TCB Debriefing 4/8-4/13/24: Conan O’Brien/Hot Ones, Matt Stone/Trey Parker, I Used to Be Funny, Monopoly/Margot Robbie, The Contestant, Netflix Is a Joke Fest, Packfest
1. Conan O’Brien vs. Hot Ones. Point Conan (and then some). We’d almost put money that no other late night host would put on a better show on Hot Ones. Please enjoy this in all its hilarious, disgusting glory (complete with Jose Arroyo as some sort of MD) here.
2. Matt Stone and Trey Parker are partnering with Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free‘s pgLang to make live action movie musical (Deadline), which, based off the successes of Book of Mormon and Kendrick being, well, Kendrick, we’re going to guess this project might be pretty good.
3. Red hot off a blazed trail of Bottoms from last year, the astounding Rachel Sennott is coming to screens this year with a role much more close to home as she will be playing a stand-up really going through a heavy bout of grieving with the (very probably) aptly named i used to be funny from the amazing hands, vision, and mind of one, Ally Pankiw (director of probably one of your new favorite Black Mirror eps.). Take a gander at i used to be funny with the trailer here, then look for an indie rollout beginning in June.
4. Since Margot Robbie, with the help of Greta Gerwig, conquered with Barbie, she is now being tapped to adapt the cruel board game classic Monopoly into a feature length film (BBC News). No matter the take that Robbie chooses to go with in making a Monopoly movie, get ready for an entire boatload of think pieces about late stage capitalism.
5. Right before The Truman Show, Japanese television had a much more alarming, very real version of it that starred an up and coming comedian. See what they hath wrought in the upcoming Hulu documentary, The Contestant. See for yourself in the trailer here, then look for it on Hulu starting May 2nd.
6. Netflix Is a Joke Fest is only a few weeks away and you can feel the streaming giant going full press with their entire comedy roster now stretching from Mulaney doing a docu-series of Los Angeles called Everybody’s in LA (since Mulaney’s a voice for LA now?) and Netflix’s rising star from around the heart of TX, Ralph Barbosa, hosting Netflix’s Introducing series (the NIAJF’s version of New Faces).
7. Speaking of festivals, the small, but mighty Pack Theater is throwing their own festival this Summer, PackFest, and they’re taking submissions for comedy of all kinds RIGHT NOW.
8. We’ll leave you with this: Sorry for the delay on this latest debriefing, our laptop died and we had to buy a new one. If you’d like, you can help us recoup the cost via Venmo @jakekroeger or at patreon.com/thecomedybureau.