TVSquad

(S04E04) Nobody mourns like the Botwins. I can't decide whose behavior was the least appropriate; there certainly were a lot of contenders. Lenny's countdown was extremely insensitive, and his actions throughout the episode didn't do him any favors, either. I'll save the specifics for after the jump, but he made Nancy's Andy-ditching look like an act of kindness. Not cool, BotWinBig, not cool.

(S04E03) What a relief! Now that we've ditched the dead weight (sorry, Bubbie) Weeds can finally get down to business. The Agrestic and Ren Mar worlds are slowly coming together, which should please the Doug fans. Some familiar faces are making their way to Nancy's new home, and that could mean trouble for her.

(S04E02) The season premiere took us to a new town, and "Lady's a Charm" gave us a look into Nancy's future as a drug trafficker. There's room for improvement, that's for sure. This week we learned more of the Botwin family history, got a brief and depressing Yiddish lesson, and, for the first time, I heard the word "schlimazel" outside the context of Laverne & Shirley.

The "Little Boxes" theme is gone for good. Instead, we got a quick shot of the Mexican border. I'll miss the old song, but it no longer fits with the show's new setting. I can't decide if I like the music-free credits, or if a different theme song would have been a good idea. What song would suit Weeds now that it isn't set in the suburbs?

One of the funniest guys in show business is coming to TV; and not just voices like he's done on The Simpsons. E! News has reported that Albert Brooks will appear in four episodes of Weeds for in the upcoming season. The Showtime comedy returns with new episodes beginning June 16.

Albert Brooks -- whose real name is Albert Einstein (and his brother is comic Bob Einstein, aka Super Dave Osborne) -- has been making people laugh for nearly four decades. I distinctly remember his bits on Love, American Style and his hilarious films on Saturday Night Live circa 1975.

Albert Brooks turns 60 today.

Brooks is mostly known for his films (Defending Your Life, Modern Romance), but he was also a favorite guest of folks like Carson and Letterman back in the '80s. He never quite gained the notoriety of some of his contemporaries, but his reputation as a "comedian's comedian" and a little something called "actual talent" has kept him out of obscurity -- and deservedly so, because he's one of the smartest and funniest people working today, even if he is a few steps outside the limelight.

Younger folks know him best for his various guest roles on The Simpsons, one of which I've posted below along with an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman (in two parts).

Albert Brooks, the quintessential comedian's comedian, recently did an interview with The Onion where he spoke about his new movie Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World. Of course, TV viewers know Brooks from his numerous appearances on late night talk shows, most notably on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. What I found especially interesting was his take on how stand-up comedians today often don't stand a chance because everything they do is "focus grouped" within minutes:

 

"I just, man, I'm telling you—I don't know how you get a Sam Kinison out of that world. I don't know where Bill Hicks comes from. I don't know how anyone special can go anywhere, because the guards are right in the very embryonic stage."

That was refreshing enough, but what really capped it off was when he later said, "I just read where somebody got high on the Billboard charts with [a comedy album]. I forget who it was." If anything from that interview made me respect this iconic comedian more than I already do, it's that he neither knows, nor cares, who the hell Dane Cook is.