About.com Comedians

A Comedian to be Thankful For (Day 2): Maria Bamford

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:23:44 +0000

It's Day Two of our week-long comedian love-fest, and in honor of her Black Friday Target ads that seem to be running ALL THE TIME, we're giving thanks for Maria Bamford today. Do you know the commercials I'm talking about? The cute blonde lady in the red dress climbing a ladder or dragging bags and giving that too-sincere smile while going on and on about getting ready for the big Friday sales at Target? Those ones? That's Maria Bamford.

While I should be lamenting the fact that most of America is now going to know Bamford as the "lady from the Target commercials," I've decided that in the spirit of the Big Dinner that I should be thankful she'll be known by way more people after this week. Her newest album, Unwanted Thoughts Syndrome, is a great sustained piece of character comedy in which Bamford assumes dozens of personas and voices. Even if you didn't think it was funny -- for which you would be wrong, by the way -- you can't deny that it's an impressive feat. It's one of my favorite comedy albums of the year.

And, as long as we're giving thanks, let's throw a little bit (a lot) of love towards The Comedians of Comedy, the now-defunct alternative comedy tour featuring Bamford, Brian Posehn, Patton Oswalt and Zach Galifianakis. It was a great comedy package to which Bamford fit in perfectly, as each comic offered something a little different for the audience. In 2005, a documentary/concert film of The Comedians was released, and it was great to see how their interactions with one another offstage were just as funny as their live acts. I could watch that movie once a week and never get tired of it.

THANKS, MARIA BAMFORD!

Photo by Marsalli McGrath/Getty Images

A Comedian to be Thankful For (Day 2): Maria Bamford originally appeared on About.com Comedians on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 10:23:44.

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Win a Chance to Perform at the Las Vegas Improv

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:17:37 +0000

To celebrate the release of Judd Apatow's Funny People on DVD and Blu-ray, IJoke.com and The Improv Comedy Club are partnering to give one asipiring comedian the opportunity to perform for six nights (six nights!) at the Improv at Harrah's Las Vegas.

To enter, just record at least one minute of original stand-up and submit the video to the dedicated page on IJoke.com before midnight (Pacific time) on December 8th. A panel of professional comics and "otherwise hilarious people" (I notice I wasn't asked...) will judge the videos and choose the Top Five, which will be posted to IJoke on or before December 14th. Those videos will then be voted on by visitors to the site until midnight December 20th; the three comics with the most votes will be flown to Vegas to perform at the Improv at Harrah's. The winner (voted on by audience members and a panel of judges) will peform a six-night run at the Improv at Harrah's some time in 2010.

Whew! That's a lot of rules and dates to keep straight. Still, for anyone looking to break into stand-up, this is a pretty incredible opportunity. Time to start sharpening your best material; you'd be crazy not to at least give this a shot.

Good luck, everyone!

Photo of Nick Swardson performing at The Improv by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Win a Chance to Perform at the Las Vegas Improv originally appeared on About.com Comedians on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 21:17:37.

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New Comedy Releases for Tuesday, November 24

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:10:54 +0000

Whoa! Just in time for Black Friday, we're getting a whole mess of comedy releases this week. And, once again, there seems to be something for everyone: fans of the classics will want to check out the Jerry Lewis collection, fans of Blue Collar comedy will want to get the new DVD from Bill Engvall and people who hate laughing will want to pick up the umpteenth Christmas special from Larry the Cable Guy. Personally, I'm stoked about the new Doug Stanhope album and, of course, the DVD release of the vastly underrated Funny People. Happy shopping, kids.

Doug Stanhope - From Across the Street
Rob Cantrell - Keep on the Grass

DVD

� Universal

New Comedy Releases for Tuesday, November 24 originally appeared on About.com Comedians on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 20:10:54.

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A Comedian to be Thankful For (Day 1): Doug Benson

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:28:38 +0000

Did you hear? It's Thanksgiving this week. Crazy, right? Well, to celebrate that Great Big Dinner, I'll be giving thanks for a new comedian every day this week. Because I'm relevant, that's why.

Today's comedian is Doug Benson, who you may recognize from VH1 pop culture shows like Best Week Ever. That's only if you don't follow comedy. If you do, you're probably familiar with his albums� Professional Humoredian and Unbalanced Load or his documentary Super High Me. You also know Doug Benson is hilarious, with silly and absurd bits that he delivers like throwaways but which are actually really smart, well-crafted jokes. Though he's the reigning champion of stoner comedy -- a genre I could never get into, and likely never will -- you don't have to...how do you say...identify with Benson in order to appreciate his comedy.

But here's two even better reasons to be thankful for Doug Benson. First, he's a champion of stand-up comedy and in readily accessible to his fans whether it's on his Twitter page or in the forums of the comedy site A Special Thing, where Benson is a regular participant. Second, Benson is the creator and host of my favorite podcast, I Love Movies, where he regularly welcomes two comedy guests (the podcast is taped right before Comedy Death-Ray in L.A.) to talk movies and goof around. Benson is genuinely knowledgeable about movies,� the show is consistently great and hilarious and -- best of all -- every week they play the Leonard Maltin game (a variation on Name That Tune using Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. The show makes me happy every time I listen to it.

Doug Benson has given us so much. Let's be thankful for him today. THANKS, DOUG BENSON!

Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

A Comedian to be Thankful For (Day 1): Doug Benson originally appeared on About.com Comedians on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 11:28:38.

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Saturday Night Live Recap: Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Dave Matthews Band

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:17:35 +0000

Coming off last week's worst episode of the season so far, Saturday Night Live just barely rebounded this week with host Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Settling once again for mostly repeated sketches, the episode had a few flashes of life -- usually only a joke here or there, as I don't think there was a single sketch that stood out as being consistently good this week. As a host, Levitt was rather intense and energetic, and I honestly couldn't tell if he was genuinely thrilled to be on SNL or if he was just compensating. The third option being that he's just odd...(continue reading "SNL Recap")

Photo courtesy NBC

Saturday Night Live Recap: Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Dave Matthews Band originally appeared on About.com Comedians on Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 at 16:17:35.

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The Very Funny Show Premiering Tonight on TBS

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:41:43 +0000

Tonight marks the debut of the new stand-up showcase series The Very Funny Show, premiering at 11 p.m. CT (midnight ET) on TBS.

I had the opportunity to see two episodes of The Very Funny Show at this year's Just for Laughs Chicago Festival (they were all taped at Zanies in Chicago during the festival; you can read my review of the shows here), and it was exactly the mixed bag I expect the series to be. We're going to get a mixture of club comics who are consistently strong and have earned their reputation. We'll get club comics who are still playing clubs after 20 years doing comedy for good reason. We'll get young comics looking for a break who we'll be talking about a whole lot more a year or two from now. Such is the nature of every stand-up showcase series going back to the '80s; considering we haven't had a good one in a while, I'm happy about The Very Funny Show being on the air.

Tonight's debut will air two episodes back-to-back. First up (at 11 p.m. CT), you'll get Henry Cho and Nick Thune (one of those comics we'll be talking about a lot more in a year); at 11:30, it's Whitney Cummings and Danny Bhoy. I've gone on record here before as being a big fan of Whitney Cummings, and still fully expect a big breakout from her. I also got to see Danny Bhoy live over the summer and thought he showed a great deal of promise. If anything, his set needed to be shorter and tighter, and that's exactly what The Very Funny Show will provide for him.

Photo of Whitney Cummings by Edward M. Pio Rida/Getty Images

The Very Funny Show Premiering Tonight on TBS originally appeared on About.com Comedians on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 11:41:43.

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Watch Judd Apatow Talk Funny People on Funny or Die

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:15:30 +0000

It's pretty much science fact at this point that the Judd Apatow-directed Funny People was considered a commercial disappointment, despite the fact that it got the writer/director some of the best reviews of his career. Unfortunately, it didn't make the amount of money that his past films made, much less the amount usually raked in by an Adam Sandler movie. It doesn't help that the film was billed solely as a comedy, despite the fact that it's very dark and often pretty heavy. I can't really blame the studio's marketing people, though. I don't know exactly how a movie like this should be sold to a wide audience. In the middle of summer. Against the stupidity of Transformers.

Anyway, that's all in the past now, as Funny People will be hitting DVD and Blu-ray next week. I suspect the movie will find a second life on home video; people that stayed away from it in theaters will be more willing to give it a shot and those that saw it and were potentially mixed about it may revise their opinions once they're able to see it for the movie it is and not the movie they were expecting. I really liked it when I saw it this summer, but I'm curious to revisit it myself.

In the meantime, let's all watch Funny People's writer/director Judd Apatow talk about the film on Funny or Die today. Beginning at 2:30 p.m. CT (3:30 p.m. ET, 12:30 p.m. PT), Apatow will answer viewer-submitted questions about the film during a live stream webcast. I, for one, am really interested in what he has to say about the film in the wake of its reception. Let's all watch together! It's a shared experience.

Update: In case you missed the live stream, you can catch the entire video here on UStream.

Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images

Watch Judd Apatow Talk Funny People on Funny or Die originally appeared on About.com Comedians on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 12:15:30.

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Gabriel Iglesias: I'm Not Fat...I'm Fluffy Review

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:38:22 +0000

It's a bit like beating a dead horse at this point, but I'll go ahead and say something I've said a dozen times before: reviewing stand-up comedy is particularly challenging because of how subjective comedy is. Comedian Gabriel Iglesias is a terrific example of this: he has a huge, loyal following, several successful comedy specials and on his newest stand-up DVD, I'm Not Fat...I'm Fluffy, it's very obvious that there's an audience that finds his every word hilarious. The fact that I don't agree doesn't make these people wrong or Iglesias any less funny -- it's just that we happen to part ways on what we choose to laugh at...(Continue Reading Gabriel Iglesias: I'm Not Fat...I'm Fluffy Review)

� Paramount/Comedy Central

Gabriel Iglesias: I'm Not Fat...I'm Fluffy Review originally appeared on About.com Comedians on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 15:38:22.

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Ken Ober Dead at 52

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:20:12 +0000

Comedian Ken Ober, best known as the host of the MTV game show Remote Control in the '80s, was found dead on Sunday at the age of 52.

Ober was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, and raised in Connecticut. He started out as an actor and comedian before landing the gig that would make him famous, hosting the pop culture game show Remote Control in 1987. That show also helped launch the careers of comedians like Adam Sandler, Colin Quinn and Julie Brown. Ober worked as a disc jockey in the 1990s (co-hosting a radio show with former Brady Bunch star Susan Olson) before returning to game shows as the host of a revived Make me Laugh in 1997.

More recently, Ober served as a producer on the short-lived Comedy Central talk show Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and the CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine. He was found dead on Sunday, reportedly complaining of flu-like symptoms on Saturday before having a heart attack (this according to The Comic's Comic).

As someone who used to watch Remote Control with a good deal of devotion, I can say that Ober always seemed like a really nice, happy guy, and I always enjoyed his relaxed comic energy. He's way too young to be gone.

Photo by Peter Kramer/Getty Images

Ken Ober Dead at 52 originally appeared on About.com Comedians on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 21:20:12.

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New Comedy Releases for Tuesday, November 16

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:25:11 +0000

Comedy fans rejoice. There's something for everyone hitting store shelves this week, including the new special from Dane Cook, a new album and DVD from Howard Stern Show sidekick Artie Lange, a whole box set of stuff from accused burglar Katt Williams and more. Time to start your holiday shopping, yo!

DVD

Photo courtesy PriceGrabber

New Comedy Releases for Tuesday, November 16 originally appeared on About.com Comedians on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 20:25:11.

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