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Morning Debriefing 1/29/12

1) At the Sundance Film Festival Jury Awards, Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk With Me walked aways with the Best of NEXT Audience Award and Derek Conolly, writer of Safety Not Guaranteed with Aubrey Plaza, Kristen Bell, and more walked away with the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. 

2) In other comedy recognition news, Curb Your Enthusiasm was awarded Best Comedy Series at the DGA Awards.

3) In other other comedy recognition news, here are the results for the Channel 101 January Screening. Congrats to Intimate Indiscretions keeping “sexy back”, if that makes any sense.

4) Comic faces jail if he jokes about dad/Why not to do comedy in Malawi if your dad is a high ranking member of the Malawi government…

5) Now that Riot LA is at $20,847 of their $20,000 on their Kickstarter and will happen, it asks “@RiotLA Alright! What/who do you guys wanna see at this thing?” Let’s start with Eddie & Freddie Pepitone and go from there.

6) Robin Williams did Set List at SF Sketchfest and there’s proof! Yes, that’s Robin Williams doing improvised stand-up. We’ll try to find a clip of this if one arises.

7) Doug Stanhope was interviewed by Esquire Magazine and there’s no link to it online, so Stanhope took a picture of it and posted it.

8) I came to the realization last night that people yelling at bill collectors on the phone is pretty much white noise at an open mic.

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Morning Debriefing 1/28/12

1) So, it’s official. Riot LA reached their goal and LA will have a comedy festival worthy of the city’s amazing comedy later this year. If you’re still feeling generous, they are still taking donations until Fri. Feb. 3rd 9:30PM PST.

2) Bobcat Goldthwait has shown how dark a comedy in go with every movie he makes, and, from the trailer, his latest film, God Bless America, is certainly no exception.

3) Now the world knows what we’ve been having to keep mum about since last year, The Eric Andre Show will be on Adult Swim with co-host Hannibal Buress.

4) John Mulaney’s hour long special “New In Town” is tonight at 10PM on Comedy Central. Simply, watch.

5) The Ferris Bueller Superbowl ad teaser was just a hoax by Honda.

6) In industry news news, NBC greenlights a comedy from Ryan Murphy and Allison Adler, ABC gets three more comedy pilots, and the Charlie Kaufman meta comedy musical, Frank or Francis, adds Elizabeth Banks and Paul Reubens to the cast.

7) Also, the cast of Monty Python is joining forces yet again to not go to Camelot.

8) It would seem as though Us Weekly Magazine does not only understand jokes on Twitter even when Sean Green added the hashtag #nitrous.

9) This should definitely not be a Fake Criterion…

10) Davey Johnson, apparently, at least in this What’s What, has just drank an entire cup of Jack Daniels for the first time.

11) As a comedian, some times, it must be a horrible realization that you will have to make people laugh that religiously read Us Weekly, non-ironically.

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Morning Debriefing 1/27/12

1) Ferris Bueller, apparently, will keep all of us waiting until the Super Bowl to find out that he’s not making a sequel?

2) We didn’t know that you could fit a billion dollar movie on VOD, but Tim & Eric found a way.

3) There will be ½ priced gas from Key & Peele next Tues. (when they premiere)/pile up of frugal comedy nerds at Fairfax & Beverly, an already crowded intersection because of the Grove.

4) Pete Holmes chatted with the A.V. Club Chicago!

5) The Compatish gang got down with a classic Nerf whistling football throwing challenge complete with sarcastic distance markers.

6) This write up of “The Buried Secret of M. Night Shymalan”, which is a egomaniacal, autobiographical prank, is not only pretty funny in just objectively describing the movie, but simultaneously pulls off trashing the movie AND making it “a must see”.

7) The 5 Most Intentionally Funny Videos This Week on the Nerdist ranges from one of the weirdest things you’ll see at Hollywood and Highland to Bill Cosby teaching Jimmy Fallon a lesson about.

8) Truly, Riot LA is almost to their proposed goal on Kickstarter at $18,863 of $20,000 with only 7 days to go. 

9) On today’s Puddin’, the guy eating pudding finally… well… just watch it.

10) I bet someone is making a family tree of “Shit [ ] Says” videos because everyone on the Internet has way too much free time.

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Morning Debriefing 1/26/12

1) In John Mulaney news, he was just on Conan, there’s a funny interview with him by Dan Mintz, and the NY Times Magazine just did a profile on him.

2) And now for Nazis in space with Iron Sky. That’s all that needs to be said.

3) Garfunkel & Oates have a promo for their new album Slippery When Moist with the dancing talents of the Doorknockers.

4) The early deadline for applications for the 10 Annual iO West Improv Comedy Festival is less than a week away.

5) Austin, TX gets a comedy fest!

6) In industry news news, Rebel Wilson and Conan O’Brien are trying to bring a Super Fun Night to CBS, IFC picks up Liberal Arts at Sundance, and Kate Winslet & Catherine Keener join Charlie Kaufman’s “meta musical comedy” Frank or Francis w/Jack Black, Steve Carell, and more.

7) How Aubrey Plaza is handling Sundance in an interview with Vulture…

9) More t-shirts for the How Did Get This Made? podcast!

10) We can only hope we can be as curmudgeon-y and funny as Maurice Sendak opposite of Stephen Colbert.

11) Ever need a compilation of comedians dancing? Of course, you do.

12) Riot LA’s totals for their Kickstarter: $18,506 of $20,000 with 8 days to go.

13) For any real people curious about watching open mics, I highly suggest going to at least one. You never know when you’ll see a baseball player do spoken word poetry or a portion of an “Irish wake” from former members of the CRA. That was just this week, if you were wondering.

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Morning Debriefing 1/25/12

1) Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock touring together is still just as much a rumor as it was last year.

2) Tonight on late night, John Mulaney stops by Conan (TBS 11PM) to no doubt promote New in Town, his 1-hour special for Comedy Central that we’ll all be watching next week.

3) TJ Miller responds on Pete Holmes’ You Made It Weird to Dane Cook’s response on Joe Rogan’s podcast to his response on Twitter about his set at the Laugh Factory last Wednesday.

4) A live interview with Rick Shapiro at Cafe Muse where we find out he’s in Project X and how he currently can’t release his special? YES.

5) The new Humblebrag rankings are out!

6) Riot LA’s Abbey Londer got interviewed by Serial Optimist, has new videos with Matt Braunger and Dana Gould & Patton Oswalt, and only has less than $2,500 to raise for their Kickstarter with 9 days to go. It’s really all happening. (Can you tell that we’re excited?)

7) Joel McHale and Zooey Deschanel throw their, most likely, really cool hats in the awards hosting ring with the WGA Awards.

8) Of course, what Patton Oswalt would do in lieu of being snubbed by the Oscars is way more interesting than the actual Oscars.

9) On today’s Puddin’, learn from Eddie Pepitone, the pick-up artist.

10) Last night, we saw Josh Adam Meyers perform a short set at Performance Anxiety and not only is he recovering after the tragic car accident quite well, he’s still quite damn funny. 

11) Finally, Starbucks is going to make good on their announcement of selling beer and wine at limited locations in LA. Hopefully, they’ll be prepared to have comics asking them to have an open mic.

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Morning Debriefing 1/24/12

1) The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences Academy Awards nods to comedy include:

Midnight in Paris: Best Picture, Woody Allen for Best Director & Best Original Screenplay, Art Direction
Beginners: Christopher Plummer for Best Supporting Actor  
Bridesmaids: Melissa McCarthy for Best Supporting Actress, Annie Mumulo & Kristen Wiig for Best Original Screenplay 
Best Animated Film: The Adventures of Tintin, A Cat in Paris, Chico & Rita, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, Rango  
Original Song: “Man or Muppet” from the Muppets by Bret McKenzie 

2) In other industry news news:
Stop motion feature Hell & Back with TJ Miller gets Brian Posehn, Kumail Nanjiani, and Rob Riggle
NBC picks up a bunch of pilots including ones from Greg Daniels, Stephen Falk, Jimmy Fallon, Roseanne Barr, and more
Ben Stiller plans to do a HBO comedy pilot with Scott Rudin
Sony Pictures Classics acquires the Rashida Jones co-written Sundance film Celeste & Jesse Forever

3) Sleepwalk With Me, the film adaptation, asks you if want to see it so big wigs will give it some distribution.

4) Casey Wilson takes a look into the “charmed” life of Callista Gingrich for Funny or Die.

5) Erin Gibson, Funny or Die’s go-to Michele Bachmann, gets private messages from guys and then she publicly responds to them and they’re pretty hilarious. Take a read or two.

6) Here’s a funny music video with plenty of comedy folks NOT directed by Tom Scharpling. (Hospitality’s “Friends of Friends” directed by Scott Jacobson).

7) Speaking of Schapling, did you know his Low Times podcast is having a tournament of the worst lyrics ever, March madness style?

8) So, it’s advisable to not have breast feeding videos uploaded to Funny or Die.

9) With its new series Unsupervised, FX’s venturing into animated comedy territory with some of the guys from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

10) There will be no new episode of our podcast This Better Be Funny this week. Want an explanation? So do we. So do we.

11) Riot LA’s totals for their Kickstarter: $16,929 of $20,000 with 10 days to go. Check out their new clip with Megan Mullally, Kumail Nanjiani, and Martin Starr. 

12) Can’t believe comics are still opening their sets with “So I was fucking this chick, right?” unironically. That’s still happening.

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Morning Debriefing 1/23/12

1) Nathan Barnatt’s got another dancing video. There’s no skittles, but TJ Miller, Josh Fadem, Brandon Johnson, Martin Starr (featured not dancing), and more dancing should make up for that.

2) There’s now a Comedy Central India…

3) Retro action comedy series Danger 5 is now an on-air TV series in Australia. This clip of all their explosions alone shows why and also why we should bring Danger 5 to the States.

4) How could you not vote for Knope? [via THR]

5) Here’s a completely out of context, but still funny clip from the film adaptation of Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk with Me.

6) Brian Eugene Abrahamson/Michael Ethan Jacob tries to explain his side of not being able to pay comedians.

7) You wanted more Mike Tyson as Herman Cain, Funny or Die got your message!

8) Riot LA’s totals for Kickstarter: $15,236 of $20,000 with 11 days to go.

9) On today’s Puddin’, Eddie Pepitone will change the way you think of avocados FOREVER.

10) Let’s stop focusing on whether there are enough women in comedy or enough minorities in comedy. There aren’t enough funny people in comedy. Let’s solve that problem.

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Morning Debriefing 1/21/12

1) The Duplass Brothers latest film, Jeff Who Lives At Home with Jason Segel and Ed Helms, isn’t perhaps as “Duplass Brothers-y” as Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom is “Wes Anderson-y”, but, if you ask us, it’s still pretty Duplass.

2) Jon Fisch, in making his network TV debut, becomes the first comedian to perform on Letterman following the Eddie Brill-NY Times debacle.

3) The Vans Should Sponsor Comedian Dave Ross saga continues with this video… (meaning, yeah Vans, you should sponsor Dave Ross)

4) In to submit to soon news, The NY Television Festival’s Comedy Central Short Pilot Contest is closing acceptance of submissions in less than a week while the Bridgetown Comedy Festival has over a month before they do the same.

5) Riot LA’s totals for their Kickstarter: $14,903 of $20,000 with 13 days to go.

6) Wonder what Eddie Pepitone doing therapy in his car is like? Wonder no more. (You were wondering that, right?)

7) Thanks to Katie Crown and Nathan Fielder, you can find a person dressed up as “Pixar” at Hollywood & Highland.

8) In case you’re being hunted by Nazi spies, Davey Johnson gives you the 411 on what everyday weapons to use to foil their plans on What’s What.

9) Most comedians won’t be live-tweeting the SAG Awards not because of it sort of being pointless to do so. They won’t live tweet the SAG Awards because it’s on TNT and TBS and most comedians don’t have cable.

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Morning Debriefing 1/20/12

1) Yep, that’s David Cross on Cat Soup on the Soup. 

2) On late night tonight, the one and only Joan Rivers will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC 12:35AM).

3) Nice “semi-longreads”: Jen Kirkman–“What I Would Have Said About Eddie Brill on NPR” Steve Heisler on Dane Cook and comedy criticism, and Alison Agosti “The Art of Getting Really Dumped”.

4) So the discourse in comedy on what demographic is or isn’t funny has been completely misguided as, clearly, people, in general, aren’t funny as we explain in this persuasive essay on the Nerdist. However, Barbara Gray is funny as written up in the SF Weekly.

5) Improv Everywhere has less than 10 hours to meet their goal for their documentary DVD. Make this happen

6) Also, Riot LA, having $14,866 of $20,000 just put out a new promo video with Todd Glass and Marc Maron…. and why are you not donating right now?

7) So there was a joke theivery dispute on People’s Court…

8) KCET Food just knows where food and comedy intersect in LA by continuing their where comedians eat series with Matt Braunger at Izakaya Honda-ya.

9) This is what should be studied in poetry classes: Elizabeth Laime’s Poem of the Day

10) On today’s Puddin’, Eddie Pepitone finds a way out of this life via ¡Rob!.

11) TJ Miller killed at the Super Serious Show last night riffing on the trippy lighting. Look at that: we just pointed out a reason to go see live comedy. I wish more people would do the same more often.

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Morning Debriefing 1/19/12

1) On late night last night, Bill Cosby gave Jimmy Fallon a comedy pointer, Will Arnett revealed that he speaks Japanese to Jimmy Kimmel while Dana Gould is still funny as ever also on Kimmel. Tonight on late night, Stephen Wright will matches wits again with Craig Ferguson on the Late Late Show (CBS 12:35AM)

2) In developing comedy projects news, Sarah Silverman added Harris Wittels and June Diane Raphael to her pilot and Nick Stoller (director of the Muppets) got his own pilot from CBS.

3) Rob Delaney was on LA’s KROQ with Kevin and Bean on Wed. morning, no doubt, to promote his already sold out show at the Hollywood Improv this Friday.

4) Stephen Colbert with Herman Cain? Yes, Colbert with Cain.

5) Two comedy movie posters to be really excited for from the Duplass Bros. and Bobcat Goldthwait respectively:

6) Also on a morning talk show promoting shows, but in India while doing it, Hari Kondabolu!

7) So now, there’s a Shit New Yorkers Say and we have no doubt that will be a Shit Los Angelenos Say made, if it hasn’t been already made. We just ask that it be as good if not better than this NYC version.

8) Riot LA totals for their Kickstarter: $14,706 of $20,000 with 15 days to go.

9) Yes, there was a cursing bit on Modern Family last night, but we’re more concerned with people that can’t let go of taboo on words. Read our wrath at them on Laughspin here.

10) Mark Wahlberg has indeed stopped one thing: LA comics telling jokes about the Clippers being good. I seriously have not heard a single Clippers joke and at least 5 about Wahlberg stopping 9/11 in one night alone.

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Morning Debriefing 1/18/12

1) Nick Offerman asking Will Ferrell “Do you speak American?” makes the full length trailer for Casa De Mi Padre totally worth it.

2) Riot LA, the proposed LA alternative comedy festival, is coming out with new promo videos! Check out this one with Kumail Nanjiani then donate (they’re at $14,274 of $20,000 with 16 days to go) so we can see something amazing later this year.

3) On Late Night Tonight, it will be a run through comedy history of sorts, Jordan Peele from Key & Peele will be on Conan (TBS 11PM), Dana Gould and Will Arnett will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC 12AM), and Bill Cosby will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC 12:35AM). 

4) Yesterday, we posted “How To Absolutely Not Do Stand-Up Comedy” featuring a video of “comedian” California Thunder getting hit over the head with a beer bottle after engaging with an audience member. Turns out, that, in our haste of writing and posting, we failed to acknowledge that the “witness” Jon Mishner (who runs JohnnyBiceps.com) who tipped the story off to us is actually the infamous California Thunder. There’s a very unfunny comedy short/doc following the life of the psuedo-sideshow comic, which is around 13 minutes long, all of which painfully sat through to find something that would hopefully be even tangentially funny. Rest assured, our efforts were in vain. Still, whether one is actually attempting stand-up or a parody of it, getting a beer bottle broken over your head at the Hollywood Hotel open mic is a pretty great red flag that you’re doing comedy very wrong.

5) Smashed, written by James Ponsoldt and Susan Burke, is one of Sundance’s most anticipated films according to Vulture. Take that foreign dramas.

6) Awesome and half comedy show Holy Fuck! wants to have T-shirts. You’d pay $10 for this, right?

7) So, viral sensation, the Honey Badger, is being developed into it’s own comedy series. Yes, you read that right. You really did. 

8) In Things We Did On Other Comedy Sites News, we brought great comedy and poetry together at Laughspin, reviewed Showtime’s upcoming behind-the-curtain comedy series Inside Comedy also for Laughspin, and also pointed out 5 of the funniest intentionally funny videos we saw last week for the Nerdist.

9) Today’s Puddin’ has Eddie Pepitone finding a new uglier subtext in which to say the word ‘ugly’.

10) Anyone think that the legislators behind SOPA and PIPA are going to use those clips of the Office where Michael defends the use of e-mail forwards to show how ridiculous “us artists” are being to further not understand their point?

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Morning Debriefing 1/17/12

1) Eddie Brill has now become the former comedy booker of the Late Show with David Letterman as a result of his now-infamous interview with the NY Times. However, along with Brill trying to explain the quote that was taken out of context about female comics, Bonnie McFarlane who is making a film called Women Aren’t Funny has since defended Brill in regards to women being funny.

2) Seasons 1 & 2 of Adult Swim’s Delocated just got released on DVD!

3) On late night tonight, Fred Armisen will be on Conan (TBS 11PM) and Ricky Gervais will be on the Late Show with David Letterman (CBS 11:35PM). Sure Portlandia and the Golden Globes will be discussed, but what about SOPA?

4) With their comedy powers combined, Scott Aukerman, Paul Rust, Harris Wittels, Kulap Vilaysack, Michael Cassady, and Neil Campbell wrote a script called Rocky vs. Rambo. 

5) One of the coolest, funniest uses of Photoshop has got to be these “Movies from Alternate Universe” where movies from today were made in “the world of yesterday”…

6) This edition of Louie vs. Rick, the transcripts of text conversations between a cat and his owner, shows Hollywood all the rich humor it’s missing out on when it anthropomorphizes animals.

7) If you’re reading this, you have most certainly been on a never ending quest to find the funniest anything. Well, this essay we wrote for the Nerdist tells you why your efforts are in vain.

8) Our trailblazing-ly popular podcast, This Better Be Funny, decides to have a mystery guest for Ep. 7 because our huge following demands suprises. Also, as you’re already listening to a wonderful podcast, be sure to check out the latest episode of WTF! featuring Todd Glass announcing he’s gay because humanity and comedy come together.

9) Riot LA totals for their Kickstarter: $14,128 of $20,000 with 17 days to go. Also, they made the front page of Kickstarter today as the “Project of the Day”.

10) I’m not sure how that’ll work, but live comedy should be thankful that the NBA still really hasn’t made it up to its fans this season.

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