the comic's comic

Comedy Central joins New York Comedy Festival

The New York Comedy Festival today announced it has entered a multi-year partnership deal with Comedy Central, which means Caroline Hirsch's annual celebration of big-name comedy in the Big Apple now will get a bigger TV presence. The deal includes an annual Comedy Central special, and perhaps more. So the fifth New York Comedy Festival, running Nov. 5-9, 2008, in varied venues around Manhattan, unveils this early lineup:

11/5: Frank Caliendo, Carnegie Hall
11/5: “We Have a Winner” moderated by Lizz Winstead, 92nd Street Y

11/6: Louis C.K., They’re With Me, Town Hall
11/6: Katt Williams, Live In Concert, Carnegie Hall

11/7: Carlos Mencia: At Close Range, Avery Fisher Hall
11/7: An Evening with Craig Ferguson, Town Hall
11/7: Writers Speak! A Potentially Regrettable Evening with the Writers of The Daily Show, Paley Center

11/8: Tracy Morgan: Coming Back Home, Apollo Theater
11/8: Sarah Silverman and Friends, Hammerstein Ballroom
11/8: Joel McHale Live at Town Hall, Town Hall
11/8: Late Night with Conan O’Brien Writers’ Panel Discussion, Paley Center

11/9: Brian Regan Live in Concert, Avery Fisher Hall
11/9: B.J. Novak and Friends, Town Hall

Tickets start going on sale at 11 a.m. tomorrow, Thursday, Aug. 7. They still have to release the names and special events happening during that week at Carolines. Plenty of big names, though, on the slate, including several repeat performers from last year. Louis CK rocked Town Hall last year, so already looking forward to that. We'll see how McHale and Novak handle the larger stage. Tracy Morgan plays the Apollo. Sarah Silverman moves from last year's Carnegie Hall to this year at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Carlos Mencia? The Late Night writers talk should be very interesting, coming as it does near the end of the road for some of them as the show prepares to move to California.

Britney Spears: Comedy career clips retrospective

So, yes, Britney Spears avoided the fake cameras long enough to act in front of legitimate TV cameras in a special hyped guest appearance on Monday night's episode of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. The CBS team wisely gave her multiple scenes but kept each scene mercifully short. Give her a quick line or two. Let her play a naive receptionist. She did OK. Let's take a look at a few clips (one here, two after the jump).

It's not as if she could tank it. Even her ex Kevin Federline proved that with his Super Bowl commercial. Plus, it's not as if Spears doesn't have experience working with trusted comedy crews. She hosted Saturday Night Live twice, back in 2000 and 2002. You most likely remember this sketch first.

But here is another sketch from that 2000 episode, featuring a delightful turn by Tracy Morgan as Woodrow the homeless man who somehow tempts Britney to follow him...into the sewer. Prophetic?!

Note to Hulu: You really should get all of your Britney Spears SNL clips on the site. Please? Thanks! Oh, and no Britney Spears comedy collection would be complete or close to it without these clips from her own TV show with Federline, Chaotic.

Tracy Morgan, at Carolines

Anyone who went to see Tracy Morgan this past weekend at Carolines had to notice the sign by the ticket podium that warned of extremely adult and potentially offensive material. The sign for the 30 Rock star should've read: Warning! Crazy funny comedy ahead. No, really. He's crazy. Not sure how much his sobriety plays into this (more on that soon enough), but it seems as though Morgan has tapped into a completely uninhibited part of himself that, while getting him into trouble offstage, has given his TV career new life.

After about 50 minutes of graphic sex talk that had audience members blushing and laughing, he took a drink from his Evian bottle and the tone shifted.

"I can't drink alcohol no more, but I can still guzzle!" he said. Morgan then showed off his ankle bracelet to roaring crowd approval. "Yeah, they got me on the Lindsay Lohan program!" He then apologized to the audience, saying he knew his second DUI would land him in serious trouble. "Thanks for coming out...because I've been f---ing up this year." After some jokes about his arrest -- the cop "gave me the line test and I kept stepping on his shoe" -- he confessed that his arrest came just two nights before he was supposed to light the tree at Rockefeller Center. But his "drinking and speedballing" did him in. "I was coping" with success, he said. "Now I feel good. I've been clean three months -- I apologize for f---ing up...It feels good, now, I wake up, I don't got the runs!"

Later Sunday night, Morgan popped into the Comedy Cellar and showed off his ankle bracelet to fellow comedians, including Chris Rock (who happened to see Morgan's show at Carolines, too). This time, Morgan added a tag to his Lohan quip, exclaiming, "They've got me like Kunta Kinte!"