the comic's comic

The official poster and movie trailer for the 2011 documentary, "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop"

Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, the documentary film that followed Conan and Team Coco as they launched a North American theater tour last spring and summer, opens in cinemas across the country on June 24.

I saw it in March with a packed house in Austin, Texas, during the SXSW festival.

Lots of cheers from the audience at footage they hadn't seen before from following Team Coco. It's funny, engaging and shows a side of Conan O'Brien that few people outside of Team Coco have ever seen before.

My full review will come out when the movie does.

For now, though, sit back and enjoy the official movie trailer. Roll the clip!

This week on late-night TV

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.

For the week of May 23-27, 2011

Flashback: Fresh faces of comedy as seen in 1998 episode of Comedy Central's Upright Citizens Brigade

A comedy fan named Danielle who goes by schwaggology on Tumblr was up late the other night watching the first season of the Upright Citizens Brigade's Comedy Central series from way back in 1998 when something caught her eye.

Sitting alongside UCB members Amy Poehler and Matt Besser were mostly college-aged fresh-faced kids (just as you'd see in many UCB show audiences today in NYC or Hollywood). But in the third episode of season one, "Saigon Suicide Squad," check out a few faces in particular. As Danielle points out with arrows, you can see what Paul Scheer, Rob Corddry, Nick Kroll and Rob Riggle looked like many years before they were TV famous themselves.

 
You might even recognize some other people in the crowd!

I wanted to find out more about how this episode could attract so much future talent, so I asked Paul Scheer how he got this very early TV credit. Scheer told The Comic's Comic:

"As far as Saigon -- I was in every episode of UCB season 1 sometimes twice an episode (as an extra -- I think I eventually got one line). They used all their students as extras, none of us got paid but they had great snacks. Saigon was a taping of their amazing stage show, so that was an easy one but that was a super fun night up in Harlem.

I think Nick was a freshman in Georgetown. I was still in NYU. But if you watch the 1st season everyone is there. It's fun looking back."

Fun, indeed!

This photo also works as a great advertisement for taking classes at the UCB's Theatres: From students to stars!

SNL Dress Rehearsal: Justin Timberlake, as Mozart, pokes more fun at his acting career

In this Saturday Night Live sketch that didn't make it past dress rehearsal this weekend, host Justin Timberlake played Mozart -- but really played himself, in a sketch reminiscent of the "Immigrant Tale" sketch from episode #34.22 -- as Mozart declared he was leaving music for acting.

 

Only to have his friends remind him of how his upcoming movie (hey, there was a plug!) was suspiciously just like Ashton Kutcher's friends with benefits plot of 2011, and how he didn't get nominated for major awards for his role in The Social Network, the Mickey Mouse Club, and even the Saturday Night Farce. Parts for Abby Elliott, Bill Hader, Bobby Moynihan and Taran Killam. Plus a reference to the collaborations between Timberlake and Andy Samberg (who plays Mozart's foil, Salieri), and the fact that they had a third music video planned for the show. And Jason Sudeikis plays J.S. Bach.

To make it fit, though, they would have had to play this early in the show and cut something else (Secret Word?).

SNL #36.22 RECAP: Season finale with host Justin Timberlake, musical guest Lady Gaga

Justin Timberlake has become an undeniably reliably strong host for Saturday Night Live, so much so that some would like to coax him into becoming a full-time member of the cast. Timberlake himself has even teased as much when answering questions from the entertainment tabloid media. But having him on once a year to host (and occasionally pop in for a surprise cameo here and there) plays much better, reminding us how well JT works with the cast, without overstaying his welcome.

So penciling him in as host for the 36th season finale was a no-brainer. As was booking Lady Gaga as the musical guest. Not only does she have a new album to promote this week, but the first time she performed on SNL, she fared admirably well in both her musical slots as well as multiple sketches.

Ready to go out big and go home? Let's recap!

We open with the big news of the week in the world. No. Not Arnold Schwarzenegger. We're talking about the IMF head, Dominique Strauss-Khan, accused of sexually assaulting his hotel maid before skipping out of NYC and America.

TMZ doesn't know what to make of Brody Stevens, but liked what they saw at The Hangover Part II premiere

Happy birthday to stand-up comedian and actor Brody Stevens, who enjoyed some solo TV time last week with the paparazzi squad of TMZ on the red carpet for The Hangover Part II.

Roll the clip over on The Comic's Comic Tumblr!

(Hat tip (liked and reblogged from) Mike Rosenstein)

SNL Digital Short: Lady Gaga in a "3-Way" with Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg

Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg won an Emmy Award the first time they dressed up as Color Me Badd rejects for the music video, "Dick in a Box," which also (fun fact) finally convinced NBC to get onboard with the idea of promoting Saturday Night Live sketches and other videos online for people to view and share again and again. They reunited a second time in character for "Motherlover" with Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson, who make cameos in the third video, "3-Way," which debuted last night as part of SNL's 36th season finale.

Of course, what really made "3-Way" memorable was the addition of musical guest Lady Gaga. Oh, and the "Golden Rule" that's this song's subtitle? "It's not gay, when it's in a three-way. With a lady in the middle, there's some leeway."

Roll the clip! (I'll have more to say about this memorable season finale later)

 

Comedian busted in front of a live audience for stealing stand-up routines from the late Mitch Mullany

Sometimes kids will mimic their favorite stand-up comedians to impress their family in the living room or the friends in the classroom. But in a comedy club, it's never OK to steal another comedian's jokes for the sole intent and purpose of trying to further one's own career. Some joke thieves think they can get away with it if they play only one-nighters in small towns far away from thriving comedy scenes (Exhibit A: this guy last year ripping off Patton Oswalt).

Others think they can get away with it if they pick their jokes from the fruits labored by a deceased stand-up who was good but not famous enough to be known by all audiences. Such as Mitch Mullany, who died three years ago this month.

But Eric Gruber and Carlos Herrera, who host The Mostly Normal Show in the Hollywood Improv's Lab studio, decided to take this joke thief to task in front of a live audience at their show this Wednesday night.

Here is a video showing how the joke thief in question -- who isn't named in the video -- even ripped off the cadence and physical act-outs of several bits straight from Mullany.

Comedy Review-a-Thon, Take Two: Sunday, May 22

Perhaps I was pressing my luck by picking Friday the 13th as a day to undertake a silly yet worthwhile cause of finally getting to the large stack of stand-up comedy CDs and DVDs on my desk, in my inbox and clogging up my DVR.

Or was I?

Let's double-down and give it a second try. This coming Sunday, May 22, 2011, I'm going to sit down and listen to and/or watch all of the comedy I haven't yet reviewed, and tell you online what I think about it all, and whether or not I can ever laugh at anything again. I'd do it today, but I have a new day job, and I need to rest up for something as ludicrous as this. And Saturday I promised to help out the cause of Bridesmaids with some precious second-weekend box-office revenue. And next weekend, Memorial Day weekend, I'm trying to coordinate my personal move (within NYC, but still, any move is time-consuming). So Sunday it is.

I'll post the list on Saturday of all of the CDs, DVDs and specials to be reviewed. Please follow along with me on Sunday and post your own rebuttals and hear-hear's to my reviews in the comments.

And yes, I'll be taking bets if you don't think I'll go through with it. And yes, I'll even be taking bribes if you want me to file a glowing review!

And if the world ends on Saturday, well, then I have an out.

The full schedule for the 2011 TBS Just For Laughs Chicago comedy festival

TBS and Just For Laughs have unveiled the complete schedule now for their third comedy festival collaboration in Chicago.

So much going on. Check it! Tickets for the newly announced shows go on sale Saturday.

Remembering Mike DeStefano for this year's AIDS Walk in NYC

A note from PJ Landers...(reprinted from his Facebook with his permission)

Hey Everyone,

I wanted to fill you in on the AIDS Walk in NY we did in honor of comic Mike DeStefano.

If you were planning on going to the walk and set your alarm at 630am like most of us, then you woke up to crazy rain and wind. It was one of those lazy rainy Sunday’s you wanted to just lay in bed all day. I was that close to hitting snooze button. I was planning on bringing my two teenage boys, they helped us plan the walk. As I looked at them in their beds I figured it’s going to be raining all day, let them sleep.

When the organizers say rain or shine they really mean it. Thousands of workers and volunteers were working through the night getting things ready. On Saturday I met hundreds of people that had been working for months to make this day happen. It was incredible to see so many different groups of people come together for the AIDS Walk. They say there were about 45,000 people that walked on Sunday raising over 6 million dollars, 20 or so of those people had come to walk in Memory of Mike DeStefano. Others who couldn’t make it donated to the Mike DeStefano Comic Team, the Team raised close to 6k.

On Conan, Ryan Hamilton defends the state of Idaho, not so much the romanticism of hot air balloon rides

On last night's episode of Conan, stand-up comedian Ryan Hamilton let us all know that it's OK to be from Idaho or any state in between New York and California. I spent my first two years after college working at a daily newspaper in Idaho, so Hamilton and I often bond over our time in the land of potatoes. One thing I cannot relate to is hot air balloon rides. Neither can Hamilton, who explains the craziness of going on a hot air balloon ride, too.

Roll the clip!

 

UPDATE: FOX 5 shames former Comix manager into repaying charity that had been stiffed after fund-raiser

A day after FOX 5 aired this "Shame, Shame, Shame" investigation that showed how former Comix manager Michael Palitz had stiffed a charity out of $7,400 it had raised at a fund-raiser at the now-closed comedy club, Palitz wanted to make amends.

In this update that aired tonight, Palitz confessed: "When I saw the piece on the news, I realized it just wasn't me, and it wasn't the type of person I am. I'm a very nice person. I participate in a lot of charities." He added: "The tragedy that the Malone family has endured should not be compounded by the inability of Comix to make good on its obligations." He then handed over a personal check for $10,000.

Roll the full clip...

Conan O'Brien to bring Team Coco show "back" with him to NYC for a week this fall at the Beacon Theatre

As part of today's presentation by TBS and TNT at the upfronts, the Turner networks announced that Conan O'Brien and his late-night crew would return to New York City for one week of Conan shows at the end of October.

The shows from Oct. 31-Nov. 3 will be held at the Beacon Theatre. Yes. It'll mark his first anniversary since joining TBS, and also mark his first time doing his late-night talk-show in NYC since he hosted Late Night for NBC. No word in the announcement or on the Beacon site about when tickets will become available and how they'll be distributed. But I'll be sure to tell you as soon as I find out.

An additional trip will find Conan traveling to Chicago sometime in 2012. Anyone want to bet me that it'll be in June? Several members of Team Coco filmed a TBS special in Chicago last June hosted by Andy Richter as part of the Just For Laughs Chicago festival (which is sponsored by TBS).

Zach Galifianakis drops by the set; life (MSNBC) imitates art (SNL Digital Short)

When Zach Galifianakis first hosted Saturday Night Live last season, he starred in a digital short called "Zach Drops By The Set" that featured unexpected cameos by the comedian on various TV shows. The first scene has him wheeling around in a chair behind Brian Williams during a news update.

Cut to last weekend, when Galifianakis literally dropped by the set of MSNBC after watching his Hangover co-star Ed Helms host SNL. Just as he did in the SNL Digital Short, but for real this time, Galifianakis wheeled around in a chair behind the MSNBC anchor, in this case Veronica De La Cruz, during an overnight news update. Bonus: Sitting on either side of Galifianakis are Nick Kroll and Al Madrigal.

Here's the art...

Andy Ritchie wins Funniest Person in Austin 2011

Congrats to Andy Ritchie, who outlasted and outpolled the field in last night's finale of the six-week Funniest Person in Austin contest for 2011.

Ritchie, who was a "new face" in Montreal's Just For Laughs festival in 2009, also has a new stand-up comedy CD out this week called "King Ding-A-Ling" via Stand Up! Records.

So I guess he really is King Ding-A-Ling in the city that reminds everyone to keep it weird.

Nice timing on that.

"King Ding-A-Ling" is available on iTunes:

Here's a version of his "shower head" joke which appears on track 7 in longer form on the disc.

Hasan Minhaj lands roles in ABC Family sitcom "State of Georgia" + MTV's "Disaster Date"

Hasan Minhaj continues the hot streak for comedians this TV pilot season, as he just landed a recurring role in the new ABC Family sitcom, State of Georgia, which premieres June 29.

The sitcom stars Raven-Symoné as Georgia, an aspiring actress in NYC. Co-stars include Majandra Delfino and Loretta Devine. Minhaj will play Seth, a physics grad student at Columbia University.

Minhaj also has a gig as part of the cast of the new season of MTV's Disaster Date, which premiered earlier this week. And his comedy album, “Leaning on Expensive Cars and Getting Paid To Do It” is available on iTunes:

WTF with Marc Maron repurposed as a best-of collection for public radio

In case you missed it yesterday, Jesse Thorn from The Sound of Young America revealed that he'd been working for months to get WTF with Marc Maron on public radio, too, and that his project (with Thorn's editor, Nick White) was a success!

They culled through Maron's many episodes and, with Maron's help, produced a 10 episode best-of collection edited for public radio. Public radio icon Ira Glass also chipped in with on-air promos for WTF and helped get the show on WBEZ and Chicago Public Media.

You can check out all 10 episodes on PRX. They include Judd Apatow, Conan O'Brien, Bob Odenkirk and Maria Bamford, Louis CK, Ben Stiller and Tig Notaro, Robin Williams, Mike DeStefano and Margaret Cho, Carlos Mencia, a triple-header with Tom Lennon, Dave Attell and Andy Richter, and an episode with Dane Cook and Janeane Garofalo.

PRX, aka Public Radio Exchange, describes itself as an online marketplace for distribution, review, and licensing of public radio programming. It's presenting WTF in two formats for public radio stations: a 59-minute version with no hole for newscast updates and two floating one-minute cutaways, or a 54-minute version that includes the newscast hole. Either version bleeps words that may be offensive for station listeners. 

Here's the "first" episode with Marc Maron's new introduction to listeners before talking to Judd Apatow.

WTF Episode 101 with Judd Apatow.

Meet Me In New York: Nikki Glaser

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 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.

I first met Nikki Glaser in Montreal, where she was one of the "new faces" at Just For Laughs in 2007, but you may have first heard and seen Glaser either as a contestant on Last Comic Standing, her performance on The Tonight Show (Leno edition), or her role in the 2010 documentary, I Am Comic. Unlike many comedians, she moved to NYC from Los Angeles, instead of the other way around. She has a weekly podcast with Sara Schaefer called You Had To Be There, and this summer, Glaser will release a stand-up comedy CD through Rooftop Comedy. If you're not a fan of her, you soon will be. Let's get to know more about her!

Name: Nikki Glaser
Arrival date: September 2010
Arrived from: LA via St. Louis
When and where did you start performing comedy? I started comedy in the Midwest (St Louis and Kansas City, MO) in 2004.
What was your best credit before moving here? The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Why did you pick NYC over LA or anywhere else? I moved to LA right out of college, and after nearly three years there, I wanted to try something different. I loved the scene there and the group of comics I came up with, but I feel like LA is a place to go after you've either a) have a job, b) figured out exactly what you want out of the business. I wasn't there yet. So I moved back home to St. Louis where I worked the road steadily for over a year and built my act. Eventually, I needed more than the Midwest comedy circuit could offer, so New York was an obvious choice. I had visited there a ton and had a lot of friends who made the transition onto the NYC scene fairly easy.

Introducing The Daily Show's "senior Latino correspondent," Al Madrigal

Great week for stand-up comedian Al Madrigal. He has earned himself two new TV gigs: a supporting role on NBC's new sitcom Free Agents, and last night he made his first appearance as the "senior Latino correspondent" on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Or is it "senior Hispanic correspondent." Stewart used the terms interchangeably. Hmmm. Anyhow. Moving on.

I cannot wait for the great online debate to begin about how Madrigal only got this job because he's hot. Oh, wait. What's that? We only consider looks when it comes to people with lady parts? Oh, alrighty then.

Let's see and hear what he had to tell Jon Stewart last night about immigration reform: