russell brand

1. R.I.P. Neel Nanda. His tragic passing comes only a few days and change after Kenny DeForest’s death. It’s so much all at once and all out of nowhere. Please take care of yourself and each other and definitely cherish your favorite comedians (and let them know how much they mean to you).

2. Also, R.I.P. Tommy Smothers of the storied Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. If you’ve only heard of The Smothers Brothers brought up in comedy documentaries and books on the history of comedy, you should probably take a watch and listen to their show/records and see why they always get referenced as a milestone in comedy as an art form.

3. The Comedy Store has officially passed its latest round of Paid Regulars. Thrilled to see that Kyle Kinane is getting long overdue due.

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4. More so than a lot of New Year’s resolutions that probably won’t go the distance, you should resolve to see way more of Sean Patton in 2024 (and lucky for you, he’s got more dates for his Material Tour)

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5. We’ll leave you with this: Despite loads of controversy and allegations, Russell Brand’s production company, Pablo Diablo’s Legitimate Business Firm, reported a $6 million+ profit (Deadline). Also, the name of his company is officially Pablo Diablo’s Legitimate Business Firm.

TCB Debriefing 9/19/23: Dream Scenario, John Waters, Heather McMahan, Russell Brand, Among the Dead, Second City NYC, Jena Friedman

September 19, 2023

News

among the dead, dream scenario, heather mcmahan, jena friedman, john waters, nicholas cage, nyc comedy, russell brand, second city, walk of fame

1. It seems like the Nicholas Cage from Weather Man (i.e. an entrancing balance of nuance and “going full Cage”) is back in Dream Scenario, a comedy of literal dreams, from rising star Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself). Simply put, Cage plays a rather ordinary professor who, all of sudden, starts appearing in everyone’s dreams. If that’s not the perfect role for Cage, we don’t know what else would be. Take your first gander at Dream Scenario here.

2. When the word “cult” is being used an appreciative adjective rather than a disturbing noun, there might not be a name more synonymous with that iteration of the word than filmmaker and cultural icon, John Waters. As such, it’s about time that he got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and this week saw that momentous event come to pass. Unsurprisingly, Waters gave what very well be the best Hollywood Walk of Fame acceptance speech ever.

John Waters speaks at the unveiling of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: "Here I am, closer to the gutter than ever!"

Watch our digital cover story with John & his #Hairspray star @RickiLake: https://t.co/Uj7eFevZ0f pic.twitter.com/Yfzbk3sKi1

— TheWrap (@TheWrap) September 18, 2023

3. Heather McMahan will be the latest beloved, headlining comedian to go the route of self-producing their special and then Netflix buying it as Netflix announced the release of her hour Son I Never Had slated for Oct. 17th (THR). Has Netflix finally gotten closer to the bottom of what seemed like bottomless pockets?

4. With multiple investigations going into allegations of sexual assault, rape, and emotional abuse by Russell Brand, both the BBC and Channel 4 in the UK have removed all content featuring Brand (Deadline). They cited the reasoning of it “…falling below public expectations,” which makes some sort of sense since Brand never really outdid his performance in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (where he played a sex obsessed rock star, mind you).

5. The zombie film and TV subgenre is so expansive that it very well could almost be its own genre separate from horror. Case in point, there is a Japanese, English-language zombie mockumentary in the works from Japanese comedian Shinagawa Hiroshi and writing duo Midnight Pizza called Among the Dead (Variety). Like the depictions of zombies themselves, zombie films are getting smarter and more complex.

6. Following recovery from both the pandemic and an internal reckoning that changed the entire structure and ownership of legendary comedy institution, Second City, it’s beautiful news to hear that Second City NYC will open its doors on Nov. 16th (Brooklyn Vegan). We’re even more thrilled to hear that former Asylum NYC AD, the amazing Alan Kliffer, will be their Artistic Director.

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7. No one does dark humor quite like Jena Friedman, which is why you should take every opportunity to go out and see her shows. Here are four shows she’s lined up for her “Not Funny” Tour, but we won’t be surprised if more dates get added.

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8. We’ll leave you with this: If you do 10,000 hours of bad stand-up, you’ll be mastered at bad stand-up.

TCB Debriefing 9/18/23: CCSUF, NYCF, Talk Shows Pause Return, Russell Brand, Barbie, Jonah Kills

September 18, 2023

News

barbie, bill maher, comedy central, drew barrymore, jax media, jonah kills, new york comedy fest, russell brand, stand up comedy, wga strike

1. The latest round of Comedy Central’s digital stand-up showcase, “Featuring” or more explicitly “Comedy Central Stand Up Featuring” just announced its New York line-ups for its latest taping. The likes of Ayanna Dookie, Sam Morrison, Chinedu Unaka, Homles, Randall Otis, Lucas Zelnick, Kate Sisk, Tommy Brennan, Grace Kuhlenschmidt, Usama Sidiquee, Mark Smalls, Mav Viola, Asha Ward, Ethan Simmons-Patterson, and Eagle Witt will be taking the Cutting Room stage on Thurs. Oct. 5th. Admission is free so long as you RSVP to the early or late show here. Thank goodness this came along and the arrival of Comics Unleashed on CBS won’t be on the only short form stand-up you’ll see from a TV network.

2. The New York Comedy Festival, running from Nov. 3rd-12th, just made a big announcement for their line-up and schedule which includes:

Get the full schedule/line-up/tickets all at nycomedyfestival.com/schedule

3. Both Drew Barrymore and Bill Maher have paused their return of their respective talk shows, The Drew Barrymore Show and Real Time with Bill Maher (NY Times), following controversy stemming from the ongoing WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes. Considering negotiations are to resume on Wednesday; let’s hope this is a good omen for talks to pick up in earnest and bring the strikes to an end with fair deals all around.

4. Russell Brand is facing allegations of emotional abuse, sexual assault, and rape during the “height of his fame” and nearly every project and endeavor has been put on pause (BBC). We would wonder how has it taken this long for this to come out, but the story of survivors is so frequent that it’s common knowledge that it could take years and years and years for them to step forward when processing trauma.

5. Barbie has just surpassed The Avengers as the 11th highest grossing domestic release in film history with $626 million in U.S. theaters (Variety). If it makes $30 million more at home, it’ll beat the far less raved about Jurassic World to be in the top 10.

6. Showtime is lining up its ducks for when the strike ends, starting with a UK comedy from UK theater impresario Clem Garrity called Jonah Kills (Deadline). Fingers crossed that this is another sign that we’re nearing the end of the strikes, which has lasted 139 days.

7. We’ll leave you with this: Elon Musk is thinking of starting to charge for use of Twitter/X concluding that it might be the best way to combat bots on the platform. It’s also the best way to finally sink Twitter into oblivion besides trying (and kind of failing) to change its name to X.

Comedy Central India’s “Comedy Central Chuckle Festival” Going Into Its Second Round With Tanmay Bhat and Russell Brand

May 29, 2015

Uncategorized

chuckle festival, comedy central, comedy central india, comedy festival, russell brand, tanmay bhat

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

This means Viacom’s various Comedy Central networks have festivals on either side of the planet.

As comedy continues to develop as an art form in more places around the world, there are more comedy festivals that are following in suit.

Comedy Central India is now putting on the second Comedy Central Chuckle Festival, which will feature the likes of Russell Brand as well as Indian comedians like the very funny Tanmay Bhat.

This festival will tour throughout India in New Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai from Jun. 26th-28th.

Though it’s been two years since the inaugural edition of Chuckle Festival, we wouldn’t be surprised if it keeps getting bigger and happens more often like nearly every comedy festival around the world.

Morning Debriefing 11/3/10

1) Making it to more than one open mic in LA is so hard that I can’t even think of a metaphor to relate how incredibly difficult it really is. I missed out on the Nugget Grill & Pub at CSULB as non-student parking is about a mile away from where you’re supposed to go. HOWEVER, I managed to make it to BACK HOME IN LAHAINA in Carson and did 35 MINUTES! 35 MINUTES! No matter how many times I write that, it won’t make it seem more plausible. There was a crowd that mostly came there for the delicious Hawaiian Zagat rated cuisine, but I got 35 minutes. That’s the only selling point you should care about. Back Home in Lahaina. 2nd official “Bureau Approved” open mic. Running on first and last Tues. of every month, starting at 6PM, 519 E. Carson St. #A, Carson, CA.

2) Chatroulette LIVE! @ The UCB Theatre proved to be one of the most innovative and hilarious live comedy shows on “the scene”. Imagine taking Crank Yankers to the stage, then using real, AWESOME comedic performers as a panel, then going on the twisted/addicting website that is Chatroulette to “prank video chat” people around the world such as shirtless kids in Brazil asking to see tits. Chatroulette LIVE is farcical, macabre, and uproarious the whole way through. Hosted by the amazing Allan McLeod and Dominic Dierkes, featuring Sean Clements, Harris Wittels, Kate Micucci & Riki Lindhome, and Jackie Clarke, it’s an amazing night of the hilarity/horror of social networking gone too far. Chatroulette LIVE! $5. 1st Tues. of every month at the UCB Theatre, 5919 Franklin Ave., Hollywood, CA.

3) Post Election Comedy Crawl where you can maybe get high off some laughs: Highland Park Sing-A-Long w/Maria Bamford @ Cafe de Leche 7PM FREE, then Ed Galvez’s Punk House @ The Westside Comedy Theatre 9PM $8, then Tiffany King’s LOL Comedy Show 9PM $5, then Beer in the Shower @ White Horse Inn Cocktail Lounge 10PM FREE, then Fresh Faces @ The Hollywood Laugh Factory 10PM $20/2 drink min., and come nicely off the high with/ Anna Lee Lawson Comedy Hour @ The Next Stage Theatre 11PM $5. If that doesn’t help with trying to stomach the election results, I can’t help you.

4) On Halloween, Schtick or Treat @ Taix was absolutely fantastic the whole way through. This, however, was literally a tour-de-force impression of Russell Brand by LA Comedian Nick Rutherford. Witness.

5) Please give to the Donation Box to support what is, or will be depending on your opinion, LA’s live comedy source. Right here.

6) The Big Trouble in Little Tokyo Open Mic is PRIVILEGED to kick off its inaugural night with performances by the lovely LAUREN ROCHELLE and the one and only JOE BRAZA! Again, Nov. 9th @ Señor Fish. 6:30PM. 422 E. 1st St. DO NOT MISS!

7) No on Prop. 19 frustration and Dancing w/the Stars updates. Two topics I don’t want to hear about at open mics, but absolutely will tonight.

Report 00012

THE COMEDY BUREAU

TCB Debriefing 12/28/23: Neel Nanda, Tommy Smothers, Comedy Store, Sean Patton

TCB Debriefing 9/19/23: Dream Scenario, John Waters, Heather McMahan, Russell Brand, Among the Dead, Second City NYC, Jena Friedman

TCB Debriefing 9/18/23: CCSUF, NYCF, Talk Shows Pause Return, Russell Brand, Barbie, Jonah Kills

Comedy Central India’s “Comedy Central Chuckle Festival” Going Into Its Second Round With Tanmay Bhat and Russell Brand

Morning Debriefing 11/3/10