the comic's comic

What I've learned about Wanda Sykes' new talk show on FOX, based on her promotional tour

In the past week, Wanda Sykes has appeared on Oprah, The View, Today and The Daily Show as part of her promotional push for her weekly late-night talk show, which debuts a week from Saturday on Nov. 7. A lot of the interviews ask Sykes about her recent HBO special, I'ma Be Me, or about her personal life. But we have learned a few things about The Wanda Sykes Show.

Such as?

1. Though John Ridley is the head writer (and Greg Fitzsimmons also is writing for Sykes), Sykes said her writing staff includes "three, four, maybe five" women.
2. "We're not going to reinvent the late-night wheel," Sykes said. Although...
3. There will be a bar with alcohol on the set. "This is my second job. You're damned right I'm going to have a drink!"
4. Stand-up comedian Keith Robinson, who often works in NYC at the Comedy Cellar and opens for Sykes on the road, "will be like my sidekick."
5. And the show will keep Sykes close to her family and away from the road. As she joked to Jon Stewart, himself a TV host, "It's where we all go to die."

Why don't we watch some highlights?

And here she was on The Daily Show:

Sykes continues her promotional push tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. She has taped a couple of test shows; things kick off for real on Friday, Nov. 6 with Mary Lynn Rajskub among the known guests. Check here for tickets to upcoming tapings.

Can WitStream outwit Twitter? Lisa Cohen and Michael Ian Black hope so, for comedy's sake

When Miley Cyrus quit Twitter, it made news, but we're not sure why, since her claims of privacy were trumped by her YouTube video rap, which wasn't very private at all. When Michael Ian Black quits Twitter, it's strictly business. Funny business. Black has joined Lisa Cohen in creating a comedian version of Twitter called WitStream.

The site is up and running in beta already, but informally launches with a live stand-up comedy show on Monday, Nov. 2, at Comix in NYC, with performances by Black, Michael Showalter, Pete Holmes, Josh Fadem, Morgan Murphy at Baron Vaughn.

One way WitStream hopes to stand out vs. Twitter is how it makes running conversations easier to follow than @replies, such as this example (see inset at left) following one woman's query about fart etiquette.

They're all representative of the kinds of funny people WitStream wants to be in business with, sharing short bits of comedy and starting dialogues. The launch press release noted that "founding contributors" also included Rainn Wilson, Al Yankovic, Mike Birbiglia and Rob Corddry, and mentioned that Black would be leaving behind his 1.36 million Twitter followers @michaelianblack, hopefully bringing them with him over to the new site. "WitStream is like going to a party with the funniest people you know without leaving your house or dealing with their annoying problems," Black said.

I InterSpoke with WitStream founder Lisa Cohen about her new venture, and competing with Twitter -- which launched a new feature called Twitter Lists last night that seems like a response to services such as hers.

"My response to the lists is this: At the end of the day it's still a lot of proactive work dumped into the lap of the user/reader. Yes, they can now make lists out of those they are following, but what if that total list is small and boring to begin with? It takes a lot of insider knowledge to find the good ones in the first place.  And let's say someone is engaged enough to have a following list as inside-comedy as mine. They also have co-workers and community members and politicians and chefs they want to read on Twitter, so who's to say the comedians will be heard above all that noise? They're too good at this, they deserve their own space, and by living all together they're helping each other gain broader exposure."

I first met Cohen at this summer's Just For Laughs festival in Montreal. How has her gameplan changed in the three months since then?

"I could spend about another six months making everything perfect featurewise, and I still have a long list of everything I want to do, but it's at a place where we can put it out there and see how people like it," Cohen said. "It probably hasn't changed that much. I put it live just before Montreal just because I knew I was going to be talking it up. Back in July I had maybe 30 people on there. Now I have maybe 100. It's been a lot of signing up people, perfecting things, getting the bugs worked out, learning things from use. It's a living, breathing thing that's always evolving, so you have to learn how people use it. I now have a thing called spotlight."

The site also spotlights each member with a profile page that includes a bio, schedule for upcoming live shows, and pages for them to share videos, reviews and sell merchandise.

What about Twitter?

Jim Norton uses Twitter, yet mocks it as "Uninvited Guest" on The Jay Leno Show

I'm on Twitter. You may be on Twitter. Jim Norton uses the micro-blogging social network, too, but the comedian also has some issues with it, as he explained last night on The Jay Leno Show during his "Uninvited Guest" segment. It's a tricky rant to pull off, since Norton is trying to make us laugh by explaining how often people aren't funny on Twitter, and also because he doesn't always the service to deliver jokes (on Oct. 27 he wrote from his perch inside Opie & Anthony's radio studio: "Paranormal Activity stars in studio. I'm scared." With a link to a photo. Of them. In the studio. Not looking scary). Norton also uses Twitter to relay short audio messages from him to his fans and followers. Here's another short burst from Norton about going on FOX News:

And here is Norton's "Uninvited Guest" rant about Twitter. What do you kids think? I think this segment could have been funnier, but in a longer-term sense (if Leno's primetime show can be talked about in longer terms), it appears as though Norton is using this platform to show us how a younger, shaved-head, raunchier version of Andy Rooney would approach five minutes of primetime. If you play the "Andy Rooney game," you get this: "I want to talk this week about Twitter, because like most 14-year-old girls, I have a Twitter account and I never understood how boring my friends' lives were until I started reading their Twitter updates...Larry cut me on the lunch line this afternoon, so I broke a gasoline balloon over his head and set him on fire, LOL!"

Nick Kroll talks sitcoms, Jon Lajoie sings his "Birthday Song" as FX debuts "The League"

FX debuted a new comedy on Thursday night called The League that's about a group of guys who take their fantasy football league much too seriously. Although if the premiere is any indication, it's also a semi-improvised romp that dives headlong into a pit of profanity and sex, and sometimes sexual profanities. In fact, most of the early reviews go out of their way to mention how they cannot mention what's said and implied in the sitcom. You cannot really judge a sitcom by its pilot (although that's exactly what network executives do), so for now, let's focus on the fact that The League stars at least three comedians in Nick Kroll, Paul Scheer and Jon Lajoie. Expect other cameos, too (Matt Walsh and Rob Huebel appear in the premiere).

Lajoie plays Taco, the stoner brother of one of the league's commissioner. He's a musical comedian in real life, and in the debut, he performs a special "birthday song" for his niece, and awkwardness ensues. You can watch the FX version of his song on YouTube (no embed). Here's the uncensored complete version of the song, as Lajoie performed it earlier this year for Sirius XM radio (if you're at work, cover your NSFW speakers!):

And here's a short promo for the series...

Parks and Recreation's special Halloween PSA, for the kids

Did you catch last night's episode of Parks and Recreation on NBC? Twas their Halloween-themed show, although, really, it seemed to be just as much about "Cabbage Night" (at least that's what we called the night before Halloween in our sleepy little town in Connecticut), in which kids go out and prank their neighbors with toilet paper and eggs and such. Another nicely understated job by Louis CK as the Pawnee, Ind., policeman who's dating Amy Poehler's parks department character. But what you didn't see on TV was this very special PSA, featuring Poehler, Aziz Ansari and Aubrey Plaza, telling kids to watch out for metaphorical bad apples when they're trick-or-treating! In our town, we had a guy who actually did hand out apples, and not only did he not decorate his house, but he also did, in fact, answer the door in a bathrobe. No. I did not eat the apple. I'm not that crazy! Roll the clip!

Meet Me In New York: Rory Scovel

What do they say about New York City: There are eight million stories, and sometimes it seems as though eight million of the people telling them think they're comedians? No, that's not it. It is a fact, though, that America's biggest city is also its biggest comedy mecca. Hollywood may be Hollywood, but New York City is where comedians are born funny, become funny or arrive to thrust their funny upon us. I think we should meet some of these people. This is a new recurring feature, a mini-profile of newcomers, up-and-comers and overcomers of New York's vibrant comedy scene. It's called Meet Me In New York.

Today I introduce you to Rory Scovel, who I first read about when he entered Seattle's comedy competition in 2006 and made it to the finals with his unique set choices. This summer, he appeared at Montreal's Just For Laughs as a New Face, and this fall, he is a finalist in New York's Funniest Stand-Up contest (finals to be held Nov. 3 as part of the New York Comedy Festival). Photo of Scovel by Mindy Tucker.

Name: Rory Scovel
Arrival date: March 1, 2007
Arrived from: Washington, D.C.
When and where did you start performing comedy? March of 2004 in Washington, D.C.
What was your best credit before moving here? Live at Gotham on Comedy Central taped right when I moved up.

Why did you pick NYC over LA or anywhere else? I moved to NYC because I grew up on the East Coast. I lived in Greenville, SC, then Spartanburg, SC, then Washington, D.C. It only made sense to keep moving north to NYC. I've always wanted to live here and be a part of the entertainment universe that NYC is. I love everything about this place in and out of performance. NYC has so much character and I felt I would miss ever being here if I went to L.A. first. I think NYC is also a great place to really sharpen your skills as a stand-up comedian and meet lots of comics that are really doing great things with their careers.

How long did it take to get your first paid gig in NYC after moving here? Two months. I emceed a night at the HA Club, then didn't.

Meet Eric Appel, writer/director of many of your favorite exclusive Funny or Die videos

Eric Appel worked on MTV's Human Giant, and now Appel is a writer and director, making many of the exclusive Funny or Die videos that you find funny. Among the talent he's worked with for FoD: Adam West, Rob Huebel, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas Hayden Church, Kevin Bacon, Bob Odenkirk, Jon Hamm and Patton Oswalt. Here, Appel is talking to MakingOf about the art of writing sketch comedy, and he includes an example. Note: It's not Quiz Cab. But you're so, so close.

And here is the newest FoD video Appel wrote and directed, about competing werewolf clothing stores. It stars Sean Clements, Brian Huskey, James Adomian and Noah Munck. Comedy nerds also will find bonus fun in one of the names contained therein. Hint: It's a very Inside Joke. Roll it!

Clothing for Werewolves - watch more funny videos

Playboy takes a closer look at Chelsea Handler, and has fun with Photoshop putting her on its cover!

So, remember way back when, this morning, when I posted about ladies who want to be stand-up comedians and would they be worried more about their bodies than their jokey jokes? They were dealing with the possibilities. Chelsea Handler is living in the reality, as she is the new cover girl on Playboy magazine for December 2009; or, rather, someone resembling Chelsea Handler is on the cover.

This is the Playboy cover. Someone doesn't have to call the Airbrush Police, because Handler called herself out.

This is what she looked like on TV last night on The Jay Leno Show, where Leno unveiled a giant cutout of the cover after interviewing Handler and firing several jokes at her about her older boyfriend, Ted, who just so happens to be the same Ted Harbert who runs Comcast Entertainment Group -- which means not only does he also just so happen to be Handler's boss, but potentially Leno's new boss, should a rumored sale of NBC Universal to Comcast go through later this year. That was a long sentence, but...

How many levels of awkward is that, exactly?

Anyhow. Handler isn't just on the cover, she's also inside Playboy's pages offering 20 answers to 20 questions, as well as offering her own guide to surviving the holidays (Warning: Links go to NSFW Playboy pages). The magazine itself doesn't come out in print until Nov. 13.

Comedy Central confirms Nick Swardson's sketch show is coming in 2010

Comedy Central announced today that Nick Swardson would debut a new weekly sketch show on the network in 2010. I felt like we already knew this, though, right? Oh, yes. Right. Swardson himself said as much back in May on his MySpace page, telling fans he was doing six half-hour sketch episodes that would include animated bits of Gay Robot (maybe Comedy Central already has forgotten that MySpace continues to exist?), and he also mentioned the new show during his recent Comedy Central stand-up special, Seriously, Who Farted? Production on the show will begin in November, with Swardson, Tom Gianis, Happy Madison and Sony Pictures Television as executive producers. The series will include the aforementioned Gay Robot animation, digital shorts, man-on-the-street segments and more.

As Swardson said back in May: "It's more in the vain (sic) of Mr. Show and Human Giant. I'm so psyched. Gonna be DOPE." Word.

Meet the other five finalists in 2009's New York's Funniest Stand-Up contest

Drum roll, please? The other five finalists advancing to the finals of 2009's New York's Funniest Stand-Up contest are (in alphabetical order): Geno Bisconte, Stephanie Holmes, Vidur Kapur, Carmen Lynch and Mike Vecchione.

They join Myq Kaplan, Gerald Kelly, Joe List, Matt McCarthy and Rory Scovel in the contest finals, to be held Nov. 3 at Carolines as part of the New York Comedy Festival.

Who's your pick to win?

Do female stand-up comedians need to dress like men to get laughs like men? (VIDEO)

Every so often, you encounter a debate about whether women are funny (which is a silly debate, because, yes, women are funny!). In this new video, comedian/filmmaker Heather Fink -- with help from comedian/actress Angela Trimbur and friends -- jokingly raises a separate issue for discussion. Does a female comedian face an additional obstacle onstage in getting laughs from the audience if she's also attractive? Do women need to cover up and dress like men to get laughs like men? As Fink wrote on her blog introducing the clip:

"Female comedians can't be too distracting with their boobies and such! Or can they? Maybe they just have to be funny or talented and nobody cares what they look like."

This short video doesn't depict an actual reality, but does it depict the subconscious reality? Watching this made me think of Sarah Silverman, who deliberately dons casual shirts and sweats onstage while delivering her risque jokes; also Iliza Shlesinger, who won the "last" Last Comic Standing and almost always wears a revealing top. But watch this and judge for yourselves. Note: It's NSFW, due to profanities from Trimbur (who happens to appear in episodes this fall of new shows Secret Girlfriend and The League). Roll the clip!

Bear with me: T.J. Miller improvises with a live grizzly bear to audition for "Yogi the Bear" movie!

Did you know that Warner Bros. is developing a live-action/animated movie version of beloved Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Yogi the Bear? That's the word on the street, as well as on the Internets (IMDB profile for "Yogi Bear" (2010)).

So comedian/actor T.J. Miller ventured over to Hollywood Animal Ranch for a screen test with Bam Bam, the grizzly bear. When I first clicked, I expected CGI. Nope. This is real. Watch as Miller improvises with Bam Bam. Will they survive? SPOILER ALERT!

Hey, Boo Boo! Do you need a refresher on who/what Yogi the Bear was? Here is a 1968 episode of Yogi's Big Break:

And to complete the circle (or triangle!), here is a clip of Will Ferrell wrestling "Dewie the Bear" from the 2008 movie, Semi-Pro. Of course, that bear actually later went on to kill an animal trainer last year. The things we do for comedy sometimes, people!

Meet the first five finalists in 2009's New York's Funniest Stand-Up contest

Advancing from last night's first semifinal of the 2009 New York's Funniest Stand-Up contest, please congratulate (in alphabetical order): Myq Kaplan, Gerald Kelly, Joe List, Matt McCarthy and Rory Scovel. They move on to the contest finals on Nov. 3 at Carolines, part of the New York Comedy Festival.

Eliminated in the semis: Josh Accardo, Vince August, Gina Brillon, Joey Gay, Jason Good, Eric Reynolds, Erik Rivera, Yamaneika Saunders, Dan Soder, Josh Spier and Reese Waters.

The other half of this year's semifinalists will compete tonight at Gotham Comedy Club for the five remaining slots in the finals.

Did you see Artie Lange's "performance" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon? Let's recap.

In case you missed Artie Lange's tour-de-farce last night on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, well, you're in luck, because the show has much of it available online. And it was something, all right. Lange was the first guest and stuck around for the entirety, involving Olivia Munn in a running dialogue that kept Fallon in top giggle form, through a doubles ping-pong match with Fallon, Munn and Susan Sarandon (in a surprise cameo!), and eventually pretty much bumping David Chang, who only happens to be NYC's current chef sensation. At least Lange clarified at the last minute that he was goofing when he said Chang had given him ecstasy pills backstage, although when Sarandon asked aloud to Lange, "Are you high?" Fallon could only reply: "He's a bad guy to ask."

Let's rewind, and take a quick step backward to put this into context.

The last time I saw Lange in person, he seemed in fine spirits, mingling with comedians at Carolines for a book release party for Lisa Lampanelli. The next day, Lange reported to court in New Jersey to deliver a plea for a driving arrest this past summer. And then he virtually disappeared. When he re-emerged at his day job as Howard Stern's comedy sidekick on Sirius XM satellite radio on Oct. 20, Lange acknowledged in detail that he had suffered from a "mini nervous breakdown" and was likely scaling back on his stand-up touring schedule. But the comedian, now 42, has a new CD coming out and a headlining gig Nov. 6 at the Beacon Theatre as part of the New York Comedy Festival.

So Lange bounded onto Fallon's stage at 30 Rock to dish out some of his punchlines, and then some. Starting with jokes about A-Rod and Kate Hudson, then the gag about being on ecstasy.

How many different types of vampire videos can you watch in one mortal lifetime?

Did I mention Halloween is coming, and with it, more comedy? I did, didn't I? Surprise, surprise, Atom.com just launched a new online series called Intercourse With A Vampire, and it's very NSFW, as if you could not ascertain by the word "Intercourse" in the title. Watch, if you dare!

Intercourse With A Vampire, Episode 1

Atom.com: Funny Videos | Sci-Fi & Horror Hilarity | Psycho Chicks & Total Dicks

So this makes how many different types of vampire videos, at this point? I stopped counting a while ago. Thankfully, the kids at CollegeHumor have kept count on the draculas and choculas and other batty immortals. And they brought them all together for a Vampire Reunion! Roll it.

Just when ESPN needed something funny, it's the season 3 debut of Mayne Street

ESPN has had a rough week, PR-wise, what with the guy having sex with the young woman who's not his wife, and the other guy making a woefully unfunny joke about a race-car driver based loosely on his ethnic heritage, so they're really due for something to remind us that they're great at delivering us sports information and also quite funny in doing so. Cue Kenny Mayne! Mayne has always been one of my favorite ESPN guys (and the fact that I used to write for the newspaper in Federal Way, Wash., from whence he came, has nothing to do with it). Today marked the debut of season three of Mayne Street, the anchor/reporter's online series. You can watch season one of Mayne Street here; or season two here.

Comedians Alison Becker, Aubrey Plaza and Ben Schwartz have been part of Mayne's crew, though none of them are in the debut, which finds Mayne paying a visit to another guy with sports/media things in common with the blog, Bill Simmons. I've read The Sports Guy's columns for years, but this probably isn't the best time to depict yourself as a faker who has bikini-clad women gratuitously make out and wrestle at your fake mansion, is it? Anyhow. Timing! Who's with me? Roll the clip!

Russ Mitchell of CBS News attempts stand-up comedy at Carolines; lives to report about it

As a previous holder of the fabled (not imaginary) title of New York's Funniest Reporter, I have a vested interest whenever NYC-based reporters try their hands at stand-up. Even more so when they do so outside the confines of the little contest I won in 2007. Which brings me to last night at Carolines, where CBS News reporter (and national weekend anchor) Russ Mitchell took to the stage to tell some jokes. Talk about a fast turnaround: Mitchell's report on it aired this morning on The Early Show. Yes, I watch The Early Show when I'm up that early (Today keeps me going after 9 a.m. with its bonus morning hoo-ha). Roll the clip!

Watch CBS News Videos Online

OK. A couple of things. Joan Rivers was pretty funny offering advice to Mitchell, and hearing Harry Smith (?) ooh over Mitchell's acknowledgement that Pete Dominick also wrote some jokes for him was a nice moment. Mitchell also was quick to thank the comforting crowd (with many coworkers there, it was essentially a bringer!) and staff at Carolines for putting him at ease. But Dave Price? Price is that type of TV meteorologist who's always quick to sneak a joke or wisecrack whenever he can every morning, so he's the guy you'd figure would jump at the chance to perform at Carolines (or any comedy club). Hearing Price say that comedians who have nothing to say resort to vile, that sounds like that's him projecting -- or else he has never been to a decent stand-up comedy show. Because comedians who have nothing to say are not comedians. They're merely blowhards who have run out of hot air. Anyhow. Enough about that. Welcome to the club, Russ!

Related: I was at Carolines last year when Ann Curry from NBC News tried stand-up. Video of Ann Curry doing stand-up comedy at Carolines.

How is your comedy scene celebrating Halloween?

That seems like such an odd question. How is your comedy scene celebrating Halloween? I didn't know Halloween was known for comedy, is something that a rational human being who can read and write on the Internets would say (but that wouldn't be a category on The $25,000 Pyramid or any other monetary-pyramid-game show equivalent -- Something a Rational Human Being Who Can Read And Write On The Internets! -- that just would never fit in the pyramid-shaped box, and you should have known better). And yet. Maybe comedians find something comfortable in the pagan world of horror -- we talk about our experiences with audience members as killing and bombing, after all.

For whatever reason, it seems as though Halloween brings out a number of themed shows (more, I'd argue, than for Christmas and Hanukkah) in comedy clubs across the nation. In Boston, slasher-comedy-gore-musical Gorefest is celebrating its seventh year of blood-splattering fun with Improv Boston. A quick check of the Los Angeles UCB Theatre's schedule reveals themed shows this week from Comedy Death-Ray, The Apple Sisters, a Friday-night party and a Gallery of Evil show on Halloween night.

Here in NYC, my radar already has turned up multiple shows finding ha-ha's in horror this week. It began last night at the UCB Theatre with Thunder Gulch's presentation of Monster Night Live, an SNL-gone-Halloween spoof. The UCB's big show, with three performances each on Friday and Saturday, is Killgore. Written by the UCB's own Matt Walsh, Killgore's cast this year includes: Emily Axford, Matt Fisher, Jonathan Gabrus, Chris Gethard, Molly Lloyd, Thomas Middleditch, John Murray, Ben Rameaka, Craig Rowin, Jim Santangeli, Gavin Speiller, Kate Spencer, Andree Vermeulen and Zach Woods. Roll the clip!

But that's not the only Halloween-themed comedy show in NYC this week. To wit...

Want to see people nude? There's an app for that. Or is there? (VIDEO)

Ever since I recently made the switch to the iPhone 3GS, I've been even more perceptive of all of the advertising that hits the airwaves both for and against the Apple superphone (thanks, Verizon, for launching the "map" parody spots what seemed like the day after I got my iPhone; and yet, despite that and the oncoming "Droid" phone, I am still in a newlywed phase with my iPhone). There also have been countless parody videos made and uploaded about the iPhone in the past two years, many straight parodies of the Apple TV ads, so I won't belabor you with links to them. But this short video landed in my inbox a few days ago, and it only keeps gaining more viewers on the YouTubes and other Internets. If you ever thought of shelling out the quarters for the X-Ray glasses in the back of a comic book, then you certainly have been waiting your entire life for someone to create a Nude app for the iPhone 3GS. So here that is (and since this is a site about comedy, I hope you're smart enough to know that SPOILER ALERT):

Related: So who is the bald guy? He's a New Yorker who has made short video ads for Serious Eats and Thrillist, as well as capturing the sights and sounds of our subways. His name is Michael Krivicka. And this 2005 short he made appeared on PBS earlier in the year -- it's the just the kind of thing that should get you moving at the start of a New York City morning. Which it just so happens to be right now as I post this. Enjoy! (Note: Includes a NYC profanity or two)

Microsoft to Seth MacFarlane: Thanks, but no thanks

Remember how Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein were going to dedicate one of their live variety shows to Microsoft's launch of Windows 7? Yes, of course you do. Before you can call up the "a funny thing happened on the way to" phrase on your predictive-text-blogging-platform (which exists only for the government at this point in beta), Microsoft's people (not Bill Gates nor even Steve Ballmer, but just people) saw the live taping of the Seth-and-Alex show and thought, well, on second thought...

Here is the Microsoft spokesrobot quote: "We initially chose to participate in the Seth and Alex variety show based on the audience composition and creative humor of Family Guy, but after reviewing an early version of the variety show it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand. We continue to have a good partnership with Fox, Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein and are working with them in other areas. We continue to believe in the value of brand integrations and partnerships between brands, media companies and talent." (via Variety) Sure. Sure. Good partnership! Other areas! Sounds like everything's coming up Microsoft roses!

FOX will air the Almost Live Comedy Show on Nov. 8. But what to do about all of those Windows 7 punchlines and references? Dub in a new sponsor's name? How delicious!