jeffrey ross-related stories
What You Missed Last Night: Dancing with the Dead
As we mentioned earlier, Tom DeLay was knocked out of Dancing with the Stars last night with injuries to his feet. He's not the first person to have to leave the show after getting hurt, and now it has all been turned into a horror movie. Warning: contains scenes of shoes in eyes.
Roasting Joan Rivers
A couple of years ago, I interviewed Joan Rivers for the Boston Globe. She was playing a local theatre, and I hadn't yet had a chance to talk to her, and I wanted to talk a bit about her past in Second City and as a pioneering female comic. But since a lot of her shtick is slamming celebrities, and she helped invent what I guess you'd call "red carpet comedy," I thought I'd try to find a couple of people to do a point/counterpoint. Funny thing is, I couldn't find anyone for the counterpoint, anyone who wanted to go on record saying anything uncomplimentary against Rivers. You can find plenty of people who will make jokes about her plastic surgery, or her failed talk show from the 80s, or her TV marketing, but that all seems a bit superficial. No one seemed to have a terribly valid criticism outside of those clichés. And that's what I think you'll see at the Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers Roast Sunday (10PM). From the clips I've seen, some of the sharper comics have found a new approach to those tropes, and you'll see plenty of plastic surgery jokes. And I'm sure you'll hear plenty of them from Rivers herself (a debt, there, I think owed to Phyllis Diller).
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Sneak Peek: the Joan Rivers Roast
From this clip below, it looks like Rivers is going to give as well as she gets on the Joan Rivers Roast this Sunday at 10PM on Comedy Central. I also like how the celebs dump on other celebrities at the roast. That's a nasty but funny dig at Carl Reiner.
| Roast of Joan Rivers | Sun, Aug 9 10pm / 9c |
| Trailer | |
Why the Joan Rivers Roast should be tighter and funnier than her current facelift
The traditional comedy roast has been hijacked by the cable networks and reproduced with more disappointing results than a sperm bank run by General Motors. Comedy Central has done the best job for the most part while others like A&E's extremely mismanaged Gene Simmons Roast made for lower quality television are as horrific as those painfully dated Dean Martin's Roasts that are sold on infomercials in the wee small hours of the morning.
The secret to doing a good roast isn't really that much of a secret: hire people who are actually paid to be funny. That's why the Roast of Joan Rivers could be the best one yet.
Continue reading Why the Joan Rivers Roast should be tighter and funnier than her current facelift
Comedy Central goes all-out to roast Larry the Cable Guy - VIDEOS
It seems Jeffrey Ross already has the line of the night for Sunday's Roast of Larry the Cable Guy (Comedy Central, 10 PM), which isn't surprising, because he's a longtime Friars Club member. In the trailer, Ross slams, "This is ridiculous, he's not even a real person! Why don't we just roast Dora the Explorer or Popeye the Sailor Man?" Fictional character he may be, Mr. The Cable Guy has attracted Jeff Foxworthy, Warren Sapp, Toby Keith, Gary Busey, Maureen McCormick, fellow comic Reno Collier, and Roast regulars like Ross, Greg Giraldo, and Nick DiPaolo. "Queen of Mean" Lisa Lampanelli will serve as the first female Roastmaster for the Comedy Central series (the Friars, originators of the roast, have only had a couple of female Roastmasters -- Susie Essman did the Smothers Brothers and Joy Behar did Danny Aiello).
Continue reading Comedy Central goes all-out to roast Larry the Cable Guy - VIDEOS
Dancing With The Stars: Week 10 The Finale
(S07E21) In the grand tradition of Dancing With The Stars, everyone came together for the glorious task of turning 3 minutes of results into a two hour ratings bonanza. If you have seen the finale before, you know how it all went down. Take a couple of musical numbers, interviews or dances with all the eliminated contestants, and add in a whole lot of replays as the show looks back at all that has gone on. It's not the greatest recipe for a two hour show, but after 20 episodes of top ten numbers, I suppose they've earned it. I'll not spoil the big surprise before the jump, so hit the link for a brief look at all that went on, and to find out who took home the mirrorball.
Continue reading Dancing With The Stars: Week 10 The Finale
Dancing With The Stars: Week 1 Results
(S07E03) We're really getting back into the swing of things now. After the whirlwind of 25 performances in two nights, it was time for a proper results show. As usual, that's both good and bad. Results shows always hold the prospect of musical guests, and professional numbers. Unfortunately, they also have a tendency to bring iffy comedy bits, and dull taped packages. It's a bit of a crapshoot, but usually worth tuning in. Because, as we all know, no matter how sure you are that a certain couple is leaving, you just never really know. Am I hinting at a surprise elimination? Or just trying to trick you into clicking your way past the jump? Only one way to find out.
Continue reading Dancing With The Stars: Week 1 Results
Dancing With The Stars: Week 1
(S07E02) Just like that, we're back for round two. With the new season seven format, all thirteen couples returned to the ballroom Tuesday night, but only twelve of them would perform. The show borrowed a bit from the results show format as the safe couples were revealed one by one. After each reveal, that couple would perform while the rest of the dancers waited nervously. Some, obviously, more nervous than others. The second night of dancing offered us a chance to see who learned from their experience performing live. Just getting comfortable with the setting is a huge hurdle to overcome in the beginning of the season. Some of the stars have taken to it quicker than others. To that end, I'm not one to spoil before the jump, but I'll leave you with this. In referencing one set of scores, Tom remarked that the judges were "Bringin' out the big paddles." Was there a 9? A 10? The results of all the dances are after the jump.
Continue reading Dancing With The Stars: Week 1
Dancing With The Stars: Season Premiere
(S07E01) Can you believe it? Dancing With The Stars is kicking off its seventh season. In an effort to keep things fresh, this season marks the largest cast of competitors ever. That cast also features both the youngest, and the oldest, contestants to ever appear on the show. There are winners from the Grammys, the Oscars, the Olympics, and the Super Bowl. It should make for quite a show. In another new twist, there is another new format for week one. All thirteen couples performed Monday night. Tuesday, one of the couples will be eliminated as the other twelve perform a second number. Then, on Wednesday, one more couple will be sent home. With thirteen performances, there is a lot to get to. I'll run them down quickly, with a look at what I think each couple's prospects for the competition are. Because, as we are all well aware by now, the dancing is only part of what keeps people moving on from week to week.
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ABC announces new cast of Dancing With the Stars
Dancing With the Stars is a show that makes no sense to me. I understand the appeal of it; I'm usually very interested in any program that involves celebrities doing ridiculous things on national television and I know that people love bright shiny costumes, but it still somehow manages to hold no interest for me whatsoever.With that said, I know that the announcement of each season's DWTS cast is heavily anticipated and rumored for months before the actual announcement. We heard that Dan Marino may be a contestant; a claim that was soon denied. 82-year-old Cloris Leachman was another name floated, as was Magnum, P.I. himself, Tom Selleck. Kim Kardashian and Kathy Griffin were also said to have been approached.
As with most rumors, some of these turned out to be false, but others had some truth to them. Follow me after the jump for the official (and completely insane) cast of Dancing With the Stars' seventh season, along with some twists the producers have cooked up for this go-around.
Continue reading ABC announces new cast of Dancing With the Stars
Is a new Match Game on the way?
Interesting story in The Hollywood Reporter today: Fremantle Media, who owns American Idol, The Price is Right, and a number of popular game shows, is looking to revive Match Game.That's right folks: in this era where no section of TV history is left unscathed, everyone's favorite shag-carpeted, wokka-wokka game show from the seventies might be coming to a TV near you soon. Fremantle is currently talking with cable networks about a revival of the show and is also looking for an executive producer, and will hire talent after the EP is brought on board.
Continue reading Is a new Match Game on the way?
No, really, Where My Dogs At?
The animated MTV2 series Where My Dogs At? from comedians Jeffrey Ross and Tracy Morgan came under fire recently because of a segment that featured two women on leashes, a scene meant to parody an actual appearance involving Snoop Dogg with two women in tow on chains. Some insisted it was a simple spoof of a real event, while others found it misogynist and racist. This may end up being a moot argument, however, as MTV has not decided whether or not the show is going to return for a second season. As I said in my previous post, I never watched the show, and the little bit I've seen of it on MTV2's site didn't impress me very much. I didn't find it offensive, I just didn't think it was very good. A shame, really, because I like both Jeffrey Ross and Tracy Morgan quite a bit. Were any of you readers a fan of the show?
MTV2 takes on Adult Swim
I apologize for piggybacking something personal onto this blog post,
but I thought you should know that this is what's happening inside my head
all the time. How this girl was able to capture it, I'll never know.
Speaking of animation, last month I mentioned a new animated series from comedians Jeffrey Ross and Tracy Morgan called Where My Dogs At? At the time I couldn't find much information on the series, but it turns out the show is part of a new effort from MTV2 to go head to head with Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. Besides Ross and Morgan's new series, the network also plans to bring back Celebrity Deathmatch, one of the most boring uses of clay since Gumby. MTV2 has actually been testing the waters with animation for awhile now, tossing in old episodes of Beavis and Butthead and Celebrity Deathmatch into the schedule. Personally, I think they should bring back Liquid Television, or at least show old episodes. I don't know if MTV is in any position to go up against Adult Swim, which is clearly the undisputed champion of experimental animation right now. However, MTV was once a lot like Adult Swim, home to a lot of really great and weird animated shows. It'll be interesting to see if anything they come up with can rival what Adult Swim is offering.
Where's "Where My Dogs At?"
I'm only seeing it mentioned a little bit here and there, but Jeffrey
Ross, the stand-up comedian most recognizable from the Comedy Central Roasts, is teaming up with
Tracy Morgan for an animated series for MTV called Where My Dogs At? Using my keen detective skills, I've
deduced that the new series will involve dogs somehow, but that's about as much as I can surmise. I've always liked
Ross' brand of abrasive comedy, and I think Morgan has a lot more weirdness in him than we ever saw on SNL, so
this could be a pretty good show. Perhaps in time I'll actually be able to tell you exactly what the heck it's about.
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