one of the greats

Improv Interviews has a VERY in-depth interview with Matt Besser, one of the original members of the Upright Citizens' Brigade. Besser is my personal favorite of the UCB on the show and he is definitely the most under-rated and has had the least commercial success since the show. He spends more time performing his one man show, Woo Pig Sooie, than performing in TV and movies like SNL's Amy Poehler and Dog Bites Man's Matt Walsh. Besser is great at playing the Straight Man and also came up with some hilarious characters. If you're interested in improv and the development of long-form, this interview is fab. The UCB holds a very special place in my heart for the way in which they have revolutionized a craft, a method for teaching it, and a cheap and accessible way of entertaining others with it. When you see how many comedians are coming through a relatively new theater compared to the Groundlings and Second City, it's really exciting to me.

Also, LyraJane has video clips of her top five sketches from the State. Thank jeezus for youtube.

the death of the sitcom?

Just read a month-old blogpost describing the so-called "death of the sitcom" based on NBC's Thursday night comedy block, which they are now calling "Comedy Night Done Right." I guess they can't call it "must see tv" quite yet.

I didn't really agree with the article because I do really like The Office, Scrubs, and 30 Rock. (I never really thought My Name is Earl was funny.) But I did agree with one word they used, which is "self-satisfied." The Office, Scrubs, and NBC all do seem fairly self-satisfied in their semi-success lately. For example, the Jim & Pam thing is being done well in that the writers know they have to drag that shit out for as long as humanly possible. But NBC's summer promos where they played cheezy music while showing clips of every subtle glance leading up to their big season-ending kiss was incredibly annoying. And now, NBC realizes they have something good with these four shows and they have to be like "look at us! look at us! please, we have good shows on thursdays again!" Similarly, even the writers on the Office know how well they do the whole Jim glancing at Pam when she's talking to another guy/Pam doing likewise thing and where it used to be subtle, it's now SO FUCKING OBVIOUS.

The Office has had a strange success arc. At first, nobody was expecting them to do well. The series premiere was terrible because it pretty much just redid an episode of the British one. And when asked whether one liked the show, the only cool response was, "UK, yes. US, not really." But then with ITunes TV shows, they became popular when nobody was paying attention. And now, they seem a little desperate, although I still love the show. Nagasaki? classic.

my renewed appreciation for eddie

No, this post is not about a certain uplifting basketball comedy starring the occasionally-eerily-dirty Whoopi Goldberg.

Rather...

This afternoon, I watched Dreamgirls, which I loved. Normally, not really a reason to post, but after, I was watching Eddie Murphy on Inside the Actor's Studio and it really dawned on me how talented he is. Like as I'm watching the movie, he's pretty good, but I keep thinking "he's so washed up. what has he done recently besides daddy day care and the haunted mansion and knocking up Mel B/G of the Spice Girls." But James Lipton, in his usual kissass way, really highlighted amazing moments from Murphy's career. I forgot how much I liked the movie Bowfinger and how he was one of the few good people to come out of SNL in the dark years post-original-cast and pre-Phil Hartman. Which reminds me that I used to have an intense aversion to Joe Piscopo, and most of the cast at that time. But now I'm getting teary over the fact that E! took the rights for SNL away from comedy central and it's so hard to catch old episodes nowadays. Tres le sigh...

Point being, the guy was an 80s pop star, a spot-on impressionist, and a hilarious stand-up comedian. And I forgot all that because of the crap he's been doing lately. So hooray for Dreamgirls.

Is there a "cult-comedy curse"?

MTV Movie News has an article on the so-called "Cult Comedy Curse" in which a cult TV hit gets big and makes a movie, which subsequently fails. They cited Kids in the Hall, Strangers with Candy, and Mr. Show as examples. If Borat can succeed, they ask, can Tenacious D?

Personally, I'm not a big fan of Tenacious D. I like Jack Black a lot and I like a few of their songs, but I'm not particularly enthused for their movie. I think the major thing to consider here is whether a half-hour show can sustain an audience's attention for an hour-and-a-half. I, embarassingly, have yet to see the Strangers with Candy movie; it's next on my Netflix list and I'm super-excited, especially because I recently met Amy Sedaris, who was sweet and hilarious. But I think that even in half-hour sticom format, Strangers with Candy is not for everyone. Compare this to Borat, who, even before the movie came out, had a huge following with fairly mainstream fans. I would compare it more to South Park or Chapelle's Show in terms of cultdom. South Park has mass-market appeal, and thus, the film did well.

beyond the pale...

Finally getting a chance to catch Jim Gaffigan's Beyond the Pale on Comedy Central's Friday night stand-up. I remember a couple of years ago, CC did cartoons on Friday night. Anyway, I think I first fell in love with Gaffigan on That 70s Show, and it didn't hurt that he was in 13 Going on 30, as the elder Chris Grandy. But his stand-up is pretty good in a self-aware, dry way and this special was no exception.

On a different note, I was watching an old ep of Friends ("The one where rachel quits") and the girl who plays the Brown Bird trying to sell cookies is Anne (Bland) from Arrested Development. I always thought they could have chosen a girl who was a little bit plainer (read: uglier) for the part, but perhaps that's where the humor lies. God, that show is fucking genius.

re: andy samberg on conan

Andy Samberg is the new Jimmy Fallon. I mean, he's not really new. And Jimmy Fallon is totes out. So it's more like Andy Samberg is the new Seth Meyers.

Maybe you are expecting me to have a list of well thought-out reasons for this. But I don't except that:
a) He's on SNL.
b) When I see him, I fall in love a little.
c) When he wears glasses, he looks even better.

"Who loves gold the most? Pirates, leprechauns, or... Steve?" -ASambs as a crazy homeless man

Ugh. Only on my second post and already, I have devolved into schoolgirl crushes. There goes any credibility I may have had. Tres le sigh...

bonjour mon amour

My major impetus for starting this blog was that I read so much comedy stuff on the Internet and I haven't really found a forum where all of it is contained in a single blog. If they exist, point me in the right direction.


This article from the Village Voice, which I loved, reflects on a lot of the changes that have been going on at Saturday Night Live in the last couple years. I haven't been liking SNL very much lately, but I can't imagine that it's just gone to shit and can never recover. There have been bad seasons or sections of seasons in the past and it always seems to pick up again. So we shall see.

I also read a great interview with Tina Fey in the Onion recently where she refuses to comment on Studio 60 in any way, shape, or form. I suppose that was a good plan since on paper, it seemed like Studio 60 would totally show up 30 Rock, and it turned out that 30 Rock has just been pleasing viewers more. Personally, I'm a big fan of both, but I think it's pretty apparent that Studio 60 didn't quite live up to all the hype, at least not in the first few eps. I'm glad NBC is giving it a chance because the Christmas episode was phenomenal.