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Entries tagged with 'Comedy'
Posted Mar. 7, 2008,
Leave Diablo Cody Alone!
By Ann Magnuson
I acted opposite the wonderful Tom Lenk in the L.A. premiere of Amy and David Sedaris' play The Book of Liz. Tom played Duncan, the emotionally-fragile, recovering-alcoholic manager of the Pilgrim-themed restaurant that the wayward Amish-ish character of Liz -- moi -- finds employment. We never stopped laughing. (Except when we had to cry... during our emotional farewell scene. A three-hanky weeper!)
I'm happy to see Tom continues to elicit the yuks (and the tears); this time as "Huevo Hickock" in another YouTube extravaganza. I still haven't seen Juno but assume a lot of the pop-cultural poppycock jargon is part of the ex-stripper's Oscar-winning screenplay. Enjoy!
Posted Dec. 5, 2007,
Juno Is Just Great!
By Dennis Dermody
Opening this week is Juno, which is pretty terrific. Ellen Page is simply sensational as the spunky, defiantly nonconformist, 16-year-old Juno, who finds she is pregnant after sleeping with boyfriend Bleeker (the goofy, sweetly endearing, Michael Cera). She decides to have the baby and give it up to a deserving couple, which she picks out of an ad in a penny saver (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner). And that’s the jumping off part to Jason Reitman’s marvelously offbeat comedy, which is sheer joy from beginning to end. Much of that is because of the smart screenplay by Diablo Cody, which crackles with comic effervescence and sly wit -- there are times when the jokes machine-gun past you at alarming speed. But Page gives such dynamic assertion to the role, that in other hands might be cloyingly cute. J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney are just delightful as her accepting parents. As for Juno, any girl who digs Iggy Pop, Patti Smith and Dario Argento is my kind of gal.
Posted Nov. 30, 2007,
Jerry Lewis, The Ladies Man
By Ann Magnuson
It's kind of amazing what you can find while sick at home during a rainy Friday morning in L.A. I used to be part of that snobby set that thought Jerry Lewis wasn't funny. (Odd, considering I took French lessons for five years.) But I saw him perform in Vegas during his "comeback" (was it '99? 2000?) and while I can't say it was the funniest show I'd ever seen it was definitely the most surreal. At times he was hilarious, other times painfully not so and then others so full of rage that you could feel the audience gasp like one singularly abused child worried if Daddy was going to really hit us. Then he'd catch himself, toss off a one liner and we'd all breathe a collective sigh of relief as he went on with the show.
Posted Nov. 20, 2007,
The Gay Deceivers!
By Dennis Dermody
This cringe-inducing 1969 comedy The Gay Deceivers, about two dudes (Kevin Coughlin and Lawrence Casey) who avoid the draft by pretending to be queer, is now out on DVD again thanks to darkskyfilms.com. And I have to admit, it was fun watching it again.
The guys move into a very gay complex in L.A., where the very flamboyant Michael Greer (Fortune In Men's Eyes) as their landlord steals every scene. The movie is a spoof and not meant to offend, but that's a little like saying a blackface routine isn't meant to piss off black people. But the gay bar scenes of the 60s (depicted in the movie) and parties where everyone is camping it up in drag are so preposterous and cartoonish and comedic that for some reason it tickled me to no end.
Posted Oct. 8, 2007,
Mirthful Muscle Marys: The Giant of Marathon
By Dennis Dermody
The loony comic talents behind Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett) are back cracking wise behind another crappy movie in a new series called "The Film Crew" from Shout Factory. Their new outing is The Giant of Marathon, a 1959 swords and sandal epic from Italy starring Steve Reeves which was actually directed by the great Jacques Tourneur (I Walked With a Zombie, Cat People), with cinematography by Mario Bava (Black Sunday).
It's this big bloated bore about a Greek soldier leading an army against the Persians, but it's great fodder for jokes. "Chariots of Diapers" they nickname it, and when a female is hurtling along in a chariot they cry out, "Ben Her!" They joke about the Greek army: "How in God's name did we invent math?" and when Andromeda is reading stories to her female servants: "Read Andromeda, if it isn't a strain!" During a big battle scene they keep showing countless shots of horses being tripped and they groan: "No horses weren't harmed during the making of this film." And at all the shots of Muscle Marys wrestling and oiled up they wonder, "is this film too gay or what?" It's really a riot.
Posted Jul. 12, 2007,
Golden Shower With David Cross
By Carol Lee
Hey, it's Thursday. Go see David Cross, Todd Barry, Jon Benjamin and their wacky and kinky friends sprinkle their golden comedy at Union Hall. The best home-grown comedy show Tinkle is back and it's for a good cause. You'll be laughing and helping the Katrina victims at the same time.
Posted May. 23, 2007,
Flight of the Conchords Is Funny Stuff
By Shanon Kelley
So by now I'm sure that you've all heard of Flight of the Conchords, New Zealand's fourth most popular digi-folk band, if only because they are the subject of a hilarious new comedy series on HBO. And if you haven't, well, you should! The show follows the two Conchords, Bret and Jermaine, as they try to make a name for themselves in New York City. You can watch the entire premiere episode online, and boy is it funny. Seriously. After all, when was the last time you ever saw a folk musical masked as a comedy series? And it even features a couple cameos from funny men Eugene Mirman and Aziz Ansari. The show airs June 17th, but for now watch their hilarious live performance of one of my personal favorites, "Business Time."
Posted Apr. 18, 2007,
Peaches "Dumps" on Alanis Doing Fergie
By David Hershkovits
Perez Hilton is known as a scandalous Internet gossip monger, but I find that his musical tastes are pretty good, too. He was an early Amy Winehouse and Mika booster and he keeps a good eye out for cool new videos. All by way of thanking him for calling attention to this video ditty cooked up by Peaches in response to a recent Alanis Morisette video parody of Fergie's "My Humps." Of course, Peaches being Peaches takes it up a notch by titling her contribution to this growing cannon "My Dumps" -- as in poop. You know it.
Posted Apr. 18, 2007,
Hot Fuzz Is Hilarious!
By Dennis Dermody
This weekend opens the uproarious new film by the Shaun of the Dead director Edgar White: Hot Fuzz. It's about a tough London Sergeant (Simon Pegg) who is relocated to a bucolic British village and paired with a sweet bumbling PC (Nick Frost). He begins to suspect a series of deaths are not accidental and he can’t get anyone to help him track down a shadowy hooded character seen fleeing from each crime. A takeoff on buddy cop movies that is consistently comical and gets better as it goes along. Shaun Of The Dead I found amusing, but it wore thin towards the end. Here the comedy builds and by the time you get to the finale -- involving a violent shootout throughout the village -- you will be convulsed in laughter.
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost make a great pair -- a postmodern Laurel & Hardy. Even the wonderful Bill Nighy and Steve Coogan make cameos in this riotously funny film.
Posted Apr. 4, 2007,
30 Rock Gets Early Renewal
By Alexis Swerdloff
This just in:
NBC ADDS '30 ROCK' TO 2007-08 PRIMETIME SEASON WITH EARLY RENEWAL OF CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED COMEDY
In a press release sent out earlier this morning, NBC announced that the hilarious and best-show-on-TV 30 Rock will be renewed for a second season and will return to the network's lineup this Thursday with a special, 8:40-9:20 p.m. episode. Will Arnett, he of Arrested Development, will guest star. And from then on, 30 Rock will air from 9-9:30 p.m. (as opposed to 9:30-10).
In honor of this exciting news, may we present to you a very amazing Wikiquote page with heaps and heaps of 30 Rock quotes. Here are some nuggets:
Liz: Why are you wearing a tux?
Jack: It's after six. What am I, a farmer?
***
Tracy: Affirmative action was designed to keep women and minorities in competition with each other to distract us while white dudes inject AIDS into our chicken nuggets.
***
Kenneth: Well, I got your nose. (grabs his nose and runs off.)
Ridikolus: Jay, go get my nose back.
Posted Apr. 4, 2007,
Barbra Streisand's Nemesis Barbra By Halstead
By Ann Magnuson
I was reminded of the genius that is Barbra by Halstead while watching my favorite show American Dad the other night. In that episode, Roger the Alien is searching for a nose (since as an alien he has none) and in The Celebrity Nose Kit he ordered was a toucan's beak called The Barbra Streisand. Yeah, I know, cheap shot but it works everytime. Barbra by Halstead, however, finds the humor in the Streisand legend and turns it into sublime surrealism.
I know I've blogged about this before but it bears a return visit (or 500!) Halstead used to have 'her' own public access show where 'Barbra' made crank phone calls to the unsuspecting citizenry of Los Angeles County. "Dogs" is a classic and when I first saw this show I thought I'd never recover from the laughing spell it induced. Thank goodness YouTube has become the 21st Century's answer to the glory days of cable public access. And thank goodness these classic Barbra by Halstead clips can be watched over and over again.
Oh, by the way, Roger chose The Kevin Bacon -- a tiny upturned nose that got him into a whole peck of celebrity trouble!
Posted Apr. 3, 2007,
Alanis Sends Up Fergie
By David Hershkovits
We all love YouTube. It's an amazing resource for lost footage of great performances of one kind or another as well as a great outlet for new creative work. It has alas brought the much maligned genre of the musical video back from the dead. The latest one storming the Internet world is Alanis Morisette's devestating parody of the Black Eyed Peas and Fergie's "My Humps." She not only sends up the song, but the video takes a page from the YouTube aesthetic -- though it's intentionally bad unlike a lot of the just plain bad that's out there. Here's a funny take on the video.
Posted Mar. 29, 2007,
South Park & Harry Potter
By Dennis Dermody
Last night South Park was a parody of 24, in which a nuclear device was hidden inside Hillary Rodham Clinton's vagina. It was screamingly funny, but so is this mix of Harry Potter with a South Park voice-over....
Posted Mar. 26, 2007,
Toby Huss Kicks Comic Ass (At Largo Tonite!)
By Ann Magnuson
The fearless comic performer Toby Huss (seen here in this pre-Austin Powers/Bond send up "Get Me Cobalt") will be performing as his twisted Frank Sinatra character Rudy Casoni at LARGO tonite. As part of "Jim Turner Presents....", Toby is just one of several L.A. based performers taking part in this alt-vaudeville revue that the equally fearless and comically gifted actor Jim Turner will be doing monthly at Largo. (Jim's MTV character Randee of the Redwoods became a darkhorse candidate for President back in the day. Maybe he should run again? For the Republicans! Lord knows they need SOMEONE!)
Tonite is the launch of this 'every last Monday of every month' event and also performing are Dana Gould, Mark Fite, Todd Carlin and yours truly (with Kristian Hoffman and band) providing musicality to the comic proceedings.