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New Comedy Releases for Tuesday, February 21

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:19:07 +0000

New comedy Tuesday brings us very little this week. Comedy Central's special paying tribute to the late, great Bernie Mac arrives on DVD, though I'm much more inclined to revisit his closing set in The Original Kings of Comedy and remember how funny he was that way. Also arriving on DVD and Blu-ray is the Ben Stiller-starring caper comedy Tower Heist, which was supposed to mark another big comeback for Eddie Murphy when it hit theaters last fall but which failed to make enough of an impression to really resurrect his career. The whole Oscar mess probably didn't help, either. My point is this: I liked Tower Heist.

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Saturday Night Live Recap: Maya Rudolph/Sleigh Bells

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:33:56 +0000

Having former cast members of Saturday Night Live return to host the show is often a tricky proposition. Yes, it's always good to see their familiar faces back on the stage that launched their careers, but so often their hosting gigs amount to a lot of nostalgia in which they appear in all of the sketches they made famous during their time in the cast. As a result, those episode play more like 'greatest hits' compilations than something new.

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Jim Gaffigan Will Self-distribute New Stand-up Special

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:57:52 +0000

You won't find the next Jim Gaffigan comedy special airing on Comedy Central, HBO or Showtime. In fact, you won't find it on television at all.

Inspired by the freedom and ...

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Louis C.K. Wins Best Comedy Album Grammy for Hilarious

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:53:18 +0000

Louis C.K.'s Hilarious, which I named the best comedy album of 2011, has been deemed the same by the Grammys. The album scored C.K. the award for Best Comedy Album at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, held Sunday night. It's the first win for C.K.

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SNL Recap: Zooey Deschanel/Karmin

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:29:32 +0000

For those of you who were concerned that the combination of Zooey Deschanel and YouTube singers Karmin would be too much "adorkability" for this week's Saturday Night Live to handle, fear not: except for the opening monologue and the Karmin performances (about which the less said, the better; we get it -- you love Suicide Girls and Gwen Stefani), most of what could have been the worst was dialed back in favor of some really good comic performances from the regular cast, strong writing and a welcome cameo appearance from NICOLAS CAGE.

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New Comedy Releases for Tuesday, February 7

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:42:10 +0000

The most significant new release today is easily the posthumous Mr. P, which is (presumably) the final stand-up album we're going to get from Patrice O'Neal, who passed away last November. Though I'm not sure the album feels totally finished -- it was planned but wasn't announced until after O'Neal's death, and probably could have used a bit of editing -- it reaffirms that O'Neal was one of the funniest, most honest stand-up comedians of his generation. If you're a fan, the album is absolutely worth picking up. If you're still not familiar with O'Neal, I don't know that I would start here, but I would definitely rectify that as soon as possible.

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Saturday Night Live Recap: Channing Tatum/Bon Iver

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:41:55 +0000

Actor Channing Tatum (he of both the upcoming The Vow and 21 Jump Street) hosted this week's Saturday Night Live, and while it didn't convince me he had a future in comedy (though I'd argue he seems funnier than Jonah Hill in the trailers for Jump Street), there was something incredibly charming about his willingness to try. He seemed to be having fun in just about every sketch, despite the fact that he was totally pigeonholed into one or two roles for the entire night: male stripper/dancer (Tatum got his big break in the teen dance movie Step Up) and/or stiff guy. Sometimes the writers of the show are good at writing around a host's limitations (see this season's Charles Barkley episode), but sometimes they seem to just find one joke and run with it over and over again. This week was very much the latter.

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Daniel Tosh Announces 2012 Tour

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:53:38 +0000

On his hit Comedy Central show Tosh.0 this week, comedian Daniel Tosh announced a new national stand-up tour, Tosh Tour Twenty Twelve, to kick off April 5 in Austin, Texas.

The tour, which will take place during a Tosh.0 hiatus, will hit at least 17 U.S. cities including New York, Cleveland, Chicago and St. Louis among others, and in many cases is booked in each city for more than one show (though not necessarily more than one date). More cities and dates are expected to be announced at a later time.

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Paul Brittain Leaving Saturday Night Live

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:43:29 +0000

Saturday Night Live has suffered its first cast casualty since Jenny Slate and Michaela Watkins left the show a couple of years ago. Up-and-coming featured performer Paul Brittain has left the cast of SNL...

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New Comedy Releases for Tuesday, January 31

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:31:45 +0000

New comedy Tuesday is the best kind of Tuesday, isn't it? And what a mixed bag this Tuesday is. On the one end, we've got the new album/special from John Mulaney, one of the very best young comedians. The album is great! I haven't seen the DVD yet, but it comes with an alternate commentary from Anthony Jeselnik and Dan Mintz, which I really want to hear. On the other end is the latest from Jeff Dunham, which is now being released in album form. If there's anything worse than racist, unfunny ventriloquism, it's racist, unfunny ventriloquism that you can't even see. Also hitting DVD is The Big Year, which was one of 2011's biggest bombs (it made $7 million on a $41 million budget) even though it stars Owen Wilson, Jack Black and the great Steve Martin. What's that? It's about birdwatching? Well, that explains it.

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