On this day when so many people were watching a British woman become royalty, three American ladies have turned entrepreneurial, opening up Internet shop on their own entertainment destination, HelloGiggles.com. They had me at Hello Giggles.
As founders Zooey Deschanel, Sophia Rossi and Molly McAleer announce on their "about" page:
"HelloGiggles.com is the ultimate entertainment destination for smart, independent and creative females. Everything hosted on the site will be lady-friendly, so visitors need not worry about finding the standard Boys Club content that makes many entertainment sites unappealing to so many of us."
And they've kicked things off with a humorous branded video for Teleflora. Roll the clip!
In this updated report from FOX 5 New York, it turns out that former Comix manager Michael Palitz also allegedly stiffed a charity out of $7,400 from a fund-raising show at the club last fall. Roll the clip. Shame, shame, shame.
Several comedians have done Broadway and off-Broadway this season, and the Drama Desk Awards took notice, with three earning nominations today for "Outstanding Solo Performance" for their one-man shows.
Mike Birbiglia, for Mike Birbiglia's My Girlfriend's Boyfriend; John Leguizamo, for Ghetto Klown; and Colin Quinn, for Colin Quinn Long Story Short, all are up for the prize, competing with Daniel Beaty, Juliette Jeffers and Joanna Tope.
The Book of Mormon received the most Drama Desk Award nominations, 12, for team South Park (Trey Parker and Matt Stone), while Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, starring Robin Williams, received 7 nods, and The Motherfucker in the Hat, featuring Chris Rock in his Broadway debut, earned three nods.
The 56th annual Drama Desk Awards will be held May 23, 2011, hosted by Harvey Fierstein, and broadcasted on cable via Ovation in June.
Annual Tony Awards nominations, meanwhile, will be announced May 3.
In case you missed it amid the hoopla surrounding Steve Carell's goodbye on The Office or the royal wedding in Britain, there was something oddly familiar last night about the portrayal of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il on NBC's 30 Rock, and that something oddly familiar was the fact that he was played by a she, in the form of comedian Margaret Cho.
Here are a couple of pictures of Margaret Cho playing Kim Jong-Il. Enjoy!
And from the "movie" that Kim Jong-Il produced with Tracy Jordan, which was not a sequel to Cop Out...
Aflac, the insurance company with a lot of business in Japan, fired comedian Gilbert Gottfried as the voice of the Aflac duck because he joked about the tsunami in Japan last month. This is the guy they picked to replace Gottfried as the voice of the duck.
The 2011 TBS Just For Laughs Chicago comedy festival has added some more names, and big names, too, as Martin Short will return to the festival this June, but with Steve Martin!
Other additions include Seth Meyers, Ron White, Rodney Carrington and Jo Koy, while Hannibal Buress, Kumail Nanjiani, Kristen Schaal and Paul F. Tompkins have been named as the "special guests, who are also comedians and friends of" Demetri Martin for his June 16 show at the festival.
THE CHICAGO THEATRE: Steve Martin and Martin Short in a Very Stupid Conversation – Sunday, June 19 at 7:30 p.m. For the first time ever, two of the funniest Martins – Steve Martin and Martin Short – perform together on stage for the first time, taking to The Chicago Theatre for a historical event June 19 with their special show Steve Martin and Martin Short in a Very Stupid Conversation.
THE ROSEMONT THEATRE: Ron White & Rodney Carrington – Wednesday, June 15, at 8 p.m.
THE VIC THEATRE: Seth Meyers – Saturday, June 18, at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets for the new added shows go on sale April 30.
The following listings include comedians and comedic actors scheduled to appear/perform on the late-night TV talk show circuit this week. Check with the TV shows and local listings for last-minute changes. As seen on permanent rotation on my home page's sidebar.
Chelsea Lately (E!) Panelists -- Monday: Bobby Lee, Arden Myrin, Dan Levy; Tuesday: Jo Koy, Sarah Colonna, John Caparulo; Wednesday: Matt Braunger, Jen Kirkman, T.J. Miller; Thursday: Fortune Feimster, Gary Valentine, Ross Mathews; Friday: Chris Franjola, Chris Hardwick, Loni Love
Ricky Gervais is friends with Louis CK, who is friends with Chris Rock, who is friends with Jerry Seinfeld. Put these four friends together in a room and let them talk shop for 50 minutes about comedy. That's not a show about nothing. That's Talking Funny, which premieres tonight on HBO.
It opens mid-conversation, just like Showtime's The Green Room with Paul Provenza. But unlike that series, this is a one-time affair, without a studio audience or a moderator. Just four famous funny men, well, talking funny. And talking about the business of being funny. Is that going to be funny?
Yes.
Of course it is. And not just because they're all established comedians. Let's take a look at an extended peek:
Among the other observations they make about their art:
Gervais acknowledges that he got into stand-up to prove that he had earned his keep as a comedian after the success of The Office. Seinfeld alleges that stand-up comedians are the most criticized and judged people, because of the feedback they receive after every joke, and argues that professional critics shouldn't judge comedy unless they know what it is to write "the act." There's talk about cursing, easy laughs, and the clip above leads into a discussion about slurs. They get into an extended riff after Louis CK says he still remembers a singing comic who bombed 25 years ago. Seinfeld recounts an old bit of his about Superman in which he realized the bit only worked because he had used the F-word, and now he doesn't swear at all onstage.
Notable quotes:
"I sort of disguise jokes. I don't really make jokes. I think of a joke as the minimum amount of words to get to a punchline." -- Ricky Gervais
"That's the problem with so many of these young guys, they think it's all attitude. But it's got to have jokes under this weird persona, under your crazy glasses, under your crazy voice. Whatever gimmick you have. Henny Youngman has to have something to do with it," Chris Rock said. To which Seinfeld added: "You can put all kind of furniture, but you have to have steel in the walls."
Louis CK says that in recent years, he has used his strongest closer as his new opener to force him to write good jokes, prompting Seinfeld to tell Rock, "You see how this kid got good?" There's some mutual love among these guys, and in this first trailer for the screener, you can see that. Roll the clip.
At first, some viewers of this clip wondered if CK was going to call out Seinfeld for doing his bit. But in context, Seinfeld was doing CK's bit, after telling him how much he loved that bit. CK's actual response: "That's a completely Seinfeld-ed version of my joke. You made it nice."
Similarly, in this discussion on early bits, CK and Seinfeld learn that they both used to joke about the grammar and interpretation of street signs. I can think of several other comedians who have plumbed these shallow waters, too. To parallel thinking!
The special ends with them jokingly delivering promos for the 50 minutes. But you already know you should watch this. If you're a comedian. If you're an aspiring comedian. If you're a fan of comedy. If you like to laugh. This may be HBO, but it's also must-see TV.
Some people I tend to see at every major comedy festival. Jeff B. Cohen is one of those people. I met him several years ago in Aspen. He's a nice guy. For an entertainment lawyer, that is! We have fun conversations about comedy and I have many friends who are clients of his.
Someone else pointed out to me once that Cohen played "Chunk" in the 1985 movie The Goonies. Are you surprised? Are you surprised because you thought that I played "Chunk" in The Goonies?
Regardless, Yahoo! caught up with Cohen to talk to him (as well as director Richard Donner) about how he made the transition from child actor to entertainment lawyer. Roll the clip!
Joe DeVito returned to perform again last night on Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and now that he's single at 42, he finds himself examining what he has learned about women and dating.
This clip also features a rare plug for Broadway Comedy Club in NYC. DeVito will be there this Saturday. That's what Ferguson said! Roll the clip.
They're not exactly the Three Musketeers of comedy, but Bill Burr, Robert Kelly and Joe DeRosa did figure out the value of teamwork. By joining forces, they sat down, wrote, produced and directed a short film all on their own, and Cheat will debut this weekend at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. There are five screenings, starting April 23 and continuing through May 1.
The film has opened up other opportunities for the trio.
Let's take a look at the trailer, and then talk to the fellas about it. Roll the clip.
So whose idea was it? Who had to convince the other two to get on board with making a short film?
BURR: "I think Bobby was the guy who said this was a movie."
KELLY: "I was the most desperate to do something. Bill has a very successful career and doesn't need us guys."
BURR: "No...Stop. He was the star of Tourgasm. I was on I Love the 80s Strikes Back. There's no strife between us. This was the three of us clinging to a raft and surviving together."
DEROSA: "Yeah, it was Bobby. The three of us had talked about it. Why are we waiting for something to happen. Why are we waiting for the next audition? Why don't we make it happen? That was the planted seed. And we called Bill and Bill liked it."
So what's the cheat in the movie?
DEROSA: "The logline is three friends to pull off the perfect crime. It looks like it might be a comedic heist, but then there's the big reveal!
BURR: "I always just bring up the movie Speed, Part 2, where they just showed the first two-and-a-half acts. They showed everything but Sandra Bullock walking on the beach. They burned 90 minutes of the movie and we knew the boat didn't blow up. We're kind of doing the opposite. We're in between Speed 2 and The Crying Game."
Here is the official "red band" (adults only, or mature immature audiences, please) for 30 Minutes or Less, arriving in a cinema near you in August 2011. Starring Aziz Ansari, Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride and Nick Swardson. Directed by Ruben Fleischer.
The Hollywood Reporter makes Lorne Michaels its cover story this week, and since it's Easter, they also asked illustrator Edel Rodriguez to depict Lorne and the SNL gang as the Last Supper. Which makes Lorne essentially Jesus Christ SNL Superstar, right?
From left to right: Jimmy Fallon, Amy Poehler, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Chevy Chase, Tina Fey, Lorne Michaels, Will Ferrell, Conan O'Brien, Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock, Dan Aykroyd.
Two quick thoughts: 1) Conan is the only writer to make the table, but he was Lorne's chosen one for the Late Night gig back in 1993; and 2) the man at the far right (Lorne's far left) is supposed to be Aykroyd, but it's even more believable as a depiction of Steve Higgins, who has long been a behind-the-scenes force as a head producer on SNL (as well as voiceovers for SNL and Fallon, Lorne's second chosen one for Late Night).
"Fight For Your Right Revisited," the new half-hour short film from the Beastie Boys, debuts at midnight tonight on Vh1, with an uncensored version airing at 3 a.m. on Comedy Central.
But here's the music video for "Make Some Noise," which features more than five minutes from the short, with Elijah Wood, Seth Rogen and Danny McBride playing one version of the boys, and John C. Reilly, Will Ferrell and Jack Black playing another version. "Make Some Noise" is the first track off of the Beastie Boys upcoming disc, "Hot Sauce Committee Part Two."
A ton of other celebrities, comedians and comedic actors also make cameos in this: David Cross, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Adam Scott, and Rainn Wilson among them.
In this video interview with Social Times, CollegeHumor co-founder Ricky Van Veen explains how the site -- and in essence, other online destinations -- can earn money (aka monetize) from making funny videos.
Van Veen talks about the evolving mood of the collective online audience, as we're now more willing to watch (or put up with) pre-roll, post-roll and other ads in videos, and how he thinks we'll eventually be willing to pay and/or subscribe for them. He also reveals how and why CollegeHumor launched a T-shirt business, Busted Tees.
Roll it!
Want to learn more of the history of CollegeHumor? Here's video of Van Veen explaining how they got into the game early. Web 1.0, people. And how have they stayed relevant to today's college kids in Web 2.011...
Matt Walsh is finishing up work on his first feature film as a director, the highly improvised movie, High Road.
So naturally, The Comic's Comic spoke to the UCB comedian about it on 4/20. Or was it just coincidental timing?
"It is interesting numerology," Walsh told me. "We're still finishing the movie. We're in the sound mix right now. A little color correct and we're done."
Audiences will get to see the finished product next weekend when the film premieres April 29 at the Newport Beach Film Festival. The film stars James Pumphrey as a man caught between his girlfriend (played by SNL's Abby Elliott), his band, and dealing his weed. The rest of the cast includes Rob Riggle, Lizzy Caplan, Joe LoTruglio, Rich Fulcher, Horatio Sanz, Dylan O'Brien, Zach Woods, Matt Jones, Ed Helms and Kyle Gass. Here's the "red-band" trailer (red-band = swearing and other things making this video NSFW)!
How did the making of High Road differ from the UCB's first film, Wild Girls Gone? "Good question. How is it different? I think we have better technology. We have better cameras now. This one was shot more like a documentary. We had d.p.'s who had shot documentaries...so the approach was more documentary-style."
For structure, did you write a full script, just an outline, or did you have the actors treat it with the UCB "game" approach? "We had roughly 65 scenes and each scene had a paragraph of plot and character count: Who's in the scene and when they come in. And then for the comedy's sake, we had game in each scene so characters could find what was funny in each moment that the players could play around in."
As you're finishing it now, how do you feel about using that process? "I'm very happy. I'm very fortunate to have a really talented, good-looking cast. They're all good on camera and they improvise dialogue that I never would have been able to write. And each character has their own certain voice and idiosyncrasy that they bring to it."
Did that process work the same as if you'd used a fully-written script?
It's 4:20 somewhere, but it's 4/20 everywhere today since it's April 20. Pot jokes. Marijuana. Weed. Stoners.
Comedians know a lot about that. And they'll be joking about it today, obviously.
At 2 p.m. Eastern/11 a.m. Pacific (and other applicable time zones), Comedy Central's Jokes.com and Atom.com have joined forces with WitStream.com for "The #ComedyShow" with co-hosts Michael Ian Black and Steve Agee. It's an hourlong online affair, with jokes, videos and fan participation encouraged via the hashtag #ComedyShow.
"There is nobody less qualified to speak about marijuana than me, which is why I am so excited to be co-hosting this event with true stoners Steve Agee and Morgan Murphy,” Black said. Agee added: "I'm more than capable of co-hosting this event - I have a medical marijuana card. That makes me a professional."
Confirmed participants include Owen Benjamin, Eli Braden, Rob Delaney, Rachel Feinstein, Joselyn Hughes, Al Madrigal, Shane Mauss, Morgan Murphy and Brendon Walsh.
On WitStream, you can follow #ComedyShow along here.
At 4:20 p.m. Pacific (do the math for your time zone), Yowie.com will host "The Back Room" with Matt Besser and guests including Jimmy Dore, Steve Agee, Paul Rust, Colton Dunn, Scott Rogers and Kenny Stevenson.
If you prefer your 4/20 jokes live and in person, then in NYC, Jon Friedman's "The Rejection Show" offers a specially-timed edition at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.
If you're on the fence about watching live vs. online, the UCB's Hollywood venue offers its own treats with "420 Funny: A Very Pot Friendly Variety Show," hosted by Harris Wittels and Armen Weitzman, with comedy, films and other funny stuff courtesy of Matt Besser, Aubrey Plaza, Birthday Boys, Spobra, Jon Daly, David Harris and a video from Rob Schrab. You can watch it online, too, via Yowie.
Check your local listings for 4/20-themed shows near you.
"Well, there's no question that a lot of the, whatever gifts that I have, came through this strain of DNA. It can't just be a coincidence that I know how to do this; I didn't learn all this, you know what I mean? How to be a comedian, and how to think funny, or talk funny. Some of that was put in me from other Jews. So, you know, I'm grateful for that."
-- Jerry Seinfeld, interviewed for CBS Sunday Morning after hosting the opening of the National Museum of American Jewish History
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