This Week On The Shows: Nov. 1-5

• Monday
  • Kimmel: Will Ferrell (1st guest)
  • Fallon: Jonah Hill (1st guest)

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• Tuesday
  • Ferguson: Lewis Black (1st guest)
  • Fallon: Will Arnett (1st guest)

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• Wednesday
  • Letterman: Tina Fey (1st guest)
  • Fallon: Zach Galifianakis (1st guest)

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• Thursday
  • Letterman: Steve Martin (1st guest)

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• Friday
  • Letterman: Tracy Morgan (1st guest); Mike E. Winfield
  • Ferguson: Dick Van Dyke
  • Fallon: Lewis Black (2nd guest)

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All guests as listed on shows' web sites at time of posting. Changes in schedule may be reflected in updates.

Stewart Gets All Sincere and Stuff

"I know there are boundaries for a comedian-pundit-talker-guy, and I'm sure I'll find out tomorrow how I have violated them."

This Week On The Shows: Oct. 25-29

• Monday
  • Kimmel: Mike Birbiglia
  • Fallon: Molly Shannon (1st guest) Paul Scheer (2nd guest)

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• Tuesday
  • Letterman: Seth Meyers
  • Ferguson: Henry Cho
  • Fallon: Joan Rivers (1st guest)

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• Wednesday
  • Letterman: Dana Carvey (1st guest)
  • Leno: Robin Williams (1st guest) Judd Apatow (2nd guest)
  • Ferguson: Donald Glover

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• Thursday
  • Letterman: Will Ferrell (1st guest)

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• Friday
  • Ferguson: Adam Hills

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All guests as listed on shows' web sites at time of posting. Changes in schedule may be reflected in updates.

The Swagger Wagon

I've always thought Brian Huskey looks like Jason Lee. Except funny. And not as cult-y.

This Week On The Shows: Oct. 17-22

• Monday
  • Kimmel: Aasif Mandvi

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• Tuesday
  • Letterman: Stephen Colbert (1st guest—repeat) 
  • Fallon: Tina Fey

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• Wednesday
  • Ø

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• Thursday
  • Letterman: Jon Stewart (1st guest)
  • Leno: Betty White (2nd guest…(1st guest is Ryan Reynolds *sigh*)
  • Ferguson: Don Rickles (1st guest—repeat)

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• Friday
  • Ø

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All guests as listed on shows' web sites at time of posting. Changes in schedule may be reflected in updates.

Video Bit of the Week: Better Off Ted Outtakes NSFW

This aren't really blooper outtakes, but just unused takes. Most of them are performed without error, using language that releases evil demons, and is kept safely away from network television.

If you haven't seen the episode that made it to air, it's available on Netflix instant viewing. The simple premise: A company memo is supposed to tell employees they "must not use offensive or insulting language in the workplace." A simple typo changes it so they believe they "must NOW use offensive or insulting language."

Twitterer of the Week: Myq Kaplan

You probably remember Myq Kaplan from his success on Last Comic Standing. He's the one the judges kept praising as a joke writer once Laurie Kilmartin was no longer on the show. His style is quick, slick, full of language play, just verging on puns. As his act has developed, he has started to move safely away from being too cute and clever.

He has a Masters in linguistics, so naturally he's drawn to playing with words. And idioms. And I'm guessing Dungeons and Dragons.

Most Recent Tweet:

• money can't buy happiness. but at times it can be used effectively to prevent sadness.

Four Older Tweets:

• i refer to masturbating as “having an imaginary friend with benefits.”
• a cross is a cross between a line and another line.
• sometimes i don't know my own strength. other times i'm like, "oh yeah, really weak. that's it!"
• don't put all your eggs in one basket. unless you only have one egg. then you have to. if baskets are important to you.

Brian Gaar Interviews Marc Maron

Brian Gaar, at It's Always Funny in Austin, talks with Marc Maron about comedy, fame, conversations, and controversy.

Maron:

I’ve been surprised a lot by the conversations I’ve had with a number of people - (Bob) Odenkirk and Rob Delaney and there have been some emotional moments. I mean, the second Mencia (podcast) was pretty amazing and my buddy Sam Lipsyte, who I love, and also the two Louis CK episodes this week were particularly important to me because we were able to rebuild our friendship that had become sort’ve strained and you can sort’ve hear that. So most all of them are good, the only time I’m a little disappointed - and I’m not gonna mention names - is where it’s difficult to have a conversation and that doesn’t happen too often.

Yes. They spelled it "sort've".

Netflix Instant Nudge: Jonathan Winters: Rare & Riotous

The DVD, Jonathan Winters: Rare & Riotous, incudes footage from various Winters performances with other artists. Netflix Instant offers a segment of the DVD, taken from Winters' 1964 special, A Wild Winters Night, with Art Carney. The bulk of the online video features Winters and Carney doing improv prop gags, wig work and a few impressions.

The longest bit is a birthday party for Granny Maude Frickert where Winters (playing Maude, of course) is given random gifts and allowed to riff on them as he opens them. He's also fed set-up lines by the party-goers and, again, allowed to riff on them. It's all pretty obvious, and let's be honest, not always funny.

Some of Winters' better moments come in the form of comments he makes about the other players. They're all supposed to recite set-lines and he's the one that's supposed to get all the attention. One girl asks him, with great earnestness, about his most terrifying experience. At her delivery, Winters, unimpressed, remarks, "Oh, what a dramatic reading." The girl, who all along has been turning to face the camera as often as possible, does another extended reaction take for the camera. Winters, apparently catching on, puts a hand on her shoulder and has to remind her to look at him. All in character of course.

Watching these old shows is a good look at the continuity of improv. By that I mean, that when people complain that Whose Line Is It Anyway? isn't always funny, or that Robin Williams only "seems" funny because he does voices and acts goofy, watching the old masters is good reminder that improv has alway been hit-and-miss.

And the next time someone complains that product placement is taking over, or that commercialism is ruining modern entertainment, show them an old video like this. We can complain about intrusive and out-of-place commercials, but we can't call them new.

Banksy Directs Simpsons Opener

I don't know. Being dark and critical of evil just doesn't seem that countercultural anymore.

And if unicorns don't learn how to fight with that thing, they don't deserve survival.



(We might have to keep updating if copyright issues keep taking down embeddable videos. Let's see how long Hulu holds on to the clip.)

This Week On The Shows: Oct. 11-15

• Monday
  • Leno: Jay Mohr (1st guest)
  • Ferguson: Henry Cho

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• Tuesday
  • Fallon: Judah Friedlander (2nd guest)

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• Wednesday
  • Leno: Whitney Cummings
  • Kimmel: Tim Heidecker and Eric Warenheim
  • Fallon: Whoopi Goldberg

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• Thursday
  • Leno: Wanda Sykes (1st guest)
  • Ferguson: Drew Carey, Jenny Wade
  • Fallon: Pee Wee Herman

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• Friday
  • Letterman: Amy Sedaris
  • Fallon: Nick Vatterott

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All guests as listed on shows' web sites at time of posting. Changes in schedule may be reflected in updates.

Podcast of the Week: Louis C.K. on WTF

I refuse to apologize for mentioning Marc Maron's WTF so often. In my opinion, it's the best one out there, so I might as well act like it. As good as it is on a regular basis, this week stood out. Maron and Louis C.K. were finally reunited.

You don't have to be a fan of comedy to enjoy this one. Buffy only occasionally finds these things interesting (and even when she kindly listens, I can count on her eventually saying in the middle of an argument "well I had to listen to that [whatever] that you played for me a week ago!" But the several clips I played for her from these interviews, were well-received. Even when she started to roll her eyes at one of the clips that she thought was just going to be silly and crass, she soon realized that it was actually a pretty powerful moment.

Maron And C.K. are friends from way back in the last century. They started together and earned their successful careers together. From those salad days, they both developed and matured. And in the process they grew apart, as many very good friends do. The reunion ended up lasting long enough to provide enough for two episodes.

They go over the rift, their careers, the business, writing, family, anxiety… really pretty much everything. And it's not light and fluffy conversation. Maron is alway good at getting his guests to talk honestly, and this visit goes so far as to get some tears flowing on one topic, which includes a really good line from C.K. about the amazing power of water.

He holds little back, talking about the experience of being a stand-up wanting to create more than stage performances, and the doubts and roadblocks he had to walk around, plow thru, or chisel away. He discusses his time writing for Dana Carvey, and Conan O'Brien, and the frustration of doing a well-regarded, tho not always fully-understood show for HBO, Lucky Louie.

TV sitcoms are written by Harvard graduates who don't like audiences. They don't like people. They're not popular people. And so they hate the idea that audiences can tell them whether something's funny or not. So they've built a system where they shoot on a stage in front of an audience but they ignore the audience. …

Most big sitcoms don't have an audience now. And they have a man called the laugh man and he puts in the laughs. And the laughs are short enough…that the clippy dialogue can continue. Jennifer Aniston never looks aware of the audience when she's perf— She's supposed to be performing in front of an audience on Friends. (That's how old I am.)

But uh, we had to hold for laughs, and uh, it was a mess. But it was supposed to be.

C.K. has now achieved the first levels of an auteur. His work is good enough and reliable enough, and his choices are trusted enough to make his show almost completely his own. A big part of that is because he's a good writer and performer. Maybe an even bigger part of that is because he spent time learning how do his own editing and how to switch the lenses on cameras. Not every comedian will get "The Louis Deal." And very few would know what to do with it.

The last few minutes of the whole visit are about as honest an exchange as Maron has had on his podcast. C.K. begins his closing advice about friendship with "You don't have to put this in the podcast if you don't want to," then he goes on to talk about the value, pain, and challenge of friendship. Especially one with Maron. The best thing about WTF week after week, is that Maron leaves so much of that stuff in.

Video Bit of the Week: Charlyne Yi and TMZ

The folks at TMZ are something between parasite and scavenger. Or at least that's how I typically see them. They just roam around looking for bones to pick through. This video shows them being something between a predator, con-artist, and hack comic.

The worst thing about this isn't their misrepresentation of the setup (to the audience) and intention (to Yi): it's that they think it's funny. Despite Yi's complaint, their little stunt might actually help the cause because they give the website and eventually explain the purpose and all that. And who cares if they make Yi look silly? She's being silly. Oxfam doesn't need us to take her seriously.

But they're so proud of their little joke here. And it's just… meh.

Twitterer of the Week: Jesus

This weeks Twitterer needs very little introduction. In fact, in your hearts, some of you are already following him. His name is Jesus.

His early work isn't that funny. And he did have a little scandal when he lost his temper and went crazy at the church bake sale. I'm still looking for the YouTube of that. But he's calmed down and now that he's sort of moved on from all the political stuff, he's actually pretty good.

He surpassed 144,000 followers a few months ago, but he's relaxed his policy and is still accepting fans.

Most Recent Tweet:

• Don't need no Starbucks.

Four Older Tweets:

• Oh my God I totally forgot it's Fathers Day!
• I could totally take Yoda.
• I am going to destroy this taco and nobody will be able to rebuild it.
• Masturbation isn't so cool when Dad make ME kill the puppies.

Conan Scrubs Wood in New Promo

Like Venus out of the seafoam, Conan is redefining sexy.
It used to mean something good.

Directed by Jay Karas

Netflix Instant Nudge: The Comedians of Comedy – The Movie

Hey hey! Buckle up folks. Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford and Zach Galifianakis are a crazy foursome setting out on a wacky adventure to see America. The madcap comedy troupe is on a take-no-prisoners mission to Make You Laugh. There's no telling what you'll see when you tag along for this wild ride. These people are serious. Serious about comedy that is!

And if that sounds like the intro to something you'd like to see, then don't bother The Comedians of Comedy: The Movie. A better selling point might be the sexual tension between Zach and Brian.

At the beginning of it all, Oswalt claims to see himself at a level just below any grand blossoming of an indie/punk comedy scene.

[David] Cross has a hairy ass-crack. I have womanly man-boobs. We're not the two to do it. Someone's coming that will do it. It's not us. We're the ugly mother-fuckers that are setting it up. Someone's gonna spike it. It's not gonna be us. Sorry. I'm setting up the next guy. That's my purpose.

The movie is about five years old: not recent enough to represent the comedians' current acts or stature, but not early enough to see how far they've come.

Right now, Oswalt and Galifianakis are at the head of their lines. Oswalt, with a recognizable and mainstream presence in sitcoms and films has lost not a bit of credibility as a stand-up. Galifianakis' film trajectory is still accelerating, and his characters are getting so much love and attention that his stand-up—still respected; still sharp—is maybe the second tier of his current renown.

I have no greater shame in my history of following comedy, than my embarrassing phase of not appreciating Bamford's genius. I was convinced she was faking her voice, and I thought her entire act was "gimmicky." That's hard for me to admit. But at least it was a long time ago. Let's call it a decade. Now I love her act. I look back, and it was good then too. Even the gimmicky violin stuff.

And Posehn has moved from being "the guy on Just Shoot Me!" to one of the gay guys on The Sarah Silverman Program. But he's so much more than that. He was also on a couple episodes of NewsRadio. Hellooo? Oh yeah, also Mr. Show, Reno 911! Human Giant, Everybody Loves Raymond, and many more. He's a fellow metal head, and I think we would find each other equally awkward, even without a great set of tits.

The movie isn't about stand-up comedy. It's not really even about stand-up comedians. It's about being stand-ups. The footage switches quickly between stage, backstage and road footage. Occasional staged interviews and even some mini-film stunting fill in to shake up the pace. Oswalt's visit to the Portland morning radio show, where he's greeted with a whoopie cushion, is hard to watch, but mercifully short. Artificial interactions like that are balanced by footage at meals, in hotel rooms, of conversations on sidewalks and in the van. In those moments, not every joke that someone cracks gets a burst of laughter. The lame jokes don't elicit sheets of relentless and clever scorn. Sometimes a joke or comment just falls over, and a quiet beat passes before someone dutifully changes the topic. If you ultimately don't trust that you're seeing the comedians be themselves, the footage is at least very lifelike.

If you haven't seen much of their stage acts, there are other videos in the Comedians of Comedy series. One presents them at "the El Rey." Another at the "the Troubadour." The the El Ray show is available for instant viewing, but it doesn't include a Galifianakis set.

He's Known for His Monologue: New Home

I had a policy of not commenting on the monologue feature. My thinking was that the jokes on their own said everything that needed to be said. And my opinion wasn't the point. My opinion wasn't likely to add anything meaningful to your experience reading the jokes and reacting to them honestly.

I got a few comments here and on Facebook saying things like 'Hey, that one wasn't so bad!' and my response was typically to ask why they thought I was only trying picking bad jokes. But let's face it: the jokes are palpable failures much of the time. And seeing that the audience laughed or even applauded (the ultimate response, right?) didn't make us question our taste in jokes. It made us wonder if democracy was really a good idea.

A few times along the way, I was asked a fair question: Couldn't someone pick and choose from any late night monologue and find jokes like this? And yes, you probably could. So was I being unfair? Maybe. Most likely. But that bias was fun to work with. So I kept it up.

Let's keep this in mind: These jokes are not the last dregs of humor that one busy man, working alone, is forced to squeeze out night after night. These are a sample of the jokes churned out by a team of professional writers who are being paid a lot of money to write jokes and do nothing else. There are two possibilities then: either Leno's picking the best jokes and the writers suck, or these are not their best jokes, and Leno chooses them anyway, either because of poor taste, or because of a strange philosophy.

Usually when we say 'It's either A or B,' it ends up being C: a combination of the two.

The writers are good at writing jokes quickly, and writing them so that almost everyone can understand them. All the references are to broadly known people and events. The structure of each joke is supposed to be quick and simple. There's no winding path to getting them. There's not suppose to be any pause or wait time. Bam. Bam. Bam. Welcome our first guest.



And Leno knows good jokes. Years ago, his stand-up act was excellent. His writing and delivery were sharp. And he was occasionally provocative and even subversive. What changed was not his skill, but his role. His context. Hosting a network show is in some ways antithetical to the stand-up's creed. You have to be a company man. And Leno's not the only one that has made that choice. It's a balancing act, and it becomes more and more apparent that his weight has shifted away from humor, and comfortably into diversion and simple entertainment. Make them clap happily.




Take a look at the last several jokes posted for the feature. They were all pretty bad. Among some of the worst posted so far. And they were all taken from a single monologue, the night of September 7. That material was the bulk of one night's all-star line up of jokes written by professional writers. They were performed by a veteran comedian who has been called the King of Late Night and has been chosen, twice, as the best man to serve as host of the grandest comedy legacy in network television: The Tonight Show. This is supposed to be the pinnacle of late night comedy. And it's a hack job.

I'm sorry, but when you're placed at the top, you don't automatically get respect. You have to earn it and keep it. And if I simply present your material without comment, and it looks like I'm making fun of you, then let's go ahead and do same actual ridiculing.

From now on the feature will be at it's own space. This blog will still post a regularly refreshed link towards the top of the page.

This Week On The Shows: Oct. 4-8

• Monday
  
  
  • Leno: Will Arnett

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• Tuesday
  
  
  
  • Ferguson: Cory Kahaney

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• Wednesday
  
  • Fallon: Peter Sagal & Carl Kasell

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• Thursday
  
  
  
  • Letterman: Stephen Colbert (1st guest)
  • Ferguson: Louie Anderson

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• Friday
  
  
  
  • Letterman: Allan Havey
  • Ferguson: Mary Lynn Rajskub (1st guest)
  • Kimmel: Dane Cook
  • Fallon: Nick Swardson

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All guests as listed on shows' web sites at time of posting. Changes in schedule may be reflected in updates.

Podcast of the Week: Marc Maron on Giraldo and Schimmel

"He was really baffled at at the fact that he could not stay off fucking drugs and alcohol. And he tried. And this was a miscalculation."
-Marc Maron

Photo Credit: Bobby Bank
Posted by The Stress Factory

If you're only going to listen to or read one more remembrance of Greg Giraldo, make it Maron's tribute on his podcast. The half-hour he spends remembering Robert Schimmel and Giraldo is a pure example of his characteristic honesty and vulnerability. Maron knows fear and pain and doubt really well. But more importantly, he knows that he doesn't know it all. Calling Giraldo's overdose a "miscalculation" is about as precise a term as I can imagine. It doesn't matter what the truth is about which drugs he was using and which choices he was aware of; whatever the numbers, at some point Giraldo started adding them up wrong.

Tributes to Greg Giraldo have been going up on all sorts of sites. And they're worth reading. Some of them are simple statements of sadness and remembrance, and some of them are more detailed thoughts on the significance of Giraldo and his death.

Comedy Central:

Greg was our go-to comedian for a reason: he was always game, always generous, and always brilliantly funny.

Ted Alexandro (@ The Comic's Comic):

It was a week or so after September 11th and Greg walked into Gotham Comedy Club. I was thrilled because I was curious to see if he would address the attacks and how he would handle it. I hadn't really seen anyone do it yet. Greg proceeded to launch head on into the topic with a daring and magical set that was both astoundingly funny and cathartic. I laughed so hard that I cried. I cried because maestro Giraldo had taught us all a lesson once again. Nothing stops life. Nothing is off limits. It is all fodder, it is all available to us to create something beautiful. There was something so reassuring in his cocksure presence on stage. It was like 'Okay motherfuckers, here we go!'

Dave Anthony:

I'm not sure why Greg's death has knocked me down the way it has. … Could just be because he was one of the nicest stand up comedians I've met. I am a man obsessed with justice and things being right. This is just so wrong I can't wrap my head around it.

Dylan Gadino (Punchline Magazine):

I hope he knew that I was inspired by his performances. On his albums and during his live shows, no matter how frustrated or angry he seemed while dissecting society’s foibles, there was a quiet, constant and underlying fragility that endeared him not only to me but also to all of his true fans.

Sean McCarthy (The Comics Comic):

One of the first things I wrote publicly about Greg Giraldo in 2006 was this: "Greg Giraldo should be a lot more famous than he is. Of all of the stand-up comedians working the circuit and talking topical, few know how to tell it like it is like Giraldo can." I still feel the same way about him today.

Vinnie Brand:

For those of you that got to know him, you knew him instantly as a fine man and if you were fortunate, a good friend.

Michael Ian Black:

I was struck by his immense intelligence and good spirit. … The lesson I take away from it is one I hope I’ve been learning over the years: have gratitude for what you have and forgive yourself for what might have been.

Michael Ian Black's comments are, in part, his response to an interview Giraldo did with Psychology Today on the topic of failure.