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The National Geographic Channel is using humor to sell it's ambitious new special Stonehenge Decoded. Christopher Guest has resurrected his Spinal Tap alter ego for National Geographic Channel, lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel, to expound on his theories about how Stonehenge came to be. Naturally, even as he's promoting the special and National Geographic, his tongue is firmly planted in cheek as he disses the findings of the scientists and purports to be an expert on the subject.

Guest as Tufnel is interviewed by straight man -- comic actor -- Jim Piddock, leading to riotous takes by Nigel about dinosaurs, the secret language of potatoes, the pyramids and other weighty affairs. Here's one of the videos (after the jump), so you can see what I mean:

Christopher Guest had one hell of a challenge on his hands when he agreed to do commercials for some new products from Intel. The products are very "inside baseball", as they are for IT managers. Intel needed to promote its new vPro and Centrino Pro directly to IT folks. That means using a lot of words the general public doesn't understand, but words that Intel required in its advertisements.

How did Guest do it? In a song, of course. He rounded up Dan Finnerty (of The Dan Band) and rocker Rob Giles to sing the tune Guest and his collaborator, C.J. Vanston wrote about Intel's new products.

The results are two- 2 minute music video commercials that are pretty entertaining. They're both after the jump:

The Hollywood Reporter reports that The Thick of It, a new pilot from Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz that was rejected by ABC, may still have a fighting chance.

The Thick of It is based on a British series about folks working for a low-level congressman. The series boasts some amazing comedic talent, including John Michael Higgins, Oliver Platt, Alex Borstein, and Michael McKean. The pilot was also directed by Christopher Guest.

Christopher Guest has agreed to direct the pilot for The Thick of It, a comedy being created for ABC by Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz. The show is being adapted for an American audience from the popular British comedy by the same name. In Britain, it was about a member of Parliament who had to deal with inept politicians, a prime minister and other silly minions. I can only guess that the American version will take place in Congress?

According to his IMDB bio, Guest hasn't done much directing for television lately. He seems to stick to the "mockumentary" (he hates that word) movie genre that's heavy on improv, such as Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman.

Add Ricky Gervais to the list of cool kids who get to star in Christopher Guest films (This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman). Gervais, creator and star of The Office and Extras, will make his big screen debut in Guest's new movie, For Your Consideration. It's about the cast of an indie flick that starts to get high hopes when their movie gets internet buzz and rumors fly about possible nominations. The movie stars the usual Guest actors, including Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Parker Posey and Fred Willard. Gervais and American The Office actor John Krasinski also have roles. Interestingly, Christopher Guest changed up his format for his new movie. It's not his typical, improvised 'mockumentary', but it's being called "a movie within a movie", with lots of scripted scenes. It's the first movie role for Gervais, who said he accepted the part because "Christopher Guest is the single biggest influence on my comedy."

For Your Consideration hits theaters in November.

Parker Posey, probably best known for her roles in the trio of Christopher Guest mockumentaries, is set to star in three episodes of Boston Legal near the end of this season. Parker will star as a lawyer named Marlene Stanger. She's dead-set on becoming a partner and because of her determination, she's earned the nickname of "The Squid."

I don't watch this show nearly enough. I caught the episodes that Michael J. Fox did a few months ago and they were very good. I also wrote about the possibility that Denny Crane may be having a bit of, uh, a "preference switch" sometime this season. But I haven't seen anything on that since and this is the first Boston Legal news I've read in sometime. Has anyone heard something?

[via Zap2It]