David Letterman Time Warp

Back in 1980, I was too young or too tired to stay up for The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson where David Letterman was a frequent guest host. So, I was unaware of this gap tooth guy until one summer vacation morning I tuned into his new show. It was comedy love at first sight. David Letterman's Morning Show on NBC didn't last long. It was canceled a few months later after almost burning down it's own studio. NBC kept him on until they gave him the Late Night spot. And the rest is history.

Conan Rules Time Magazine

Conan O'Brien was noted as one of Time Magazine's "Most Influential Artists" for 2010. Well deserved - with an amazing photo. (Source: Time)

Hiatus...

Sorry for lack of posts this week. Too many things happening right now. There is no room left in my head. More to come soon.

Conan Live

Conan O'Brien's Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour made a stop in Los Angeles this weekend. Last night's affair at Universal's Gibson Amphitheater was, as expected for an LA event, star studded. Jon Hamm, Jonah Hill were among a list of famous guests who pulled the Texas Walker Ranger lever. And that was only one bit.

The following is a duet with Jim Carey featuring Five For Fighting's song "Superman".

Via TVMoJoe....



To check up on Conan's tour, go to www.teamcoco.com for updates and info. June 1st is my turn. NYC. Homecoming. We'll blow the roof off the house.

SNL: When 'Weekend Update' Stole the Show

Last night's Saturday Night Live guest starred Gabarouey Sidibe. I'll admit it. I only know her through interviews. The movie Precious has been on my Netflix queue for a while now, but I keep bumping it down to the bottom. Knowing the outline and highlights of the story, I've been dreading seeing this anguish inducing film. But Gabarouey seems like a cool lady, and proved as much in a funny, sometimes uneven SNL last night.

Notable moments came during 'Weekend Update, where Bill Hader lost it as Stefon giving advice to tourists on where to go while in New York City...



...and in a surprise turn, writer/performer John Mulaney appeared on camera (not just in writing) voicing his frustration on why Girl Scouts only sell cookies once a year.



Check out John's stand up on his website http://www.johnmulaney.com/.

Here's my personal favorite: John Mulaney and Nick Kroll as Gil and George in the Oh Hello Show at Upright Citizens Brigade in NYC.



On a another note: Just thinking how great it would be if Gil and George met up with Ronna and Beverly.

Dear Ryan Howard "The Temp"....

What's with the loosened bow tie flapping around your neck? Did you just come back from a Dean Martin Roast? Or did you finish the last set with Frankie and the Rat Pack at The Flamingo lounge? This ain't Vegas, baby. It's Scranton. Tie it or ditch it.

Party Down Season Two

Party Down Season two is up on the Starz website for immediate viewing. The show premieres tomorrow on the Starz network and will air on Fridays at 10pm. Watch it anyway you can! (More to come on Party Down. Stay tuned).

Penelope Princess of Pets

The fabulously hilarious Kristen Schaal (Flight of the Conchords) and Kurt Braunohler have made it to British television. Their web series Penelope Princess of Pets was made into a pilot and aired last night on BBC's Channel 4. The Mighty Boosh's Julian Barratt also starred as the dastardly MP. Why can't American television see the goodness that is Penelope? Come on, Comedy Central. You're putting Sarah Silverman on the bubble, now you're ignoring this lovely goofy show? Not cool. Those Brits are lucky.

Need the details? The trailer will provide:

Aziz Ansari to Host MTV Movie Awards

Photo by Seth Olenick

It's been made official: Aziz Ansari will be hosting the MTV Movie Awards. The event will air live from Universal City's Gibson Amphitheater on June 6th. With Aziz being one of the best things on Parks and Recreation, plus that fact he's super funny, this is a most exceptional choice.

Source: CNN

30 Rock Writer: Kay Cannon

Kay Cannon is one of the funniest improvers and writers in comedy today. When she's not performing Improv at UCB's Saturday show "Lets Have a Ball", Kay can be found at Silvercup Studios writing funny words for Liz Lemon on 30 Rock. She showed up on camera once, as the "Human Table" - meaning, she played a lady with a bad cough who was hired to have meats eaten off her body at a TGS holiday party.

She talks about her work with Tina Fey and the process of balancing her love for performing and hauling long hours on the NBC sitcom. I truly admire this lady.



More videos on comedy can be found at www.ucbcomedy.com.

Something The Streamy Awards Did Right

Despair not, Web TV producers. Sunday night's Streamy Awards, despite the bad behavior and poor planning, may have done some justice: It exposed an audience of onlookers to new programming online they might have never have known before. Twitter chatter today is suggesting as much. As one Tweeter mentioned, "when life give you lemons..." Now he, and loads of people who suffered through technical problems and streakers, have a list of online shows they want to check out. Here are some that strike my fancy:


The Guild, starring and co-created by Felicia Day, is a funny, quirky show about a group of online gamers. I'm just starting to watch this series, and so far - it's quirky and fun. Watch The Guild at http://www.watchtheguild.com/





Easy To Assemble. This comedy is created by and stars Ileanna Douglas playing a fictional version of her actress self who quits the Hollywood acting rat face to work at an Ikea in Burbank. Justine Bateman co-stars, also as herself.

Watch Easy to Assemble here: http://www.easytoassemble.tv/


The Kevin Pollack Chat Show. This is an entertaining video podcast talk show hosted by the actor/comedian. Pollack's comedy, stories and ease make him a great interviewer and host. His guests are amazing: Jon Hamm, Kevin Smith, Huebel and Scheer, Kevin Nealon, Henry Winkler, Hank Azaria. The show streams on iTunes and on his site. Watch Kevin at: http://www.kevinpollakschatshow.com/



Wainy Days. Ah, Wainy Days. One of my all time favorite web series. Created by, written by and starring David Wain, it chronicles his fictionalized pretend lonely life picking up the ladies. (Paul Rudd starred in an episode entitled "The Pickup" as seen in photo). David won a 2010 Streamy for best writing. Watch Wainy Days here: http://www.wainydays.com/




What the Buck Show. This started out as a YouTube web show that I subscribed to and love, love love. Now it's a big deal. Michael Buckley reports on Hollywood and pop culture with breathless speed and humor. He's super fun. "I had to have it!" What the Buck is at: www.buckhollywood.com



So, perhaps something positive came out of the craziness of Sunday night's fiasco. I discovered more original content and hard working creative professionals trying to do something independently. It might take a few years to wash the stench of this weekend off, but even the pioneers of the wild west had to dig a few stinky muddy trenches before they built their homestead.

There's more to watch. Check out the following shows:
Diggnation
The Bannen Way
Know Your Meme
The Totally Rad Show

Glee Goes Vogue

Here is the wonderful and talented Jane Lynch on the Fox series Glee. It's heartening to see Lynch flourish on this show. Her comedic talent has been enjoyed for many a year, and is so unique and pitch perfect, it's about time her dues were paid up in a successful series.

Above is a somewhat controversial frame by frame re-doing of Madonna's 1989 video Vogue featuring the fabulous Ms. Lynch. However, the controversy isn't the video itself, but Fox not allowing online sites to embed the video. Don't know what the fuss is all about. Works fine here. At least for now.

Some Spurts of Good Comedy News of the Day

Looks like Comedy Central has been doing some serious shopping. They've just green lit the Onion's Sport Network pilot for 10 episodes to air later this year.

Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily





SNL's Seth Meyers has been tapped to host the live airing of the 18th annual ESPY awards. The event will air on ESPN on July 14th.

Source: LATimes: Red Envelope

Conan O'Brien: Comedy Rock Star

Conan kicked off his “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour” last night in Eugene Oregon. LATimes.com, NYTimes.com.

Patton Oswalt News Reminded Me... I Saw 'The Room'

It was reported in the Hollywood Reporter that Patton Oswalt has signed on to do an NBC pilot with Kristen Johnson and Matthew Broderick called Beach Lane. This is terrific news for perhaps one of my favorite stand up comedians (Paul F. Tompkins, you're my other one). However, it reminded me of something I can't shake from my brain.

I saw the 2003 Tommy Wiseau disaster...I mean melodrama film The Room this past weekend. If you haven't clapped your eyes on this yet, just...go see it. It's has a Rocky Horror Picture Show type cult following in Los Angeles, and I believe New York City is starting to embrace this haunting pile of poo you can't get out of your head because it's so horrendously bad, yet hilarious and fascinating and gross.

Rent it on DVD from Netflix and invite friends over to laugh at this...thing. I saw it alone and afterward needed ten showers and a gynecological exam. The vision of Wiseau in those sex scenes... God...make it stop! I feel violated. Sharing the experience will make you laugh more and not feel as though Wiseau oozes olive oil from his pours, or make your want to vomit. But, it will make you wonder why he is shagging Tina Yothers from Family Ties. Or a look-a-like. Or is that young Courtney Love?

If you have seen The Room and like the comedy of Oswalt, you'll understand why this pilot news on Patton and this movie connect in my brain. The following video is an extra on Oswalt's My Weakness is Strong DVD. He and funny lady Julie Klausner nailed a parody of Tommy Wiseau and his movie. The bad green screen scenic shots that don't match. The horrific writing. The over acting. The shadiness behind the making of this film. Nails it.

Thank you for doing this, Patton. I have just begun to laugh again. And I no longer feel like I've been date raped.

The Other Guys: I love Explosions

Late last year I heard about a new Adam McKay/Mark Wahlberg movie being shot in New York City and the metropolitan area. Not such a big deal. NYC and the surrounding area are used for film and TV all the time. However, a friend who lives across the street from my parents house in Westchester County (Hartsdale, to be exact) called one day to tell me she had just met Will Farrell in the parking lot of a strip mall where her favorite discount drugstore lives. They had exploded a store nearby - and it was awesome. She also met Wahlberg who flirted with our friend Fathima relentlessly, but that's another story.

I've worked on sets before, mostly television. I've even lived on them. My old apartment was on West 92nd Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive, a beautiful block that was basically 'Hollywood East'. Some mornings, I'd leave my building front door and walk into the craft services table for 'Law and Order' or 'Third Watch' or a Woody Allen movie.

So... what's big deal about this Wahlberg movie? What really gets me is this: Not only was this comedy flick shot outside of NYC in a sleepy, boring strip mall near where I grew up - they exploded a store! Explosions! In that decrepit strip mall - where that same friend (Marie) buys spray water bottles for one dollar and hands them out to sun worshippers in the neighborhood pool. (I have two.) Explosions!

The movie is called The Other Guys and stars a bevvy of amazing comedians with some surprises hidden in the cast list. Farrell, Wahlberg, Rob Riggle, Dwayne Johnson, Steve Coogan, Paris Hilton, Eva Mendez, Andy Buckley (David from The Office), and Michael Keaton, grace this terrific line up.

The film releases on August 6th. You can see the trailer above. Hartsdale explosion included.

Conan O'Brien Lands at TBS

From Conan O'Brien on Twitter...."The good news: I will be doing a show on TBS starting in November! The bad news: I'll be playing Rudy on the all new Cosby Show"

The suspense is over. Conan O'Brien has signed on with TBS to produce a new late night show starting in November. The show will air at 11pm, pushing The George Lopez Show to 12midnight. This is stunning news considering that Fox was in heavy contention for snagging Conan, yet nary a word about TBS.

This may be another sign of things to come. Cable has emerged with quality programming rivaling network output tenfold. The Daily Show, Colbert Report, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Damages, it's been proven that certain shows off the mainstream grid are grabbing hold of the public attention, carving out a very desirable niche in entertainment. It's going to be fun seeing a beloved personality like Conan take the leap from network to cable. He'll have more freedom to do what he wants, take comedy to a new level, and leave the creaky old network system in the dust. But one little thing: Conan will be up against Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Worthy opponents. Bring it.

Conan's comedy tour starts today in Eugene, Oregon.

Source: NYTimes.com

The 2010 Streamy Awards

Felicia Day of The Guild, Winner Best Actress in a Web Series 2010
(Photo circa 2009)

You know that an awards ceremony is going badly when audience, nominated guests and crew are tweeting as if they're being held hostage. "I'm tweeting from inside the building. So many hours. Can't remember the last time I saw daylight."

The Streamy Awards are to honor those whose online work was worthy of attention. Sadly, they may have taken a step back after last night. The show had lots of technical problems. There was bad audio (the online audience could hear host Paul Scheer when he was off stage). Problems with timing and some very blue comedy that pissed off some people online. Oh, and streakers. Hello 1970's, your naked penises are back!

One can hope that it didn't anger the sponsors of the event - Kodak and Trident - two titans that probably hoped for something better than what they saw last night.

I don't want to dwell on the negatives. They're obvious. Plenty of people are talking about the bad on Twitter #streamysfail and #streamys. Here are the positives. Scheer did a remarkable job of holding down the awkward silences caused by frozen graphics and wrong video clips. His improv survival skills kicked in, and some of the funniest jokes of the night were told by him off script. Rob Huebel's bit as the pimp guy who headed up an internet porn site was hilarious. It got the biggest laughs of the night. It was great to see Zach Galifianakis' Between Two Ferns and Ileanna Douglas' Easy to Assemble take home some prizes.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Here is a short list. All winners and nominees can be found at Mashable.com.

Best Comedy Web Series: Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis

Nominees:
Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis
Easy to Assemble
The Guild
The Legend of Neil
Wainy Days

Best Drama Web Series: The Bannen Way

Nominees:
Angel of Death
Compulsions
OzGirl
The Bannen Way
Valemont

Best Hosted Web Series: Diggnation

Nominees:
A Comicbook Orange
Diggnation
Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show
Know Your Meme
The Totally Rad Show

Best News or Politics Web Series: Auto-Tune the News ()

Nominees:
Auto-Tune the News
Rocketboom
The Tomorrow Show with Mo Rocca
The Young Turks
VBS News

Best Animated Web Series: How It Should Have Ended

Nominees:
Eli’s Dirty jokes
Happy Tree Friends
Homestar Runner
How It Should Have Ended
Zero Punctuation

Audience Choice Award: Agents of Cracked

Nominees:
Agents of Cracked
Anyone But Me
Dorm Life: Semester 2
Elevator
Noob
Star ()-ving
The Guild
Legend of Neil
The Totally Rad Show
The Young Turks

There's some interesting commentary online about the execution of the show. There's some positive here too. Hopefully, producers can learn from this and do a better job next year.

Jace Hall Show
Mashable.com
Tech Tremor
The Streamys.org
Tubefiler News
End of Show

Chris Gethard Joins New Comedy Central Sitcom

As per blogger Sean McCarthy of The Comic's Comic, one of my favorite UCB people has joined the cast of a new Comedy Central show (yet to be named) starring Horatio Sanz and Chris Parnell. Jon Heder was to be one of the leads, but mysteriously bowed out last week. Adam McKay is Executive Producer and the show will air sometime later this year.

Chris is a frequent performer at UCB's Sunday night ASSSSCAT and is a member of the Harold improv team Stepfathers. He also hosts The Chris Gethard Show on Saturday nights. He's one of the funniest, endearing, most incredibly insane people on the Upright Citizens Brigade roster today. I just hope we don't lose him to Los Angeles for a while. Too many of the funny people who started out here hitched their wagons west, and don't come 'round here any more.

Enough of my whining. Have a look at Chris Gethard in Erotic Fiction. More of his work can be found on UCBComedy.com. (Audio NSFW).

Cast of Parks and Rec and Jimmy Fallon Spoof 'Glee'

...and suddenly my Friday just got better!

Watch Sarah Silverman Program Tonight!

It's like the third one's the charm. Although season one and two of The Sarah Silverman Program on Comedy Central were phenomenal, season three has exceeded all the funny that has come before. Unique, quirky, surreal, sometimes insane, Sarah's show is and has always been funny episodic television. The show has hit its stride now. Hopefully, Comedy Central will be nice and continue giving Sarah and her crew the opportunity to make us laugh next year. Next week is the season finale.

Please watch the show tonight on Comedy Central at 12:00 Midnight (after The Colbert Report). Patton Oswalt joins up. Watch!

Here's a peek:

The Sarah Silverman Program	Thursday, 12am / 11c
Preview - Creepy Van Guy
www.comedycentral.com
Joke of the Day Stand-Up Comedy Free Online Games

Dinner For Schmucks

Although not technically about television, plenty of hilarious people of the small screen are in the forthcoming comedy Dinner For Schmucks. Directed by Jay Roach (Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers), Schmucks is an adaptation of the french film Le Dinner des Con. It stars The Office's Steve Carell and movie fave Paul Rudd.

This film also features some favorite funny people I like to write about here on TVBlogster. Zach Galifianakis, Kristin Schaal, David Walliams, and Larry Wilmore can be seen in the following trailer. So, if you're stopping by - take a look:

Paul Scheer to Host the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards

Get ready web followers and original content people: It was confirmed last week (Okay, I'm late) that comedian Paul Scheer will be hosting the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards on April 11th. The ceremony will stream live online at 5pm (PT) from the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles at Streamys.com, Mashable.com and UStream.

Just add this to the pile of Scheer goodness. First, he's about to embark on a second season of FX's The League. He's also featured in HBO's Funny or Die Presents in the comedy short "Designated Driver". In March, he co-hosted the incredibly successful charity event for Haiti - Night of 140 Tweets, and as an uber Lost fan, lived out his dreams by moderating a panel of cast and crew at the Paley Festival in January. He's also a pretty damn awesome improviser who can always been seen at Upright Citizen Brigade in LA and New York.

Scheer is super funny, and already has a strong internet presence on Tumblr, Twitter and FunnyorDie.com. This promises to be an awesome presentation.

Congratulations, Paul!

Colbert: Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Tip/Wag - Hello Kitty Wine & Pig's Blood Filters
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

What Happens When You Get the Cast and Crew of Mad Men Drunk?

They create a "Bye Bye Birdie" tribute video to their creator Matt Weiner. Oh, and Rich Sommers apparently enjoys getting naked.

Kate Gosselin, Are You Watching?

"This is London..."

Remember short wave radio? Of course you don't. But, I do. Back in my post college days I was an anglophile comedy nerd lucky to have spent several years traveling back and forth from New York to London once or twice a year for long stays. Everything about Britain excited me: The pubs, the people, the comedians, the theater, the television, the literature, the caddy press, the politicians, the BBC, and the BBC World Service.

BBC World Service is available online today and is syndicated via NPR; however, once upon a time, radio nerds like me (who flipped the FM dial as a child to revel in 'Dr. Demento' and Alison Steele "The Nightbird") would subscribe to short wave radio magazines that listed international timetables and frequency charts to find far off world service radio stations around the planet. For me, the BBC World Service was my taste of what I was missing in London. Once I found the correct frequency on the dial at the right time, static silence switched to the haunting cathedral Bow Chimes ringing, indicating that the World Service was about to start. It was followed by short tones and a plummy voice stating, "This is London..." proceeded by the funny little jig music known as "Lillibolero". Suddenly, London was in my house, spilling the world news that was, and still is, the best produced and written journalism in the world. (Ok, next to the NYTimes.)

I was feeling nostalgic and came upon a YouTube video of various BBC World Service Radio Indents throughout the years. It has the chimes, the various tones, the goofy music and the tempered, crisp tones of broadcasters reading the news in perfect BBC English.



Some may want to gauge their eyes out at the boredom of this radio nerdism, but there are many idiots like me who get chills at sound of those church chimes and tones. Although some of the ID's sampled in the video are way before my time, there are moments that bring back the thrill of finding Auntie Beeb crackling from a little short wave tuner in the early hours of the morning - or the dead of night.

For the Poindexter nerdo that dwells inside, check out BBC Interval signals that were broadcast around the world, as sampled here.

SNL's Bobby Moynihan on UCBComedy.com

UCBComedy.com has been up and running for about a year now, hosting a library of funny sketches, improv, parodies and self produced comedy videos created by members of the Upright Citizens Brigade that are fun to behold.

In an effort to perfect it's usability, the online wizards at UCBComedy have adjusted and tinkered with the site throughout the year, changing the look around, trying to make the pieces fit; however, they may have found the right interface this time. UCBComedy.com re-launched a whole new look today with more clickable user-friendly selections, fresh new offerings and great content.

A new addition to all this funny is a newly UCB produced series called A Few Minutes With Someone Funnier Than You. SNL's Bobby Moynihan is in the premiere episode. Bobby has been with the UCB for almost a decade. Although he's been on SNL for a few years, he continues to be a member of the Harold team "Stepfathers", and can be found on a given Sunday night participating in the Mama of all improv shows "ASSSSCAT 3000".

Speaking of Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey will host on April 10th. She'll probably be awesome and funny. Perhaps she'll do a Sarah Palin impression or two. Or maybe not. I hope not. Musical guest is...Shut up!...Justin Beiber!