Worldwide comedy month – The Comedy Bureau

TCB Debriefing 3/31-4/3/24: Chair Company, George Carlin, 5th of July, Amy Silverberg, Smartypants, Las Culturistas, Martin Short, Worldwide Comedy Month

April 3, 2024

amy silverberg, chris estrada, dropout, george carlin, las culturistas, martin short, smartypants, steve feinartz, tim robinson, Worldwide comedy month, zach kanin

1. HBO smartly has ordered a pilot from the golden minds of Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin, the duo responsible for the best sketch show of this decade, I Think You Should Leave. You’ll be happy to know that this pilot, The Chair Company,, is perfectly set up for Robinson to play some sort of everyman that loses it in an office and has plenty of opportunity to yell, one of the things Robinson is better at than almost anyone (Variety).

2. In settlement with George Carlin Estate, the AI created special impersonating George Carlin from Dudesy will be taken down (Variety). Please remember this as this will be both an important milestone for dealing with AI both in art and comedy going forward.

3. Though Hulu stupidly (with a capital “S”) canceled This Fool, Chris Estrada is far from done with putting out his splendid brand of LA born-and-bred alt comedy. This just released short film, 5th of July, co-written and directed by the amazing Steve Feinartz, almost plays like part of what would have been the next season of This Fool. Please enjoy here.

4. Amy Silverberg has not only been a long time favorite of ours that we have the expressed privilege of seeing coming up in the LA comedy scene, but she beautifully contrasts her poetic turns-of-phrase sourced from her background as a writing professor and the grit of a very honest, truthful, vulnerable stand-up comedian. Please enjoy her CC Stand-Up Featuring set here.

5. Dropout has you hooked with Game Changer and is getting into more chaos (though slightly edutainment focused) with their latest upcoming series, Smartypants. Take a gander here.

6.. Matt and Bowen are getting Las Culturistas closer to where it should be in the pantheon of culture with takint their very own Culture Awards to the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn come this Summer.

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7. We’re pretty sure that Martin Short was probably some sort of “Mayor of Fun” already, but he now officially bestowed the title of Mayor of Funner, CA (THR)

8. As 800 Pound Gorilla has christened it, Worldwide Comedy Month has arrived. THERE SHOULDN”T BE A SINGLE DAY YOU DON’T SEE COMEDY.

9. We’ll leave you with this: A Real April Fools’ Day should be on April 2nd since corporations, like so many other things, kind of ruined the April 1st version.

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

March 5, 2024

News

800 pound gorilla, ceasefire, comedy special, dan soder, do not expect too much from the end of the world, hacks, martin mcdonagh, max, on the road, radu jude, Worldwide comedy month

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.

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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.