the comic's comic

Pic of the day: @KevinHart4real gets the CBS FAIL treatment, called "Kevin Hall" on TV and YouTube

On "The Early Show" this morning on CBS, Harry Smith moderated the show's weekly roundup to make jokes about current pop culture events. His guests: Mo Rocca, Iliza Shlesinger and Kevin Hart. Smith paused before saying Iliza's last name, then got Hart's name right without pause. But the CBS graphics department, as well as their YouTube department, decided Kevin Hart is Kevin Hall. Somewhere, I'm yelling "No respect!" Rodney Dangerfield knows what I'm talking about.

Here's the video if you care to watch what Rocca, Shlesinger and Hart had to say about this week's pop culture headlines. Hart was in town last night for Hot 97's April Fool's show at Madison Square Garden. Shlesinger is co-headlining Comix tonight and tomorrow. And Rocca is part of the CBS family.

CBS Sunday Morning: Your source for TV news about comedy?!

Speaking of comedy on Sunday mornings, what if I told you the serene CBS Sunday Morning turned out to be the best mainstream TV news source for profiling comedy these days? I know. And yet. Yesterday, the program did an in-depth feature on Rita Rudner. In March, a profile of The Onion. February saw a profile of director Jason Reitman and his father, Ivan. Steve Martin got a look-see in late November. There are regular dispatches from Mo Rocca and Ben Stein, plus CBS's own in-house guy Bill Geist. Here is the video from The Onion profile:

Shoot the Messenger, with Roseanne, Mo Rocca

The Ace of Clubs basement got packed more than I'd ever seen it Monday night for Lizz Winstead's weekly Shoot the Messenger show, which has only gotten stronger as a morning-show parody since the last time I saw it. And it's also got a Web site now (thanks to Todd Jackson from Dead-Frog), so you can get a glimpse of what you're missing.

Anyhow. Monday night's guests were Roseanne Barr and Mo Rocca. Roseanne (who also shared the stage Tuesday with Rosie O'Donnell at her NYCF Avery Fisher Hall show), took part in two interviews: one fake, and one very real. Roseanne had a lot of things to say about the current White House administration, none of them favorable and few of them printable here. But she pointed out that even being able to speak her mind shows we're still a free country. "As they get loudmouthed women to shut up, it's all over," she said.

Roseanne on Ann Coulter: "She talks for the people she talks for absolutely and perfectly, but she baits people." Especially the liberal white men who hate her, Roseanne said.

Mo Rocca, on tonight's political comedy panel at the 92nd Street Y for the NYCF, previewed his special "Liz Taylor marriage electoral rosetta stone," in which you can view American history through her romantic entanglements. "If Liz is ready to date a black man then America is ready to elect one," Rocca said. He also said the 2008 presidential campaign has been boring so far. "It's essentially a defensive campaign because everybody's worried about saying the wrong thing," he said. And as for voters? "It's like we're victims of spousal abuse," he said. "We don't trust them because we know they're going to screw around with us and f--- Iran."