the comic's comic

Things you may or may not see on Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars" benefit show tonight

I don't know if you can ever have too many stars on a benefit show, but Comedy Central certainly tries every two years on behalf of autism research with its Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert for Autism Education, which airs again tonight.

Much of the event taped earlier this month in NYC, although when it airs this evening, host Jon Stewart and a slew of celebrities will appear live in LA to answer the phones when you call in to make a donation. Viewers also will be able to vote, via texting, on celebrity stunts during the live portion of the broadcast. Comedians appearing and manning the phone bank include Jason Alexander, Mike Birbiglia, Julie Bowen, Drew Carey, Cedric the Entertainer, George Clooney, Bryan Cranston, Larry David, Will Forte, Jeff Garlin, Lauren Graham, Tom Hanks, John Hodgman, Rob Huebel, Penn Jillette, Chris Kattan, Jimmy Kimmel, B.J. Novak, Conan O’Brien, Jim Parsons, Andy Richter, Maya Rudolph, Paul Scheer, Adam Scott, Bill Simmons, David Spade, Eric Stonestreet, Betty White, Larry Wilmore and Weird Al Yankovic.

As for the show itself, I saw it, so I can tell you what you may see, unless they decide to edit it out.

You may or may not see Tina Fey joke about wanting to say hi to her family, then realizing the show is airing on Thursday night, when 30 Rock is on, adding: "Who am I kidding, they're watching Shit My Dad Says on the DVR." Here she is with Stewart showing off her 2011 Tina Fey Swimsuit Calendar:

You may or may not see Ricky Gervais make the audience gasp with a DUI joke that also includes a rape! Here is joking about his history of charitable giving, including the time he was given the gift of a goat. An African goat. Roll it.

 

You may or may not see Tracy Morgan awkwardly work with Stewart through a sketch about how big his pockets were.

You may or may not see Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell sing a novelty song that's only about 19 months too late, including the re-appearance of Tay Zonday. If you were around 19 months ago, that name might make more sense. But probably not.

You may or may not see Jim Gaffigan kill with his new material about McDonald's.

SNL #36.1 RECAP: Host Amy Poehler, musical guest Katy Perry, and many cameos from SNLs past

Thirty-six seasons, and despite any number of people who say "Saturday Night Live hasn't been funny since _____ ______ left the show," the show goes on and on and continues to be an iconic television program that not only generates talk in offices and schools the following Monday, but also continues to contribute to the national discussion on political and social issues.

I'm not sure anyone knew quite what to expect for the start of SNL's 36th season, considering its four new hires constituted the biggest addition to the cast since 2001, as well as what effect the departures (planned or unplanned) of veteran wild card Will Forte and newcomer Jenny Slate might have on the show's pre-existing recurring sketches. Perhaps knowing all of this -- as well as the lackluster starts offered in seasons 34 and 35 by world-famous but not necessarily funny hosts Michael Phelps and Megan Fox, respectively -- Lorne Michaels turned to a trusted former star of SNL in Amy Poehler to host the premiere. Of course, as we quickly learned, Michaels looked to ensure the premiere was even more of a sure thing by inviting back several of SNL's other recent bright stars for cameos both brief and extended. So. Let's get to recapping!

The cold open is a dish best served not political, at least on my comedy plate, because in the past few years, the sketch has not been able to surpass the surreal reality of the current political situation. Such was the case with this look inside the Republican National Committee headquarters for a sit-down meeting with Delaware GOP U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell. We have so much recorded quotes of O'Donnell already to speak to her craziness (and visuals to show how she even at times has modeled herself directly as a Sarah Palin lookalike (!)), so much so that even casting Kristen Wiig as O'Donnell cannot heighten this. In fact, Wiig's mugging detracts from the satire here. But. Fun fact: We get our first glimpse of newbie Vanessa Bayer, who utters a line to introduce O'Donnell. Jason Sudeikis and Bill Hader play the hapless GOP party-line guys.

Now for the monologue. Amy Poehler introduces all four of the new kids to the SNL block, then has a dream sequence in which Nasim Pedrad takes over one of her characters, Justin Timberlake kisses her, Rachel Dratch comes back only to get carried away -- "Avenge me! Avenge me!" -- and Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon take back Weekend Update, and Kenan Thompson plays Lorne Michaels with a nod to Inception. It's all for show, and for anyone who thinks it's too much of a gimmick, just remember that the season premiere is a big to-do each year, so why not go big!

Before we can get to the new kids, however, we're treated to more old-school SNL -- viewers of the Betty White and the all-star SNL women episode this spring will remember that putting on "greatest-hits" sketches generally leads to a well-liked evening -- so Maya Rudolph rejoined Poehler for another round of Bronx Beat. Of course, this time around, the focus is on musical guest Katy Perry and her "controversy" because she showed her cleavage in a Sesame Street video with Elmo. When is Katy Perry not showing cleavage? Wait, wait, don't tell me. I don't want to know. Poehler gets a good line guessing that Perry's bra size is 3D. Notice how Perry bounces up and down in her seat. Oh, wait. You probably already noticed that.

Time for our first fake ad of the season...

Watch this, Diddy! Jimmy Fallon helps Chris Gethard invite you to his UCB show #diddygethard

This reminds me of the time Lorne Michaels went on Saturday Night Live to invite the Beatles to reunite on SNL.

Except in this case, Diddy really did promise on New Year's Eve to attend the monthly Chris Gethard Show at the UCB Theatre, and here we are nine months later, promise yet-to-be fulfilled, and Gethard is the star of a Comedy Central sitcom (Big Lake) and guesting on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Fallon even told his TV viewers and Twitter followers to ask @iamdiddy to follow through, with the hashtag #diddygethard. Gethard's next UCB show is Sept. 18. The gauntlet has been thrown. Your move, Diddy.

Andy Haynes makes his network TV debut on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

Just a couple of months ago, Andy Haynes, a Seattle stand-up comedian who now lives in New York City, was a "New Face" at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal. Overnight, Haynes made his network TV debut telling jokes on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Counted multiple applause breaks and several people like me who made a mental note of the phrase "goofed in my pants." Remember this when it enters the lexicon. By the way "enters the lexicon" someday will be listed as a synonym for "goofed in my pants." At least in infinity entendre land. Roll the clip!

Jimmy Fallon's got America's Got Talent

Jimmy Fallon, in Los Angeles this week preparing to host the Emmys this coming Sunday, showed up last night on the set of America's Got Talent to show off some of his talent impersonating various other comedians. As in: Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, Robin Williams, Norm MacDonald, Gilbert Gottfried, Pee-wee Herman, Jeff Foxworthy, Eddie Murphy, Larry the Cable Guy, Steven Wright and Adam Sandler. For background, you can watch Jimmy Fallon's longer impersonation medley from Bonnaroo 2009!

Roll it!

Jimmy Fallon might read your Tweets to introduce Emmy presenters; watch his Mad Men promo, too

Jimmy Fallon and several members of his Late Night crew are in Los Angeles, preparing for next Sunday's telecast of the Emmys, which Fallon is hosting on NBC.

They've done a lot of interactive work with the audience in late night, notably using Fallon's early and massive following on Twitter (more than 2.74 million people have subscribed to @jimmyfallon), and the host told the AP late Friday that Twitter users would be able to suggest their own introductions for as many as 15 of the Emmy presenters on the live Aug. 29 broadcast. Fallon and company will pick their favorite Tweets and have Fallon read them aloud. As an example, he told the AP: "(At)blahblahblah says Jon Hamm is the hottest guy of all time. Here he is, Jon Hamm." Obviously, the actual winning Tweets will be much better than that, because you'll be contributing them!

Last year, as you'll recall if you watched the Emmys, 2009 host Neil Patrick Harris asked John Hodgman to offer witty introductions for Emmy winners.

You should be able to find a link to the Twitter suggestion pages and applicable presenters on NBC's Emmy site on Wednesday, Aug. 25.

In the meantime, please enjoy this promo spoof of Mad Men that Jimmy Fallon did with Christina Hendricks. They filmed three separate endings, and the spoofs got pulled briefly earlier this week because Fallon didn't upload spoofs for the other Outstanding Drama Series nominees, and NBC didn't want to unduly tamper with the actual Emmy voting. Fun fact? It's not a conspiracy to benefit NBC, since the Peacock Network doesn't have a nominee for Outstanding Drama Series. Anyhow. Roll the clip! I picked the one that managed to cover more of the bases.

Patrick Borelli's one-man show on book covers gets the Jimmy Fallon treatment

I hope Jimmy Fallon paid comedian Patrick Borelli to do part of Borelli's one-man show about book covers. Oh, wait. He has paid Borelli? Borelli is on staff with Late Night with Jimmy Fallon now! Great news, then! Hooray for Patrick! Score! It's still kind of weird, though, to see Fallon read and talk about some of these books just because I've already seen and heard Borelli talked about them in his show, "You Should Judge a Book By Its Cover." 

I emailed Borelli overnight while the show was on, but since he has a day job writing for the show, he probably sleeps like a normal person now, and he got back to me today. He said he retired his bit and repackaged it for Fallon. He also told me:

"I've always been very fascinated with book covers. The covers I gravitate to are the ones at the opposite ends of the spectrum. I love the razor sharp, perfectly-realized, gorgeous covers from designers like Rodrigo Corral or John Gall. And swinging in the other direction, I love the perfectly awful cover that is not only poorly designed but is also, in general, conceptually flawed. The best bad book covers have multiple things going wrong, like an awkward title, a strange font, poor composition, bad color choice, terrible artwork—all the elements are off and they congeal in such a beautifully awful way. Listen to me prattle on about book covers. Just throw out all the preceding sentences and use this one: Bad book covers are funny."

Here's the clip from Fallon:

And here is the opening video to Borelli's old one-man show, which also includes some commentary from book-design critics about "Cooking With Pooh." Roll it!

I hope we can look forward to more Not Reading Lists in the future!

Instant classic? Will Ferrell makes Jimmy Fallon crack up making a deli sandwich with fake arms

Remember the old days when Will Ferrell would make Jimmy Fallon crack up in front of a live studio audience? Well, the old days are new again as Ferrell showed up on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, ostensibly to promote his new movie The Other Guys, but also to make merry in a sketch wherein he made Fallon a deli sandwich with fake arms.

Fallon loses it even in the set-up, and the sketch itself has just the right amount of giggling, cold cuts, mustard, meatballs, fake arms and hands, and Will Ferrell. Tasty. This is why they're called "sandwich artists." You can watch it all over again, or even for just the very first time, right now. Roll the clip!

Watch: Kurt Metzger, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Many people felt that Kurt Metzger got robbed this spring on NBC's Last Comic Standing, so I don't care if this is a consolation prize or not, because just getting another tight five from Metzger is a prize in and of itself. Roll the clip!

Are you ready to watch Jimmy Fallon with Jimmy Fallon? "Late Night" UStream week is in full effect

Showing that he continues to be hip to new technology, Jimmy Fallon and his NBC Late Night crew are kicking off another first for network television tonight with "Watch Jimmy with Jimmy Week."

Each night, Fallon's Late Night UStream live webcast will start about an hour before the show itself airs so everyone can say hi and get welcomed and whatnot by the time the NBC broadcast begins at 12:35 a.m. Eastern and 11:35 p.m. Central. Fans already are in there chatting away. You can log-in from Twitter, AIM, Facebook or MySpace. While the show is on your TV, Fallon will be providing live commentary and more on your computer. The stream will repeat for the Mountain and Pacific time zoners. My friends who work on the Late Night blog say they'll be helping Fallon out, along with other staffers and surprise guests. Surprise guests? Sounds like fun.

Watch plenty of sneak previews of Saturday Night Live's "In the 2000s" primetime documentary

NBC devotes two hours of its prime-time programming tonight (9-11 p.m. Eastern/Pacific, 8-10 p.m. Central/Mountain) to a look back at Saturday Night Live in the 2000s, and if you think it's all about 2008, well, you're only partially right. There's plenty to mine here, and even from the preview clips NBC has made available, you can see how SNL slowly but surely found its way back into the zeitgeist in the latter half of the past decade.

For instance, here are Jason Sudeikis, Amy Poehler and Bobby Moynihan talking about the "Palin Rap" that happened live on Weekend Update in front of a bouncy then-VP candidate Sarah Palin. Weird but true. We learn how much Palin loved Sudeikis pretending to be her husband, Todd, and also realize that was Moynihan in the moose costume.

SNL really got our attention in recent years thanks to rap, and "Lazy Sunday" kicked it off the SNL connection with the online generation. Here are writers Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer talking about what went down behind the scenes with Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell.

Speaking of Parnell, here's a segment devoted solely to his raps.

"We're Not Gonna Take It," Jimmy Fallon's 6-bee crew sings off against cast of "Parks and Recreation"

Jimmy Fallon and his NBC crew teased that this would be worth watching, and it totally was, for a variety of reasons in addition to the one you're thinking of. For one thing, this is a nine-minute filmed musical production on a late-night talk show, that flew in almost all of the cast of NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation (only missing Aziz Ansari and Paul Schneider?), with additional appearances by SNL's Abby Elliott and Fred Armisen on an active SNL week, plus The Roots, and several writers and staffers of Fallon's, including head writer A.D. Miles. That was more than one thing. Quite an all-star mash-up. Million miles better than the We Are The World remake-that-wasn't.

This certainly explains why Nick Offerman was performing stand-up at various city shows this week. Offerman's Ron Swanson is in it, plus Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Jim O'Heir and Retta. Just another reason why Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is finding its own place in the late-night TV landscape quite nicely in year two. OK. Enough from me. Roll the clip!

Jimmy Fallon as Barry Gibb, and also singing with two of the Bee Gees. Imitation meets flattery.

Last night's edition of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon saw two of the Bee Gees, Robin and Barry Gibb, confront the comedian who had lampooned them with help from Justin Timberlake on multiple episodes of Saturday Night Live. Well, "confront" and "lampooned" are strong words, because the brothers Gibb were flattered by it all. Or should I say flattened? How about Robin Gibb with all of the one-liners, FTW. And Fallon couldn't have seemed more pleased for the opportunity to harmonize with the brothers. Just make sure to hit those harmonies, right, Jimmy? Roll it. (NBC.com version)

And here is a classic SNL edition of The Barry Gibb Talk Show sketch. This one's from #32.9, Dec. 16, 2006 (NBC.com version):

Zach Galifianakis has "no time for spoofs" on SNL, yet spoofs galore with Jimmy Fallon

Look. I'm excited, you're excited, we're all pretty much excited to see Zach Galifianakis host Saturday Night Live this coming Saturday. His appearance last night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon did nothing to diminish this mutual glee. In fact, it just proved that 30 Rock (the building) is home of fun times, USA, this week.

First, Fallon and an unbilled Galifianakis performed in the sketch routine, "Let Us Play With Your Look."

Then, after a commercial break, Galifianakis talked to Fallon about hosting SNL. Is it "sketches" or "skitches"? Roll the clip!

Sean Patton on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: Shades of Belushi?

I watched comedian Sean Patton make his network television debut last night on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and sitting in the studio audience, I knew he'd knocked it out of the park. He had Fallon buckling over with the laughter, he had The Roots laughing loudly and often, and the rest of the audience was along for the ride.

Fallon even plugged Patton's weekly free comedy showcase at Kabin in the East Village (after earlier plugging a benefit Questlove is doing tonight at The Bell House in Brooklyn -- how very NYC hipster of Fallon, right?). Anyhow. For online, NBC cut the end-of-set plug along with the intro, but the rest of Patton's set remains here (try here on NBC.com if you can't watch Hulu). Direct your attention to the video and notice how much the camera seems to love him, and also how Patton takes his time and remembers to play to both the camera and even The Roots.

When I gave you some background information on Sean Patton in my "Meet Me In New York" Q&A with him yesterday, I didn't mention how he bears more than a passing resemblance to the late John Belushi. But just watch Belushi's 1975 screen test for the original Saturday Night Live. There's good reason to compare Patton to Belushi, and for only the right reasons. The funny ones. Enjoy!

Letterman gets big laughs out of NBC's late-night plight, but who'll get the last laugh?

Because David Letterman tapes his Friday shows early, he didn't have a chance to weigh in on NBC's late-night TV reshuffling -- or as Bill Carter of The New York Times thinks of it, his new book that'll someday make a miniseries sequel of The Late Shift -- until Monday. Don't worry. Letterman wasn't going to keep quiet. And he didn't. In fact, if he didn't already have guests lined up, you almost think he might have spent the full hour taking jabs at the Peacock Network and Jay Leno. From his opening line, when Letterman deadpanned that once again, he had been passed up for The Tonight Show, through the monologue, then to the desk for a full history lesson on NBC's late-night history, it seemed, to his advice suggesting that Jay and Conan share hosting duties so Jay can "tell his little jokes" and still have time to tinker on his old truck or whatever. And of course, Letterman's staff also put together a special Top 10 List There's Signs of Trouble at NBC.

You could tell that Letterman has fondness for Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon, the two guys who have followed him on NBC's Late Night franchise at 12:30 a.m., but no such good will for Leno even after all these years. Here are three segments just from last night's Late Show with David Letterman. Roll 'em! First up, Letterman's monologue:

Letterman reminds us all what happened in previous years at NBC, and offers a couple of suggestions for what to do in 2010 and wicked impersonations of Leno as a guy who just wants to tell his little jokes and tinker on his old truck, or something:

And here's the Top Ten:

Letterman will continue to get great laughs out of this situation in the short-term. But what about the longer term? What will the late-night talk-show landscape look like for the NBC lineup after the Winter Olympics conclude in March?

Let's start with the easiest guy: Jimmy Fallon. Well, actually, Carson Daly's fate is even easier to describe -- the affiliates own the 2 a.m. hour, so he cannot air then, and even if his show did stick around, it has been an odd duck ever since he ditched the semi-live studio audience format (though that was an oddity, too), and Daly always has seemed out of place whenever he strays from being the Dick Clark of our time (even if Ryan Seacrest wants to take that title from Daly). NBC still can have Daly host New Year's Eve specials and let him focus on his strength as a music guy.

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon cuts the "fax" line on freelancers, cites WGA?

A generation of aspiring stand-up comedians have worked far, far behind-the-scenes of late-night TV comedy, contributing jokes as freelancers via fax. Fax? FAX! For you kids, a fax machine sent facsimile paper copies of your paper to someone else over the phone lines. Technology.

If you were one of the lucky ones, you got your name added to the fax lists, and you, too, could submit jokes on a daily basis to Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno, and even Saturday Night Live. Well, that's no longer the case in 2010 for freelancers to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, because they all received this new year's mass rejection letter, which cited "WGA restrictions" for cutting them loose. Wondering what those restrictions could be, since I haven't heard anyone from Letterman's or SNL's list reporting getting a similar letter. Time to check in with the Writers Guild, I suppose.

UPDATED: Letterman apparently got rid of most of the freelancers in October?!? SNL is still OK with Weekend Update submissions if you're on the list. Leno, well, what do you think? Also, thanks to CCInsider for reminding me that the WGA did say in this Los Angeles Times story last year that they weren't happy about all of the freelancing.

Dear Late Night Faxers,

First and foremost, thank you for contributing monologue jokes to the show each day. Due to WGA restrictions, however, we are suspending the freelance joke submitting process for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. We will no longer be sending out premises or receiving any submissions.

Please feel free to apply for monologue writing positions as they open up. Thank you again for your excellent work and have a wonderful holiday season.

Sincerely,
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Fallon's celebrity Troll Doll impersonations, from 1996 to now-ish

My friends at The Laugh Factory uploaded videos of a young Jimmy Fallon, before he was on Saturday Night Live, performing stand-up on their West Hollywood stage in 1996. Would you like to take a look? Here is Fallon doing an early version of his bit with celebrity impersonations promoting the Troll dolls. With a Troll doll as a prop! Roll the clip.

Cut to now-ish. Or at least post-SNL but pre-Late Night. Fallon is famous. Touring theaters. And still, a couple of years ago, might still be known to break out the Troll doll bit for you. Here's what it looked like with a decade of polish and a crowd of adoring fans. Take Two!

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.

Brett Gelman's VH1 ad with Paula Abdul funnier than anything during MTV's VMAs

MTV asked British comedian Russell Brand to host the channel's Video Music Awards for a second straight year, but watching the show broadcast last night from NYC's Radio City Music Hall, you may have wondered why. Seriously. Why? Brand caused enough of a stir in 2008, I suppose, to earn his return. But his monologue and later quips this time around sounded more like the ramblings of a scatterbrained pervert (which, well, he has acknowledged his sex addiction publicly, again and again and again) than anything resembling a punchline. When he lovingly introduced Jimmy Fallon (with Andy Samberg), I thought about how Fallon had hosted an MTV shindig before and might have been a better choice for all parties concerned. Fallon and Samberg covering Boyz II Men was amusing, yes; Beyonce singing along, even more so. (And yes, we noticed how the Internets quickly mashed up Kanye West's VMA heckler routine with Obama's speech)

But this ad for this week's upcoming VH1 Divas, featuring comedian Brett Gelman as an agent for Paula Abdul, was funnier than anything that aired during the actual VMAs. Seacrest, out?

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