Year in Review: Top 10 Posts of 2011

Before we jump into the comedy news of 2012, let’s take one more look back at what you clicked on most here at The Comic’s Comic in 2011.

A few of the more popular posts on the site actually dated back to 2010 or even 2009, thanks to people loving clips of Louis CK on Leno, or wanting to see Earthquake and Paul Mooney have at each other. Oh, memories.

Here are the posts you checked out most last year…

10. Chuck Lorre’s vanity card reply to Charlie Sheen. Ah, yes. Charlie Sheen. Winning. All of that nonsense with the porn star posse and rehab and Sheen’s abrupt departure from his hit CBS sitcom, Two and a Half Men, dominated news cycles in the first half of 2011. And on Feb. 28, 2011, following an airing of Mike and Molly, creator/executive producer Chuck Lorre decided to respond to Sheen’s many accusations with this vanity card about drugs, alcohol and a reference to another troubled sitcom of his, Grace Under Fire.

9. A sexy but still Safe For Work photo of Michaela Watkins and Arden Myrin going topless on HBO’s Hung. Sex sells. And I wasn’t the only person surprised to find out that SNL alum Michaela Watkins and MADtv alum Arden Myrin not only stripped down to their underwear on the third-season premiere of Hung, but also made out topless on a sofa. Yowza! This could not be ignored. I did, however, find a screengrab that teased the scene without showing you, well, everything.

8. Where to find “The Nick and Artie Show” on the radio. Nick DiPaolo and Artie Lange teamed up for a new sports-talk radio show three months ago, and it appeared first online only before spreading to satellite radio, so many fans needed to know how they could listen to it. This isn’t the only appearance of DiPaolo and Lange on this list, proving how popular Lange’s fan base was to see and hear from him again.

7. Comedy Central’s Stand-Up Showdown results for 2011. For the past few Januarys, Comedy Central has allowed viewers to vote online for their favorite stand-up comedians — albeit limited to those comedians who had recorded half-hour Comedy Central Presents — and then aired the top 20 vote-getters at the end of the month leading into the next season of CCPs. This won’t happen in 2012, as Comedy Central didn’t record new half-hours in the fall. Instead, the cable network plans to leverage its new Facebook App and Twitter to air programming each Friday night in January 2012 based on fans’ favorites. See you later, Stand-Up Showdown!

6. A teaser of Doug Stanhope’s appearance on Louie. Who knew that fans would be so eager to see Doug Stanhope and Louis CK in a short video clip from FX’s Louie in August? Even though the network removed the clip from YouTube after the episode aired! You can catch the clip on the FX site or on Hulu.

5. Jimmy Fallon accurately predicted, during the monologue of a Saturday Night Live episode in 1998, that he would return to host SNL in December 2011. Who knew? Of course, having Fallon in the building at 30 Rock hosting a show executive-produced by Lorne Michaels probably helped make that prediction come true. Too bad they didn’t bring the “2011” cast with him. That would have been surreal yet fun precisely because of that.

4. The Lonely Island presents its music video for “Do The Creep” as an SNL Digital Short. Appearances by Nicki Minaj and John Waters certainly helped draw more attention to the trio’s song, although Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone already have proven over the past couple of years to sell more comedy albums than anyone else in the category.

3. Louis CK casts Dane Cook as himself on Louie, and the two hash out the joke-theft accusations once and for all. Comedy fans everywhere finally get to see the two stand-up comedy titans meet and talk about the thing that divided them, at least in the minds of comedy fans. Both sides made their case, and made their peace. Full video and transcript for your reading and viewing pleasure.

2. Marc Maron’s keynote address at 2011 Just For Laughs Montreal. Heartfelt. Emotional. Powerful. Maron spoke about his own journey as a comedian, but really, he spoke for all of us. If you were there, you might have shed a tear or two (as Maron did). If you weren’t there, then you can read it or listen to it here.

1. Artie Lange’s comeback. His first night back on the radio on July 6, 2011, was the most popular post on this site. Not just because fans missed him since his abrupt departure from The Howard Stern Show, but also because The New York Times linked back here. Thanks, Old Gray Lady!

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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