Emmy preview disses standups in sitcoms

Variety’s Emmy coverage looks at the acting categories and concludes, "Standups no longer rule sitcom world." They go to Charlie Sheen for comedy advice and expertise. E-gads. I’ll simply refer you back to what I wrote about the state of the standup sitcom in March.

Reviewing Del Close Marathon 10

Only now unwinding from my second tour through the Upright Citizen Brigade’s Del Close Marathon, which ended Sunday night (though starting the tour after an all-nighter to Washington, D.C., and back probably contributed to the fatigue on my end), and wished, as I did last summer, that I had gotten …

The Line on CSpot!

The funniest thing I’ve seen on Sony’s CSpot just so happens to have been filmed in my neighborhood this summer. Coincidence? Who cares. Just sit back and enjoy the online series, "The Line," featuring the crazed fans of the fictional movie FutureSpace, including Bill Hader, Joe Lo Truglio, Jon Glaser, …

Up all night at the DC Comedy Fest

Big weekends don’t begin on Fridays, but rather on Thursdays, so that’s how I found myself on a bus to Washington, District of Columbia, last week to arrive just in time for the kickoff of last weekend’s DC Comedyfest. Someone joked that night that D.C. really was hosting the Chicago …

Iliza Shlesinger’s early webisodes

Iliza Shlesinger, your Last Comic Standing winner this summer, may be young, but that only means that she likely has taken part in more than a few online comedy video opportunities. So here she is in a couple of rants for Current TV, the cable/online venture started by Al Gore…Iliza …

A moment for Bernie Brillstein

Before I get on to documenting the past weekend’s big news in live comedy, let us all take a moment to honor Bernie Brillstein, the manager and producer who died Thursday night at the age of 77. Variety has an industry obit, and here is Nikki Finke’s take on Brillstein. …

Last Comic Standing 6: Who really won?

Who really won the sixth season of Last Comic Standing? Hint: It’s not a trick question. First off, anyone who missed the initial broadcast on NBC last week due to football can find it replayed this week on the Fox Reality Channel (check your listings) on Tuesday and Thursday, and …

Bernie Mac, dead at 50 (1957-2008)

Bernie Mac, one of the "Original Kings of Comedy," has died from complications of pneumonia. Mac was only 50. Mac appeared in the groundbreaking documentary film, The Original Kings of Comedy, which rebooted stand-up comedy. He had his own successful FOX sitcom, appeared in the three Oceans movies with George …