when writers act...

This is an old article from the LA Times about writers acting and vice versa, as per The Office. The actos who play Toby, Ryan, and Kelly were originally hired as writers, but have since gone on to become fairly memorable characters. I have a special place in my heart for BJ Novak, who when attending Harvard, did a show with BJ Avril, last year's winner of The Amazing Race. Who knew both of them would go on to Prime Time fame?

This article is also relevant in the wake of the success of Lonely Island boys Akiva, Jorma, and Andy Samberg. I wonder a bit about SNL's choice to cast Andy as a regular player and Akiva and Jorma as writers. Is it because Andy is that much more adorable than the other two or is he really the better comedy actor of the bunch? Or maybe he's the weaker writer...?

love her or hate her?

Sarah Silverman is the kind of girl/comedian who inspires strong feelings. Personally, I'm a big fan, if only because she's groundbreaking and gutsy. And, unlike Lisa Lampinelli, she's creative with her crassness, using it to form a character rather than as her entire schtick. It's kind of the difference between Steven Colbert riffing off of what was originally a character based on O'Reilly and a Bush-impersonator on Leno, doing the same old jokes. The tool is a means, not the end. Also, she's gorgeous.

If you are a fan, she has a show coming out on Comedy Central, in a similar form to Jesus is Magic, although it seems like with less stand-up. Check out clips of the show on Motherload. There's also an amazing interview with her as the cover story of the Village Voice this week.

Movies for the new year

The two movies I'm most looking forward to in 2007:

1. The Ten, obvi. It has pretty much anyone hot ever: Adam Brody, Jessica Alba, Amanda peet, Paul Rudd, Justin Theroux, Gretchen Mol, etc. Along with all of the regular State bunch. I have high hopes.

And now...

2. Smiley Face... So when I first read the description of this movie, it sounded stupid: Anna Faris eats pot brownies. But when I saw this line from MTV Movie News, it made me that much more expectant:
"With a cast that also includes Adam Brody, John Cho, Danny Masterson from "That '70s Show" and John Krasinski from "The Office," it's the flick most likely to become this year's "Napoleon Dynamite.""

Okay, so I'm basing my predictions almost entirely on cast, which can be good or bad. But still... exciting. Also, congrats to Abigail Breslin and Little Miss Sunshine for getting Oscar noms. It's difficult for comedies to get nominated, and the last time a comedy won may have been Annie Hall, so whoot for that.

New Improv Show on NBC!

According to TV Squad, six episodes have been ordered of a new Improv competition entitled "Thank God You're Here." The show sounds like it's mostly short-form improv, but it still sounds fairly impressive and could host a number of fantastic guests who got their start in improv. yay! It will be hosted and judged by Dave Foley (who I love) and David Alan Grier (who I hate). Dave Foley used to be such an adorable ball of ambiguously gay cuteness on Kids in the Hall and NewsRadio, but ever since he started wearing facial hair and doing Celebrity Poker on Bravo, he kind of creeps me out.

The show looks good, but it's still no Project Improviser though.

bienvenidos a miami

I wasn't a huge fan of Reno 911 when it first came out. I love the guys from the State, but I'm more partial to the ones who formed Stella than this contingent. I guess I had negative feelings towards Viva Variety, but that might have been because I was too young to get it when it was on. Nevertheless, at that age, I was watching Kids in the Hall and the Tracey Ullman Show already, so I'm not really sure why I didn't like it.

However, I've grown to like Reno 911 more and more since I stopped looking at it as a parody of Cops and started appreciating it more as sketch comedy within a story. Anyways, the trailer for the movie looks good. I think this may be the kind of show which translates better into a movie than Strangers with Candy or Kids in the Hall. We'll see.

Check out the trailer at Apple Trailers.

a very special episode of the office

According to tv squad , Joss Whedon is planning on directing an episode of The Office. This is incredible news.

Also, if you're jonesing for hilarity, I recommend this.

ben stiller: funny?

An interesting article/interview with Ben Stiller in Parade magazine.

I think I used to like Ben Stiller a lot more. The Ben Stiller show was really funny and I like him in seriocomic stuff like Flirting with Disaster. But since then, I honestly can't say I'm a huge fan anymore. He seems to have perfected two characters: unlucky everyman who has bad things happen to him (There's Something About Mary, Meet the Parents, etc.) and the wacky incredibly shallow nutjob (Zoolander, Dodgeball, Heavyweights). Personally, I appreciate him more in the latter types of roles. I feel like other people are better in the former role and there's only so many times I can see him react to unfortunate situations.