TCB Debriefing 3/1-3/4/24: Dan Soder, DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD, Hacks, Worldwide Comedy Month, Martin McDonagh
1. Much of the art form of stand-up comedy comes in subtleties. The skills of presence and delivery and writing often are best when they’re seamless in someone’s act. If you throw in some of the very best impressions/voices at the ready, you’ll get a fantastic piece of stand-up from one Dan Soder. Soder’s second special, On The Road, just released on YouTube covers a lot of common ground when it comes to subject matter, but Dan’s almost undeniable warmth, specificity in his takes, and uncanny knack for nailing a voice of a character really this 40 minute special crackle, almost without you knowing it since it’s delivered so very casually. A more classical, observational style of stand-up can still very much work in 2024, especially if your name is Dan Soder. Please enjoy Dan Soder: On The Road here.
2. It would make sense that a movie called DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD throws pretty much every traditional cinematic and narrative convention aggressively out of a window. Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude made a foreign comedy/satire that thankfully isn’t a cutesy rom com or fish-out-of-water story, but something that feels more akin to an episode of The Eric Andre Show. See for yourself with the official trailer here.
3. Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder return as one of the best duos that television has to offer these days on Hacks. Please enjoy a taste of what’s to come with season 3 with Hacks S3 teaser here (then set a reminder for the premiere on May 2nd on Max).
4. 800 Pound Gorilla Media is declaring April as Worldwide Comedy Month and given what April 1st is, was there really any other choice.
5. For as much as Hong Kong has really squashed any sort of subversive ideas, especially regarding beliefs, philosophies that don’t fall in line with Beijing and Xi Jinping, it’s pretty curious that one Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Banshees of Inisherin), one of the more subversive voices we have in film and theater, is having a “Masterclass Retrospective” in the upcoming Hong Kong International Film Festival (Deadline)
6. We’ll leave you with this: NYC comedian Nomie K. Baker joins in a 24 hour vigil to demand the NYC City Council call for a ceasefire in Gaza and a sobering reminder that innocent folks are dying every day in Gaza and that noise should be continued to be made for a ceasefire until it happens.