TVSquad

Last night, Carl Reiner provided a bit of comedy relief on the season finale of House. He was only in a few scenes, but had some surefire material to work with (pooh is always funny). Reiner is one of the chief architects of funny, going back to his days with Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and later on with Steve Martin in films like The Jerk and The Man With Two Brains.

The Three Haircuts:
This is the musical parody sketch that created the blueprint for all musical parody sketches to follow. Just pure, wonderful madness. And watch Reiner's face as he's leaping in the air during the dance solo in "Flippin' Over You." Pick up the Sid Caesar Collection DVD of this to see it on a regular screen with better resolution.

TV Week tells us that after clearing 85% of the market with a few last-minute sales, including to one of my local stations in St. Louis, The Bonnie Hunt Show is now able to get things in order for a Fall 2008 launch. Hunt filmed a pilot in June of 2007 and was picked up with a two year commitment in September.

Bonnie Hunt is one of those Hollywood names everyone knows, everyone in the industry likes, and she's been around forever, but she's never been in anything "big-time." Her biggest TV role was probably her Emmy-nominated performance in the short-lived ABC series Life with Bonnie, in which Hunt played ... a TV talk show host ... well, that's kind of weird. I guess all she's really wanted to do is direct-- I mean, host a talk show. Sorry, they all want to direct, of course. Goes without saying. So I probably shouldn't have.

I've been wondering when actress Bonnie Hunt was going to return to television. She's had several short-lived sitcoms (all rather good and different - Grand, The Bonnie Hunt Show, Life with Bonnie, The Building) and beyond her movie work (Cars, Cheaper By The Dozen) I heard she had also signed a deal to create another comedy show.

But that's not going to happen anytime soon, because Hunt has just signed a two-year deal for her own talk daytime talk show. The show will premiere in syndication in the fall of 2008 on NBC stations.

Fake news must be Comedy Central's bread-and-butter these days. The network has no fewer than three fake news shows: The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and The Showbiz Show with David Spade. Now it's considering a fourth faux news program for its lineup. This time, it's The Chocolate News, starring David Alan Grier.

David Alan Grier is one of the funniest comedians out there right now, but nothing ever seems to stick for him. He was hilarious on Bonnie Hunt's short-lived show, Life With Bonnie, and on In Living Color back in the early 1990s. Mostly, though, he just plays great supporting roles or guest stars on current television shows.

Grier is currently rounding up writers and other talent to appear in the pilot he's pitching to Comedy Central. He has also agreed to host a new improv show on NBC this spring called Thank God You're Here.

[Via TV Tattle]

NBC Universal Television gets to go mining for comedy gold over at the famous Second City Improv Theatre. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio and the theatre have signed a two-year deal that allows NBC access to Second City shows, talent, and comedy library. NBC intends to use the information to develop comedy content for new television programs. "We look at it as a great resource of talent and ideas that we can share back and forth," said NBC Universal TV president Angela Bromstad.

Good move on NBC's part. Second City alumni include Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Andy Dick, Chris Farley, Bill Murray, Fred Willard, Bonnie Hunt, Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert... and the list goes on and on. These people know what funny is.

Because of Bob's slavish devotion to her, I knew that Amy Sedaris was going to be on Letterman last night promoting Strangers with Candy. Because of my own little crush on her, I tuned in to see her all-too-short segment (I mean, really, Dave; I know he just won the NBA championship and all, but... Dwayne Wade? Two segments of Amy would have made for better TV. And Dwayne... when you're going on a talk show, wear some long pants, OK, buddy?). Of course Amy was manically funny, as usual, telling stories and throwing out her celebrity "faces" (I especially liked her Streisand). I laughed out loud a number of times.

When her segment was over, I started flipping around. I hit Jimmy Kimmel's show and -- oh, my -- saw one of my other TV crushes... Bonnie Hunt! This was completely unexpected. She was on promoting Cars, and she started launching into stories about how she and her brother laughed at her father's funeral, how her dad would rib her mom, how her mom repairs the toilet, and what it's like to work with Kimmel's brother. All of this seemed unplanned (Bonnie even said "I can't believe I'm talking about this," a couple of times), not the usual "interview-by-numbers" that is set up by the pre-interviewing process. And it was very entertaining.

Oh, did I say that both Bonnie and Amy looked absolutely lovely last night? Wow. Not a bad way to end a pretty stressful day.

After last night's powerful gay marriage debate with Bill Bennett, Jon was asked what went on between commercial breaks. "He asked me out. I would have gone, but I'll tell you why I'm not going to go... 'Cause... I don't know how to salsa dance," he tearfully admitted.

For its next season, Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown gets a new co-host and a new location. In support of the people affected by Hurricane Katrina, the poker contest will film at Harrah's Casino in New Orleans. The building was damaged in the hurricane and just reopened in February. All the celebrities involved with be playing for Hurricane Katrina-related charities. Also, Phil Gordon is out. His replacement is poker champ Phil Hellmuth. Don't worry, Dave Foley is still the other co-host. No word yet on which celebs will participate, but I'd love it if they invite Bonnie Hunt back. She was hilarious.

I don't know who's more excited about this news, me or Joel. The brilliantly funny Bonnie Hunt is having another go at situation comedy on ABC. In her untitled project, she'll play a recently divorced woman who works as a detective.

Bonnie has convinced some powerful comedic talent to join the cast. Dennis Miller (yes, THE Dennis Miller of HBO and SNL) will co-star as Dr. Langley, Hunt's therapist. And Joe Mantegna will play Jack, her ex-husband. Both roles were meant to be guest stars only, but Bonnie reportedly talked the men into sticking around if her sitcom gets picked up by the network.

I wish I would have seen this so I could have a better perspective on it for you but, alas, I do not watch the Today show if I can help it. So, I'm just going on an article and a slideshow here. On Tuesday, when Katie Couric was outside interviewing Bonnie Hunt about her new movie, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, Jim Carrey appeared in the crowd and hijacked the whole segment. Jim had been on the show earlier, promoting his new movie, Fun with Dick and Jane. Of course, he's a funny guy and he made everyone laugh. It was probably pretty darn funny and the crowd looks like they just went nuts when he started interacting with them. He gave crowd members hugs and dug through the toy box. Luckily, Bonnie Hunt is a true class act. Once she realized the cameras had all turned to Jim and his mugging, she joined in with him and started dancing around the staging area. Oh well, it was probably more interesting than yet another interview about yet another movie opening over the holidays.

[Via TV Newser]

Let me ask our male readers a question: have you ever had a woman in your group of friends who was super cool, one that drank with you and made jokes and was a complete riot? You always thought she was attractive, but her personality and humor were what you saw first. Now, did one day that woman come to lunch or work wearing a skirt, or with different hair or makeup, and you were just blown away by how hot she was? Well, that's how I think of Bonnie Hunt.

Bonnie's a funny gal. Really funny. She's quick on her feet, and is particularly adept at improvisation, telling funny stories about her life and the people she knows inside and outside show business. Those improvisational skills made the show-within-a-show scenes on her ABC sitcom Life With Bonnie extremely funny, since they were largely unscripted. Those scenes also showed that she could hold her own with comedy's finest, since many of the guests on her fictional morning show were played by improv legends like Jonathan Winters.