TVSquad

Here's a little round-up of what some of your favorite comedic actors have been up to:

First of all, Bob Odenkirk and a few others have provided their comedy expertise to a new book from McSweeneys titled Comedy by the Numbers. The book breaks comedy down to its bare elements (see pic on the right) so that anyone can become a funny person. Despite the book's obvious tongue-in-cheek approach, I find it somewhat appropriate since I've often considered McSweeneys approach to humor to be a little too cold and clinical sometimes.

Messageboards can sometimes be a lot of fun to read, not because they're funny, but because reading them is like watching a retarded panda fighting --and subsequently making love to-- a refrigerator box. There's really no point to it, and you're embarrassed for watching, but you just can't tear yourself away from the spectacle.

This thread over on A Special Thing (a site and podcast I mentioned before) is an exception, because three actual comedians chat about their dinner plans. Well, mostly it's Todd Barry and Louis C.K., but Andy Kindler chimes in at one point, too. The contrast between professional comedians who actual are funny and forum users who aren't especially funny is kind of beautiful in its own way.

The thread contains some strong language.

[via CC Insider]

Remember that shout-out to Television Without Pity on last week's My Name is Earl? It's been in the works for a very long time. In fact, it looks like the character on Earl was created first on TWoP. This blogger figured out how the writers did it. Here's how it went down: In 2005, someone registered on TWoP forums with the screen name of "Whojackie". That person posted about 15 times before last week's episode aired. Then, on January 17th, one day before the episode aired, someone named "Bramlet06" posts how he/she wishes Earl would give winks to the audience more. "Whojackie" chimes in, noting that he tends to read out loud as he's posting. Then he goes off on television writers who try cheap gags and says, "No, I don't think shows should do more meta that cater to the online bloggers and I'm sure everyong at Television Without Pity agrees with me." If that line sounds familiar, it's because the character, Dead Josh, said it during a flashback on Earl as he typed on his computer. Two days later, posts from Joy and Crabman show up on TWoP notifying people of "Whojackie's" death.

I've gotta say that I like how Greg Garcia and company did this. They didn't monopolize the forum, but they just used it once to coincide with a show where they were giving the website a shout-out.

There are all sorts of Lost forums out there that make it really hard to stay on top of all the theories, but the highly organized folks over at LOST-Theories.com have taken the time to sift through the mayhem. They're doing it methodically and diplomatically. The theories (minor and major) are organized by episode and broken down by characters, themes, locations, and events. But wait, there's more! You can also vote on the theories that are most likely, for instance, the highest rated theory on the site right now is that the Monster (aka Security System) can read a character's mind. There's also a category for Debunked theories which, so far, only includes the theory that it's all Hurley's dream.