Clips and an interview from Why We Laugh

Robert Townsend's documentary, Why We Laugh, based on Darryl Littleton's book, Black Comedians on Black Comedy, makes its debut at this year's Sundance Film Festival. As we celebrate Martin Luther King Day and tomorrow's inauguration of President Barack Obama, it's timely for us to examine how black comedy has evolved …

Spring Breakdown gets an audience at Sundance

Rachel Dratch stars and co-wrote Spring Breakdown, a comedy that has Dratch, Amy Poehler and Parker Posey getting mixed up with the shenanigans of spring break. It's been sitting on the shelf for a while, with little prospects for distribution, so Dratch got her film into Sundance, which ensured not …

Showtime filming new specials

Sorry for only catching word of this now, but Showtime is in the middle of taping six new comedy specials in Southern California as part of the LOL Comedy Festival. Three specials taped on Sunday, another three on Monday; all in Los Angeles. Here are the details: Hot Tamales: Kiki …

SNL’s Whopper Virgins parody

In case you missed it, last week's Saturday Night Live ended with a filmed parody of the Burger King "Whopper Virgins" campaign. The short film showed up online a little late this week on Hulu (and NBC.com), but it's worth another look. Especially when you compare it to the actual …

Comedy Central Presents: Brian Scolaro

About halfway through Brian Scolaro's Comedy Central Presents, the comedian announces he'll now tell some random jokes. That's not the only thing random about his half-hour special. For his backdrop, Scolaro went with a funeral motif, complete with coffin. Odd. Doesn't really even mention it at all, though he does …

Comedy Central Presents: Anthony Jeselnik

I don't think I have seen Anthony Jeselnik as much as I did during the 32 minutes he spent onstage last summer taping his Comedy Central Presents, which debuts tonight. In the preview clip below, they kept in two off-hand remarks Jeselnik made dealing with all of the adoration from …