TVSquad

When you think of funny people in America, who do you immediately think of? Stephen Colbert? Robin Williams? Chris Rock? Matt Stone and Trey Parker? How about David Letterman or Dane Cook?

Some of the people above are on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 25 funniest people in America (two of the people above aren't on the list, nor should they be!). Some of the choices are downright baffling (as usual for these lists): Augustun Burroughs? Please. Diablo Cody? Good writer, but one of the funniest in the country based on Juno? But it's good to see the Sedarises on there (both David and Amy), as well as people like Tina Fey and Demetri Martin. There are even two current cast members of Saturday Night Live on the list. Can you guess who they are?

Once you read the list, you can go into the comments and say "why the hell is _________ on the list?!?"

I'll admit it, I love end of the year lists. Even though I don't always agree with the lists I read in magazines and online, they always make for interesting reading and they put the year in perspective, and make you think of something in a new way. Our Festivus lists are a chance to tell everyone what we'd like to see on our televisions and under our trees next to our metallic Fesitvus poles. Here's my list.

1. An end to the writers strike. Look, I want the writers to get everything that's coming to them. As a writer myself, I'm behind them 100%. But we're talking about what I want for Festivus here, and I would love to see the writers and studios come to an agreement so we can salvage at least a part of the rest of the season. I don't want to see all repeats and reality for the next 6 months. I also miss David Letterman, especially during the holidays.

(S04E11) "I've got eight Frescas in me Lou. I'm on a massive NutraSweet high. Don't get me started." - Tommy

Did I miss where the title of this episode was referenced? I've racked my brain, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how the word "cycle" played into this episode. Doesn't matter. I've finally figured out what this whole season has been about. Maybe I'm slow (because it's been hinted at right along) but this time around it was thrown right in our face. Tommy's search for faith. The mysterious black figures. The prayer books. The only thing missing is Tommy's personal Jesus from season two. I know I've said before that maybe Tommy has a death wish. Maybe he doesn't, but he's definitely trying to defy something. The funny thing is that I don't think he knows what it is.

• Charlie Rose: a conversation about Claude Monet
• The Daily Show: Eddie Izzard
• The Colbert Report: Cullen Murphy
• The Late Show With David Letterman: Amy Sedaris, Jordan Zevon, Chuck Liddell
• Jay Leno: Don Rickles, Josh Flitter, and Dashboard Confessional
• Jimmy Kimmel Live: Seth Rogan, Chris Cornell, and Megan Fox
• Tavis Smiley: Bernie Mac
• Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Marg Helgenberer and Steve Schirippa
• The Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Don Cheadle and Poison
• Last Call With Carson Daly: Oliver Hudson and Grizzly Bear

• Charlie Rose: Antonio Guterres, Jimmy Wales, and Erica Wagner
• The Daily Show: Margaret Spellings
• The Colbert Report: John Amaechi
• The Late Show With David Letterman: Seth Rogan, Charles Barkley, and Michael Martin Murphey
• Jay Leno: Demi Moore, Judd Apatow, Ziggy Marley, and Angelique Kidjo
• Jimmy Kimmel Live: Jorge Garcia and the winner of Dancing with the Stars
• Tavis Smiley: Michael Yates and Ian Somerhalder
• Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Amy Sedaris and Loudon Wainwright III
• The Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Carrie Fisher, Naomi Harris, and Nathan Gibson
• Last Call With Carson Daly: John Salley and Emily Haines

Julia mentioned previously that Amy Sedaris would be appearing in a guest role on Andy Barker, P.I. Well, Julia wasn't lying, but you won't see the episode on TV. Instead, click on over to NBC's site to see "The Lady Varnishes," in which Sedaris plays a sex-crazed older woman who spent some time in the slammer. Funny, that sounds an awful lot like her Jerri Blank character from Strangers with Candy. The two characters do share similar traits, but who the heck cares, I'd give my left leg to see Sedaris in anything (and that statement will mean more to you after you've watched the episode).

I'm not sure if I'm a fan of these "What's In and What's Out" lists that seem to pop up every December or January. They seem to embrace trends instead of just quality. But I like Hank Steuver's writing and lists like this are a good conversation starter as the new year begins.

That doesn't mean I agree with him on everything. I mean, David Sedaris is "out" while John Hodgman is "in?" That's ridiculous (though I like Hodgman too). And Dancing with the Stars will never be "in" with me. But I love that he picks America's Next Model as being "out" and Ugly Betty being "in." Ditto his picks for Laguna Beach being "out" (Meerkat Manor is "in") and Dane Cook being "out" (thumbs up to Jim Gaffigan!).

What do you think is in and out, TV-wise? I'm sure they'll be a lot of opinions on Steuver picking Battlestar Galactica as being "out" and Heroes as being "in."

Before we knew him as a correspondent on The Daily Show, Mr. Noblet on Strangers with Candy, and later the star of his own faux news analyst program, The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert was just another sketch player on shows like Exit 57 and the Dana Carvey Show. Colbert starred on the short-lived Exit 57 with Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello, who would later re-team with him for Strangers with Candy. After the jump, see a younger Colbert and his future Daily Show co-worker Steve Carell playing waiters made sick by the mere mention of food on the Dany Carvey Show, and then watch a clip from Exit 57 with Colbert, Dinello and Sedaris that I can't really describe, except to say you get to see Colbert and Dinello makeout with one another. Mmmm, that's tasty.

Check out the vids after the jump.

Like a lot of people, I'll be out there today spending cash and gift cards I got yesterday. There are a lot of TV-oriented books released every year, and many of them are quite good. Some of them are downright terrible (*cough* TWOP *cough*), but let's focus on the good ones. Below is a list of 10 great TV books to give the TV addict in your family.

1. Hello, Lied The Agent, by Ian Gurvitz: Excellent behind-the-scenes look at how the TV industry works, from a writer/producer of such shows as Wings, Becker, and Get A Life. He talks about the dos and don'ts for Hollywood writers, pitch meetings, cancellations, shows the journal he kept a few years ago, and even talks about the new shows that have debuted in the past couple of years. Very informative and just really, really funny.

Every year at this time, we here at TV Squad give our lists of what we want for Festivus. The shows we'd like to see renewed, the shows we'd like to see canceled, the TV-related DVDs and books and toys that we want, etc. Here's my list of stuff I want as 2007 rapidly approaches. A couple of things I doubt I'll ever see, a few I suspect I will see, and a couple I might have to do myself, like buying that new deluxe Alias DVD set.

But as I said last week, if someone who reads TV Squad bought me that, I'd be a happy camper.