norman lear – The Comedy Bureau

TCB Debriefing 12/5/23: Norman Lear, Kyle Ayers, Last Week Tonight, Jesse David Fox, Jackie Fabulous, Taskmasters

December 6, 2023

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1. R.I.P. Norman Lear. Rather than write a whole screed about how much of a legend to comedy, television, and representation he is, we’ll just say that he’s much more deserving of The Mark Twain Prize for Humor, an award that’s supposed to honor people in comedy who have effectively changed the dialogue that Americans have with each other, than the majority of the recipients. Yes, he was not a performer, but the landscape of comedy and American sitcoms are wholly influenced by Lear.

2. Kyle Ayers is brilliant and hilarious and also suffers from Trigeminal Neuraligia AKA “Suicide Disease”. Ayers deserves all the support we can muster, especially because calling the American Health Care system a joke is being nice. Please support his GoFundMe here.

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3. In the biggest no brainer ever, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is renewed for three seasons through 2026.

4. Vulture/Good One’s Jesse David Fox explains explaining comedy on Seth Meyers, despite some folks thinking that comedians are just making it all on up the spot and not hard working artisans. Please watch and enjoy here. Also, go get his book Comedy Book-How Comedy Conquered Culture-and the Magic That Makes It Work for further explanation of how exactly comedians do the magic that they do.

5. The amazing, effervescent Jackie Fabulous is going on tour. Please go get tix at jackiefabulous.com.

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6. Brendon Walsh and Brian Keith Etheridge (South Park) and Johnny Ryan have an animated series, Taskmasters, that incorporates prank calls that just got a script commitment at Fox (Deadline). Fingers crossed that this turns into a green light as Walsh is the living king of prank calls.

7. We’ll leave you with this: Tickets to a cool comedy show count as a great holiday gift.

TCB Debriefing 7/27/23: Righteous Gemstones, Norman Lear, Brett Gelman, Harley Quinn

July 27, 2023

News

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1. America’s new favorite corrupt power hungry family (since Succession is over), The Gemstones, will return for season 4 on HBO.

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2. Happy B Day and kudos to comedy and TV legend Norman Lear for his 101st birthday!

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3. Comedian provocateur Brett Gelman is exploring new frontiers, even by his standards, by publishing a collection of short stories, The Terrifying Realm of the Possible: Nearly True Stories; due out Mar. 19th. As should be expected from Gelman, you’ll likely find yourself uproariously laughing in equal parts out of catharsis and nerves. Pre-order it here.

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4. When hope seems lost with comic books adaptations on the big and small screen, season 4 of Harley Quinn has just arrived on HBO Max to give a glimmer of what sort of joyful bedlam can still be had in the genre. Get into the new season now (or binge the whole thing if you’ve not had the pleasure of watching one of the most subversive adaptation of comic book IP we’ve ever seen).

5. We’re only two weeks away from 100 days since the WGA went on strike. Seems like it’s going to go on a lot longer and Greg Gutfeld will get to pathetically keep calling himself the King of Late Night (on top of the AMPTP putting profit margins over sustainable livelihoods).

TV and Comedy Legend Norman Lear Is Starting His Own Podcast

April 25, 2017

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Norman Lear, the man behind some of the biggest sitcoms of all time including All in the Family, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time, Good Times, and much much more is starting his own podcast, All of the Above.

While there are plenty of conversational podcasts that feature a cadre of great guests talking entertainment and comedy, the fact that Lear will be talking Amy Poehler, America Ferrera, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jerrod Carmichael, and Charles Barkley is something to definitely listen to.

Look for All of the Above to premiere on May 1st.

October 26, 2016

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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.

Watch Trailer for Documentary All About Norman Lear “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You”

May 31, 2016

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At 92, Norman Lear stands as a giant in television who both revolutionized sitcoms and get America talking about issues that it might not talk about otherwise one half-hour at a time.

A full length feature documentary has just been made by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, complete with interviews, clips, and plenty of conversations with Norman himself chronicling Lear’s landmark achievements including All in the Family, Good Times, etc.

Called Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, it might just be the must-watch comedy doc of 2016. Here’s a trailer.

Look for it in theaters starting July 8th.

John Krasinski’s The Hollars and Norman Lear Documentary Are Latest Sundance Buys

February 2, 2016

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(via Variety/Deadline)

Looks like the biz still has faith in Sundance.

While there is plenty of evidence of studios buying up the distribution rights to host Sundance Film Festival titles only to have them underwhelm at the box office, the amount of money and movies being bought up seem to still going strong. Hopefully, their investments will go much better in 2016.

A Norman Lear documentary, Just Another Version of You, directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady sold to Music Box Films from PBS & American Masters Pictures. As you can imagine, that should be required viewing for any student of comedy, television, or entertainment.

John Krasinski’s latest film, The Hollars, in which he directs and stars, is classic indie dramedy fare that has a kind of prodigal son return home because of an ill parent only to face all the problems that he originally ran away from. The ensemble cast is impressive as well, featuring the likes of Margo Martindale, Charlie Day, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Randall Park, and Anna Kendrick. At Sundance, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights both stateside and in Asia.

We’ll be on the look out for release dates.

Netflix Bringing Back Norman Lear’s “One Day at a Time” with Rita Moreno Starring

January 12, 2016

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(via Deadline)

Netflix is making sure that no demographic goes unturned.

Back in 70s, Norman Lear was a king of comedy on the small screen with All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, and Good Times just to name a few.

40 years later, his cuban-family centric series One Day at a Time is getting a second life over in the form of a 13 episode season written by Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce order at Netflix and it already has legendary actress Rita Moreno attached.

We’re going to keep our fingers cross that it takes cues from multicam sitcoms like The Carmichael Show in that it won’t hide from the pressing issues of today.

Norman Lear on The Daily Show

December 10, 2014

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The TV legend Norman Lear stopped by for a nice long chat with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show to promote his new memoir Even This I Get to Experience.

Stewart goes through Lear’s unbelievable career and also finds that All In The Family probably wouldn’t make it to air today. You’re going to want to watch this for brush up on your sitcom history.

Norman Lear Has Contemplated a Reboot of “All in the Family”

November 21, 2014

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(via Deadline)

At 92 years old, the legendary Norman Lear may be bringing his transformative sitcom “All in the Family” back to television.

While being interviewed by Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, he revealed that he has toyed with the idea that a reboot of the show might center on a Latino family this time around. In fact, it was Sony Pictures TV that was asking about possibility of this All in the Family reboot happening with Lear.

While there are no more details as to how and when this would all happen if it were to even happen (Lear seemed to be leaning towards not making much more than conjecture), the thought of All in the Family and Norman Lear mixing in with the current crop of family sitcoms is an enticing one. Maybe he’ll talk about this a little more when he’s on Letterman tonight.