1. Kristoffer Borgli’s Dream Scenario makes Nicholas Cage plays one of his best roles yet as an unremarkable professor that everyone starts seeing in their dreams. It’s trippy, terrifying, and all sorts of hysterical, but also cuts very deep into the human desire for belonging and community. Come to think of it, there is a similar vibe to Cage’s Paul Matthews here and his role in The Weather Man where Cage deftly plays someone who wants so badly wants to find meaning/purpose in his life all while believing his remarkable and ignoring how unremarkable he is all the same time. Dream Scenario is playing a limited release at a theater new you.
vvfv v2. Netflix’s version of Premium Blend for 2023, Verified Stand-Up, has arrived, featuring stand-up from TCB faves like Leslie Liao, Vanessa Gonzalez, Robby Hoffman, and Sabrina Wu. We’re pretty sure that much of the showcase series has sets so good that you’ll forgive how out-of-touch the name is.
3. Eddie Izzard is doing Hamlet all by herself in NYC (AP). Being a living legend in comedy, doing stand-up comedy in at least three different languages, running a football/soccer team, running for public office, and regularly running marathons just wasn’t enough for her, was it?
4. Chris Gethard’s Beautiful Anonymous has graduated to a full on subscription service, hence the name Beautiful Anonymous +. After 400 episodes, what started as an idea that Chris thought would bait prank callers has turned into one of the most beautiful, hilarious, enlightening, heartbreaking, comforting tapestries of humanity that has been committed to record. Yes, there is a tier that allows you a better chance at being one of the callers.
5. We’ll leave you with this: Wonder if there will be shows that are marketed as “no-crowd work” for those folks that want to watch stand-up, but, under no circumstance, want to be singled out.