1707 posts tagged with comedy.
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Reconsidering Elaine May (and Ishtar)
Could Elaine May Finally Be Getting Her Due? [ungated] - "A new biography gives a compelling sense of a comic and cinematic genius, and also of the forces that derailed her Hollywood career." [more inside]
Transformative!!!!
The Hollywood Reporter's Full Comedy Actress Roundtable: Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Quinta Brunson, Michelle Buteau and More [Ego Nwodim, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Lacey Rose (host) 55m] is full of mutal support, deep sharing, and honest stories that you don't expect from this kind of round table. However, the women are usually like this, and they are always my favorites.
Not an accurate depiction of the fur trade
Hundreds of Beavers is an indie film made in six weeks for $150,000. It's like a modern combination of 20s and 30s slapstick films and live-action Looney Tunes. It's currently available on Apple and Amazon streaming platforms. A 19th century trapper battles nature and wildlife (depicted by people wearing mascot costumes) to win the hand of a furrier's daughter. It's filled with hundreds of gags. Here's the trailer, the opening, and a clip showing the costumes.
By default art involves artifice
A comedian’s only responsibility is to make the audience laugh. If you’re not making the audience laugh, then you’re failing at your job. You want to speak truth to power, you want to make a political statement, you want to be confessional—none of that is more or less valid than doing ventriloquism or doing an impression of Christopher Walken. They’re all equal, so long as they make people laugh. If it’s more important to you to do something that doesn’t make the audience laugh, fine, but it’s not comedy. It’s something else. from Two Guys Walk into a Bar: Kliph Nesteroff on the Evolution of American Comedy [The Sun Magazine]
We’re the men, and here’s the map.
Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones, an English comedian with an interest in geography and a former geography teacher who's also very funny, are the Map Men ("...Map Men, Map Map Map Men Men" 🎵 ), whose highly entertaining YouTube channel is chock full of educational cartographic goodness. Try any of their (27) videos at random, or all of them—even the ads are worth watching. Their recent episodes on undersea internet cables and country codes wouldn't be a bad place to start for the extremely online. [more inside]
25
Your 80s childhood sucked
Chris Biggs' shorts on 80s classics - oh the memory of cigarettes and Strawberry Shortcake!
The deal is he's not as relevant
Jerry Seinfeld is a Lazy Hack Out of Touch with the Real World - and Who Can Blame Him? Paste Magazine's brief riposte to the New Yorker's Jerry Seinfeld interview in which Mr. It's About Nothing feels that comedy has been killed by "the extreme left" and "P.C. crap."
Passersby were amazed at the unusually large amounts of synergy
G/O Media, the much-reviled owner of such internet landmarks as Kotaku, Gizmodo, Jalopnik, and The Root, has been selling off their assets recently, including ClickHole (sold to Cards Against Humanity), Lifehacker (Ziff Davis), Deadspin (gutted), Jezebel and the AV Club (Paste). Latest on the auction block is The Onion... who ended up with a surprising buyer: Global Tetrahedron, a name that might ring a few bells for longtime readers. But what does the advent of this ominous conglomerate mean for America's Finest News Source?™ [more inside]
Jo Brand interviewed by Jamie Laing
Exactly as it says on the tin (50ish min). Jo Brand, an English standup comedian, talks psychiatry, comedy and what swear word is her favourite with Jamie Laing, ex-Made in Chelsea star.
Pie
“I don’t fear your wings, man.”
Conan O’Brien Needs a Doctor While Eating Spicy Wings is the season 23 finale of Hot Ones [previously], where Sean Evans asks Conan O’Brien questions while they eat chicken wings with increasingly spicy hot sauce. It goes off the rails pretty quickly.
Gonna get downright MetaFiltered tonight
The English language is famous for its large number of drunkonyms, i.e. words that can be used to refer to the state of drunkenness – from blind and hammered to pissed, smashed and wasted. Various lists of words have been compiled in the past (e.g. Levine 1981). However, most of the terms seem to be relatively infrequent, and they also appear to fall out of use relatively quickly. In view of Michael McIntyre’s (2009) claim that it is possible to use any word to mean ‘drunk’ in English, this contribution therefore approaches the issue from a constructionist perspective. In a corpus-based study, we tested whether it is possible to model the expression of drunkenness in English as a more or less schematic (set of) construction(s). Our study shows that while corpus evidence for truly creative uses is scarce, we can nonetheless identify constructional and collostructional properties shared by certain patterns that are used to express drunkenness in English. For instance, the pattern be/get + ADV + drunkonym is strongly associated with premodifying (and often strongly intensifying) adverbs such as completely, totally and absolutely. A manual analysis of a large wordlist of English drunkonyms reveals further interesting patterns that can be modelled constructionally.“I’m gonna get totally and utterly X-ed.” Constructing drunkenness, a spirited academic paper from the Yearbook of the GCLA [more inside]
“Damn, who the hell schedules these things?”
American-born Canadian comedy legend Joe Flaherty has died after a short illness. He was 82 years old. American audiences might know him best as Happy Gilmore’s heckler, or Big Bird’s co-kidnapper, or as Mr. Weir from “Freaks and Geeks.” Canadian viewers and comedy nerds will more likely recognize him from SCTV, or as Jennifer Tilly’s long-suffering dad in the cult classic The Wrong Guy. [more inside]
WELCOME TO THE WOOORLD OF TOMORROW
March 28, 1999: Futurama. It seems to go on and on forever. In fact, the pilot episode of the original run aired 25 years ago tonight, kicking off what would become one of the smartest and most hilarious comedies in TV history. So celebrate with an overview of character intros, ★ key scenes, clips, ♫ songs, and other links, why not? [more inside]
Default fonts and quantum dingbats
Elle Cordova is a poet, singer, comedian, filker, science geek and more. She recently published three hilarious brief skits where she embodies 20 fonts hanging out and gossiping. Compiled with open captions 4:12 at this single YouTube link. With her former Raina del Cid persona previously and previouserly
Erma Bombeck, stand-up comedian
I don't know if the name Erma Bombeck means anything these days. For decades she epitomized a middle America observational kind of humor that was present in a lot of magazines about suburban life. While most of her material was written, she did put out one comedy album: The Family That Plays Together (Gets On Each Other's Nerves) [YT playlist, 1977]. I don't know if we have any equivalent voice in America today and maybe not all the humor works today, but this is a historical document that I got on vinyl from the Columbia House Record Club, and I'm happy to share it here today.
"Improv Theology"
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver free on YouTube in certain countries
Good News! Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is now free on YouTube in countries where no one owns the streaming rights, with plans to upload the entire archive. This includes all of Latin America, a lot of Asia (except China, India and most Arab countries), all of Eastern Europe, plus France, Finland, Denmark and Sweden. If you want to check for sure, you can do so on this map, or you can just try watching the latest episode. And then you can join in on Fanfare discussions of the show.
I am Doctor Van Helsing / I never let anyone else sing
Gilbert & Sullivan's Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, a highly condensed operetta by Mitch Benn [SLYT, 9:33]
Mise-en-scène
'Kid Auto Races at Venice' is a 1914 silent film with Charlie Chaplin appearing for the first time as 'The Little Tramp.' Here is a colorized version. (slyt. 6:51) Previous megathread
we’ve found it folks: mcmansion heaven
It is rare to find a house that has everything. A house that wills itself into Postmodernism yet remains unable to let go of the kookiest moments of the prior zeitgeist, the Bruce Goffs and Earthships, the commune houses built from car windshields, the seventies moments of psychedelic hippie fracture. It is everything. It has everything. It is theme park, it is High Tech. It is Renaissance (in the San Antonio Riverwalk sense of the word.) It is medieval. It is maybe the greatest pastiche to sucker itself to the side of a mountain, perilously overlooking a large body of water.McMansion Hell (previ-ously on MeFi) explores the arcane architecture of 354 County Road 211 in Bremen, Alabama -- a gaudy (or Guadían?) wonder known locally as the Castle at Smith Lake. [more inside]
Look at it. Just look.
Fellow Babies, If You Ever Wondered
What if you took EVERY DJ break Howard Hesseman ever made, as Dr. Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati, and just ...followed his lead? Would it be possible to construct a three hour radio show, with Fever as host? [more inside]
“AI” George Carlin Sucks For Every Reason You Thought And More
“I watched a bad video hocking AI-created comedy pretending to be a beloved comedian so you don't have to, and you shouldn't” - though maybe the whole thing is just a scam.
Here it comes, your Monday of Zen
Jon Stewart Returns to ‘Daily Show’ as Monday Host, Executive Producer [Variety]
After scuttling a months-long search for a new host, the Paramount Global network said it has enlisted Jon Stewart, who presided over the late-night mainstay’s most popular era, to serve as its host on Monday nights throughout the 2024 election cycle and to run the program. He is expected to play an oversight role at “Daily” that could extend through 2025, and will start his on-air duties February 12. Various “Daily Show” correspondents will host the program Tuesday through Thursday nights, and Jen Flanz, the current executive producer, will continue her duties on the show.This news comes on the heels of The Problem with Jon Stewart's unexpected Apple TV+ cancellation over "creative differences" after an incisive two-season run, following a hiatus Stewart spent pursuing filmmaking, animal rescue (and animal rescue), and fighting for first responders. Weekly guest hosts following the 2022 departure of Trevor Noah included Leslie Jones, Wanda Sykes, D.L. Hughley, Chelsea Handler, Sarah Silverman, Hasan Minhaj, Marlon Wayans, Kal Penn, Al Franken, John Leguizamo, Roy Wood, Jr., Jordan Klepper, Desi Lydic, Dulcé Sloan, Michael Kosta, Ronny Chieng, Desus Nice, Charlamagne Tha God, and Michelle Wolf.
New comedy starring Mawaan Rizwan
This monkey means business!
After another successful Kickstarter, today sees the premiere of Hanging With Doctor Z Season 3, with guest Kevin Pollack! Nox Aeternum posted the first three episodes here back in 2021, and all the episodes can be seen on the show's Youtube channel. Here's the show's website! [more inside]
Explaining a joke makes humor processing more complete
"Most previous studies have used two-element (setup and punch line) jokes as stimuli and have been based on an experimental design and cross-material methods, such as comparisons of funny jokes with nonfunny nonjokes, as well as comparisons of material with incongruity and resolution with material that has incongruity but no resolution (i.e., a comparison of joke types between sentences) ... Furthermore, previous studies have mainly conducted comparisons in the two elements of setup and punch line to clarify the process of humor processing. The main contribution of this study lies in its use of a specific three-element joke." [more inside]
A reporter’s stand-up got him fired — until his jokes were deemed funny
[Jad] Sleiman, 34, was working as a reporter at WHYY, a Philadelphia-based NPR member station, last January when he was fired because executives had seen clips of his stand-up, which he said they called “egregious” violations of the outlet’s policies. [Washington Post]
“When a news organization says you’re a racist, bigot, whatever, people believe them,” he said. “So it was a lot of abuse from a lot of people who have never met me, who’ve never seen my stand-up just saw what WHYY said about me, which is not great.” [ABC News] [more inside]
“When a news organization says you’re a racist, bigot, whatever, people believe them,” he said. “So it was a lot of abuse from a lot of people who have never met me, who’ve never seen my stand-up just saw what WHYY said about me, which is not great.” [ABC News] [more inside]
All The Jimmy Carr Standup Specials
How much do you like Jimmy Carr? He's that weird-laughing UK standup comedian who still does sort of an old-fashioned joke-joke-joke act. He also hosts panel shows here and there. Well, anyway, here is Every Single Jimmy Carr Stand-Up Comedy Special - PART 1 [5h30m] and Every Single Jimmy Carr Stand-Up Comedy Special - PART 2 [6h30m]. "In total that's well over 10 hours of one-liners, heckles, roasts, dark jokes and put-downs." Put online by Jimmy Carr himself. [more inside]
"Why watch hundreds of rom-coms together? What keeps us coming back?"
"An Oral History of Socially Distant Movie Night: 3 Years, Nine Months, and 182 Movies (mostly rom-coms)" appears in Avidly's RomCom Superlatives! series: "Destination Wedding has a 51% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where critics revile its 'utterly repugnant characters' and 'sewer-bile dialogue.' Turns out it hit the spot. Keanu and Winona hooked up in the desert under the watchful eye of a mountain lion, we all kept up a steady stream of snark and emojis, and for 87 minutes all was well with the world ... What follows is an oral history of our movie night in the shape of a romcom, spliced together from our memories." [more inside]
"Vindication!"
Most people are only truly productive for 3-4 hours a day
"I don't need to get the most juice out of every single lime" [TikTok] "If I could make as much money as possible I would be a total prick, a con man, or both!" [more inside]
The 2023 Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
David Cross: I'm From The Future
I'M FROM THE FUTURE [1h6m] is David's 2021 comedy special, recorded in Brooklyn, NY right in the middle of COVID.
The Empire Won That War
I'll confess to not having watched Saturday Night Live at all this season but this sketch—Washington's Dream—is damn funny. The host was Nate Bargatze, who is a comedian I've never heard of, and he also had a funny opening monologue.
The Hidden Formula Behind Almost Every Joke on Late Night TV
Slate.com reveals how talk show writers formulate each night's topical jokes. "When you have to write more than 100 topical jokes each day, there’s no time to wait for inspiration to strike. You need a reliable algorithm." (SLYT)
aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh you've got a
Beautiful Mind [slyt] is about that moment when you find someone who really understands you. The shock of recognition. Or perhaps the schemes that become possible? [more inside]
Valice Lavidad!
Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee in unhinged, and it is loosely based on a spelling bee: each episode, four comedians participate in a series of rounds, where the goal is almost always to spell words or names in rounds that are "designed to be infuriating to take part in and entertaining to watch".
"His face is full of grimace"
Steve Martin, Olympic Diving Finals. (SLYT 4mins) A golden oldie comic masterpiece from the late 1970s.
We broke all the walls. There wasn’t a wall that we left unbroken.
After 34 years, Moonlighting has (finally) come to streaming. Held up because of issues with music rights - with more than 300 songs in only 66 shows - the series featured cameo roles from stars including Whoopi Goldberg within a week of winning an Oscar for The Color Purple, and Orson Welles just days before his death. Interview with show creator Glenn Gordon Caron and some of the cast about the show, and the importance of Bruce Willis to its success.
"Who's that? The slow comedy man."
Slow & Steady is a new hour-long stand-up comedy special where the star of Joe Pera Talks to You, Joe Pera, talks to you. He ends by attempting to put the audience to sleep, with a live edition of his sleep podcast, Drifting Off with Joe Pera. [Joe Pera previously]
It turns out we've been suffering from stand-up comedy for centuries.
Sitteeem
Sitting is the opposite of standing. Sitting is the opposite of running around. Sitting is a wonderful thing to do. On September 10 2023, an earworm was born. [more inside]
"I really think there’s such a thing as being unhealthily ambitious."
Dropout is celebrating its fifth anniversary. Dropout, a streaming service born from the ashes of CollegeHumor, is dropping the CH brand altogether; its CEO, Sam Reich, talked about the site's indie rebirth on Vulture and on Polygon, the latter alongside Dropout's resident dungeon master and socialist folk hero, Brennan Lee Mulligan. Apart from the channel's Dimension 20 D&D series (sample episode here), Dropout is best known for the improv-heavy game show Game Changer, in which players imitate mac and cheese, combat unruly lie detectors, improvise full musicals, harsh the vibes, name birds, and generally cause undue amounts of chaos. (Several full episodes are available here.)
"please tell me you can read that"
Love Honk
“I had a dream last night that there was a new popular form of music called Love Honk. Every song was basically just smooth jazz or soft rock instrumentals, but where the lead singer or main instrument should have been playing, there was just a loud, constant car horn.” My fellow Nordics will probably be reminded by Silverspots’ Cohost post of the Ylvis sketch Car Horn Classics (English subtitles in captions).
Rumble at the Best Buy
Tech Talk with Tim and Ted is a semi-improvised narrative podcast about technology and emotional labour, told in the form of an Apple evangelist podcast. Learn how to download the Spotify app, update your printer firmware, and how to get your wife back. (I haven't listened to anything else in the last two weeks and I can't stop laughing.)
“The punch line is worth the fictionalized premise,” he said.
Writing for the New Yorker, Clare Malone has fact-checked a number of stand-up comic / Daily Show alum / Patriot Act host / Obama-interviewer Hassan Minhaj’s stories of his experiences as an Indian-American and fond them short on accuracy: “Hasan Minhaj’s ‘Emotional Truths’”
Or, as Minhaj puts it, “[S]eventy per cent emotional truth—this happened—and then thirty per cent hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction.”
Or, as Minhaj puts it, “[S]eventy per cent emotional truth—this happened—and then thirty per cent hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction.”
I paid her $75 to call the police.
From just a few weeks ago, Maria Bamford – 28th Annual OCD Conference Keynote [44m] has Maria Bamford, um, giving the keynote address to the 28th Annual OCD Conference. She speaks at length about her intrusive voices and OCD, which sounds horrible but she makes funny.