A sad start to the day with the news that hip hop artist and actor Heavy D has died at the age of 44. He was rushed to a Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles Tuesday after collapsing outside his Beverly Hills home.

No cause of death has been released, but police are not treating his death as suspicious. There have been several reports that he may have been suffering from pneumonia. According to TMZ.com Heavy D collapsed with breathing difficulties following a shopping trip. His neighbor Adam Mills found him leaning against a railing, clearly in distress, saying "I can't breathe, I can't breathe."

Only a few hours before his death the Jamaica-born rapper, who grew up in New York, Tweeted a tribute to the late boxing great Joe Frazier -- "SMOKIN JOE FRAZIER..RIP.. truly one of the best heavyweight champs that ever lived.. GODS SPEED,MR FRAZIER!" -- and sent his fans a typically positive message: "BE INSPIRED!"

Anyone having fertility problems should check in with Tracy Morgan, because he's guaranteed to "put a baby inside you tonight." Still not convinced? Watch the rap video he did with Jimmy Kimmel for 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' (weeknights, 12AM ET on ABC).

It's not bad, but they could pick up a few pointers from Andy Samberg. Then again, they probably had to rush through it so Kimmel could get those teeth he borrowed back to Jaws from 'Moonraker.'

Watch the video after the jump.

I was going to post this interview with Carl Reiner that Conan O'Brien did on The Tonight Show last night anyway, but it's an added bonus that the clip also includes Snoop Dogg, who listens to Reiner auditioning to sing on one of his CDs. I never really thought I'd ever include the words "Carl Reiner" and "Snoop Dogg" in the same sentence.

Admittedly, I haven't been watching Jimmy Fallon's new late night talk show. I found this video segment from the show online and couldn't resist sharing. Fallon seems to be giving out a hipster geek vibe with his character of TuSpock (a combination of Tupac Shakur and Mr. Spock from Star Trek). That sort of humor is usually reserved for Mr. Fallon's alma mater of Saturday Night Live.

The make-up was excellent. Fallon even has the same look and body type as the original Spock (and wouldn't that have been a surprise piece of casting for the recent movie). The appearance of the rapper Tariq from the group The Roots as Captain Kirk was a nice touch.

Hopefully this sort of intelligent, subversive humor will be the rule for Fallon and not the exception. If he keeps up with sketches like this one, I may have to catch his show sometime (at least on Hulu).

Cracked,I take back everything bad I ever said about you. Sure you began life as an also-ran copycat of Mad magazine and sure you dominate digg with a seemingly endless string of under-written pop-culture lists, but popularizing the following video makes it all better. Put it this way, I'm Kobe Bryant's wife and this video is a $4 million purple diamond ring.

Be warned before you click through, however, this video contains both obscene language and a shirtless Jean-Luc Picard in bed with Q. Also, if you play it more than two or three times, there's a chance the nerd secret police will repel line right into your office.

That said, this might be the best silly internet video to come out in a long while. I'm convinced it will usher in a new world order, much like the music of Wyld Stallyns. If you're prepared for that, follow me after the jump...

The video at the end of this post has a lot of swearing, so if that's not your thang, watch this instead.

We all know that Judd Apatow (Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Forty Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up) is a man who can do no wrong and who deserves our respect, adulation and fawning worship. However, no one has ever expressed his love for the man quite like Andy Milonakis (The Andy Milonakis Show).

I was pokin' around NBC's YouTube channel the other day when I came across this video of Leno interviewing celebrity lookalikes on the street.

The bit isn't all that funny, but check out the first guy Jay interviews. That's right, it's Sammy Stephens, owner of Flea Market Montgomery in Montgomery, Alabama. Stephens' commercial, which features him both rapping and dancing has made him a minor celebrity both online and on TV (Ellen DeGeneres loved his commercial and invited him on to her show).

People enjoy rap, and people enjoy reality television. So: why not combine them?

That seems to be the thought process behind Rapping with the Stars, a new reality series that could be popping up on MTV that, according to Variety, "features teams squaring off in [a] range of rap-oriented musical challenges."

Those "teams" consist of, naturally, a rapper and a celebrity. I wonder, though, how many rap-oriented challenges can there be? Other than freestyle, performing someone else's rap, or doing your own rap, what's left? Is there some kind of rap endurance race in which rappers must perform Run-DMC tunes while sprinting and pole vaulting cross country? Because there should be, I'd totally watch that.

If this show does become as popular as Dancing with the Stars, perhaps we'll start seeing more and more with the Stars-style shows, none of which I will watch.

Courtesy of Boing Boing comes this local commercial for a flea market in Montgomery, Alabama (see it below). Yes, it's silly, lame, and goes on a little too long, but for a locally-produced ad, it's really not that bad. I'm not expecting high quality from local advertising, anyway.

The man in the video is the owner of Flea Market Montgomery, Sammy Stephens. In case the video isn't enough, I would like to remind you that his store is just like a mini ... mall. Stephens has already gained some notoriety, most notably on The Ellen Show when host Ellen DeGeneres asked him to appear because she found his commercial so funny.

Click ahead, crank up your computer speakers, and get down with what is most likely the greatest rap song ever written about a flea market.

Recently, Julia posted a piece about a lawsuit filed against a man that made fun of Barney on his little website. The end result favored the satirist, so Julia said, "America, you are free to mock Barney" and... y'know what? I think I will.

I don't recall how I stumbled across this video (probably late-night YouTube surfing), but I definitely remember watching it at, like, three in the morning and laughing deliriously for an obscene length of time. It's a charming mash-up of Barney video and Tupac audio. That's right. Somehow, the flailing of Barney's tiny hands suddenly become the aggressive gestures that conduct the beat of a west-side thug. Plus, the dancing children and sparkles add a nice touch.

Obviously, the visuals are work-safe, but, since it's gangsta rap, you may want to turn down the volume or pop on some headphones. Here we go...

(S32E06) Some of you weren't so happy that we stopped reviewing Saturday Night Live, so I'm going to give this another go, just so that everyone at least as a place to discuss. And I will try and resist saying "ehh, it was okay, I guess" for every single review, but, let me warn you, it's going to be tough. That said, this particular episode was... well... ehh, it was okay, I guess. Surprisingly, Ludacris did a much better job than many other musician hosts (and some "real actor" guests, actually), but it was nothing spectacular.

Ah, the wit and wisdom of K-Fed.

In a free-wheeling interview with Entertainment Weekly, Mr. Spears sounds off on a variety of topics: on being the most talked about person the past few years (?), what song he'd sing for his American Idol audition, his collection of Nike shoes, why he's a lot like Sammy Davis, Jr., what food he sneaks into movie theaters, why the Batmobile is badass, and getting his "GED and stuff." He also talks about his recent guest role on CSI.

Everytime I see this guy I think of his horrible performance at that teen awards show. How is his album doing, anyway?

Back in March I wrote about a new animated series from Andre Benjamin, a.k.a. "Andre 3000" of the band Outkast titled Class of 3000. The series, which debuts on Cartoon Network November 3 at 8 pm, is about a famous musician named Sunny Bridges (voiced by Benjamin) who sets everything aside to teach a group of music students in Atlanta. Benjamin will also serve as executive producer for the series, and will also write original music for it. Voice actors and comedians Tom Kenny and Phil LaMarr will also provide voices for the show, while Futurama and The Critic scribe Patric M. Verrone is attached to the project as head writer. You can also catch a half-hour mockumentary on the life of Sunny Bridges titled Sunny Bridges: From Bankhead to Buckhead on October 27 at 7 pm.

Remember back in the day when Run-DMC rapped about their Adidas? Before long, anyone who wanted to be "down" was sporting a pair of them fly shoes and trying to sound cool by using words like "down" and "fly." Anyway, apparently that era is gone because a song by rap group The Pack, titled "Vans," has been shunned by MTV until the group edits their video and changes the name of their song. The network claims the video is too much like an advertisement and not enough like a video. Nevermind the fact that all videos are essentially commercials created to sell albums. It's all part of the package these days, and the only reason the likes of Britney Spears and Shakira are even on the radar. I placed the video after the jump for educational purposes. Oh yeah, and I totally used to have a pair of Vans like the skateboarder is wearing in the opening shot. Damn, I was stupid fresh.

Okay, I can admit when I'm wrong. When Jamie Kennedy and his pal Stu Stone tried to set the world of hip hop on fire with their sorta-reality show Jamie Kennedy's Blowin' Up, I didn't think they stood a chance in hell of ever getting a record deal. I figured the show would be essentially be a comedic look at two mediocre rappers trying to seem legit, and I guess that's what it was, but it also got Kennedy and Stone the deal they wanted all along. On July 11, Reprise/Warmer Bros. Records and Kennedy's own label Jkss will release an album from the first-time rappers, which will feature guest rappers Ice-T, E-40, Paul Wall, and Kardinall Offishall. If you like your rap light and fluffy, this is probably the album for you. I'm not sure if anything can beat Kennedy's tribute to Bob Saget (link NSFW), though.