The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Rip Torn was not a comedian, per se. Torn was a Texan, though, true and through. Born Elmore Rual Torn, Jr. on Feb. 6, 1931 in Temple, Texas, by Thelma Mary (Spacek) and Elmore Rual Torn, Sr., who gave their son the nickname of “Rip,” which was his daddy’s nickname, …
Two summers ago, FOX gave a trial run to a late-night almost live joke-off among comedians called Punchline. It was kind of like Comedy Central’s @midnight, but simpler. Comedians really were riffing off the top of their heads on Punchline. FOX is giving Punchline a second chance this summer. But …
Virgil Films has acquired a documentary about the best-selling Truly Tasteless Jokes books from the 1980s. The film, Tasteless, from comedians Jeff Cerulli and Matt Ritter, will come out next month. Cerulli previously directed a documentary about competitive eaters, Hungry. Ritter interviewed me for a podcast some years ago that …
Kevin McDonald from The Kids in the Hall will mount his first-ever one-man Off-Broadway show: Kevin McDonald ALIVE on 42nd Street. It’ll run for only eight performances, Aug. 25-31, 2019, at Theatre Row NYC’s Studio Theatre. “I’m very excited to be doing an Off-Broadway show though technically it’s on Broadway,” …
Promoting his new season of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, star/creator Jerry Seinfeld decided to tease others who have produced and made their own series that take place inside automobiles. Except, of course, Seinfeld wasn’t first to think of filming funny people in cars, either. Even if you dismiss the …
Aspiring TV comedy writers have a new career path open to them, thanks to the new Eunetta T. Boone Comedy Writer’s Scholarship, established by the Disney Channel. Finalists will be chosen for the scholarship from the general pool of applicants to the Walt Disney Television Writing Program. Boone, the executive …
MAD magazine has said farewell before. Just look at last year’s April issue cover, calling it the “Landmark FINAL Issue!,” only to return two months later in June 2018 with a new Issue #1. Cause of that premature death? MAD had closed down its midtown Manhattan offices in 2017, moving …
One star was painfully absent from this year’s Still Laugh-In tribute on Netflix, and that’s because Arte Johnson was in too much pain and sickness to attend. Johnson died today. He was 90. He had previously beaten back non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but a few years ago came down with bladder and …
After some false starts and weird detours, Cash Cab is coming back to TV. Again. With Ben Bailey hosting. Again. But this time, it’ll be on Bravo! Shooting with the tricked-out New York City taxi cab and unsuspecting (or suspecting) passengers begins this summer, with a premiere planned for later …
This news bulletin is a two-for-one. Just For Laughs announced today that Kevin Hart would return to the Montreal festival this July — he performed at the Bell Centre arena last year — but for 2019, he’ll be presiding over his own brand-new one-on-one interview series. Hart to Heart will …
