The Definitive Guide to Comedy
So rarely do you find out as much about a comedian’s process as we are this week with the release of Louis CK’s new stand-up special. Certainly, Louis CK is doing a lot of press to help promote it to the widest possible audience. But he’s also opening up and …
Well, blimey mate! Check out this cheeky monkey who earned himself a six-episode order for a late-night series of specials. On cable. It’s Russell Brand, who received the series order from FX on Thursday. Details: Brand will star in six half-hour episodes of “an unscripted late night series” to debut …
Oh, the Golden Globes. The Pia Zadora of awards shows. How you make up such silly ideas in your heads about who delivered award-worthy work in TV and film, always determined most importantly by whom the Hollywood Foreign Press Association would like to dine and get drunk with each January. …
Fresh off his victory in this year’s Andy Kaufman Awards, stand-up Nick Vatterott took his act out West for an appearance on Conan. I shan’t reveal too much of his set, because part of what makes Vatterott a Kaufman Award winner is in the reveals. But there’s a nice piece …
When a web video makes it to primetime network television, kudos for everyone. Of course, Brian Williams more than plays along with Marcel the Shell with shoes on, and “his” parents Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp. Don’t ever accuse this network news anchor of not having a sense of humor. …
One of the more interesting aspects of a week in the life of Saturday Night Live is the ritual of staying up all night Tuesday into Wednesday morning to write sketches in time for the weekly table read. With the original cast, this could include all sorts of drug use …
Pablo Francisco is a whirling dervish of voices, noises, sound effects and impersonations. And on Francisco’s new CD/DVD, “They Put It Out There,” he puts it all out there. Before you can ask — Who is they, what did they put and where did they put it? — let’s take a look …
Josh Gondelman sincerely is one of the nicest people I know. Normally, in comedy circles, saying someone is nice is the “nice” way to say that person isn’t funny. Thankfully, though, Gondelman proves on his debut CD, “Everything’s The Best,” that he is an exception to this comedy rule. A …
Before you begin listening to Louis Katz’s CD, “If These Balls Could Talk,” it’s important that you know a couple of things. Dave Attell is a fan of his (often bringing Katz on the road with him as his feature act, and employing him on his Showtime series, Dave’s Old Porn). …
The CD, Wyatt Cenac: Comedy Person, begins with a bit of a bait-and-switch, as it’s not Cenac, but rather Daily Show colleague John Hodgman who is talking to the audience throughout the first introductory track. When Cenac does arrive onstage, he helps Hodgman out by explaining that his first bit, …
