Recent News

1) Ferris Bueller, apparently, will keep all of us waiting until the Super Bowl to find out that he’s not making a sequel?

2) We didn’t know that you could fit a billion dollar movie on VOD, but Tim & Eric found a way.

3) There will be ½ priced gas from Key & Peele next Tues. (when they premiere)/pile up of frugal comedy nerds at Fairfax & Beverly, an already crowded intersection because of the Grove.

4) Pete Holmes chatted with the A.V. Club Chicago!

5) The Compatish gang got down with a classic Nerf whistling football throwing challenge complete with sarcastic distance markers.

6) This write up of “The Buried Secret of M. Night Shymalan”, which is a egomaniacal, autobiographical prank, is not only pretty funny in just objectively describing the movie, but simultaneously pulls off trashing the movie AND making it “a must see”.

7) The 5 Most Intentionally Funny Videos This Week on the Nerdist ranges from one of the weirdest things you’ll see at Hollywood and Highland to Bill Cosby teaching Jimmy Fallon a lesson about.

8) Truly, Riot LA is almost to their proposed goal on Kickstarter at $18,863 of $20,000 with only 7 days to go. 

9) On today’s Puddin’, the guy eating pudding finally… well… just watch it.

10) I bet someone is making a family tree of “Shit [ ] Says” videos because everyone on the Internet has way too much free time.

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1) So, it’s official. Riot LA reached their goal and LA will have a comedy festival worthy of the city’s amazing comedy later this year. If you’re still feeling generous, they are still taking donations until Fri. Feb. 3rd 9:30PM PST.

2) Bobcat Goldthwait has shown how dark a comedy in go with every movie he makes, and, from the trailer, his latest film, God Bless America, is certainly no exception.

3) Now the world knows what we’ve been having to keep mum about since last year, The Eric Andre Show will be on Adult Swim with co-host Hannibal Buress.

4) John Mulaney’s hour long special “New In Town” is tonight at 10PM on Comedy Central. Simply, watch.

5) The Ferris Bueller Superbowl ad teaser was just a hoax by Honda.

6) In industry news news, NBC greenlights a comedy from Ryan Murphy and Allison Adler, ABC gets three more comedy pilots, and the Charlie Kaufman meta comedy musical, Frank or Francis, adds Elizabeth Banks and Paul Reubens to the cast.

7) Also, the cast of Monty Python is joining forces yet again to not go to Camelot.

8) It would seem as though Us Weekly Magazine does not only understand jokes on Twitter even when Sean Green added the hashtag #nitrous.

9) This should definitely not be a Fake Criterion…

10) Davey Johnson, apparently, at least in this What’s What, has just drank an entire cup of Jack Daniels for the first time.

11) As a comedian, some times, it must be a horrible realization that you will have to make people laugh that religiously read Us Weekly, non-ironically.

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1) At the Sundance Film Festival Jury Awards, Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk With Me walked aways with the Best of NEXT Audience Award and Derek Conolly, writer of Safety Not Guaranteed with Aubrey Plaza, Kristen Bell, and more walked away with the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. 

2) In other comedy recognition news, Curb Your Enthusiasm was awarded Best Comedy Series at the DGA Awards.

3) In other other comedy recognition news, here are the results for the Channel 101 January Screening. Congrats to Intimate Indiscretions keeping “sexy back”, if that makes any sense.

4) Comic faces jail if he jokes about dad/Why not to do comedy in Malawi if your dad is a high ranking member of the Malawi government…

5) Now that Riot LA is at $20,847 of their $20,000 on their Kickstarter and will happen, it asks “@RiotLA Alright! What/who do you guys wanna see at this thing?” Let’s start with Eddie & Freddie Pepitone and go from there.

6) Robin Williams did Set List at SF Sketchfest and there’s proof! Yes, that’s Robin Williams doing improvised stand-up. We’ll try to find a clip of this if one arises.

7) Doug Stanhope was interviewed by Esquire Magazine and there’s no link to it online, so Stanhope took a picture of it and posted it.

8) I came to the realization last night that people yelling at bill collectors on the phone is pretty much white noise at an open mic.

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1) We’re pretty sure that someone thinks that Louis CK was thinking, “I bet no one will expect that I’m developing a multi-cam sitcom for CBS with the writer of the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld, Spike Feresten,” when really, we’re pretty sure that he just thought, “This will be very interesting.”

It’ll be different this time around, right?

2) Despite the worries of David Cross, everything is a-go for new episodes of Arrested Development just the way we remember it, apparently.

3) SAG Awards for comedy: 
Best Cast, TV Comedy: Modern Family
Best Actress, TV Comedy: Betty White, Hot in Cleveland
Best Actor, TV Comedy: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock 
Best Supporting Actor, Motion Picture: Christopher Plummer, Beginners 

4) Tonight on late night, Marc Maron will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC 12AM) and Chris Gethard will be on Conan (TBS 11PM). We know it won’t happen, but it would be amazing if Maron and Gethard had a late night talk show guest crossover tonight.

5) Rather than the Year of the Dragon, doesn’t “Year of Rick Shapiro” sound better? Help his Kickstarter out to make that happen.

6) While waiting to buy/download/get in some way John Mulaney’s New in Town, you can read his interview with Black Book about it.

7) This “Our Least Favorite [Music] Genre Names” on the All Things Considered Blog makes us want to find these music genre placards at Amoeba Records. 

8) Riot LA’s totals for their Kickstarter: $20,909 of $20,000 with 4 days to go.

9) The top finisher of this weekend’s Channel 101 screening, the new episode of Intimate Indiscretions is absolutely required watching if you want to laugh and love alternative history. Also, it’s awesomely NSFW.

10) In realizing that several comedians live-tweeted the SAG Awards, it’s truly sad that the Razzies aren’t broadcasted because that would be worth live-tweeting.

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1) Raise your fist and give a hell yeah for the trailer for Season 3 of Eastbound and Down. 

2) Last night on late night, Chris Gethard read his best fanmail ever on Conan and Marc Maron discussed fans of WTF that are more concerned about his personal well-being than his comedy on Kimmel. Tonight on late night, the venerable Bill Murray will be on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS 11:35PM) and Jack McBrayer on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC 12:35AM)

3) Also tonight, the world premiere of Comedy Central’s new sketch show, Key & Peele, is tonight at 10:30PM. If you’re still on the fence, read this endorsement from Rob Delaney and also get free gas at Fairfax and Beverly thanks to the show.

4) John Mulaney’s New In Town is now available! Also, on DVD so you can see the wonderful opening that starts like this…

5) So, it will now be the commercials, Billy Eichner on the field, then the halftime show, and then the actual game in terms of what are the most to least interesting things at the Superbowl.

6) You do know that Brian Regan just grossed over a million by just doing ten shows, right?

7) Old school goofy chases are never old as proven by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

8) Many of you know that Matt Knudsen is a very talented comedian, but did you know that he can play several instruments, thanks to video effects, at the same time? That means you now know and should watch him do so.

9) We reviewed Sean Green’s “Whiskey Dick” in 5 sentences because who has time for six? Also, you should listen to the album, it’s really funny.

10) The This Better Be Funny Podcast is back with even fewer explanations than ever! We walk down Sunset Blvd. from an open mic to the Comedy Store in the most accurate depiction of two frustrated comedians walking around Hollywood with no show to do that night.

11) Riot LA’s totals for their Kickstarter: $20,924 of $20,000 with 3 days to go.

12) On today’s Puddin’, there’s snazzy new VFX and blasphemy!

13) Just a note to comics claiming they’re self-deprecating: if you say that you’re self-deprecating out loud on stage, you’re not self-deprecating.

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1) Last night on late night, Jack McBrayer revealed his excitement about “football sports” on Fallon and Bill Murray nearly sets Letterman’s desk on fire. Tonight, Howard Stern will have to maybe censor himself on the Late Show with David Letterman (CBS 11:35PM) and Glenn Howerton will be on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC 1:35AM).

2) Judy Greer gets another shot in being the lead in a pilot with ABC and Showtime renews Californication, House of Lies, and more. Still, there’s been no word on the Green Room with Paul Provenza, though.

3) The Moontower Comedy Festival that will be in Austin, TX has run out of their “introductory badges” and are moving on to “You Betcha” badges.

4) Another fantastic edition of an owner and his cat instant messaging back and forth in Louis vs. Rick.

5) Zach Sherwin AKA MC Mr. Napkins pretty much has the lock on the word prefix game on lock with his music video “Pro/Con”.

6) Bryan Cranston will be directing an episode of Modern Family that probably won’t be nearly as dark as everyone thinks it will be.

7) We made a “Shit Comedians Say When They Bomb” yesterday, which explores an intense fascination with comparing not performing well to eating dicks and suicide.

8) Riot LA’s Kickstarter totals: $21,134 of $20,000 with just over 2 days to go.

9) I guess it’s taking comics a little time to come up with a new joke about Tyler Perry since the billboards for his new movie don’t feature misspelled words and him in drag.

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1) Dana Gould and Dave Grohl are making a rock band comedy for FX! Dana Gould and Dave Grohl are making a rock band comedy for FX! Dana Gould and Dave Grohl are making a rock band comedy for FX! Three times should be enough, right? No? OK… Dana Gould and Dave Grohl are making a rock band comedy for FX!

2) Also, Dana Gould now has a podcast, the Dana Gould Hour! Forget groundhogs, it’s Dana Gould’s day.

3) Last night on late night, Howard Stern was just as confused as the rest of us to whether the late night “war” between Letterman and Leno is still on. Tonight on late night, Jenny Slate will be on Conan (TBS 11PM) and Tim & Eric will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC 12AM)

4) You can watch why Comedy Central’s new sketch series Key & Peele killed it in the ratings because their first episode is online.

5) In things you can submit to news, you could win $100,000 by making a short documentary on innovation that’s had a positive impact for Focus Forward. We’re sure making it funny in some way helps.

6) Here’s our reasons why you should pick up and listen to John Mulaney’s New In Town.

7) Our picks for the 5 Most Intentionally Funny Videos at the Nerdist this week range from interviews with a children’s author to sexy revisionist history.

8) Riot LA’s Kickstarter totals: $21,162 of $20,000 with 1 day to go.

9) On today’s Puddin’, Eddie Pepitone found the best way to pick your cell phone service provider.

10) Perhaps, if any of the significant Republican candidates went to an open mic and saw the jokes that were made about them and how outlandish they are, they’d have a brief moment of clarity.

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1) The biggest Tenacious D news since Pick of Destiny tanked (which they address): RISE OF THE FENIX, the new Tenacious D album, to come out in May!

2) It’s very hard to not think of the following news item this way, but we wish we could: Chris Rock is writing a romance with Melissa McCarthy in mind that will begin to undo the damage Tyler Perry has done.

3) LA might just have it’s own podcast festival with WTF, Never Not Funny, the Dork Forest, and more (off of donations to their Kickstarter), which hopefully we’ll cure a few very specific agoraphobics that love listening to comedy podcasts, but hate going outside.

4) Last night on late night late night, Jenny Slate creeped Conan out with her Marcel, the Shell with Shoes voice. Tonight, Key & Peele are on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC 1:35AM)

5) Politico calls out Joe Mande for “trolling” politicians on Twitter.

6) Ken Leung and Tig Notaro joins Sarah Silverman’s pilot for NBC!

7) Win a trip to the South Beach Comedy Festival. You wanna go to the South Beach Comedy Festival to see comedy, right?

8) “Dana Gould’s Day” continues as he has just joined Tumblr.

9) Riot LA has 7 hours to go and has raised $21,677 of $20,000. One last push?

10) On today’s Puddin’, Eddie Pepitone manages to top himself in being creepy.

11) I wonder if other people at other occupations that are not comedy waste people’s time at meetings talking about metaphors for how weird their occupation is like shitty comedians do when they’re wasting time at open mics.

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1) If you missed Paul Mooney’s latest Showtime special, “The Godfather of Comedy”, it’s playing throughout this month, that is, if you have Showtime or Showtime 2…

2) Riot LA is officially funded. 

3) The Burbank International Film Festival, which has a couple of comedy categories, is taking submissions.

4) Hey, look who’s playing at the Sasquatch Music Festival that isn’t one of the lauded music acts: Pete Holmes, Todd Barry, Rob Delaney, Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Howard Kremer, and more. This comedy thing seems to be catching on.

5) Splitsider rounded up the Ten Most-Hated Comedies Rated 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, which, not surprisingly, doesn’t feature anything that’s objectively terrible like Manos: the Hands of Fate.

6) Forgot what the word diction meant? Here’s 5 comedians who aren’t George Carlin (because you could argue that he had the best diction) that can help you regain that knowledge from HS English.

7) Everyone should be talking about Christopher Plummer in Beginners and how he’s silently cleaning up in the Best Supporting Actor award everywhere. Here’s why.

8) If only more football fans were like Jake Weisman as shown by this piece about the NY Giants, the world would be, well, like… it would be at the least, a much funnier place.

9) If there’s an official profile of the job of comedian in a list of careers somewhere, under occupational hazards should be listed “must be told to be happy.”

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