The Definitive Guide to Comedy
One more thing from the Super Bowl I want to point out for you before we move on to other funny business. Yes, you probably saw and chuckled at Conan O'Brien's attempt to sell Bud Light to Sweden. But I also want you to keep an eye on the guy …
A friend of mine has been pushing the name Jamie Lissow for years now, so seeing his first Comedy Central Presents certainly caught my attention this past weekend. The two things that stuck out at me most were his affinity for pointing out the mechanics of joketelling to the audience, …
Fun fact about Tommy Johnagin's half-hour Comedy Central Presents: He entered through the actual curtains from the old Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, because Carson's former stage manager was working the week of the Comedy Central tapings, so he gave Johnagin the chance to have his moment, as it were. …
Fun fact about Rob Stapleton's half-hour Comedy Central Presents: The backdrop is meant to evoke the illusion that Stapleton is performing on the subway platform of his Bronx stop near Yankee Stadium. But this is no ordinary busker show. Stapleton works up a sweat early and often throughout this set, …
Catching up on old business, I'm here to present highlights from Jasper Redd's first half-hour special with Comedy Central Presents. At first, I have to acknowledge I got a bit worried, as a couple of Redd's early bits cover similar territory as a comedian I know in New York City, …
While I was busy checking in with my friends — Pete Holmes, Matt McCarthy and Oren Brimer — who got a couple of their friends together, spent $17 and made a Doritos ad that aired during the Super Bowl pre-game show and earned them $25,000 (plus trip to the Super …
Last night during the hourlong post-Super Bowl episode of The Office, NBC finally unveiled a name and a 30-second clip for its Office-spinoff that stars Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari and Rashida Jones. It’s called Parks and Recreation, and it’s coming to NBC on Thursdays this spring, debuting at 8:30 p.m. …
Debate all you want about who had the best or the funniest Super Bowl ad on Sunday (two of the "amateur" Doritos contest entries placed in the top five in USA Today's insta-poll, with one winning $1 million for coming out on top), but only one of these ads was …
There will be a lot of talk today, this day after the Super Bowl, about advertising, and perhaps about the funny people who populate ads, but I'm fairly sure that few of these commercial comedians have inspired someone to write and produce a music video asking for their proverbial hand …
The only thing more surprising to me than Steve Sweeney's lawsuit against Comedy Connection owner Bill Blumenreich was the fact that Blumenreich had a contract with Sweeney, considering the timing. The last time I saw Steve Sweeney, he was sitting next to me as we judged the Boston Comedy Festival …