Thirteen/WNET and Ghost Light films named Billy Crystal host of the new documentary series Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America. The six-hour documentary, which will air in January 2009, will explore the tropes of American comedy and chronicle its evolution.
The comedian will appear in the opening of each episode and introduce viewers to the funniest moments in American entertainment. Some of the comedic talents that will be featured include: Charlie Chaplin, Jack Benny, Abbott & Costello, Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Sid Caesar, Anne Beatts, Woody Allen, Larry Wilmore, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Richard Lewis, Jon Stewart, and Chris Rock.
Chris Rock is returning to HBO! The network announced today at TCA that the comedian would premiere his fifth stand-up special this fall. The special will feature footage from three locations: South Africa's Carnival City Casino, New York's Apollo Theater, and the Carling Apollo Hammersmith in London. Of the return to HBO, Chris Rock says, "I wanted to do that type of stand-up special that I've never seen before, and the only place that I could see doing that is at HBO. I love HBO because they want to take chances."
Also of note is that Rock set the Guinness World Record on the No Apologies Tour by playing to crowds of 15,900 at Greenwich's O2 venue. That's the largest audience for stand-up comedy performance in British history.
I'm psyched that Chris Rock will be returning to HBO. He's on the few comedians whose performance I can watch from beginning to end and not get bored. Ever.
Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger will debut on Saturday, September 27th at 9:00 p.m. ET / PT on HBO.
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?!?"
You have to wonder, was it all worth it? I mean, sure, we got a few more episodes and I, personally, am grateful for the upcoming series finale but I'm curious if those of you who spent time and money on peanuts feel like you made a difference.
If only Bob Hope and Johnny Carson could come back from the dead...
Seriously, besides Billy Crystal and onetwo-time host Steve Martin, most Oscar hosts have suffered in the face of high expectations and the reality that they couldn't unleash their full force of funny over an audience full of mostly humorless industry types. Dave Letterman got eaten alive despite a performance most home audiences (well, me) thought was hilarious. Chris Rock dared to actually try to be a tenth as daring as he is in his stand-up act and he was called "insulting" by his non-fans and "boring" by the people who liked him. Ellen DeGeneres was so benign she put people to sleep.
Which is why I wonder why Jon Stewart would accept the Academy's reported invitation to host the ceremony again next year. When he hosted in 2006, he got decidedly mixed reviews, from people who liked his performance to folks like Nikki Finke, who said that Stewart bombed.
(S05E08) If you see several spelling errors throughout the course of my review, please excuse them. I didn't suddenly forget how to type it's just that... well, after I finished my review of the new NASCAR DVD (24x24 Wide Open with Jeff Gordon), I got pretty excited about how good it was. I mean, I'm not one to toot my own horn, but it was clearly above average (especially considering the source material).
Anyway, I read the review out loud to my wife and when I was done, I threw my keyboard on the floor in triumph!
It got smashed, of course, but you can't blame me, right? That's what artists are supposed to do when they feel like they've accomplished something. At least, that's what I learned tonight watching Dante's performance...
The third annual Comedy Festival in Las Vegas, which is presented by HBO and sponsored by TBS, kicks off November 14 and runs through November 17. This year, the event is being co-headlined by Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock.
Currently, the only other comedians listed on the site are Nick Swardson and Jamie Kennedy, but one assumes that, given the insane number of comedians who performed over the last couple of years (Dane Cook, Roseanne Barr, Louis C.K., Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Dave Atell, Sarah Silverman, Don Rickles, Bob Saget and others), we'l' be seeing more comedians added to the event. We do have until November, after all.
At least one special has sprung up via the Comedy Festival. TBS aired Earth to America! a comedic special about global warming that opened the festival in 2005.
First of all, I loved how Chris' dad thinks everything can be fixed with duct tape. Who knew Julius and Red Green had something in common?
This episode had me, and then it lost me. When Chris decides to final exact revenge on Caruso, I was all set up. This was going to be yet another great episode of a series that never relies to heavily on sitcom conventions for its humor, but by the end, that's exactly what the episode had done. I'm sure a bunch of cats being turned loose in a school might work on a lesser show, but it's an idea that seems way too "sitcom-y" for a show like Chris. Also, isn't the show supposed to be based, at least somewhat, on Chris Rock's real childhood? What school did he attend that would allow him the ample time he needed to set up such an elaborate prank?
Like Chris, I've never been very good at math. This is an example of how my brain tries to solve a basic math problem:
Problem: x + 9 = 18 - 2x
My Brain: I haven't had Corn Flakes in a long time.
See? It's like it doesn't even try. If numbers are involved, my brain pretty much shuts down and starts playing elevator music. Perhaps if I had been offered pizza like Chris' class I would have done better, but I doubt it. At least Chris had some outside help from his mother and grandmother. I also had outside help from a tutor, but despite her efforts, she just couldn't get through to me.
(S02E20) Up to this point, we've seen how his upbringing, home life, and troubles at school helped to shape Chris' worldview, but this is the first episode where we caught a glimpse of what made Chris want to be a comedian.
Since this series is a somewhat fictional take on Chris' life as a kid, we don't know if the real Chris Rock sneaked downstairs to eavesdrop on his parents listening to Redd Foxx albums, but one assumes young Chris was probably exposed to the legendary comedian at some point, not to mention the likes of Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and George Carlin.
(S02E19) You can watch the episode here if you missed it.
I've never really gambled, as that whole concept is a little too complex for me. My brain just isn't wired to keep track of money, statistics, and all those other things needed to gamble successfully.
In Chris' neighborhood, everyone gambles, whether it be on sports or on which kid happens to be your real son. Chris also gets sucked into helping his boss, Doc, bet on sports when it's discovered that Chris knows a lot about the sports teams, even if he himself is a terrible athlete.
On May 6 at 9:00 p.m., NBC will air Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation. The special, as evidenced in the title, will look at the late night mainstay and the actors who called the show "home" during the '90s. Having gone to high school and college throughout the '90s, this is the era that sticks in my memory the most, when folks like Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Norm MacDonald, Phil Hartman, David Spade, Chris Farley and Dana Carvey were just funny guys no one had ever heard of before.
The special will include interviews with former cast members, insight from repeat hosts Alec Baldwin and John Goodman, plus interviews with writers Tim Herlihy and Adam McKay, who went on to successful careers as film writers. If you're a fan of Saturday Night Live, it's probably worth checking out, but especially if you happen to be around my age and these episodes were the ones you quoted and discussed with your friends the next day in school.
On Sunday, HBO will air a special called Jerry Seinfeld: The Comedian Award, where the legendary stand-up comedian and sitcom star will be honored by The Comedy Festival. The host of the special will be CNN's Anderson Cooper, and fellow stand-ups Robert Klein, Chris Rock, and Garry Shandling will be on hand.
Never heard of The Comedian Award? Well, don't feel too bad about that; Jerry is the award's first recipient. And the festival that is honoring Jerry is not the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen nor the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal. It's The Comedy Festival, whose second annual edition was held last November in Las Vegas. So I hope Jerry treats this honor with the correct amount of reverence: in other words, none. I'm pretty confident that's exactly what's going to happen; comedians don't take comedy awards that seriously to begin with. Why should they start now?
(S02E18) This wasn't the funniest episode of Everybody Hates Chris, but I did like how it explored the dynamic between Chris and his father.
Kurt Vonnegut once told McSweeneys that a male writer should never write about his father: "you learn about life by the accidents you have, over and over again, and your father is always in your head when that stuff happens."
Thirteen/WNET and Ghost Light films named Billy Crystal host of the new documentary series Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America. The six-hour documentary, which will air in January 2009, will explore the tropes of American comedy and chronicle its evolution. 
Chris Rock is returning to HBO! The network announced today at TCA that the comedian would premiere his fifth stand-up special this fall. The special will feature footage from three locations: South Africa's Carnival City Casino, New York's Apollo Theater, and the Carling Apollo Hammersmith in London. Of the return to HBO, Chris Rock says, "I wanted to do that type of stand-up special that I've never seen before, and the only place that I could see doing that is at HBO. I love HBO because they want to take chances." 
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?
Well, it's now official. 
If only Bob Hope and Johnny Carson could come back from the dead...
(S05E08) If you see several spelling errors throughout the course of my review, please excuse them. I didn't suddenly forget how to type it's just that... well, after I finished my review of the new NASCAR DVD (
The third annual Comedy Festival in Las Vegas, which is presented by HBO and sponsored by TBS, kicks off November 14 and runs through November 17. This year, the event is being 
(S02E22) I need to pay more attention to the opening credits, because I had no idea Kelsey Grammer directed this episode. 
(S02E21) Boy, did this episode speak to me.
(S02E20) Up to this point, we've seen how his upbringing, home life, and troubles at school helped to shape Chris' worldview, but this is the first episode where we caught a glimpse of what made Chris want to be a comedian.
(S02E19) You can watch the episode 
On May 6 at 9:00 p.m., NBC will air 
On Sunday, HBO will air 
(S02E18) This wasn't the funniest episode of Everybody Hates Chris, but I did like how it explored the dynamic between Chris and his father. 
Twilight Vs. Roswell: Are aliens more romantic than vampires? - VIDEO
Why do series finales have to be so final?
Spoilers Anonymous
