), so here is the segment in its entirety:
Unlike his character on
30 Rock, Frank Rossitano, Judah Friedlander is not a writer for television, but he was out on the lines. Did you also know he makes all
the hats he wears on-screen, will appear in this Summer's Meet Dave with Eddie Murphy and knows at least four kinds of
martial arts? I caught up with him right before he heads out on a
national tour, kicking off with a sweet headline gig at Caroline's this Thursday-Sunday, May
15-18. Learn how to be his Myspace friend at judahfriedlander.com.
Alexandra Richmond: Hello, World Champion. How are things?
Judah Friedlander: Pretty
incredible. Just being a winner in America.
AR: Congrats at weathering
the writers strike.
JF: It was pretty intense and really busy, even
though we weren't working. It was non-stop monitoring on the web, and talking
to friends about what the new developments were. The best part, if there can
be a good part beside that it's over now, was meeting people on the
picket lines. One guy I already knew, a screenwriter, Brian Koppelman.
He wrote Rounders, Oceans 13, Runaway Jury. It was fun running into him. I
met Michael Moore; I never met him before. It was just fun. A bunch of other
people. I met some of the writers at Conan O'Brien. Seth Meyers was always
there every day. It was cool. I mean, a bad situation, but it was good to be
out and lend support. I went out as a SAG supporter. Besides writing my standup comedy, I write a blog for 30 Rock. That's all written by me. I take
the photos. They give me total freedom on that. I'm not actually a writer on
the show.
George Carlin turns 71 today. Make sure you honor him by using the words shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits as often as possible. Just sprinkle them into normal conversations. For example, instead of saying, "Good morning, Monsignor," try, "Good morning, Monsignor shitty tits."
Ricky Gervais's This Side of Truth blog continues to be among the funniest things the Internet has ever thought up. Good job, the Internet. Here's Ricky making fun of Jason Bateman:
Yesterday I spent the day pretending to confuse Jason Bateman with Michael J. Fox. The more he didn't laugh the funnier it was.
He got most annoyed when I thought he was 40 something.
"I'm 39" he said in a high voice, and asked for more make-up.
At one point the sound-man said he could hear Jason's hair because there was so much product in it.
After lunch I went to his trailer to shoot him with my biggest nerf gun
(that sounds like a gay euphemism but it isn't). I knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" he said in a camp Teen Wolf Too type voice.
"Ricky" I said.
So for a joke he opened the door mooning me.
This was a bad Idea for two reasons. 1. I shot him in the arse. 2. We were filming it on the cam-corder. Footage coming soon.
By the way, I wouldn't normally just paste these things in their near-entirety, but by eschewing permalinks Mr. Gervais has left me no choice. Is that a British thing?
[I]nstead of making fun of bloggers as geeks and freaks Stewart himself stated that many talented people blog and that blogs were no longer a fringe phenomenon. That’s a significant leap from the past. Lets spin back to when that was not so. Bloggers recall the March 2004 segment of The Daily Show that made fun of blogs and blogging via a satirical segment on “$ecret$ of New Journalism $ucce$$.” Jay Rosen, an NYU professor and one of the early academic proponents of blogging was roundly skewered by a TDS correspondent.
To compare and contrast, here's the Rob Corddry segment in question (it was actually March, 2005), followed by last night's interview with Perlmutter after the jump.
Whether he's causing cancer or knowing Daves, The Kids in the Hall's Bruce McCulloch is equal parts hilarious and awesome. Today he turns 47, so why not wish him well with a gift of sausages and a pen? Or you could just watch his 1999 appearance on The Daily Show:
On last week's 30 Rock, Jack Donaghy couldn't take working on the 12th floor, so he left his job at NBC and went to work for the Bush Administration. And while he surely wouldn't be caught dead working with the rude, thoughtless little pigs in the current White House, Alec Baldwin told 60 Minutes that he's entertaining the idea of leaving showbiz for a political career:
"There's other things I want to do [besides acting]. I mean, in a
matter of weeks, I'm going to be 50," says Baldwin, who turned 50 on
April 3. "There’s no age limit on running for office, to a degree. [It
is] something I might do one day," says Baldwin.
After the jump, check out a 2004 Daily Show appearance by Alec Baldwin.
We'd like to imagine the conversation between McCain and his Chief Comedy Strategist that led to this awkwardly-executed joke.
Aide: Sir, we need to choose a fictional running mate. McCain: Why's that? Aide: It's a solid bit, sir.
McCain: Can't I pick the conservative one? Colbert? Aide: Huckabee already chose him.
McCain: Oh shoot, that's right. Aide: Shoot? Schrute! That's it.
McCain: What now? Aide: Dwight Schrute. From The Office.
McCain: Which office? Aide: It's a popular TV show.
McCain: That a German name? Aide:
I think it's Dutch, sir. Here's the joke, though sir. We're going to
have you pull out a note card. With his name. Since it's practically
impossible that you would have any idea who he is.
McCain: And how's that funny again? Aide: It's a funny name sir. And the index card? Comedy gold.
McCain: Doug Schrute. That is funny. You're sure about this? Aide: Sir, which one of us writes for McSweeneys?
The complete interview with McCain can be found after the jump.
When I heard Steve Carell was going to be in the June issue of Playboy, I got really excited, because I always wondered if he shaves his bush. Well it looks like I'm going have to keep on wondering, because he didn't do a pictorial, just an interview. The Daily News ran an excerpt of it this morning:
"Just before 'The Office' came out, most critics were dubious about our chances of succeeding," Carell says in the June Playboy, out Friday. "There was almost an animosity for the show because the BBC version was so beloved and Ricky Gervais was so brilliant. So in our minds, we realized there was no way to win that battle. There was nothing we could do as a cast or writers or producers to dispel people's preconceived notions. We just had to put it out of our mind and do the best job we could.
"There's a huge freedom," he added. "We knew if our version just didn't suck, people would be amazed."
Andy Kindler is about to go on tour with Eugene Mirman and Marc Maron, so The Bob and Davider posted tour-dates and a short Q&A Bob did with Andy. Here's one of the five Q's and A's:
2. Do you notice a growth in your audience from your steady Letterman gigs? (an emotional growth) More people show up wearing ascots and sunglasses, if that helps, and I assume it doesn't. Does that mean my audience is affected? Or are they addicted.....to my comedy! I notice my audience is getting taller. Or maybe I'm slumping more.
For the tour dates and to read about Andy Kindler's career as a singer/songwriter, head over to BobandDavid.com.
Neil Hamburger has never been one of America's most loved comedians. In fact, he may very well be its worst. With a stable of jokes staler than five-week old rye that can only be described by metaphors staler than a six-week old Portuguese roll, Hamburger has cornered the market on pissing off his audience. And pissed off they will be when they discover that his latest album, "Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners," is not comedy at all, but a collection of country music duds written by Hamburger and others. We sat down with Neil today to talk about his music career, self-medicating during the bad times and signing the worst contract ever drawn up.
Comedy Central Insider: What made you decide to throw yourself into country music? Neil Hamburger: Well, you know, I've done so many albums -- so, so many albums -- that why not do something a little bit different? A lot of the great personalities have made albums. Telly Savalus made a series of albums, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner -- a lot of the singing celebrity albums are very popular. Even Jack Webb made an album of songs. So it wasn't so much that we were going with country per say, it was that we were going with one of these personality type of albums where a bunch of songs are written to cater to the particular fans that I might have.
CCI: As a comedian, was music a big step for you, or was it easy to make the transition?
NH: You know, I'm not Pavarotti here. Definitely, it's a problem. I would not recommend that most comedians make singing albums. But we had had a couple of songs on other albums just as filler, so we decided just to stretch that out just a little bit further with an entire album when these great musicians became available and were interested in taking part in this project.
This one seems to have slipped under the radar last week, but Alia Shawkat pretty much confirmed that an Arrested Development movie is in the works for release next year. You can watch the full interview after the jump, but here's the good part:
"I think it's gonna happen. They're writing the script right now,
supposedly. But, you know, Mitch talked to all the actors and they are
all in; Everyone wants to be a part of it."
"With the publicity of Juno, Jason Bateman started spewing rumours that
there was going to be a movie. When we wrapped, [Jason] said, ‘watch
I’m going to make sure a movie happens’. He’s just like the best
advocate for Arrested – as everyone is. But he really just created a
rumour, which now may be starting the actual production of it. Mitch
[Hurwitz, the creator] spoke to everyone to make sure they were all on
board and everyone is, so I think they’re going forward with it. Ron
Howard is down to [direct] it, so I think Mitch just has to write the
script…"
Meanwhile, if the movie happens, I imagine there'll be a little onset tension after this bit in today's Daily News:
Former "Arrested Development" star Alia Shawkat has admitted she had a thing for her TV dad, David Cross. "I had the biggest crush on him when we were doing the show," she told us, laughing, at the Tribeca premiere of her flick "Bart Got a Room." "He's so attractive in many ways, but mostly in the chest area."
There's a pretty thorough history of the talk surrounding a potential AD movie on the show's Wikipedia page.
This is pretty exciting and all, but I can't help but be a little nervous that it'll somehow end up sucking. I guess if anyone can translate an awesome show into an awesome movie, it's these geniuses though. I will say this: If they can get the band Arrested Development to do a new-millennium remix of "Mr. Wendal" for the movie, it can't possibly suck.
He played one of the funniest characters in television history, he'll soon be father to the world's funniest baby, and today Will Arnett turns 38. Here he is on The Daily Show in 2006 with guest-host Rob Corddry:
In other comedy birthday news, Monty Python's Michael Palin is 65 today. A classic Palin/Python sketch is after the jump.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) will be a guest on "The
Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Wednesday, May 7 at 11:00 p.m. (ET/PT).
This appearance will mark the Senator's 13th time on the show, more
than any other guest, but his first since becoming the presumptive Republican
nominee for President of the United States. Senator McCain's last appearance
was on August 16, 2007. Prior to that he appeared on April 24, 2007, the eve of his official announcement that he
was running for the Republican nomination.
I always wondered what would happen when a guest hit the 13th interview. Like, would they just skip over it and call it the 14th interview, like they do with tall buildings? One thing's for sure though, Jon and John would be wise not to spend the interview skinny-dipping in Crystal Lake. Again.
Check out Senator McCain's last Daily Show appearance after the jump.
From E! Online comes this on-set video of Steve Carell interviewing Office costar Phyllis Smith about this season's finale and her favorite person to work with on the show.
Adam Chodikoff is possibly the most important person at The Daily Show that you've never heard of. He's the researcher tasked with culling the clips you see on the show from hours and hours of TV news footage. The Washington Post has a profile of Chodikoff today, and I really can't recommend it enough. Here's an excerpt:
At its best, Chodikoff's work goes beyond satire and into the realm of cold truth-telling. The show has particularly made doublespeak about the Iraq war a continuing theme in a running segment called "Mess O'Potamia." After Vice President Cheney told ABC News last month that "you can't be blown off course" by negative opinion polls about the war, Chodikoff found the perfect counterpoint: Cheney, in a clip from December 2005, justifying the White House's Iraq policy by citing . . . an opinion poll.
"He has this amazing memory for sound bites about anything political or about policy," says David Javerbaum, executive producer of "The Daily Show." "What's remarkable is how many ideas he initiates because he remembered that this guy said this or that a year ago." While Stewart and the show's deadpan "correspondents" usually get the laughs, Javerbaum says Chodikoff is the program's "unsung hero."
The rest of the article is a pretty fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the show through Chodikoff's eyes. Check it out.
Did you know that the War of 1812 began as a dispute over which was the better Wes Anderson movie, Rushmore or The Royal Tenenbaums? It's a fact! It's also a fact that Wes Anderson is 39 today. Here he is on Charlie Rose last year:
Willie Nelson wrote "Crazy" for Patsy Cline. He was also in Half Baked. Which of those is the greater contribution to American culture remains unclear, but today the Red-Headed Stranger turns 75. Here he is on The Daily Show in 2006.
Brian Posehn is coming to the University of Minnesota, so their school paper did an interview with him. He talks about getting into comedy, hecklers and working on The Sarah Silverman Program:
UR: What’s it like to work on The Sarah Silverman Program? BP: That’s the thing I’m most proud of, really, is Sarah because it’s closer to what I think is funny than a mainstream sitcom. It’s great. What can I say? It’s working with your friends, it’s jokes that you think are funny. You know, I never look at a script and shake my head, I look at scripts and laugh and then I get to go to work with all my friends. I’m friends with all the writers there, I’m friends with the director, I’ve been friends with Sarah for 15 years, we have a long history, and it’s just nothing but fun. We just go and we laugh all day and they turn the cameras on us and we try to not blow the take by laughing.
There's a lot of talk these days about who will take over Late Night when Conan O'Brien is appointed to the Supreme Court in 2009. Has anyone suggested Michael Showalter yet? If not, I call dibs on suggesting it. Anyway, here's the latest episode of The Michael Showalter Showalter:
Best Week Ever has a new interview today with the hilarious Paul F. Tompkins, he of Mr. Show, BWE and Lewis Black's Root of All Evil fame. In it, Tompkins has plenty of interesting things to say about stuff like Rumplestiltskin, There Will Be Blood and RoAE:
BWE: Let’s talk about Root of All Evil. I’ve seen it, but tell the people what it’s all about.
PFT: It’s a show on Comedy Central. Lewis Black is a judge and two comedians argue over which is the greater of two evils.
BWE: Do you pick your own topics?
PFT: I will say this; there’s this big board with
topics and I feel like on the episodes I’ve done, I chose very wisely
and did not choose unwisely. So I did not drink from a chalice and turn
into a skeleton before your very eyes, like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
I did two; Oprah versus the Catholic Church and
Weed versus Beer. Those were the highest rated episodes. As much as I
would like to claim credit that it was me that people tuned in for, I
think it was the topics. I think I was very shrewd to choose Oprah and
Weed.
BWE: Of Oprah and Weed, which is most evil?
PFT: Ooooh! You’re saying, proceeding with those brackets? Um…I’m gonna stick with Oprah. I just think she’s the worst.
And you know, Oprah’s friend Gayle has requested
that I appear on her radio show, which I turned down. Not because of
anything about Gayle personally, but because…eh, I don’t think after I
go on a TV show saying “Oprah is the root of all evil,” I should appear
on her friend’s radio show. What if Oprah shows up and has me killed?
It’s like Michael Clayton! What if I’m on my
way to the radio station, right, and I get out to look at some horses,
‘cause I looove lookin’ at ‘em…and then my car blows up?
BWE: You think the invitation from Gayle is a trap?
PFT: Yes! Exactly! Y’know, I was born during the day, but I wasn’t born yesterday.
While discussing waterboarding in a speech this week, former US Attorney General John Ashcroft compared the controversial interrogation tactic to his appearance on The Daily Show. From Think Progress:
Going to a high school dance, having to listen to loud music, to me that’s torture. I was on the Daily Show once. I was interviewed by Jon Stewart. That was torture.
Say what you will about Ashcroft, but he has a point. When I was in eleventh grade, I went to the homecoming dance and the music was so loud, I revealed the location of an illegal weapons cache.
Here's video of John Ashcroft being tortured by Jon Stewart.
Are you excited about the upcoming new episodes of The Sarah Silverman Program? If not, there's probably something wrong with your brain. Seriously, you should have that checked out. Get an MRI or something. Don't take any chances. I love you. Anyway, here's an interview Steve Agee of The Sarah Silverman Program did with Rob Schrab, the show's director and co-creator:
In a new interview, Daily Show creator Lizz Winstead talks about her acclaimed new show Shoot the Messenger, working with Jon Stewart and getting Stephen Colbert and Lewis Black on TDS:
WW: You mentioned Stephen Colbert. Were you part of the team that brought him and Lewis Black aboard?
LW: Yes, indeed. I am definitely that team. Lewis
and I have been really, really dear friends, and he was the first call
I made when the show went up. I said, “Dude, do you want to do a weekly
segment where you just rant about whatever’s on your mind,” and he
said, “Yes.” And Stephen also. Oddly enough, we saw Stephen – he was
doing bits on Good Morning America. He was kind of doing funny stuff on there.
WW: Do you take pride in what’s happened with those two, as well as with the show as a whole?
LW: Totally. What’s great about it is, it
reinforces that my instincts are pretty good. These people are geniuses
all on their own, and I happened to see them and go, “Wow. I think what
you do would fit really well with what I’m doing.” When you see people
now coming up, I feel like I can get a pretty good sense of picking
talent, which makes me feel pretty good. When your instincts have paid
off, it’s good, because you don’t have to do a whole lot of second
guessing.
Of course you're excited this week because Harold and Kumar 2 is hitting theaters. But, did you realize that Kumar was born the week of 4/20? That's either an awesome coincidence or some of the most elaborate marketing ever. Either way, Kal Penn is 31 today. Here he is on Conan Monday night:
I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been linking to a lot of interviews with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler lately. It's almost as if they have a movie coming out soon or something. Whatever the case, the two comedic worlds have now collided with this video of Amy interviewing Tina about being the mama of a baby, a Baby Mama if you will:
Meanwhile, can I tell you that as widespread and effective as the Baby Mama ad campaign has been, I only found out today that Steve Martin is in the movie? I think I'll look back on today as the day I officially became completely out of touch. Will you come over and program my VCR?
You know, a lot of people like to point out that if Barack Obama is elected in November, he'll be our nation's first black president. But don't forget that Obama is biracial, so he'd also be our first white president. Here he is on last night's TDS:
The second half of the interview is after the jump.
[Via Indecision 2008, who will be liveblogging the PArimary tonight.]
BWE: Well then, this is as good a time as any to
ask you about your new documentary, "Super High Me" - which is
basically you partaking in another self-indulgent activity.
DB: Yes, it’s basically a rip-off of "Supersize
Me," but with pot instead of McDonalds. I was high all day every day
for 30 days. But to make the movie fair and balanced - Fox News style -
I abstained from smoking pot for 30 days.
BWE: Wow, that’s just like Fox News. So…what did you learn from this experiment?
DB: Not much actually. I thought going into it that
I would be sick of weed after a month of constant use. But I still like
it. Kids, don’t do drugs.
BWE: Is there anything that you would be sick of after a month of constant use?
DB: I wouldn’t want to do anything besides smoke pot for a whole month. Variety is the spice of life. That, and paprika.
For the complete interview, head over to Best Week Ever and read Getting Super High with Doug Benson. Meanwhile, to see Doug Benson talking about pot in his Comedy Central Presents, click past the jump.
The UK has given America The Beatles, The Office and white people, but now we yanks are giving something back: Comedians in politics. Taking a cue from Al Franken, Eddie Izzard tells Newsweek that he's thinking about a political career:
Do you want to run for office? Yeah. Don't you think I should?
Sure. Why not? If
you think I should and I think I should, then I should. I do like
people and trying to make things work. We've got to make it work in
Europe. People are very worried about sovereignty and the loss of
sovereignty. I think the stakes are if we don't make the European Union
work, then the world is screwed. End of story.
Do you have any big ideas for Europe? Logical
governance is the thing. It already exists. It's called subsidiarity,
which is based on Catholic theology and is basically the idea that
governance happens at its logical level.
Hey, why not? If John McCain can make it in politics, I think all cross-dressers should have a shot.
Along with his political aspirations, the full Newsweek interview covers Izzard's new stand-up tour, Wikipedia and Tom Cruise. Definitely a recommended read.
After the jump, check out Eddie Izzard's most recent appearance on The Daily Show.
In case you haven't heard, Daily Show correspondent John Oliver's stand-up special Terrifying Times premieres on Comedy Central this Sunday night at 10pm EST. To keep you busy until the big show, I've got a whole bunch of John Oliver-related internets for you.
First up, how about three interviews with John? Here's one from TV Guide, one from UGO and one from The University of Alabama's Crimson White. After you read all of those, you'll know more about John Oliver than you do about your own parents. Which is sad. You should call them.
"But Matt, I never learned to read," you might say. "How can I get my John Oliver fix?" Well, tragic imaginary reader, here are some video clips to whet your laugh-etite:
Dressed up in his stage blacks, Drew Hastings isn't the type of guy any man would mistake for a farmer. But just replace that microphone with a shovel or a rake and he could be a regular, implacable-looking Eddie Albert. Drew sat down over the phone with CC Insider today, a baker's week before the world premiere of his new special, "Irked and Miffed," to talk about why he moved to the Midwest, how East and West Coasters are unfair to "flyover country," and looking for his neighbor Dave Chappelle.
Comedy Central Insider: I really enjoyed your special. Drew Hastings: Thank you. You didn't watch any of the farming material?
CCI: Actually, I just heard you live on a farm. So I prepared mostly farming-related questions. DH: That's fine, because if somebody would've said to me four years ago, "You're gonna have a huge fan base of farmers and rural types," I'd have said, "You're out of your f-ing mind."
CCI: So do farmers and rural types make up most of your fan base these days? DH: I have a really weird fan base. I used to think, "This is no good. They're all over the board." Pediatricians, lawyers, punks with staples through their nose, grandmothers. And they would all say, "I really get you." Really? The punks and the grandmothers -- they both get me? But then I started thinking, that's what you want. That's mainstream success. Ultimately I think you want the pediatrician and the pierced-nose punk to both like you.
There's more interview, plus clips from Drew's special (premiering April 26th at 11pm EST on Comedy Central) after the jump.
Everyone and their mother knows Hillary Clinton will be on The Colbert Report tonight. But did you know Barack Obama is also on the show? What about John Edwards? No, not the psychic, John Edwards with an "s" at the end. I'm told he ran for public office at least once. Here are the details:
"The Colbert Report" ends its week-long "Doritos Spicy Sweet Pennsylvania Primary Coverage From Chili-Delphia - The City of Brotherly Crunch!" with a bang as Senator Barack Obama (via satellite) and Senator John Edwards (in-person) make surprise appearances on tonight's show.
The appearances by Obama and Edwards are in addition to Senator Hillary Clinton's previously announced appearance.
This episode of "The Colbert Report" will air tonight, Thursday, April 17, at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT.
The only question now is if Gravel showed. Cross your fingers!
After you watch the show, check back here 'round midnight for a full report.
Is there a love-triangle brewing betwixt Stephen Colbert and Barack and Michelle Obama? Maybe, but I don't think Michelle will let Stephen have him. Zing!
But seriously, is Michelle Obama foxy or what? Can you imagine if she was the First Lady? She'd make Ida McKinley look like Lucretia Garfield! Am I right?
The Simpsons managed to piss off Argentina. [Variety]
I don't make a habit of reading The American Spectator, but the line late in this column about Sarah Silverman's "masculine blue jeans" is the wtf? moment of the day. [American Spectator]
News of Clinton's visit was divulged Monday night in Philadelphia by
MSNBC pundit Chris Matthews. He blurted it out during taping of the
show at the University of Pennsylvania's Zellerbach Theater. The news
was confirmed by a person close to the satirical news program, who
insisted on anonymity because the date of the visit hadn't been
publicly announced.
If you missed it, here's Chris Matthews' interview from last night.
For Senator Clinton's recent appearance on The Daily Show, click past the jump.
The Colbert Report kicks off a week of shows from Philadelphia tonight and Stephen Colbert is all over the local media. Here are excerpts from two recent PA interviews featuring Stephen out of character:
Tell me a little about your plans for your time here — is there
stuff being produced in advance? Are there spies in our city even now?
"They
actually are already there, shooting around your fair city. Keep an eye
out for them. We obviously have got to get to know the city, we've got
to get to know the culture, we have to focus on your contributions to
American political organization and democracy in the rest of the world.
We'll have to learn a bit about Ben Franklin, of course."
You mean about him and the Liberty Bell?
"The
fact that he gave the Liberty Bell syphilis. [Also] we're looking
forward to Mayor Nutter, we're looking forward to [Gov. Ed] Rendell. We
hope the [presidential] candidates stop by. We've got our fingers
crossed."
DP: What do you feel is the role of the Colbert Report, particularly—
SC: Kingmaker! Kingmaker! I'm tired of pretending that I don't control
the political process. People don't believe me anymore when I say I
don't have influence over the process. And you know what, I'm going to
accept it. I'm the kingmaker. What I say goes. And it's up to the
candidates to decide if they want the benediction of the "Colbert
bump." It's up to them, it's totally up to them. It's out of my hands
now. If they come on, by proximity to me, it's like radioactive
popularity. Check out this week's U.S. News and World Report — the
"Colbert bump" is REAL. There's a report in U.S. News and World Report.
Go read it.
In case you haven't the article Stephen's talking about, you can read about it on Indecision 2008.
A new article in Billboard discusses the growing trend of comedians appearing at indie rock festivals and on indie rock labels. There are a couple quotes from the Human Giant guys, and this interesting bit from the head of Sub Pop:
"We saw a community of like-minded individuals that really
resembled the indie music scene," he says. The label's first
release, Cross' 2002 album "Shut Up You F---ing Baby,"
validated that belief. It went on to sell 109,000 copies in the
United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
"Back in 2002, we were at a low point for the label -- a
far cry from where the indie community is today," Kiewel
recalls. "I think we had one artist that had scanned over
20,000 at that point of the active roster. But these
(comedians) were touring and selling out places, getting on
morning radio shows and late-night television, and they weren't
promoting anything. That just seemed really interesting to me."
So there you have it. The next time you're enjoying a Band of Horses or Iron and Wine record, remember that you've got David Cross to thank.
This Saturday's Weekend Edition on NPR featured an in-depth look at the world's most famous fatass, Eric Cartman. South Park co-creator Trey Parker is interviewed, as is a media studies professor, who had this to say about Cartman's place in cultural history:
"I'm sure that one of the first things that a caveman drew on the wall was a person with a big penis," Johnson-Woods says.
Even in the TV universe, Cartman is heir to a rich tradition.
"He's
not the first overweight, problematic, money-chasing bigoted male to be
on television — not even the first cartoon one," Johnson-Woods says.
She sees Cartman as a hybrid of Archie Bunker, Jackie Gleason of The Honeymooners and the animated Fred Flintstone.
For the entire text and audio of the interview, check out Eric Cartman: America's Favorite Little $@#&*% And while you're there, be sure to listen to the clip of Cartman himself answering the Proust Questionnaire.
The Kids in the Hall are back out on the road with a new tour that begins tonight in Merrillville, Indiana. To promote the show, Scott Thompson did a short interview with the Northwest Indiana Times about what audiences can expect this time around:
The 2008 tour is called "Live As We’ll Ever Be," which Thompson said
includes fresh material that reflects who they are now while preserving
their off-kilter take on ordinary life.
"Audiences will see all
their favorite characters from the television series, but we have them
appearing in entirely new situations, sharing the stage with some new
personas which are destined for cult adoration," said Thompson, with
his trademark laugh.
"We like to slaughter all the sacred cows
and just have some fun. And when things go wrong on stage, that's just
a comedy bonus."
From Mr. Show to Arrested Development to his brilliantly biting standup, David Cross is one of the most influential and beloved comedians of this generation. He's 44 today, so let's all take a minute to watch his most recent Daily Show appearance:
For more David, click past the jump for a clip from his Last Laugh 2005 set.
Comedy Central's Indecision 2008 Tour is hitting college campuses all over the country with Greg Giraldo at the top of the bill. Giraldo and company were recently at Hofstra University, and he gave an interview to the school paper. Here's a taste:
TC: Any thoughts about the elections and what's going on right now?
GG: I think they're going to happen. I think they're going to have them. There'll probably be an election. '08, this year.
You
know, I don't really like politics. I don't believe in the democratic
process. I think it's overrated. All this concern about voting is
overrated. People shouldn't vote if they don't want to. And they should
let the true sophisticates of society choose our leaders.
Like Simon from "American Idol."
TC: So, what's working with Lewis Black like?
GG: Lewis Black is an asshole! Put that in your thing.
Did you see George Clooney on The Daily Show last night? He was on to promote his new comedy Leatherheads. I like George Clooney. Know why? Because he's charming and funny enough to distract me from all the questioning of my sexuality he makes me do. I know a few people who could take a lesson from him (hint, hint, Matthew Fox and my 8th-grade gym teacher). Anyway, here's the interview:
Meanwhile, Patton Oswalt was on The Tonight Show to promote his new comedy Sex and Death 101. That interview is after the jump.
When you encounter Stephen Colbert, you never know who you're going to get. It could be the fact-phobic blowhard who hosts The Colbert Report, or it could be the LOTR-obsessed family man. But as the audience at his University of Buffalo performance will find out tomorrow night, there's a third option:
"[I’ll be] pretty much like I’m talking to you right now," he said. "The weird thing about my character, even on the show, is sometimes I
say what I mean. It doesn’t matter to me that the audience doesn’t know
when that is.
"When I do a show live, it is far less of the
character... It is an odd mix. People who invite me to speak ... my
name is Stephen Colbert and the character’s name is Stephen Colbert and sometimes I'm not really sure who they’ve invited. So I do a little bit of both."
And speaking of spinoffs, the people behind I Can Has Cheezburger recently launched two new sites, Pundit Kitchen and GraphJam. My favorite from the former is at the top of the post and my favorite from the latter is below. [Via Dead-Frog]
On Monday I posted links to two Tina Fey interviews, but they were actually both from a conference call Fey held with members of the entertainment press last week. And now Cinema Blend has posted a transcript of the entire epic phone-call. Here's a little:
I love the title of the upcoming episode, by the way.
Tina Fey: MILF Island?
Yeah. I was just wondering, what’s the premise of the reality show?
Tina Fey: It is a Survivor-like show where, oh gosh - I think it’s 20
MILF’s and 50 eighth grade boys are put on an island. And we actually
sat down and tried to figure out the rules of MILF Island and were not
entirely successful. It involves something where the boys vote the moms
off if they don’t like them anymore. And then it involves physical
challenges and that’s about all that we now[sic]. But when I sell it to Ben
Silverman, we’ll know more.
Lewis Black's Root of All Evil is the kind of show that's perfectly suited for a select kind of comedian, and it'd be very hard to argue that Andy Kindler is anything but exactly that brand of comic. He's biting, smart and considers no cow sacred. In a new two-part interview with Starpulse, Kindler talks about his experience on RoAE among other things:
How many episodes are you going to be on the Root of All Evil?
I’m on two episodes, I’m on tonight’s episode where I argue, do you
know the, no, it’s tomorrow’s episode where I argue against Greg
Giraldo, you know how it’s spelled. Comedian Greg Giraldo who argues
that Viagra is the root of all evil, while I argue that Donald Trump is the root of all evil, and then I argue in a later episode that American Idol is the root of all evil, and Patton Oswalt wears some kind of three piece racketeering suit that makes him look as
if he’s the world’s most compact machine gun, I don’t know what’s he’s
going for, machine gunnist, I don’t know what his look is exactly an
accountant from the 30’s? He argues that High School is the root of all
evil.
The Village Voice ran a cool interview with the Human Giant guys--Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer--yesterday with a focus on the merging of comedy and music scenes in recent years. Here's a little:
This music crossover you’re having success with
is very interesting; when I was in high school, and went to festivals,
there would be no comedic acts.
Aziz Ansari: Well, I think Rob and I can both agree, for the past
couple years there’s a huge crossover in comedy and bluegrass music.
Rob: That’s all we care about. Merging bluegrass with hilarious comedy.
Aziz: So many people who listen to bluegrass, like our comedy.
It makes sense.
Aziz: No, all these festivals—South by Southwest, Bonnaroo,
Pitchfork, it’s so fun for us to go do comedy there, because there’s a
lot of people that are into comedy, that are listening to indie rock
music, or whatever.
Rob: Well, I don’t think that’s new . . .I mean I think that it’s new, that they figured it out.
With a new album from Comedy Central Records to promote, Todd Barry is out on the road. He's playing Juanita's in Little Rock, Arkansas tonight and gave an interview to the local paper to talk about the CD, baldness and his role on Flight of the Conchords:
Did you have any bongo experience prior to your guest spot on "Flight of the Conchords"? Drum circles? Bongo symphonies? Jam band
guest spots?
I've played non-bongo drums for a while, but not particularly well.
And my bongo skills are even more lacking, but perhaps that made my
role on "Flight of the Conchords" funnier.
There are still ten more days before new episodes of 30 Rock begin airing, but you can bide your time by (very slowly) reading two recent interviews with Tina Fey. First up, the TV Addict blog asked Fey ten questions, including who her dream guest-star would be:
I’d love to get Oprah to play my best friend. I want to spend time with Oprah and I’m not sure what I need to do to make that happen. I would say we’ve been super lucky with all of our guest stars. Will Arnett, Dean Winters [the Beeper King] and hopefully Edie Falco will all be returning this spring. Tim Conway is going to be in our second episode when we come back.
"That thing was edited kind of weird because I was really talking about
how audiences respond weirdly to things. And I said, "You know, like on
['Saturday Night Live's'] Weekend Update or anything. And then that
kind of went away, so it seemed like I was saying something bad about
those guys. And I think they know that I think their show is great and
would absolutely never be disparaging of their show. We've tried to get
[Jon Stewart] and [Stephen] Colbert a bunch of times. We will darken
the doorstep of every performer living in New York if we are on the air
long enough. So we will darken their doorstep again, I hope."
Man, what I wouldn't give to darken Tina Fey's doorstep. If you know what I mean.
RD: What pleases you more, applause or laughter? Fey: Laughter. You can prompt applause with a sign. My friend, SNL writer Seth Meyers, coined the term clapter, which is when you do a political joke and people go, "Woo-hoo." It means they sort of approve but didn't really like it that much. You hear a lot of that on [whispers] The Daily Show.
After debuting last week, Lewis Black's Root of All Evil has blown up to become television's most-watched show starring Lewis Black that debuted last week. Starpulse has just posted an interview with the Daily Show contributor-turned-ringmaster, in which he talks about technology, the youth of America and this:
And what do you think it will take for people to make time to think for themselves or to care? It's like a big pendulum and eventually people will kind of start thinking. You get to the point where there are actually articles about families really having to remember to make time to eat together. "We have to have three meals together a week." Three? We ate dinner together every night, my family and I. I don't know when the world changed in such a fashion. I think that eventually will people go, "Ooh, yeah, that's right." I think the pendulum seems to swing and it goes in one direction and then it gets completely out of control that way and it starts to come back. For all they scream about family values, they're really pretty simple. But it starts with paying attention to your kids and eating dinner with them. It's stuff that used to be rudimentary and people just seem to need to re-learn. I hope they will.
And when was the last time that the pendulum swung to the extreme? In the late 60s it went way to the left, at least among the kids. And I think what we're seeing now is the pendulum pointing the other way and I think this is the comeuppance for that time. This is all of those guys who were in college, who felt disenfranchised, and it was like, "Ok, I'm going to show you." And there they are. These are all the people I went to school with who were crazier than bed bugs at the time, and you can quote me on that, with my little southern cracker vernacular, wherever the f*ck "crazier than bed bugs" came from.
The Apiary scored an interview with comedic renaissance man Kurt Braunohler, who revealed some fascinating information:
He loves experimenting with Psychogeography. There are 6 new episodes of Penelope: Princess of Pets waiting to be unleashed upon the world. He is terrible at building things.
Mike's part of a Comedy Central Presents special called My First Time. It debuts tomorrow night at 10:30 pm EST on the mothership, and also features Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black, and Bonnie McFarlane. Here's a little tastey taste:
Click ahead for a series of interviews with Mike and the rest of the first-timers.
If you spent your be-cloaked high school days practicing funny walks and recreating the Spanish Inquisition with the rest of your drama department buddies, head over to the Onion's AV Club. Your old pal John Cleese declares his favorite Python movie (and how American vs. British sensibilities come into play), what it's like to work with Peter Sellers and dine with Peter Ustinov, and why he doesn't write feature film scripts for himself anymore.
Or you could fire up another episode of Dr. Who. It's really up to you.
The Sound of Young America blog has an interview today with All My Exes host Chelsea Peretti: AM: Where did the idea for All My Exes come from?
CP:
I can't remember. I went in to talk to Mark and Daniel Weidenfeld [of
Super Deluxe] about it. There were various ideas and that one we all
got into and tossed around ideas. It just was the one that got us all
excited. One thing I've always thought would be if you could put all
the people you've dated into a room or photo. Just how funny the photo
would be, just lots of different types of people, like a circus.
From his Sirius satellite radio show to his job as warm-up comic for The Colbert Report, Pete Dominick is one of the hardest working people in comedy. Punchline recently posted an interview with the standup where he talked about tailoring his material for different audiences:
I think the best comics are both relatable and innovative. Which of those things are more important? I
think being relatable is most important in comedy. Chris Rock said if
you see something that you think other people have seen, or hear
something that you think other people have heard, or do something that
you think other people have done, there’s the comedy, there’s the joke.
Everybody has had sex, hopefully. Or have been in a relationship, or
knows who President Bush is. So relatable is important.
And if you can be innovative with relatable material, it’s a plus? If by innovative you mean original and provocative–
Yeah. You always want to be original. But sometimes a guy is trying to be too original, and nobody even gets the joke.
It’s funny. I’ve got a joke where the premise is, ‘Here are some things Dick Cheney has never said.’ It kills when I warm up The Colbert Report
audience, because they’re so smart about politics. But if I do a club
in Cleveland, I get nothing— just crickets. Within the joke I refer to
the Geneva Conventions, which I thought everybody kind of knew about.
But people don’t. And that’s a problem.
Adam McKay is the bee's knees. You know it, I know it, your neighbor's dog knows it. He's funny and awesome, and that's that. Anyway, he did an interview with Starpulse and the first half is up today. Here's a little bit where he talks about the origin of Funny or Die:
We, Will Ferrell and I, were approached by Sequoia, which is a big
financing firm up in Palo Alto; they do a lot of internet stuff and
they came to us and said they had an idea for a comedy site, and Will
and I were sorta like," Yeah, we don't know. It's the Internet, we've
seen it come and go." But the more we started talking about it the more
we started thinking, "Well, wait a minute, this could be really fun."
We loved working on SNL and we still have all of these ideas that fit
the format. We liked the idea of just doing comedy for comedy's sake
and having a place for our friends to do it too. We went into it with a
clubhouse mentality and that was basically it. We also talked about the
fact that we had just started our production company, Gary Sanchez
Productions, and that it would be a great opportunity to see new
directors, actors, and writers.
For their entire issue about things that suck, Wired Magazine asked Sarah Silverman to share. (Let's all boycott grainy youtube videos of her stand-up from now on): Why Things Suck
Jesse Thorn, creator and host of the comedy nerd must-hear radio show "The Sound of Young America", gets the Claire Zulkey interview treatment on Zulkey.com today. His advice to young strivers:
"Don't try to be the next Howard Stern. Unless you're incredibly talented, then do whatever."
Turns out Kristen Wiig was a bit of a troublemaker back in the day. According to an interview with Radar, not only did she rebelliously smash the potted plants of innocent neighbors, but she also had a couple run-ins with the law:
What was the closest you ever came to getting arrested? When I was younger, we broke into a swimming pool and the cops came and
took us to the station. And then, years later, I got caught underage
drinking at a Grateful Dead show.
Is there a particular product or service that you think captures the current zeitgeist?
Well, 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner springs to mind. I'm hoping for a
5-in-1 shampoo/conditioner/dirt/more shampoo and conditioner product,
where you wash your hair, get it dirty and then rewash it. I think that
would be amazing.
You've seen Walk Hard, but have you really seen Walk Hard? No, you haven't. John C. Reilly and Jake Kasdan were recently interviewed by the Onion AV Club and they discussed the boatloads of funny junk that didn't make it to the multiplexes. In other words, it's gonna make a great DVD:
AVC: There are a lot of little bits in the trailers that aren't actually in the film. Was a lot left out of the final cut?
JK: There's very little in this movie that needs to be there for the story. [Laughs.] There's some, but there's not a ton. We're always trying to over-cover ourselves, and we did end up shooting considerably more movie than we could fit in the movie. A lot of it will end up being in the extended cut.
JCR: Here's the thing: Both the music and the movie, when we're shooting, it was the wide-net theory. Because we didn't need 40 songs for the movie. But once we get into an era, we were like, "Aww, wouldn't it be cool to have a Buddy Holly song, and wouldn't it be cool to have like an Everly-type song, or wouldn't it be cool to have this and that." Then we get into the '60s and realize like, "Oh man, well, we could do this issue too and this issue and all these different protest kind of songs," and then if it made us laugh hard enough, we would just find a place for it in the movie. The same thing when we were shooting it; we indulged ourselves as much as we could within the schedule. We had an idea of how the arc of the story was going to work, but a lot of comedy is seeing whether the audience wants to come with you. This movie is such an original take on it, it's almost like a new kind of comedy where it's not just a straight spoof, and it's not like an actual biopic, but it does try to do both. It's a weird hybrid.
JK: I always thought we were trying to make it like it's a spoof movie that, by the end of it because of the strength of his performance, you've ultimately invested in the guy enough to at least power you to the end of the movie. It doesn't have to change your life, but in the moment sitting there, there's something kind of genuine about what he's doing. Even within this insane character, on some level you're invested enough to care when things get better for him at the end.
You might remember Steve Byrne as the first host of Blue's Clues, but you remember wrong, dummy. That's Steve Burns. Steve Byrne is a stand-up comedian who's going to be appearing in an hour-long Comedy Central special sometime in the next couple months. If you're dying to know more about this guy who's never appeared on Blue's Clues, Punchline Magazine is your new best friend. They've got a new interview up with Byrne. Here's an excerpt:
If you weren't doing comedy, what other job would you be doing? I
don't think I could do anything else. I had a lot of shitty jobs out of
college. I sold kitchen knives door to door. I'd be like, ‘Hey could I
come in and show you knives? I'm a complete stranger, but let me bring
knives into your home.’ I worked at a buffalo wings place; I washed
cars; I was a waiter, a cook. I worked the night shift at a grocery
store. But now I can wear whatever I want, I can swear or drink at work
and the only prerequisite is that I have to be humorous.
Simpsons' voice actor Dan Castellaneta is performing in a stage musical called The Bicycle Men and recently gave an interview to The Onion AV Club. Topics include turning 50, Jackie Gleason and Simpsons haterade:
AVC: By this point, are you pretty immune to criticism of the show?
DC: I don't think so. We've had a great run, and after a
while, you realize that everyone has different opinions on whether the
show is still good, isn't good, when its best seasons were, when its
worst years were. Even I have my opinions on when it was and when it
wasn't, but I would still say that there have been episodes that I have
not liked, and then watched later on and thought they were much better
than I thought they were. It's also just tough, because anything that
is going to run a long time is going to be open to that kind of
scrutiny—especially for a show like The Simpsons, which was so
different and fresh when it first came on the scene. Now it's
established itself, and other shows have been influenced by it. So the
writers are under a challenge to keep it fresh and do things
differently, so the show will change from what it was in the beginning,
and people won't like that, and won't think it's good because it wasn't
what it was before. But at the same time, if they continue to do the
same thing, people will say it's gone stale. You can't win. But
generally, people still love it. I've always thought, as Matt Groening
has said, even the worst shows have had five or six good laughs in
them, which is more than you can say for a lot of shows.
All this week, The Apiary has been running installments of a very long and very interesting interview with SNL's Jason Sudeikis. It's full of cool little tidbits, like the fact that his uncle is George Wendt from Cheers. Part four is up today. Here's a bit about getting bumped by Chris Rock at his 2003 SNL audition:
So, this wasn't announced at all?
No, I mean, it was announced at SNL I'm sure, but no, not at the show
itself, not that I remember. So, I'm fifth out of twelve, I'm right in
the middle. And they're going up there and it sounds like things are
going well. We're not watching each other's things. Then, as I'm
standing out there I see Jeffrey Ross, the stand-up comedian, walk in.
I'm like "Oh no way! How about this!" and then behind him Chris Rock
walks in. I'm thinking, "What is going on? They must be coming in to
see the new talent; they must know what's going on. They're going to
sit here and watch." So then, I'm up next and the emcee says "All right
ladies and gentleman, we have a special guest for you, please welcome
the one, the only... Chris Rock!" So I look at Chris Rock and say "I
was supposed to go next" and he said, "Ohhh, I'm sorry about this. Is
this your big shot?" I say, "Yeah, kind of." He goes "Sorry about that"
and I say, jokingly of course, "That's all right! Set 'em up for me,
Chris!" then he walks on and luckily goes for 10-15 minutes. And kills.
They were working on material for the MTV Video Awards, or whatever he
was hosting that year. He was just sort of riffing about things, like
"What do you want to hear about? Kobe?" So he's riffing on that and
then he finishes up, steps off stage and comes by me and says to me,
"They love original thought" that's all he said to me.
"I just like when either paper tries to make a murder victim prettier after they die. Like the headline will be, “Beauty Slain” and you look at the photo and you’re like ehh, how about 'Body Found?'"
Hot off his well-received performance at Sunday's Last Laugh 07, standup Dave Attell is going to be appearing in his first ever one-hour HBO special, this Saturday night at 10pm EST. If you're wondering what to expect from the show, look no further than Punchline, where Attell did a recent interview:
How different is Captain Miserable than your first CD or your last DVD? It’s
not very different. It’s still drinking and sex jokes. I do some travel
stuff. I talk about doing the USO tour a little bit. It’s jokey. I
think that’s what people like about the Skanks for the Memories
CD— there’s a lot of jokes on it. And people love those jokes. They way
they edited that, there was no time in between each joke; there was
very little breathing room.
This one maybe has more breathing
room in the material. But I agree with fans when they say CDs are the
way to go. Sometimes they like to listen to them in the car as
background. With a DVD, you really have to devote your whole body and
consciousness to it.
You know Michael Ian Black from his scores of TV appearances, not to mention his new CD I Am a Wonderful Man and his current standup tour with Michael Showalter. Face it, he's super-famous. Believe it or not though, even at his level of notoriety, Black still tries to blend in with common folk. Here's a description of a recent trip to Denny's from an interview in Philadelphia's City Paper:
CP: What is your particular want at this moment?
MIB: Well, I just satisfied it. I went to Denny's and had
lunch. In that case it didn't hurt anybody. It was actually good for
the economy.
CP: What sort of response does a celebrity such as yourself get at Denny's?
MIB: Today was a good example. The waiter came up and he's
like, "Hi. Welcome to Denny's. Can I take your order?" The guy was
playing it so straight — it was almost as if he didn't even know who I
was. So I played along. I was like, "Yeah. I'll have the mushroom Swiss
chopped steak with mashed potatoes and vegetables." It was clearly like
gamesmanship at that point. He was like, "Great! Would you like
anything to drink?" It's almost like we were at Wimbledon playing match
point. So literally, without missing a beat, I was like, "Yeah. I'd
like an iced tea."
From Mr. Show to SNL to Lucky Louie, Jerry Minor has built himself a resume that gets comedy geeks hott. These days, he can be seen as a regular on the new ABC sitcom Carpoolers. To promote the show, he recently did an interview with Starpulse and discussed his earliest experiments in comedy:
What sort of sketches would you write as young Jerry Minor? Probably whatever my frame of reference was then. Like maybe second or first grade I was probably writing sketches that looked a lot like something that would be on The Carol Burnett Show, like a guy walking into a store. Carol Burnett or Hee Haw.
Did you have any reoccurring characters? There was one point that I did. I love doing impressions and I would do an impression of- there was a car dealership in Detroit that was owned by a former football player, a guy that used to play for the Detroit Lions. Name's Mel Farr. And I would do a reoccurring bit in the tapes I would make of him doing these commercials, a parody of him doing these commercials.
What was so funny about the way he did his commercials? Just real stiff, and he called himself the Superdealer and he wore a cape, a suit with a cape on it. Oh and another thing I did, and this was before Weird Al Yankovic, I would make parody songs. My first parody song was a parody of Little Red Corvette called Big As A Chevette. And I am not kidding.
Just because she's on a hit TV show that is purposefully unfunny doesn't mean Mary Lynn Rajskub has forgotten her comedy roots. On the contrary, the Mr. Show alum has been spending her downtime from 24 performing a new one-woman stage show called The Complications of Purchasing a Poodle Pillow. She recently did an interview with Ben Kharakh about the show, discussing everything from hugs to Scientology:
Since you’ve preformed in the UCB Theater in LA, have you ventured into the Scientology building, which is very nearby?
I have. It was like walking into a beautiful castle. I had a very nice
smoothie there, and enjoyed incredibly manicured gardens and lawns, and
walked up a big marble staircase. It was magical.
Did you take their personality test?
I have taken their personality test before. The people who I’ve met who
are Scientologists, I find are pretty appealing and very friendly. It
seems to work very well in their lives. I don’t understand it. It seems
odd to me, but there are a lot of aspects that make sense, except the
aliens part. That doesn’t make sense.
For more with Mary Lynn, check out the complete interview at BenKharakh.com.
Bostonians from all over Boston are in for a treat this Thursday night, as Michaels Ian Black and Showalter will be doing standup at the Somerville Theater. To promote the show, MIB recently did an interview with Bostonist, which is like Gothamist, but creamy instead of tomato-based.
This is the part of the blog post where I'd normally paste a little highlight to pique your interest and tempt you to read the full thing, but it's 2007 and this is not your father's Michael Ian Black interview. No, it's an audio interview, which means you'll have to read it with your ears. Good luck with that. And while you're there, make sure you also ear-read the clip they've provided from Black's new album, I Am a Wonderful Man.
When you look at Jay Johnston, you might think, "Hey, it's the dude from Mr. Show," or "Looky-loo, it's the feller from The Sarah Silverman Program." But would you recognize him as a cold-blooded killer? If so, it wouldn't be the first time, as Johnston revealed in a recent interview:
What sort of trouble did you get into while you were in school?
Oh, just hijinks, this and that. I falsely got arrested for attempted
murder, which was not quite true. It was the old mistaken identity
routine, but it was a nightmare.
What happened?
Basically, seven of us went out into the woods built a bonfire, brought some beers, having fun,
doop-dee-doo blah blah blah. These cops were driving through the forest
on these roads that we couldn't see, which surprised us because we
thought we were in the middle of nowhere. I had just moved to the
suburbs after being kicked out of school in Chicago, so I did not know
the area at all. I'm out there at this parochial joint and we're having
this bonfire and the cops start coming through the woods. The woods get
lit up, and we all scatter. Then more and more cops come and ambulances
too, and we have no idea what's going on. We're Running around, I get
separated from the guys, and now I have no idea where I am and I'm all
alone, so I ended up running roughly 10 miles into town. Turns out a
couple, someone broke into their house and shot the guy in the neck and
tied the wife up and got like 40 bucks and got away. We had boots on
and flannels, like real hillbillies, so most of us fit the description
of the suspects. But nobody matched the size of the feet, thank God, so
they let us off. Later on, those naughty criminals were eventually
caught, after a year and a half and a world spree of burglaries. It was
two guys and a chick. And that woman was me!
Over at the Bob and Davider you'll find this Super Deluxe clip in which Brody Stevens attempts to accomplish three challenges within his interview with David Cross. Will he succeed?
The dryly hilarious DVD follows Hannemann through rehearsals of his
complicated compositions ("Molecular Jungle," "Fluid Engine"), and
offers beat-by-beat instructions in odd time signatures like 29/2. In
order to conclusively uncover whether Fred Armisen and Jens Hannemann
are, in fact, the same person, The A.V. Club asked Armisen to
interview Hannemann. The contentious results are presented here in
audio format, and the answer is still unclear.
Anyone who's ever seen Maria Bamford's act or web show knows that she comes from a decidedly eccentric family. But we only ever glimpse her relatives through her own impersonations of them... until now. Turns her old man is a doctor who is campaigning against soap. Yes, soap. He runs a website called Dr. Bamford's No Soap, and he recently appeared with Maria on the Dork Forest Radio podcast to extol the virtues of soaplessness. Here's what The Bammer had to say about her pop in a recent interview:
Don't use soap. Soap is drying, irritating to the skin. If you need
to wash your skin, pat pat pat with a wet washcloth. Air dry. Air dry.
Don't use soap. My dad in fact has an entire website based on that
philosophy, and it's called SoapAlternatives.com .
And it's very funny in an extremely confusing and elliptical manner.
What you do, it's this long website that tells you all about how not to
use soap, and what he does-- because people always want to use soap.
They go, "I gotta use soap, isn't there some sort of special
something--" "No, don't use it, don't use it," so now he started making
these bars of wood in his basement workshop that are shaped like bars
of soap. And he says, "Why don't you try this?" And they say, "That's a
bar of wood. Won't I get splinters?" And he says, "Yeah. Better not use
it." So he has about a hundred of these wooden bars, and he will sell
one to you, but what you need to do-- it's not an actual sale-- what
you need to do is donate I believe twenty-five dollars to a
skin-related charity, send him the receipt that you donated to that
charity, then within nine to fourteen weeks, you will receive a bar of
wood in the mail. But it does have "Dr. Bamford's No Soap" burned onto
it with a laser thing. So check it out. No one has gotten one yet, and
the site has been up for I want to say a year and a half.
I think my dad feels a bit depressed about that and yet energized by
it. That is the beauty of my dad, it's this thing that's happening but
not happening. It's the joy in the not doing. He had these bars
forever, and then he wouldn't tell anybody about them. And then he
would get kind of mad that nobody wanted one. I went, "Have you told
anybody?" He says, "No." So he finally got the website up, and then he
got all anxious that people would see it. So he didn't want me to put
the link up on my website. I said, "How the hell are people going to
see it?" And he's like, "I don't know." So finally I put the link up on
my website, but he hasn't gotten any hits.
The rest of that interview can be found on writer Ben Karakh's website. Though I should warn you, much of it is completely unrelated to soap.
This Sunday night, the Canadian import Kenny vs. Spenny makes its US debut on Comedy Central. What's the gist of the show? From what I can tell, it's sort of like Jackass with round bacon. Starpulse.com recently posted an interview with the gross-out duo. Here's a little:
Did you have to do research about American culture so you could make references to things that Americans would know about?
Kenny: Actually we don't really do references. Well,
first of all we're Canadians, we're partially Americans with better
educations. But yeah, we're into American culture. Our show is
internal. We don't care much about anything else except for crushing
each other. So that doesn't really affect us. Our show isn't around to
make pop culture references. Our show is around to humiliate each other
basically.
How do you think this will mesh with America's comedic sensibility?
Kenny: The show has been airing internationally for
years. I think that what Spenny and I have maybe touched on is that our
show is maybe a mico-cosim of the world and masculinity.
How do you think the two of you would fare in a competition against the other Kenny's and Spennys out there?
Kenny: I would totally crush them. You know, it's
basically hard to find people with down syndrome in other countries,
for Spenny's role.
Writer Ben Kharakh has done possibly the most in-depth interview ever with the former Seinfeld writer and host of Talk Show with Spike Feresten, in which Spike discusses Bee Movie, his childhood, and the difficulties of going up against Jessica Simpson zit commercials:
With great notoriety comes great scrutiny. No one knows that more than comedian and actor Dane Cook. In recent years, he's catapulted to stardom, releasing some of the best-selling comedy albums in history. But along with the rabid fans who pack arenas for him, Cook has throngs of detractors too. In a new interview with Ohio's The Vindicator, Cook had this to say about his critics:
"There is certainly some backlash, but I think some of that
understandably just comes with success," said Cook, calling from New
York City. "People want to kind of take your legs out from under you
when in their eyes, kind of overnight you become this sensation when
the truth is I've had this kind of slow but steady trajectory over
close to 18 years.
"But I will say, controversy I find is good for business. What it's
really done is elevated me to a level where, like me or hate me, people
are talking to me. And if people are talking to me, people are going to
listen to my comedy and judge for themselves.
"That's why his arena tour is selling out across the country,
because all people really care about is laughter and having a good
time. I don't think they care about the superfluous lies and crap that
ends up being out there."
You know Steve Agee as the Steve half of Steve and Brian on The Sarah Silverman Program. But Agee's also been a successful comedy writer for years, working on staff for everything from The Jimmy Kimmel Show to Joe Millionaire. Starpulse.com recently put up an interview with him that included this bit about the "perks" of working for Kimmel:
When were you a writer for the Andy Milonakis Show? I was a contributing writer for Andy's show during the hiatuses on Jimmy's show, and even then I wrote for Jimmy Kimmel for about six months, but I was on the show for three and a half years. I spent most of my time as a TV watcher, which was just sitting at a desk watching TV for ten to twelve hours a day, which also didn't contribute to my health in a positive way. I had to watch the worst programs you could find for the comedy in Jimmy's monologues. Adam Carolla put it best when he said that it's like a Twilight Zone episode where someone offers you a job to watch TV all day and you're like, "Yeah, sign me up!" and then within a couple weeks you're ready to drink a tube of white out to kill yourself. I was coming in first thing in the morning and watching The View, Fox News, The 700 club, Maury, and just stuff that made you not want to watch TV when you got home.
Tim Heidecker: "Tickling. When I’m tickled. I guess Eric makes me laugh."
Eric Wareheim: "We do have a major problem when we’re shooting bits. Tim makes me laugh and I can’t keep it together."
Tim: "I also make myself laugh, which is really embarrassing."
Eric: "Tim also laughs at his own comedy during rough cuts. He’ll start just loving his performance. We have a live show now on Super Deluxe and we’re a little worried that the first five minutes is going to be us just trying to keep it together. It’s going to be a big problem." (The live show premiered last night, by the way.)
Chicago comedy fort The Bastion has an interview today with Maria Bamford, who has done many things other than making out with Jon Cryer while acting on a TV show, but we thought we'd single that part out:
Speaking of Paul Mooney, he's got a new standup special coming up. It's called Jesus Is Black, So Was Cleopatra— Know Your History and will air on Showtime next Tuesday, November 13 at 11pm. To promote the program, Mooney gave an interview with Punchline Magazine, and for fans of his one-of-a-kind fiery personality, he didn't disappoint. Here's an excerpt:
You’ve certainly been outspoken and
involved in controversy throughout your career. Do you regret anything
you’ve done in your comedy? How can I regret anything when I
was born black in America? Every day is hard as a black man in America
so what the f*ck should I have to regret? Why do I need to apologize
for anything? White people are killing motherf*ckers every day without
apologizing. What should I apologize for?
You seem to be fairly angry about— You
see, everybody gets it f*cked up and thinks I’m angry. I am not angry.
If what this is, is anger, then what is the white man who’s been
killing motherf*ckers for years?
Ok, well then what do you suppose we should be doing to change things? Man,
don’t ask me no white-ass bullsh*t like that. It’s always been like
this. White people have the complexion for the protection for the
collection. What are you? … Gardenswartz… is that German?
Um, I’m Jewish. Sh*t,
then you’re black too, brotha. The white man killed black people,
Indians, Jews. My people picked cotton, yours went to the ovens— it’s
all the same to them. We were at war with Germany and Japan, and who’d
they drop the bomb on? Japan! Because they don’t have any ancestors in
Japan. If they dropped the bomb on Germany, they might’ve killed a
cousin or some sh*t.
I've talked about Comedy by the Numbers before, and we'll talk about it again. Basically, I like the book, I like the videos and I like the funny dudes behind it all. A pair of interviews came out recently with each of the two masterminds. The first is from LAist and is with Eric Hoffman. Here's a sample:
In the book, You mention that writers and improvisers don't
like having their sketches called skits. What are some other faux-paus
we should avoid?
Don't talk about their dead mother. They hate that. Don't say things
like, "How did you remember all of those lines?!", no matter how much
of a complimentary tone you put into it. Avoid saying, "Do you know
Kramer?" In fact, don't reference any other comedian at all. For
example, don't ask them if they think Larry the Cable Guy is funny. I
know you're just trying to make conversation, but chances are they're
secretly jealous of him and his catchphrase. And please don't offer
suggestions like, "You should use a big watermelon like Gallagher. HE'S
funny!" A comedian will immediately treat you like a heckler.
You warn the readers of Comedy by the Numbers that priest
molestation humor might not be in vogue by the time they read the book
and that they should consult their local scene for what's in and what's
out. What types of humor have gone out of vogue since you wrote the
book?
Well, we find ourselves at a distressing moment in history where it’s
old hat to wring laughs from the idiocy and incompetence of the Bush
administration and it’s too early to satirize the idiocy and
incompetence of Bush in his ex-presidency. So we’re in a comedic grey
area. Or gray area. I’m never sure which is the right way to spell
that. Although these are uneasy times for political humor,
optimistically, I predict if Guiliani gets the nomination, there will
be a comedy gold rush! Rudy has embraced many of the numbers from our
book including #10, 27, 28, 41,57,85, 98, 112, 117, 121 and 125. Thanks
Rudy! And don’t stop being you – comedy will thank you!
What types of humor do you label as having worn out their welcome?
Berlin Wall jokes, little-girl-trapped-in-a-well humor, and apartheid
chuckles, for example are all out of vogue and also, I sense that
“millennium = disaster” jokes are finally over.
In the world of standup, there's really no one else like Neil Hamburger. His signature brand of anti-comedy induces as many cringes and confused looks as it does laughs. Likewise, an interview with Hamburger is a unique thing. Case in point, a recent piece from Starpulse.com ran the gamut from the palatability of foreign currency to the comic's collegiate aspirations to this exchange:
You said that people, given the choice between brain surgeon
and comedian, should take the brain surgeon route. You're kind of
bouncing those people out.
So you're saying that I'm a bouncer.
In a way.
Because you're saying that the jokes are poor quality? Where is this interview going?
No,
that's not true at all! I'm a big fan of your jokes. It's just that the
tales you tell of harrowing hardships and these communicable diseases--
These aren't tales, though. That's something you get from Aesop. This
all really happens. This is a nightmare, Ben, this is not something you
want to get tangled up in. I don't know why you spend so much time
talking about these people and writing about this mess. This is one of
the great suppressed stories in the media today, the enslavement of
these low level entertainers such as myself. And the closer you get to
it, you could get burned by this. You could find that you no longer
have your six-figure career as a journalist, and instead you're
enslaved in this awful, endless loop that there's no getting out of. Be
careful. These guys go down to Thailand to write about the sex slavery,
and before you know it they're chained up with a ping-pong ball in
their mouth. You've got to be careful.
Stephen was the "Not My Job" guest on this week's edition of NPR's popular comedy news quiz. Host Peter Segal intereviews Stephen about his Daily Show days and his Colbert Report character, and then Stephen plays a trivia game. You can listen for free: Wait Wait Don't Tell Me: Stephen Colbert
You love Paul Rudd. I love Paul Rudd. And as it turns out, David Wain loves Paul Rudd too. The director and State/Stella performer is currently preparing to direct a new film starring Rudd called Little Big Men, and he discussed the movie and his appreciation for its star in a recent interview with Gothamist:
And what is it that attracted to this particular project?
Well, for this particular project it was really primarily the work of
Paul Rudd, because he is someone I’ve worked with in the past a lot and
I just think he’s the best and he was involved with this project before
I was. And, you know, the opportunity to work with him is something I
will always want to do.
Now the premise of the film is that some wild behavior leads two beer reps to enroll in a big brother program-
Actually, that’s not what the movie is about anymore. The movie has
sort of been evolved and has changed a lot since someone wrote that on
IMDB. It’s actually about these two energy drink salesmen who through a
series of circumstances, and no longer wild behavior, end up in this
mentoring program. I think a lot of what I’ve drawn from in writing and
directing this movie is my experience being a summer camp counselor,
which I did a lot of, especially with these characters that are kind of
out of their element. They have a lot of growing up to do and now
suddenly they have to have a somewhat parental role towards these
younger kids, which is exactly what it’s like when you have a 16 year
old and you slap them into the role of a summer camp counselor and
suddenly you have little kids looking after them as though they were
the adults, which in retrospect, is quite ironic.
Comedian, actress and former Daily Show correspondent Lauren Weedman has a new book out that offers an "hilarious collection of truths, half-truths, and exaggerations", including about her time working on TDS. To promote the book, Weedman recently gave an interview to Starpulse. Here's a Daily Show-centric excerpt:
Once you joined The Daily Show, how did being paid to be funny change the nature of being funny?
I didn't do well with it, because I am not a stand-up, and I would
never say I was a comedian. I did theater, and I write plays, solo
shows. I used to be pretty overweight, and that's kind of a cliché, but
coming from being a big fatty, I always had that kind of energy about
me, of making jokes. I would never say I'm a stand-up because I don't
like it that much. Since I've been more in the route of being paid to
be funny, it does make me a bit more manic. I don't like it as much.
It's harder. Because then you do feel like, like I say in the book, my
fear was that I will end up like Chris Farley or something. That I'll
start doing drugs to make sure I'm funny, because the pressure is so
high. That's a good point, because that's exactly what got me fired. As
soon as the pressure was on, I did not believe I was that funny-- and
some people will agree-- that I wasn't that funny, that I couldn't do
it, and that I'm just an actress. I'm funnier now than I was then.
It's hard to believe, but it's now been a decade since the release of Brian Regan's first standup record Brian Regan Live. The album remains as fresh as ever and is the perfect launching pad for the Regan-curious comedy fan. To mark the CD's anniversary, Punchline Magazine conducted a short interview with Regan. Here's a taste:
Did you expect the album to catch on the way it did? I
had no clue. I didn’t realize that many people would hear the album
before they saw me live. I guess I was a little naïve. I always thought
it would be the flip— that people that were already fans would say,
‘Hey, man. I like his comedy so I might as well get the CD.’
But
with the computer and the Internet exploding around that time and with
people being able to share clips, it was sort of the cart before the
horse. People would come up to me and say, ‘Hey we heard your CD and we
wanted to come out and see you live.’ And I was like, ‘Wow that’s
amazing.’
Comedian Greg Giraldo has made a name for himself for--among other things--his edgy, hilarious and unforgettable performances on Comedy Central's roasts. Writer Ben Kharakh did an interview with Giraldo last month for The Philadelphia City Paper and had now posted the full unedited piece on his personal website. One of the key topics covered is 9/11 and the affect it had on NYC comedians in general and Giraldo in particular. Here's a little:
Did you experience any hesitation after the event about whether you should perform or not?
Yeah, that was definitely a big deal for a while, especially if you're
doing topical stuff. At the time, were you supposed to not talk about
it? And yet, nobody really wanted to joke about it, either. So what are
you going to do? "Hey, what's been happening everybody? What's been
going on? How about those shark attacks?" It was hard to avoid the
issue. But over time it worked out great. I think I was the first guy
to go on Conan and talk about it. I did a whole set of post-9/11 stuff.
You kind of felt the audience's release. It was definitely a cathartic
type of thing.
When you started doing material about 9/11 after the event,
did audience members approach you to express what they thought about
it?
Sometimes; it depended. First of all, we're talking about the Comedy
Cellar in New York City, which you couldn't even get to by subway,
because the subways were still out, when we were already doing shows
again. You could smell the burning stuff. The pit was still burning. So
it was intense. But then because of that, there was a little bit of a
bunker mentality, and the people that were out laughed almost too
maniacally. If you're coming out in what used to be the shadow of the
World Trade Center, and you're coming out to see comedy, you obviously
are sort of desperate for some sort of release. What was weird was that
we got used to, literally a week after 9/11, doing shows around the
city, and then you'd go on the road, and people would freak. They
couldn't handle it. You wanted to say, "Motherf*cker, I've been doing
this. We can still smell the burning buildings, and we're doing it."
But people seemed in some ways even more sensitive as you got further
away because they hadn't processed it yet.
Comedian Jim Norton did an interview with Dead-Frog to promote his new HBO special, "Jim Norton: Monster Rain." Here's Jim on Owen Wilson:
"If having a career like that and f**king the girls he f**ks, if that’s
not enough to keep you alive, then none of us have a shot. If even
having that you want to toss yourself in front of the train, we’re all
finished."
Scott Adsit is a busy dude. Not only is he one of the stars of NBC's 30 Rock, he's also one of the brains behind the Emmy-winning animated series Morel Orel. Gothamist recently ran an interview with Adsit, wherein they discussed some of the differences between improv and standup:
Standups have to deal with the occasional heckler and
bachelorette party. What is the improviser's equivalent of these two
nuisances?
Well, generally, I've found that a heckler in an Improv audience is
just enjoying the show so much that they want to be in it. They'll
shout out, you know, what they might say at this point in the scene or
try to suggest where they think the scene should go: "Put it in his
butt!" So I have a warm spot for shouters at an Improv show. I don't
like them, but I appreciate where they're coming from. Bachelorette
party girls, on the other hand, need to understand that this is the
greatest night of their lives, when they feel loosest and
worry-free-est. The one night when they let their true selves come out.
While the rest of their lives is just misery and lying to themselves.
This is their night. Why are they wasting it watching tag-outs?
In the first episode of the new season, you get ensnared in
a pretty militant cult-like anti abortion group. If you were to start
your own cult, how would you lure people into becoming members?
CANDY
What would you name your cult?
BARBAZON
If you could impart some words of wisdom on Britney Spears’ children, what would you tell them?
RUN.
As a standup comedian and radio host, Marc Maron has never shied from talking about subjects that are discomforting and taboo. In a new interview with Punchline Magazine, Maron discusses the role emotional honesty plays in his comedy:
You make no secret out of wanting to
weave some sadness into your stand-up material. Are there some bits you
do that you feel are bigger downers than others? Well, I
don’t know if stripping people down to the fact that life is short and
usually it ends up disappointing you is necessarily what people are
looking for in entertainment. But lately, if you fuse that with a
little frustration and anger and not just strip it down for no reason,
then something good seems to happen.
Whether or not people are
willing to go there, that’s up to them. And if they’re not they could
just laugh at me, like ‘That guy’s crazy.’ I seem to be more
philosophical than whiney. The questions I always ask myself when I get
off the stage is, ‘Jeez was that really necessary? Did I have to do
that? Did I help the audience at all or are they going to leave feeling
worse?’
Sometimes people leave my show saying, ‘that guy was
hilarious’ and other times they say, ‘I hope that guy’s ok.’ And either
way, I’ve engaged you in something. If it’s the latter, I’ve forced you
into the position to care. And some of you are selfish so maybe that
was new for you.
From hosting Girls Gone Wild videos to running for President of the United States to doing some of the country's edgiest standup, Doug Stanhope is one of a kind. The Philadelphia City Paper recently ran a short interview with the former Man Show host, where he had this to say:
City Paper: You're known for pushing your body to the extremes in terms of drug use. How do you feel about extreme sports?
Doug Stanhope: If you take unnecessary risks with your life
in what's considered an athletic or sporting endeavor — mountain
climbing, etc. — it's applauded. But if you do the same with your brain
— psychedelics, etc. — you're a fucking moron. Evidently it's socially
acceptable to get your thrills if it results in great calves and a tan,
but frowned upon if it only gives you empathy for the human condition.
CP: Any other suggestions for feeling empathy for people?
DS: Stop making them. People are no different from any other
commodity. The more there are on the market, the less their value. Slow
the output and watch their market value skyrocket.
As you're probably aware, stand-up Kyle Cease's latest Comedy Central special, Weirder. Blacker. Dimpler., will be airing this Saturday night at 11pm EST. To mark the occasion, the comedy aficionados over at Punchline Magazine have a new interview up today with the renowned slow-clapper. Here's a bit where they discuss preparing for a big show:
So Weirder, Blacker, Dimpler, is finally coming out (Oct. 13 at 11pm on Comedy Central). What was it like preparing for your first one-hour special? You
know, I’ve gone with friends when they were going to do a big show like
Leno or something, and we’ll be in the green room and they’ll actually
just be staring at the ground, pacing and be like, ‘Don’t talk to me!’
I try to just be in the moment and live for now. So I could have been
like, ‘Oh my God, there’s cameras out there. What if I screw it up?’
But no, I look at it is as, ‘There’s cameras out there, you know, I’m
gonna party.’
That’s funny you
say that because I remember from where I was sitting during the taping
I could see you and your friends backstage high-fiving and jumping
around and getting stoked for the show. That’s awesome that
you could see that. That’s exactly what I mean by trying to just enjoy
every moment that I’m in. When I’m going to get on stage, I’m not
thinking about how well the set is going to do or what if it doesn’t go
right. I’m thinking, hey, I’m going high five that guy before I get on
stage, or I’m going to go over and talk to that person.
I just
felt really ready to get out there and rock it. My manager would see
that I have no set list and think I’m not ready but my mind was more
ready because I could get out there and be loose and be able to riff
with the audience and be able to come up with jokes on the spot.
The Sarah Silverman Program star Sarah Silverman is still being asked about her infamous VMA performance. Just this weekend, the UK's Guardian Unlimited published an interview with the comic and the first thing they talked about was Sarah's jokes about Britney Spears:
Sarah Silverman: "I wish I didn't do the VMAs. I totally regret it."
Katie Puckrik: Why?
SS:
"Well, I liked the jokes I did, but all anyone focused on was that it
was mean. But they put me on immediately after Britney, so I had to do
jokes. Everyone else laughed, but Britney wasn't ready to laugh at
herself."
Britney wasn't even ready to perform...
SS:
"Every time she's been on the VMAs, it's been a spectacle - something
amazing. I heard she was gonna have this magician, there'd be fire and
smoke, and I would be the little comedian making fun of the big star. I
caught a glimpse of her at rehearsal and she was walking through it,
and then at the actual performance, she did that same thing! And then I
come out and I'm an a**hole."
The New York Times profiled Cavemen star Nick Kroll in yesterday's paper. Here's what Kroll's friend Ricky Van Veen (of College Humor) had to say about backlashes:
“The backlash and antibacklash cycles happen so fast now, it’s almost
good to get the backlash early. Now, it’s cool to be antibacklash.”
Comedy legend George Carlin is celebrating a whopping 50 years in show business with a new DVD collection packed with 14 discs of HBO stand-up specials. The LA Times has an interview with Carlin today, in which he's asked about his famous less-than-sunny outlook on life:
I'm looking at the titles of your last few -- "You Are All
Diseased," "Complaints and Grievances," "Life Is Worth Losing." If I
didn't know better, I'd think you were a pessimist.
Well, I am a pessimist as far as the world is concerned. I have absolutely low prospects for the human race; I have very low prospects for this country. For myself, though, very high prospects. I'm a personal optimist.
How does one keep pessimism from making them miserable, souring their outlook, preventing them from embracing life?
You can't care. You see, I don't care about the outcome in this country
[or] on this planet because I know this is all temporal b.s. It's not a
religious point of view, it's just realism. I like living somewhere
detached from all of this emotionally. I don't really have a stake in
the outcome anymore.
About 30 years ago, I became a person who said, "You know something?
People aren't worth worrying about and caring about." One by one, yes;
any time I'm with one person, I'm fine. There's all sorts of compassion
and empathy in my heart. But when you consider them as a group, from a
distance, I don't give a . . . about them.
The Onion AV Club has not one, but two interviews with 30 Rock cast members today. First up, Amelie Gillette talks to Tracy Morgan about mental illness, Martin Lawrence and Jimmy Fallon's habit of breaking character on SNL:
AVC: [Y]ou said it was annoying when Jimmy Fallon would crack up during sketches.
TM: Yes, I remember what I said in the interview. It wasn't
meant to be malicious or anything, just an observation. It was annoying
to everybody, I guess. I just said it. I don't know if he knew he was
doing it. I don't have anything against Jimmy Fallon. I love Jimmy
Fallon. He's my dude.
AVC: And there were other people who would crack up in sketches, too, sometimes, right?
TM: Yeah, but not all the time. I wasn't saying that it was
premeditated, but he did it. I just thought it took the attention off
the sketch, you know? I'm not afraid to say what happened.
JF: Very tough work. Very intense work. I think it was the
first time a movie had that, with the real people and the actors
playing them in the same shot. There's that one scene in the movie
where I'm playing Toby Radloff, talking to Paul Giamatti playing Harvey
Pekar, and then the camera pulls to a wide shot, and the real Harvey
Pekar and Toby Radloff are there, and all four of us are interacting
together. Before filming that, it was pretty nerve-wracking, because we
were like… We're doing something new and something different, which is
what I like to do, but we were also nervous about it, because it's
either gonna work great, or it's gonna be a disaster. You either pull
it off or you don't. It's one thing to be playing somebody in a biopic,
a real person, but it's another thing to have the real person right
next to you in the movie. But that movie was a lot of fun to do, and
hanging out and working with Paul Giamatti was great. We shared a
trailer on it and had a lot of fun.
AVC: Did you spend a lot of time with the real Toby Radloff to prepare for the role?
JF: Yeah, I keep in touch with Toby. He's actually in my Top
Friends group on my MySpace page. Me and Toby, about once a year—you
know, I do a lot of stand-up comedy, that's been my main thing for
years, and I usually go to Cleveland about once a year. I always invite
Toby, and he comes out to the shows and we hang out. So yeah, keeping
in touch with Toby is a lot of fun, he's a great guy. Doing that movie
was a lot of preparation. That's probably the most research and
preparation I ever had to do for a part.
The Onion AV Club has an interview with actress--and Mrs. Judd Apatow--Leslie Mann today. When asked about her work on Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket, she had this to say:
Because I was cut out. I'd just read for James Brooks on Beautiful Girls. He decided not to direct it, and then I didn't do it, but that's how I met James Brooks, and then he brought me in for Bottle Rocket. I worked with Luke and Owen [Wilson], and Wes [Anderson] directed it. I remember I had a Southern accent, and I was in a bikini. I would love to find that, just to see how good my body looked at the time, pre-kids, but I haven't been able to. [Laughs.] I guess I could ask somebody. But it was fun, because Polly Platt produced it, and James Brooks, and I got to meet Luke and Owen and Wes. It was fun. See? "It was fun."
Wes told me, “We’ve just begun work with the Criterion Collection to do ‘Bottle Rocket’ on a new DVD that’s going to have all kinds of stuff. There’s a lot of ‘Bottle Rocket’ that was on the cutting room floor, so we have a lot to work with on that one.”
The cutting room floor, you say? What has Wes been keeping to himself all these years?
Perhaps Mann and the rest of us will finally get to see that long-lost footage after all.
Admittedly, most of the material is a refresher course for the die-hard Colbert fan, but sprinkled throughout are gems like these:
On the press: "[A] lamprey that latches onto a subject and just sucks and sucks and sucks until your brain and your soul is as dry as a crouton . . . I like preserving the mask . . . stepping out from behind it doesn't do me any good."
On his "unmasking" routine: "The network would happily—they don't want me tired; they don't want me running off the road—they'd happily send me home in a car. But I'd work the entire way home, and I need more than the 30 seconds from the car to the front door to become a dad and a husband again. So I drive home and I crank my tunes. And by the time I get there, I'm normal again."
Jonah Ray is one of the biggest up-and-comers of the LA alt-comedy scene. He'll be appearing in NYC several times in October, so Gothamist's Ben Karakh caught up with the stand-up for an interview.
Among the topics covered was the old adage that comedy equals tragedy plus time. If you ask Ray though, it's the people that need time, not the comedy:
Is there anything that's off limits in your comedy? No. I think anything goes. I can't think of one thing that would be like, "Ah, jeez, I don't know," because everything has the potential to eventually be funny. And if something is, as they say, "too soon," in a year people are going to be like, "Remember when you said that thing and it was way too early?" And you'll go, "Yeah," and they'll say, "That was hilarious." But at the time, it wasn't.
How do you determine whether it's too soon about something? I don't think anything's ever too soon. It's just a matter of preference. Some people need more time to handle certain events and it's usually their own problem, a sort of nervousness or politeness. No one's really sure how comfortable some else could be, so someone might think, "It's funny, but maybe I'll just stay quiet, because it's rude or inappropriate." I don't understand why things can be funny after time has passed.
As we've previously mentioned, Michael Ian Black's first ever comedy CD, I Am a Wonderful Man, was released on Comedy Central Records this week. Punchline Magazine scored an interview with the State and Stella funnyman, and discussed with him the effect his material has on his family:
You talk about your kids a lot on your CD. You kind of make fun of them a bit. And say that they’re dumb. Do they know they’re part of your CD? My son knows I do his monkey-fish-stick joke, and he knows that people laugh. But I don’t think he fully understands the context.
How does your wife feel about it? Oh, she doesn’t care.
I was just reading your blog and I have to wonder, also, how she feels about your story about her being raped by a gorilla. She hasn’t seen that.
Is it intentional that she hasn’t seen it? No, she just doesn’t really care what I do, so she’s definitely not going to be checking out my blog. It’s actually a marriage of convenience.
You guys have been married for a long time though, right? Eight years, almost nine.
Wow, congratulations, that’s very impressive. It’s a dead marriage, you have to understand.
I got it. “Eight years. Dead marriage.” Yeah, Eight years, seven and a half of which I would say have been dead.
Right, pre-divorce. And the first six months weren’t great.
"Do you know Sinbad? He's a storyteller and can take just about any subject and spontaneously bring it to life. And he does it clean. He's one of the best at this."
If it worked for chocolate and peanut-butter, maybe, just maybe, it can work for comedy and burlesque too. At least that's what Margaret Cho is hoping for. She's put together a new show called The Sensuous Woman that combines--you guessed it--stand-up and sexy lady dancing.
Gothamist has an interview with Cho, in which she discusses some of the inspiration behind the one-of-a-kind show. Here's a little:
Tell us about your new burlesque-style variety show The Sensuous Woman.
It is inspired by variety shows like Sonny and Cher or Donny and Marie
and also the big stadium tours Madonna does, but totally x-rated.
And here's some more:
What was your inspiration for this show?
I saw a burlesque show a couple of years ago and it utterly changed my
life. Seeing real women with curves being sexy and beautiful cured me
of a lifetime of eating disorders. Watching someone with a big booty
shaking it like they just don't care is good for all that ails you.
In an interview today with US Weekly, Sarah talks about the Britney parts of her VMA comedy set, saying "I don't want to get into feuds with girls half my age.": Silverman Calls Britney Feud 'Embarrassing'
(She also talks about the possibility of an Angelina Jolie cameo on her show, which premieres one week from today.)
Black opted to pose nude - in front of a fire on a bearskin rug with
glasses of champagne - for a centerfold in the album's artwork.
"Like anyone, I don't necessarily want my [testicles] hanging out in front of a camera," Black said in a conference call.
As such, Black's testicles strategically go unseen.
"It seemed funny to me, and funny trumped modesty," he said.
Meanwhile, if you'd like to give your ears a taste of the new record, Dead Frog has a streaming clip. Even though there's a visual gag that can't be understood in an audio-only presentation, overall the bit is pretty hilarious.
Sunday's New York Times featured a profile of Tina Fey and her brilliant sitcom 30 Rock, which will begin its second season next Thursday. Among other things, the piece mentioned a handful of high-profile guest-stars set to appear in the sophomore outing:
This season the show will add to last year’s all-star roster of guests (Elaine Stritch, Isabella Rossellini, Paul Reubens and Will Arnett) by featuring Jerry Seinfeld (in the second-season premiere) and Edie Falco (in a recurring role as a left-wing congresswoman from New Hampshire and a love interest for Jack, later in the year). Carrie Fisher will play a veteran television writer whom Liz idolizes, at least from afar.
The bookings of Mr. Seinfeld and Ms. Falco were personally arranged by Ben Silverman, an executive producer of “The Office” who last spring was named co-chairman of NBC Entertainment. “You’re going to see us be very patient with this show,” Mr. Silverman said in an interview.
Speaking of Seinfeld's appearance, NBC has just released a short featurette about the episode. Take a look:
Yesterday's New York Times had a pretty interesting profile of SNL cast member and Superbad supporting actor Bill Hader. Among other things, they revealed Hader's odd superstition:
In 2005 Mr. Hader was rereading “The Sandman,” the supernatural comic-book series by Neil Gaiman, when he learned he was being considered for a spot on “Saturday Night Live.” He decided the two events couldn’t simply be a coincidence.
“I got all superstitious about it,” he said on a recent stroll through the science fiction section of the Chelsea Barnes & Noble. “Like, when I have Neil Gaiman books around me, I just do better.”
At his “SNL” audition Mr. Hader performed with a copy of Mr. Gaiman’s novel “Neverwhere” in his back pocket. Sure enough, he got the job. And on a restless Friday night before his first appearance on the show that October, Mr. Hader reread the final issue of “The Sandman” to calm his nerves.
Daily Show correspondent and one of our favorite comedians Demetri Martin will be interviewed on NPR's Fresh Air today. He'll be talking about his new DVD, "Person."
"...maybe they'll come thinking they're going to hear me
saying 45 minutes on Tara Reid." Tara Reid?! "I can't keep up with
whatever Britney's doing this week. I have to write it to do on the
show. But I don't really enjoy late-night monologue material in a
comedy club atmosphere. One of the things I love about comedy is you
can talk about anything. And I don't give a s--- about that stuff,
honestly. It's fun to talk about on the show, but I don't sit at home
wringing my hands about what's going to happen on Desperate Housewives."
Paul Scheer: For every one idea that we got, there are hundreds that just died a painful death. One of us would come in on a Monday, like, "Oh! You guys, listen to this!"
Aziz Ansari: Anytime you were super-psyched about an idea, that was just a deathblow.
Jason Woliner: There was one time when Aziz and I were driving around in L.A. and we had an idea that we thought was so funny: The World's Strongest Ghost.
AA: [Laughing.] Oh my God, we almost got into a car accident.
JW: We almost died, we were laughing so hard, and we came in on Monday and told them the idea, and it was basically nothing. No reaction.
Rob Huebel: I figured out toward the end of the season, it depends on when and what time of the day you pitch it, and whether people had anything to eat. It's very specific.
PS: Also, if you came in very high-energy on an idea, it was immediately suspect.
Writer Ben Kharakh recently did a pair of interviews with anti-comedian Neil Hamburger. Here's a taste:
After opening for Tenacious D, how have you been keeping your momentum?
We've
been using the tag America's Youngest Comedian. People want to see
these young hotshot comedians and I think that's a good phrase to get
people into the door. Attendance has gone up since we've started using
it. Walkouts have been up too, but that doesn't matter once you've been
paid.
Charity events attract big crowds as well. Have you thought of aligning yourself with any not-for-profits?
Certainly.
See, if you get a phone call from a woman and she says, "We're
collecting for the Diabetes Fund," she gets paid from your donations
and that's totally legal. Plus, there's all those administration fees,
but I'll do it for the low fee of 1 percent and will pass the rest to
the charity. If the American Cancer Society calls up, I guarantee the
administration fee's going to be a lot higher than 1 percent. So, in
that sense, I believe I'm America's Biggest Humanitarian. And that's a
phrase we'll use as well.
While The Brother's Solomon might not have lit up the box-office over the weekend, there's no denying that the series of promotional viral videos featuring Will Forte's sweet old grandmother garnered a following. The Apiary interviewed Forte about Grandma Helen, who passed away shortly after completing the clips. Here's an excerpt:
Was she a comedic influence in your life? And do you come from a funny family?
She was funny whether she was trying to be or not. And the rest of my
family is pretty funny too in different ways. In fact, now that I think
about it, I'm probably the least funny person in my family.
What made you decide to get her to help promote your movie?
She's just a magic woman so I was thinking that maybe some of her magic would rub off on the movie.
The website Southeast Texas Live has a bite-sized interview with Carlos Mencia up today. Here's a little bit:
Question: You have 17 siblings. And you're the
second youngest. You, your siblings, and the grownups all HAD to be
funny with a family that large. Who else comes to mind in your family
as having a good sense of humor and what is that sense of humor?
Answer: My dad. Period. By far the funniest. I am a younger version.
The Baltimore Sun has a piece about standup Brian Regan today. In it, he tells a story about blanking on stage as a young comic and turning it to his advantage:
"When I got on stage, the lights hit me in the face, my heart was
pumping, and there was feedback in the microphone - I just blanked," he
says, "I just stood there with a scared look on my face for about 10
seconds. I forgot everything! It was like something out of the Twilight
Zone."
Regan had no choice but to respond. But instead of haphazardly spewing
out jokes off the top of his head, he did what any honest man would do.
He told the truth.
"I said that I forgot my lines - I got a laugh," he said. "Then I
started making fun of myself, saying how stupid I was - I got another
laugh."
Regan kept going for five minutes straight (the length of his set). The
crowd loved his self-deprecating routine. Although the resulting
performance wasn't what he had planned, Regan was well-received not
only by the audience, but also by three professional stand-up comedians
who were there.
"For me it's such a perfect event," Seinfeld said earlier of the
airport incident. "You know a senator, the airport, the badge. The guy
puts the badge underneath, I mean, what are the odds these two guys
could possibly meet in an airport bathroom?
"I mean if you
go sit in a stall. I'm going to sit down in this toilet and wait for
someone to try something," Seinfeld said. "It's very unromantic."
Rock said he found the setting unappealing.
"I can't have sex with the TV on. If I'm distracted, it's not happening right? I mean just the smell."
Standup comic and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Jeff Garlin is promoting his new movie I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, which he wrote, directed and stars in opposite Sarah Silverman. Gothamist has a new interview with the first-time auteur, wherein he discusses Larry David's criticism of the movie's title:
Your film, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, is opening on the 5th. Is that the first name you went with?
Yeah, I thought about changing it because Larry David didn't like it
and kept on telling me I couldn't end a sentence in a preposition. He
wanted I Want Someone With Whom I Can Eat Cheese. I think that's the
way he joked about saying I should call it. So I looked for other
titles, but this one people seemed to like.
For more with Jeff Garlin, including the factoids that he lived with Jeneane Garofalo in the early-90s and may have coined the term "alternative-comedy," read the full interview at Gothamist.
Probably the best thing (scanned onto) the web this week: a panel interview about TV comedy writing with writers from Arrested Development and Wonder Showzen, and Comedy God Bob Odenkirk. (I had to squint really hard to read it, but it was worth it.)
"Yeah I met him in first grade. Legend has it and I think I remember that a teacher kicked me out of class. Then they put me in another class because they couldn't handle me anymore because the teacher was crying.
"Tommy introduced himself to me at lunch because he was impressed that I made a nun cry."
"It used to be before you had albums out and before you had specials on TV you could just do the same act for years— not that you want to do that. You could go do a show and 90 percent of the crowd hasn’t heard any of it and they’re fine with anything you do. Then there’s 10 percent who are like, ‘I just drove half an hour or an hour and I’ve heard like 80 percent of this shit.’ And they’re the ones that have blogs.
"It’s legitimate for them to want to see something new, especially if they’ve seen you years ago. It’s weird because there are some people who want to hear the old stuff and will say, ‘Why didn’t you do the old stuff?’ And then there’s people who are like, ‘How come you repeated jokes?’ Then there’s some people who can’t believe you repeat a joke ever— which is just naïve.
"Ultimately it’s never going to be a bad thing if you write more new material. If you have new material, there’s no one who could complain that you did new material. But they can complain if you do old material... [P]eople get bummed out that bands do new songs. But their old songs were new songs at some point."
In light of his elimination from Last Comic Standing, Doug Benson is featured in a new interview at BuddyTV. Here's a little:
Doug, how are you?
Pretty good. Eliminated is a little scary, strange to hear before my
name. Even though they knocked me out, I still am the sixth funniest
comedian in the world. You could’ve introduced me that way.
I’ll introduce you that way from now on, that’s a better title.
Yeah, sixth funniest.
To read the rest of the interview or to listen to audio of it, head to BuddyTV.
"What I miss about The Daily Show is feeling like when you're
knocking the wind out of hypocrisy in a way. Not that we had some
mission statement, but it was fun to be a part of satire, because we
made something that resonated with all of us." -- Ed Helms, in an interview yesterday on IGN.com.
If you're not over-saturated with the pre-release Superbad hype yet, The Onion AV Club has a very entertaining interview with the flick's three stars. Here's something to get your appetite all sopping whet:
AVC: Has [Judd Apatow] gone mad with power?
JH: No.
MC: Drunk with power. [Laughs.]
JH: He's gone completely awesome with power. 'Cause it allows
for people like me to write movies and act in movies. Talk about a
loyal guy, what does he have to gain from putting us in movies? He just
thinks we're talented and is just nice enough to keep giving us
opportunities.
MC: Yeah, he doesn't need us to be in movies, he's done fine without us. It's not for his sake. We know that much.
JH: You know, he gave us every opportunity in the world to succeed, and I'll always thank him for that.
CMP: Yeah, he's given me my only opportunity, so I definitely have to thank him for that. [Laughs.]
JH: Every time Chris has sex, he has to send Judd a check.
There's a short interview with standup comedian and Flight of the Conchords costar Eugene Mirman up at Weekly Dig today. Here's the funny part:
DO YOU KNOW ANY NONFATAL CURES FOR WEREWOLFISM?
Washing someone in silver. You fill the tub mostly with water and a
little bit of silver. Or maybe a silver bl*wjob. I'm only going to
suggest things that I don't know if you can write.
WE CAN PRINT WHATEVER.
Can you write, "a silver bl*wjob from a pedophile with wings"?
The Onion AV Club has an interview up today with comedian and actor D.L. Hughley. In it, Hughley talks about the demise of Studio 60 and the backlash he received after making fun of the Rutgers women's basketball team:
AVC: The point [Gina McCauley's] trying to make is that while you have the
right to say what you want, she also has the right to vocally disagree
with you. So you agree with that.
DLH: Of course I do! I don't negate her right to say what she
said. But look, people like her have systematically killed an industry.
Every year, a television show comes on, black activists get together
and go, "This show is stereotypical. We don't want it on." Anything
from The Secret Diary Of Desmond Pfeiffer to Homeboys In Outer Space to Booty Call to Barbershop
to whatever. Now studios don't even make black television shows any
more, because they're so tired of this controversy. This is the same
woman who had a problem with Hot Ghetto Mess—the whole purpose of which was to be satirical,
to get people to look at themselves and go, "Wow, we don't want to be
that." I don't see the world the way she does. My gig is to call it
like I see it, and I'll do it until the day before forever.
The San Jose Mercury News has an interview today with The Daily Show's Lewis Black. Here's a snippet:
After Sept. 11, most
comedians were scared of alienating audiences by poking at the powers
that be. Black, less a political comedian than a jokester who happens
to vent about politics, continued to rage against the insanity in the
world, be it the war in Iraq or Dr. Phil's nutritional tips.
"I've always
based my humor on the emperor wearing no clothes," Black says by phone
from Chapel Hill, N.C., where he's holding a workshop on his play "One
Slight Hitch" with University of North Carolina theater students. "What
was I going to do? Change my act? I couldn't transform into Carrot Top."
“A lot of people have come up to me and said, ‘Your movie is my litmus
test for a friend on how cool they are — if I want to be their friend,’
”
I believe this, because this is the philosophy by which most of my friends also measure their friends. And The Ten is a worthy addition to any comedy-litmus-test package.
"The first job I ever had was at a pool-liner-manufacturing plant. Minimum wage was $4.25, and that's what I was making. It was this huge, hot, un-air-conditioned factory staffed with all women and me. This is in Georgia, during the summertime, so it was pretty ridiculous. The next summer, I was up to $5 an hour, so I thought I was king of the world. Then I moved into the restaurant business. There's this chain of restaurants called PoFolks; it's all home-style cooking, meaning everything's fried—fried green tomatoes, fried okra, catfish.
"When you're waiting tables, your wage is half of minimum wage, and the rest you make up in tips. But these were "po folks" who were eating there. One time, I chased a couple out of the restaurant who didn't tip me. [They gave me] A dollar bill. A dollar bill. They had been running me ragged the entire time; they'd clearly never eaten at a restaurant before."
In anticipation of today's release of The Ten, The Long Island Press ran a piece yesterday on State-alum and Ten-scribe Ken Marino. Here's a little:
"I always say that we never broke up," Marino explains during a recent junket for The Ten at Manhattan's Regency Hotel. "I try not to talk about [The State] in the past tense." At the Regency, The State seems very much alive as Marino and Wain joke about future collaborations (Wain: "We pitched a TV series -- every week it's about a new commandment").
Andy Samberg's first big movie Hot Rod is out in theaters today, and The Onion AV Club has a new interview with him. Here, he talks about the influence of Lonely Island on the flick:
AVC: Did this feel like a bigger, more expensive Lonely Island short?
AS: It definitely has that feeling to me, anyway. It
certainly has a lot of the story and the comedy of Pam Brady's original
script, but it's tough to put something through the three-of-us
strainer and not have it come out a little Lonely. I think it's equal
parts Paramount and Pam Brady—those are two separate things. As it is,
we definitely have our stamp on it.
Comedian Jim Norton is in Detroit this week with the Opie & Anthony Traveling Virus Comedy Tour and to promote his new book Happy Endings: The Tales of a Meaty-Breasted Zilch. The Detroit Free Press has a short interview with him. Here's a little:
QUESTION: Can you talk about why your comedy style is raunchy, where some comedians go in a different, cleaner direction?
ANSWER: You have to do what makes you funny, whatever
is true to you. To me, there's no valor in clean and there's no valor
in dirty. It's only about being original and true to who you are as a
funny person. I've done a Letterman. I've done four "Tonight" shows...
so I do work clean as well. But I try to be at least a little darker
when I'm clean... To me, if you're a clean guy and that's your humor,
that's great. But if you go out of your way just to be TV clean, you're
not doing yourself a service as a comic. You're a fraud. Why is that
better? Lenny Bruce wasn't clean. Pryor wasn't clean. Carlin wasn't
clean. Bill Hicks wasn't clean. These are all great comedians.
"It’s not in the best interest for a mainstream talk show to be edgy. You’re just turning people away. But it always amazes me how many people don’t get certain things. Like when you make an anti-joke— like when you make a joke that’s funny because it’s not funny.
"You would think that everyone would get that but really nobody gets that or at least it’s a small percentage of people that get it. So the more you use that technique fewer people get it, but the payoff for those who do get it is much bigger— they enjoy it more. But you can’t get away with that kind of joke every night on a network talk show. You wouldn’t be on the air for very long."
Thanks to reader Tacoman for passing along a link to the second part of the interview we posted yesterday with David Wain, Paul Rudd and Ken Marino. Enjoy:
JAMES BROOKS: Bart the Genius comes to mind quickly. I just think that we did things with animation when that happened that just opened doors for us. And Lisa and the Substitute Teacher is always meaningful to me on another level.
DAVID SILVERMAN: I think of all the ones I’ve had the good fortune to direct and I’ve always enjoyed Homey the Clown because it was so much fun to do and it came out very funny. One that jumps to mind is a second season one called Three Men and a Comic Book because I just love the whole notion of it. It was great format, and the references to the Treasure of the Sierra Madre at the end always tickled me.
MATT GROENING: I like when Homer ate the Guatemalan insanity pepper and then had a hallucination of a coyote spirit voiced by Johnny Cash. That was pretty great. I also like the Frank Grimes episode and there was an episode from the last couple seasons where Homer was in the garage trying to kill spiders and the tables were turned on him. Do you remember what that episode was? Raymond Percy directed it. It was fantastic.
AL JEAN: Tim Long wrote it. It was where Homer bought an RV and lived in the RV while Marge was in the house.
MIKE SCULLY: I would say the episode where Bart sells his soul.
AL JEAN: Mine is next season’s premiere, September 23rd. It’s called He Loves to Fly and He D’ohs and it guest stars Stephen Colbert and also Lionel Richie. Stephen Colbert plays a life coach who helps Homer achieve his dreams.
The fine folks from the South by Southwest Film Festival have posted video of a really cool interview with David Wain, director of The Ten, and Paul Rudd and Ken Marino, two of the film's stars. Enjoy:
Meanwhile, if that doesn't satisfy your hunger for all things The Ten, here's a piece on the flick's premiere from New York Magazine.
Entertainment Weekly recently ran an interview with Bill Maher to promote his new HBO special and the upcoming new season of Real Time. As one might expect, politics were discussed:
Since you went on hiatus, [President Bush]'s been in trouble again, on Iraq at least. But
''Will he change?'' is the question. And I promise you he won't. And
the reason I know that is because the other day during his press
conference — did you see him talking about being loved? That's the sign
of death. Because when a president says, [imitates a Bush drawl] ''Sure, everybody'd like to be loved,''
that means he's already written off the present. See, he's convinced
himself that the decisions he's making now — even though they're
getting him hated by everyone, including his own party — are going to
be seen as brave decisions in, you know, like, 5 million years. Way down the road.
That's what a genius he is, you see. Not recognized in his own
lifetime. He's like the Van Gogh of presidents — never sold one in his
lifetime, but wait!
For more with Maher, including some discussion of the new documentary he made with Borat-director Larry Charles, head over to EW.
After two decades of performing as a standup, Paul F. Tompkins just recently released his first CD. To mark the occasion, The Onion AV Club interviewed him. Here's a little bit about looking back on Mr. Show:
AVC: Do you find it surprising that people still care about Mr. Show nearly a decade after it went off the air?
PFT: No, it's not surprising. At the time I certainly didn't
know what would happen in the future. It was a very heady time, and
very invigorating emotionally and intellectually. It was all I could do
to deal with what was happening at that moment. But I am so gratified
that it still holds up, and having looked at it—I think the last time
was when we did the commentaries for the DVDs—and saying "Well, that
really was pretty good. It holds up pretty nicely." There's a lot of
funny stuff in there, and I love that it's found a new life in DVD and
that there are people that are being turned onto it still for the first
time.
On socially relevant comedy and the typical comedy club audience:
"People will say, "We came to the comedy club to get away from that." And you go, "Well, you were never really involved in that; don't act like that's your f**king life, that's CNN... It doesn't affect your life... The f**king cubicle, crunching numbers and getting a bonus? That's your life...
"You'd much rather believe that f**king immigrants are trying to take your job, and pedophiles are trying to f**k your kids, and terrorists are trying to blow up your Ford Focus in particular, than realize that you're probably never even going to break a bone. You have a couple of kids with a woman; you settle for less and that's it.
"But in another sense, being big on the Internet and being big at the multiplex have absolutely nothing to do with each other. The beauty of producing comedy on the Web is that you can do pretty much whatever the hell you want."
In other words, this isn't your typical celebrity fluff piece. The writer doesn't just want you to know Andy's got heat, he wants you to feel Samberg's RAGE:
"For starters, he exhibits an encyclopedic memory for every network or studio that ever turned him down. Of Awesometown, a pilot he and Taccone and Schaffer developed, Samberg says, 'Fox passed. We took it to Comedy Central. They passed. MTV? Passed. MTV2? Passed,' as though each 'no' was a personal slight that’s only now being avenged."
The lesson? Take rejection to heart all you young comedians in the wings, because your rage will sustain you. That and getting Jimmy Fallon to forward your stuff to Lorne Michaels.
The Apiary has a new series about comedians and their day jobs. First up is John F. O'Donnell, who supports his comedy with phone sales and chocolate fountain-sitting:
"I got the job off of Craig's List. The subject line said, "Do you
like chocolate and tight spaces?" ...And I was like, "Do I ever!" Then
it said to email my resume, which is hilarious. It also said finish
this sentence... "I'd be perfect for this job, because..."
And wrote, "I'd be perfect for this job, because I live to make people smile and laugh." Cheesy I know, but I got the job."
Holy cow, has it been 24 hours since I posted a new Patton Oswalt interview? I must be off my game. Yesterday, The Onion AV Club ran a discussion with PO. Here's a part where Patton talks about landing the lead in Ratatouille:
AVC: What about your stand-up CD attracted Brad Bird?
PO: [He said], "You're either really enthusiastic about
something, or you think something is so horrible, and you're also
amused by how horrible it is. So it's that you're totally
non-judgmentally enthusiastic about everything, and that's kind of what
Remy is." Their thing is, you can put a star in a movie, and if the
voice isn't right, that's just as bad as putting in a nobody where the
voice isn't right. The movie will be equally ruined. Not to say you
shouldn't be with stars. If a star is right, like you listen to Antonio
Banderas in the Shrek movies—worth every penny. That's why
they're doing the Puss In Boots movie, because people just want to
watch him; he's so good. There are certain massive stars that are in
the lead in their computer-animated movies, where you could have gotten
anyone for the performance you got and what it got you. Also, the star
of the movie is Brad Bird and Pixar, so they may as well go for the
right voice and pick a nobody like me. You don't go, "I get to hear
Patton Oswalt's voice? Here's $10!" But for Pixar and Brad Bird…
For more on Pixar, Patton's lucrative career as a script doctor and some audio clips from the sit-down, check out the full interview at The AV Club.
Punchline Magazine has a good interview up with Patton Oswalt with topics ranging from food shows to selling out:
Do you ever hear from your stand-up fans that you’re a sellout? No
one’s ever said it to my face. There are people that will say it online
anonymously. But then someone will point out that he’s not doing TV and
movies in the mainstream so he could sit back and live in a big house
and drive a nice car. He spends it on doing more Comedians of Comedy
tours and putting out his own albums and stuff like that.
There’s
not really much of an argument. If someone says something like that
it’s either they’re very young and immature or they’re very old and
bitter. It’s like saying I can’t listen to Richard Pryor ever since I
saw The Toy and Superman III. Well then you’re a f*cking idiot because he’s really funny. That’s just silly. Not that I’m comparing myself to Richard Pryor.
The Coming kindly points us towards a nice collection of videos covering a comedy panel at last year's SXSW festival in Austin. It's called Comedy On The Indie Circuit or something to that effect, and features David Cross, Zach Galifianakis, and the dudes from The Best Show, among others.
The Washington Post has a short interview with comedian Don Rickles today. For you Gen-Y'ers out there, Don Rickles was sort of like the Lisa Lampanelli of your grandparents' era. He was also the voice of Mr. Potato Head in Toy Story, which was the Shrek the Third of your parents' era. Here's a little of the interview:
Over a Bloody Mary, Rickles tried to explain his style, how
he came to insult anyone who wandered across his path.
"I just can't tell jokes. It wasn't that someone gave me a
hard time and I insulted him back. It's just that I tell jokes
badly and as a young man I had a personality that I could rib
somebody and get away with it. My father was the same way. My
mother was a Jewish General Patton."
While appearing at Bonnaroo earlier this month, Lewis Black got wailed in the head with a freaking beer can. Thankfully (and to his credit), Lewis handled the situation with his usual grace and fervor:
If anyone has any information that can help lead to the capture of the violent c*cksucker, please do share.
Former Mr. Show with Bob and David castmember and current SpongeBob Squarepants voice-actor Tom Kenny is interviewed by The Onion AV Club today. Topics include the cartoon character's permeation through the nation's penal system:
The A.V. Club: On one episode of Lockdown, the National Geographic Channel show about prisons, an officer led a whole cell wing in singing the SpongeBob theme. Has SpongeBob reached a level of ubiquity where you don't even think twice about seeing his face everywhere?
Tom Kenny: Oh no, I think about it. No, I'm constantly still
surprised and awed that he's still ubiquitous, and still getting into
places. Yeah, I wouldn't say that I'm blasé about it. I'm glad that
we're finally reaching what was our intended demographic all along,
which was tough. Convicts. We were just using the children as a gateway
to get to the cons. I guess it just goes to show that now that Johnny
Cash has passed away, SpongeBob has stepped to the floor as prison
inmates' favorite performer. He's the postmodern Johnny Cash. That
means that in 50 years, Rick Rubin is going to re-discover SpongeBob
and make him cool again.
Via Dead-Frog comes an interview by Jake Klocksien with Daniel Tosh, whose first Comedy Central Presents just aired on Sunday. Here's a little:
Nearly all stand-up comedians have
horror stories when they talk about the first time they performed in
front of an audience. Was your first set any different?
DANIEL TOSH:
I had a 17 minute standing ovation after my first set. Ok, what really
happened was that I looked in an Orlando newspaper when I was 19, found
an open-mic night. I just assumed it was for comedy, turns out it was
for music. They said "Sure you can do stand-up." It was also a contest,
so I had to pay $10 and the audience, which was the people eating in
the restaurant that night would judge it. After my second joke I was
getting rim shots from the drummer who was setting up. I didn't stick
around but I assume I won, so if you ran that room and are reading
this, send me my f*cking $80 first prize, a**hole!
We envisioned, somewhere in downtown L.A., an apocalyptic ER filled with gunshot wounds, severed limbs, and people in the process of being murdered by gunshot victims. We figured the Burbank ER would be paper cuts, skinned knees, and a bunny rabbit with the heebie-jeebies.
Next time, we're going downtown. Or Baghdad. Or anywhere.
Also, check out Patton's great in-depth interview with The Bastion, where he hints at a possible collaboration with Mitch "The Man Responsible For Arrested Development" Hurwitz (YES, PLEASE).
With just two days until the premiere of Flight of the Conchords on HBO, Salon has an interview with the duo behind the show. Here's some:
So much of the humor in the show is deadpan. Are you concerned about the American reception to that kind of humor?
Clement: I never thought about that.
McKenzie: James, Jemaine and I, we're all big fans of understated comedy shows. That's a style we enjoy. I guess we made the show to amuse ourselves rather than being conscious of a particular audience.
Clement: It's not just deadpan and subtle jokes. There are a lot of huge ridiculous jokes in it as well.
McKenzie: The delivery is very dry. I guess it's more like a British show than an American show.
Best known as the Allen-half of the brilliant comedy duo Slovin and Allen, Leo Allen has broken out on his own and made quite a career for himself as a solo act. The Apiary has an interview with the comedian today. Here's a little:
What is your process for writing stand-up? Where do you find material?
I take notes and try to avoid things anybody else talks about because
it just gets boring. You try stuff, and if it works, it works. I think
I try to do stuff that's not going to make me feel bad about myself. I
don't feel comfortable being like, "This sucks and here's why!" or
"F*ck Cher! Look at her and her stupid hair!" That just makes me want
to kill myself. And I try to talk about something emotional on some
level, even if it's just silly and makes me laugh. I think it's
important to talk about stuff that's interesting to you. That's the end
goal: to talk about something everyone can relate to, but not in that
way that's like, "Ooh, everyone picks their nose!" If it's honest,
people respond.
Firstly: Exciting news. According to their website (and probably some internal memo's we don't have access to), the wonderful musical duo Hard 'N Phirm will be getting their very own Comedy Central Presents. Huzzah! This only proves what Chris and Mike have always preached: You can do anything (If you believe...). Secondly: College Humor has an interview up with the Flight of the Conchords guys, whose HBO show you should've probably already previewed by now. Watch out for Jemaine's impression of Americans. It's pretty amazing.
And Lastly: That picture above is from HnP's MySpace page with a caption that reads, "Us, Flight of the Conchords and time-jumper Todd Barry."
In anticipation of last night's one-hour Brian Regan standup special, both The Apiary and Dead-Frog recently ran interviews with the comic. Here's a bit from the former:
Is there anything that you've always wanted to do in your career but haven't done yet?
Career-wise, not really. Stand-up comedy has always been the end result. Some people use it as a means to another end. But I've always used it as a means to this end. Obviously you like to get to perform in
nicer venues and in places where people are more focused than in other venues. I've been able to accomplish that. I like doing this. If the development part of the Comedy Central deal pans out and I can make a TV show where I'm involved creatively, I think I would like that as well, but I don't have any interest in being a star. Not that that's why I'm not one, like, "Yeah, it's just because I don't want to be."
That's not why I do this. I like doing comedy because I enjoy the craft of it. I like being anonymous the moment I say good night. I go into a theater, and I'm the big man on campus, and it makes me feel good that I have these people who seem to like my comedy, then 20 minutes later I go into Starbucks and nobody knows me. I like that. It's like I've got the best of both worlds. I'm not really in any hurry to change any of
that.
And here's some from the latter:
One of the things I love about the new special is that little bouncy thing you do after a joke lands. Is that kind of body language something that you learned or was it just there?
I never realized I did it. That’s just how I perform. The first time I realized I did that was years ago, I was living in New York. And I did some local cable TV show out in New Jersey. I was one of the five different comics on the show. And I get off stage and the cameraman takes me aside and says, “Hey! Hey, gotta talk to ya.” (laughs)
And I’m young and new. And he tells me, “Hey, I’m gonna tell you straight up. You got a real problem.”
And I’m like, “What do you mean?”
“You were moving around the stage the whole time. And that’s hard for me. I gotta move the camera back and forth. You gotta learn how to just stand there and tell your jokes.” (laughs)
And I say, “Oh OK. Man, I’m sorry.” And then I started just standing there for a few weeks. Not on TV but in the clubs.
And other comics are like, “How come you don’t do your thing anymore?”
And I’m like, “Because I’m taking advice from a New Jersey cable camera operator.” (laughs)
After last weekend, Seth Rogen is a bigtime movie-star, but once upon a time he was a struggling standup comic. As he recently told The Onion AV Club, it's a career he began at the tender age of 13:
AVC: Well, it's fairly precocious to do it that young. Are there venues that let you perform? You were pretty far from the drinking age.
SR: Yeah, I'd perform at all the places anyone else would. I was in Canada, but we had Yuk Yuk's there, a chain of comedy clubs, so I'd perform there. Just like anywhere else, there were bars and restaurants that had comedy nights, and they'd let me in to perform and make me leave when I was done, usually.
AVC: Did it take you a while to feel confident on the stage?
SR: When I first started, there was a real novelty element to it, I'm sure: "Look, there's a 13-year-old kid doing comedy." And I'm sure that bought me a lot of slack. So I was probably more confident than I should have been, if anything. [Laughs.] I think was humbled as I got a little older doing it.
AVC: What kind of material did you do at that age? I mean, what do you know about life at that point?
SR: That's exactly what I was thinking, too, so I just tried to speak from my experiences. When I was 13 and 14, there were a lot of jokes about my bar mitzvah and my grandparents, and then when I got older, it became more about touching boobs and trying to get liquor, you know? [Laughs.] I kind of ran the gamut of infantile behavior.
AVC: So that's been kind of the bedrock throughout?
SR: Exactly. And I haven't moved one step forward since. [Laughs.]
The new show Lil' Bush premieres next Wednesday, June 13 at 10:30p / 9:30c on Comedy Central. The cartoon follows the adventures of Lil' George, Lil' Condi, Lil' Cheney and Lil' Rummy (voiced by Iggy Pop, left).
Future voices will include Wilco's Jeff Tweedy (as 'Goddy'), the Pixies' Frank Black (as Satan), Colin Meloy from The Decemberists, Anthony Kiedis, Flea, and Dave Grohl.
In an interview last night on Fuse TV's The Sauce, Lil' Bush Creator Donick Cary talked about his inspiration and how he got Iggy Pop on board. Watch the video clip here.
About.com has an interview with Patton Oswalt to promote the upcoming release of Pixar's Ratatouille. Here's a little:
When you picked up the script what was your first step in preparing to play a rat?”
“Here’s the thing, you don’t get the script till you get there to do
the voiceover. They just give you your sides. I’ve never read the whole
script, so more in general, I was focusing more on his obsession with
food and cooking rather than on his ratness. You’ll see in the movie,
he’s trying to rise above his ratness. Because being obsessed with good
food and cooking makes him kind of a freak in the rat world. ‘What are
you talking about? We don’t care about that!’ It’s the thing that you
are so in love with and obsessed with that everyone else is like,
‘Okay…’”
And cooking isn’t something a rat would love.
“Exactly.”
Ratness – did you coin that phrase?
“Yes, I’m coining the phrase ‘ratness’. Put a little ™ in a circle.”
Human Giant member and CC Insider favorite Aziz Ansari did an interview with The Bastion this week about roommates and his astounding degree of creative freedom. If we didn't love him so much, we'd have to hate him a little bit.
Only one more day until Knocked Up comes out. While you camp out in front of the theater, perhaps you'd like some reading material. Yesterday the Boston Herald had a profile of director Judd Apatow. Here's a tidbit:
To Apatow, his greatest
achievement is "Freaks and Geeks," the beloved cult favorite hour-long
TV series that ran for only one season in 1999-2000. The show, created
by Paul Feig and executive produced by Apatow, was followed by another
acclaimed but canceled series: "Undeclared."
"In
a way, the movies are an extension of those TV shows," says Apatow.
"Some people have been saying, ’Do you feel like the reason these
movies ("Virgin," ”Knocked Up") are doing OK is because your work is
getting better?’ And I’m always like, ’No, I don’t think I’ll ever make
anything as good as "Freaks and Geeks.”’"
HARP Magazine has a new short interview up with Comedian of Comedy Zach Galifianakis. Topics include life on his farm, animal feces and his lack of confidence:
HARP: You’re really open about lacking confidence. Isn’t confessing that a sign of weakness for a comic?
I don’t think honesty is ever a weakness. Comics are supposed to feel like they’re in control of the stage but offstage, they’re really not in control. For a lot of comics, it’s a fake confidence… [like] a guy that lifts a lot of weights might have some morale problems deep inside of his vacuoles. I was never confident when I first started. I was always amazed that people could be confident [performers]. I just stopped caring what the audience thought. I would watch comics and I knew that a good comic led the audience versus kowtowing to the audience. Once I realized that, I just said “Well, I don’t know if this’ll work out but I’ll just do it anyway.”
City on a Hill Press has an interview with Dan Mirk, a writer for The Onion News Network. Mirk just graduated from UC Santa Cruz last year, and now he works for The Onion. No, I'm not brimming with spite and jealousy. Why would you even think that? No, I'm banging my head against my desk because I'm happy. You obviously don't know much about me and the way elation manifests itself in my actions.
Anyway, here's a funny story about young Dan's job:
Any crazy stories from working at The Onion?
Well there’s
this guy who has those roller-skate shoes, and he’s always
roller-skating around the office. And once we filmed a panda for a
video segment, and we had to drive to Washington, D.C. to film it. I
had to drive the truck.
You’ll find yourself talking about
something on the phone or listen to bits of conversation and hear the
craziest thing because of what you’re working on, like, “We need a
panda. How will we make the panda look like it’s talking?”
Originally we were thinking of a panda doing sign language. Then we
thought, ‘A panda suit would cost so much money.’ Then you’re like,
‘Wait, what are we talking about? Just a man in a panda suit, that’s
crazy.’
And it’s funny, people not realizing that it’s a joke. They
weren’t thrown off of the fact that the panda was speaking English. It
means we did a good job because it’s really realistic. The jokes come
from how straight we play it. But then maybe it’s not that funny, or
maybe a little of both. At least they’re watching.
In anticipation of the upcoming release of Mr. Brooks, MovieWeb has an interview with Dane Cook. Topics include the transition from comedy to drama and Cook's rise to stardom:
What has it been like going from a lowly stand-up comic to someone everybody knows?
Dane Cook: When I was in Boston, I had this thing. All my community friends were going to New York. I said, "I'm not going to New York." And they were all like, "Ah, but you gotta go." I said, "I'm not going until New York calls me. Until I have a purpose to go there." And that is how I do everything. I don't just say that I'm going to do a comedy, or a script. Comedic scripts came along before Employee of the Month. I had other TV shows. I had other movies that I didn't feel were authentic. That didn't pump my nads. Do you know what movie that is from? Anybody? The Breakfast Club. I don't push. That's kind of my thing. Just don't push. I will always have stand-up. I will always have a way to make a few sheckles. I'm not in need. So I just wait for stuff that is kind of creepy. Weird. That's scary. I think, on a personal level, who knew that with stand-up comedy I would be able to do that. I hoped that this vehicle would lead me to everything. With comedy, maybe I can bash down the doors and do all kinds of stuff. But that is up to the movie Gods and your audience. You have to wait for them to go, "Yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing you do that." I got the nod from some of my fans. And some projects came in that were appealing. I said, "I'm not going to push." I'm just going to go with the flow. If this is what I'm meant to do, then I will do it for the rest of my life. I will create something somewhere behind the scenes. Wherever I find myself, I am just going to eat it up. And I am going to destroy the hell out of it. I'm not going to lie, I love my job. I love the art of comedy, but I also love doing these movies. I really hope that I get to do a lot more of them.
This week the AV Club sits down with comedic mastermind Louis C.K., and I swear, every interview with this guy is just gold. It's so refreshing to hear his honest and intelligent criticisms about the general f*cked-up-ness of Hollywood and popular comedy in general. Read the whole thing here.
One of the best parts is Louis discussing his appearance on The View, where Barbara Walters condemned Lucky Louie as sexist and racist only minutes before Louis stepped out in front of the cameras. He's already told the story on Kimmel (which you should find and watch as it's really freakin' funny), but the version he relays here is a touch more emotionally honest (and may or may not involve a certain "c-word"). You can see Louis vs. Barbara for yourself on his site.
The Onion AV Club recently did an interview with Bob Odenkirk. As with all things Onion AV Club and all things Bob Odenkirk, it's more than worth your time. Here's an excerpt:
AVC: Why do you think it's been hard for you to find an experience as satisfying as Mr. Show?
BO: It took me a long time to learn how to do sketch comedy, too. [Laughs.] I think I'm a slow learner. You should've seen the first sketches I wrote in Chicago, and the first sketches I wrote at Saturday Night Live. I've actually done with movies something I did when I was at Saturday Night Live. A few weeks into working at Saturday Night Live, I took out a sheet of paper and I wrote down, and I don't remember the list, but I wrote down, "use the women, something that was in the news, use the host, one set"—a list of things that, if you do them, you have a good chance of getting something on the show. And that, of course, killed creativity for about two years. [Laughs.] You start going, "Well, that doesn't do this, well, that won't fit that." But in the course of staying there a long time, your brain gets re-wired so that you start to just naturally mutate your instincts and your ideas into things that fit into that world.
By the end, I was a more effective writer, and I was getting things on, and I'd learned a lot, and it wasn't this tortuous process of "How do I twist my sensibilities to fit this venue?"
The New York Times threw its second annual "Sunday with The Magazine" series of chats yesterday (5.20.07), and a small contingent of Comedy Central Insider staff attended to find out "What Makes Us Laugh" with Ricky Gervais and John Hodgman.
The event was held in the illustrious CUNY Graduate Center auditorium in the shadow of the Empire State Building. Among the highlights:
John opens the proceedings by pouring a sample of bottled water into Ricky's glass. Gervais does a perfect wine-taster's nose/swish/slurp/spit to the side.
Hodgman gives an introduction by way of Gervais' "Wikipedia entry," which lists such pre-Office jobs as tinsmith and crime-solving Anglican priest.
The Stanford Daily has an interview with Sarah Silverman Program star Sarah Silverman today. Here are some highlights:
I: Do you and Jimmy have a rivalry going over whose jokes are funnier, or do you two trade jokes?
SS: We bounce stuff off each other. He’s so, so prolific — he does a different hour-long show every night. It’s nuts!
I: What gave you the idea for “Jesus is Magic?”
SS: I was doing it as a stage show and thought it would be cool as a
traditional concert movie — and could potentially be even more
cinematic than just a camera shooting a stage.
I: You often talk about difficult topics like race, depression, and sex. What attracts you to these topics?
Former Daily Show correspondent Mo Rocca has answered the call of the Great White Way, taking a role in the Tony Award-winning musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Here's a bit of a new interview with the deadpan funnyman:
"I've always been a big Broadway fan," he said. "Still at home in my
bedroom in my mother's house you can find my cast albums catalogued,
very carefully. I never ever mixed cast albums with soundtracks. In
fact for Christmas, I think when I was nine, my parents gave me
cassette tapes for 'Evita' and 'Oklahoma!' but I was annoyed because
the 'Oklahoma!' was the soundtrack recording.
"And so I had
to kindly ask my father to please return that. Because while I like
Gordon MacRae, I prefer John Raitt (even though the original star of
"Oklahoma!" was Alfred Drake)," he said. "And I felt guilty, because I
like Shirley Jones. Who doesn't?"
He goes on for a minute and
40 seconds - in an answer that also includes references to Harry Potter
books on tape and "the sort of sexual sort of communion you have with
an audience" - before he reaches this conclusion:
"I mustered
the courage after talking to my good friend Julia Roberts. Julia said,
'You've got to get back on the boards. That's where you belong.' And so
I did it."
He adds: "This is Julia Roberts who works at All-State, in Baltimore. She's a friend of mine from high school."
For more on Rocca's stage turn, read the full interview by clicking here.
Literally: "MTV came to us and asked us if we would be interested in doing a 24 hour event…in a week. We said, “Yes!”" and since then we have been working our asses off to figure out how exactly to fill the time. We have full access to the MTV vaults, we can play pretty much anything we want, with the exception of anything Nirvana related (Damn you, Courtney Love). So that means Old Remote Control, Singled Out, Beavis and Butthead, Sifle and Ollie and tons more. Plus we’ll be airing a Human Giant Marathon. Every episode from our entire 1st season and we have a ton of amazing guests like…."
...and there are seriously so many great bands and comedians that there's not enough room to list 'em all. It all starts this Friday on MTV/MTV2 at noon. Click here for the entire roster and tickets.
Though I have yet to see Morgan Murphy's live act, I really enjoyed this recent backstage interview she did. (Anyone who naturally uses vitriolic in a sentence is alright by me.)
Free Indie has a new interview with David Wain about The Ten, which is quickly becoming the most anticipated comedy of the Summer. Here's a taste:
The film has a strong religious theme. Do you go to temple? Hold Sabbath? Eat pigs?
I like going to temple, sometimes, but I don't go too often. But
I did get bar mitzva'd and and I did go to Jewish camp where we had
lovely shabbats. I do eat pigs, sometimes. Mainly in the form of ham
& cheese.
The Ten has an unbelievable cast. How were you able to get so many big actors on your limited budget?
We offered them something better than money: diamonds. No but
seriously, we offered them rubies. Of course I'm kidding. The truth is
we offered them platinum.
Sarah Silverman is on the cover of the June issue of Maxim, and the US Weekly blog has an excerpt of her revealing interview. As a die-hard Sarah Silverman fan, there wasn't a single thing in the excerpt I didn't already know, but this part made me spit vodka-spiked corporate Kool Aid all over my keyboard:
How do you distinguish between a joke about racism and a joke that’s racist?
“By not being retarded?”
The DePaulia, the campus magazine at DePaul, has an interview with Nick Swardson wherein he discusses starting out as a comic, screenwriting, and ping pong. Here's a little:
TD: Do you have a preference between working on TV or on
movies?
NS: People do ask that question, and I really do love doing
all of them. It sounds so generic, but they are all so different and they all
complement each other. I love going and doing stand up now because I have so
many great fans and I’m starting a movie, called "Zohan," it’s Adam Sandler’s
next movie, in July which I love. We’ve been shooting for a while now.
TD: What is Adam Sandler like?
NS: He’s great. He’s the most down-to-earth guy you’ll ever
meet. He’s just like a normal guy. After a while I don’t even think of him as
Adam Sandler, I just think of him as one of my buddies, I mean not 100 percent
but still. Literally he’ll call me up and we’ll go eat or play basketball. He’s
just really down-to-earth. It’s not like he’ll call me up and be like, "Hey, do
you want to go juggle diamonds?"
To promote back-to-back shows at Calgary's Jubilee Auditorium, Bill Cosby recently gave an interview to the Canuck website Jam! Showbiz, wherein he offered several one-word answers and yelled at potty-mouthed comics to get off his lawn:
"I don't know when the line was drawn and then erased. I assume it
happened somewhere around the time when my show (The Cosby Show) was in
prominence, when they started to bring in Bart Simpson and Rosanne Barr
and advertising them as 'not The Cosby Show.' I think newspapers,
especially in the sports pages, began to put words in that used to be
naughty.
"I think television and news started to talk about and gossip about entertainers and showing them dressed in certain ways.
"Now everything has been shifted and moved so that our children
may sit in a car while the radio's playing, or some music playing, and
they may hear some profanity that, according to the family, is as
permissible as saying pass the salt."
Jeez, Louise! Sounds like Junior Barnes hit somebody in the face with one too many slushballs. For more with the star of Leonard Part 6, click here.
The Apiary has an interview with Steven Wright up today. Among other things, they discuss how his oft-imitated comedy style came into existence:
You've been credited with starting a style of comedy. Do you
think that someone's comedic style is just what comes naturally to a
comic?
I know that what I do is what comes naturally to me. In my early sets I
would have a straight face because I was scared of being onstage and I
was trying to remember my act so I was just concentrating seriously on
saying the material the right way. And when you do something serious,
that's just how you look. I was lucky that it ended up blending good
with the type of material and then it became a style. I don't walk out
and have to remind myself "Oh, don't laugh." I just try and do my act.
PS: Currently we are gearing up for a live, 24-hour Human Giant MTV (and MTV2) Takeover, which is going to happen at noon on May 18 and continue to May 19. It's going to be insane. It's like a Jerry Lewis Telethon without all the sad videos.
LIP: Ever get drunk and try to find the Amityville Horror House?
PS: No, but I did get drunk and try to find the Seaver's House from Growing Pains but then I sadly found out many years later that house only exists on a back lot in Hollywood. Damn you Alan Thicke, you foiled me again
Forbes.com's staff has cobbled together anecdotes from the stars of screen and stage about their crappy first jobs. Setting aside unintentional comedian 50 Cent's teenage crack dealership, the article includes tales of Jim Carrey's mopping, Danny DeVito's hair-styling (for reals) and Chris Rock's turn at Red Lobster. Minimum-wage dreamers of the world, you too can turn shrimp into comedy gold.
David Cross and Chris Parnell are two of the stars of the new poker mockumentary The Grand, which screened at Tribeca last week. New York Magazine did some short interviews with the cast. Here's some of what Cross had to say:
Which actor sucked the most at poker?
Woody [Harrelson]. No, I take that back. Chris Parnell was the worst. He was really
stressed out, mostly because he doesn’t know how to play poker.
Any advice for amateur poker players?
Yeah, try to learn as little as you can. Don’t learn from your mistakes. Then get in touch with me and we’ll play one weekend.
And here's a little Parnell:
Got any tips for amateur poker players?
I’m an amateur! I’ll play Trivial Pursuit — anything except for the
sports edition — Pictionary, whatever. I’m up for any board games, but
I don’t really play poker. I played maybe two or three times before the
movie. I don’t really like it.
We heard it stressed you out.
What stressed me out was the final game, because we were playing for
real. You’re trying to act and play poker against people who really
play poker while you’re improvising dialogue. It was very stressful.
Last month I mentioned that there's a funny new book out from McSweeney's called Comedy by the Numbers. With contributions from Bob Odenkirk, it was written by some guys named Gary Rudoren and Eric Hoffman who happen to be the subject of an interview at The Coming today:
At what age do you recommend giving this book to your kids so that they’ll be cool in school?
Gary: At whatever age kids are when they actually go to school and need to be cool. We don’t have kids, so we’re not that sure. You’ll notice there’s no Commie warning label on the book – “For kids 8-80!” or something like that. This is America! We’re not “ageists!” If the little kids like the funny pics, then let them chew on the book. There are worse things for a toddler to do than rub our book on his/her private places. Also, the book has holes punched into it and it will fit into any other subject’s 3-ring binder, so kids can hide it from their teachers while they’re in class.
Eric: Yeah, if kids like video games they’ll definitely like this book. I’ve heard it’s like Halo with pages.
Today at Zulkey.com, Claire Zulkey interviews Comedian of Comedy and bearded-American Zach Galifianakis. The whole thing is funny, like this part:
Even for loyal Reno 911 fans, it's hard to associate the names of the occasional characters with their spots on the show. Who is Frisbee and how did he come to be? I know the guys at Reno 911 and they asked me to come up with a character. I have always wanted to change my name to Frisbee or Kleenex. A brand. I also like the name Banjo Pussywhistle. My real name is not Zach Galifianakis. That is a stage name. My real name is Chad Farthouse.
And this part:
Why should people buy "Live at the Purple Onion"? Not sure they should. Whatever you do- do not shoplift it like I did. I got busted and the guy at the store got confused and ended up arresting my DVD instead.
The Daily Collegian Online has an interview up today with Adam McKay, former SNL writer and director of Anchorman and Talladega Nights. Here's a little:
Q: Chuck Norris jokes have been popular recently, but they seem like a rip-off of your old Bill Brasky skits. How do you feel about that?
A:I think they even use some lines directly from the sketch, which I don't mind at all. Those Bill Brasky sketches never really caught on in a great way. It was two hosts, it was John Goodman and Alec Baldwin always wanted to do Bill Brasky when they were on. So twice a year, we got to do them.
The Coming has an excellent profile on acclaimed San Francisco sketch group, Kasper Hauser, who just recently got back from performing at the Comedy Central Stage in Los Angeles. One of the more interesting things that really set the KH guys apart from most other groups out there (aside from their awesomely absurd sketches), have gotta be their day jobs:
Dan Klein is the bearded member of Kasper Hauser... His distinguished gray highlights suit his employment as a drama professor at Stanford, where he just got a sketch comedy class curriculum approved for next semester. Rob Baedeker, the soft-spoken blonde member of the group and appointed troupe diplomat, is a freelance writer and sometime lit professor (he dropped out of a Ph. D program at Penn, essentially, to be in Kasper Hauser). John Reichmuth is a public defender and member of a “super secret thing where everybody I represent is innocent.” And James Reichmuth, sharing his twin’s receding hairline and intense, dark expressions, is a psychiatrist.
Crazy. It's like they're actual grown ups or something. Read the whole profile here.
Why are you proud to call yourself a Star Wars fan?
The Star Wars
movies are visually stunning, vastly creative and have influenced
generations of bright young people. Plus, if George Lucas cancels his
appearance on my show, I'll be stuck talking to the creator of the BeastMaster series.
Having Triumph the Insult Comic Dog entertain fans in line to see Attack of the Clones was brilliant! What was your favorite moment in that segment?
When Triumph asked the fan dressed as Darth Vader which button on his chest plate calls his parents to pick him up.
What did you think of "Saturday Night Live" comedian Bill Hader's tauntaun impression he did on your show awhile back?
It was the best tauntaun impression I've ever seen on the show. It blew Martha Stewart's out of the water.
You once interviewed Harrison Ford and showed him his role in the classic "Star Wars Holiday Special." What are your own thoughts about the show?
It was just further proof that network television can screw up anything.
As for Harrison Ford, during the commercial break, he dug his thumb
into my carotid artery and said, "If you ever show that again, it's
lights out, Irish."
Last week, Cracked's Jeffrey Felshman interviewed Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee. They discussed being Canadian, laughing at interview subjects and her husband and fellow correspondent Jason Jones:
Did you get Jason his job at The Daily Show ? No, contrary to popular belief. I don't know if there's a television show in the history of television shows in which you could actually do that. “Yeah, you know what? My husband's really good. Can he have a job?” “Sure!” Like it's so easy to get jobs in television, you can just like nominate someone and then they get the job.
Do you like working together, or do you see each other too much? Actually, we kind of like working together because it's really the only time that we're together without the baby, although we do have the baby here today, so I shouldn't say that. So, needless to say, there's a lot of making whoopee at work. We like to christen every room. Everyone just gets out of our way. They part like the Red Sea when they see us coming.
In case Dennis' recent Brass Eye discovery didn't totally quench that thirst for British witticisms...
Before Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were fighting small town crime and slaying the undead, they were members of a popular British sitcom called Spaced. Pegg played the main protagonist, opposite co-creator Jessica Stevenson (who you might recognize as Yvonne in Shaun of the Dead). And as word has it, the show's supposed to be pretty excellent.
So rejoice! For those of you who may lack a Region 2 DVD player, dailymotion's got both the first and second series up for your viewing pleasure. Check out the first episode, "Beginnings."
Reporter Matt Cooper appeared as Jon's guest Monday night, and wrote about the his Daily Show guest-ing experience:
"[Jon] thanked me for not coming on with a whole book he had to read. i asked if he had a reader who summarized all the tomes that authors brought to his show, but he said it was all him."
Read the entire recap here. And after the jump, see the interview for yourself.
Tonight marks the fifth anniversary of New York's weekly downtown sensation, Invite Them Up, and the boys are celebrating in style. This evening at Rififi, expect a kick-ass show featuring Jon Benjamin, Jon Glaser, Leo Allen, Kurt & Kristen, and more.
Related:
* The Apiary's been running a great series of stories and interviews with ITU regulars.
In anticipation of Neil Hamburger's show in Lawrence, Kansas tonight, the Lawrence-Journal World has an interview with the bad-on-purpose standup. Here's a little bit:
“My fans are all over the place — geographically and mentally,” Hamburger describes.
Hamburger also loves to make jokes (actually riddles) at the expense
of current musical icons. Example: “What do you call a senior citizen
who can’t help but expose their genitalia in public?”
Answer: “Madonna.”
“We’re trying to keep things fresh,” Hamburger says of his act. “You
don’t want to go too far out of date, so we’re doing some Gerald Ford
material. But you don’t want to get too fresh because then you get
slapped.”
Do you have any pieces or looks that didn’t turn out as well as you think? What is in your costume graveyard? Anne: Prom dresses with neck braces. Sydney: That was a really funny costume, but not pretty at all.
Added Value Video: The Hazzards sing about boys night out, after the jump.
This time, he's interviewing MTV's sketch comedy group Human Giant (Rob Huebel, Aziz Ansari and Paul Scheer) for Radar Magazine. The interview starts out interesting but normal, and then suddenly takes a confrontational turn:
Showalter: "So when Radar asked me to do this interview, I was like, "This is great," because I feel like I have a kinship with you guys because you're doing a sketch show on MTV and obviously I did a sketch show on MTV. But then I was reading some of your interviews and a lot of people ask you what your influences are and you never mention The State. And I just wanted to know what was up with that."
From Dr. Katz to Home Movies to Freak Show, Jon Benjamin has established himself as one of the funniest dudes in the history of the universe of all-time ever. Yesterday Gothamist had an interview with Benjamin, and it went a little something like this:
What are some projects that you're currently working on? Right now, I’m working on a cartoon for Superdeluxe with my friends Matt Hall and Patrick Borelli called Thunderpoint. We’re producing three episodes that more specifically renders your next question moot.
Do you plan on getting involved in online programming, like Superdeluxe? In the future, which medium do you think people will look to for comedy? Ha. Told you. In the future, there will be very little comedy left, except for that ‘Tater Salad’ Guy who’s brain will be preserved. But, there will be f**k powder, so it will balance out.
In a previous interview, you said that you started writing at sixteen. What was your writing like at the time and how did you develop that skill at a young age? I wrote extremely pretentious poetry. In my last years of high school, I ran with a very poetic crowd. I started reading Blake, Keats, Tennyson, Rossetti, the pre-Raphaelites and I wrote poems ripped off from them with titles called, “The Tear” and “Stone Fields”, which regrettably was about a cemetery.
Were you often injecting humor into your school assignments? I did write a college essay once where the question was, “Who would want to have lunch with and why?’ and I wrote this long essay about me wanting to lunch with Hitler and we would go to this swank outdoor restaurant we would have this wonderful lunch and in the end I would point and say, "Adolph, look," and he would turn around and I would slip poison in his drink. I did not get into college.
I finally got to sit down and watch some Acceptable TV and I'm a huge fan. Despite what you may have read, the sketches are fresh, funny, and unafraid to dive headfirst into absurdity, all while staying faithful and relevant to the pop culture surrounding it.
Beyond that though, the show's production process is pretty neat in its own right. In an interview last month with The Sound Of Young America, show creator Dan Harmon talked about preparing for the launch:
...we're about halfway done with banking the little baby pilots that we're gonna be presenting to people. We have to shoot about twenty four of them so that starting on March 23rd, you'll get to vote whatever you want back, but whenever things get canceled we pull one of these twenty-four pilots that we're shooting right now off the shelf.
We are in 'real time' with production. We've been filming since February, so all the shows are in the can, EXCEPT the shows that get voted back each week. So when voting stops on Mondays (I think?) the writers secure up second episode (3 minutes still) scripts for the winning sketches and we get right into production on Tue-Thu for those and they air on Friday.
Which is awesome and impressive. If you have the time, be sure to check out Harmon and Schrab's cult-famous television pilot, Heat Vision & Jack. And after the jump, watch the Joke Chasers, one of the personal favorites of Acceptable TV's creative team.
Daily Show mainstay (former-writer, former-correspondent, long-time warm-up act) Paul Mecurio gave an interview with The Apiary recently. Topics covered include bloody napkins, investing, muffin-thievery, and the difference (or lack thereof) between the TDS studio audience and a comedy club crowd:
How does an audience for The Daily Show compare to that of a comedy club?
They are exactly the same. I live in New York City and work at a bunch
of NYC clubs on a regular basis--including The Comedy Cellar,
Carolines, The Comic Strip, Gotham, The Laugh Factory, and Stand-Up
NY--and the audiences in these clubs are generally pretty bright and
get the joke, just like The Daily Show crowd. Same holds true for
audiences across the country. I'd say the biggest difference is that in
a comedy club the audiences are there to laugh and have their complete
focus on the stage. A television audience can get a bit distracted by
the studio, the set, etc. and literally forget to laugh out loud so
they need to be reminded at the beginning to make sure they make
themselves a real part of the show.
Comedian of Comedy and Sarah Silverman Program star Brian Posehn is the interview subject at Gothamist today. Here's a taste:
What clip from your career would you like played at the Oscars after you pass away in their tribute to the deceased? Anything from Dumb and Dumberer. Or any of the times I've worn a diaper on camera.
Some say that there's some degree of tragedy in all humor. What's your opinion on that? I don't agree. Farts are funny and tragedy free. Mostly.
What's your take on why Balls are so funny? Balls aren't inherently funny, but the word "balls" is. It's unexplainable.
How would you compare and contrast the real you and the character of "Brian" on The Sarah Silverman Program? The character "Brian" is a big, gay stoner that can be kind of a dick. I'm not gay.
This week, The Sound Of Young America has a delightful interview with 30 Rock's Jack McBrayer. It was recorded just before the announcement of the show's second season renewal (praise the heavens), and Jack mentions how he's been holding off on any reckless spending...
Jack: I haven't made any major irresponsible purchases yet. Oh, I can't wait to.
Jesse: What's the first thing you're gonna buy?
Jack: I'm gonna buy a futon. A futon made of baby skin.
...and if there's anyone who could get away with (and perhaps even be commended for) skinning a baby, it's probably Jack McBrayer.
New York Magazine interviews Daily Show correspondent John Oliver today about New York versus England, and what he does all day (hint: it involves "lies.") Here's John Oliver from a recent Daily Show episode as Senior Kremlin Correspondent:
Kent State's campus paper has a new interview with Bob Saget, wherein the comedian talks about the competing personae established by his TV work and his stand-up act:
"Before I even did those shows, I was one of the bluer comedians coming up," he said. "My standup was always all screwed up. All my stuff was weird, sicko crap. Then I got this job on CBS, like in six months, they fired me, and then I got 'Full House.' They had another guy in the part, and they replaced him with me. And, the character was a clean freak; I made him a clean freak. I said, 'Let's have him love his kids.' I had a new baby at the time, I was 29 or 30 years old, I'll hug everybody."
During that time when everyone thought of him as a family-friendly persona, Saget continued with his brand of comedy, albeit under the radar.
"When I was doing those shows, I did an HBO special," he said. "I said 'fuck' like 20 times, I did terrible things, but nobody seemed to care; it was weird. I think I'm a little more abrasive now because I'm like a mission statement, like a 12-year-old jumping up an down going, 'I'm not Danny Tanner!'"
Saget will perform at the Ohio college next Thursday, April 12. The entire interview can be read here.
Over on Cracked.com today they've got an interview with former Man Show host Joe Rogan. It covers some of the topics you'd expect before veering into decidedly bizarre territory. Case in point:
Psychedelic drugs and chemicals certainly seem to be an area of interest. You name-drop Oxytocin (sic - we're pretty sure they mean Oxycontin and not the hormone released during breastfeeding) in your act, and your detailed discussion of DMT is a kind of web classic. Any other drugs our young readers should be trying to get their hands on?
There’s a fascinating theory by Terrence McKenna. He believes that
human evolution was accelerated by the consumption of psilocybyin
[psychedelic] mushrooms. When the rainforest receded into grassland in
Africa a million years ago, the hominids came out of the trees and
started looking for other food sources. If you look at primates in
Africa, they’re always flipping over cow dung to find beetle grubs, and
these mushrooms grow on cow dung.
And if you ate these mushrooms, they would do a bunch of pretty
interesting things that would tend to accelerate evolution. In low
doses, mushrooms actually increase visual acuity, which makes you
better hunter. They also make you hornier and give you
consciousness-expanding experiences. It kills the ego, and it makes you
look at life from an enhanced and much more objective perspective.
Those things alone, point to one of the possible reasons the human
brain doubled in size over a period of two million years. Which is the biggest mystery in the entire fossil record. The doubling in size of an organ over the period of two million years.
Right about now you're probably all, "WTF?" To which I say, "Seriously, WTF?" The entire interview can be found here.
I've long had a lot of thoughts about Larry the Cable Guy, but today I got to thinking for the first time about how he doesn't dress at all like any cable guy I've ever seen. He doesn't cover that topic in this new interview with Punchline, but he does mention that he's friends with Lewis Black and was close with the late Bill Hicks. He also addressed some of the much-publicized criticism he's received from other comics:
There was that thing with you and David Cross going back and forth at each other in 2005. And I’m sure you’re familiar with Steve Hofstetter’s album referencing you and putting your likeness on the cover hanging by a noose, which seemed a little bit over the top. How do you respond to something like that?
Well I don’t. I’ve got more to worry about than that. I’ve got my own career to think about. I just kind of write it off as jealousy. None of that stuff ever happens to a nobody. When I was selling out comedy clubs, I never heard that. But then when you start going to upper levels, that’s when you start hearing about those things. So it doesn’t bother me. Whatever. Hey, if you want to make money off me, fine. But the cool thing about that Hofstetter thing is that other comedians have stuck up for me.
When I was working in New York at Radio City Music Hall, Louis CK, who is a genius – I love Louis CK, I love his comedy. Louis CK came out to my show and we talked about that a little bit. You just write it off and move on. I’ve got bigger fish to fry.
This week, The AV Club talks to The Office's Mindy Kaling about writing jokes, her love for SNL, and what it's like to work on one of today's best comedies. Read the interview here.
Today, The New York Times takes notice of Larry Wilmore, The Daily Show's "Senior Black Correspondent" and driving force behind some of the funniest Daily Show segments of the past few months, including last week's hyperventilation-inducing "The N Word".
In the Times story, Wilmore (also a consulting producer on "The Office") talks about writing, acting, getting recognized on the street, and the line between love and hate.
After the jump, watch all the videos mentioned in the article.
As you might have gathered from this post's title, Punchline Magazine has an interview up with the inimitable Zach Galifianiakis, whose DVD Live at the Purple Onion was recently released. Here's a representative tidbit:
Two weeks prior to the Irving Plaza show,
he gets an idea while waiting for a train from Brooklyn to Manhattan.
“It’s so dumb,” he says. “The train was late this morning, and I felt
this urge to yell out to all these hipster kids in Williamsburg—just
yell out like a little kid—‘The choo choo is coming!’ Maybe I’ll do
that. I don’t know.”
When he tells you about it, you’re not
sure how it’s a even a joke. You have your doubts. But sure enough,
partway through the Irving Plaza show, he begins, “Sometimes when I’m
waiting for the train…” and you know what’s coming. You’re even a
little nervous about it as he describes seeing the first glint of light
from the headlamps down the tunnel. “Here comes the choo choo!” he
shouts. The voice is more a cartoonish hillbilly than a little kid. And
he grabs his penis when he shouts it—to show just how exciting the
train is.
It works. Heads in the crowd tilt
backward almost in unison, cawing their amusement to the rafters. Three
girls in the VIP balcony exchange looks as they shriek with laughter.
The stone-faced security guard by the door smiles and shakes his
head—as if he doesn’t want to think it’s funny but can’t help himself.
Like the DVD, the interview is definitely worth checking out. The whole thing's here.
Thatotherpaper.com has a nice assortment of interviews from the comedians who stormed Austin for the SXSW festival.
Highlights include:
Zach Galifianakis: "I think comedy is so subjective. I may think someone is not that great, but that does not mean someone else will not like them. It’s like music: Some people like Toby Keith, and some people like music."
Jon Benjamin: "At one point, I actually wanted to be a rabbi. That would have been dreadful. (Sorry, rabbis.) I had a rabbi who was this diminutive, soft-spoken sweet man, and he would come around once a year to our Hebrew school class and talk about being a Holocaust survivor. Then he would show his tattoo, and I really thought that was amazing. At the time I just thought tattoos were for ruffians. But my rabbi had one. Later I understood that the tattoo wasn’t voluntary. So, in short, I guess I always wanted to be a Holocaust survivor."
David Cross: "I guess I believe in doing unto others as you would have them do to you. And I believe in an eye for a tooth and a tooth for an eye. I like to mix it up like that. I would love to give two of my teeth so that I might blind some asshole who done needed him some blindin’!"
Brian Posehn: [Question: What’s something that you’d like to see anthropomorphized and given its own feature length film?] "Can I say my balls?"
The New York Times tells us a lot of stuff we already knew about the Great Amy Poehler -- she's funny, she works hard, other comedians like her, she's not an asshole, and, get this: she's totally a chick!! We'll forgive them the obviousness of this piece, because Amy rules. After the jump, Amy plays Tammy, the little sick kid who loves Little Donny, in a classic UCB clip.
The boards are all a buzz with Paul F Tompkins's new CC Presents premiering tonight, and rightfully so (I caught the taping, and he was great). Have you seen our exclusive interview yet?
Merlin Mann recently sat down with online troubadour Jonathan Coulton on his new podcast, The Merlin Show. I'm a bit of a newcomer to Merlin's self-proclaimed entropic web empire, but any dude with a wizard's name, a love for Ben Franklin, and a hip intro theme is alright in my book*.
In this podcast/mp3 interview, the San Francisco Chronicle talks with Simpsons writer and co-producer Joel Cohen about, among other things, the show's writers' room, his blog, and the long-awaited Simpsons movie.
Formerly "that guy on NewsRadio, turned Fear Factor host and most recently known as "the guy that hates Carlos Mencia," Joe Rogan's got his own stand up to deliver, via his upcoming CD release: Shiny Happy Jihad. Our friends at Punchline Magazine have reviewed it here: "On Jihad (his first album in nearly seven years) Rogan proves he has an amazing charismatic presence— an energy and a voice that prods, if not a hearty belly laugh, then some vigorous reaction from his audience. It’s this part of his personality that makes it so easy to agree with Rogan’s wild theories. “I think that people used to be really, really, really smart,” he says. “But the dumb ones just outf@cked the smart ones. I think we are all the bastard children of the idiot stone workers of Egypt.” [E]ven Rogan does girls-are-different-than-boys jokes. Most times, however, they’re dressed in subplots, like when he contrasts men and women by exploiting Islamic terrorists’ belief that their ultimate sacrifice yields an afterlife with 72 virgins. “P#ssy is so strong that there are dudes willing to blow themselves up for the highly unlikely possibility of p#ssy in another dimension,” he explains. “You know how f@cking crazy that is? There’s nothing that’s got that kind of power. D!ck isn’t even in the ballgame. There are no chicks alive willing to blow themselves up for d!ck. You offer 72 d!cks to a chick, you’re gonna have a real short line of dirty transvestites with deep wrist scars.”
After nearly a year of online comedic domination, the show with ze frank is finally coming to a close. The last episode's slated for on or around March 17th, so consider this your two weeks notice.
Here's a nugget of his from an interview a few years back that I think pretty much encapsulates what makes his work stand out: The stuff that I'm doing on zefrank, I'd love for it... to show people that really simple things, when done with care and enthusiasm, can become incredible. They can be so much fun.
Amen, brother. Frank's dedication to promoting a positive and intelligent online community, while at the same time being consistently hilarious has really set him apart. And though it seems unclear what projects he'll tackle after March 17th, he can rest easy knowing that at the very least, thousands of us will never see a ducky the same way again.
Charlie Watts needs the night off to attend to some personal business, what’s on your rider? I would just use his. I know we have same taste in Cabernet.
How do you envision your ideal death? I want to die doing an email interview for a website.
If you became a ghost in the afterlife, what would you do all day? Probably check my MySpace ghost account. Ahahahah. That was a good one.
In the video below, Todd answers the age-old question "Why is six afraid of seven?" and then debunks the age-old answer on Sesame Street.
Punchline Magazine interviews Sarah Silverman about the SSP, her pretty mouth and life in these United States. Wait, that last part was something I read in the Reader's Digest. So, just the first two things. Here's an excerpt:
In the first episode of The Sarah Silverman Program you and your sister bond over a show called Cookie Party. You don’t really describe what the show is about on the episode, but if Cookie Party really existed, what type of show would it be? We imagined it as a public access show hosted by a character Rob Schrab [who works as a writer, producer and director on The Sarah Silverman Program] does named Minnie Coffee. She's a kind of Southern belle transvestite and she just presents the viewer with about 10 different kinds of cookies each week and the viewer votes for the one they like best. But you don't ever see any of that— though maybe you will in the future.
At least three writers have mentioned as an aside that you have a “pretty mouth,” which almost sounds kind of creepy. How would you react if a guy came up to you in a bar and said, “You have a pretty mouth?” I’m thrilled by any compliments. What kind of asshole do you think I am? Many years ago it was summer and I was walking on the street in New York City and some guys on the street whistled. I whipped my head back at them, annoyed, and they said, ‘Not you.’ Since then I appreciate anything I can get.
You talk a lot about your religion in your act. How has being a Jewish comic helped your career? I don't know. I run Hollywood?
Would you ever give up stand-up in favor of a career in movies and TV? I don't see any reason why you have to give up one for the other. It's like giving up being a Sagittarius so that I can have black hair.
Read the rest of it here and click the video above to watch a preview from tonight's episode of The Sarah Silverman Program!
Last Thursday, comedy blogger aLive From New York wrote a recap of last week's Invite Them Up, Eugene Mirman and Bobby Tisdale's comedy variety show, which included the following:
"During the break we spotted Zak Orth (Wet Hot American Summer) in the crowd and talked about the awesome job he did playing a college student-turned-rapist on Law and Order: SVU. Then, minutes later, Eugene Mirman read aloud his answers from the "21 Questions" feature he's doing for an upcoming New York magazine. The last question was "What makes someone a New Yorker?" Eugene's answer: "Being on Law and Order." We looked at each other and laughed, and then noticed the girl next to us poking the guy she was with in a "Hey, that's you!" kind of way. And I wondered, how many people in this room have been on Law and Order?"
"The New York Magazine interview in question went up this afternoon. (Our favorite: Q: When's bedtime? A:"Whenever I'm done f**king")
(Every Wednesday, comedian Susie Felber will interview a different star of the comedy world for the CC Insider. You can read more of Susie on her blog, Felber's Frolics. After an introduction, this week Susie interviews comedian and author Bob Powers.)
You see comedians bringing the ha ha’s on stage, but even if that’s how they started – slapping down hecklers at the Chuckle Hut or soliciting improv suggestions from drunks at Ye Olde Rat Hole Repertory Theater – all too often performing comedy doesn’t pay the bills, or even float their boats.
I decided I wanted to talk with working comedians about the funny stuff they do other than perform -- everything from novels to comic book writing to TV producing to directing major motion pictures to writing pithy copy on cereal boxes.
Full disclosure: Most of these comics are my friends, but ya know, I’m open to interviewing my comedy enemies too. Though I only have one of those… and no, I’m not telling y’all who it is.
Interview #1: A Chat with Bob Powers. Comedian and Author-to-be (as of Dec. 26th, 2006).
Ok, so I was making goulash the other night and as it simmered, I chatted instant message style with Bob Powers, a comedian who has his first book coming out on December 26th, just (not) in time for X-mas!
In 2006, Bob performed at HBO's US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. You can always see him live in New York City when he co-hosts and performs at How To Kick People, a ridiculously popular monthly comedy reading series. His first aforementioned book, "Happy Cruelty Day! Daily Celebrations of Quiet Desperation," will be published on December 26th and his website, which he’s been updating daily since the earth was still cooling and dins ruled the land, is girlsarepretty.com. Read on and find out tons more, including how you can come to Bob’s book party.
Susie F: Are you ready for your close up?
Bob Powers: LETS DO THIS!
Susie F: Cool. Thanks for doing this. First question...What are you wearing?
Ever wonder what would happen if a sketch comedian moved to Hollywood with dreams of becoming a respected screenwriter, only to find himself writing adult film scripts instead? Read Claire Zulkey's interview with Eric Spitznagel for tales about Butt Crazy Part 16 and other industry adventures.
Harold and Kumar to go to or escape from somewhere else.
[Videogum]
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Eddie Izzard on the iPhone 3G. [
On the recent MTV Movie Awards show, sometime-couch-hopper and manic Scientologist Tom Cruise presented Adam Sandler with a Generation Award for his body of work. "Ladies and gentlemen" Cruise said, "I present to you, the Sandman." All hail the Sandman. 
Paul Rudd is in this month's Interview Magazine. Golden Fiddle 
This weekend's "A Night Out With" in The New York Times was 
HARP Magazine has a new short interview up with Comedian of Comedy 
In anticipation of the upcoming release of Mr. Brooks, MovieWeb has an interview with 
The Stanford Daily has an interview with 
The Apiary has an interview with Steven Wright up today. Among other things, they discuss how his oft-imitated comedy style came into existence:
Forbes.com
David Cross and Chris Parnell are two of the stars of the new poker mockumentary The Grand, which screened at Tribeca last week. New York Magazine did some short interviews with the cast. Here's some of what Cross had to say:
Today at 
(Every Wednesday, comedian Susie Felber will interview a different star of the comedy world for the CC Insider. You can read more of Susie on her blog,
