TVSquad

There's news about CBS's Mike Birbiglia's Secret Public Journal, and from the sounds of it, this may be a real sleeper -- that's if you believe in the quality of the casting. Joining Mike in the show are comic Bob Odenkirk, actress Rachel Blanchard and former deejay Phil Hendrie.

Mike Birbiglia's Secret Public Journal, based on his stand up comedy, includes Blanchard (7th Heaven) as his significant other, an aspiring doctor and the sensible one of the couple. Phil Hendrie, best known as a popular radio talker but was also on The Unit in a supporting role, has been cast as Mike's abrasive doctor. But perhaps the best news for this CBS project is adding Bob O to the company as Mike's big brother. In everything I've ever seen him do, Odenkirk is a riot. He's a two-time Emmy winner for his comedy writing.

As the first Futurama straight-to-DVD movie, Bender's Big Score, begins airing on Comedy Central (they'll air the movie as a four-episode blok on Sunday night), Fox has announced the name and release date of the second straight-to-DVD epic.

AnimationMagazine.net reports that Futurama: The Beast With A Billion Backs will be released on June 24, and they note that Fox calls it "the most tentacle-packed Futurama epic." Since it's a continuation of Bender's Big Score, I'll talk about the plot of the new movie after the jump, for the benefit of those who haven't seen the first movie yet.

The folks behind some of my favorite series of the past decade talking about the TV comedy business? Yes, please.

Golden Fiddle has a transcript of a panel discussion with David Cross (Arrested Development, co-creator of Mr. Show), Bob Odenkirk (the other co-creator of Mr. Show), Chuck Tatham (writer, Arrested Development), and Wonder Showzen creators Vernon Chatman and John Lee.

Do you like comedy? Sure, we all do. If you especially like your comedy in written and audio form, these two news items should have you clapping your hands and doing the happy dance:

First, that Comedy Death Ray CD I mentioned earlier will be out on September 12. The 150-minute CD, comprised of sets recorded during the all-night fourth anniversary Comedy Death Ray show at the UCB theater and sets from the SF Sketchfest, will feature such comedians as Patton Oswalt (King of Queens, Comedians of Comedy), Maria Bamford (Comedians of Comedy), David Cross (Mr. Show, Arrested Development), Paul F. Tompkins (Mr. Show, Best Week Ever), Doug Benson (Best Week Ever, Last Comic Standing), Brian Posehn (Mr. Show, Comedians of Comedy, Just Shoot Me, The Sarah Silverman Program), Neil Hamburger (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job), and many more.

Sometimes the best television isn't transmitting through satellites, cables or airwaves. Sometimes the best television isn't shown on any channel. Sometimes the best television is on the internet. Case in point: Clark and Michael.

Clark and Michael is the brain child of Arrested Development's Michael Cera and Clark Duke, who can be found on ABC's Greek. The project that started as Duke's college thesis has evolved into a full season of hilarity at ten-minutes-per-serving.

That's what a reporter in England is pushing for. He has started an online petition to have the Bluths come back together for an Xmas special in 2009.

So far reporter Eddie Wrenn has 3000 signatures, which, while nice, isn't enough to get anyone's attention. But it's the first step in a campaign to get Jason Bateman, Jessica Walter, Michael Cera, Ron Howard and company to come back and do a special for fans. And that's something that's a lot more realistic than some fans who try to get a show to come back full time on some network's schedule (as if actors don't move on to other projects and are just waiting around to be called back).

More shows should do this. Not only would they please fans, I think it would show some good will towards those fans and probably increase DVD sales as well. Yeah, I can imagine an Arrested Development special every couple of years.

If you've seen Blue Collar TV or any of the Blue Collar movies, you know the comedians always end the night by getting on stage together and riffing.

At Bonaroo, comedians David Cross (Mr. Show, Arrested Development), Aziz Ansari (Human Giant) and Nick Kroll (Cavemen, Human Giant, Best Week Ever) did their own version of the "old pals sitting on stools and shootin' the breeze" act with their list of criteria to determine whether or not you're a "deadneck" -- which, as far as I can tell, means a racist hippie of some sort.

Who will come out the victor when you pit actor David Cross (Mr. Show, Arrested Development) against Dinosaur Jr frontman J. Mascis in a Guitar Hero II challenge? The answer is in the video below.

Of course, I really didn't care who won, it was just fun to watch Cross riff and read the TelePrompter along with the host. Also, his comments about AOL at the end of the video almost had me on the floor (the video was made for AOL's The DL, and AOL also owns TV Squad). He should like, tell jokes in front of people for a living. Mascis seemed a little uncomfortable, but give the guy a break, he wasn't exactly in his element, being an actual muscian and all.

Considering the popularity of Guitar Hero, will they eventually make similar games for other instruments? Because I think I could totally kick ass on Clarinet Hero. Trombone Hero, not so much, but give me a woodwind and I'll rock the freakin' house down (or up, I can rock in all kinds of directions).

[via The Apiary]

David Cross has gone and mocked that Bank of America singer who made the rounds on the internet recently. Cross did it in the best possible way: by singing it straight. He basically does the same cover of the U2 song, One, that a Bank of America employee repurposed to celebrate the merger of Bank of America and MBNA.

The video is from last week during the "Hot Tub" show at Comix in NYC. Accompanying him on guitar was Johnny Marr, of The Smiths. Cross has a surprisingly good singing voice!

Video after the jump (there's another angle of it here):

(S05E06) The story for this week's episode was more involved, which is a good thing. A little plot goes a long way. When the plot gets too thin everything rides on the gags, and it is hard to pull off an episode with just gags. While the sex-ed story has been told many times, I liked the Family Guy take on it.

It gave them a good reason to bring out slutty Lois, and slutty Lois is usually pretty funny, like when she was trying to explain the wonders of sex to Meg. Or showing up for role-playing night dressed as Grimace? Good stuff.

Off-Broadway theater's accidental punchline The Blue Man Group will be making an appearance on this season's premiere of Scrubs. The blue-skinned, percussion-inclined trio will be joined on stage by Zach Braff's character J.D. at The Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino.

This is, of course, not the Blue Man's first television appearance. In addition to numerous ads and talk show appearances, the group was part of an on-going Arrested Development gag, which involved David Cross' Tobias as the group's perpetual understudy. I've got my fingers-crossed for an Arrested Development-Scrubs crossover episode. Zach Braff appeared on the beloved, canceled Fox sitcom and hinted in interviews of Tobias, a licensed therapist, making a possible stop at Sacred Heart Hospital. It's probably just wishful thinking, but a comedy fan can dream.

The Scrubs season premiere is set for Thursday, November 30th at 9PM.

The furriest member of the Comedians of Comedy and Dog Bites Man team Zach Galifianakis is embarking on a fall tour.

If you've missed out on Galifianakis' more recent outings, you may remember him from the short-lived VH1 talk show Late World with Zach.

If you haven't seen Galifianakis live, you're in for some of the most experimental stand-up to hit the stage since Andy Kaufman took Carnegie Hall out for milk and cookies.

That was quite an impressive lineup of comics on Comedy Central last night, eh? The Night of Too Many Stars was a benefit for autism charities that attracted the likes of Jon Stewart (who hosted), Steve Carell, David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Jerry Seinfeld, Borat, Will Ferrell, Triumph The Insult Comic Dog, and many others.

CCInsider (that's the Comedy Central site for video and other content) has some great clips of the event, including Cross and Odenkirk's banter about American Idol-type shows, Triumph singing about people like Star Jones and Kathie Lee Gifford, Ricky Gervais' routine about not doing enough for charity, and Jimmy Fallon impersonating Bee Gee Barry Gibb during the auction part of the show.

OK, so I'm not really sure what's up with Fallon's Gibb impersonation. Does Gibb really dance and do karate moves like that?

[via Best Week Ever]

President Bush is infamous for his well-strategized photo ops and metaphorical backdrops. As for Dennis Hastert... not so much. Hastert held a press conference to address the Mark Foley scandal... with a graveyard in the background. Jon's Cryptkeeper side-story was really funny because it sounded like he was still a little annoyed that an appearance would cost $10,000. "I like GORE! Aaah-hahaha."

Our weekly roundup of what's happening on the other TV blogs.

• Stupidest Reality Moment of the Day, over at Best Week Ever: Nick and Aaron Carter fighting. Uncensored!
• More great stuff from Ken Levine: behind the scenes of Cheers.
• Funny interview with Jeffrey Tambor at Radar. He went bald at 17??
• Ausiello has seen the Lost season premiere.
• Speaking of Lost, Time's James Poniewozik watched that clip show and wonders if it holds any clues for the third season.
• David Cross vs. Jim Belushi: the video!