If you don’t want to buy a DVD or Blu-Ray and just want to stream one of the best romantic comedies in recent memory, you’ll be able to stream The Big Sick on Thanksgiving weekend.
Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino is bringing Amazon her latest series which will follow one woman who falls into the world of stand-up during NYC’s burgeoning comedy scene in the late 50s/60s.
Called The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, it might be NYC (and possibly more upbeat) counterpart to Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here.
See for yourself in the trailer.
Episodes start streaming on Amazon Prime on Wednesday, November 29th.
Terry Gilliam’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” Is Done and Finally Has a Release Date of Some Kind
Though it may be a well worn observation at this point, the word “quixotic” applies to much of the journey making of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.
Several mishaps involving casting and financing have plagued Terry Gilliam’s ambitious work inspired by the classic Spanish satirical novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. As a result of this process, it’s taken two decades to finish the film and get into theaters.
For perspective, consider that Gilliam likely spent more time on making this movie as he did in initial run of Monty Python through the 70s and 80s.
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote now has a French release date aimed for May 2018, secured U.S. distribution through Amazon Studios (date TBA), and boasts a very robust cast of Jonathan Pryce, Adam Driver, and Stellan Skarsgård.
Hopefully, nothing else veers off track between now and next Spring.
Transparent, it can be argued, is the dramedy that put Amazon in contention with streaming giants Netflix and Hulu. Sure, Catastrophe and Fleabag have done wonders for Amazon Studios as well, but Jill Soloway’s series put them immediately in awards contention.
So, one of Amazon’s flagship series sails forth into streaming their fourth season today and looks like it’ll keep going for as long as the show wants.
Season two of Tig Notaro’s One Mississippi incredibly endearing as her real life wife (who is great actress/writer/director/comedian herself) Stephanie Allynne shows up as Tig’s love interest and features an drop-the-mic style moment when Tig gets cornered by some “well meaning” homophobic evangelicals.
See for yourself in the season two trailer here.
This might be a wake-up call to those who haven’t caught any of the series thus far.
Episodes start streaming on Amazon Prime on Friday, September 8th.
Fleabag Reupped for Season 2 by Both BBC and Amazon
What started out as a play by Phoebe Waller-Bridge is now getting a second season in both the UK and the US after a very well received first season as a TV series.
In case you didn’t know, Fleabag is indeed a fantastic dark comedy and one of Amazon’s best original series offerings.
“Join the celebration. #TransparentTV has been renewed for Season 5.
Amazon Studios very smartly has picked up their critically acclaimed, award winning marquee/flagship/landmark series Transparent from Jill Soloway for its fifth season.
It should be noted that most TV series, in traditional linear TV, would be gunning for syndication at this point and, perhaps, bringing the show to a close.
As streaming services makes the idea of syndication kind of out-dated since you can binge watch the whole series whenever and pretty much wherever you want, the course and duration of a show like Transparent as well as Soloway will likely be followed by several other people making TV moving forward.
We can’t stop imagine the marriage of Sorkin style monologue and Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Also, you’ve got to be the least bit curious how Blanchett will transform herself into Lucy.
This is definitely another big get for Amazon.
Simply, this is just a great takedown of a homophobe that doubles as a teaser for the next season of Tig’s One Mississippi on Amazon.
Enjoy it here.
Somehow, it would seem that series creator Jill Soloway figures out a way to get more ambitious with Transparent without sacrificing the show’s integrity.
Doing that probably helps with the awards and accolades.
See for yourself in the full season 4 trailer, then look for episodes to start streaming on Amazon Prime on Friday, September 22nd.
The award winning Master of None and Jill Soloway return to their respective streaming services, Netflix and Amazon Prime, to debut a second season and a new series, I Love Dick.
With that said, what a great time it is for “peak TV” and we hope that you’ve got a lot of free time this weekend.
Bryan Cranston’s TV Adaptation of “The Dangerous Book for Boys” Ordered to Series at Amazon
As the book is a special kind of “how-to” book, there’d have to be an episode about who knocks, right?
A premise where ex-partners from a creative partnership is well trodden territory, but the pairing of Goldblum and DeVito in this project from Simpsons writer Tim Long is pretty tantalizing. Also, since they’re a music duo, Goldblum will probably be belting out tunes plenty if this goes to series, which will undoubtedly be icing on the cake.
We have to admit that picturing DeVito and Goldblum standing next to each other already kind of makes us laugh.
Two protagonists from disparate worlds coming together, against all odds, to fall in love is an oft used formula in the world of romantic comedies.
However, a lot of the time, many of those stories are purely fiction and the verisimilitude takes you out of it.
The Big Sick, written by comedy power couple Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon about how they really did come from very different walks of life, under unusual circumstances, and fell in love, living happily ever after.
Watch the trailer and you’ll see the truth ring in their story as presented in what might be this Summer’s comedy hit.
Look for The Big Sick to come out in limited release on June 23rd and in wide release on July 14th.
Jill Soloway’s new Amazon series I Love Dick will be screening in its entirety at Cinefamily this Sunday. Also, Jill, star Kathryn Hahn, and novelist Chris Kraus will be on hand at the event.
The screening is free, but first come, first served with priority entry to Cinefamily Black Card members.
If you don’t have Amazon Prime, this would be a pretty great opportunity to not even use any sort of free trial of Amazon Prime and watch the show. Get more details here.
The rest of our listings for comedy shows, events, open mics, and maps can be found at www.thecomedybureau.com.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Gets First Multi-Season Series Pick-Up at Amazon
Right from the get go, Amy Sherman-Palladino, the creator of Gilmore Girls, is getting two seasons at Amazon for her new show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
It’s a period piece starting off in 1958 and following a family woman’s journey into becoming a successful stand-up comedian working her way through Greenwich Village in NYC to being on TV.
With two whole seasons to play with, we’ll be curious to see the series arc that Palladino makes for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Jill Soloway has already sealed her throne at Amazon with Transparent and now her next series, I Love Dick, is about to premiere next month.
This new show follows the new found obsession of a married woman played by Kathryn Hahn of Kevin Bacon who plays an alluring, but mysterious professor that her and her husband, played by Griffin Dunne, come to study with.
From this trailer, you can see that Soloway has honed a signature style of cinematic dramedy.
Look for I Love Dick to start streaming on Amazon Prime on Friday, May 12th.
Intercontinental romantic comedy has never been fully realized, warts and all, quite like Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s Catastrophe, which is why it’s a critically acclaimed series on both sides of the pond for over two seasons.
The third season, having had its run in the UK, is now set to start streaming here in the U.S. on Amazon Prime on Friday, April 28th.
Get a lovely preview with this U.S. trailer here.
The New V.I.P.S. comes from Life & Times of Tim creator Steve Dildarian and has the voices of Ben Schwartz, Matt Braunger, and Missi Pyle, Legend of Master Legend follows a real-life superhero as guided by the refined hand of director James Ponsoldt, Budding Prospects tells the story of a marijuana start-up in the 80s, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is the latest work from Amy Sherman-Palladino, the creator of Gilmore Girls.
These are the new Amazon comedy pilots that you can stream for free and vote on/review.
If St. Patrick’s Day isn’t your thing, we’d bet that watching these is probably a great alternative.
The 3rd season of Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s wondrous, brutally honest romantic comedy Catastrophe is about to premiere in the UK on Channel 4.
That, however, does means we have to wait a little while longer before it makes it way stateside and streams on Amazon.
In the meantime, you can enjoy this trailer.
2016 is officially, finally, thankfully over (as long as you don’t think about time largely being a human construct, a new number of year doesn’t make things automatically better, and Trump becoming POTUS).
So, it’s time for our year end list, The 100 Best Things in Comedy We Were Witness to in No Particular Order of 2016.
For reference of how we do our year-end, best of lists, which is a far cry from most other comedy best of lists anywhere else, check out our lists from past years: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.
Got it? Great.
Here’s 2016′s edition:
1. Jake Weisman’s Send Up of Peter Travers Reviews-Rolling Stone has gone through so much recently, you might have forgot this amazing NSFW parody that Weisman made of Travers movie reviews.
2. Rory Scovel’s set on Conan Where He Went Into the Crowd-Rory Scovel pushes the envelope in stand-up in the best ways imaginable and this latest Conan set is evidence of his juggling of being fearless and silly at the same time.
3. Conan Without Borders-Conan O’Brien’s trips overseas to Berlin and South Korea highlight every single comedy gear that Conan can shift into and proves that he can almost make any situation hilarious.
4. “Killer” by Matt Kazman-Kazman achieves one of the best comedic payoffs on screen in 2016, including film and TV, with this incredibly crafted short film.
5. The Jackie and Laurie Show-Jackie Kashian and Laurie Kilmartin found a way to make a podcast where comedians talk comedy and have it be original, damn funny, and crucial.
6 Hebecky Drysbell-Reigning all time UCB Cagematch champions Heather Anne Campbell and Rebecca Drysdale showcase such virtuosity as an improv duo that is as hilarious as it is, when we think about it, beautiful.
7. Chris Estrada-If you’re looking for diamonds in the rough right now, we’d say catch Estrada’s next set and you’ll see how great his jokes are drawing from his life growing up in LA.
8. Cool Sh*t/Weird Sh*t’s Neighborhood Walking Tour-the LA outfit of the experimental comedy show brilliantly took its audience, one night, around the block and staged such moments as a couple fake fighting in a real Food 4 Less, a woman crying trying to explain the plot of a movie in a Walgreens, and running into an adult orphan waiting to be adopted off the street.
9. Womanhood with Aparna Nancherla and Jo Firestone-Nancherla and Firestone compliment each other so well in being goofy on this show that goes through absurd explanations of “womanhood” that it should be the next web series that gets made into a full fledged TV show.
10. Fleabag-Phoebe Waller Bridge has the UK’s fantastic, epic answer to You’re The Worst.
11. Giulia Rozzi’s True Love-Rozzi’s hour achieves what a good rom com achieves by skewering love and all of its faults as much as it celebrates it.
12. Mike Leffingwell’s 12 Angry Men: The One Man Show-The concept of a single man doing a solo show adaptation of the classic courtroom drama 12 Angry Men is funny enough, but Mike Leffingwell then pulled off performing it perfectly.
13. Josh Sharp doing an hour while dipping in and out of singing D’Angelo’s Untitled (How Does It Feel?) with a live band-Sharp’s stories are wonderfully crafted and told, and then, accentuated by his lovely voice singing D’Angelo’s most well known song like there’s no tomorrow.
14. Not Safe with Nikki Glaser’s Remote Segments–Glaser fed porn stars lines for scenes, visited a foot fetish convention, and highlighted sex in such a fun way that wasn’t attempted by any other TV show.
15. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’s Make Donald Drumpf Again-Oliver and company’s take down of Trump was one of the best researched, strategized, written, executed pieces on Trump during this whole election cycle.
16. Disengaged-Jen Tullock and Hannah Utt’s web series following a lesbian couple rushing into marriage was one of the best pieces of romantic comedy we saw in 2016
17. [F*ck This] Late Night Show with David Brown-In a way, David Brown sees Eric Andre’s rebellion against the traditional late night format and raises it some more chaos. He has a separate creative team ruining his talk show as it happens via flashmobs, waterboarding, etc.
18. Baron Vaughn’s Blaxisential Crisis-Baron Vaughn’s latest album oscillates perfectly between deep and crucial issues of race, class, purpose and flights of imaginative fancy putting Vaughn almost in a class by himself.
19. Crabapples with Bobcat Goldthwait and Caitlin Gill-the odd couple pairing of Goldthwait and Gill is unlike anything comedy has seen before. Because it lives in truth (they really are roommates), it’s one of the best hosting duos in comedy today.
20. Megan Gailey-Gailey, with her stand-up, is simultaneously an undeniable delight and a force to be reckoned with, which only doubles up how delightful she is to watch.
21. Liartown USA-When it comes to parodying covers for books, magazines, Netflix menus, etc., Sean Tejaratchi might just do it better than anyone as you can see above.
22. This Bill Burr joke: “How many Toyota Camrys do you have to see before you realize most people’s dreams don’t come true?”-We usually refrain from transcribing jokes out of context and in print, but we haven’t stopped laughing at this searingly honest joke from Burr since we first saw him work on it several months ago and felt it imperative that it be on this list.
23. Sing Street-The 80s, Ireland, young love, and diegetic musicals get married perfectly in this film by John Carney that spent far too little time in theaters.
24. Derek Sheen’s Tiny Idiot-This album made it clear that Sheen could be an heir apparent to Patton Oswalt, bu very clearly has his own, unique comedic take on the world today.
25. Stephen Colbert’s Close to His Election 2016 Live Special-For once, the world got to see the real Stephen Colbert who is so intelligent, well spoken, caring, and one of the only people that could pull of dealing with immediate aftermath of an impending Trump win on TV.
26. Will Hines’ A Soundly Defeated Man-Hines, in a series of sketch vignettes, takes the comedic self-deprecation to a new level of artistry by showing how defeated one man really can be.
27. The Lobster-Yorgos Lanthimos might have made the best dystopian rom com in recent memory and, possibly, for several years to come.
28. Jena Friedman’s American C*nt-Friedman is unrelenting in her dismantling of the patriarchy amongst other several other controversial issues. She handily deals with them in this special, placing her in a very important position in comedy going forward in 2017.
29. Jamie Loftus-Loftus is that amazing rare breed of comedian that blends dark, absurdist humor with genuine vulnerability and she can do so in her stand-up or through own self-styled animation (ex. doing her own animations for old tapes of how to tell children about someone dying).
30. Chris Duffy’s You Get a Spoon-Duffy’s NYC based, curated variety show is filled with so much positivity from celebrating the favorite things of his favorite performers that you almost can’t leave the show without a smile on your face (or winning a prize).
31. Bear Supply-The quick, music fueled scenes of Mike Castle, Shaun Boylan, Joey Greer, Jordan Bull, Morgan Christensen and James Heaney is impeccable improvisational comedy.
32. The Cooties-Musical comedy is alive and well with the satirical power pop songs of The Cooties.
33. Aparna Nancherla’s Just Putting It Out There-Aparna’s album is proof positive that her wondrous version of self-deprecation can be ultimately uplifting.
34. Hunt for the Wilderpeople-Taika Waititi continues his film streak with a charming-as-can-be film about a troubled youth surviving in the wilds of New Zealand.
35. Don’t Think Twice-Mike Birbiglia gets really close to hitting too close to home for some people in comedy, but that draws out one of the best depictions of life in comedy (or attempting to do so) that has ever been put into a movie.
36. The Opening of The Pack Theater-The DIY, punk rock, spirit that runs in the veins of much of LA comedy got a new, wonderful outlet at The Pack Theater.
37. Jetzo-Chad Damiani and Juzo Yoshida mash-up improv, clowning, kimonos, dramatic live musical accompaniment, and breaking the fourth wall to make the marvelous whirlwind known as Jetzo.
38. DJ Real (Nick Stargu)-SF comedian Nick Stargu’s alias DJ Real mixes an uncanny command of musicianship with an über-clever style of comedy that dazzled and had us doubling over laughing at the same time.
39. Daniel Webb-Hailing from Austin, TX, stand-up comedian Daniel Webb is a splendid rush of charisma that probably has a better Obama story than almost anyone you know.
40. Laurie Kilmartin’s 45 Jokes About My Dead Dad-Kilmartin’s special, born out of jokes she tweeted while her dad was passing away, is so darkly funny and has an unmistakable humanity, which has us rethinking that maxim of comedy equals tragedy plus time.
41. Kristin Rand-LA got a brief glimpse of the unstoppable charm of Rand when she moved here from Denver and was all the better for it.
42. James Fritz’s Still Together-The way Fritz exquisitely channels rage and bleakness into this debut album is magnificent.
43. Roast Battle-What started as two open mic’ers fighting in a parking lot has now earned its way to a March Madness style tournament shown on Comedy Central and we’re betting that Roast Battle still has much more potential ahead of them.
44. Josh Fadem-Fadem made a return to performing more regularly in 2016 and his magnetic positivity and pure, unabashed goofiness (complete with impromptu costumes) definitely got us through the whole of last year.
45. Sam Jay-Jay moved to LA from Boston and took her insightful, brash, unfiltered comedy (that happens to come through the lens of being a newly married lesbian) and has become a the LA scene favorite almost instantly.
46. Dave Waite’s Dead Waite-Dave Waite’s latest hour takes being a goofball to new heights of brilliance.
47. Of Oz The Wizard by Matt Bucy-Absurdity doesn’t get more pure than Bucy’s re-editing the classic film version of The Wizard of Oz and alphabetizing the entire thing, start to finish.
48. This Friday Forty-Most other quiz shows can’t compare to Scott Gimple and Dave Holmes’ This Friday Forty that not only has topical trivia, but fantastic sketch characters to introduce said trivia.
49. Jay Larson’s Human Math-Few comedians so deftly explore the minutia of human nature like Larson does on this album.
50. Josh Gondelman’s Physical Whisper-Gondelman’s craftsmanship in observational humor is exceptional on this album and accentuated nicely by his sunny stage persona.
51. Kyle Mizono right after the election-There was a lot of raw nerves exposed in comedians right after Trump’s win and few did it so purely and well as Mizono. For a whole set, she screamed her jokes with legitimate fury, but without being off-putting (well, if you’re not a Trump supporter that is).
52. Lady Dynamite-Maria Bamford’s truth and Mitch Hurwitz’s wildly imaginative way of making episodic television combine for a comedy series that is blazing its own trail at a time where that gets harder and harder to do in a show about the life of a comedian.
53. Hail, Caesar!-The Coen Brothers’ latest comedy set in Hollywood’s Golden Age is one of their sharpest and most beautiful works that has plenty of scenes that could be amazing short films on their own.
54. Moses Storm’s Sweater-Moses Storm never ceases to amaze us as he, this time, wore a sweater that had several strings attached to it for audience members to grab so they could literally be connected to him while he’s telling a story.
55. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee-Samantha Bee has cemented a legacy in her short time on the air with her take-no-prisoners-and-then-some style of satirical news coverage.
56. Gene Wilder and Fidel Castro’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (in Limbo)-UCB’s Beth Appel and Rose Marziale put a hell of a show to end 2016 with as they used the whole of the UCB Sunset complex to have an immersive comedy show (a la Sleep No More) that included karaoke with dead celebrities, a fake newsroom, and the woods where Hillary Clinton is living.
57. Morris From America-Chad Hartigan’s refreshing coming-of-age story following an American black kid trying to grow up in Germany with his single father hit a very sweet, feel-good note that everyone needs to see (especially since it had a short theatrical run).
58. Britanick’s “The Foul Line”-Though BriTANick had gone a few years without a new video, this absurdist folly makes up for all that time lost.
59. 20th Century Women-Mike Mills’ latest is a great follow up to Beginners and is an award worthy comedy that might actually be able to compete with heavily favored dramas this year.
60. Three Busy Debras-The comedy trio of Three Busy Debras got to play Carnegie Hall through this devilishly fun crowdfunding campaign.
61. Paul F. Tompkins’ on Political Correctness-One of comedy’s best gave one of the best explanations of political correctness’ necessary role in comedy.
62. The Dollop-Shining a light on the dark corners in American history is as important as it has ever been and Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds do so with a devilish laugh and their effortless riffing up comedy gold.
63. Floor Knobs-This AOK sketch from Heather Anne Campbell is one of our absolute favorites and, rather than spoiling anything, we’ll just leave it at that.
64. David Gborie’s Late Night Stand Up Debut-Gborie takes an unexpected move in his opening to this performances that sets up a truly wonderful late night stand-up debut.
65. Cholofit-Frankie Quinones’ cholo exercise guru is done so well that it leaves you wanting it to be a real exercise program.
66. Oh, Hello-John Mulaney and Nick Kroll took two characters from just being a small bit to the heights of Broadway. George St. Geegland and Gil Faizon are just so fully realized and funny that it doesn’t matter if you miss one of their references or not.
67. Chris Garcia’s Laughing and Crying at the Same Time-Garcia meshes deeply personal stories and utter silliness that do the album title justice.
68. Cole Escola-Escola’s solo show follows him playing several outrageous characters (switching wigs and costumes while on stage) allowing for another fun layer in between the cavalcade of delightful, short monologues.
69. Catastrophe season 2-Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney have kept their devastatingly funny look into an unplanned family up to the very high standard they set in season 1.
70. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’s Election Watch 2016-Robert Smigel might have not known that having a dog puppet on his hand roasting people to their face for years would be the perfect preparation for covering the 2016 election (on both sides of the aisle), but, as the handful of Hulu specials prove, it really was.
71. Joel Kim Booster’s set on Conan-Just telling the story of being adopted by a Midwestern white family from Korea and being gay is fascinating enough, but Joel Kim Booster made that story blisteringly funny on late night.
72. Angie Tribeca-Physical comedy and sight gags would almost seem out-of-turn in comedy these days, but the proudly silly Angie Tribeca on TBS is thankfully changing all of that.
73. Trump vs. Bernie-While ‘Trump vs. Bernie’ will probably be a presidential candidate match-up that more people will long for than ever, Anthony Atamanuik and James Adomian’s Trump vs. Bernie will go down as one of the best bits (that includes the live tour, the Fusion series, and album) of comedy to come out of one of the worst elections in U.S. history.
74. Joe Pera’s Set on Seth Meyers-Pera’s weirdness is one-of-a-kind in comedy as it’s very warm and inviting. He got to share that with the world with his set on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
75. Vice Prinicpals-When Danny McBride and Walton Goggins’ diabolical teachers one-up, in the best way, any other teachers in any other comedies that go off-the-deep-end in this HBO series.
76. Brad Neely’s Harg Nallin’ Sclopio Peepio-Neely’s latest creations seems to offer up bits from the weirdest corners of Neely’s mind and this animated sketch show is all the better for it.
77. Hari Kondabolu’s Mainstream American Comic-Much is deservingly said about Kondabolu’s expertise in talking politics, class, race, etc. in his comedy, but this album also shows that his comedy is stellar no matter where you fall on the political spectrum.
78. Jon Glaser Loves Gear-Glaser does meta comedy better than almost anybody else working right now and his new show on TruTV is proof of that.
79. How to Win at Feminism by Reductress-This whip-smart manifesto about feminism solidifies Reductress’ place in modern satire next to The Onion and Clickhole.
80. Great Minds with Dan Harmon-Harmon getting to spend time with some of history’s most notable figures ended up being one of the best shows that the History Channel has done in years.
81. Derrick Brown-Very few poets can reach the point of being laugh out loud funny and still deeply emotive quite like Brown, both on stage and in his book, Uh-Oh.
82. Natalie Palamides’ solo show Laid-Palamides makes a solo show that’s so absurd and funny, it might almost be in a unique category of its own.
83. W. Kamau Bell’s Semi-Prominent Negro–Bell explores all of today’s hot button issues (racial inequality, transgender identity, gentrification, etc.) comedically, as he is very skilled at doing, but does it in such a jovial way that they don’t seem so controversial anymore.
84. Other People–Chris Kelly’s hilarious and heartbreaking movie based on his own life in dealing with the passing of his mother from cancer is one of Kelly’s finest work, which is even more impressive as his first feature done while being an SNL writer.
85. Emo Philips improvising with Jason Van Glass-Emo’s comedic prowess is so great that he can improvise with Van Glass like they’re a veteran improv duo.
86. Return of MST3K-Of the things from our childhoods that are being brought back, Mystery Science Theater 3000 returning with a sweeping mandate in the form of a record breaking Kickstarter campaign is one that deserves to be revived.
87. Wyatt Cenac’s An Angry Night in November-Cenac’s EP captures lightning in a bottle (it’s his set from his weekly Night Train show) of immediate post-election comedy that is pure, raw, and biting.
88. Justin Sayre’s Gay Agenda-Sayre makes a compilation of his “meetings” as ‘Chairman of the International Order of Sodomites’ that give a hysterical look into the many great, complex layers of LGBTQ life.
89. Ahamed Weinberg-Both as a stand-up and a filmmaker (watch Rasberries), Weinberg is on a path to being another great modern comedy multi-hyphenate.
90. Jon Dore Gets a Bad Backstory-Dore once again shows how to toe the line when entering the darkest territories of comedic material and do so successfully while being utterly absurd.
91. Ron Babcock videos-A dying reel and an ad for his old CRV really showcase the cleverness and ingenuity of comedy’s Ron Babcock.
92. Reggie Watts’ Spatial-Watts’ latest special is his best and most ambitious one yet as it includes his beatboxing, a faux sitcom, tap dancing, and way more.
93. Alex & Jude–Alex Hanpeter and Jude Tedmori have figured out how to give slapstick, physical comedy the proper twist for 2016 audiences, which includes a literal bit of audience participation of making Jude a target.
94. Conner O’Malley-O’Malley takes satirical field pieces to a whole new level as he plays and wholeheartedly commits to dark, fully realized characters inspired by vaping, Alex Jones, and Cubs fans. He interacts with real people at Trump rallies, vape conventions and outside of Wrigley Field and goes along with whatever happens.
95. Doug Stanhope’s No Place Like Home-Stanhope has an amazing take on mental illness in this special and opted to shoot it in his own hometown of Bisbee, AZ. Overall, No Place Like Home ranks high up in Stanhope’s extensive catalog of stand-up.
96. “Tond” by Kelly Hudson-Hudson’s short film is one of our favorite bits of existential absurdity of 2016, a year seemingly saturated in nothing but questioning ‘what it all means’.
97. Brett Gelman’s Dinner in America-Gelman’s last special on Adult Swim is one to remember, especially for how searing the satirical commentary on race relations are in it.
98. Miguel Marquez-Marquez bridges a gap, almost literally, between art and comedy as his wry art installations are way funnier (intentionally that is) than nearly anything you’d see in an art museum.
99. Chris Fleming’s Silver Lining–The week following the election seemed as hopeless can be if you voted for Hillary and Fleming offered up a powerful, albeit one with a bit of tomfoolery, message of hope.
100. Norm MacDonald on Conan-Not only is there the expected long, winding roads of Norm’s jokes and stories in this particular appearance, but Conan does an impression of Norm out of frustration that’s spot on.
If you’ve heard a podcast or two, you’ve probably heard of Audible, the service where you can listen to audio versions of books.
Well, as that worked out for them, they’re now getting into the original programming game via the new Audible Channels subscription service.
They’ve got plenty of great stuff including The Comedy Show Show presented by Will Arnett featuring high concept comedy shows (i.e. Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction) around the country, Hold On with Eugene Mirman that’s an in-depth storytelling show, Sounds Like America featuring stand-up performed from around the country, straightforward stand-up comedy on Limelight, and Bedtime Stories for Cynics with Nick Offerman.
Featured guests on all of these shows include Jim Gaffigan, John Mulaney, Mike Birbiglia, Maria Bamford, Kurt Braunohler, Jackie Kashian, Roy Wood Jr., Rob Delaney, Michelle Buteau, TJ Miller, Todd Barry, Beth Stelling, Ron Funches, Gilbert Gottfried, and way more.
If you have either a subscription to Audible or Amazon Prime, you get all of this for free.
If you want to get into any or all of this (and it sounds like a good idea), get more details here.
Looks like Amazon might be getting the hang of this streaming service thing or, at the very least, have a better grasp of what they want their programming to be.
Just a few weeks ago, Amazon streamed all their comedy pilots, the aforementioned The Tick, I Love Dick, and Jean-Claude Van Johnson, per their original programming development model that supposedly works in audience votes into the greenlighting decision process.
We’re not sure exactly what made Amazon brass greenlight all three series which cover a wide range of types of comedy (a live action version of The Tick and a new, sexuality subverting series from Jill Soloway almost seem on the opposite ends of the comedy spectrum), but they have indeed ordered full seasons of all three series.
This also includes the meta, detective comedy Jean-Claude Van Johnson starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as himself going undercover.
Just hope it won’t be too long before we can start see the rollout of each of these series.
Outstanding Comedy Series-Veep
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series-Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series-Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
Outstanding Lead Directing for a Comedy Series-Jill Soloway, Transparent
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series-Louie Anderson, Baskets
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series-Kate McKinnon, SNL
Outstanding Variety Talk Series in a Comedy Series-Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Outstanding Variety Special-The Late Late Show Carpool Karoake Prime Time Special
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series-Peter Scolari, Girls
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Serires-Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, SNL
Outstanding Variety Sketch Series-Key & Peele
Outstanding Writing for Variety Special-Patton Oswalt, Talking for Clapping
Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series-Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, Master of None
Here are the rest of the comedy winners for the Creative Arts Emmys and the Interactive Media Emmys as well as the complete list of Emmys winners.
For the most part, heavy perennial favorites won here, and deservingly so, like Veep, Transparent, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Key & Peele got a proper send-off for the final season with this Emmy win and what might be talked about as one of Louie Anderson’s best performances of his career in Baskets as the mother nabbed him a statue as well. Also, Master of None’s writing definitely earned its Emmy win here.
Take note of the power of premium cable and streaming services, particularly HBO and Amazon, in this round of winners.
It seems as though the UK is continuing to give very intriguing comedy exports to us Yanks.
The latest series to come stateside is Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s much-buzzed about Fleabag. It started streaming today on Amazon.
These two preview clips might clue you in to what all the buzz is about.