stand-up-related stories
Posted Oct 9th 2009 9:30AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Reality-Free
Comedian man-child Nick Swardson has a new comedy special premiering this week called
Seriously, Who Farted? I smell a Kennedy Center Honor (sniff, or is that a People's Choice Award?).
Now normally, I do like to literally judge something by its cover, but it's hard not to with a title like
Seriously, Who Farted?. A title like that could be either the greatest or absolutely worst of anything of all time, whether it's a comedy special, video game, or brand of cereal. If it's a brand of cereal, then it would most likely be the worst.
So I asks ya...
Posted Sep 18th 2009 1:00PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free
Mitch Fatel's new special,
Mitch Fatel is Magical, debuts tonight at 11PM on
Comedy Central. And whether you agree that Mitch is, in fact, magical, depends heavily on two things. First, whether you like his delivery, which makes him look like an eight-year-old who has pulled you aside to tell you a really important secret about boogers, complete with a goofy smile at the end. And the second thing is whether you enjoy stand-up comedy about sex.
The more than one-hour of comedy on the DVD version of the special, which is the one I reviewed (it hits stores Tuesday with bonus interviews, animations, etc.), is devoted almost entirely to sex. In fact, the first ten minutes are devoted almost exclusively to boobs. He talks about the variation of nipple types, and how God went crazy on the day he made them - "Mrs. God's like, 'Come to bed, God,' he's like, 'I'm makin' more nipples.'" He's also convinced that Edison invented the light bulb so he could watch oral sex (and invented a movie camera shortly thereafter).
Continue reading Do you think Mitch Fatel is magical?
Posted May 29th 2009 1:32PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Late Night, Music and Variety, Pickups and Renewals, Casting, Reality-Free
"Very Funny" has been a tagline at TBS for a little while now. It's there to clarify for us that
The Bill Engvall Show and Tyler Perry's shows are funny. And I'm glad they did, because I've caught snippets of both
House of Payne and
Meet the Browns and I swear I would have had no idea they were funny if TBS hadn't told me. That's a public service well appreciated.
Now they're taking this one step further.
TBS' The Very Funny Show will feature stand-up comedians being funny. And not just funny, but very funny. Tim Meadows who was the very funny on
Saturday Night Live is pegged to host. And by very funny I mean that he was there for a long time. Actually, Tim can be funny in a stand-up environment, so he may do alright here. All of the footage for the November-bowing series will be filmed at a July event called "TBS Presents a Very Funny Festival: Just For Laughs." So at least the comedians on the very funny show will come from this very funny festival meaning it will be very, very funny. Right?
Posted May 8th 2009 11:03AM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Reality-Free
You're used to seeing Christian Finnegan being funny in short bursts on
Best Week Ever. Tonight at 11 PM, you'll get to see him for a full hour on Comedy Central for the debut of his special,
Au Contraire!.
A full hour of sarcasm and snark,
Best Week Ever's main weapons, would probably be pretty grating. Thankfully, Finnegan has more to offer than that. You won't hear any celebrity names during
Au Contraire! (unless you count
American Idol contestant "Temptress"). You also won't get a physical comic flying around the stage or a bomb-throwing satirist.
Continue reading Christian Finnegan's Au Contraire!
Posted Sep 20th 2007 12:25AM by Jay Black
Filed under: OpEd, Last Comic Standing, Episode Reviews
(S05E15) When I used to teach high school English, one of my biggest pet peeves was reading a paper from a student who was obviously stretching two pages of ideas into the required four pages of the assignment. I actually preferred it when students came up short in page count instead of insulting my intelligence with superfluous words, plodding pacing, and ridiculous font and margin tweaks.
Watching the two hour -- that's right
two hour -- finale of
Last Comic Standing, I couldn't help but be reminded of my teaching days. Tonight's finale was like an essay written using Comic Sans 16 point font...
Continue reading Last Comic Standing: Season Finale
Posted Sep 13th 2007 12:38AM by Jay Black
Filed under: Last Comic Standing, Episode Reviews
(S05E14) Here's an amazing story: I arrived home this evening to find that my TiVo only recorded the last 25 minutes of
LCS. With a review to write, I scrambled, calling everyone I knew within driving distance, trying to find the episode.
None of my friends had it (10 million viewers a week? None in South Jersey, apparently). I was bummed because I didn't want to have to write an incomplete review. It wasn't until after all this that I actually watched the final 25 minutes my TiVo grabbed.
Wouldn't you know that NBC had so padded the hour that the only two performances that really mattered didn't come till the last 15 minutes anyway? God bless the terrible, slow roast editing techniques of this show. God. Bless. Them. On to the (almost complete) review...
Continue reading Last Comic Standing: Audience Vote Round #4
Posted Jul 15th 2007 11:01AM by Adam Finley
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Web, Celebrities
While we all mourn the demise of the celebrity Roast, I thought this might be a good time to reflect back on a time when the master, Don Rickles, used just the right combination of acerbic wit and what would today be called "political incorrectness" for hilarious results.
All comedians, in their own way, are skilled at keeping an audience engaged, but very few can match the likes of Don Rickles. There are a lot of angry comedians out there, and even some who aren't afraid to take a few shots at the audience, but Rickles' act was only ostensibly about insults. At its core, it was about creating a kind of communal moment in which no one was the butt of the joke because everyone was the butt of the joke.
Continue reading Rickles shows us how it's done - VIDEO
Posted Jan 20th 2007 1:03PM by Julia Ward
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Cable, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show
David Steinberg is back for another season of
Sit Down Comedy on TV Land. Six new episodes will air Wednesdays at 10PM beginning February 21st. Less of a kiss-ass than James Lipton and with more comedy chops than Terry Gross, Steinberg creates just the right atmosphere for his
Sit Down stand-up guests to reflect on their careers, lives and whatever else is on their fertile minds. Best of all, his guests aren't there to plug any products so an actual old school conversation can unfold. Remember those? You might see them on
Charlie Rose from time to time or on those
Dick Cavett DVDs Shout! Factory released last year. Too bad Steinberg's show is only thirty minutes long.
You can check out
Sit Down Comedy's guest line-up after the jump.
Continue reading Steinberg's Sit Down Comedy returns in February
Posted Dec 23rd 2006 6:29PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, CBS, OpEd, Video, Web, Celebrities
Did anyone see
the profile of Larry the Cable Guy on
60 Minutes last week? It was pretty much a puff piece, talking about how Larry became the biggest stand-up comedian on the face of the planet despite the fact that his comedy isn't exactly in that "make you think" category that, say, Doug Stanhope or Dave Attell might be in. Heck, even Dane Cook's comedy seems sophisticated compared to Larry's. But Larry's successful because he tells goofy jokes that appeal to a wide range of people. He's not my cup of tea, but I've laughed at a few of his jokes. Despite his "bumpkin" image, I can definitely see how so many people like the guy.
Anyone who watched the report probably noticed that Dan Whitney, who created the Larry persona a number of years ago with the help of
Blue Collar Comedy producer J.P. Williams, didn't quite have the same severe southern accent that he does on stage. Makes sense; Larry's a character and the interview was with Dan, not Larry. But in his pre-Larry days, Whitney didn't have an accent at all. How do I know this? Because of clips like the one after the jump, that shows what Whitney's stand-up routine was like before Larry came into his life.
Continue reading Watch Larry the Cable Guy before he was Larry the Cable Guy - VIDEO
Posted Nov 30th 2006 10:02AM by Julia Ward
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, NBC, Late Night, Celebrities
The Tonight Show's Jay Leno has
filed a suit against comedy teacher Judy Brown. Brown has published 19 "joke books" quoting the routines of stand-up comedians - including Leno. According to the suit, Brown covered the LA comedy scene as a journalist and got the bright idea to record, copy and publish comedians' work for fun and profit. Her titles include
The Funny Pages: 1,473 Jokes from Today's Funniest Comedians and
Joke Express: Instant Delivery of 1,424 Funny Bits from the Best Comedians.
Continue reading Jay Leno sues joke book publisher
Posted Nov 29th 2006 6:01PM by Julia Ward
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Other Reality Shows, Industry, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals
Kathy Griffin's Emmy-nominated
My Life on the D-List has been
picked up for a third season by Bravo. The hour-long show will be back in 2007 with six new episodes.
I caught this show way too much last season. There's something simultaneously appealing and annoying about Kathy G. I can't quite put my finger on it. (Her
on-again, off-again husband probably feels the same way.) The fact that she's willing to lay bare her naked desire for fame and recognition is admirable in its own way - as is the fact that she's self-reflective enough to recognize the gloss and BS that comes with the world she's aspiring to play a part in. Her celebrity dish is priceless and kinda sad at the same time. She represents what I feel like whenever I read
Perez Hilton except in the body of a mini-drag queen.
Posted Oct 4th 2006 8:07PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Video, Web, Celebrities
If he hadn't played George-Michael Bluth on
Arrested Development for three years, Michael Cera may have been just another young L.A.-based comedian with a MySpace page and videos on YouTube. But because of his
Arrested connection, the homemade videos he and his friend Clark Duke have made get linked by
Whitney Matheson (and us!).
Anyway,
this MySpace page features a video of Cera doing stand-up at a local open mic night; it looks like he's carrying his meek George-Michael persona over to his stand-up act, which could work, or could blow up in his face. But at least he's trying. Go over to the page and check it out; at the very least, you'll have something to entertain you between innings of the playoff games tonight or tomorrow.
Posted Jan 14th 2006 7:04PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Talent, Programming, Web
Dane Cook just revealed a big secret to his fans on his
MySpace and
website:
he's going to have his very own HBO special! In case you didn't know, an
SNL guest spot (which Dane has
already conquered... in fact,
his appearance created the highest ratings for the show in two years) and an HBO special are two huge milestones in any
comedian's career. Dane will return to his hometown of Boston on April 15, 2006 for the taping (in the massive TD
Banknorth Garden) and, as of right now, you can take advantage of the pre-sale by
coming here and using the password SUFI (Su-Fi is short for
"super-finger"... learn more
about it
here).
Mister Dane Cook, I offer you a hearty congratulations and a fully-deserved "rok on"
Su-Fi.
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