Upright Citizens Brigade on 'Rock Plaza' Tomorrow Night

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Amy Sedaris, Spokesperson

Amy Sedaris was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to promote her new book Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People. But she took some time to demonstrate a product she holds near and dear...to her crotch.

Hot Chicks Room to Warm Chicks

Photo Courtesy of Dave Itzkoff

The future Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre on New York's lower east side has created a stir. The new branch of the famous improv comedy space, aka UCBeast, will offer more stand up, and will sport a bar. The thing is - the signage for the drinking hole, called "The Hot Chicks Room", was placed outside for all to see. Residents of the East Village area, who once had to fend off drug dealers and strip clubs, were not too pleased. They wanted the neighborhood to remain a 'no hot chicks zone'.

No harm was meant, and no naked girls were to be employed. The moniker was based on a UCB in-joke, a joke the neighbors were not in on. No wonder confusion ensued and complaints were made. However...no worries!

The kind folks at UCB complied with the grumbles, and with co-founder Amy Poehler on hand, the sign, originally turned over not to offend, officially went down this week. Where will it go? To an actual chicken farm on Governors Island that's part of NYC's Green initiative called Earth Matter. The sign will be placed on a greenhouse where chicks are raised in a hot, yet comfortable environment. They also encourage visitors (field trip!) to come and learn how the little critters thrive in a green ecosphere. What a perfect ending. Happy Friday!

Here's an article about if from one of my favorite NYTimes reporters, Dave Itzkoff.

NYTimes.com: Tempest in a Compost Heap: Controversial Comedy Sign Gets a Funny New Home

UCBeast - Del Close Marathon Press Conference

Amy Poehler Return to Weekend Update

Amy Poehler will be returning to the "Weekend Update" desk for the first two installments of SNL. Poehler garnered an Emmy nomination for her work on this past season's Saturday Night Live, most notably for her parody of Hilary Clinton and the fact she's plain fantastic on the newsdesk alongside Seth Meyers. Poelher will continue to work on Parks and Recreation. The prime time sitcom was renewed for the 2009-10 season. Saturday Night Live returns for its 35th season on September 26th (11:30pm ET).

Source: Variety

Monday Morning Hangover: Another SNL Controversy and Amy's Goodbye

Well, her return was a surprise and short lived. Amy Poehler, whose last show appeared to be one month ago when the birth of her son took her off the show, confirmed last Saturday this was indeed to be her last SNL. Surprising, since her reappearance the past two weeks, and the info that her NBC sitcom will most likely premiere next fall, sparked hope that she'd make it through the end of this season in my mind. Sadly that is not the case. Her announcement and goodbye was given on "Weekend Update", happily interrupted before she choked up and the tears flowed by Fred Armisend as New York Governor David Patterson, who wandered in from a previous "Update" bit where his blindness caused some funny yet awkward moments. More on that later. I'm sad to see our Amy go, but I look forward to the amazing comedy we're going to enjoy from her for years to come.


There were undoubedly the usual naysayers on this edition of SNL, not finding it funny, but I found the whole show hilarious. It's questionable whether Americans introduced to Laurie as Dr. House understand that sketch comedy is Hugh's specialty having been the second half of the Fry and Laurie comedy team years before.

Since this was the last show of the year, Christmas was in the air, and all sketches were tinged with the holiday spirit. One sketch had a family seated at dinner, yelling with pure annoyance and hatred, constantly telling one fed up family member who constantly stood to leave, "Judith...sit down!" before suddenly breaking into a sing a long of "Silent Night". A wedding sketch with Laurie as an bizarre family friend was chuckle worthy, and reminded me of Hugh's previous character incarnations on "A Bit of Fry and Laurie".

Seeing Maya Rudolph join Amy in "Bronx Beat" with their British butcher as the special guest, marveling at his "intellegent" accent was a great contribution from the old girls of SNL, both on the precipice of other things, doing these characters one last time.

Kanye West, who changed the usual backdrop of the SNL music stage into a Lite Bright electric video game as he bounced around with 80's shades singing into that microphone that distorts your voice like Cher's in "Believe". His performance was much better than I expected. I never expect much.

What I did expect was some backlash from Fred Armisen's portrayal of a bumbling blind Governor Patterson, who of course is not bumbling, but quite bright and aware of his world than this encarnation. As per Newsday, some New Yorkers felt that the sketch went "out of bounds", and perhaps it did. However, Patterson seems to be a man of good humor, and most likely can take such a dig. Yet, others strongly disagreed. The National Federation of the Blind of New York's president Carl Jacobsen stated the portrayal was a "cheap shot reaching for a cheap laugh at the expense of a whole class of people." He has a valid point, and it's a shame that SNL decided to chose Patterson's disability as the crux of the joke. But nothing is out of bounds with the show, seeing that the 2008 elections have placed it back on the map. I won't deny, I laughed the laugh of shame, shaking my head as Fred wandered back in shot, lamenting to myself through shameful giggles..."This is so bad...so bad they're doing this..."



Photos Courtesy of NBC Universal Media

SNL: Guest Host - John Malkovich and Poehler Surprise

Tonight's Live with guest host John Malkovich and musical guest T.I. Malkovich is currently starring in "The Changeling".




Update: I will admit that whenever SNL is on, depending on the host, I watch the first fifteen minutes, then start to wander around the room while it glows in the background. I surf the internet, create a new playlist on iTunes and start figuring out how long I'm going to stay up. Yes, I have no life.

Last Saturday's SNL was no different. I remember Malkovich reading "T'was The Night Before Christmas" to kids, and recall a somewhat funny sketch about twin brothers freaking out over getting a calculator for Christmas. But the main event was the return of Amy Poehler. It's not clear if she will return for limited appearances, but who cares? There she was as Hillary Clinton, in all her wigged out, jaw clenching glory. Viewing her back in the Weekend Update seat was a sight for sore eyes. It will be sad to finally see her go. If that was her final appearance, then I'm glad it's on NBC.com to savor.