Day: September 24, 2009

The New York Television Festival has been holding court at New World Stages and The Paley Center this week, offering sneak preview screenings of new fall TV shows, panel talks and competitions for new pilots. It's pretty much all free, but because of that, you'll have to make sure you get a ticket in advance for something you really want to see. On Saturday, you'll be able to watch from home or wherever online the Livestream panel with Emmy-winning 30 Rock writer Matt Hubbard and Kay Cannon talk about writing Emmy-winning episodes for 30 Rock. Inside the 30 Rock Writers Room will begin at noon. A panel earlier in the week had Jason Sudeikis talking to the writers for Late Show with David Letterman about working for Letterman. I missed that panel, but two "panel nerds" for Mediaite were there. The independent comedy pilots screen Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. You can watch trailers for all of the pilots in competition on the NYTVF YouTube channel. One of the groups is UCB-based Chubby Skinny Kids (Dan Gregor, Doug Mand and Adam Pally). Their pilot is called Idiots, Dating. Here is one of their videos called Craigslist Missed Connection, featuring Ellie Kemper, who you can see on your TV as the adorable new secretary on NBC's The Office. Roll the clip! Craigslist Missed Connection – watch more funny...

Do you feel like you're already in withdrawal from Michael & Michael Have Issues? Well, if you can hold on a few weeks, you may get to see Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter perform live in your city. Or you can sit right down (are you sitting down yet?) and watch/listen as Mr. Black reads from his own literature for you right now. Or as soon as you click on one of these videos. Black's book of essays, My Custom Van, is now out in paperback, and the author sits down to read one of said essays for you. It's called "Taco Party." This is going to be some f-ing taco party. Did I mention it contains profanities? Roll the NSFW clip. Elegant Readings With Michael Ian Black: TACO PARTY – watch more funny videos Wow. That had a lot of f-ing swearing, didn't it? Let's cleanse ourselves with a completely different MIB reading, this time from his children's book, Chicken Cheeks. In a chicken suit. Obviously. But that's not all! Michael Ian Black gets "Inside the Author," himself: OK. Cleansed yet? How about one last video with Honest Abe to bring it full...