Recent News

Dave Hill’s Tasteful Nudes and Hannibal Buress’ Animal Furnace Out Today

Both Dave Hill’s highly anticipated book Tasteful Nudes… and Other Misguided Attempts at Personal Growth and Validation and Hannibal Buress 1-hr Comedy Central Special “Animal Furnace” are out today.

From the book jacket of Dave Hill’s Tasteful Nudes:

Dear ridiculously attractive person who just so happens to be holding Tasteful Nudes in his or her soft and supple yet commanding hands,

Hi. My name is Dave, and this is my very first collection of essays. As you can probably imagine, it pretty much has everything. In fact, if you like stories about stolen meat, animal attacks, young love, death, naked people, clergymen, rock ‘n’ roll, irritable Canadians, and prison, you have just hit a street called Easy because my book talks about all that stuff and a bunch of other stuff, too.

So why aren’t you picking this up right now?

Hannibal Buress’ Animal Furnace a wonderful special and you can read our exact thoughts on it here (not to worry, it’s only 5 sentences long), then get it on DVD or just on CD right after that as you should if you like to laugh and clap repeatedly.

Charlie Kaufman Developing Series at HBO

HBO developing comedy series starring Catherine Keener and written & directed by Charlie Kaufman. As this half-hour series’ premise promises to affect reality (or not) and this being at HBO, it has a better chance than Community should it get picked up.

and in other comedy ‘trade’ news:

The Office brings in new executive producers to help and possibly reboot the show. Maybe everyone can have a British accent and Office purists can stop whining.

The Simpsons to get short film played front of Ice Age: Continental Drift. Kids will get a chance to learn about plate tectonics and how great The Simpsons in a completely innaccurate way.

4 Min. Trailer + What Old People Think of IFC’s Bunk

Here’s a 4 min. glorious preview of IFC’s Bunk (coming in June), the game show that host Kurt Braunohler makes sure delightfully has no point.

…and here’s what old people think of it.

You Can Vote For Roseanne

That’s right. That’s her name on a primary ballot for the Green Party.

RiffTrax Goes Live in Movie Theaters with Manos The Hands of Fate

Following This American Life going live in movie theaters across the nation, RiffTrax (from the folks of Mystery Science Theater 3000) is the next in line (on August 16th) to show that there is more than the Opera being broadcast live at your local multiplex.

Required Online Comedy Reading List 5/23

Here’s another round of essays, articles, etc. that is or about comedy for the voracious comedy nerd reader featuring a controversial defense of the WTF podcast, a publication trying to defend itself against a joke by Hannibal Buress, and more.

WTF, Marc Maron? by Jay Caspian King for Grantland
How to Sell Topical Jokes: A Primer by Jonas Polsky
Hey Industry Executives… by Jonah Ray 
Buress’ Comments Unfair, Skewed on the Daily Eastern News (which addresses Hannibal Buress’ hilarious and justified bit on this article on his latest special) 
Why ‘Community’s’ Dan Harmon Was Fired: A Showrunner (anonymous) Explains All on The Hollywood Reporter 

…and any article that says NBC and Sony made a really bad move for firing Dan Harmon off of Community.

Katie Crown Takes Her Interviews to The Trees

It’s risky to say such blanket statements in comedy, but pretty much anything Katie Crown does is delightful, hysterical, and ridiculous. Here “Treeterviews” are perfect proof of that statement.

Do Not Miss Sean Patton Taping His Album for AST Records

On June 8th 8PM at Nerdist Theater, one can see Sean Patton tape his album for A Special Thing Records for free. Sean is one of our favorite comedians to go see over and over, even if he’s doing material that we can quote because, simply, it’s just that good. For more explanation on why we love Sean and his comedy and think everyone should go to this taping, read this.

Steven Wright Answers(?) Mail with Craig Ferguson

Steven Wright stopped by The Late Late Show to attempt to answer Craig Ferguson’s mail only to have it devolve into Ferguson doing an impression of him, Foghorn Leghorn style,  and then declaring how close he loves being to Craig.

Tonight on late night:
Jim Gaffigan on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC 12:35AM)
Matt Walsh on Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC 1:35AM)

Studio Coaches Community Cast on How To Respond To Press Regarding Dan Harmon

We understand why the publicity department or whoever came up with this document telling the cast members of Community how to answer questions regarding the firing Dan Harmon came up with it. They need to defend the brand of the show, the network, the executives, etc.

However, can you, whoever the hell whipped this up in seemingly 15 minutes or less, work a little harder on making it sound like the cast didn’t live in captivity in a remote bunker for months or that they would be completely clueless as people OR that they’re running for some sort of political office?

Why did Dan get let go from the show?

We’re not made aware of why staffing changes take place but I will always be grateful to Dan for his great work on the show and wish him only the best. We’re also excited that we’ll be back on NBC’s schedule in the fall and are looking forward to working on those episodes.

Also, the new showrunners David Guarascio and Moses Port decided to get a joint Twitter account or someone else who looks to be incredibly ironic today.

An Entire Episode of Comedy Bang Bang Before Its Premiere on June

A sneak preview, but a full one with guest Amy Poehler, of Comedy Bang Bang on IFC. Stop reading and watch already.

Jim Gaffigan Might Have Found The Best Catchphrase Ever on Fallon

Squeaky clean comedian Jim Gaffigan went on Fallon last night and talked his experience at Subway, then took a two minute break from being squeaky clean to find a great comedy catchphrase.

Tonight on late night: Alison Brie on Conan (TBS 11PM)

Christopher Guest on TV?

Christopher Guest is looking to do a TV show in exclusive from Vulture. NBC Universal International TV is shopping the project around rather than redeeming themselves by having it on NBC.

and in other comedy ‘trades’ news:

Megan Ganz confirmed she’s returning to write Community. It is one step closer to an Internet ceasefire, but it would seem there’s about a thousands more steps before that happens.
Vultre exclusive reports Zach Galifianakis attached to star in adaptation of ‘Confederacy of Dunces’. Whenever there’s a trailer or promo, they’re sure to go viral without showing any cats.
TV Land orders comedy pilots produced by Ben Silverman and Scott Stuber. Soon, no cable channel will have a theme like they used to, but rather original scripted or reality series.
RickRoll’d meme destroyed by copyright takedown. Cue Darth Vader at the end of Revenge of the Sith, we guess?

Vince Vaughn Strolled by Conan to Debut Trailer for The Watch

Apparently, Conan is the hip, cool place to debut your big comedy projects as Vince Vaughn popped in to show a trailer for his upcoming film, The Watch, featuring hilarious, but possibly unnecessary violence to aliens.

The Eric Andre Show McDonald’s Saga

Can we call something with two clips a saga? Eric Andre makes a great case with two clips for The Eric Andre Show invading a McDonald’s and quasi-impersonating Ronald McDonald.

College Humor’s Mexican Stand-Off-Palooza

The offices of College Humor pulled an all-nighter last night and made some fun videos, one of which, they lived out their fantasy of having a Mexican stand-off (*complete with dying).

Comedy Abroad-ish 5/25

Doug Stanhope at the Underground Cinema, Toronto. Photo by Sharilyn Johnson

Doug Stanhope in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia in August
Kyle Kinane & Tom Segura @ American Comedy Co. (San Diego, CA) Tonight thru Sun. May 27th $22
Comedy @ Sasquatch 2012 (George, Washington) Tonight thru Mon. May 28th 
The Bonnaroo Comedy Theatre @ Bonnaroo 2012 (Manchester, TN) Thurs. Jun. 7th-Sun. 10th
UCB’s Freakdance screening in limited engagements in Boston, Philadelphia, and NYC
Dave Hill’s Tasteful Nudes Book Release Show @ Punch Line Comedy Club Mon. Jun. 4th 8PM $25.40
Humor Code with the Grawlix @ Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO) Tonight 6PM

The San Francisco Comedy and Burrito Festival Deadline Is Soon

We really don’t need to explain why the combination of comedy and burritos was meant to be. All we need to say that is comics should submit before the regular deadline of Jun. 1st.

Jon Daly Raps “Jon Daly”

Jon Daly, the man behind Bill Cosby-Bukowski, makes his mark in the rap game with his new single, Jon Daly, that you can download for free at jondalyjondaly.com. Perfect name for a song, wouldn’t you say?

Reggie Watts Got Standing Ovation at a TED Talk

Reggie Watts is one of the few comedians that can say he’s played the Funny or Die offices, MOMA PS1, and now, the TED Talks where he nabbed a standing o.  

Brendon Walsh and Nick Vatterott’s Half Hour Premiere Tonight

At 11PM and 11:30PM, Brendon Walsh and Nick Vatterott, respectively, have their half-hours airing on Comedy Central. Don’t miss out on an Unbookable and the latest Andy Kaufman Award Winner do approximately 22 minutes of, what we hope is, prank-laced stand-up.