The Definitive Guide to Comedy
MADtv embraced its spoofiness even more than usual last night, as only one routine in the entire show was not based on an actual person and/or existing TV/movie concept. And that bit involved Bobby Lee and Johnny Sanchez interacting with people on a Los Angeles sidewalk, getting them to taste …
Spoiler alert! Oh, wait. It’s an event, results happened, we were there, and if you missed it, you missed it, so there’s nothing to spoil, only news to share in the finals of the 2008 Boston Comedy Festival’s stand-up comedy competition. And here are your top three finishers, as announced …
Lessons learned from last night at the 2008 Boston Comedy Festival: Sometimes a comic plays very well to the back of the room, but not so much to the judges table in the second row; and sometimes, a show is so stacked with talent that it’s difficult to pick just …
Did you know Wednesday was Dane Cook Day in Boston? Twas. Cook’s not part of the Boston Comedy Festival, even though Boston City Councilman John Tobin is a cofounder of the fest and was the guy pronouncing the day for Dane Cook in honor of his contributions to Boston comedy, …
Political comedian "Jerry O’Hearn" asked Andy Daly to circulate this press release, and let’s help a guy out, right? Right. So here it is…in its entirety, reprinted from Daly’s post to the AST message boards: (related: Andy Daly’s new CD, Nine Sweaters, became available Sept. 9) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: ATTORNEYS …
So I’m in Boston all week, which means I missed the grand meeting of the minds when Steve Guttenberg appeared live last night on The Dave Hill Explosion (Best Week Ever documented it for posterity). Hill also likes to produce short videos, and here is a new one that has …
The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards get handed out on Sunday evening (broadcast on the ABC television network), and in the comedy categories, he academy tends to be, well, stubborn? The funniest people sometimes have to wait years for official Emmy recognition, but once they do, they get rewarded over and …
There’s an old saying that goes, if you can’t stand the heat, then don’t become a firefighter. Likewise, if you don’t like being judged, then please don’t become a stand-up comedian, because you’re judged immediately and continuously by every audience you see in the darkness under the glare of the …
When Mel Brooks introduced Spaceballs to his film canon in 1987, viewers and critics most likely did a double-take. A parody of Star Wars? In 1987? And yet such low-brow Yiddish wit as "I see your Schwartz is as big as mine" ran rampant through junior-high and high schools, as …
Here is a fanciful animated short video to keep you company while I prepare another day of comedy news and analysis for you. As I write and research, perhaps I should be watching this, too, since it asks that essential age-old old-age question: What is comedy?