Funny or Die enlisted the comedic genius of Superego and both Paul F. Tompkins and Janie Haddad Tompkins to parody Boardwalk Empire and, we’ve got to say, we’ve never seen an episode (or know any of the references like we do for Game of Thrones because all of you can’t stop talking about it) and it’s pretty amazing.
To say that there are hijinks going on in the green room at Funny or Die’s Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival & Tour is an understatement.
Just check this FoD exclusive video where Hannibal Buress “attempts to purchase” a story from Al Madrigal after Madrigal’s set. Caution: Don’t try this in a real green room or you might get yourself into a fight.
The recent revamp of Funny or Die on Monday gets an official announcement from one and only Will Ferrell with a new more sober tone of their FoD exclusives, well, for a few more seconds before they joke about butt stuff, etc. than in the old days anyway.
Check Out a Completely New Funny or Die
On this very morning, Funny or Die has just redone their entire website. It’s cleaner, sleeker, more user friendly, but filled with all the same content you’ve come to know, love, or possibly want to die at Funny or Die. Also, there’s a brand new logo that’s also cleaner and sleeker.
Guess Funny or Die got tired of waiting for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to do a website?
If you haven’t seen the amazing Rory Scovel play some sort of teacher or principal, just know he’s pretty damn funny as one. Case in point, check him as an AV Club teacher trying to profile normal people that have fallen on hard times, which goes quickly from a lesson in documentary to gonzo journalism with a great cameo from Matt Jones.
While we’re sure you all enjoyed the highlight filled reels of most NFL Films, don’t forget about the special NFL Films Instructional Series, found by Funny or Die for some reason, that teaches NFL players important lessons like not killing people even if they really want to.
Funny Or Die’s ‘Billy On The Street’ Gets Another Season at Fuse
This news counts for a 3rd season for ‘Billy On The Street’, which we’re hoping will make for a DVD box set complete with a list of what you should yell at people on the street for as compiled by Billy Eichner.
In this promo, Brody Stevens gives you a tour of what’s going to happen at Funny or Die’s mega comedy festival/tour Oddball, which does have Dave Chappelle and Flight of the Conchords, but also has Kristen Schaal, Jim Jefferies, John Mulaney, Hannibal Buress, as well as Brody Stevens as the second stage host, and much more.
Honestly, this might be one of the biggest comedy tours in recent memory so don’t miss out if you get a chance to see it (tickets are on sale now by the way).
Funny or Die’s Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival Tour Tickets Are Now on Sale
From Irvine, CA to Camden, NJ, you can now get tickets for Funny or Die’s comedy festival/tour Oddball, which, in case you didn’t know, is more than just Dave Chappelle going back on tour (there’s Kristen Schaal, Jim Jefferies, Hannibal Buress, Flight of the Conchords, John Mulaney, and more).
Funny or Die expanded their empire by making a feature this year and it will extend it even further by putting on a comedy festival tour. The Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival is touring 13 different cities around the U.S. (Denver, Phoenix, Houston, Pittsburgh, and more) with the likes of Dave Chappelle, who you can finally see not dropping in, Flight of the Conchords, Hannibal Buress, Kristen Schaal, and much more.
Oddball will be starting in August going through September and tickets go on sale this Friday 10AM PST. Watch the bitchin’ announcement video a la a monster truck rally TV spot here.
2013 Webby Award Winners for Comedy
Congratulations to the very deserving Burning Love, Funny or Die, The Onion, Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Rainn Wilson’s Soul Pancake for taking home honors at the 17th Annual Webby Awards.
Click the link to see the full list.
As more networks are either expanding their comedy programming are entirely rebranding themselves as a comedy focused channel, Comedy Central has made a lot of great moves over the last year in what is getting to be one crowded race for comedy on television.
Today, they’ve ordered both an animated pilot from Will Gluck and Conan writer Scott Gairdnerand added another late night show hosted by Chris Hardwick and produced by Funny or Die/Robert Ben Garant/Thomas Lennon.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the coming months.
From the comedic genius of James Adomian and John Roy, IFC/Funny or Die brings us Maron In Space with comedian and comedy podcast giant Marc Maron (played by the amazing James Adomian) as the more honest, raw space captain you’ve ever seen. Also, this is the first time you’ll get to see plaid in space as well as evil Maron vs Maron (or the other way around?).
Do yourself a favor and just watch all 5 episodes and just watch all five episodes right now.
Burning Love, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Clueless Gamer with Conan O’Brien, Funny or Die, The Onion, and more all garner nominations for the annual honors to the Internet Webby Awards. That’s the type of list of nominees we like to see, not to mention that none other than Patton Oswalt will be hosting the whole affair to be broadcasted Wed. May 22nd at webbyawards.com.
Funny or Die’s Foray Into Feature Length Territory is Finally Here: Watch iSteve Now
It’s been a long time coming, but the Funny or Die Steve Jobs biopic iSteve, written and shot in less than a month is now online. Also, you do know that Justin Long is playing Steve Jobs, right?
Not to disappoint on April Fool’s Day, Funny or Die did a whole series of fake Kickstarters “Kickstart or Die” (maybe they won’t be?) of feeding to our collective nostalgia like the Veronica Mars movie Kickstarter did. One of the best ones is the for Darkwing Duck because it’s Darkwing Duck like you’ve never seen before (and probably will only see once).
Funny or Die Now Has a Phone Hotline
Funny or Die has just set up a phone line where you can them leave a message like many radio and television shows have done before hand. We’re intrigued, to the say the least, to see what ends up happening with the voicemails as well as the person who will have to listen to all of these messages.
Also, they have Cedric Yarbrough singing the jingle/theme, so enjoy that.
Yes, Ryan Gosling has an actual range where you can learn all his acting techniques including staring into the distance.
Funny or Die’s First Feature Length Film About Steve Jobs
Set to debut next month, “iSteve”, a Steve Jobs parody biopic, will be Funny or Die’s foray into feature length content. It’ll be interesting to see if they connect this to all the Steve Jobs and Tim Cook videos they have made in the past.
TJ Miller has reprised his role as a blue monster that took over a Japanese talk show in The Gorburger Show set for a second season with this first, bizarre, hilarious, and touching episode with guest, legendary bassist, Flea.
Not many other people outside of Tom Scharpling knew this, but there were extensive auditions for the band known as The Postal Service. Luckily, now there has been a tape released by Funny or Die revealing the likes of many already successful musicians and hilarious working comedians trying out for a new band managed by a guy who resembles the hilarious Jon Daly.
Watch this now please and somebody give Tom Scharpling a sketch show already.
Your favorite talk show that was hijacked by a monster voiced by TJ Miller is back. The hysterically chaotic Gorburger Show will come back next Monday March 11th.
Watch the trailer to get a sneak peek of the madness to ensue that will include Henry Rollins, Jack Black, and more.
People’s hunger for comedy shorts, whether they be sketches, web videos, actual in-depth produced short films, is undeniably on the rise. The viral video alone, arguably, has given a shot of life into comedy that has revitalized several other disciplines within the art form. So, why not have an entire festival for it? In it’s 4th year, the LA Comedy Shorts Film Festival fills that void quite well over a scheduled, jam-packed 4 day extravaganza out of the Downtown Independent Theater (an LA destination for comedy, which also houses the amazing weekly stand-up show, Holy Fuck, and monthly comedy shorts screening series, Channel 101).
Under the guidance of Gary Anthony Williams, Jeannie Roshar, and Ryan Higman, a careful selection of films that has included the likes of Scott Thompson, David Alan Grier, Margaret Cho, and more have been screened to filmmakers, industry, and comedy fans alike. Funny or Die even put up a block of their own FOD Exclusives on opening night to lend even more legitimacy to a festival of comedy shorts, despite being plenty “legit” with being the largest comedy film festival in the U.S.
Here’s a quick rundown of what’s happened on Days 1 and 2:
-Interestingly enough, the Funny or Die block of videos had been all available for watching online for at least a week, if not a few months, but got uproarious laughter. There’s something to be said for the longevity of the approximately 3 min. comedy short film and the desire to watch and, consequently, laugh again at it.
-As said before, there’s a lot of star power to be seen here at the LA Comedy Shorts Film Festival. We’ve seen, in films, anyone from Scott Thompson to his Kids in the Hall co-star Dave Foley to Michael Cera to Margaret Cho twice to Wilmer Valderrama to David Alan Grier to even Morgan Spurlock & Ken Burns in the funny meta mockumentary Glue Man by Joe Pickett. Even though Funny or Die has set the precedent, it’s great seeing comedy big names doing short films.
-There have been plenty of selections from around the world, even so far as Australia, such as Nathan Lovejoy’s funny and endearing Animal Love that’s refreshing to see in a city so saturated in comedy.
-A surprising amount of non-dialogue (or barely any dialogue) shorts played quite well such as Gareth Tunley’s Special Forces (two special forces operatives can’t communicate quietly).
-The shorter has proved the better. Three of our favorite films thus far, Tony Yacenda’s Last Words (the disputing of a civil war hero’s last words), Adam Jones’ The Stay-At-Home Dad: Eat My Meat, and Jason Axinn’s Runyon (two “bros” running into each other in Runyon Canyon) are well under 5 minutes and played to big laughs.
-The panel with legendary comedy writer (SNL, Get Smart), Buck Henry, (even though he claims, “everyone in Hollywood is legendary) was fascinating as he dissected the ending of the Graduate, which he wrote. Apparently, Mike Nichols wished to have an ending that continued on-going internal generational struggle with Benjamin as he was on the bus with Elaine by giving no specific direction to the actors and having the camera roll out on the final shot. The author of the original novel Charles Webb abhorred the ending.
-Another great Buck Henry quote "I never mentioned the word ‘satire’ around Columbia [Pictures] or any other studio because it was a deal killer.”
-Thugs the Musical by Kevin Avery was astounding. Questioning the entertainment industry’s current take on black actors, Avery made an entire musical for marginalized black actors that don’t feel “ghetto” enough for the roles that black actors normally get. Hilarious, poignant, and thought provoking, it’s one of the best shorts we’ve seen so far.
We’re almost running late on a screening for Day 3, so, as you can read, there’s definitely more to come from the wonderful LA Comedy Shorts Festival.
1) 24/7 Blake Griffin: FoD Intern. Enough said.
2) Garfunkel & Oates came out with a karaoke version of “All Over Your Face”. We will be looking for these songs now in karaoke bars across LA county.
3) Is there a better way to give comedy awards out? Trust us, it’s not a veiled attempt in which to rig distinctions in comedy in order to get Louie an award.
4) If you’ve never heard of this, you’re going to hear of it now: TV Guide Letter Theater. That’s right re-enactments of people writing letters to TV Guide.
5) The Birds of Prey finally return to the Internet with Thomas Lennon.
The Invention of the Most Underrated Modern Technology – powered by Cracked.com
6) Speaking of Birds of Prey, Bird of Prey Susan Burke co-wrote a script which is picking up more than a little traction…
7) Something we wrote yesterday: Field of Dreams of Comedy (in a Living Room and the Warehouse).
8) Thank you Amy Schumer for not apologizing for your Ryan Dunn joke.
9) ON THE HORIZON
Channel 101 Screening @ Downtown Independent Theater Sat. Sept. 24th 8PM/10PM FREE
10) COMEDY CRAWL
Andrés Du Bouchet Center for the Performing Arts @ Bootleg Theater 8PM $8
Comedy Slice @ Hollywood Improv Lab 8PM $10 ($5 online with promo code IGGY)
The Good Bits @ Witzend 8PM $5
Side Dish: A Spicy Comedy Talk Show @ Bar Lubitsch 8PM FREE
Sessions with Scott @ Dangerfield’s 2 8PM FREE
Neighbors @ The Warehouse 8PM FREE
Meltdown @ Meltdown Comics 8:30PM $8
The Ed Galvez Punk House @ Westside Comedy Theater 9PM $8
Frolic! @ Far Bar 9PM FREE
Facebook @ UCB Theatre 9:30PM $5 (stand by only)
Beer in the Shower @ Dreams Cafe & Bar 9:30PM FREE
The Ho Ho Show @ Hollywood Hotel 10PM FREE
The Comedy Pill @ Hollywood Improv Lab 10:30PM $5
11) OPEN MIC RUN
SAL’S COMEDY HOLE 7356 Melrose Ave., Hollywood, CA/Starts 6PM/$4 min./first come, first served
PANGEA OPEN MIC @ KYOTO GRAND HOTEL 120 S. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA/Sign-up 6PM/Starts 7PM/mixed mic/5 min.
THE SPOT CAFE 4455 Overland Ave., Culver City, CA/Sign-up (lottery) 7PM
HOLLYWOOD HOTEL 1160 N. Vermont Ave., Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM/first come, first served
GRINDHOUSE CAFE 1051 N. Havenhurst, West Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM
CAFE ON 2ND 7 S. 2nd St., Alhambra, CA/Sign-up 7PM/Starts 7:30PM/$3 cover/10 min. guarantee
LIBRARY A COFFEE HOUSE 3418 Broadway, Long Beach, CA/Sign-up 8PM/Starts 8:30PM
LIQUID ZOO 7214 Sepulveda Blvd., Van Nuys, CA/Sign-up 8:30PM/Starts 9PM/first come, first served/7 min.
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel, past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/first come, first served/coffee and bottled water available
12) Sometimes, you just have to start off your set with “There is no way this is going to go well,” to get the jokes out.
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1) Deadline reports that TBS orders a half-hour comedy pilot from Conan O’Brien [via PopCultureBrain].
2) It’s official, Funny or Die & Earwolf have joined forces today to bring comedy to the online masses on the video and audio fronts. There’s even a “How Podcasts are Made” FoD exclusive to commemorate the event. Unfortunately, according to sources, will not be going by Funny Ear and/or Die Wolf.
Where Do Podcasts Come From? – watch more funny videos
3) In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve done a little housekeeping in updating both our calendars at the top of our main page as well as our comedy venue calendar list. Now, you can have ready knowledge of what’s happening comedy wise throughout the current month in LA as well as ready links to the Comedy Sportz LA Theater, Dangerfield’s 2, and Good Time Comedy Club. Or you could just check the Morning Debriefing everyday… your choice?
4) This new episode of Henry’s Kitchen makes me want Henry Phillips to have a restaurant.
5) Patton Oswalt didn’t go to the Toronto International Film Festival and started a hashtag on Twitter #FakeTIFF2011Films and then hilarity insued.
6) In case you had a pool going, here’s the comedy winners at the Creative Arts Emmys.
7) Jena Friedman, who now writes for Letterman, posted a new episode of her hilarious series Ted & Gracie that everyone should watch.
8) Tracy Morgan back to normal, that is “normal” for Tracy Morgan?
9) ON THE HORIZON
Set List Returns to America @ Flappers Burbank Sun. Sept. 18th 9PM $12/2 item min.
10) COMEDY CRAWL
The Dork Forest Live w/Gould, Hardwick & Palascak @ Nerdist Theater 8PM $10
What’s Up Tiger Lily?-TJ Miller’s “The Extended E.P.” Album Release Party @ Hollywood Studio Bar & Grill 8PM FREE
The Mixer @ Hollywood Improv Lab 8:30PM $5
The Benson Interruption w/Scheer, Morgan Muphy, Pete Holmes, and the Sklars @ Largo at the Coronet Theatre 9PM $20
Keep It Clean @ 1739 Public House 10PM FREE
Stand-up Saloon @ Old Towne Pub 10:30PM FREE
Crash Test @ UCB Theatre 11PM $5
11) OPEN MIC RUN
SAL’S COMEDY HOLE 7356 Melrose Ave., Hollywood, CA/Starts 6PM/$4 min./first come, first served
CLUB 705 705 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA/Starts 7PM-ish/no purchase necessary/first come, first served
RED ROCK 8782 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA/Starts 7PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/first come, first served
TRIBAL CAFE 1651 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA/Starts 8PM/no purchase necessary/first come, first served
JAKE’S 38 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA/Starts 8PM/Sign-up is lottery/no purchase necessary
GROUND ZERO USC 615 Childs Way, Los Angeles, CA (USC Campus)/nestled between three adjacent dorms approximately one block N. of Figueroa & Exposition/USC student sign-up 9PM/Non-USC student sign-up 9:15PM/first come, first served/7 min./no purchase necessary
DANGERFIELD’S 2 2860 Glenview Ave., Los Angeles, CA/Sign-up 9PM/Starts after booked portion around 9:45/5 min. spots/only 15 spots available/no purchase necessary
MARTY’S/THE OPEN MIC 7351 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (walk up Martel past Big Mama’s and Papa’s)/5PM to 11PM/$5 min./multiple sets allowed/bottled water and coffee provided
12) I’m not sure what it means that I saw more people tweet, update their facebook statuses, blog, etc. about the series finale of Entourage than 9/11.
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