The folks at Adult Swim have compiled another one of their handy little collections. This time, it's the news, as it exists in the twisted cartoon universe of Family Guy. Of course, they won't let me embed them, so you can watch them here. Meanwhile, perfect excuse to post a Family Guy clip of my own! After the jump.
Tit-and-chicken-wing purveyor Hooters has signed on as the exclusive sponsor of Big Brown, the star racehorse that has already won two legs of the Triple Crown, and will try to complete the feat this weekend at the Belmont Stakes. UPS, the brown-themed shipping company that was was originally the sole sponsor of the horse, inexplicably allowed Hooters to slide in just before Big Brown is set to achieve the pinnacle of its publicity. In addition to being a bad PR decision, UPS' move has now subjected us all to the prospect of Jay Leno (and, less painfully, Tracy Morgan) chuckling about Hooters' upcoming "Big Brown Day":
So I was gonna do a "Best of Harvey Korman" clip thread to close out that day yesterday, but Gawker Media went all fooey just when I was all ready to get it started. So here it is now. Below is an example of my favorite kind of Harvey Korman moment-namely, him losing his shit. What's yours?
Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible? The Office and Extras creator Ricky Gervais explains the pitfalls of flight to The Daily Show's John Hodgman. Also? Penis nipples and breast testicles.
What's your favorite Adult Swim cartoon? Lately, I'm favoring Shin Chan over the rest, but they're still all pretty great. After the jump, 35 classic "Shinisms." If you're actually still at your computer on this glorious summer Sunday, go ahead and post some Adult Swim goodness of your own.
"Dick Martin, a veteran nightclub comic who with his partner, Dan Rowan, turned a midseason replacement slot at NBC in 1968 into a hit that redefined what could be done on television, died Saturday night of respiratory complications at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., according to The Associated Press. He was 86. Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the hyperactive, joke-packed show that Mr. Martin and Mr. Rowan rode to fame, made conventional television variety programs seem instantly passé and the sitcom brand of humor seem too meek for the times." [NYT] A clip from the classic show after the jump.
Sue Simmons is the WNBC personality who famously swore at her co-anchor during a live promo last week, scandalizing New York viewers of NBC drama Medium and prompting sympathy from network colleagues on the Today show, who said anyone could slip up like that. But CBS' Late Show host David Letterman isn't about to let the scandal drop; he's milked the incident for all it's worth, airing a new clip of Simmons swearing every night this week. It looks like Letterman plans to make his "Local News Highlight Of The Night" feature a going concern, but making Simmons the butt of his joke every night would get pretty repetitive, wouldn't it? Yes, and actually, knowing Letterman, he can keep up this sort of drumbeat for weeks. After the jump, the four WNBC segments the Late Show has run thus far.
EW.com lists their picks for the 25 funniest people in America today. They make some great choices (Kristen Wiig, Amy and David Sedaris) and some not so good ones (Diablo Cody and Augusten Burroughs? Really?) Some of the ordering is off, too. Diablo is funnier than Dave Chappelle? Amy Poehler and Will Arnett in Blades of Glory are funnier than Conan? I think not! We're glad that David Cross made it on, but what about the whole Arrested Development team? Sure the show has been off the air for a couple of years, but they're just as "current" as No. 6 pick Chris Rock, aren't they? Take a look at their list and tell us who they missed. One of our picks is after the jump.
This is what we meant the other day when we said we just didn't find Greg Gutfeld funny. Gawker video superfriends Richard Blakeley and Morgan Miller combed through a week's worth of episodes of Gutfeld's 3 a.m. laff riot Red Eye and edited it down to only the gay jokes. There are many. Many, many jokes about how funny it would be if Greg, who enjoys sleeping with women, were a homosexual. See? You are laughing already. Boys talking about kissing boys! Comedy gold! Sigh.
Last night's Saturday Night Live featured an hysterical sketch in which The Office creator Ricky Gervais explains the hit sitcom's Japanese origins. Ricky Gervais and Steve Carell all in one clip? Yes! Enjoy it after the jump.
Once upon a time, a wacky new talk show called Late Night With David Letterman premiered on NBC. And on that very first episode in 1982 was an up-and-coming comic actor by the name of Bill Murray.
Old Man John McCain will appear on Saturday Night Live this weekend. Just a cameo, of course. Though he hosted in 2002, back when was still a maverick beloved by liberals and elite coastal types. Details of the sketch he'll appear in are scarce, though it will probably be toothless and unfunny, as all SNL political material tends to be. McCain might be funny, though! Presumably less wooden than Obama and Clinton were in their toothless, unfunny cameos. McCain's a natural comic (have you heard the one about how Chelsea Clinton is ugly?). Which, as we all know, is utterly unpresidential.
The Observer covered NBC's press conference anointing never-funny (but cute!) former SNLer Jimmy Fallon the new king of late-late night. They included this anecdote: "Mr. Fallon claimed his kindergarten yearbook featured his photo above the caption 'Most Likely to Take Over David Letterman.' (Someone in the crowd, possibly auditioning to be Mr. Fallon's sidekick, let out an audible 'Wow' at this point.) When asked what kindergarten had yearbooks, much less ones with references to David Letterman, Mr. Fallon joked, 'It's a magical kindergarten. It's taught by a unicorn, a talking unicorn.'" See? He's doing some of that funny joking-around stuff the late-night comics do. But no one told the Associated Press, as you can see in the attached story. [NYO, AP]
The Sopranos, edited for PAX Christian Television. And, yes, I do think Mad TV is classic!
I love Phil Hartman. But I also love Dave Foley. If only there was some way I could see them both at the same time. Oh yeah! NewsRadio! My favorite clip is after the jump. What's yours?
Well, I certainly think so. But since this month marks the ten-year anniversary of the sitcom's final episode, you just knew some cranky-ass little critic boy would have to take the opportunity to be all, "Meh. You suck!" So here's Newsweek's Marc Peyser. "As someone who doesn't dip into its bottomless rerun pool much, I was surprised when I sat down with the show again by how poorly 'Seinfeld' holds up. What once seemed smart-they just did a storyline on John Cheever's diaries!-feels like shtik. The pacing-no show had ever packed in so many scenes, some of them lasting a few seconds-now seems formulaic and forced. You can almost hear the guys sitting in the writers' room throwing out ideas: Wouldn't it be funny if [...] Jerry dated a deaf girl?" Yeah, and I can also almost hear a bunch of lazy editors sitting around a conference table saying, "Hey wouldn't it be funny if, instead of celebrating the anniversary, we do a smack-down? Yeah!"
Getting stuck in an elevator could be the new path to media stardom. It did wonders for the guy from BusinessWeek who got trapped in one for 41 hours and ended up losing his job and his mental health. But he did get in the New Yorker! Now the parodies have begun, and this one, from Max Silvestri of 23/6, is actually pretty hilarious. Be warned, though: it makes light of the serious issue of elevator survival skills. Clip below.
The annual White House Correspondents' Dinner was held in Washington this past weekend. The dinner awards some prizes and serves as an excuse for the corporations that own media companies to reward rich friends and B-list celebrities with seats at tables that are often within 100 feet of the President himself. Then a comedian does a little routine. This year's comedian was late-night talk show host Craig Ferguson. He was ok.
