Comedy Bang Bang, Always on Fridays

A sneak peek of Comedy Bang Bang will air on IFC after the season finale of Portlandia on March 9th. Get on this.

This Monkee's Gone To Heaven: Goodbye Davy Jones

When I heard that Davy Jones passed away this morning from a heart attack in Florida, my world stopped for a moment. He was a memory of my childhood. His voice and humor still resonate with me.

Jones was a hearthrob when I was a kid in the 70's. His face graced the covers of Teen and Tiger Beat magazine alongside The Jackson Five, The DeFranco Family and Leif Garrett. I remember seeing the repeats of The Monkees in our chilly furnished basement of my childhood home, sleepy and happy, propped up on the old futon sofa bed, laughing to the antics of four groovy guys on an old tube television my dad bought the same year their show premiered in 1966.

The Monkees were a special kind of wonderful. A virtual Hollywood version of The Beatles, offering the same madcap whimsey from A Hard Days' Night and Help with a major splash of sun drenched California love wrapped into a groovy sitcom. And their music was good, very good. It was hooky and dreamy, with jangly guitars and rollicking licks. Davy was the Paul McCartney of the group, the baby faced Brit who emulated the 60's ideal of swinging London. He was the symbol of this crazy band. His sweet, impish beauty even made Marcia Brady go wild.





Rest in peace, Davy. May it be a groovy ride.

Here's a note from fellow ex-Monkee, Michael Nesmith.

David Anthony Higgins: Redux

Last season, I sung my praise for the hilarious David Anthony Higgins, who made a memorable guest appearance on Mike & Molly as the nerdy baseball fan known as Harry, a lovable weight challenged geek who dovetailed nicely into their Overeaters Anonymous meetings. What turned out as a terrific guest role has turned into a recurring character on the CBS hit comedy. This is pretty damn awesome, because Higgins brings out the warmth in this sweet, awkward oddball of a man, who in last night's episode, was trying to work up the nerve to ask Molly's sister Victoria out on a date, only to have his heart broken, and then put back together again.

.

Jimmy Kimmel's "Movie:The Movie"

If you made it through the three hours of last night Oscar's telecast, you were treated to a special after show edition of Jimmy Kimmel, where the celebrities, freed from captivity in the Kodak Theater, joined the host for some elbow rubbing. One main event was Kimmel's hilarious send up of every star studded, cliched feature crammed into nine minutes of film entitled "Movie: The Movie". How he got all these celebrities together for one big clusterfuck, I'll never know. But here it is:

"Brett's Da Boom King..."

In honor of Bret McKenzie's win at the Oscars last night, I present to you the video that made me a Bret and Jemaine (aka Flight of the Conchords) fan. It features star of the Broadway stage Sutton Foster. You'll even see a little of The Bitter Buddah himself, Eddie Pepitone at the beginning. So - Boom and Boom!

For more Flight of the Conchords - visit their site:http://flightoftheconchords.co.nz/ 
For awesome fan forum stuff, go to http://whatthefolk.net/. Webmaster Sherry will treat you right.

'Mad Men' and Mannequins

The newest publicity poster produced by AMC for Mad Men season 5 has media bloggers buzzing about what it all means. Don Draper's reflection in a window as he gazes upon two manequins that may or may not be a metaphor for his life and what's to be expected when the series premieres on March 25th. Could the naked female mannequin with lingerie dropped at her feet be Megan? Is the male dummy in a classy pajama and robe ensemble Don trying to make this naked undefined sex symbol of plaster something that he wants it to be? Maybe that's my take. The possibilities are endless, and that's what makes this scenery so intriguing.

Mad Men season 5 premieres March 25th at 9pm ET/8pn CT with a two hour special. The second episode to air the following week was directed by Jon Hamm.

'Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23"

Imagine moving from the mid-west to New York City with the promise of a cool job in high finance, only to discover it doesn't exist. With the gumption of Mary Richards, complete a with proper and clean sense of morals, you decide to "make it after all" by sticking around. You get an apartment with a roommate who has the heart of a "pirate" thinking that hooking your wagon to this rad chick is going to be fun. Then, on your birthday, you walk in on her having sex with your boyfriend on your birthday cake.

Sounds like a typical day in your life? I'm so sorry, you might need a life coach. This is actually the life of June, played by Dreama Walker on ABC's new comedy Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23 premiering April 11th at 9:30pm ET. Also joining this dark comedy is the be-banged Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad) and the hunky James Van Der Beek, who has some steady comedy moves.  This is definitely one show I'm looking forward to.

Whose The Boom King?

Congratulations to one half of Flight of the Conchords. Bret McKenzie's song 'Man or Muppet' won the Oscar for Best Song in a Film. Next to The Artist winning Best Picture and Hugo capturing many awards (alongside Meryl Streep and Christopher Plummer), this is pretty awesome. As for the awards ceremony itself, we the audience at home partied like it was 1992. Billy Crystal's face is either melting, or Bruce Vilanch fell into a buffet induced coma.*

*(I love Bruce...and buffets. And Carol Leifer was the main writer of last night's show.)

 

'Mad Men' Teaser

Matthew Weiner and AMC are rewarding us for waiting so long for Mad Men season 5 by giving us at two hour premiere on Sunday, March 25th at 9pm!

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Les Jeunes Des Paris

Jean Dujardin on 'Fallon'

I love the film The Artist. And I adore Jean Dujardin. He appeared on Late Night a week or so ago. He so charming,  I'd just like to have this on my blog. 

Bret McKenzie in Rolling Stone

Here's a lovely interview with Oscar Nominee Bret McKenzie. http://www.rollingstone.com/movies

The Gate Show with Fred Stoller

From beautiful downtown....um...Hollywood! Here's everyone's favorite security guard at Sunshine Studios...Fred Stoller, with special guest - Sarah Silverman!

Key and Peele

Key and Peele

If you like funny things, you must watch Key and Peele on Comedy Central on Tuesdays at 10:30pm. They are hilarious and good looking. Plus, a line up of awesome comedians helped them write it, chief amongst them being Sean Conroy, Becky Drysdale (who taught me Improv 101 at UCBNY), Ian Roberts (I still have his improv notes) and Charlie Sander - to name a few I admire.

Pee Wee Herman on 'Top Chef'

My love for Pee Wee Herman (and Paul Reubens) will never cease. The film  Pee Wee's Big Adventure will forever live on in the warmest and fluffiest place in my heart. His television show Pee Wee's Playhouse ignited the smiles and imaginations of a generation of adults who wax lyrical over their Saturday afternoons eating pancakes and watching his show.

That's why last night episode of Top Chef: Texas was such a step out of norm in the realm of food competition. Although the Bravo series has seen it's fair share of famous guest judges, such as Charlize Theron, Jimmy Fallon or Christina Hendricks, who've used personal history and projects to inspire the competition of the day, Pee Wee may hold the most nostalgic,  not just for fun of Miss Yvonne or Captain Carl,  but for the memories of Saturday morning breakfast eaten while laughing at his colorful world as a child.

What breakfast food besides Count Chocula and Fruit Loops conjures childhood memories more than pancakes?  For the first competition, known as "The Quickfire Challenge", chefs were asked by our hero to make the most delicious, unique pancakes ever. As each chef reminisced over their own childhood Saturday mornings with Pee Wee and a plate of dad's flapjacks, lovely displays of the stuff were produced: Confetti Pancakes, Mickey Mouse Pancakes, a Ricotta Pancake with Whipped Crème Fraiche, Marcona Almond with Anise Cookies, and the winning one, a plate of lovely Pancake Bits with Blueberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Bacon and Bruleed Marshmallow. Yummo!  Each dish was met with Pee Wee's exclamation of "That was the best pancake I've ever eaten!" no matter who won or lost.

But things got really nostalgic for "The Elimination Challenge", where chefs were told to make a family style breakfast at The Alamo. If you can recall from the movie, this dreaded location holds bad memories for Pee Wee, thanks to a psychic who erroneously told him his stolen bike was locked in the basement of this historic landmark, only to travel far and wide to find The Alamo has no basement!. The winning plate, it was claimed, would not only be the most delicious, but must be so good, it will wipe away the bad memory from Pee Wee's brain once and for all. The chefs were given bikes to cycle their way to the grocery for ingredients, and then hit The Alamo for the cook off. A chef named Lindsay won the challenge with a  Stuffed Zucchini with Braised Beef Cheeks, Rice and Goat Cheese dish, but the winner is really Pee Wee and Paul Reubens himself - a man with a unique man-child character who's brought so much love to his art, and laughter to us all. It was evident in last night's Top Chef, that even mainstay judge Tom Colicchio's stern manner seemed to melt at little.

'New Girl': Jess Meets Someone Who Hates Her

Record scratch! What? How can you NOT be a dessert person? In last night's episode of New Girl ('Jess & Julia'), Nick's new squeeze Julia, turned off by the adorkableness of Jess, turns down her offer of a cupcake. "I'm not a dessert person" she said.  In one fell swoop, Jess had her number. How can you resist dessert?

So when Jess handed over the cupcake of friendship to Julia last night, all hopes of besties between two funny brunettes came crashing to a halt. Julia, played by Lizzy Caplan, terrific, snarky lady of Party Down (a moment of silence please...RIP) is Nick's new love interest. No, she does not want to know where Jess' secret tampon supply is hidden. No, as an attorney whose been there done that -she is not enamored with the bubbly Katy Perry doppleganger's loveable loopiness. No, Julia will not live in the land of 'Adorkable'. Seeing Jess hurt over this situation was so sad, it was like kicking a puppy.

In the end, they saw eye to eye. Julia and Nick find common ground about their budding relationship, even using her lawyer skills try and help Jess argue a traffic violation in court; however, Adorkable wanted to plead her own case. $800 later, Jess and Julia unite in girlship. Julia accepts Jess' ribbon hat and flakey ways, and Jess forgives her dessert blindness. The boys? They use each others towels to dry off their junk. Sometimes Nick wears Schmidt's underwear which infuriates him. Gee, I don't know why.

There was a brunette trifecta last night. In addition to the highly likeable Deschannel and Caplan, the awesome June Diane Raphael joined in.

Puppy Bowl: Let the Betting Begin

If you don't care about Football, or the Super Bowl, or Madonna - watch Puppy Bowl VIII on Animal Planet this Sunday. Dogs are better than sweaty humans anyway. Even Jimmy Fallon's puppy crew have already place their bets.

Puppy Bowl VIII airs on Sunday, February 5th at 3pm ET/PT on Animal Planet. My hound will be there. Will yours?