the comic's comic

Whitney Cummings talks Showtime's "Live Nude Comedy"

Showtime offers something new in an old-fashioned way tonight with the premiere of a six-episode summer stand-up showcase called Live Nude Comedy.

Shannon Elizabeth hosts, and before you start thinking you'll see her perform stand-up in the nude, well, not quite. Elizabeth (who became famous going nude in American Pie, and later learned professional poker, then Dancing With the Stars) will perform in brief comedy sketches with a group of performers that incluldes Josh Fadem, Chad Fogland, Michael Busch and Ramsey Moore. Each episode also will include two burlesque performances. Oh, and yes, there will be stand-up comedy. In fact, each half-hour will spotlight two stand-ups and give each an uncensored 10-minute set. Whitney Cummings, who performs on one of the episodes, also helped put the production together. She sat down with me for a few minutes during the Just For Laughs Chicago comedy festival to explain her motivations, including what she felt was a need to put new stand-ups in their best possible light (as in, longer sets, no censorship, fewer fake reaction shots). Watch:

The full schedule and listings (and a teaser video!) appears after the jump...

Are you ready for the new Andy Dick?

Comedian/actor Andy Dick got his break along with many other alt-comics of the 1990s on the short-lived Ben Stiller Show, but he really got the public's attention later that decade with his portrayal of a wacky radio employee on NBC's NewsRadio. But somewhere along the line, his life became, well, a little Less Than Perfect, and the exploits offscreen became his persona and his reputation. Several trips to rehab later (including one televised on Sober House), Dick is attempting to come back again. This time, he's doing it online via his Atom.com talk show, House Arrest with Andy Dick, and a live touring musical production that shows its influences from another "crazy" Andy, Andy Kaufman. That tour comes to NYC this weekend at Carolines.

I saw Andy Dick's live show last month at Just For Laughs Chicago, and the next day, sat down with the performer to talk to him about that and more, including his new pilot deal to develop a talk show for Comedy Central. You'll notice he's not quite as wild and crazy as the guy who was getting press for all of the wrong reasons a couple of years ago.

Here's the first part of that chat, in which he talks about the differences between him and Kaufman, how he uses Twitter and technology to stream his shows free to fans, how he and his Los Angeles neighbors are all revolutionizing the talk-show game, and more:

After the jump, I asked him how it felt, a year clean-and-sober, to reflect on his career in terms of where he's been and where he could be going now...

Bob Odenkirk visits Andy Dick on House Arrest

I'm making my plans to jet over to Chicago on Wednesday for the start of the inaugural Just For Laughs Chicago comedy festival, and guess who else will be there? Bob Odenkirk and Andy Dick! Bob's teaming up with his longtime comedy partner David Cross for something special, while Andy is going back to his comedy roots. What better way to get in the mood than a video featuring both of these guys, as Bob stops by the second-season premiere of Andy's Internet talk show, House Arrest. It's on Atom.com, Comedy Central's home for original online comedy productions. Enjoy!

House Arrest with Andy Dick: Bob Odenkirk

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