The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Is America ready for a fully realized Tony Clifton performance? I’m not sure. Because what I witnessed earlier this week in New York City completely blew my mind away. Three and a half hours. Twenty-two songs! Really. Let me tell you upfront that this is not the Tony Clifton you …
The second season of Frank TV comes to TBS on Oct. 21. You certainly have seen a lot of Frank Caliendo and his many impersonations on TV in the year since his own sketch show debuted last November, with plenty of ads not just for his show but also for …
Time for the new fall season of TV sketch comedy, and while you may have heard that swimmer Michael Phelps is hosting Saturday Night Live, let me also remind you that MADtv continues to operate over on the FOX television network. They have three new cast members this fall, and …
TBS announced today it has ordered a third season of The Bill Engvall Show, with 10 new episodes expected to air in summer 2009. The show averaged 2.3 million viewers this year. They cannot all be wrong, can they? In fact, network programmer Michael Wright said "there’s something about this …
Remember how I was writing such nice things after the Del Close Marathon about how James Adomian came in from the city of angels and brought heavenly drops of humor in the form of a demented Gary Busey and a deranged Frank Caliendo, among other characters? Well, Adomian also has …
At the 2004 Just For Laughs galas in Montreal, Mitch Hedberg presented a set that included some classic jokes, plus a few bits that found their way onto his posthumous CD that’s out today, Do You Believe in Gosh? For a smaller stage look at how Hedberg had a really …
Tonight, comedy clubs in six cities across America will salute the posthumous release of Do You Believe in Gosh? by the late, great comedian Mitch Hedberg, with "Mitch Across America: One Nation Under Gosh." Read my review of Hedberg’s third CD here. Hedberg’s widow, Lynn Shawcroft, will perform along with …
Comedian Tom Shillue took his new one-man show out for a test run on Sunday night at Joe’s Pub in New York City. He called it Supernormal, with a tagline of "stories so normal, they’re radical." And yes, these are very normal, regular, relatable stories for anyone who grew up …
Did comedy happen at last night’s 25th installment of the MTV Video Music Awards? Well, did it? Were there hijinx to report? Amid all the hubbub that British comedian Russell Brand would host and Britney Spears would open, did controversy mount? Well, did it? Not really. Britney Spears endured a …
Chicago comedy blog The Bastion unleashed a flurry of posts today, then followed that up with an announcement that it was closing up shop. What gives?! We hardly knew ye! Good luck to Elizabeth and Kristy on their future projects, and to everyone else in the Chicago comedy community, too. …