comic

Chris Rock will appear on tonight's episode of Inside the Actor's Studio, hosted by the windy but still humorously self-deprecating James Lipton. The two-hour episode, like all episodes of Inside the Actor's Studio, will delve into Chris' childhood, his hopes, his dreams, and what his favorite swear word is.

I must say, I've lost my affinity for Inside the Actor's Studio over the years. I could get past Lipton making every person who graced his stage seem like THE GREATEST ACTOR OF ALL TIME, but now I just find it annoying. I'm sure this episode won't be much different, and it will test my endurance as to whether I can stomach Lipton long enough to listen to an actor and comedian I really admire. I found myself faced with a similar dilemma when Robin Williams was on Sitdown Comedy with David Steinberg: I made it about one minute into the interview before I had to turn it off.

The episode airs tonight on Bravo at 8:00 p.m.

I don't like Dane Cook's brand of comedy, but hey, I don't have to like everything. There are plenty of other comedians more suited to my palate on the comedy salad bar, so while I personally feel his "material" is all delivery and no punchline, it doesn't mean other people can't enjoy him with croutons.

CC Insider points to a funny satirical piece from The Onion about Cook's new HBO special, Burgasm, in which the young comedian riffs on Burger King's Texas Double Whopper for a full hour. In the article, Cook explains his plans for the special:

Dark Horse Comics, publisher of the forthcoming Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic, is hosting a Buffy writing contest. In 250 words or less, describe how Buffy has changed your life. I know, I know, only 250 words. People have written entire treatise on the subject, but you're just going to have to embrace the pithy and make every syllable count. Joss Whedon will be selecting the winner and five runners-up himself. What will the numero uno winner receive? Oh, it's almost too cool for words. In addition to a Buffy lithograph and a signed copy of the first issue, you will appear in an upcoming issue of the comic. You - in comic form - with Buffy! Well, maybe, you'll be with Buffy. You might be in some vampire crowd shot or something. It's hard to say. What's the life of a comic book extra like anyway?

Entries are being accepted at Dark Horses' MySpace page from now until March 14th. Winners will be notified by April 4th. Happy slaying.

If you feel today's stand-up comedy scene is sorely lacking in references to having sex with black men, then switch on Comedy Central January 28 at 10pm for Lisa Lampanelli: Dirty Girl. Lampanelli is an "insult comedian" who follows the same basic code as Carlos Mencia: you can make fun as long as you attack everyone equally. I actually like her more than Mencia, though, and her appearances on the Comedy Central Roasts prove she can get down and dirty with the fellas just fine. She's already appeared on just about every comedy showcase on Comedy Central and is one of few white comedians to have appeared on Comic View on BET. Before she became a comedian, she was a writer for Rolling Stone and Spy.

Below is her segment from the William Shatner Roast. It's edited for TV, but still might not be safe for work.

The biggest compliment I can pay to comedian Eugene Mirman is that he's my favorite comedian now that Mitch Hedberg is dead. That may seem like a back-handed compliment, but there's nothing wrong with second place, especially when you're first.

Anyway, a post on CC Insider hepped me to Eugene's new Web series on SuperDeluxe.com called "Space Talk from Dimension Eugene." If you've never experienced the indescribable comedy of Eugene Mirman, watching his videos should help you not understand him just a little bit better. If you have a penchant for smart and weird (or as I call it, "smeirdt") comedy, Eugene has exactly what you need. Also, many of these videos can be found on his Web site, and on YouTube. Really, if you don't watch at least one of them, you're just being lazy.

Sometimes a celebrity will (supposedly) leave his or her comments on a web site, but you're never quite sure if it's really them or just someone impersonating them. But comedian David Cross is online a lot and when he leaves a comment you know it's him. Case in point, this comment left after a SFist review of a recent gig in San Francisco.

You can read the review, but to summarize: the reviewer loved Cross' stuff on Mr. Show and Arrested Development, but she couldn't take his jokes about Mormons (and on Martin Luther King Day too!). Cross doesn't just leave a snide comment or a quick, expletive-filled putdown, he actually goes on at length about the review, how the show was really perceived by the audience (and he has it on tape to prove it), and tries to explain the comedy he was trying to do at the show. Now, it's never good to "explain" your comedy, but what else is someone supposed to do when they are basically called a bigot?

[via Gawker]

The deviantARTist known as Space Coyote recently received copius praise and accolades for her anime-renditions of characters from The Simpsons and Futurama. Now, it seems her drawings have also captured the attention of both Bongo Comics and 20th Century Fox. According to a message on her deviantART page, Space Coyote has been hired to draw for a one-off Simpsons comic in manga style for Bongo Comics. She further writes that 20th Century Fox has also contacted her about doing work, possibly for the newly-resurrected Futurama.

She also writes on her Live Journal that the details are still being hammered out, but needless to say, this is a great example of a relatively unknown artist getting some decent exposure through this crazy thing called the Web. She has also worked on the Web comic Saturnalia since 2002, which is also worth checking out.

[via Digg]

According to Geek Monthly, SciFi is developing a new "Flash Gordon" series as part of a plan to develop new "lighter" shows after network brass blamed the decline in ratings of Battlestar Galactica on its dark tone. However, the article states that the series will not be as campy as the 1980 Flash Gordon film.

Flash Gordon has been developed already in several mediums. It began as a comic strip in the '30s and eventually expanded into comic books, theatrical serials, a live-action television program, an animated series, and the aforementioned movie.

SciFi has not committed to the series yet, but if it does, don't expect to see it until sometime early next year.

I'll admit I rolled my eyes when I first heard this news, but I think SciFi has proved itself over the years as adept at developing old ideas into something fresh and exciting (Battlestar Galactica). What do you guys think? Should SciFi develop Flash Gordon into a new series, or has that idea been beaten to death enough already?

[via TV Filter]

The date draws nearer for the debut of Buffy Season 8 in comic book form. The first and second issues are now available for pre-order at Dark Horse comics. They'll be released on March 7th and April 4th respectively. Well, that's what the Dark Horse website is reporting. In the comic book world, you never know what the actual release date is until the book is sitting in your hot little hands. (Somebody is going to have to explain that to me sometime - how an entire industry can build an expectation for procrastination within its audience. That would have worked wonders for me in college.)

We've shared issue one spoilers with you in the past, but we've got some issue two insight as well. You'll find the skinny after the jump. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

I'd like to say I knew it all along, but I was initially duped by Pauly Shore's staged video that showed him getting punched by a heckler in Odessa, Texas. Shore now has a video on his MySpace page (via Best Week Ever) that shows him coaching the crowd and his fake attacker before his act, telling everyone to film it and then put it on the internet.

Shore later said he wanted the video to make fun of the whole "viral video" fad and to serve as a lesson to those who take things at face value. Most people still saw it as a cheap stunt on the part of someone who's been out of the spotlight for many years, but I still think Shore has a good point. Besides, it's not like he's the first one to do this.

Louis CK is one of my favorite comedians of all time. When I say "of all time" I don't just mean the time during which I've been alive, I mean since the universe came into existence. He's even funnier than that fish who crawled out of the sea on a pair of legs and said, "I just came out of the water, and boy are my newly-formed lungs tired!" He's also much funnier than that stupid joke I just made.

One of the things I love about Louis CK is that having kids hasn't changed his comedy in the slightest. Yes, he talks about his kids now, but he's still as raunchy and hysterical as he ever was. It's refreshing to watch a comedian who doesn't fall into the usual comedy cliches about being a father.

Back in June I mentioned that comedian Demetri Martin had a one-hour special coming up early next year. Well, it's now early next year, and the special is called Demetri Martin. Person. That seems accurate enough. If you're a fan of Martin, you won't be surprised that the comedy special will include animation, drawings and music all culled from the mind of Mr. Martin. It will air on January 14 at 10pm.

Demetri attended law school briefly but dropped out to get into comedy. I'm not sure why he thought he couldn't do both. I mean, you've got the jury sitting right there, it's like a captive audience. Sure, you'd probably lose every case and innocent people would go to jail for life, but you would have made people laugh, and that's what it's really all about.

Today's TV Guide online features an interview with Joss Whedon about the forthcoming Buffy comic, which picks up where the series left off. There isn't much in the way of new information in the interview portion. Everything we know about the comic's plot and release schedule was covered in last month's Entertainment Weekly piece. Angel and Spike won't be around too much because the Angel franchise is owned by another comic publisher. Not all the old characters will be back at once, and the plot focuses on a world of girls with fully-realized Slayer powers.

What is new, however, are the hot preview pics from the comic - including a sample cover and what appears to be Buff and a gang of Slayers dropping from a helicopter in some pretty sci-fi looking gear. The cover reads, "The thing about changing the world...once you do it, the world's all different." If you read the images closely, you'll learn that... [WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD]

Every generation produces its share of great comedians, but it's always nice to look back on history and remember those who helped pave the way for those who followed. Even if her comedy wasn't your cup of tea, you can't deny that Phyllis Diller was a pioneer, a woman who broke the mold and made it okay for women to forge their way in a faction of show business long dominated by men, and she did it with a tenacity and fearlessness that rivaled a majority of her male counterparts. She was cracking wise about being a housewife and mother long before comedians like Roseanne would tread the same path.

Today, Gregg Barson's film about Diller's final 2002 performance will be released on DVD. The film, titled Goodnight, We Love You, focuses on the days leading up to the performance, and includes reflections from comedy legends and younger comedians who worked with Diller, or were influenced by her comedy.

The DVD is also available through Netflix.

If you've been sitting around all day waiting to see footage of someone from an unfunny sketch show make fun of an unfunny comedian, your wait is over. In the clip after the jump you can watch Ike Berenholtz of Mad TV throw down on the comedy stage as he does his impression of comedian Dane Cook.

I've never been a fan of Dane Cook, and I think the best description I've ever heard of him came from comedian Michael Schmidt on Jimmy Pardo's "Never Not Funny" podcast: "Dane Cook is KISS. He's the KISS of comedy. Just like, crazy, wild, bombastic phenomenon with the most pedantic, pedestrian content ever."

Berenholtz's Cook impression isn't too bad, and heck, I give him credit for trying to make people laugh by being unfunny on purpose, but I only laughed maybe once during the whole thing, which is still more than I've ever laughed at Dane Cook.