Back when I was a lad in the nineteen-hundred and eighties, standup showcase shows were on cable television 24 hours a day, and I watched every single one of them. They were all good to me and my insatiable appetite for standup, but the big ones were on HBO. I seldom had access to HBO, […]
Continue ReadingSometimes there are days in the This Week in Web Videos column where we profile not one but two projects we feel you, our audience, should be aware of. Today is one of those days. We bring for your consideration and (we hope) enjoyment two perverse descents into comedic absurdity. Let us know what you […]
Continue ReadingKeith Robinson had a stroke last year — one of those strokes that leaves an entire side of your body paralyzed and your speech slurred. The type that makes simple acts – like stepping onto the 2-foot-high stage of The Comedy Cellar – arduous feats. But Keith Robinson still does it, undeterred. And fortunately for […]
Continue ReadingThis year ABC’s Downward Dog became the first network sitcom ever to be accepted at the Sundance Film Festival. Not bad for a show about a talking dog. While the talking-animal concept is one critics generally deride, it’s the opposite for Downward Dog, which has received critical acclaim for the way it smartly portrays the […]
Continue ReadingWhen I was 8 years old I had very concrete goals: I was going to move to Orlando, join the cast of All That, and marry Josh Server. I was going to wear the flyest scoop-neck velour dress from The DEB, our cake would be shaped like the giant ear of corn, and Da Brat […]
Continue ReadingProbably the greatest significance of Norm Macdonald’s new Netflix standup special Hitler’s Dog comes with the sparklingly succinct way Macdonald answers the industry’s political correctness controversies, at least from a comedian’s perspective, by situating some of the most repugnant and inflammatory remarks possible in the mouth of a made-up character, the titular dictator’s canine. Of […]
Continue ReadingWith some help from Kickstarter, writer/director Jeff Grace was able to turn his screenplay about a struggling standup comic and his musician friend into a feature film. Folk Hero & Funny Guy tells the story of Paul (Alex Karpovsky) and Jason (Wyatt Russell), childhood friends who pursued their creative passions, one more successfully than the […]
Continue ReadingFor centuries, I have had the honor of protecting Master’s sarcophagus. I stand motionless, and am surrounded by dust; by rot; by a silence that can last decades. I am stronger than most; the wraiths have left. The goblin slipped away one night. I am stronger than most, but…as the years pass, I find myself […]
Continue ReadingFor centuries, I have had the honor of protecting Master’s sarcophagus. I stand motionless, and am surrounded by dust; by rot; by a silence that can last decades. I am stronger than most; the wraiths have left. The goblin slipped away one night. I am stronger than most, but…as the years pass, I find myself […]
Continue Reading‘Structurally Sound’ is a recurring feature where each week a different structurally unusual, rule-breaking anomaly of an episode from a comedy series is examined. “I got a match!” There are more than a fair share of subversive romantic comedies on television right now. This golden age of television has led to programs like You’re the […]
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