The Comedy Bureau Field Report Ep. 38: Jill Paiz-Bourque & Big Business in Comedy Live-streaming

Boot Riley Is Making a New Show About a 13 Ft. Black Man in Oakland “I’m a Virgo”

Boots Riley Makes a Hell of a First Impression as a Writer/Director with His Bonkers Satire “Sorry to Bother You”

Please Enjoy the Bonkers Trailer for Boots Riley’s “Sorry to Bother You”

December 16, 2020

bbc, boots riley, chappelle's show, i'm a virgo, jill bourque, new comedy awards, rushtix

The proliferation of virtual comedy due to the COVID-19 pandemic would naturally bring about the creation/transition of entire platforms/venues/etc. in order to serve a gradual mass exodus of comedy, for the time being, into the live-streaming sphere. Jill Paiz-Bourque founded RushTix to serve that exact purpose and has done quite well with building and creating a premium comedy live-streaming platform that aims to be a destination for comedy fans and those in dire need of that connection that they would get at any sort of live show (but especially in live comedy). Jill zooms with TCB’s Jake Kroeger to detail RushTix rise to putting on comedy live-streams that boast thousands of attendees as well as get in “hot” takes on Chappelle’s Show being taken off HBO Max, BBC’s new New Comedy Awards, and Boots Riley getting the green light for his new series I’m a Virgo.

Follow @RushTix across socials & visit RushTix.com for schedule/tickets/info & follow Jill @jillbourque on Twitter.

The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger).
Produced by Jake Kroeger
Music by Brian Granillo
Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT

June 22, 2020

News

boots riley, i'm a virgo, jharrel jerome

The mind behind the groundbreaking, hysterical, satirical comedy, Sorry to Bother You, from 2018 has a new series coming.

Multi-hyphenate Boots Riley sent this tweet out earlier today featuring promo art by Colin Laurel:

I have a show
about a 13-ft tall Black man who lives in Oakland.

It’s called I’m A Virgo.

Jharrel Jerome is playing the lead.

I’m doing this w Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res. We haven’t decided on the network/streamer.

It’ll be dark, absurd, hilarious, and important. pic.twitter.com/pzOGDxMaaO

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) June 22, 2020

With that little detail, the prospect of whatever I’m A Virgo specifically ends up being has us truly excited. Sorry to Bother You was such a wildly imaginative and critical vision of a future and such a hilarious tour-de-force that anything else Riley was and is coming as well as will be coming out with had to be something that we ought to pay close attention to. Blending a bit of magical realism into satire has served him well thus far and our mind is racing as to what Riley has up his sleeve with a 13 ft. tall black man played by Jharrel Jerome (When They See Us, Moonlight) in Oakland that’s supposed to be dark, absurd, and hilarious.

We hope that the show gets picked up ASAP after the bidding war that should be following Boots Riley’s tweet.

July 18, 2018

Uncategorized

annapurna, boots riley, lakeith stanfield, sorry to bother you, tessa thompson

With that knucklehead Trump in office, satire is now more than ever presented as just satire with all the humor wrung out of it. That’s not to say that it isn’t good or effective, but there’s a reason that Black Mirror and all of it’s contemporaries are doing well at this moment.

Arguably, you could watch Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who Is America? and just look on sadly at the America that we collectively let happen as Cohen shoves that proverbial mirror over and over in our faces.

On the other hand, there’s Sorry To Bother You.

Boots Riley’s Sorry To Bother You, a feature debut from a multi-hyphenate artist, has so much panache and color and surrealistic elements that it’s ferocious satire is pretty damn enjoyable. In fact, there are echoes of early post-Monty Python Terry Gilliam throughout, which make it’s a message of systemic classism and racism even more accessible.

Think Office Space meets Brazil meets Get Out with The Coup (Boots Riley’s band) thumping in the background.

In any case, you should go see Sorry To Bother You while it’s still in a theater near you.

« March 2021 »

March 12, 2018

Uncategorized

annapurna, boots riley, lakeith stanfield, sorry to bother you, tessa thompson, trailer

Boots Riley’s satire centered around a black telemarketer is making plenty of noise down at SXSW and you can kind of see why from this crazy and great trailer.

Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson star in what might be the trippiest movie this year.

See for yourself here, then look for Sorry To Bother You in theaters on July 6th.