our flag means death – The Comedy Bureau

TCB Debriefing 1/10/24: Wolves of Glendale, Golden Globes, Creative Arts Emmys, Tina Fey, Carrie Coon, Our Flag Means Death/Julia

January 10, 2024

carrie coon, creative arts emmys, golden globes, our flag means death, tina fey, white lotus, wolves of glendale

1. Umm, apologies for the irregular schedule here. We have two full time jobs now (artistic directing a theater is the other) and while we’ll do our best to have a Debriefing M-F, it’s just going to fall through sometimes. Again, sorry about that, but all the news you need to know will just be in the following debriefing. Also, go to everything at the Lyric Hyperion; no reason in particular.

2. Now, for a musical comedy break from the beautiful, dulcet harmonies and (ridiculous ass lyrics) of the Wolves of Glendale in a decidedly peppy and absurd Don’t Tell Comedy set.

3. Jo Koy wasn’t great, but hosting any awards are either a death sentence or a gilded cage (see Billy Crystal, Bob Hope, and, currently, Jimmy Kimmel). All hail Poor Things for Best Musical or Comedy Film and The Bear as the TV series and boo and hiss to Ricky Gervais being awarded a statue for his droll special. If you HAVE to go with a white guy special from 2023, you should have gone with Maron or Joe Zimmerman.

3. Mulaney, I Think You Should Leave, and Carol Burnett all winning Creative Arts Emmys should make a case for including more categories in the actual Primetime Emmys telecast.

5. Tina Fey is reviving a starring in an 80s comedy, The Four Seasons (THR). Curious to see if this is a slick way to make sure to have five star accommodations while shooting or riding the coat tails of the critic beloved White Lotus.

6. Speaking of luxury hotel based comedies, one of the best actresses of our time, Carrie Coon, has just confirmed to be on the season 3 cast of The White Lotus (Deadline). May she live through at least five episodes.

7. Aaaaand, speaking of dying, both Our Flag Means Death and Julia got canceled at Max. Even through the strikes are over, Max is still dishing out the ax. It’s a damn shame.

8. We’ll leave you with this:

TCB Debriefing 9/14/23: Henry Sugar, Adam Sandler Tour, Diffidate delle Imitazioni, Murray Hill, Big Mouth, Mr & Mrs Smith, Our Flag Means Death

September 14, 2023

News

adam sandler, big mouth, Diffidate delle Imitazioni, donald glover, henry sugar, mr and mrs smith, murray hill, our flag means death, rai tv, wes anderson

1. It shouldn’t really come as a surprise that a Wes Anderson film adapted from a Roald Dahl book would seem to be an utter delight and yet another colorful addition to Anderson’s storied filmography. We’re thrilled that it was only a few short months ago that Asteroid City came out and we’re now treated to another helping of Wes Anderson so soon. So, without further adieu, take your first gander at The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar starring Benedict Cumberbatch, due out on Netflix on Sept. 27th.

2. Adam Sandler is going back on tour from Oct. 12th-Dec. 12th (Billboard). His last tour and special were some of Sandler’s most cherished work to date, especially outside of things like Uncut Gems.

3. Diffidate delle Imitazioni (literally translated as Beware of Imitations, but will be called Fake Show in English) is a brand new Italian comedy game show, ordered by Rai, where Italian celebrities will improvise based off of suggestions and prompts generated by AI (Deadline). Though it might try, AI will not best Clive Anderson as an improv show host.

4. Frequent scene stealer Murray Hill (Live & Beth and Somebody Somewhere) is coming out with his very first memoir, Showbiz! My Unexpected Life as a Middle-Aged Man, which appears to have more than just a story of making it in the Big Apple. It’s set for 2025 release, but we’re sure we’ll get tid bits and morsels leading up to that day.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Murray Hill (@murrayhill)

5. Just a little more than a month of waiting before you get Big Mouth season 7 (specifically, Oct. 20th on Netflix).

6. The premiere of Donald Glover and Maya Erskine‘s Mr. and Mrs. Smith is delayed due to the ongoing strike and its prohibition of promoting certain big time movies and TV series (THR). If the studios do end up going rogue from the streamers and tech giants, we might have to wait even longer to see this.

7. This full length trailer for season 2 of Our Flag Means Death almost makes you want to go back in time to make piracy more like it is between Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby. Season 2 sets sail on Thurs. Oct. 5th.

8. Nothing Bill Maher does on this writer-less return of Real Time will top Conan O’Brien spinning his wedding ring.

TCB Debriefing 8/30/23: Chris Fleming, The Great, Poor Things, Our Flag Means Death S2, Marry My Dead Body

August 30, 2023

News

chris fleming, marry my dead body, our flag means death, poor things, the great

1. Hot on the heels of his fantastic special, HELL (now streaming on Peacock), the amazing Chris Fleming is going on a nice lil’ U.S. tour starting this winter. Get tickets now at chrisflemingfleming.com.

2. The latest culling during this double strike is of The Great on Hulu, despite it garnishing plenty of acclaim and awards over 3 seasons (EW). One can only hope that things will get uncanceled after the strikes end a la “the blip” in the MCU?

3. Yorgos Lanthimos’ (the beautiful mind behind The Lobster) latest high concept satire, Poor Things, gets a fancy new poster, a featurette, and even more anticipation from us on our ends for something we were already extremely excited for.

4. Well, at least Our Flag Means Death survives for another season (we’ll see what happens in the coming months). For now, enjoy a dollop of the latest from the most ridiculous pirate tale you ever did hear/see with the season 2 teaser here. Look for the season premiere on Oct. 5th exclusively on Max.

5. AMPAS, the governing body of The Oscars, still has the unfortunate rule of countries only being allowed to submit one film in consideration for the Best International Feature category. So, it’s a big deal when a country chooses a comedy to represent its national cinema, which is what Taiwan has done with the marvelously titled Marry My Dead Body (Deadline). Off the premise alone, which is “…a homophobic cop who is forced into a same-sex “ghost” marriage to appease the spirit of a man who has passed away. Although terrified of both homosexuality and ghosts, he has no choice but to team with his ghostly spouse to solve a long-running drugs case,” this has a strong case for an Oscar, no?

6. For any and all coming up in comedy, remember that no one is keeping attendance in comedy (i.e. it’s ok to not get five sets a night or even go up every night). If anything, we here at TCB would be responsible for keeping tabs of that and there is no way in hell we’re doing that.

Rhys Darby Is Your New Favorite Pirate in Teaser for “Our Flag Means Death”

January 20, 2022

News

david jenkins, hbo max, leslie jones, our flag means death, rhys darby, taika waititi

Year and years ago, back when Johnny Depp was mostly scandal free, the world fell in love with him as Jack Sparrow, a free-wheeling, fun loving pirate at the heart of the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise.

Of course, on this of 2022, things are much different and Depp doesn’t curry the same sort of a favor with his movies (or his band Hollywood Vampires). Fret not though as there is a new fun loving set of pirates on the horizon that could very well take place of the slot that everyone held for the Disney adaptation of their famous ride.

Our Flag Means Death from David Jenkins (People of Earth) will have the very lovable pairing of Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi play real life pirates Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard, respectively. Bonnet, though nowhere near as famous as Blackbeard, ditched his life as an aristocrat for the high seas and a black flag and ought to be a damn good time with Rhys Darby bringing him to life in this series. Also, this would mark Taika’s second time as a famous villain, previously playing Hitler in Jojo Rabbit and now, the infamous Blackbeard.

Get a taste of what all that comedic piracy will be like with this teaser here.

That should be enough for you to make sure you have HBO Max when Our Flag Means Death drops. In case it’s not, know that Leslie Jones will also be showing up in this historical pirate comedy to, of course, regulate.