Generally speaking, when we hear the phrase “standup special,” we think of an individual performance. A comic gets on stage, and for the next 60-90 minutes, we watch them masterfully weave between bits of material, ideally keeping the crowd captivated the entire time. Chris Rock’s 2008 HBO special Kill the Messenger diverged from the formula […]
Continue ReadingWelcome to our Fall Comedy Reads series, where we take a closer look at some of the newly released comedy-related books worth checking out this month. Budd Friedman loves celebrities. This point is driven home multiple times throughout his memoir/“oral history,” The Improv: An Oral History of the Comedy Club That Revolutionized Stand-Up. By comedian Bruce Smirnoff, who […]
Continue ReadingSo Larry David’s Holocaust joke didn’t go over well. Let’s get that out of the way. “I’ve always been obsessed with women,” said David right after making a joke about Harvey Weinstein, “and I’ve often wondered if I’d grown up in Poland when Hitler came to power and was sent to a concentration camp, would […]
Continue ReadingWelcome to our Fall Comedy Reads series, where we take a closer look at some of the newly released comedy-related books worth checking out this month. It’s difficult to articulate exactly what it is about The Golden Girls that made it last this long in our hearts. Or at least, it can be difficult to point to […]
Continue ReadingWelcome to our Fall Comedy Reads series, where we take a closer look at some of the newly released comedy-related books worth checking out this month. It’s difficult to articulate exactly what it is about The Golden Girls that made it last this long in our hearts. Or at least, it can be difficult to point to […]
Continue ReadingBack is the latest show to star David Mitchell and Robert Webb, the stars of Peep Show. In many ways, Back is a reprisal of their odd couple dynamic — Mitchell plays a buttoned-up creep who relates to the world through metaphors about global tyranny; Webb plays a laid-back and beloved flirt who struggles with […]
Continue ReadingWelcome to our Fall Comedy Reads series, where we take a closer look at some of the newly released comedy-related books worth checking out this month. By the end of 1966, Carol Burnett was living in Los Angeles “sitting on orange crates and packing boxes.” Her Broadway career had not exploded the way she’d expected while starring […]
Continue ReadingLast Saturday was SNL’s David S. Pumpkins Halloween Special—in which a 5-minute sketch was stretched out over 22 poorly-animated, weirdly heartwarming minutes. Special writer Mikey Day tweeted that this would harken to Halloween specials of yore, such as It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and The Paul Lynde Halloween Special. This is a throwback to […]
Continue ReadingWelcome to our Fall Comedy Reads series, where we take a closer look at some of the newly released comedy-related books worth checking out this month. In 1937, while visiting Los Angeles, British journalist Austin J. Putnam described the “Seven Wonders of Hollywood.” His list included restaurants, theaters, studios, and the live production of Jack […]
Continue ReadingHere it is, the first certified banger of SNL season 43! It’s almost like comedy is better when comedians do it. Who’da thought? Don’t get me wrong, part of the fun for the SNL nerd is seeing people go against their very serious brand. I can ask myself “How are the folks at Studio 8H […]
Continue Reading