The Definitive Guide to Comedy
New Zealand’s favorite musical parody duo with an HBO show, Flight of the Conchords, debuted at #3 on the Billboard charts this week by selling 52,000 copies of their self-titled full-length. Take that, Dane Cook?! Cook, as you may recall, rocketed into the mainstream’s collective consciousness three years ago when …
This wasn’t an April Fool’s joke, as the New York Post‘s Page Six made Dane Cook its lead item on Tuesday with the banner headline, "Seriously, This Guy Isn’t Funny." They report on the ongoing Unfunniest Comic bracket contest conducted up in Boston by radio jocks Toucher & Rich (which …
Comedy Central’s annual "Stand-Up Showdown" airs today, rebroadcasting the top 20 stand-up specials as voted online by fans over the past month. It’s airing now! The full schedule/countdown…which began at 11:30 a.m. today…(with applicable taping season) 20) Loni Love (season 11) 19) Doug Benson (season 8) 18) Chelsea Handler (season …
The old adage/joke tells us that the most important thing in comedy is…wait for it…wait for it…timing. Well, that’s what they told us then. Talk to just about anyone in the funny business these days and they’ll all eventually say how much you need to promote yourself to get ahead …
Dane Cook rang in 2008 by performing an alleged record-setting seven — count ’em, 7! — seven hours of stand-up comedy on New Year’s Day at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood. As Cook himself wrote on his site: "I never sat down or left the stage. The show started with …
It’s New Year’s Eve, and Chris Rock will perform tonight at Madison Square Garden. As the New York Times goes out of its way to mention, Rock’s routine doesn’t just magically appear. He actually works on his jokes. More than once. No, really! He does. For me, the money quote …
Before I get to recapping the year in comedy, circa 2007, let’s look back at some of my more illuminating, insightful and interesting comedy interviews from the year. My sit-down with Ricky Gervais has to take the top spot in my mind, because his strongly held opinions on sticking to …
Dane Cook recently brought his "Rough Around the Edges" arena tour of greatest hit bits and new material to Dallas, where about 13,000 fans screamed their approval. But Matt Weitz, writing for the Dallas Morning News, had a slightly different take on Cook and his comedy. I’m going to give …
The last time Dane Cook and I talked at length face-to-face, we were in his dressing room backstage at Boston’s TD Banknorth Garden, minutes before he’d perform for two sold-out arenas of screaming fans for his HBO special, "Vicious Circle." At the time, it was the biggest night of his …
If you happen to visit New York City anytime soon, let me put in a word for a stop at the Maritime Hotel in Chelsea. Or is it the Meatpacking District? The site says it’s in Chelsea, two blocks north of the Meatpacking District. Anyhow. I’ve already gotten away from …