Month: May 2010

If timing is everything, then the bid by comedian and Community actor Donald Glover to get an audition for the reboot of Sony's blockbuster Spider-Man franchise shows a keen awareness of how to capitalize on it. A few days ago, Marc Bernardin wrote a lament on io9 about the fact that all of the actors seemingly up for the part that made billions of dollars previously with Tobey Maguire were, well, seemingly less exciting and bland. Like white bread bland. So Bernardin asked, does Spider-Man have to be a white guy? Sure, the teen who gets bitten by a radioactive spider on a high-school field trip always has been white-skinned in the Marvel comic books, movies, and TV movies. But the orphaned outcast from the outer borough of Queens, New York, might as well be black, Latino or Asian, right? And when a few commenters on Bernardin's blog post suggested Donald Glover for the part, complete with a photo of Glover as a geeky high-schooler from his film, Mystery Team, the comedian himself noticed. Glover launched his own campaign for the role last night on his Tumblr, writing: "I'm putting myself in the running for the Spiderman reboot. I'm actually quite interested to see how far this goes. If this happens, I'll buy each and every one of you a mini cooper." That last part may or may not...

Atom.com, sister site to Comedy Central, offers cash prizes to the most-viewed user-submitted videos to its site. That's what we in the business call a win-win, because not only do you win money, but by winning money, you also pretty much guarantee that more people are going to watch the thing for which you won the money. So who won big in May? Here are Atom.com's $500 "Atom Picks" for the month. Plan B Minus is Jena Friedman's spoof of the Yaz TV commercials. It's not birth control, it's magic. (It's not magic) Roll it. MANtage by Barats and Bereta, features a montage of two guys — Luke Barats and Joe Bereta — doing a bunch of guy things. It's as simple and as manly as that. Roll...

If you're a comedy fan with money to spend and compassion for the people of Haiti, then Ben Stiller's Stillerstrong and the Causecast Foundation have an auction for you, with several items up for bid on eBay until late Sunday, May 30. What they've got includes… The Barack Obama pencil-sharpener prop from ‚ÄúThe Tonight Show with Conan O‚ÄôBrien‚Äù signed by Conan O‚ÄôBrien and used on the show; season 1-2 DVDs of ‚ÄúThe Sarah Silverman Program‚Äù and a photo signed by Sarah Silverman; Stillerstrong headbands signed by Tom Cruise, Jack Black, Jon Hamm, and others; a rare set of ‚ÄúTropic Thunder‚Äù Bobble-heads with a signed DVD and more; four (4) VIP tickets to a taping of ‚ÄúThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart‚Äù with a gift package; signed DVD of ‚ÄúTenacious D ‚Äì The Pick of Destiny‚Äù; signed script of ‚ÄúChildren‚Äôs Hospital‚Äù; a poster from a ‚ÄúNight of 140 Tweets‚Äù signed by 140+ performers; a ‚ÄúSaturday Night Live‚Äù script signed by the SNL cast; and...