white lotus – 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 1/5/24: White Lotus S3, Minx, Taylor Tomlinson, In the Know, Katherine Blanford

January 5, 2024

News

in the know, katherine blanford, minx, peacock, taylor tomlinson, white lotus

1. The cast of the acclaimed dramedy White Lotus season 3 has just been announced and it will star Leslie Bibb, Tayme Thapthimthong, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, and Jason Isaacs. Anyone have a death pool or running yet odds on what sort of sex escapades will happen this time around?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Deadline Hollywood (@deadline)

2. Minx just got canceled (again) and it opting to not go for another season (Variety). Pour one out for a wild, yet nuanced look at gender and sexuality with fantastic 70s fashion and hope it ends up on some streaming service that you already have.

3. In addition to taking the reins to the late late slot at CBS, Taylor Tomlinson is premiering her latest special, Have It All, on Feb. 13th on Netflix. 2024 might be a year ruled by two Taylors.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Taylor Tomlinson (@taylortomlinson)

4. Peacock is really cementing itself in the high concept niche when it comes to original comedies. Following up Poker Face and Mrs. Davis will be the animation/live action hybrid that seems to be lovingly skewer NPR called In The Know. Take your first gander at the show here, then look for it on Peacock on Jan. 25th.

5. Call us crazy, but we think Katherine Blanford is probably going to have a pretty damn good 2024. Go see for yourself on her Prison Barbie Goes on Tour with dates going through the Summer. Get tickets here.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Katherine Blanford (@itskatherineblanford)

6. We’ll leave you with this: May you all be successful enough in comedy that you talking mad shit on a podcast is the leading news of the day.

TCB Debriefing 11/7 & 11/8/23: Leah Rudick, Mean Girls, Gary Gulman, Longest Yard, White Lotus, Vista Theatre

November 8, 2023

News

gary gulman, leah rudick, longest yard, mean girls, vista theatre, white lotus

1. The first time we saw Leah Rudick on stage, she was in character as someone going to a high school reunion after having married a boat. It was a sweet strangeness that was undeniably engrossing and absurdly joyful. That show was years and years ago in the back room of a Russian bar in WeHo, a far cry from the theaters that Leah plays nowadays as a stand-up, but Leah taps the same sort of beautiful weirdness for her new hour special, Spiraling. Going on flights of anxiety fueled imagination, Rudick starts from a relative point of relatable normalcy, but simmers her way to as ridiculous a conclusion to a bit as she can conjure (hence the name of the special). The journey in this hour, richly colored by her unconscious, is akin to tasting your new favorite sweet treats in that you might be unsure what’s happening at first, but get obsessed with the longer you savor it. Go taste it for yourself as Spiraling is streaming on select streaming platform near you.

2. Peep the very first trailer for Mean Girls: The Musical: The Movie: Based on The Movie (though it’s maybe-maybe not going to be so meta?) where Reneé Rapp will have an even more breakout moment than she has already been having as a bisexual icon/pop star.

3. Praise anything and everything that another Gary Gulman special is on the way. Born on 3rd Base will debut on Max (intriguingly there instead of HBO) this December (Deadline). So, how do we feel about a “Max Special” being the goal in stand-up comedy?

4. The Longest Yard is being remade yet (Deadline). This will be the third time for the sports comedy classic to see the big screen (presumably) after the Burt Reynolds original in 1974, then an Adam Sandler remake in 2005. Pretty sure no audiences were asking for this, but, then again, IP remains the emperor of entertainment.

5. Mike White says the 3rd season of his hit series White Lotus will be “…longer, bigger, crazier” (Deadline). Considering everything that happened in the first two seasons, Vegas should star taking bets at to what is hell White has in store for this round of hapless, overprivileged tourists on this go-around in Thailand.

6. One of the last remaining old school movie palaces in LA, The Vista Theatre, is finally going to reopen soon, under the guiding hand of pioneering auteur Quentin Tarantino (Variety). While we’re pretty sure that Quentin will do justice to a LA landmark, there’s no word on whether the manager will be dressing up in costume on a movie’s debut (no matter what movie it was).

7. We’ll leave you with this: the strike took this long to end because studios, we guess, can’t own their inner shadow of wanting all the monies.

Get Ready for More Havoc from the Privileged with Season 2 Trailer of White Lotus

October 6, 2022

News

aubrey plaza, f murray abraham, hbo, jennifer coolidge, michael imperioli, mike white, season 2, white lotus

Though the upcoming season of White Lotus trades Hawaii for Sicily and an almost an entirely cast and a supposed focus, according to creator Mike White, more on male privilege as opposed to mainly the obscenely wealthy, it all looks just as satirically juicy as the critically acclaimed, beloved, award winning first season.

Having Aubrey Plaza, Michael Imperioli, and F. Murray Abraham next to a returning Jennifer Coolidge amidst a very enticing ensemble cast is frosting on the cake of the next chapter of the fictional White Lotus luxury resort franchise. Thank goodness that that the premiere date is only mere weeks away, specifically Sun. Oct. 30th on HBO/HBO Max.

Get a taste of the Italian flavor of chaos that’s to come on season 2 of The White Lotus with the first official trailer here.

The White Lotus Is Absolutely the Series That You Should Be Watching Right Now

July 29, 2021

News

hbo, mike white, white lotus

Sure, the arrivals of season 2 of both Ted Lasso and I Think You Should Leave are dominating the conversation of comedy on television right now for very good and clear reasons. One is garnering a record amount of Emmy nominations for a freshman comedy and the other delivers on being the sort of absurdist, daft brilliance that we need to make it through the current moments of 2021.

That said, Mike White‘s The White Lotus, his follow-up to the brilliant Enlightened, has also begun its journey on HBO and HBO Max and, for our money, deserves much more praise and obsessive discussion (like the aforementioned other hit comedies). Just like with Enlightened, White has one of the keenest senses for writing and casting. The performances from the ensemble cast of Murray Bartlett, Jake Lacy, Alexandra Daddario, Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Steve Zahn, Sydney Sweeney, Fred Hechinger, Brittany O’Grady, and Natasha Rothwell match writing that might have some of the sharpest teeth of any comedy or drama on TV right now. Don’t be surprised finding yourself repeating the many quotable/meme-able moments of The White Lotus.

The ultra serene setting of a luxury Hawaiian resort (and the pitch perfect score by Cristobal Tapia De Veer) belies the ugly head of class, privilege, and the wild lack of self-awareness that Mike and his cast have so masterfully woven in the three episodes that are currently streaming. Additionally, there is a thin air of suspense hanging over the increasingly chaotic stay of the guests at The White Lotus with the series opening on Lacy, presumably after his vacation has come to a spectacular implosion, flying home with a murdered body from the resort. It nails that delicate, yet wild genre mix that only series such as Search Party have really figured out.

If you’ve been curious about what’s going on with HBO Max’s more broad offerings versus the prestige TV that HBO built its empire on, rest assured that The White Lotus is keeping HBO well in the game for prestige dramedy that is award worthy. Get a taste of all of what’s to come at The White Lotus with this mid-season trailer here.

Get Into Mike White’s Latest Biting Satire at HBO, “White Lotus” (Teaser)

June 10, 2021

News

alexandra daddario, connie britton, hbo, jennifer coolidge, mike white, natasha rothwell, steve zahn, white lotus

It has been quite some time since the force that was Enlightened came through and perhaps helped usher in the dramedy portion of this latest golden age of television. Mike White’s corporate and self-help satire hit such a great nerve back then (and is still so timely ten years later).

So, we’re grateful that it won’t be much longer before we get the latest Mike White series (it’s still pretty astounding that White was the teacher that Jack Black filled in for in School of Rock) and it looks like it’s going to have pretty sharp teeth that are going to sink into the absurdities of, well, rich white folks.

Jennifer Coolidge looks especially splendid here, by the way, and if Steve Zahn’s last line in this teaser doesn’t hook you, then we don’t know what else to tell you.

Give this all a watch with the first teaser for Mike White’s White Lotus here, then look for it on HBO Max starting July 11th.