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issa rae

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Here’s the First Full Trailer for Issa Rae’s Latest “Rap Sh!t”

July 5, 2022
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hbo max, issa rae, rap sht

If you’re forlorn following the series finale of Insecure, you don’t have to be forlorn for much longer since legitimate entertainment mogul, Issa Rae, is just a few weeks away from putting out her latest series, Rap Sh!t, on HBO Max.

For all the wondrous things that Insecure showed about LA, it seems like Rap Sh!t will do for Miami on top of getting into a perfect balance of comedy and pathos all wrapped up in the rap game in 2022, especially if you’re coming up as anything other than a man. Also, Rae will introduce to a new set of best friends (and new talents Aida Osman and KaMillion, perhaps not unlike Issa and Molly Carter, that will inspire the Internet to form teams?

See for yourself with the first full trailer for Rap Sh!t here, then look for it on HBO Max on Jul. 21st.

Apple TV+ Might Have the Next Must See Anthology Series with Roar

March 28, 2022
News
alison brie, apple tv plus, Betty Gilpin, cecelia ahern, Cynthia Erivo, Fivel Stewart, issa rae, kara hayward, Meera Syal, merritt wever, nicole kidman, roar

It wasn’t too long ago where anthology series where such a rare occurrence that one might have to take a moment to even think of what the hell an anthology series would entail. So much of Ryan Murphy’s ouevre, Room 104, Cake, and much, much more have made anthologies a new avenue for TV that isn’t bound by the traditional narrative structure and expectations of your average TV show. Also, it was pretty convenient to make an anthology show during the height of the pandemic when you couldn’t really even get an entire cast together.

Riding high off their Best Picture Oscar win (also, Calls on Apple TV+ is satisfyingly dark and trippy), you can look to Apple TV+ and Cecelia Ahern’s book Roar for what might be a promising entry into the dramedy anthology category with Roar. A mysterious collection of 8 stories of women are driven by a seemingly magical-realism-forward dive into female identity with a pretty damn great cast of Nicole Kidman (also the EP) , Cynthia Erivo, Issa Rae, Merritt Wever, Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, Meera Syal, Fivel Stewart, and Kara Hayward.

Like Atlanta was a sort of David Lynch-ian journey through the world of hip-hop and being black in America, Roar seems to be an Atlanta-esque tour along the wide and winding road of being a woman.

Take a gander at Roar‘s first trailer here, then look for it on Apple TV+ on Apr. 15th.

Issa Rae Continues Building Her Empire with Newly Ordered “Rap Sh*t”

February 12, 2021
News
hbo max, issa rae, rap sht

(via Deadline)

Between having a critically acclaimed dramedy series at HBO, Insecure, entering its fifth season, your own management banner, ColorCreative, running your record label, Raedio, repping the NBA playoffs last year in their first promos since lockdown started, starring in big time comedies, hosting SNL, co-owning a beauty brand, and, very likely, more that we’re simply forgetting, Issa Rae very much has her own empire that she has built from the ground up.

You can add another HBO Max series (sidebar: Is everything HBO releases during the pandemic going to be branded with HBO Max instead of HBO?) to that empire as Rap Sh*t just got a series order. Rae herself is set to write the pilot as if she wasn’t doing enough already. The show will follow old high school friends reuniting to form a rap group, which will be a pretty great canvas for Rae if you remember moments like Broken Pussy from Insecure.

No one has been cast yet, but Rap Sh*t is set to start shooting in the summer. You can rest easy with whatever happens in the next season of Insecure knowing that this Rae series is also coming relatively soon.

Insecure to Close Out Series With Fifth Season

January 13, 2021
News
hbo, insecure, issa rae

Just on the heels of the announcement that Sex and the City is getting a reboot at HBO Max, Issa Rae announces that her own very sexy, wonderfully crafted dramedy, Insecure, the series that has arguably fronted HBO’s comedy brand for the last couple of years, will reach its end with its upcoming fifth season.

It would almost seem too on-the-nose that this latest chapter of the Sex and the City saga will be called “And Just Like That”. As HBO funnels its efforts into its streaming service, HBO Max, it seems like it will go a little more mainstream (it not a lot). Before the launch of HBO Max, all of HBO’s comedy specials were largely experimental (The Golden One, My Favorite Shapes, The Great Depresh) and Insecure represented a new perspective on dramedy from an shrewd black woman’s POV. The first run of comedy specials on HBO Max (the ones from Team Coco) have been solid, but they definitely run more along the traditional lines of stand-up comedy and HBO Max is tapping one of HBO’s most successful, well known IPs in Sex and the City.

And just like that, we’re back to something that harkens back to something more familiar? We’ll see in the long run if this becomes more of a trend at the premium cable network’s streaming arm and what that ultimately means. For now, just mark another season of Insecure as one more thing to look forward to as there are more months of staying indoors while chaos reigns outside in 2021.

Very excited to film our fifth and final season! We couldn’t have told a complete story without the tremendous support of our audience and the faith of @HBO. See y'all soon! #InsecureHBO https://t.co/3gsoDwSGDR

— Issa Rae (@IssaRae) January 13, 2021

Coastal Elites Trailer Shows HBO’s First Socially Distant Original Production

August 17, 2020
News
coastal elites, dan levy, hbo, issa rae, jay roach, kaitlyn dever, paul rudnick, Sarah Paulson, trailer

The complete unveiling of HBO’s first socially distanced original production is just around the corner. Pretty quickly into quarantine, HBO put Coastal Elites into production with director Jay Roach and writer Paul Rudnick and very, very star studded cast of Bette Midler, Kaitlyn Dever, Dan Levy, Sarah Paulson, and Issa Rae.

The prestige of a network such as HBO wouldn’t dare settle for a simple lo-fi Zoom look even though every cast member has to perform a monologue to camera by themselves. So, as you can see in this very first trailer, they really make use of very dramatic lighting and subtle (or not so in Paulson’s case) set decoration to give some sort of stately, theatrical look.

It does come off as sort of a stage play with individual performances that exude the title “Coastal Elites”, but the more than capable cast has us drawn in just to see exactly what Roach, Rudnick, and HBO are attempting to pull off.

We won’t really find out until Coastal Elites premieres on Sat. Sept. 12th on HBO, but you can get a very sweet, but short taste in the trailer here.

 

Issa Rae’s ColorCreative Now Is Managing Creators

July 24, 2020
News
colorcreative, issa rae, talitha watkins

(via Deadline)

If you haven’t been aware, Issa Rae is building quite the entertainment empire and it’s not just for herself. There is her series Insecure, which has finished another captivating fourth season and is gearing up for its fifth, and Rae’s burgeoning movie career (and even a new gig as a NBA spokesperson).

Rae also has her own “audio everywhere” company, Raedio, and her production banner ColorCreative. All of these corners of Rae’s empire are dedicated to highlighting underrepresented voices, specifically focusing on women and minority creators.

She will now being furthering that mission with a division of ColorCreative dedicated to representing said underrepresented voices via management. Talitha Watkins from CAA has been tapped to head up this side of things at ColorCreative.

In the ongoing fight for racial equity, especially when it comes to representation of BIPOC in media and who exactly is in charge of those representations (they’re very often non-BIPOC), this is a big step towards towards actually realizing that goal rather than hinting at as Tinseltown has done for so long (i.e. tokenism with a great majority of their diversity initiatives).

HBO Made an Entirely Remotely Produced Under Quarantine Satire, “Coastal Elites”

June 17, 2020
News
Bette Middler, coastal elites, dan levy, hbo, issa rae, kaitlyn dever, Sarah Paulson

It’s inevitable that some upcoming television and film will speak to the unprecedented time that we live in now. Already, Parks and Recreation and Apple TV+’s Mythic Quest have made remote specials/episodes.

Now, HBO is stepping into the realm of remotely-made-specials-in-quarantine with the upcoming Coastal Elites from writer Paul Rudnick and director Jay Roach (maybe you caught his Bombshell right before the pandemic reared its ugly head). Boasting a dream cast of Bette Middler, Kaitlyn Dever, Dan Levy, Sarah Paulson, and Issa Rae, the special will hone in on the sort of tension and anxiety that the pandemic has brought to us all, especially when it comes to where we all stand politically.

Thus far, shows/networks that have attempted to do remotely produced content have gotten incredibly clever with how to tell a story while in lockdown, especially as they’ve been making “very special episodes” of pre-existing shows. Coastal Elites will stand as an original stand-alone special and will very likely have a lot more leeway with what they can do rather than trying to figure out why Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally are in the same room even though they are enemies on Parks and Recreation. 

The September premiere date would also suggest that Rudnick and Roach are going to take their time to make the most out of watching, presumably, talk directly to camera.

 

 

Insecure Renewed for Season 5 at HBO

May 1, 2020
News
hbo, insecure, issa rae, renewed

One of the best comedies on TV going right now is, without a doubt, Insecure. Issa Rae really has made something that stands out of the pack amidst a whole pack of prestige comedies at HBO (not to mention that it’s a series that continually shows off our fair city of Los Angeles in a truly wondrous light in a manner not necessarily shown all the time). Insecure has proven that it’s full of surprises and has so much depth in exploring any cultural divides and intersections while continually reinventing itself even in its fourth season. Also, it’s probably the sexiest comedy on TV as well.

So, we’re pretty thrilled to hear that it’s getting a fifth season over at HBO. We are definitely curious to see if Issa and company are going to touch on the pandemic with the new season as this is one of the first series renewals to be ordered while in quarantine.

HBO Max Announces 5 Comedy Specials from Team Coco, New Looney Tunes, and New Comedy Series from Elizabeth Banks, Issa Rae, and Mindy Kaling

October 30, 2019
Uncategorized
conan o'brien, elizabeth banks, hbo max, issa rae, looney tunes, mindy kaling, team coco

As the world is on the precipice of Apple TV+, HBO is taking a big swing for their own streaming service, HBO Max, with regards to their comedy programming.

Just today, they made this flurry of announcements.

Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco will be producing five stand-up special, two of which will be with multiple comedians and three of which will be full hours (Deadline). A new batch of Looney Tunes (Deadline), a DC Universe series from Elizabeth Banks, a female rap group comedy from Issa Rae, and a coming-of-age-in-college sitcom from Mindy Kaling (Deadline) are all on the way. 

If you’ve been following the trail of HBO Max, you know that this is only the tip of the iceberg for them. So, are you ready to cue Futurama’s most famous meme yet? 

HBO Developing Male Bisexual Dating Comedy from Travon Free with Issa Rae as EP

December 19, 2017
Uncategorized
development, hbo, issa rae, lgbtq, travon free

HBO Developing Male Bisexual Dating Comedy from Travon Free with Issa Rae as EP

Issa Rae is becoming a power player over at HBO as this is one of two shows in development at HBO that she will be executive producing on top of cranking out her own show Insecure.

“Him or Her” comes from Travon Free and focuses on what life is like for a bisexual black man in this day and age. The subject matter will undoubtedly be eye-opening and possibly a great window into intersectionality for those who are still struggling with the term. 

Jay-Z Has an All Black Version of “Friends” Starring Jerrod Carmichael and Issa Rae in His Music Video for “Moonlight”

August 11, 2017
Uncategorized
alan yang, friends, issa rae, jay z, jerrod carmichael, lakeith  stanfield, lil' rel, moonlight, music video, parody, tessa thompson, tiffany haddish

Well, there’s a lot to unpack here.

Jay-Z has plenty of layers to his brand new album 4:44 and the same goes for each song and accompanying music videos. 

“Moonlight”, which features an sound byte from this year’s Oscars SNAFU when Moonlight and La La Land got mixed up for winners for Best Picture, has a music video that preempts the song with a big scene from a classic episode of Friends, but done with a cast of all famous black actors and comedians:

Jerrod Carmichael as Ross
Issa Rae as Rachel
Lil Rel Howery as Joey
Lakeith Stanfield as Chandler
Tessa Thompson as Monica
Tiffany Haddish as Phoebe

Before they go into a full remake of the episode, the song kicks in as the aspect ratio changes and a much more somber tone pervades the video. You might have to watch it a few times to even grasp how you feel about it and what you’ll take away from it in terms of black representation and visibility on both the big and small screens. 

Also, there are outtakes that could stand alone on their own and also happen to include Hannibal Buress. 

On top of all of that, Master of None co-creator Alan Yang got to direct the whole thing. 

Take all of Jay-Z’s music video for Moonlight here.

Insecure Just Renewed for Season 3 on HBO

August 8, 2017
Uncategorized
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Insecure Just Renewed for Season 3 on HBO

Insecure Season 2 Premieres Tonight

July 23, 2017
Uncategorized
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image

Whether or not you want a break from watching all the teasers, trailers, and panels from Comic Con, we think you really ought to catch the season 2 premiere of Issa Rae’s Insecure tonight on HBO.

Watch THR’s Latest Full Roundtable Comedy Actress/Actor Discussions

July 5, 2017
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america ferrera, anthony anderson, atlanta, better things, brian tyree henry, emmy rossum, i love dick, insecure, interview, issa rae, kathryn hahn, kevin bacon, kumail nanjiani, minnie driver, pamela adlon, shameless, silicon valley, superstore, ted danson, the good place, william h macy

The Hollywood Reporter always does a great job with these big roundtable discussions and this go around is no different. 

They did probably more than an hour of discussion that was only slightly cut down between Kathryn Hahn, Issa Rae, Pamela Adlon, Emmy Rossum, Minnie Driver, and America Ferrera, for the comedy actresses, and William H. Macy, Kumail Nanjiani, Anthony Anderson, Ted Danson, Kevin Bacon, and Brian Tyree Henry, for the comedy actors.

It’s fascinating conversation that spans the current deconstruction of inherent expectations within female roles all the way to Kevin Bacon’s feeling on Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Watch them here and here, respectively.

Here’s the Trailer for Season 2 of Issa Rae’s “Insecure”

June 30, 2017
Uncategorized
hbo, insecure, issa rae, season 2, trailer

If it’s possible, Issa Rae seems to have managed upping the ante on the show’s title for the second season. 

Rae dives hard into dating and, as you can see in the trailer, it’s full of opportunity to be anxiety-ridden on so many levels.

Look for the season 2 premiere of Insecure on Sunday, July 23rd at 10:30PM.

So, That Rihanna and Lupita Nyong’o Comedy That Was Dreamt Up Over Twitter Is Now a Real Project at Netflix That Might Be Written by Issa Rae and Directed by Ava DuVernay

May 23, 2017
Uncategorized
ava duvernay, issa rae, lupita nyong'o, netflix, rihanna

So, That Rihanna and Lupita Nyong’o Comedy That Was Dreamt Up Over Twitter Is Now a Real Project at Netflix That Might Be Written by Issa Rae and Directed by Ava DuVernay

This seems much easier than The Secret, no?

Whether this ends up being a sort of heist buddy comedy that was originally imagined has yet to be spelled out, but Issa Rae possibly writing it and DuVernay at the helm gives us hope that whatever comes from this might be worth catching at a theater near you.

October 26, 2016
Uncategorized
cameron esposito, changing face of comedy, comedy shows, issa rae, jay roach, judd apatow, los angeles, maria bamford, nicole byer, norman lear, paul feig, sara benincasa, usc comedy, zach galifianakis

All events are free with RSVP. Get more details about the schedule/line-up and RSVP here.

The rest of our listings for comedy shows/events as well as open mics and maps are embedded at www.thecomedybureau.com.

Divorce and Insecure Premiere Tonight on HBO

October 9, 2016
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divorce, hbo, insecure, issa rae, sarah jessica parker, sharon horgan, thomas haden church

10PM and 10:30PM respectively on HBO.

Reading the titles of Divorce and Insecure almost seems like too perfect of a pairing of series debuts, but that is indeed what’s happening tonight. Issa Rae makes her debut with the show she stars in and co-created, Insecure and Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church, the guiding hand of series creator Sharon Horgan, and a tale of separation meet up in is a very intriguing looking dramedy. 

Again, that’s 10PM or whenever you’ll want to watch it later on HBO GO or HBO NOW.

First Episode of HBO’s Insecure Now Streaming Ahead of Premiere on HBO NOW

September 26, 2016
Uncategorized
hbo, insecure, issa rae

HBO really wants you to see why they gave co-creator and star Issa Rae an overall deal before the show even hit TV screens.

The actual premiere of Insecure isn’t until October 16th and the “premiere” is actual of the second episode. So, get on your HBO NOW account (or get one) and watch the very first episode. 

You got a few weeks to do so before the TV premiere if you’re busy right now too.

Issa Rae’s Insecure Gets a Second Trailer

September 8, 2016
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hbo, insecure, issa rae, trailer

Issa Rae has already gotten a first look deal at HBO ahead of the series premiere of her show Insecure. 

That puts more anticipation on the show, which will be the latest addition to HBO comedy. Luckily, you can see a little more of what’s to come in this second, full trailer.

Again, catch the premiere on Sunday, October 9th at 10:30PM on HBO.

Issa Rae Inks First-Look Deal With HBO Before Insecure Even Premieres

August 30, 2016
Uncategorized
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Issa Rae Inks First-Look Deal With HBO Before Insecure Even Premieres

Issa Rae, the co-creator of upcoming comedy series on HBO, Insecure, just got a big vote of confidence from the premium cable network.

Over the next two years, Rae will get to develop projects for all HBO platforms as part of this first look deal. 

We’re pretty sure that says a good deal about how good HBO thinks Insecure is, especially since the show hasn’t even premiered yet.

New ‘Insecure’ Promo Shows Off a Whole New Set of Insecurities and Announces Premiere Date

August 1, 2016
Uncategorized
hbo, insecure, issa rae, promo

Issa Rae’s Insecure is set to premiere on Sunday, October 9th at 10:30PM on HBO and this new promo shows a whole other set of Rae’s charming insecurities. 

Possibly, you’ll be watching HBO on Sundays again even though Game of Thrones is gone for awhile?

Here’s a Teaser for Issa Rae’s HBO Comedy Series “Insecure”

June 24, 2016
Uncategorized
hbo, insecure, issa rae, Larry wilmore, teaser

To pair with Divorce, HBO’s got another comedy series, Insecure, making its debut this fall. 

Issa Rae, of Awkward Black Girl fame, stars and co-created this show with The Nightly Show’s Larry Wilmore. Looks like it’ll fall in line nicely in the dramedy slot left vacant by Togetherness. 

See for yourself in the teaser.

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