Day: July 28, 2009

Joan Rivers got roasted on Sunday night in Los Angeles, and Comedy Central will broadcast an edited version of The Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers on Aug. 9, 2009. You'll see some of the usual suspects on the dais (Jeffrey Ross, Greg Giraldo, Gilbert Gottfried), but no Lisa Lampanelli, and the early reports from the scene all seemed to agree that Whitney Cummings made the most of her onscreen debut as a roaster. Let's roll a clip, and then we'll talk with Cummings all about it. Hey Whitney! This was your first big roast, correct? If not, then please correct me! "I've been a writer on the roast for the past couple years so I'm very familiar with them and roast jokewriting but yes, this is my first big Comedy Central roast as a roaster. I had done a charity roast for a producer in LA named Steve Tisch. Tom Arnold was there, Pete Berg, a bunch of athletes. It was taped and Comedy Central saw it so I'm sure that played a big part in me getting a spot as a roaster." How did you go about writing your roast jokes? What kind of tone were you going for? Were you trying to balance out the barbs among everyone on the dais? Did you write them all yourself? (I know some stand-ups who help write for others) "When I was...

Even though many in the comedy industry were in Montreal last week, the comedy world kept making news. Go figure. Here's what you (and by you, I mean, of course, me) might have missed: Remember when Katt Williams got arrested by the NYPD and almost missed his debut at Carnegie Hall last November, after already having missed his scheduled appearance on Conan? Turns out the guns weren't his. Whoops! Prosecutors have dropped the charges against Williams. Dane Cook has filed a civil lawsuit against his half-brother for allegedly embezzling more than $11 million from the comedian over the years, while he had access to Cook's money as his business manager. There will be a "Comedy Death Ray" anthology of graphic novels (read: adult comic books) on the horizon, with individual contributions from Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt, B.J. Novak, David Cross, Janeane Garofalo, Paul Scheer and Zach Galifianakis. Somewhere, everywhere comedy geeks live, their heads already have exploded. NBC may not have Ben Silverman to celebrate its fourth-place ratings with anymore, but it did launch a new online home for The Jay Leno Show. Donald Glover proved he was quite worthy of being one of Variety's "10 Comics to Watch" this July, signing a two-year holding deal with Universal Media Studios. And no, he didn't even have to show up in Montreal to get his deal. Nikki Finke over...