TVSquad

Hey, a lot happens in five shows. Let's get right into it!

COMEDY CORRESPONDENTS
Arsenio Hall was featured twice this week. His first appearance was in a segment that had potential called "This Is What They Said/This Is What They Meant." I was expecting to see video clips of celebrities, politicians and the like spouting their same bullcrap, and then having Hall tell us what he thinks they really meant. Instead, it was Leno reading quotes, including historically famous ones like Julius Ceasar's "Et tu, Brute!" The gag didn't make sense anymore, and even worse the bits weren't funny.

Luckily, he came back later in the week with an on-site spot at Yankee Stadium, where he interviewed players from both teams and even set up a bet against a Yankees player and Phillies fan Kevin Eubanks involving Snuggies.

There aren't many actresses out there that you could affectionately call a "broad," but Megan Mullally's one of them. Ever since she came on the scene a decade ago as the caustic and spoiled Karen Walker on Will & Grace, Mullally has shown that she can be bawdy with the best of them.

Now, after a foray into the talk show world and a turn as a disabled and ugly -- but desirable -- chief of medicine on Rob Corddry's web series Children's Hospital, Mullally is back on series TV, on ABC's new comedy In The Motherhood (premiering Thursday at 8 PM ET), which was based on a web series that took episode ideas from submissions by real moms. In the series, Mullally plays Rosemary, a "bad ass," as Mullally calls her, who has raised the perfect son even though she's an imperfect mom.

In this quickie interview, Mullally talks about the new show, about a rumor that she was in a catfight with her co-star Cheryl Hines, about how Rosemary and Karen could be the new Odd Couple, and running her Kerry Weaver-esque Children's Hospital character past Laura Innes.

I cover the night shift at TV Squad, which means I edit and schedule posts in the blogging queue from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. I actually like the quiet time to work, since my household is pretty noisy during the day.

But one thing that gets me through the night is Chelsea Lately, the late night talk show featuring comedian Chelsea Handler and her little nugget Chuy. In my neck of the woods, her show airs at 3 and 3:30 a.m., just the exact moment I need a boost to carry me through to morning.

So I was pretty excited to read that Chelsea's inked a shiny new deal with Comcast Entertainment Group. The agreement includes continuing to exec produce and star in her E! show, Chelsea Lately, through 2012. She's also establishing a new company, Borderline Amazing Productions, which will have a first-look deal with Comcast's cable networks.

Jenna Fischer: This is one of those "I've arrived!" moments. Seriously. There's, like, little milestones... Like, being on David Letterman for the first time and then, like, being in Vanity Fair.
Chelsea Handler: ... I knew I arrived when I got my period.
Everyone: [groans and laughter]

Yeah, I know how most of our male readers are. They like their ladies funny, smart, and painfully out of their league. Well, start lurking around the magazine stands, boys, because the upcoming Vanity Fair has a new Annie Leibovitz photo spread featuring some of the funniest ladies on the scene. The impressive list boasts Sandra Bernhard, Susie Essman, Tina Fey, Jenna Fischer, Chelsea Handler, Leslie Mann, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amy Sedaris, Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes, and Kristen Wiig, each of them doing very typical "Hollywood bad girl" things. I especially love Maya Rudolph's hair and how Silverman manages to do Amy Winehouse better than Amy Winehouse.

My new favorite program is The Chelsea Handler Show on E! I laughed myself silly last weekend when I watched her series premiere. Handler's show is a combination of her stand-up and comedy sketches. She did a sketch with celebrity impersonators that spoofed Jon Favreau's Dinner for Five on IFC. She asked the Tom Cruise impersonator how long it takes alien babies to hatch and wondered whether "that closet you're in locks from the inside". She also did a hilarious interview with a couple that had a one night stand, and you can see it here on YouTube (the quality of the video isn't great). There's also video of her stand-up routine at The Hollywood Improv in LA, but warning: it's not clean. Her comedy is self-deprecating, but also takes some shots at all sorts of minority groups. It's gutsy comedy that ends up being really funny, yet slightly uncomfortable. The best kind!