TVSquad

I have to admit I hadn't paid much attention to the work of comedian Richard Jeni over the last few years, but when I was in middle school and his specials aired on Showtime, I thought he was one of the most hysterical comedians I had ever seen. This equation of his is one I still quote from time to time:

'God is love. Love is blind. Therefore, Ray Charles is God.'

That makes perfect sense to me, but what's always a little more difficult to figure out is why a person would take their own life. According to Jeni's family, who released a statement saying Jeni's career was going fine and that they believe his death was probably a suicide, spurred by Jeni's having been "diagnosed with severe clinical depression coupled with bouts of psychotic paranoia." No official announcement from the autopsy has been made yet.

You can read the full statement on Jeni's official site.

(S06E25)

Burns: Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun. I will do the next best thing: block it out.

In no episode has Burns been more evil than in the two-parter "Who Shot Mr. Burns" that bridged the sixth and seventh seasons. He becomes so evil in fact, that Smithers actually turns against him, even though it "violates every sycophantic urge" in his body.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The episode begins with another normal day at Springfield Elementary, with one minor difference: Super Dude, the classroom gerbil, has died, crushed by his own water bottle. Willy buries the gerbil in the boiler room, assuring the dead rodent that his own father simply got thrown in the bog when he died. Although, didn't his father appear in the season ten episode "Monty Can't Buy Me Love?" Yes, he did, but let's not worry about that, okay? Okay.

(S02E10) One of the things that has made this season of Tom Goes to the Mayor so great is the guest stars. They haven't just used comedians with the same knack for irreverence as Tim and Eric, such as Tom Kenny and Michael Ian Black, but also actors like Judd Hirsch and Robert Loggia who aren't necessarily strangers to comedic acting, but simply have a different approach. Watching Black act like a goofball is fun and all, but it's not surprising. Seeing Hirsch behave in a similar fashion is surprising because we're not used to seeing him that way, and it makes the show all the more fun to watch.

John C. Reilly, a man known for dramatic, albeit quirky, roles in film, shows off his comedic chops in this episode as a mentally-unbalanced man who befriends Tom through a MySpace-like site called "Friendship Alliance." Tom hasn't even been on the site for more than a minute when John sends him a message to meet at Sauceman's, a "house-style saucehouse restaurant" where you can dip your food into over 3,000 different sauces. Tom was only logging onto the site to add his profile (he's the step-grandpop of a baby wolf-child), but since he's the easy-going sort he accepts John's invitation.

Before The Muppet Show came along, a few of Jim Henson's puppet creations appeared in a series of commercials. Several very funny (and very violent) ads were made for Wilkins Coffee that featured a sorta Kermit-like figure trying to convince a squat, rather shapeless puppet how great Wilkins is. The puppet always refuses, and the other puppet responds by shooting him, or blowing him up, or electrocuting him, or whatever. It's like a more sadistic version of Green Eggs and Ham. What I like about these old commercials is that they're actually really funny, and other than the image of the Wilkins Coffee can at the end, absolutely nothing is said whatsoever about the coffee or why it's worth buying. There's a montage clip after the jump, but I also invite you to check out a bunch more of these commercials here.

I'm back joining C.K. this week for our running commentary and thoughts on last night's episode of Lost: Two for the road. Boy, was there some big stuff that went down in last night's episode too. As you'll be able to hear, this is one of my favorite episodes in a long, long time. This episode changes all kinds of stuff and really sets up this last run of episodes for some great times. C.K. and I both had some interesting theories on what has happened so far and things that may be coming up. So listen in and let us know what you think.

You'll find the podcast enclosed in the feed of this post, you can subscribe via our podcast feed (link), and here's a direct link to the 20MB file running 43:04 in length. You can also subscribe to our podcast via the iTunes Music Store (link).

A bodyguard, Israel Ramirez, was gunned down recently outside a warehouse in New York City where rapper Busta Rhymes was making a video for his song "Touch It." Five hundred people had gathered for the taping, including recording artists Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent,and Missy Elliot. Rameriz, a father of three children, was hired to guard expensive jewelry belonging to Busta Rhymes. It's unknown what exactly led to the violence, though a car from the area that had been struck with bullets is being analyzed by authorities.