The man might have terrible taste in comedy special titles, but it's helped him score on his own little corner of the TV dial.
Comedian Nick Swardson has scored his own sketch comedy series on Comedy Central. The show will hit the air next year and feature a lot of digital shorts and animation, some of which will be based on almost Python-esque "Gay Robot" character. Swardson and Adam Sandler actually shot a pilot for his "Gay Robot" character years ago and thanks to the magic of YouTube, you can also enjoy it. Warning: if you're easily offended by jokes of a sexual nature, please get over yourself and grow a sense of humor before watching it.
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Swardson scores sketch series
The Kids in the Hall reunite for a murder-mystery miniseries
Just imagine how much fun Harper's Island could have been if it had been written by and starred The Kids in the Hall. If you live in Canada, you don't have to imagine it, because the Kids are creating just that.Death Comes to Town is to be an eight-part comedy where the Kids (Scott Thompson, Dave Foley, Mark McKinney, Bruce McCulloch and Kevin McDonald) will each play multiple roles, possibly including some of the characters made famous on The Kids in the Hall sketch comedy show. I'm hoping the murderer kills people by crushing their heads.
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Sketch Comedy Saturday: Monty Python's Flying Circus
I was going to save this extra-classic show, Monty Python's Flying Circus, for the later part of the Sketch Comedy Saturday series, but I just had to do this in light of recent, super-exciting news. As I hope most of you know, Monty Python will be having a reunion. Sure, John Cleese and Graham Chapman won't be there (for two, completely different reasons) but it will still be nice to see Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam get back together, right? Magic always happens when there's more than one Python guy around. Except that time John Cleese and Michael Palin tried to do "The Parrot Sketch" on Saturday Night Live a few years ago. That was just weird.
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Sketch Comedy Saturday: The Kids In The Hall
As a special Sketch Comedy Saturday treat, I will forgo the lengthy, typed-out, text version of me humming the Kids In The Hall theme song and get right down to business. This is one of those shows that are now considered classic sketch comedy (and Canadian comedy), so I feel silly for even having to profile them, but I am constantly surprised by the number of people whose eyes glaze over when I ask them if they've ever heard of the Kids. So ... Have you heard of the Kids?
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Sketch Comedy Saturday: All That
This installment of Sketch Comedy Saturday holds a very specific goal. On one hand, it's to serve as a minor aid in the quest to overcome Saturday Night Live withdrawal. It's also a very effective excuse to feel nostalgic for the 90s. Believe it or not, the 90s were almost 20 years ago. Take a moment and let that sink in to your old, old brain, dinosaur.This week, we will be touching upon a little show called All That, which some of you may remember as Nickelodeon's attempt at a kid version of SNL. Also, the theme song is by TLC, so you know it's 90s-crazy.
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Sketch Comedy Saturday: Little Britain
For some strange reason, I was initially compelled to start this installment of Sketch Comedy Saturday with "Never fear, Little Britain is here!" I suppose there was a need for a campy intro. Then, I realized that there are actually plenty of things to fear in Little Britain: Matt Lucas wearing really tight shorts, old women violently projectile vomiting on everything in sight, more Matt Lucas wearing really, really tight shorts ... Really, the horrifying list goes on.
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Sketch Comedy Saturday: The Dana Carvey Show
This installment of Sketch Comedy Saturday is less about you pining for new episodes of Saturday Night Live and more about me having an excuse to use this old image of Stephen Colbert with a puppy. It makes me sick, it's so adorable. Unfortunately, The Dana Carvey Show wasn't just twenty-some minutes of Mr. Colbert nonchalantly holding baby animals, but it was still a pretty funny program.
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Sketch Comedy Saturday: Big Train
Hey, gang! It's time to get your sketch comedy fill and kick the Saturday Night Live summer break shakes.
This week, I'm here to educate you on a little British program called Big Train. It was created by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, the brains behind Father Ted, and ran two seasons/series in 1998 and 2002. Most of the sketches were surreal and played with the most beautifully serious deadpan expressions. There are people in giant cat and mouse costumes getting in fights, professional evil hypnotists lurking in hallways, as well as jockeys being preyed upon by Prince, so it's a wonder the actors could ever keep straight faces.
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Sketch Comedy Saturday: Upright Citizens Brigade
It's summer time and I can see you sketch comedy nerds are starting to get the shakes from Saturday Night Live withdrawal. No worries, I've got some goodness to feed your short attention span and sketch comedy needs.Here's a program that every self-proclaimed comedy fan should know. From 1998 to 2000, the Upright Citizens Brigade television series ran for three seasons on Comedy Central, developing a solid cult following. The four stars, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Matt Besser and Amy Poehler wrote and starred in the series, playing just about all the characters and giving us gems like Ass Pennies, Spaghetti Jesus and little Girl Scout Cassie.
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David Wain tells us: The State DVD is on!
Get ready to utter the biggest "At last!" since NBC put the Knight Rider remake out of its long and winding misery. TV Shows on DVD reported MTV's official announcement earlier this morning that the entire sketch comedy series will hit store shelves on July 14th. That was followed by a trailer release of the DVD on The State's official site. It's going to have full commentary from the cast, four interview features on the troupe's origins and the show's many catchphrases, some unaired sketches and outtakes. It sounds like this five disc set will be chocked full of Stately goodness. You'll want to do a lot more than just dip your balls in it. Please keep those things to yourself.
Founding State member, writer and Role Models director David Wain was nice enough to give us his first interview (via IM, no less). He talked about the work that went in to getting things to this stage, why the announcement first appeared on cast member Joe Lo Truglio's site and what he and the rest of his crew hope to accomplish with their DVD.
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Another colossal exclusive! The State restates the state of The State DVD
There seems to be some mixed messages on the status of The State DVD. Those of you who are sitting on the edge of your computer chair, chewing your fingernails down to the marrow know this isn't really new news. This time, however, there seems to be disagreement within the ranks of the comedy troupe.
We reported earlier this month about State member and recent Reno 911! addition Joe Lo Truglio announcing a release date for the long beleaguered DVD of the complete series. The following week, the group's official site, run by writer, director and cast member David Wain according to their FAQ, denied that any date for the DVD's release has been set.
Continue reading Another colossal exclusive! The State restates the state of The State DVD
Reprise the theme song, roll the credits, and for the love of God, revive Roundhouse! - VIDEO
As a kid, my parents were totally cool with my television viewing habits, as long as it never became excessive or kept my face from being kissed by the light of day every once in a while. Not that they had anything to be worried about, of course, considering that all I was watching was Nickelodeon. While my fellow prepubescents were slowly but surely migrating to more grown-up programming on MTV (and Playboy, if you had a cable box), I spent the bulk of my time between 1992 and 1996 fully devoted to Roundhouse, a 30-minute sketch show sandwiched between the more popular Clarissa Explains It All and Are You Afraid Of The Dark? on SNICK, Nickelodeon's Saturday night programming block.
Jeannie Darcy: SNL's most underrated character? - VIDEO
It seems that there has never been a period of time when critics (and the masses) didn't chide Saturday Night Live, claiming the show to be in a "creative slump," or even going as far as calling it - get this - "Saturday Night Dead."But for stalwart fans like myself who tend to consider every nuance and minor detail of the show's sketches, the sentiment is either only partially true or not true at all. Sure, the show saw a spike in viewership thanks to Tina Fey's Sarah Palin impression, leading critics to praise SNL's "creative resurgence." But the buzz was just as strong when Will Ferrell played George W. Bush nine years ago. (And, furthermore, it wasn't as if the show didn't have its culturally resonant hits in recent years, not limited to Maya Rudolph's Donatella Versace impression or Andy Samberg's fusion of Internet humor into the mix).
So to those who say SNL is back, I say, have you ever seen Molly Shannon's Jeannie Darcy? Because it is, by far, one of the most brilliantly executed, underrated characters to ever appear on the show. (Or maybe I just have a thing for mullets and bolo ties. Same difference.) See what I mean in the video after the jump.
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Saturday Night Live: Zach Braff/Maroon 5 (season finale) - VIDEOS
(S32E20) I'm not a crazed Zach Braff fan, but I'm familiar enough with his work on Scrubs and Garden State. As the weird fantasy sequences in Scrubs have shown, Braff and the bizarre totally work. So, I was disappointed that he didn't play any outrageous characters in this episode. He was always playing some version of himself. Even in the "Prom Committee" sketch, when he had the chance to portray some completely out-there character, he played the Garden State kid with the Natalie Portman headphones. Oh, well. At least he didn't blatantly stare at the cue cards all night.Also, there was so much Maya Rudolph love in this episode, it sort of felt like she was hosting. I wonder if this is a sign that she's planning on leaving after this season? This then leads me to wonder if Darrell Hammond, who only appeared two or three times in this episode, is ever going to leave.
Continue reading Saturday Night Live: Zach Braff/Maroon 5 (season finale) - VIDEOS
Saturday Night Live: Julia Louis-Dreyfus/Snow Patrol - VIDEOS
(S32E15) Julia Louis Dreyfus hosted less than a year ago, so I was surprised to see her back so soon. She did an all right job last time, but I wonder what drove Saturday Night Live to have her return this quickly. It's not like she had anything new to promote. Hmm.This episode was pretty boring. If I wasn't planning on writing this review, I probably would have tuned out a little after "Weekend Update". Yawn.
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Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
Have any questions for Vik Sahay of Chuck? Ask them here!
Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
