Joe DeRosa didn’t intend to release his one-hour Comedy Central special, You Let Me Down, the same week as his good friend Bill Burr’s new Netflix special. DeRosa’s new hour debuts tonight at midnight. “It’s a real shitty coincidence,” DeRosa joked on the phone with me earlier this week. “I don’t want to compete with […]
Continue ReadingJoe DeRosa didn’t intend to release his one-hour Comedy Central special, You Let Me Down, the same week as his good friend Bill Burr’s new Netflix special. DeRosa’s new hour debuts tonight at midnight. “It’s a real shitty coincidence,” DeRosa joked on the phone with me earlier this week. “I don’t want to compete with […]
Continue ReadingDon’t be misled by the title or the movie trailers. The Comedian, a Taylor Hackford film (An Officer and a Gentleman, Ray) starring Robert De Niro as a former sitcom star and stand-up comedian still trying to ply his trade into his 70s, is actually a love story about second chances and last chances that […]
Continue ReadingTiming is everything in comedy. Including the decision when to record your album/special and when to release. Which really came into focus sitting down to watch Bill Burr‘s newest hour-plus for Netflix, Walk Your Way Out. As I wrote in my review for Decider: In his latest Netflix special, Bill Burr: Walk Your Way Out, […]
Continue ReadingWe’re one week into the administration of President Trump, and with a new edition of Celebrity Apprentice on the airwaves (with replacement host Arnold Schwarzenegger) and a lack of celebs showing up for Trump at his inauguration, this Throwback Thursday allows me to take a look back at the late Joan Rivers, former Celebrity Apprentice […]
Continue ReadingA longtime improviser, groundbreaking sketch comedy writer, skilled standup, and award-winning actor, Aziz Ansari would have to try real hard not to shine on Saturday Night Live. And in his first hosting gig, he did not disappoint (despite getting stuck in a couple of sketches that might have tanked with a less adept leader). Since […]
Continue ReadingI’d already seen and reviewed Neal Brennan’s one-man, three-microphone show (3 Mics) for his Off-Broadway run last year. You can read that here. Watching it a second time, a year later and with some emotional and literal distance, not only reinforced my opinion of Brennan’s show but also allowed me to take better notes (the […]
Continue ReadingYou’ve probably never heard of Please Like Me, the Australian series created by and starring comedian Josh Thomas, but trust me: this is a show that deserves your attention. It’s not surprising that the series hasn’t been on many people’s radar; the first three seasons aired on Pivot, a relatively unknown network (which is now […]
Continue ReadingSaturday Night Live’s 2017 debut was, well, very 2017: lacking a strong lead and generally underwhelming, but with a few shining moments. (Kind of like how so far, this year is already pretty grim, but at least Raekwon just announced a new album. Or am I stretching a comparison here?) Felicity Jones, heroine of the […]
Continue ReadingJim Gaffigan is keeping pace, producing as many stand-up specials now as he has reproduced children with his wife, Jeannie. Cinco is the magic number. It’s also the headline I gave to my review of Gaffigan’s newest stand-up special, which came out this week exclusively on Netflix, along with a deal bringing his previous four […]
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